The first city and country of the Europe Marketing Study Abroad program was London, UK. My initial impression ? very eco-friendly. Upon arrival on May 12th, there was so much greenery on the drive to Oxford, and on the Oxford campus, the groundskeepers do a fantastic job of making sure they present a university they can be proud of. London takes a lot of pride in being environmentally friendly by using locally sourced foods and ingredients, providing wide and bike-friendly streets, making the streets more pedestrian-friendly, and by developing an efficient, easy-to-use, and impressive underground public transportation tube system.
The CIBS global business program is extremely organized and very reachable if needed in an emergency or to ask a question about billing and scholarships. I was given the honor of earning a scholarship through this program, and this just goes to show how generous and successful the program is. The global program works with the best of the best and my experience in this city has been nothing short of impressive and a total dream come true. I knew I wanted to have a study abroad experience, and CIBS has done a phenomenal job thus far in providing a wonderful experience for me and my classmates.
Of the various cultural differences I noted, the most obvious of them is the vocabulary. The English population uses phrases such as queue, collect, crisps, and loo roll to describe lining up, pick up, chips, and toilet paper, respectively. Another notable difference is that the English drive on the left-hand side of the road rather than the right ? while crossing the street, we were warned to look to our right first but to still look both ways. Additionally, we had to be on alert for the zooming crowds of bikes in the bike lane, something that is not seen as much in College Station or Dallas, my hometown. On escalators down to the tubes, or subways, users are asked to stand on the righthand side of the steps, making way for those in a hurry to rush past on the left. The last big difference I would like to discuss is the diversity. Simply walking and passing people in Hyde Park, I heard various languages ranging from Arabic, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Chinese. College Station is a very homogenous population, but London has a very heterogenous and diverse culture.
As I continue traveling through Europe, I hope to gain more confidence in my abilities to live independently. Although I have an idea of what I would like to do after graduation, I still hold a lot of fear. It?s a big, wide world out there, and after this month of travel, I hope to make the world feel a little less scary. I hope to gain a sense of bravery. My parents immigrated to the United States with nothing to a foreign country with little knowledge of the area or the language ? this program allows me to experience what they did 22 years ago, therefore deepening my appreciation for their sacrifice as well as commending the bravery of any immigrant who is willing to leave their homeland in search of something greater. I hope to keep traveling. I love experiencing new cultures and truly immersing myself in the foreignness of it. From my very first abroad experience 5 years ago, I knew I needed more of this feeling, of exploring the unknown.
With that being said, goodbye lovely London and bonjour Paris!
