City, University of London, United Kingdom

My name is Rosa and I am a second-year journalism student on exchange in London. I’m studying at City University of London in a part of the city called Angel, a borough filled with quiet alleyways, restaurants and of course a pub on every corner.

When it came to subjects, I chose to drop down to three rather than four for my time in London. I’m taking a journalism subject called ‘Visual Journalism’ which I was able to match as direct equivalent to the UTS subject ‘Multimedia Features’. I’m also taking another journalism subject called ‘Data Journalism’ as a restricted elective. My final choice was a subject called ‘Popular Music in Britain’ from City Uni’s performing arts degree, which I’m taking as a free elective.

This subject explores the evolution of popular British music from post-WWII to present day, covering genres of punk, grime and even ‘acid house’. My class will even attend a few local live music events selected by our tutor, to use as case studies in our final assignments. I can safely I’ve heard of worse field research.

Just about every exchange student I’ve met at City Uni has chosen to use one or all of their subjects as free electives, where it offers the opportunity to explore something outside of your degree. I’ve met a medicine student taking history subjects and a fashion student taking economics subjects.

During one of the orientation sessions at City Uni we were very gravely warned by a lecturer that the teaching style and academic culture in the UK is much harsher than most. Whilst this does hold true in some aspects, where late assignments are an instant fail here, I have found it relatively easy to adjust to. I’ve found a few comforting similarities in the teaching style at City Uni, in their use of online learning platforms, the smaller size of tutorial classes and the practical approach within the journalism department.

However, this lecturer’s bold warning was accompanied by some great advice, to approach things with the assumption that they will be different. In this way, he said, you will find yourself appreciative of the similarities rather than disappointed by the differences.

The exchange experience will definitely challenge your expectations or assumptions around whatever city you choose, accept sooner rather than later that what you have envisioned is probably slightly left of the truth.

London is not all red phone boxes and rows of neat brick terraces, I was hugely surprised by the distribution of social class and wealth. If you walk a hundred metres in any direction from those terraces it will feel as if you’re in another part of the city, whether it be council housing, street markets, Bangladeshi food stores or vintage shops. Central London seems to have anything and everything within every borough.

In terms of meeting people at university, I have definitely noticed that international students tend to group together and socialise by nationality, where I found myself surrounded by Australians from Brisbane in my first week. Although it wasn’t what I expected I have loved having this group and the familiar cultural humour they provide. As time goes on, I am slowly meeting Brits, Canadians, Spaniards and people of all different backgrounds through classes and my student accommodation. I’m looking forward to the rest of my semester in London and beginning to see why this city is the most common destination for Australian ex-pats.

Rosalie Griffith
Bachelor of Communication (Journalism)
City University of London
United Kingdom

For more information about the UTS Global Exchange program please visit: www.uts.edu.au/thinkglobal