Christmas Time In London

As the semester has been winding down, decorations having been going up. Last week a few of us took the option to go see the lights around the city with Professor Forray and Professor Goodnight. We began our tour at Trafalgar Square, where there was a huge Christmas tree, a giant menorah, and Christmas carolers. Our tour guide would later explain to us that local choirs sing in front of the tree every night in December before Christmas. For the next two hours, we walked around the city seeing the different light displays that were up. Seeing the city with all of these lights gave it a completely different feel. The tour guide told us all about how different stores compete with one another to see who can put up the best display. From a business standpoint, it is a pretty genius way to attract customers to your store. If this experience has shown me anything, it is that there is much more to the world than America. This walk through the city really brought out the holiday spirit for me. Not all of the lights were big and tacky like they tend to be back in America and the menorah was a very nice touch. It is not very often that you see a menorah back in America. Although the city of London recognized Hanukah with the big menorah, in the end, as my picture shows, it is all about Christmas for the businesses who put up these amazing lights. Seeing all of these lights here was amazing. It reminded me of all of the things I have to look forward to when I come back to America. It is really sad to think that I may never come back to London, but the people that I have met here and the things that I’ve learned will be with me for the rest of my life.

It's only goodbye for now...

Coming down to the last couple weeks I just think about how much I can’t wait to go back to America and what I am used to. But at the same time there is just a feeling of sadness of what I am going to miss when leaving Richmond.

Sure the London food was quite a cultural shock for me when I first showed up to Richmond, nothing like soggy noodles and the mystery meat, but it’s something I will miss. The cafeteria was really creative when coming up with the food selection but I feel in all honesty made me try something new. It was impossible to starve myself for the several months I was in Richmond and no college student wants to spend large amounts of money going out to eat every day. So trying the creative food helped me experience many different cultures at one sitting.

For when I did go out to eat, I will miss and at the same time I won’t miss it. Here is London, eating out is usually a waiting experience. You wait to get your order in, you wait to get your order, and you wait even longer until the wait staff notices your finished with your food. It’s not even a usual wait time, I mean you wait a long time for this process to finish up. So I won’t miss how long it took to order food and leave the restaurant, but I will miss the good conversations that struck up while waiting forever for the food.

I won’t miss the London drivers though who speed up and try to hit you when you’re walking across the street through the crossing area. Or the bus rides. The bus rides can get quite scary as well, as they weave through the seemingly narrow stripes of road and you wonder if the bus is really going to make it through the tight squeeze of cars on either side of the bus.

Most importantly though I feel I will mostly miss the people I befriend on and off campus. I feel the people that I have met had really made it the experience it was meant to be. And going home in a couple days I really start to wish I had more time to get to know them better. But with every door that closes, a new door opens. And I feel even though I am saying good bye to Richmond, it won’t be forever, in a sense I will hopefully keep intact with people and maybe even visit them.

The Countdown Begins

Now that the countdown begins there is so much going through my mind. As happy as I am to go home a part of me wants to stay. I'm so use to my regular routines here now that when I go home I might feel a little lost. Not so much because of the environment but because it's another drastic change that I'll be making. First we had to get used to being on our own in college then it was making an adjustment to being in London. Now we're going to our original home for a month to go back to school. I feel as though we are always in a constant change and we have no choice but to go with the flow. As exciting as the many changes are those memories stay with you forever. This experience had so much to offer and it only revealed itself if you were open to seeing it.

London is a very adventurous place. The adventure is beyond the environment itself but making the best out of the experience with the people you are with. I just recently went to Warwick Castle and I think we had more fun acting a fool then reading the fun facts on the wall. London created friendships and memories. It's the little things that made this trip amazing and I personally wouldn't change anything but add more adventure. Three months seemed like it was enough to see everything but it's not. There's still so much more to see and do, but all good things come to an end. I'm happy with my experiences and my memories. My goal was to have as much fun as I could and that's what I did.

The Deep End

As I take one last look at the beautiful city of London I realize that time has passed by and I have completely adapted to the lifestyle. From the British accent to the cars driving on the wrong side of the road it has become “normal”. I can’t say that being here has given me a complete mind altering culture shock but more like a hiccup for what the world has to offer. For starters I knew the language so there wasn’t a language barrier and students here are not as culturally attached as I thought they might have been. Most students at Richmond University come from extremely wealthy upper class families. A person like myself that comes from a middle class family is in no comparison to some of these other students. My Richmond professor was the first to point it out to me and explained how some of the students come from very rich families therefore they do not put as much interest or effort in their studies because they have the confidence that family will provide. He then told me that this was something that I will someday have to deal with in the real world, different types of economical and social classes that may think very differently and have contrasting points of views. This is something I began to think about and how it would affect me in a globalized work place.

