Sophia Cocking
"Studying abroad really made me mature and grow as a person. Going abroad during the Fall semester of my freshman year, I was still fairly young and very much used to living with my family and not having to worry about cooking for myself, commuting, or having my own apartment. When I was in London, I definitely had to “grow up” a bit, since I was living in an apartment with other Berkeley students, and there were more expectations of me. During this experience, I learned to cook, got comfortable traveling around London and commuting to school on public transportation, planned trips throughout Europe, and overall matured as a person."
I studied abroad on the London Global Edge Program in Fall 2019 during my freshman year. As a student in Haas’s Global Management Program, studying abroad was a requirement for me, but I was super excited about being able to start off my college experience studying abroad. Since I am interested in International Business, I wanted to study abroad to give me a glimpse of what it would be like to live and work abroad. While my program was chosen for me, I loved being in London due to the incredible museums and history, its proximity to other countries to travel to, and having English being the native language was an added benefit for me.
One cultural experience that I really enjoyed while being in London was going to a traditional tea shop for afternoon tea. I always knew that tea was important to English culture and something often enjoyed with friends and family, so I really enjoyed being able to experience it with friends. We were all served our choice of tea and a huge arrangement of pastries and tea sandwiches, and it was a great afternoon snack and I would recommend it to anyone visiting London as there are so many tea shops to choose from!
Although I was incredibly excited to study abroad in London, it was a bit overwhelming at first adapting to a new city and not feeling at “home”. I started off mainly going to just my school or apartment, and using my free time to plan trips throughout Europe, but I realized in order to feel more comfortable in London, I would need to start exploring more. I took advantage of not having classes on Tuesday to use the day to travel around London with my friends, including museum visits, exploring new neighborhoods, and finding the best tea shops. While I did have to push myself originally out of my comfort zone, doing these excursions made me much more comfortable navigating the city and feeling more at home.
I started off most of my days waking up early to avoid the morning rush on the Tube, and would always bring a book or download a podcast to my phone to have while on my commute to school. For breakfast most days, I would stop at Pret-a-Manger or my favorite bakery on the same block as my school, since I took every opportunity I had to eat pastries. If I had afternoon classes, I would visit one of the nearby restaurants or Pret-a-Manger to get a quick lunch before heading back to class. After class, I would sometimes stay in central London to do some exploring with my friends, or I would head back to my apartment to do homework or play soccer with the other UC Berkeley students on my program.
In London, I took all Berkeley courses, including Math 1A, PoliSci 2, Philosophy 25A, and English R4B. Since these were all Berkeley courses, I found that they were very similar to the classes I took on campus at Berkeley. However, my classes were much smaller, ranging from 8-25 students, and I found this increased interaction with the professors to be really helpful.
One of the most memorable experiences I had studying abroad was when my brother came to visit me towards the end of my stay in London, and I was able to act as his tour guide of the city. While I still felt like a visitor in some regards, that experience showed me just how much I knew about the city, from having memorized most of the public transportation maps, to being able to share historical facts, to knowing the best restaurants for all different types of cuisine. This experience showed me how London truly was “home” for me during my study abroad, and it was great to be able to share it with family.
Studying abroad really made me mature and grow as a person. Going abroad during the Fall semester of my freshman year, I was still fairly young and very much used to living with my family and not having to worry about cooking for myself, commuting, or having my own apartment. When I was in London, I definitely had to “grow up” a bit, since I was living in an apartment with other Berkeley students, and there were more expectations of me. During this experience, I learned to cook, got comfortable traveling around London and commuting to school on public transportation, planned trips throughout Europe, and overall matured as a person. This experience really helped me when I got back to Berkeley, as I was used to being self-sufficient and making sure I was taking care of myself.
I would highly recommend to all students to study abroad, as it is an incredible experience to be able to experience a new culture and city and grow as a person. For London and England in particular, I found it to be a great first experience studying abroad since I didn’t have to worry about a language barrier, and there is easy access to a huge number of other countries to visit and explore. For students who are studying abroad, I would really recommend to try and make the absolute most out of your experience, both in your main location to explore the city and be fully immersed in the culture, and to take the opportunity to travel cheaply to the surrounding countries.