I chose to do a month-long study abroad in London this summer called Applied Economics in London. My classes were great. I had MSU professors, and it was great getting to know them throughout the entire program.

London was a great experience. Having no language barrier made getting around and talking to people super easy. My biggest issue was which way to look when crossing the road.

Being in such a historic city was really cool. London has everything from an underground Roman coliseum to theatres where the Beatles played. This is also seen in its architecture. There are buildings from long ago that survived bombing raids from WW2 and brand-new architectural marvels that have been built in place of destruction. This balance gives it a really interesting balance that I had never experienced before.

One of my favorite moments from my program was actually on the very first night. There was a small pub in our neighborhood that had weekly trivia night, and we went as a whole class and competed against each other. The questions were more American than expected so we didn’t embarrass ourselves, but we still got beat by the regulars. After the trivia game, they drew a raffle ticket from all the trivia participants to decide who got to play the final game. They drew the number of a girl from our group. She played a card game in front of everyone and ended up winning the progressive cash prize that had been inflated to £400 (almost $540) in the weeks past. She sent the whole place into an excited frenzy. The regulars were excited, and you could tell this didn’t happen often. Our group especially was going crazy even though a lot were still confused about what had happened. This moment on the first night was incredibly important because it set such a solid baseline that broke tension and allowed the group to start bonding already. Only a couple of us knew each other before the program and from this moment on, the whole class got along and there were many more times that big groups, or even the whole group would do things together.

I have to say I expected more small cliques and less group chemistry, but I was pleasantly surprised, and this allowed me to be much closer friends with a lot more of the group. These friendships, along with the new relationships made with the professors will be incredibly beneficial professionally as well as personally in the future and none of that would have happened without this study abroad program.

Name: Keegan McLaughlin
Status: Senior
Major: Economics
Hometown: Chelsea, Michigan
Program: Applied Economics in London