My time in London not only helped me grow as a person but also academically. One skill that was strengthened while in London was my presentation/public speaking skills. I have always struggled with my speaking skills, and I have not had many opportunities to work on them, although I was always thankful for that; in hindsight, it never gave me a chance to grow. However, presentations are a big part of London’s education system. In my classes, I had multiple presentations per class, each lasting at least 10 minutes. Each presentation was different and required different knowledge and deliverable skills to convey the information I needed. Although I am nowhere near the level I want to be, I can notice the small changes that will lead me to the level I want to achieve. This skill will help me with my everyday life, not only in my professional career but also in the career I am currently in. Confidently conveying the correct information to customers in uncomfortable situations or providing the right information to clients to help them understand their needs relies heavily on my public speaking skills. Although I was scared of all the presentations I was expected to do, I’m glad I was able to practice in front of people whom I would have never seen before. 

Another area I grew personally in was networking with people. Usually, I keep to myself, leaving class without talking to others. However, in the smaller classes and unfamiliar environment, I found myself talking and connecting with my classmates more. I often went to social gatherings and made long-lasting friendships with those across the country. 

I learned a lot during my time in London. One big takeaway was to explore while working. Field studies were a big part of each class; this allowed us to learn while exploring. Instead of staying in the classroom, we were able to explore and view areas from different perspectives. For example, I explored the Victoria and Albert Museum three other times, and each time I went for a different reason and was able to understand and look at the museum in various ways. If I didn’t take those trips for each class, I wouldn’t have had such a wide view of the museum and been able to look at it in different ways.

My last takeaway and biggest accomplishment while in London is that the CEO, Caner Veil, enjoyed my team’s presentation the most. He praised us for using our own feelings in our presentation of the project and going deeper into the presentation than what was asked. My team wanted to highlight the lack of diversity in the company, KIND2. This stayed with the CEO and even caused him to update their website with models from all backgrounds. This taught me that a good presentation has a desire and emotion behind it. Without putting your all into a presentation, it would not get through to a client. I will keep this with me while preparing all my presentations to get a better result for my clients.