I honestly can’t believe I managed to pull this off. I’m here in London right now on a study abroad semester and it feels so unreal. This is actually my fourth time abroad through NEU. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have been able to two full experiential years abroad, meaning by the time that I graduate this spring, I will have spent over two full calendar years outside of the states.
My first study abroad was in the fall of 2014 at the University of Sydney, in Sydney, Australia. Immediately following that I co-oped here in London for Kobalt Music Group, one of the world’s leading music publishing companies. After spending my fourth year on campus taking classes, I decided that I wanted to venture out again and am back here in London studying at Goldsmiths University after spending last semester on co-op with The Cape Town Opera in Cape Town, South Africa.
I wanted to study abroad again because with each new global opportunity, I feel like I learn so much about not only the world but also myself, which is why I am super excited to be back here in London (one of the capitals of the world as far as I’m concerned). Why didn’t I choose to go to a brand new location? I thought about it, but I made so many close personal and business connections during my time here a couple years ago that I just couldn’t stay away. I can’t wait to immerse myself in a new learning environment with new students from so many different cultures once school gets a little deeper into the semester. And let’s be honest, It’s gonna be really interesting watching the United States from a foreign country over the next few months.
Sometimes I find it hard to think about what’s going to come from these next few months. I think it’s easy for me to place a whole bunch of random expectations of my time here, but as I’ve learned in the past, there’s no way to know what’s going to happen or who I’m gonna be when I come out of this. Sometimes I get nervous that I romanticized my previous time here so much that it’ll be hard to live up to that expectation. If nothing else, I’m definitely looking forward to meeting a whole bunch of new people and just increasing my cultural awareness in today’s globalized society.
I’ll check back in with y’all soon!
