As a Pitt Business student, I haven’t had many opportunities to take courses that are more arts-oriented. Being in London has given me the chance to open my horizons. When choosing my courses, I tried to challenge myself by taking more literature courses. I haven’t taken a writing class in college, so while I was here I wanted to learn more about writing, especially since so many great writers came from London. I am also in a class about the Ethics of Media, specifically in a British context, and about Child Psychology Development. These classes are very much out of my depth, however I find it exciting to see the different ways that other majors conduct their classes.

I noticed that professors here are much more casual with their students and ask for a lot more engagement from the class. It definitely helps that the classes are significantly smaller as well. The largest class that I am taking here has just 20 students! I also noticed how prominent USA politics are. I always knew that what’s going on in the United States is of high interest to the rest of the world, but I never realized the true magnitude of that statement until I got here. Many of the discussions in my Ethics in Media class will connect things happening in the United Kingdom to what is going on in the United States. It also helps me as a student to understand the class better since I have a better understanding of United States culture.

I would say that the key skills and strengths needed to be successful in this academic environment are being able to be very adaptable and having good time management. In my writing class, many of my classmates are readers and my professor will make connections to books that I do not recognize that many of my other classmates do. That has forced me to do a lot more background reading outside of class to gain the necessary context. I also am not as used to how much discussion takes place in my courses. Especially in my Ethics in Media class, there are a lot of class discussions and disagreements in my class. This has been very interesting to experience as in my business courses there really isn’t room for disagreements. It has been fun to engage in active discussions that challenge the way I think and provide me with new perspectives. As for time management, with traveling on the weekend and also keeping up classwork, it has never been more important for me to stay on top of my assignments. There are so many things that I want to experience in London and don’t want to be held back by having to finish an assignment last minute. With my better time management, I have been able to complete a lot more things during the day while also having time to explore this amazing city. 

Me and my new roommate eating dinner!