It’s not to say that my time spent here in London hasn’t provided me with a cultural experience. The people who have had an impact in my life in one way or another have also walked the same streets I do today. The Beatles, Shakespeare, and Newton all creative thinkers and risk takers have left their trace here in London. It is a city filled with history and mystery but it must be searched for. Culture does not always pop out sometimes you have to go out into the deep end to find it.

Time for Reflections

Our time in London is seemingly over and the reflection process is in full swing. Over the last week, my friends from both Richmond and WNEC have been reminiscing about the three months we have spent here. I have to admit that I am extremely disappointed by our nearing departure. Richmond and London have become a home to me and I have met many new friends who I do not want to leave behind.

I have grown accustomed to many things here in London; from driving on the left side of the road to “chips” instead of fries. I’ve discovered rugby and pub crawls, and most importantly how to use public transportation instead of my car. While most Americans believe the English dislike us, it is just the opposite. People on the streets are friendly and even interested in where we are from.

The travelling was also a huge bonus to our study abroad trip. The English countryside is beautiful and their extensive history is visible in the form of castles and cathedrals. The country packs as much diversity as does the entire U.S. with clear differences between north and south. However, they can still come together as a country in certain situations such as football matches.

My notion of English food being bland was also erased. From fish and chips to steak and ale pie, nothing beat a delicious pub meal. Even the burgers could compete with ours!

As glad as I will be to go back to the states to see my family and friends, nothing could compare to the experiences I had while studying abroad in London. Being a guinea pig, I can honestly say that the SEA program was a great success and was worth the three months away from home!

The End is Near

Our amazing adventure has just about come to a close. Classes are done, and most of us are rushing around to secure last minute Christmas gifts and touristy trinkets to give to friends back home. Although we have been in London for over three months now I cannot help but think that we have yet to even scratch the surface of what lies in this great city, but we have certainly done a lot. One of the most important legacies from this trip will surely be the connections we all made with people while we were here. From the very start of my college career, in first year seminar class, the importance of building a large network of people was the subject of many lectures and essays. Through this experience we have all expanded our networks a great deal by meeting a lot of different people. I am certain that everyone on this trip is going to keep in touch with at least a few people they met over the course of the semester, and will maintain their network, just as we were taught to. They may not seem important in the world right now, but 10 years down the road who knows? Anything could happen. A popular phrase used in class was “it is not always what you know, but who you know, that matters” and I believe that by crossing the pond all of us experienced new people and cultures and ideas that will have an impact on their lives going forward. Even if our new friends here do not end up assisting any of us in our future careers, their ideas will and have led all 13 of us to becoming better rounded students and citizens in general.

Green vs. Guzzlers

Richmond-upon-Thames is a fairly wealthy suburb of London, and for the car buff it is a spectacular place to live. Expensive and exotic cars line almost every street, and here the Porsche 911 is as common as the Toyota Camry. Around the corner from our university sits an Aston Martin, the James Bond car, in all its glory. BMWs and Mercedez Benz can be found all over, and the occasional Rolls-Royce and Bentley can be seen (and heard) flying down the streets of Richmond on any given day. It has become a fun game to try to spot the most expensive car we see as we walk down to Tesco (after the Aston Martin of course). The ultimate winner was the white Lambourghini seen in Kingston while a few of us were shopping there one day. The driver saw us gawking at it and gave off a show, revving the engine and speeding down the street. Pure Beauty. With all of these luxury cars and sports cars on the road the thing that is surprising is the number and different kinds of Smart cars that are seen frequently. While when most people in the United States think of the Smart car as a tiny round bubble on wheels, over here there is a lot more variety to the brand, and while all of them are quite small they do boast even a convertible model. The British people must be on the green bandwagon, as the very efficient Smart car seems to be almost as popular as the luxury brands here. I am not certain if the Smart car has become a status symbol here yet, but I believe that if I were to come back to Richmond a few years down the road there would probably be a lot less of those gas-guzzling luxury sports cars and a great deal more Smart cars in the driveways of some of these wealthy people.

