One main cultural confrontation I have experienced here in England is different experiences with urgency and professor interactions. Culturally, in America, we are always in work mode 24/7 and attached to our devices. At Rollins, it is not unusual to receive a response from a professor in a couple of hours, or even a couple of minutes, depending on the time of day, office hours, etc. The orientation here in London mentioned that this might be a cultural difference that we would experience, and professors would most likely respond in 2/3 business days. Of course, weekends are different, and it goes by person, but overall, this is my experience in America.
This difference was acceptable, but it caused me a lot of anxiety adjusting to this system. At the beginning of the semester, I had an issue with my schedule. I signed up for two different classes in two other departments, and here, classes in various departments overlap. I am currently underloading my courses, so I would not graduate from Rollins on time if I couldn’t find a replacement class. I wanted my problem to be fixed as soon as possible to ease my worries. I decided to go straight to the office and ask for help. However, the department was on a two-hour lunch break at this school. When I returned after the break, they told me they would send an email in at least a week to confirm I was registered in the class. This was painstakingly close to the add-drop deadline, so I held my breath and eventually was admitted into the course.
Another example was when I emailed a professor a week before my first paper was due to schedule a meeting with him. He told us that he wanted students to reach out and talk to him about their papers in class, so I thought I would finish it early and give it a shot. I sent the email, and it took the professor the entire week to return my email. It was getting close to the deadline to turn it in, which raised my anxiety. Still, he responded the day before, apologizing for the late response, assuring me my paper was sufficient, and giving me advice on improving it.
I had to offer my need for an urgent answer to the staff’s work schedules and personal time here. Obviously, at first, I was impatient, but now a positive that I have found is that it helps me regulate my schedule and complete things in advance to ensure enough time for a response. Culturally, it took a little time to get used to. As I mentioned in my previous post, America is more of an individualistic country, and I feel like these interactions bode well with that experience. However, my anxiety will be soothed more upon returning to the United States.
