The past month in London has been filled with exploration, excitement  and the development of new skills – both professionally and personally. The skills I have learned in London  I will carry with me back to Pittsburgh and throughout my academic and professional career. One of my biggest transferable skills that I have learned while studying and working abroad is adaptability. I have adapted to a new teaching style – classes here are 3 hours long as opposed to an hour at home, and they are much smaller and  more interactive. I’ve found that I find this style of learning much more engaging and I find myself more interested in my class topics. My teacher emphasizes not using technology during class and talking about concepts in a dicussioin style. At home, I am used to listening to a lecture and taking notes on my computer.  I have also adapted to workplace norms in Britian and generally existing  in a working environment. I have never commuted to school or work on public transportation before. For me, this means being in less control of being late or my morning in general. The tube very often has delays, or you may miss the line you were supposed to get on. Since almost everyone uses public transportation to get anywhere, people are much more understanding and have a more laid-back mindset when it comes to being on time. 

I think I have also developed my critical thinking and problem solving skills while being here. In our orientation, our presenters mentioned that we may find the British communication style to be less direct or more vague than what we are used to. In my experience, I have found this to be true. My projects for school have had prompts that are more general guidelines, and professors are looking to see what you do with the information given. They want you to apply what you have learned in class, but unlike school in the U.S they dont explicitly say what they want to be included. Maybe it has just been my classes, but I find this to be very different than how professors give work at Pitt. I have also noticed this at work – my supervisor will give me a task without explicitly showing me how to complete it. To be fair, I haven’t worked professionally in the states so I cannot say that this is completely different than an internship in the US. However, I can imagine that this is similar to how my post-grad jobs will actually work. I appreciate the hands on experience and opportunity to apply what I may have learned in my business classes. I think this opportunity has given me more insight to what type of career I am looking for. 

With less than 2 weeks left in my program, I can say that even my short time abroad has given me both hard and soft skills, as well as a different perspective on what I want my future to look like. I have had moments of missing home and my family/friends, but my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I can’t wait to check in after returning home and reflecting on my time here as a whole. See you soon!