Second To Last Week In London & Our Last Trip Outside Of the Country

By:

Noemi Guzman

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Noemi Guzman

<i>"Hello" in your host country's language:</i> Hello <i>Home Institution (your U.S. University/College):</i> College of Saint Benedict <i>Expected graduation year:</i> 2023 <i>Destination city & country:</i> London, England <i>Program provider:</i> FIE <i>Major/minor:</i> Social Science / Secondary Education & Political Science <i>Demographics:</i> Hispanic/Latinx, First-Generation College Student, LGBTQ+ <i>Future career aspirations:</i> I aspire to be a 7th grade civics teacher! <i>Top 3 goals for your time abroad:</i> Be involved in my community; Try a new dish; Develop a global mindset

My second to last week in London was a busy one. This past weekend my friends and I decided to go on our last trip of the semester. We took a weekend trip to Vienna, Austria. I know I say it every time but this definitely has been my favourite place that I have visited. Since I was only there for the weekend, I didn’t have time to do a lot. Over the course of the two days I was able to visit the city centre and see the different shops and some popular attractions. My favourite day was the second, when I went to the natural history museum. It was actually very interesting despite the fact that I have a huge fear of birds and insects. I had to walk through those two sections very quickly. Nonetheless, it was a good experience. Afterwards, we went to visit this palace ( I cant seem to remember what it was called) but it was very beautiful. We did a walking tour and it was very interesting to see how these big palaces were used. It truly was amazing to visit a different country with great people and I am happy that it was my last one.

During the week, I was pretty stressed. As this is the second to last week of our trip, it meant that it was our last week of homework. I was very stressed trying to get everything done. Although I only am taking two classes at the moment they all had large assignments due. For my British Life and Cultures class I had to write a “Culture Critique”. We had to analyse a British person who has made an impact and explain what about them is British. I obviously chose Harry Styles and wrote my paper on his career and the type of impact he’s had on both the music and fashion industry. This paper took me about 2-3 days to write just because I take so many breaks in between. After I finished this paper, I focused on my internship and the work I had to do for that.

Since my professor for my internship class was nice enough to push the deadline for our final paper to the last day of the program, it meant I could take a break from thinking about school for a couple of days. This week I only worked at my internship for two days, since it was easter weekend. I hadn’t thought about Bank holidays so I was happy that we had them. During the two days this week I worked on coming up with ideas for what I wanted to write during my last week. It honestly took me a while to think about what I wanted to accomplish before leaving. I made my list and fixed up some of the drafts that my supervisor had gotten a chance to look at.

Overall, it was a good week even though it was slightly busy. I think one thing I learned this week is just how amazing it is to be able to visit different countries and immerse myself in their culture. Even though I’m in most of these countries for two days, I still get to learn so much. It is absolutely amazing and eye opening to learn about other countries and their cultures. Vienna was truly an amazing place to visit and what made it better was the people I was there with. Learning to appreciate other cultures with people you care about is truly an experience.

I will say that I am definitely not looking forward to leaving this program but I am excited to take a break from writing papers.

*photos are of my friends and I outside the Natural History Museum as well as the inside of it!