England's Other Sport

Almost everyone knows that, in England, football is king. That was evidenced by all the effort put into their recent massive bid for the 2018 World Cup, a prize they coveted but ultimately did not receive. However, there is another sport popular here that is not so well known around the world-rugby. Rugby is England’s second passion, sometimes forgotten by people in the United States but certainly not here. That was evident in the rugby match I went to recently at Twickenham Stadium, the largest all-rugby stadium in the world, between the England Barbarians and South Africa. While most would assume there would be a one-sided crowd, it was not the case at all, as some of England’s largest South African populations live near the stadium. A game that is as physically and mentally demanding as rugby requires a certain amount of excitement from the crowd, as the players feed off of their reaction. And the crowd at Twickenham did not disappoint. While the stadium was only about half full, seemingly every person in attendance was a die-hard fan, and there was a surprising amount of noise and intensity from a stadium with barely the lower decks filled on a dreary, raw December afternoon. Even though it ended up to be a bit of a blowout from the start, the crowd was in it the whole time and it was an amazing experience to be able to see a match in one of the most famous rugby stadiums in the world. As a sports management major, I was also paying attention to how their stadiums were set up, and to my surprise most of the concessions were outside the actual stadium itself, which is in contrast to a lot of stadiums in the United States. Twickenham Stadium was an amazing experience for me both as a sports management major and a rugby fan.

The Return of the Dutch

This final blog continues the (epic) saga that began in blog #2 as three of the college students Luke, Meli (our friend from the last blog who has since said that it is okay to use her name in the blogs) who I met Couchsurfing in Leiden, Netherlands over fall break visited us this past weekend. As opposed to the ten hour bus ride we had taken to get to the Netherlands, they flew in to London Heathrow and made their way to the University around three o’clock on Friday, December 3. They made a grand entrance into the school as they each had packed multiple giant backpacks full of mysterious ‘essentials’ and were dragging them around with moderately impressive ease. We moved all their belongings upstairs and they told us that they had a surprise for us. With wide eyes and drooling mouths, we gazed in anticipation as they removed seven packages of Stroopwafels, possibly the best food I’ve had in the last three months, (see picture) from their luggage and placed them on my bed. After thanking them profusely, we walked down to Roebucks, a local pub. After a quick drink and some talking, we decided to watch a movie. We hustled back to school, reserved a classroom and rented Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Our Dutch friends were tired as they had been up since three in the morning for their flight and went to bed about halfway through the movie. The next morning, we said our goodbyes and our friends left to go stay with one of their cousins in Brighton. This experience of meeting people from different cultures and communities and forming relationships so quickly is something which is fairly extraordinary and is something that we would not have gotten to experience had we chosen to go to school elsewhere.

A "New" England

Recently, my cousin and four friends came to England on a five-day break to tour around England. On their last day before departing, I was able to see them and travel throughout Oxford for the entire day. I have never been to Oxford and all I had ever known was that I assumed Oxford University was there. Upon arrival in Oxford with my cousin, I got a dose of country shock.

I realize that it seems naïve to think that after being to London and Bath that I now know what all of England is like, but honestly, I could not imagine what could be extremely different from the capital city and the rural outskirts of England. Well the answer is Oxford. The architecture is completely different, as are the style of stores. The people wear different clothes and interact with foreigners differently as well. More than just entering a new part of England, I felt like I had entered a new country once again. Each time I got to a drastically new part of the country I start to see how different a country, no matter how small, can be. It also opened my eyes to how easy it can be to assume certain characteristics of a country are all the same in each part of the country. I also came to realize how hard it is to really say one knows a country without spending time living in each of the different parts of the country. However, how many people have even done so in the United State? Personally, it was not until recently that I had visited the Mid-West, and even now, I cannot say I know the culture there. Having been able to see family was comforting but to have my eyes reopened once again about another side of English culture was the greatest experience in Oxford.

It's A Small World After All

Once again, going through the final transition of major three credit courses has and passed, and the semester has begun to wind down. Having just completed an International business course, I am noticing a major shift in interest in my global awareness and interest in global issues since being overseas in London. Now, whether that adjustment would have came anyway due to my maturing as a person and a student is another argument, but being overseas in London has definitely exposed me to a whole new world of international ramifications. The news in London tends to be aimed at much more global stories than the news back in the United States has been. Obviously, this is more than likely due to the mere size differential of the two countries. The United States is larger in area and population, therefore naturally has a greater volume domestic news stories to fill a half hour block than Great Britain. That being said, being exposed to a multitude of stories with global implications while in the United Kingdom has truly shifted my paradigm of myself more than merely a citizen of the United States, but a citizen of the globe. This feeling, combined with the news of the recent Ireland bailout, Korean dissonance, and the global implications of the WikiLeaks scandal, have further aided that transition. This process to a global citizen has been accelerated and intensified by living in London, something that could not be duplicated back home in the States.

