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Cheers from London!

11/27/2017

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Cissy Shao
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By: Cissy Shao
Hey USWIB! My name is Cissy Shao and I’m one of your study abroad liaisons in London. I’m currently a sophomore majoring in Business and Political Economy (BPE), which means I’ll also be studying in Shanghai next semester (the BPE curriculum has changed from a full year in London to just one semester), which I am super excited for. I officially have only one month left in the UK, which blows my mind. I’ve had such an incredible and enlightening experience living here so far, but believe people when they say time goes by fast when you’re abroad!

Moving to London, in my opinion, doesn’t require much of an adjustment when coming from New York. Both are diverse cities where you can walk/take public transport anywhere, and most importantly both are English-speaking. Language barrier is usually the main component of experiencing “culture shock”, but the only things you need to get used to here are the accents and the vernacular! I would say the main differences are that London is much less crowded, it’s always cloudy/rainy, there are far fewer skyscrapers, and the culture and people seem much more relaxed. Nevertheless, I think it’s an amazing city with so much to offer and explore.

At NYU London, I’m taking Foundations of Finance (Nitzsche), A History of London (Inwood), and two required BPE courses, World Politics (Gabay) and Macroeconomics (Macchiarelli). I would say the workload is relatively easy compared to NYC, and classes only meet once a week for 3 hours. My favorite class is Finance, which I would highly recommend taking in London. Professor Dirk is a very engaging lecturer and explains the concepts well. A History of London is less interesting, but the professor is the sweetest and the class isn’t demanding at all (a lot of walking tours of London!!). For anyone in BPE, World Politics with Gabay is the BEST and you should avoid taking Macro here if you can. Trust me.

I’m currently living in Byron Court, one of the three on-campus options in London (the other two are Urbanest and Guilford). I live in a double room in a suite shared by four people, with one bathroom. The rooms and facilities in Byron are great, it’s close to campus (10-15 minute walk), and has an incredibly convenient shopping center nearby. Some people prefer Urbanest, which is insanely nice and allows you to have your own room and bathroom—the only thing is that it’s about 40 minutes away from campus. I love living in Byron and its proximity to class, but it all depends on what’s most important to the individual.

I have also been traveling quite a bit on the weekends, like most people who study away. My friends and I are taking advantage of the fact that flights and trains from London to other European countries are relatively cheap, and so far I’ve been to Sweden, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Morocco. I have loved every single place I’ve visited, with Morocco being my favorite (sunsets in the Sahara--enough said). It’s truly an incredible opportunity to be able to travel and experience so many unique cultures, meet new people, and try different foods. I return from each trip with so many stories and having learned so much.

Now, in the final weeks of the semester, I plan on exploring London and the UK a lot more; I’ve realized that amid all the traveling, I haven’t properly gotten to know the city I live in. London itself has so many opportunities and a huge diversity of neighbourhoods that I’ve been taking for granted. Regardless, these past few months have been a dream, and I would recommend studying here to anyone. I could not be more grateful!

Cheers for now, USWIB!


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Fall Break, Barcelona!

11/9/2017

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By: Chloe Tran

Hi everyone,
It’s me, Chloe!
Fall Break started last Thursday and I’m visiting Florence, Rome, Barcelona and Lisbon. I’m currently in Barcelona so I want to make a checklist of where to visit, what and where to eat to cities that I have travelled to based on my own knowledge.
Where to visit:
  • Casa Batlló - renowned building, Antoni Gaudi’s work. Best when it’s lit up at night.
  • Sagrada Família - large unfinished Roman Catholic church, Antoni Gaudi’s work, Gothic architecture.  
  • La Boqueria - large public market with a ton of fruits and cheap eats such as empanadas.
  • Barcelona Cathedral - Gothic architecture.
  • Barcelonata beach - chill beach, popular spot
  • Bunker del Carmel - amazing, untouristy view of Barcelona.
What and where to eat:
  • Traditional paella with seafood, Restaurant 7 Portes: this place is a bit expensive but really worth it!
  • Patata bravas - fries with spanish mayo-like sauce, highly-recommended; anywhere honestly.
  • Churros, Xurreria sagrada família: I got this place recommended by a friend, really good, it has churros filled with nutella/cream, etc.
  • Gambas al Ajillo (Spanish-style garlic shrimp), Restaurant Cachitos Rambla
  • El Quim de la boqueria - tapas bar at La Boqueria market - everything is good!
  • Croquetas (fried balls of meat or vegetables), InterTapa Restaurant
The list for food goes on but I haven’t had the chance to try other Spanish tapas such as albondigas (Spanish meatballs) or pulpo a la gallega (octopus). I can’t wait to come back!
Here are some photos of the food and the city: (photos in attached link to Google Drive)
If you have any questions, email me at chloe.tran@nyu.edu !
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Ciao USWIB!

