There were several aspects of UK’s culture that required time in order to get adjusted to, whether it was remaining on the right side of tube stations, sidewalks or escalators, respecting the quiet on tube rides, asking for the “bill” instead of the “check” or even getting accustomed to British slang, they were each unique and took their own time to get accustomed to. The one aspect I had to adjust to was taking several short breaks during working hours. During my time in London I had the opportunity to intern at a company called E2E, the company focused on providing SME’s with connections to investors, non executive directors and any other individuals that would allow them to accelerate and grow. The company was developing a platforms that would allow these connections to be made with ease and eliminate them as the middle man. Here, I was working 5 days a week, for about 4-6 hours a day depending on the workload. The adjustment of breaks was an aspect of the UK work culture I noticed on my second week of work, given that the first was completely virtual. Everyone in the company arrived in the office around 9AM typically and after our team meetings my coworkers would usually begin to leave the office for coffee with 1 or 2 other colleagues, this wasn’t the only time either, later in the day they would leave for lunch as groups and maybe even another coffee. This created a much closer relationship between peers and allowed the work environment to be very positive and cohesive. Throughout the day, there will constantly be conversations about the weekends or family between colleagues. These personal conversations, along with the constant breaks throughout the day and even team drinks was very different from the work culture present in the US, and personally something I enjoyed much more although it could be distracting at times. The more relaxed work environment made the day go by much quicker and allowed for questioned to be raised at any time and solutions to be found as an entire team rather than individually. Someone from the UK would view my experience as an intern and student abroad as enlightening and accurate. A colleague from work expressed how he had always wanted to go to the US to work but found that the environment could be much tougher and “toxic” in comparison to the UK, when I asked to elaborate, he mentioned that the US is known for having a work environment that focuses on just that work work work, rather than interpersonal relationships and company culture, he also mentioned that for him those breaks during the day provided him with time to clear his mind and go back into work motivated, rather than spending 90 percent of the day at the desk and the rest in lunch time. The reflections I have conducted during my time abroad will prepare to understand the differences between cultures globally and the importance of going into new experiences with an open mind and heart. These reflections also allowed me to put into words the journey of studying/interning abroad as a form of understanding and digesting the overall experience.
