Now that I’ve been in London for over a month, I have gotten more acclimated to my new academic environment and classes at Richmond American University London. This semester, I’m taking four classes: International Finance, FinTech, London and the History of Fashion, and Public Economics. My favorite class so far has been International Finance, and I’ve enjoyed gaining a stronger global perspective as a Finance major and discussing topics such as exchange rates and international financial markets. It has also been exciting to take a class like London and the History of Fashion, which is something outside of my usual academic focus, but it has been a unique addition to my studies. A few weeks ago, my class got to take a trip to the V&A Museum to explore and begin research for our object analysis project. All of the different galleries were fascinating, but I thought the different jewelry pieces were the most interesting to learn about.

Richmond has also been a different academic environment for me because of the smaller campus and class sizes. My classes range from 8-14 students, but I’ve noticed that this allows for more of an interactive classroom setting, and the professors make a strong effort to get to know each student and encourage active participation. A lot of my classmates are fellow study abroad students, but there are a few Richmond students in some of my classes as well. Classes typically consist of lectures during class time and weekly guided learning assignments for homework. Overall, the biggest adjustment so far has been adapting to a new course structure. My classes all meet once a week for three hours, similar to a night class at Pitt, which is different from the twice a week 1 hour 15 min classes that I usually take, but my professors will often incorporate a short 5-10 minute break about halfway through the class.

Although the classes are much longer than I am used to, I only have one class per day, so I have some flexibility during the day to get homework done, go grocery shopping, or do other things. Time management has been an important skill to be able to balance my academic course load with activities outside of the classroom. As I reflect on the past few weeks, I can’t believe how fast time is flying by. I have truly been enjoying this opportunity to experience living abroad for the first time. I’m looking forward to continuing to learn and grow both inside and outside of the classroom, and also can’t wait to keep exploring around London!