In a business market that is shifting daily towards more and more international commerce, a true global understanding has become as important as ever. Western New England College offers great courses and business projects to help students obtain this grasp of a global understanding. However, embedding oneself in another culture and witnessing the varying ways that the culture views the world, outside of the American viewpoint, cannot be compared to anything I have learned in a classroom. The majority of students that I have witnessed from Europe and the Middle East have no problem and are extremely educated in the discussion of international issues. The same cannot be true about students in America. Coming to London will continue to have a lasting impact on my view of the world both personally and professionally for the rest of my life.

Back to Reality

Our time here in London is starting to wind down. We suddenly only have a month left and I feel like it completely snuck up on me. A little while ago I felt completely ready to go back to the States but now I'm not so sure. I'm starting to see things a little differently know and I'm realizing all the small things I'm going to miss. I feel that this experience is also much more final because I'm realistically not going to be able to come back to Richmond anytime soon to visit.

After realizing our time here is starting to run out, I began thinking of all the things I still need to see and do before going back. I have a huge list of museums and sights that I haven't gotten to see yet because it seemed like I had tons of time to do everything before we leave in December. I've become so accustomed to living here that I forget I'm still technically a tourist and that I have many touristy things to still cross off my list.

It's so bizarre to think that this place we currently refer to as "home" is only an extremely temporary living situation. I feel that I'm not only speaking for myself when I say that I have made some amazing friends here and have had some incredible adventures. However, in just under a month, all of this will seem so long ago and far away. We need to remember this semester forever and allow it to shape us in whatever way to always have the memories with us.

London Loves It's Football

In America we call the sport soccer but here in London it is known as Football. London is the place to go if you are a football fan. With the top footballing clubs and one of the most popular national teams in the world, England especially London is where many fans dream to be. I am in that dream right now. I had the extraordinary opportunity to see England play their long time rivals, the French, in one of the top footballing venues in the world, Wembley Stadium. 86,000 people watched on as these two nations battled before our eyes for 90 minutes. It's one thing to watch a game on the tele but its a totally different game when you see it for yourself. The fever of the crowd was so intoxicating. The two national anthems started to play. First to play was the French national anthem. It was followed by several boos from the crowd but immediately after the English national anthem came on. When you see and hear 86,000 people sing the English national anthem you get butterflies in your stomach. It was definitely something special. For the entire 90 minutes all I could hear was cheering and swearing. The English take their football very seriously. I heard an Englishmen behind me when France scored call the English goalkeeper "You useless git!" Even the slightest mistake would get ridiculed.

Football is like life or death in London. Millions will tune into their teles and radios every game. I love being here in London because it's so easy to strike up a conversation with anyone. All you have to do is talk about football and you are considered family to them. Several times now I have been to pubs where I started cheering for Manchester United when they were playing Chelsea or another London based team and I have been booed and sworn at. Sometimes I have to be careful because I feel like I might get mugged. They take football that seriously over here.

I used this experience to also further my knowledge about sport management. Since I want to get into the soccer world after college, I thought it might be a good idea to take mental notes of things at Wembley Stadium which I might have to deal with in the future. I noticed all the ad boards, security, media and even how the concessions were priced. I do this every time I go to a sporting venue. I have been to many soccer stadiums but none have been as impressive as Wembley. As a sport management major Wembley Stadium as about as good as it gets. I hope someday I will come back to London to work here. London really does love it's football.

New Perceptions of Food, New Perceptions of the World

One of most common representations of culture is in the form of food. In that respect when I first came to Richmond the American International University while I knew that the cafeteria food would not be the same as going out to a restaurant, I still expected some of the food served to the students to have a basis of English culture. What I did find out however was that the cafeteria tried to serve food from across the world, and based on the opinions of natives from those countries, the food poorly represented the country.

Going out into the restaurants in town has been an experience as well. Unexpectedly, depending on which restaurant one goes into depends on the quality of the food. While McDonalds may have gained more appeal from those in the United States due to its cleaner appearance and fresher meat, other restaurants lack in the satisfying taste. Listening to the other students at the university I began to understand that the reason many students may not like the food is not necessarily because of the quality but because of expectations.

When the German students eat schnitzel they may not like it because the schnitzel they eat back home is such a different quality and made of different minor ingredients that when they expect the home cooked meal and do not get it they are disappointed. I myself have eaten a steak or eggs and bacon and have thought that it did not taste well or I ended up being disappointed. What I eventually ended up realizing was when I ate the eggs at a small café what was different was that instead of using butter to grease the pan, cooks here use oil and that’s what changes the taste. After I realized the difference in taste, while still strange in my mouth, the eggs seemed more different than bad.

