Adjusting to London, it was an easy cultural adjustment especially without the language barrier. What was the most challenging part of adjusting was perhaps the cost of living in London. When observing exchange rates, the GBP beats the USD by around 1.30x, which makes paying for public transport, groceries, and other expenditures much more expensive. That being said, being abroad has taught me how to budget properly, manage my monthly expenses and ensure that I am being smart with my day to day spending. 

 Culturally speaking, there are subtle differences I noticed while interacting with Londoners and navigating the public transportation system. I appreciate the friendliness of the locals here, and I find the British to be more polite than Americans. I see strangers offer their seats to mothers and let others know when their bags are unzipped (pickpocketing is common). Though it’s important to be wary in public, seeing these gestures helps me to feel more comfortable in the city. 

I also have been able to take some trips around Europe during my leisure, where I really came across cultural differences in other countries. For example, in Italy, many restaurants and establishments close in the afternoon for their aperitivo or their pre-dinner break. Being in an English speaking country, I had to adjust my mindset when visiting other countries, being mindful of the local language and learning the cultural norms and customs. While abroad, I can also easily recognize other study abroad students from the U.S. especially from their mannerisms.

Being able to easily recognize other study abroad students also makes me think of how I appear to locals. While it is easy to assume a smooth cultural transition without a language barrier, I want to ensure that I am still being conscientious of the social customs and norms. Learning to adapt to the local culture instead of reacting to it has made my experiences feel less intimidating. It’s also important to be mindful not just for the sake of my own comfort but out of respect for the locals I am visiting. 

In the classroom, I find that most of my assignments are open ended such as projects, papers, and discussions. At Pitt, I am used to studying in preparation for large exams and midterm assignments. Whereas in Richmond American, I have had the opportunity to be more creative with my assignments such as my Human Computer Interaction class where I am redesigning the UX of a mobile app. My other classes emphasize discussions where I get to hear opinions of other local classmates and international students. The professors here truly care about student engagement, which has encouraged me to be an active participant in class and make myself visible to the professor and my classmates. With the smaller class sizes, I’ve been learning to take advantage of one on one interactions with professors. I definitely want to be proactive with my learning, ensuring I have a clear understanding of their expectations and sharing my own progress.

Overall, I think being abroad has made me reexamine my character, assumptions, and tendencies. Through building my own routines, I learned a lot about how I recharge, organize, and manage my time effectively. I think the first few weeks of my abroad experience, I was caught up by excitement and the chaos of learning everything for the first time that I felt a bit disorderly and out of my usual self. Since the months have passed, I feel much more comfortable with this new rhythm and the lessons I learned will definitely be impactful when I come back home