Postcards from London: Amanda Stahmann
Concordia University
Wisconsin junior Amanda Stahmann, who is a middle blocker on the
volleyball team, is studying abroad the next few months in London,
and will be sharing her experiences and thoughts with
CUWfalcons.com. The Business Honors Program major, emphasizing in
business management and business marketing as an undergraduate
student, and working towards a Master's Degree in international
business will be answering questions and telling stories about the
culture, her education and how this trip will change her life.
Hello everyone,
I hope everyone back home is doing well. I have been
quite busy here in London with my classes, internship and
exploration of the city. There is so much to do and see here, and
it feels like every week I have at least one new thing to try or go
to.
Below I have answered a few questions from
CUWFalcons.com to get us started.
What have you experienced in your first few
days/week there that was an eye opener?
Probably the biggest adjustment I made in my first few
days here was getting used to the fast pace of Londoners. Everyone
here is always in a hurry or running late, so if you're not careful
you'll get run over by a double decker bus, car, or even someone
running down the street. Even in the stores everything is quick and
everyone's rushing around to get what they want. The queues (that's
what they call lines) are always long, so once you get up to the
register you better be ready to pay right away since the cashiers
get pretty annoyed with slow customers not knowing what's going on
like me the first couple days!
How different is the culture there than in the
U.S.?
A big cultural difference I have noticed here is how often
people love to talk about politics and worldly issues such as
religion, economics, etc. It's so easy to get involved in a
conversation about President Obama or different political
situations occurring around the world. Also the work structure is
very different than in the U.S. At my internship they are extremely
flexible with my hours from week to week, so if I want to take a
half day on Friday to travel for the weekend they are really
amazing about it. They also let me take my lunch breaks whenever I
want throughout the workday so long as I get my work done. They get
a lot more holidays than we do in the U.S. and usually don't work
nearly as many hours.
What are you studying and how
different/similar is to CUW?
I'm taking a course along with my internship, a modern art
class where I get to tour art galleries every week which is pretty
cool, and two business marketing courses. It's pretty different
here than CUW. We only have each class once a week with half of it
being a lecture and the other half a seminar. Another area that is
different is the few assignments and value they have on your
grade.
One of the many things I love about attending CUW is
having the ability to walk to class in five minutes or do what I'd
usually do and get up 10 minutes before class starts. Here I
actually have to take the tube and walk a ways to class which
usually takes around a half hour or so.
How do they view volleyball/athletics in
London?
Volleyball isn't a huge sport here. I tried to see if they
had a club for it at Uni, but that wasn't one of the sports
offered. I know some of the students on sports teams here and it
seems a bit more laid back than U.S. college athletics. They aren't
expected to workout year round or anything. They athletic teams
here are more about having fun, than about the competition and
winning, at least from what I have heard.
What part of your time there have you enjoyed
the most?
What I've enjoyed the most about studying here is getting
to know so many amazing people from so many different cultures. I
have friends from England, Austria, Italy, Holland, Bulgaria, and
Sri Lanka just to name a few and the list is endless. It's so
interesting to see how different we all view things and make fun of
each other for our accents! There's even a girl here from Austria
who actually studied in Wisconsin for a year in high school. She
went to Germantown High School, which is where my cousins went to
school. When we looked in her yearbook my cousin and her were on
the same yearbook page! Talk about small world.
If you have a question you would like answered or have
always wanted to know something about London or Europe please send
an e-mail to steven.schauer@cuw.edu and I will answer it next time
I write to everyone. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Amanda Stahmann