This mentality started to spread to other aspects of English culture, and then culture in general, and soon realized that bad became new.

Becoming a Londoner

Perhaps the most important skill I have learned during my time in England is the ability to adapt. Since the UK is an English-speaking region, there was not a huge language barrier which made transitioning a bit easier. However, I still think there is enough of a difference that I have noticed changes in how I speak. Most of us have picked up the phrase “fair enough” and use it exhaustingly in conversation. When I go back home, people will probably give me funny looks when I ask if I can use their toilet rather than bathroom. I have even learned some basic French in preparation for my trip to Paris in a few weeks. People appreciate you making the effort as opposed to adopting the attitude that they should be able to understand you.
I also need to adapt my behavior in such small ways as how I cross the street. Most people learn pretty quickly to look the opposite way before crossing or have almost gotten hit by a car. Another thing that is different is that cars will literally not stop unless you are at a crosswalk. I am used to just strolling across at a corner and expecting cars to stop for me. Here I am left with the option of waiting for all the cars to go by or walking the 50 feet to a crosswalk. Walking on the sidewalk is an interesting experience as well. Sometimes when I am walking to close to the edge, I can feel the buses brushing by me because the street is so narrow. This has happened even recently.
The way to best learn about people is from people. It is one thing to read about a country in a book and another to interact with its people. We are lucky because we are not alone here. It is easy to meet people when you have a buffer friend. When people go overseas for work, it is likely they will not know anyone in that country. I have found that I like Britain the more I change myself to be like the people here. I do not know if I would have been able to do it on my own, but hopefully doing this trial run will make it easier if there is a next time.

Culture Brings More to Business Than Just Crunching Numbers

Travelling around England is one of the best parts of this study abroad experience. England has a log of history and this history needs to be preserved. The National Trust is a charity that looks after historic houses, gardens and ancient monuments. I became a member of the National Trust in early October and since then visited a few of their locations. Petworth House and Ham House were my favorite. These houses capture and represent the life in the England the way you see it in the movies in the 1500-1700's. Ham House was used to film movies such as "The Young Victoria" and "To Kill a King", while "Harry Potter" was filmed in another one of the National Trust locations at the Lacock Abbey, and "Pride and Prejudice" at Basildon Park. We watch movies everyday and the media plays a large part in our lives. Studying abroad in England exposes you to the culture and gets you appreciate things you wouldnt normally notice.

Being a business student it made me realize that business connects to many other professional fields, such as media and film. A student with a business major wont necessarily end up in an office but they could be working as a manager, accountant or financial advisor for a movie or they could be one of the managers of the National Trust. In either case they need to be well rounded in both fields. Business is everywhere and I finally began to recognize how it intervined with history and media because of this experience abroad.

London Town

One of the great things that I have learned from this semester is the value of networking. This trip has given me connections to people in countries across the globe. That is a valuable resource that couldn’t have been obtained anywhere else. Being here in London provides a unique experience for our group as business students. London is a very diverse city. My parents were here last week and one of the first things my dad pointed out was that he barely heard English when he was walking down the street. That is the beauty of London. Not only do you have the British people, who are very friendly, but you have people here from all over the world. Business in the United States is becoming an international affair, and being able to network and have connections with people outside of the U.S. is a resource that cannot be bought. I think another part of this experience that we as a group have benefited from is the cultural aspect. Being in London we’re only a short flight away from mainland Europe, which provides great opportunities to see all of the cultures of Europe. But if we can’t make our ways over to mainland Europe, there is still so much culture here to see. The combination of the laid back European lifestyle and intense concentration of different cultures here puts a lot into perspective for me. I’ve been out of the states before, but this trip has really shown me that there is more to life. You can tell who the Americans are here because they seem to rush around more than anyone else does. When I was giving my parents a tour of Richmond and the city last week, I made sure to take my time so that they could see things they would normally miss if going at their regular pace. I think one of the biggest things that I will take away from this trip is the value of slowing down every now and then. Living in such a big city like London would seem like it would always be busy. But it is because I’ve now been exposed to the busy life here that I can appreciate when things slow down even more. There is much more to see if you take the time to look.

