Classes and my internship have continued after spring break and it’s nice to be back in London but it is definitely an adjustment after having no work. Over the course of this semester I’ve learned a lot of different things through both my classes and my internship. One skills that is definitely stressed in my classes here is teamwork and collaboration. All of my classes have semester long group projects and a lot of group work. I feel more connected to my classmates here than I usually do with classes at home because of how small the classes are and because everyone is willing to participate and share their thoughts. I see collaboration in my internship as well. There are three main teams within the company and they work together on a daily basis trying to get things done in the quickest and more effective way so that the company image stays the way it’s supposed to. Another soft skill that I have been developing is trying to balance life, school, and work. It has certainly been an adjustment. I am in work and school from 8am to 6pm and then when I get home I am extremely tired and still have to do my school work. It has definitely gotten easier but I am still trying to make my schedule the most beneficial for my life, schoolwork, and internship.

I have noticed that I have been gaining some hard skills as well, especially through my internship. I see the things that I have been learning in my classes back at Pitt manifest into my job, which is very interesting to see. One example is excel. I use excel at my internship most days. I have done a lot of excel work back at Pitt in my classes and having background knowledge of it and knowing how to navigate it is extremely helpful. Another skill that I think will be integral for my future career is knowing how to use shopify, which is an online database for retail shops. Considering I want to continue to work in fashion, it will be very helpful.

I have many cross-cultural interactions on a daily basis because most of my coworkers are English. I don’t believe there are that many cultural differences between the UK and the US, but there are definitely some. The one that stands out to me is syntax differences. The main ones that took a while for me to pick up on were the usage of the word “fine” and asking “you okay?”. The English say “fine” instead of “okay”, whereas in the US “fine” is sometimes seen as being rude. The English also ask “you okay” instead of “How’s it going”.

Those are some skills I’ve gained and some cultural differences I’ve picked up on while living and working in London!

Down below I’m including a picture of hyde park here in London and also some London street art! I’m also including a picture from my spring break in Spain!