11/8/2017

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By Michelle Tu

Hi USWIB!
My name is Michelle, and I’m one of the study abroad liaisons in Florence with my friend Caitlyn. I’m a sophomore co-concentrating in Finance & Data Science, and possibly a minor.. who knows? I love learning languages so maybe I’ll pick up a new one. I’m currently taking Operations Management, Extensive Italian, Financial Accounting, and Cultures & Contexts this semester (which has honestly been so chill [thank god]). If you’re thinking about a Stern class to take while you’re abroad, I highly recommend Ops! A super interesting class that teaches you valuable analytical skills - but avoid if you’re not a math person! And take FA/Cultures & Contexts abroad...definitely easier than in New York.
Anyways, a little over half of the semester has gone by now, and I realize a lot has changed. At first, living in a new country was a little hectic and anxiety-inducing since I had never been to Europe before. I missed my family, my friends, familiarity, English, and my BED. But, I met a lot of nice people, settled into my classes, got a routine going, and even learned how to cook a little bit (upgraded my cooking game from toast to a mean chicken stir fry). Getting situated in a new country is not as scary or difficult as it seems, and overall I think studying abroad is a really rewarding experience in terms of both academic and personal development. You get to take classes while traveling with your friends around Europe before you even turn 21, and learn how to handle/take care of yourself *for real* - all while being halfway across the world from home. Sounds pretty crazy (but surreal) to me.
Florence is a very different change of pace & scenery from New York. There are no big, tall, modern-looking skyscrapers but instead ornate colorful buildings with a boatload of history behind them. The city gives very cozy, cute, small town vibes - it’s like the perfect mix of city life with the Duomo and famous art galleries and such, but it’s also super close to quiet Tuscan towns that are straight out of a picture book. Rolling hills, clear skies, the whole nine. If you ever feel overwhelmed and want to escape the tourists, you don’t need to go far. And the food… if you think you’ve had good pizza before this, you need to come to Italy. I’m not joking about the food, you will literally eat so much in Florence. The locals are nice, even if your Italian is embarrassingly horrible like mine, and very welcoming to international students. Also a plus - it’s almost always warm & sunny here. Oh and, did I mention the food?
In terms of traveling, I’ve gone to some places within and outside of Italy - I went to Rome, Venice, San Gimignano, Amalfi Coast, Croatia, and Oktoberfest in Germany. After midterms, it was finally fall break and I had an amazing week. I went to Switzerland, Amsterdam, and Sweden. I really loved all three places and recommend them to anyone. However, Switzerland by far stood out to me since I’m an avid hiker and I went hiking up the Swiss Alps. It was the craziest, most beautiful, jaw-dropping, take your breath away experience I’ve probably ever had in my life. The mountains looked unreal, like the Paramount logo. I didn’t think things like that actually existed in real life. (If you don’t like hiking, you can take a cable car up too - I would still recommend that because the view was so insane). And Amsterdam/Stockholm both have an amazing food scene… I ate too much in both cities. Amsterdam has a great nightlife scene, since a lot of EDM/DJ’s are from there. Sweden is also one of the happiest countries on earth apparently, and I could easily believe that. Everyone there is so chill, easy-going, and seems to be generally happy right where they are. :-)
OK, I think that’s all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed reading about my time in Florence so far! If you have any questions about Florence, studying abroad, life, or puppies, feel free to email me at mst395@stern.nyu.edu or add me on Facebook. Ciao!

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Chloe’s Tips on Scheduling and Traveling in London

11/1/2017

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By Chloe Tran
Hello everyone!
My name is Chloe Tran, currently a sophomore in CAS studying Economics and Math with minors in Business Studies and Psychology. I’m studying abroad in London this Fall semester and really honored to be a Liaison. For my very first blog post, I would like to talk about classes and designing schedules to make the most out of my semester abroad.
CLASSES:
I’m taking 4 classes (all of them are on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving me 5 days a week to do homework and travel). My classes are Expressive Cultures, Foundation of Finance, Linear Algebra and Introduction to Marketing. Expressive Cultures and Foundation of Finance are my favorite so far so here are my reviews about them:
  • Foundation of Finance by Professor Dirk Nitzche. A hard but really rewarding class! There are one midterm and an Excel-based portfolio theory project and a final. The content of the lectures is dense and the professor explains it well. I finished my Excel project before Fall break started and I must say it was rewarding to know more about portfolio theory.
  • Expressive Cultures - Images by Professor Deborah Ann Cherry. My favorite class so far! I’ve learned so much about Contemporary Art (Contemporary is different from Modern art by the way!) and have visited a good number of extremely interesting exhibitions so far this semester (Basquiat - a NYC artist: Boom for Real exhibition at Barbican, Blackpower at Tate Modern and the most impressive has been the world’s biggest art fair - Frieze London featuring art dealers and galleries from all around the world). Before taking this class, I didn’t know anything about art despite going to so many museums in New York and Singapore, but now I have started an interest in art analysis which is really cool! Professor Cherry is very sweet and easy to talk to. She loves talking about art pieces during the exhibition to individual students. The class is mostly field trips to exhibitions, during which we do group presentations about particular art pieces on the spot which I enjoy a lot because I actually know the meaning of each piece).
I think the differences between NY classes and London classes are meeting times, content and structure of the exam:
  • Meeting time: classes only meet once a week and are lecture-based (3 hours long, 9am-12am or 10am-1pm or 2pm-5pm or 6pm-9pm) and you have a break in between (15 mins to half an hour, depending on the professor)
  • Content: London classes are lecture-based for some classes and have a lot of field trips for some others.
Other notes about classes in London:
  • Make-up days! Mark down the make-up days on your calendar so you can plan your trips accordingly! Because of fall break which starts around the end of October – beginning of November (1 week), make-up day attendance is mandatory. I wouldn’t skip them because attendance is important here in London as it maintains your requirement to stay in the UK.
DESIGNING SCHEDULES:
Like most people studying abroad, I travel during the weekend from Thursday to Monday. But here are my tips on designing your perfect schedule for travel based on my empirical experiences:
  • Mark down class trips, makeup days and submission dates to know what weekends/days you’re free.
  • Take advantage of NYU London Culture Programs and note the dates down right away.
  • NYU London has some free cool events and day trips you can sign up for (Phantom of the Opera show, day trip to Stonehenge/Canterbury/Cambridge, etc.). This information will be available when you get here so make sure to sign up for it as soon as you receive the email because of limited spots. I went to see Phantom of the Opera for free here in London and I loved it so much.
  • Leave enough free time for before and after travelling. Before the semester started, I was really excited about all the travels and made the mistake of cramming it together (for example: leaving right after classes at night and then coming back to London the night before class day). Personally, I think it’s too hectic to do so so I prefer to leave Thursday mornings and come back Sunday nights (I have Thursday to Monday free) so I can relax and do homework Mondays and Wednesday nights.
  • Leave time to explore London. I’m leaving myself 2 weekends after Fall Break and then all of December to enjoy London. After a lot of travelling, I bet you’ll miss London and want time to chill!