The Maps are Still Confusing

Being in London I felt I would get use to the different modes of transportation and learn to realise driving a car would no longer be an option while I am abroad. Looking at the maps over at the rail station proves to be even more confusing then I would of thought. Though I feel one of the main reasons I get so confused at looking at the map is I don’t know the cities or towns that are around. I would be trying to find a certain town and it would be quite difficult because I don’t know the surrounding area.
To prove how challenging it was for me to use the rail system was when I tried to take the above ground to Kingston. Going on the journey alone I felt it would make sense to ask a worker at the window what platform I should go to and around what time I should be there. Well, even after asking for help from the worker, I still managed to get on the wrong train. A train that took me an hour nowhere close to where I had to be. I felt the reason for me going as far as I did was I kept thinking that the next stop would be Kingston, but that never ended up happening.
I feel the way I could have avoided that situation was to have known neighbouring towns to Kingston so I would have had an idea if I was close or not. But getting lost is all part of the adventure of being abroad. Being in London teaches me that the people in the culture have different ways of transporting themselves. Though back in the states we have the same modes of transportation, but for me growing up in my teenage years I always had a car or someone to drive me where I needed to go. Image from: http://www.emta.com/article.php3?id_article=496

That American Girl..

I've successfully completed the first half of my experience in London. I've grown accustomed to routines such as going into town 3 times a week to top up my phone, quick trips to the pub every now and then, and long exhausting days of traveling with my friends on the tube. In addition to all the excitement that I've enjoyed in London, I decided to further my European experience to really be acknowledged as that "American European Girl".

During my Fall break I went to visit the beautiful Paris and my family. Although I didn't do much because my aunt and uncle had to work,plus there were the "greves" (riots), I made the most out of my experience. I guess that's one thing I've learned throughout the first half of this abroad semester. People don't worry so much when things don't go as planned and are out of the ordinary. For example, Day 1 it took forever to get our ID cards but the school staff was very relaxed about it. In Paris, people are struggling to fill up at least half a tank of gas yet that doesn't stop them from moving and continuing with their day. They choose not to make a fuss and continue to be productive.

Aside from the famous Eiffel Tower and the famous opera theatre, Paris has its little factors that contribute to its uniqueness. The environment is literally like the movies, couples are everywhere showing their love and affection. Also, there is art being drawn and painted anywhere you turn your head. Unlike the "different" caricatures I usually find myself attracted to in the eminent NYC, the "artistes" in Paris have more technique "et une touche plus douce" ( a softer touch). During my stay I also picked up a little French, as well as memories and pictures, just to bring back home with me as a souvenir.

As I said earlier, everywhere I go, I want to leave the memories of that "American European Girl". Coming to a new environment with the noticeable American accent, yet leaving with the learned traditions of the people.

A Very Dutch Fall Break

While eating dinner a few days before fall break, Luke and I were joined by a friend of ours from Richmond and asked if we had any plans for the upcoming break. We did not and she suggested a trip to the Netherlands, as she had not yet found anyone to go with. An hour or so later, we had finished purchasing tickets which would grant us admission to two ten hour bus rides for only fifty-eight pounds each. The rest of the time before the trip was spent in anticipation, setting up people to stay with through a system called Couchsurfing. Couchsurfing is a website run program in which people offer to host others in their area for a pre-determined amount of time. After class on Friday, we packed up a backpack each and began our journey.

After an uncomfortable overnight bus ride, our first hours were spent in a rainy, freezing early morning Amsterdam climate. We had no place to go in Amsterdam and decided to hop a train out to Leiden, a city southwest of Amsterdam itself. There we met our first Couchsurfing hosts, Jordan and Tommy. After one night with them, during which we slept nine people on the floor of a tiny apartment, we headed out to meet our next hosts; a group of college kids also located in Leiden. We made fast friends with them and three of them are actually coming to London in December. We spent much of the trip with these hosts and our Richmond friend taught all of us how to play ‘kung pow,’ a very fun, yet challenging strategy game. (picture included) The rest of the journey included spending two nights with two different hosts in Utrect, hopping trains, eating delicious food (kebabs), and learning various (and often obscene) Dutch phrases.

This trip was an intriguing lesson in Dutch culture and allowed for all three parties involved to both meet and share stories with people who reside in a culture which is inexplicably different from our own. We learned much about Dutch society and imparted knowledge about much of our own society upon them. An example of this is the fact that we spent hours sharing popular Youtube videos with all our hosts. This fall break was immensely fun and I would encourage anyone interested to vacation to the Netherlands.

