Jett's Study Abroad Experience
Spring 2023
Spring 2023
Another week, another post! I can't hardly believe that I have already completed my first week of classes as it feels like I just got here a little bit ago. However, in this post I want to talk about everything that I have learned about the differences between classes here at Roehampton, and classes back in the US. First though, I have to talk about some of the highlight of this week. The best part of this week had to have been the river boat cruise that all the study abroad kids took along the river Thames. Although we had to leave super early in the morning and the cruise was extremely cold, we got to see tons of really cool sights including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Tower, the Shard, and Tower bridge. The boat then dropped the whole group off in Greenwich where we were met by a local guide of toured us around telling us all about Greenwich and the significance of the city. While that is all more information than I can possibly hope to fit in this blog post, I'll leave this story with a picture. Now for the not as fun, but very interesting part, being classes here at Roehampton. They are very different in many ways, with the biggest difference being the setup of the classes. Back in Hawaii, students are very used to a format that usually host several sessions of the class each with various assignments being due on a weekly (or sometimes daily) basis. This means that the professors are much more involved in the students learning process and expect students to be kept up with the rest of the class. Roehampton does things very differently. In the UK there isn't really a concept of a "professor" teaching a class, and instead classes are split into a lecture and a seminar, and sometimes there is an extra online clinic that is required for students to attend as well. The lecture is led by a "lecturer," which for American students would be the same as a professor, however, students then also have a tutor for their seminars, which is usually the point of contact that a student would go to in order to get help or ask questions. Overall, the lecture is very similar to any lecture than a professor in an American university would offer, but the seminars are a session where students go and work with other students to lead discussion-based lessons and apply what they have learned. The biggest difference above all else though, is the assignments that are given to students. Well actually, it's more of the lack of assignments, as students in the UK are expected to follow much more self-guided learning. Lectures, and tutors for the most part, are much less involved in the learning process that students undergo during their time in university. Each module, as classes are called in the UK, is assigned one big assignment that usually takes the form of a 2,500-word report that is due sometime at the end of the semester. These can be research-based reports, class-based reports, or simply a creation of the professors desired learning outcome for the students, but this one assignment can be responsible for deciding up to 100% of the students end grade. While this sounds scary, it is much less rigorous than one would be led to believe since the grading scale is very different in the UK as well. While most American students would aim for 90% or higher in a class in order to get an A, students in United Kingdom universities are expected to get around 65% and up in order to get an A. This may seem like quite an odd concept, but the purpose is so that truly outstanding pieces of work have much more opportunity to be celebrated rather than just getting 100% like 10 other papers. So, while the process is different, it is not anymore scary or intense than a class back at home. My last thought while on the topic of education here in the UK, I realize that many people local to Europe are multilingual speaking 2,3, or even more languages. This caught me very off guard when I met a friend that is from the Netherlands who is able to speak 4 languages. It caught me off guard in a way that really inspired me though, as I began to think about how disconnected I feel from the rest of the world while living in the US. I no doubt feel very fortunate to have grown up in such a stable country with so much opportunity, but I can't help feeling like the education we are given in the US is very biased in the way we are taught. We are taught in one language, we are taught America-centric history, and we are relatively closed away from diversifying our schools. I can't help but feel slightly sad about how our schools are taught in this way sometimes, and I really feel like my eyes have been opened to the endless opportunities that are out there in the rest of the world. I truly have begun to strive to have those opportunities to be multilingual and study/work in a multicultural environment where everyone's voices are heard.
