00:00So London is special. It's the epitome of multiculturalism.
00:03And to be growing up in the heart of that is truly a wonderful experience.
00:06With a population of some 9 million people speaking more than 300 languages,
00:11London is one of the largest cities in Europe and one of the most expensive.
00:16What's life like for young people?
00:17I'm Avesta of Shari Mair. I'm 22 years of age.
00:20I studied physics and computer science. I've been born and raised in London.
00:23And today I'll be showing you my average day in London.
00:26Avesta starts his day by jogging through his neighborhood in Ealing, West London.
00:30Did you know that 47% of London is green spaces?
00:35That makes it one of the greenest cities in the world.
00:43Hello, hello. Welcome, welcome. Come on in.
00:45During the roughly 22 weeks of the year when there are no classes,
00:49Avesta lives with his parents in their condominium, which his father bought some 30 years ago.
00:54He usually eats breakfast with his mother.
00:58So the jam here is a type of quince jam, Iranian quince.
01:02And I tend to get it with a bit of cream, just eat it with toast.
01:12Avesta's parents are both from Iran.
01:15His mother came to England 25 years ago.
01:18At home we just don't speak in English, we speak in Farsi or Persian.
01:21And, yeah, everything in the home is practically Persian.
01:27We don't really have a very British sort of cultural house.
01:31And since that, I actually never actually tried proper British food until I went to university.
01:40I'm ethnically Iranian. I've been born and raised in the UK.
01:43That's typical of London because there are multiple people across London who would say that
01:47they don't have just one cultural identity, they have several.
01:50So British Indian, British Iranian, British anything, really.
01:52That's very important to me, to maintain both my own ethnic and original heritage cultures
01:59and also the culture of where I've been born and raised.
02:02Come on, you bud, you scream back at me.
02:05So this is my room.
02:07It's a serial to think that I actually lived here in this room for the past 22 years.
02:11And over here I've got my whole multicultural books section, so books in other languages.
02:16So I'm fluent in four languages and I'm proficient in three more languages as well.
02:20So that's English, German, Persian, French, fluency.
02:23And proficiency in Chinese, Russian and Swedish.
02:28But Avesta isn't studying languages, rather physics and computer science at Durham University
02:33in the northeast of England, one of the best universities in the country.
02:37Unlike in many EU countries, universities in the UK are not free.
02:41The fees at Avesta's university are £9,250 per year, some US$12,000.
02:48I get a full loan because my parents are both pensioners.
02:51And I also get a grant, a scholarship on top of that.
02:55But I also hold two jobs as well.
02:57So I work at a bar and I also work in the lab.
02:59After spending time studying, today Avesta has a meeting in the centre of London.
03:04It takes him around an hour to get there by subway train, called the Tube.
03:09Each day, as many as five million passengers ride the various subway lines in the British capital.
03:15Tourists often block the way in the city centre.
03:19And the city centre is expensive.
03:22Avesta can't afford to go out to eat here often.
03:25But today, he's meeting three fellow students in Chinatown.
03:28Some 80 restaurants are concentrated here over just a few streets.
03:33For Avesta, it's a place where he can practice his language skills.
03:59The South Bank is a popular meeting place, in part because it's free to just hang out along the Thames
04:04River.
04:05However, the cost of living in London is rising.
04:07The average rent for new leases on apartments is some £2,100 per month, around US$2,800.
04:16Young people cannot afford London.
04:18They cannot live here.
04:19If you want to buy a house, unless you struck gold and make a serious fortune,
04:24it's very unlikely that you'll be able to afford a house in your lifetime in London.
04:27You'll have to stick to the outskirts.
04:29Avesta will complete his bachelor's degree next year.
04:32Then he hopes to work in either the tech sector or the diplomatic corps, and to see more of the
04:38world.
04:38I would not be who I am if I had not been in London.
04:40Here, everyone speaks different languages.
04:42There's not just one language that everyone speaks.
04:44That's something that's made me who I am.
04:46I just feel so much comfortable.
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