Over my last three weeks in London, I have definitely learned a lot about the culture. From work culture to behavior on public transport, there are things that I have been better at adapting to than others. I’ve learned that the work culture is very social, with buzzing offices (especially closer to the weekend) and small social gatherings after work being often, usually once a week minimum. I would say I identify closely with the social aspect of office life, as I’ve learned I very much enjoy a workplace where for most of the day, everyone is talking, laughing, and giving input on each other’s projects, even when they fall out of their department. This environment has made it much easier for me to adapt to working in a city I’ve never been in before, as my coworkers have been extremely welcoming. They contribute to an environment where I am not afraid to ask questions or admit to the things I do not know– like the spelling differences between the US and UK, which is especially notable as my internship focuses on the writing aspects of marketing.
One part of London’s work and educational culture I struggled to adapt to at first was the lack of specific direction. For many of my school assignments and email outlines, there are little guidelines telling me what to do. Compared to my experiences in the US, where I felt like I received meticulous guidelines for any kind of assignment or project, this is extremely different. While I have learned to adapt, and think I might even enjoy this lack of direction more than thoroughly-written directions, it did take me a week or two to get rid of the urge to ask clarifying questions. We had been warned that our assignments and projects would be vague, so I knew not to ask too many questions, and just to do my best and make corrections based on feedback I received. After three weeks, I have come to really enjoy this. It’s led to some great general critiques that I can carry with me through different kinds of writing relating to my class, and for my job my supervisor and I have generated a list of new ideas to try out that have come from the creative process. It’s fun to show her my ideas, and to find places where they work even if it isn’t the project that I’m working on at the moment.
Navigating cross-cultural situations has been an interesting part of this experience. Something specific that comes to mind is how people behave on the tube and the buses, London’s main forms of public transport. I quickly noticed that my classmates and I were almost always the loudest people in these places. In the US, our behavior would be considered normal, having conversations across the center aisle with one another and talking at our version of a normal level. After the first week, it was obvious that this was not what was normal here. We would be stared at by people on the tube and the buses, and admittedly still are. It’s a hard habit to break, but we’re working on it!
