I can’t believe I only have about two and a half weeks left in London! It seems like just as I’ve started to become adjusted the clock is ticking for when I have to leave. I’ve started to settle into a routine for my academics and internship that I think will be hard to say goodbye to when the time comes to leave!

My new neighborhood, West Kensington, has a great local charm to it and is always a pleasant place to walk around in. Every day before going into office I stop at a coffee store right next to my tube station and my workday doesn’t feel complete without it! I always get an almond flat white to start off my day and get me moving in the morning. Although I’ve adjusted to the jet lag, I think mornings will always be hard for me no matter where I’m at! But little treats like these get me excited and off my feet. While my neighborhood is nice, my actual apartment has been a bit of a hard adjustment! My shared bedroom is DEFINITELY on the smaller side, but I’ve somewhat worked out a system to deal with the tiny space. Still, we usually end up nearly on top of each other no matter how hard we try. The rest of our apartment, or “flat” as I should say, is very nice and a good home base!

My academic center, CEA CAPA, is a very different style university institution than what I’m used to. It is a singular building located in Kensington where I take my class during our lecture days. All classes are in this building, and we actually have to get buzzed in! The majority of my classes actually take place in varying neighborhoods across London for us to get hands on examples of history and what we learn about in our course. This style of class is different than anything I’ve ever taken before at Pitt, and I think I actually prefer this hands-on learning style!

For my internship, I work as a digital marketing intern for Setax Training and Consultancy Limited. Setax does pharmaceutical training for good distribution practices regarding the supply chain side of the industry and storage of medication. This is really interesting and something I never would have gained insight into otherwise! I work on creating graphics for social channels such as LinkedIn and TikTok and planning our content calendar. This internship so far has really let me experiment with using my creative skills in a business environment, and I think having these values of creativity and willingness to adapt and try new things is crucial in all workspaces, not just a global environment.

So far I am loving my abroad experience, and these first few weeks have flown by! I’m sad to think about how this little life I built will be gone in only a few weeks, but I can’t wait to make the most out of my time left!