Living Like a Local: One DU Student’s Experience Studying Abroad
Between classes, an internship, and countless cultural experiences, Max Guerra Jimenez made the most of his time in London.
All photos courtesy Max Guerra Jimenez
During the fall quarter, third-year DU student Max Guerra Jimenez studied abroad in London. Max, who studies finance and accounting, also works as an intern in the Undergraduate Admission office. Here, in his own words, he tells the DU Newsroom about his goals for the quarter, how he got a true sense of being a Londoner, and what he learned about himself along the way.
I wanted to focus my study abroad experience into three different buckets. The first bucket was the academic side—I'm studying finance and accounting. I wanted to push myself academically even while being somewhere different than where I'm used to being.
The second bucket was professional. The study-abroad program I chose included a finance internship with the National Health Service [the publicly funded health care system in the United Kingdom], which is super exciting since I want to go into finance healthcare after I graduate.
And then the third bucket is on the personal level—I wanted to adapt to change and also grow in my cultural knowledge. So, a lot of my weekends involved going to museums and visiting other places that gave me that cultural spark and knowledge, so I could integrate that learning into my life.
I wanted my experience to feel historical, so I decided to spend most of my time in the U.K. and specifically in London. A lot of study-abroad experiences focus mainly on the connection to Europe that students get—you can do weekend trips to Austria or Paris or go to virtually any European country for the day. I did do a day trip to Madrid and two other weekend trips, but the rest of my weekends were spent in London or in some other place in the U.K., like Cambridge, Oxford, and Bath.
One reason I decided to keep it local is that I wanted to see what being a Londoner truly meant. Part of living like a local included my internship with the NHS, which allowed me to have that 9-to-5 experience of work, as well as taking the tube daily. Along with my studies and all the different cultural experiences that I had, it really showed me what it would be like to live here as an adult with a full-time job, and I think that really helped me.
At first, it was incredibly hard to see London as my home. Everything felt so temporary. But as time went by, I was able to see the bigger picture. I saw how everything I was learning, including being able to quickly adapt to a new environment, applied to my life. It was a great opportunity and experience.
