England: Ellie de Roque
Program: London School of Economics, Academic Year
Ellie’s Major: International Studies
What is your most memorable experience from your program?
It is difficult to pinpoint one experience or activity that stands out to me as the utmost memorable from this past year. Definitively amongst the top of the list is the academic growth and passion I have gained. I began the year dragging myself through senior year, struggling to engage with my History of Russia class, feeling overwhelmed by my Russian Language class, and feeling inept in my Contemporary Literature class. Today, I am ecstatic to report that I have a whole new perspective on history and literature and a deepened appreciation for the study of these topics. My ability to adapt to new academic expectations without much guidance and continually rise to the top in each of my classes impressed even myself, despite the stress and long library hours which it was often accompanied by. I enjoyed the solidarity I felt amongst students struggling through the middle of the night in the library during exam season, I loved the passion shared by my peers in classes, and I was in awe of the passion and dedication shared by my professors. I feel that the academic immersion has given me a new confidence in myself and my ability to converse across languages, cultures, topics, and age groups to learn about the world around me.
I was proud that I was able to put my head down and work hard to impress my professor and do well for myself without it becoming a means of comparison or ego inflation. I was happy that I could begin to not only let go of my initial skepticism of my abilities, but also develop a new skillset within this more challenging academic environment.
How will your experience affect your future career or studies?
LSE opened up a whole new world to me. I had never before been surrounded by so many people who had personally or familially occupied such high positions in corporate, social, and governmental spheres and it was a bit of a shock to become absorbed into this new “elite” environment. However, it was not without its perks of course – I met many people whose experience illuminated to me the vast possibilities for career trajectories across sectors and whose perspective enlightened my own or furthered my own networking. I have gained more exposure to a variety of cultures that I have never interacted with before, and it has given me a more balanced worldview. These are qualities I will take with me wherever I go and which make me more suitable to work in diverse environments in a variety of locations. Being in London has also created a global network for me which has opened my eyes to opportunities across the world and increased my drive to begin my career abroad as early as possible.
How were your program academics similar or different from taking classes at UW-Madison?
In the UK, and especially at LSE, exams (in humanities and social sciences – and for year-long classes (I didn’t take any semester-long so not sure about the comparisons)) are essentially a list of topics, from which you choose a few and write essays on each. It is impossible to study everything, as the weekly reading lists are 5x longer than anything I’ve seen at UW, but the expectation for reading is different. In my experience at UW, weekly readings are compulsory and form the majority of one’s factual basis of understanding of a weekly topic. At LSE, each reading presents a specific view or argument on a topic, which enhances students’ understandings of the variety of viewpoints on any given topic, which form the basis of a nuanced understanding of a topic to be used for written argumentation.
What is a custom, food or tradition from your host country that you are taking forward?
I quite enjoyed the less colloquial nature of speech in the UK, being surrounded by a different version of English helped me become more verbally articulate in conversation and forced me to engage in different ways I was not used to. Also, the intellectual indulgence in art, literature, and history outside of academic settings is something I will absolutely adopt. I love how festive and decorative their Christmas celebrations are, it made the cold much cozier so I hope to implement some of the culinary traditions into my own holiday celebrations. I know that not saying regular afternoon tea is probably a bit unpopular, but I’m not a huge tea person. I did love the chicken pot pies and sausage rolls, though I’m not sure they are quite so readily available here. I will also definitely be holding on to the fun, creative, and colorful street fashions I saw on a daily basis as well as the mindset towards restful Sundays. I will definitely miss pub and park cultures in London as well as the quality of allergen-free chocolates in comparison to the US chocolates – long live crunchy rocks and mini eggs!!!!!