If you have any questions, email me at chloe.tran@nyu.edu !
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NYU Florence

11/1/2017

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By Caitlyn Lubas

Ciao a tutti, USWIB! My name is Caitlyn Lubas and I'm one of the study abroad liaisons in Florence, alongside my close friend Michelle who you'll be meeting in next week's blog post. I'm a sophomore studying Data Science and Marketing... or Operations... or Global Business... (still deliberating on my co-concentration). At NYU Florence, I'm taking Operations Management, Financial Accounting, Italian Politics, and an Intensive Italian language class – which is really paying off perchè adesso posso parlare italiano molto bene (because now I can speak Italian very well)!

Living in Florence has been a definite change of pace compared with the hustle and bustle of a booming metropolis like New York City – but although I'm a city girl through and through, Florence has won a special place in my heart with its incredible Renaissance art, stunning architecture, relaxed way of life, and its unbelievably delicious food!

At NYU Florence, the campus is one of the main reasons everyone should consider studying abroad here – it's absolutely GORGEOUS, since it's an old Italian villa with beautiful gardens and incredible views of the city. Also, you might get lucky with your housing assignment and get to live mere steps away from the Duomo, one of the most famous cathedrals in the world!

Florence is the perfect place to study abroad not only because of what the amazing city itself has to offer, but because of its location. Being in the center of the beautiful countryside region of Tuscany means that even bus rides and train rides turn into picturesque journeys with rolling green hills and adorable countryside villas zipping past your window. Tuscany is a region within reach of so many amazing Italian cities that are perfect for day trips, like Pisa, Siena, Bologna, San Gimignano (home to the best gelateria in the world!), Verona, Milan, Venice, Rome, and so many more. Other perfect weekend trip destinations like the Amalfi Coast, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria are only an overnight bus ride away. And with major airports all within reach via high speed trains, Italy is the perfect starting point for jet-setting all across Europe throughout the semester.

This semester, I really wanted to prioritize travel and cultural immersion and so far I think I've been successful with these goals! So far, I've been to Croatia, Germany, England, Slovenia, Poland, and Malta, and I'm currently traveling to Spain, Sweden, and Denmark for my fall break! Having an intense travel schedule serves as a great life lesson since I've learned how to expertly budget my time and I've developed a greater appreciation for European history and culture after visiting all these amazing places.

I've also explored a lot of Italy including Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast, Siena, San Gimignano, Milan, Rome, Perugia, and Verona. Pro tip: try to organize your class schedule with classes in the mornings so you have mostly free days where you can take day trips around Italy!

NYU Florence does a great job of organizing free trips throughout the semester so students have opportunities to see different parts of the country as well as experience the culture of Italy through free programs like Italian cooking classes, nights out at the opera, and traditional Florentine plate-painting classes.

With midterms now finished (thank god), I can hardly believe the semester is half over already. I couldn't recommend Florence more highly and study abroad, no matter where, is definitely an invaluable experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. The challenges you face abroad help you grow so much and prompt you to learn a lot about yourself as a person, and you'll inevitably develop greater cultural competency and heightened appreciation for history when you're surrounded by it everywhere you go in Europe.

If you are studying abroad in Florence next semester, considering study abroad in the future, or just want to know more about traveling around Europe in general, feel free to reach out to me on Facebook or by email at cl3707@nyu.edu! Ci vediamo dopo (see you later)!
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