Halfway There

The halfway point has come and we now begin the ever-shortening final half of our time in London. It’s hard to imagine that I have spent over two months in another country as a foreign student. Whereas the first half of my stay was filled with new experiences and new people, the second has been filled with normality and routine. That is not to say that I have grown bored of London. In fact, there are many benefits to becoming accustomed to this country and its culture. Granted the excitement may have subsided but that is expected when you see the same things on a daily basis.

It is still interesting to see the vast differences between England and the U.S. For example, today is Guy Fawkes Day. Although the English population sees this holiday as any other excuse for celebration, I find it odd that a country would celebrate the day a man tried to kill their king and destroy their Parliament. Then again, the joke of the semester has been how backwards is compared to the rest of the world (i.e. driving on the left side of the road).

However, I feel like these “backwards” tendencies in the English culture are what remind me that I am in another country. It’s easy to forget this when the population speaks your language (albeit with an accent), eats similar food, and drives the same vehicles.

I have roughly met my activity goals which I created before coming here. Even so, I know there is so much more to do in such an amazing city and country. I do not doubt for a second that I’ll be severely disappointed when I return to the states yet it was more than worth it to experience living and studying abroad in such an interesting and diverse place.

Adjusting to City Life

In the two months spent 'across the pond' in London, there are numerous changes that I have seen in myself regarding the surrounding and culture here, that would be extremely difficult to experience in another situation. One of the greatest of these changes is feeling familiar and comfortable with the hustle & bustle of not only Central London, but that of Richmond town.

Growing up in a small town, with not many places within walking distance, the idea of the city often times seemed like an unknown jungle with many unfamiliar factors, including the busy streets and packed sidewalks. If anybody had asked me to take the subway when travelling to Boston or New York City, I would have had a puzzled and confused look on my face, and would have solved the map with much difficulty.

However, at this time, I have noticed that the walks into Richmond which people busily brushing by you to get to their jobs on time or there nearest coffee shop have become part of a daily routine. Crowded streets are no longer something that is unfamiliar and foreign, but something that is part of my everyday life. This is also the case for mastering the underground tube lines. Now i find myself understanding the various patterns of the lines throughout Central London.

These adjustments will prove to pay huge dividends in my personal life. Going to school to be an accountant, there is a strong chance I may get a job in a large, busy, bustling city similar to that of London. Previously, I would have had to not only undergo the adjustment process of a new job, a new city, but also a new culture, that of the metropolitan area. However, now that I have lived in a metropolitan area for a significant period of time, the third adjustment that may be necessary will prove to be much easier, thanks to this trip abroad.

Taking Advantage of the Location

As a Marketing Communications/Advertising major, many potential jobs can start from networking. It is always important to make good impressions, for you never know how someone may be able to help you out or lend a recommendation for you. Being in London is the ultimate networking opportunity. Even the other students at Richmond University have many connections all over the world. Although we are only here for a semester, I've already met many friends who I know I will keep in touch with once I go back to America. Through the trips I have been on and other experiences of branching out, I have met some really interesting people who have promised me some amazing opportunities.

Opportunities to meet new people can happen in really unexpected places, such as a museum, on the tube, or a night out on the weekend. Back home I wouldn't have felt as confident approaching someone or starting a conversation with a person I didn't know, but being here has made me feel more daring and outgoing. I think that since I know I only have a semester here, I want to take full advantage of being in London and meeting as many interesting people possible.

Doing the Sophomore Experience Abroad has helped me feel more comfortable meeting new people and also at presenting myself as a future business professional. From this trip I have made some really strong connections with people and already feel much more capable to go out and be successful in the business world.

Getting it together

In the month that I have been in London I have found that things are not as easy as I thought they would be. From the amount of school work that I must complete to managing my budget, it all has to do with time and how you manage it. I cannot say that I have been doing the best job when it comes to managing my time but I try my best, I have three classes a day each one hour and half long some days two of them are back to back, knowing how to form a schedule is key when you know your day is limited. I noticed towards the beginning of the first WNEC course I was becoming a bit sloppy I had never really had the same class three times a day so at first it was overwhelming. As time passed by though I quickly started to adapt to the pace at which we were running the course and it made me realize what I am fully capable of. It was almost as if I were conditioning myself to be able to take on more work load with less time which is a skill necessary in the business world. As a result of going to the same class more than once a day you become close to your professors and actually spend time with them out of class like if you didn’t see them enough during the week. One professor took us to go see the London Welsh play rugby and also see a play called Glen Gary, Glen Ross both experiences were great I think having this connection with our professor will only help us build a greater level of communication than just student to professor.