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The moment has come where I have finally touched down in London in the United Kingdom. While little me would be thoroughly impressed that I have finally been able to start my journey of traveling and learning about the world that I have had for longer than I can remember, there has still been a fair share of difficulties upon getting here and getting used to life in the UK. But let me share a few of the many things I have already jumped into since arriving. Day 1: I arrived at the airport after a very long flight that took roughly 17 hours from taking off in Hawaii to landing in London. While my experience in a fancy airplane with TVs and meals was super cool, my first view of London while the plane was starting it's descent into the new country was even better. While flying over, I got my first glimpses of Big Ben, the London Tower, the Eye of London, and the best yet, a red double decker bus! After deplaning and finding my way through the airport, I finally met some Roehampton people, as well as meeting up with another of my friends from Hawaii as well. We were told to walk out to bus in which there was 32-degree Fahrenheit weather waiting for us as we walked out the door, and then we were on our way to Roehampton. On arrival, I quickly found my group, including many students from Hawaii, several from Missouri, and even someone from the Netherlands. We were all so jet-lagged and tired from traveling that after getting our rooms all set up and buying some groceries, we all passed out pretty quickly. Day 2: This day was the least exciting of all of the arrival days, as there were hours and hours of orientations. We did have to wake up fairly early, but when I looked out my window, I saw a "snowy" view that was unlike anything I have ever really seen before, especially in Hawaii. After that my whole group quickly bundled up the best we could and took our walk over to the orientation. I would be lying if I said there was anything too interesting to say about the orientation, but as soon as it was over, my group was already back out and about ready to see London. While we never actually made it to the city on this day, we did head over to the next closest town called Putney to walk around and look at the beautiful store fronts till it was time to come back home for the night and get rested up for the next day going into the city. Day 3: This was the day I immediately fell in love with the life here in this country, as we were all very excited to make our way into London city as soon as we were all woken up and ready to go. In order to get there was had to take a bus to Putney, and then grab a ride on the Underground. We chose to get off at Westminster because we all knew that our first order of business was definitely to see Big Ben. This moment was one we decided to remember with the picture I added here. We then decided to fill the rest of our day by walking around seeing things such as London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, and China Town, which we had some of the best food I have had since getting here. By the end of this day, we got home at around 9 pm after getting off the bus at the wrong stop and having to walk home in the dark. But while it was a long walk, it was all in high spirits and more excited than words can describe. Day 4: We all woke up very late at this after the long day we had had the previous day, but the group decided that the thing we all wanted to do the most was to go to the top of the Shard. While the tickets were pricey, we decided that it would be fun to go at night and see the city skyline when it was lit up by the lights of all the buildings. Until it was time to go at around 4:30 pm (keep in mind that it gets dark here around 5 pm), we all spent the day sleeping and preparing for our classes. When it was time to go though, it was so cold and we all knew it was only going to be colder at the top of the Shard, but that was no reason for us to not go. We ended up getting the coolest view of the city and I found friends that I am almost certainly going to become very good friends with throughout this semester. That being said though, I have to include this picture of the skyline because it is way too gorgeous to leave out. Day 5: This was the best day in my opinion, because not only did I get to see a castle, but I got to do it with 3 really fun and awesome people. We woke up fairly earlier trying to think of what we should do on our last day before school starts, and we ended up deciding that it would be super fun to head over to Windsor Castle. This required us to take the overground train for about 40 minutes out to a town called Windsor, and let me say, this town was the epitome of being an English town. Each building had its own little unique store front with cobblestones paths leading down the alley ways and stores. While we already had classes looming above our heads, this was one of the highlights of my semester and I know it's just the start of so many more amazing memories. Now enjoy one of the most photogenic castles I have ever seen. Of course, these rundowns of each day could never cover everything I did, but these were just my highlights. However, each day did present issues that you can't really be ready for until it presents itself, so I did think of a couple tips that I already have for if you study here in London.
1: Make sure you pack your scarf in your backpack rather than your suitcase. This presented a huge problem for me because when its 0-degrees outside and you want to keep your face warm after arriving, it's very tough to look in your tightly packed luggage for a scarf while on a bus. 2: Make sure you bring reusable shopping bags with you. Stores do have bags that you can buy, however they cost money and paying money for a plastic shopping bag every time you go shopping is really not worthwhile or good for the environment. 3: This is really the most important in my opinion. I have only been here about 7 days at the time of writing this post, but make sure you are ready for anything when you are out and about. The public transport can be a bit more difficult than you would expect as there are bus/train strikes, delays, and even just times where transport is either extremely busy or not running at all. Of course, there is always a way to get back, but sometimes you may have to stay calm if something does not go exactly right. Overall though, my experience is already one of the best experiences I could have ever hoped for, and I owe it all to the people back at home who love me and support me even when I choose to go to the farthest possible places away from home. |
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July 2023
While I attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I was born in Littleton Colorado and grew up in a rural area. When I moved out to Hawaii for school, I quickly found my groove in Shidler College of Business as a triple major studying Marketing, International Business, and Quantitative Economics, and I was later chosen to be one of the Shidler Global Leaders. This and several other scholarships, including the Johnson Scholarship, gave me the amazing opportunity to go spend a semester abroad in the United Kingdom.
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