Neha Dasari

As a Business major with a concentration in Global Management, I believed that it was important for me to study abroad to experience business and culture outside the United States. London was a good fit for this because it is one of the financial centers of the world with a prominent focus on international business.

An interesting cultural experience I had abroad was in the way that people would hangout with each other. In London, everyone would go to pubs or clubs which was a new environment and vibe than what I was used to doing when I would hangout with my friends at home.

My biggest challenge was being alone in a new country and being completely responsible for myself. I've never had to cook everyday for myself so I found grocery shopping and making meals to be difficult. It was the first time in my life when I didn't have my parents looking out for me so it forced me to quickly adapt to this new environment.

After waking up, I would make breakfast and eat it while scrolling through the news or watching TV. Then I would get ready for the day and catch up on homework and studying. If needed, I went grocery shopping with my roommates and after eating lunch, we would head to class. During class, we took walks around the city learning about the history and culture. While waiting for my next class, I either went to Pret or sat in the lounge to catch up with friends. After my last class, I would take the bus home and make dinner and then unwind for the night.

I took R4B (Reading, Composition, and Research), PoliSci 2, IAS 45 (World History), and Math 1A. In my opinion, I found these courses to be slightly easier than Berkeley courses in terms of the workload. These classes were also more hands-on/experience based (such as taking walks around the city in R4B) and the smaller class sizes made it easier to interact with teachers and have meaningful discussions with peers.

The most memorable aspect was traveling on weekends to other countries. It was so interesting and meaningful to learn about other countries and visit historic sites that I've only seen in pictures before.

Studying abroad forced me to mature fast and quickly learn adult responsibilities that I noticed my friends who didn't study abroad their first semester didn't have. I think I grew more aware of myself, those around me, and the world which was important for me to understand.

I would recommend taking the time to try new things. Students should definitely travel over the weekends and take advantage of living in London by exploring its tourist attractions but also things that locals would do.