I have a little over two weeks left here in London, which is crazy as I feel like my experience just started a month ago. I’m lucky enough to have had the chance to meet countless international students and friends, travel to over a dozen countries, and fall in love with this home I call London. These shared experiences of exploring Europe’s many diverse cultures have left a mark on me, and hopefully the people I shared them with. I’ve become more confident in my ability to make decisions on the fly, when I may not speak the local language or feel comfortable with the local customs. I also know I can call many cities home in my lifetime and have become more appreciative to the experiences each offers instead of the nostalgia with a specific home.

One noticeable soft skill I’ve developed is my ability to communicate effectively, even when the conditions may be non-favorable. Between language barriers, exhausting days, and stressful scenarios, I’ve found myself more patient than ever to understand and talk with the people around me. This is something I’m looking forward to applying in the classroom back at Pitt, as I know my final year will be filled with group projects and capstones requiring on-the-fly thinking and strong communication between parties involved.

I’ve also met plenty of new friends, who some of which will be heading back to Pittsburgh while many others will be returning elsewhere in the states and beyond. This experience has definitely bonded us together in a unique way, and I know our run-ins next year will serve as countless reminders of the new things we learned and places we explored here. I look forward to coming back to Europe and traveling beyond, but I know the people I met here truly made the experience irreplaceable in a way that I will always remember.

One of the biggest struggles while abroad was this constant battle I was facing around the idea of “optimizing” my time. While nearly four months felt long in the beginning, I quickly realized the experience would be over sooner than I could imagine. I would wake up every day with an urgency to see more things, meet more people, and put myself out there. If I had a recommendation for future study abroad students, it would be to get rid of this mindset sooner rather than later- you sometimes experience the most by not searching and pushing for it all the time. Putting yourself out there is certainly important, but good things and countless memories will come without needing to stress yourself out over optimizing every second.

With that, cheers from London!