When it comes to expenses things here are much more expensive not the greatest thing for a college student. I am generally very good at managing my money but when I go out to buy some necessities I always convert the price on the label to American dollars and find it to be more expensive. That’s not all I spend my money on but also when I go out with friends I tend to shred through money like never before I lose track of the fact that I am not using American dollars but pounds. These mistakes have taught me to be more precautious with my money by converting my currency and seeing where my money is more beneficial. In the long run this will benefit me by being more financially responsible and giving me that edge in the global business which will require me to be able to convert currencies and manage the distribution of money.

Making A Difference

Making a difference in your own community back home has a lot of meaning but what is more meaningful is making a difference in someone else's community. This week I seized an opportunity to make a difference in the London area. I joined a club here at the Richmond University called The Green Project. I was invited to help clean up a section of the Thames River. When I got to the clean up site, much to my surprise a lot of volunteers showed up. Some were students, some were young children and some were older community volunteers. The first thing we did was put on our waiters. Everyone including myself looked completely ridiculous in our shoulder high waiters. After putting on the waiters we signed in and went straight into the water. Our job was to reach into the river to pick up any trash on the bottom of it. I thought the worst things I would pull up would be paper bags and some cans but I was so wrong. After several hours of cleaning the river, we pulled out rollerblades, a bicycle, beer bottles, radios, a safe, practically an entire car which included the engine, several tires, a hood, an axel and a transmission. We even pulled out an entire bath tub. It was so sad seeing what kind of destruction people are capable of. You can read about pollution but you can never fully understand what it truly does to the environment. Actually picking up the trash yourself changes your entire perspective on everything. It impacted me so much that I cant even throw a napkin or a wrapper on the ground anymore. That water was so polluted which trash it is so hard not to get mad. Many companies just dump their trash into waterways because it is the cheapest and easiest solution to their waste problems. Businesses in the modern world can be so inconsiderate when it comes to the environment dumping whatever wherever they want. As a business student at Western New England it is difficult for me to see that companies can be so socially irresponsible. To think that these companies our the models for many business students today is kind of scary. Cleaning the Thames this week was overall just an incredible experience for me. Making a difference in one community has an effect on other communities. We only cleaned one part of the river but with the combined help of many other groups something even more positive will be able to come of this.

Learning More Than Expected

It is expected that one is going to learn a lot in the class room, but the sophomore experience provides more than one type of learning. In the last month at Richmond, the classes and the work load have been quite crammed. It was challenging at times, however, it provided me with the ability to work on a task and get it done by morning. Most of the assignments, whatever they were, were time consuming and had to be done the following day. This challenge of getting the work done has helped me become more organized and sharpen my research skills.

Everything we did will help dramatically in the business world, because time is money and now I am better at managing my time, and working on things that are time sensitive. If I was presented with a big project and had only 24 hours to do it I would get it done on time, because I had to learn to research, and implement that research in a time sensitive manner.

The studying at Richmond is a good experience because it’s different than what I am normally used to and it’s good to have this different environment to study business in. Its international, its fast paced, and it’s hard, and all three elements combined is what makes this a good experience because it has really been preparing me for the future world of business.

"Broke College Kid" Takes on New Meaning

An important skill to have especially as a business major is to know how to manage money. I think I speak for the majority of the WNEC students when I say that we have begun to notice our funds dwindling rapidly. Many of the other students here come from extremely wealthy families and easily drop hundreds or thousands of dollars on a night out on the town. I know personally I worked two jobs this summer in preparation for this trip so it can be frustrating to hear about some of the things people spend money on.

However the consensus from the Americans I have talked to is “I am totally broke right now”. Being study abroad students, we are not allowed to get a job either. It is hard not to want to do everything and experience everything possible. Currently I am in the process of planning a trip for fall break. Already we have cut it down by at least half because we are feeling the financial strain. Things are not cheap over here and the exchange rate is far from favorable. We are not even halfway through the experience and some people have already blown through all or most of their saved money.

Here is where we as future moguls start to get creative with our money. Going out at night can easily rack up a hefty bill which may discourage some people from going out. I suggest only bringing a small amount of money maybe 10 or 20 pounds to cover the whole night and leave the debit card at home. If you don’t have the money you can’t spend it. Also people spend a lot of money on going out for food. However, the local grocery stores have decent food for a fraction of the cost. I also know some people write down how much they spend on what every week so then they can look at where they can cut down on money. Give yourself a weekly budget based on how much money you have for the whole trip.

In the future, people will trust us with their money whether in stocks or investments or company assets. Before we can handle that kind of responsibility, we can practice with our own money, and where better to start than with a place full of temptation like Europe?