“Yes, London. You know: fish, chips, cup ‘o tea, bad food, worse weather…London!”
This is a quote from the movie Snatch where Dennis Farina’s character is describing London to an associate of his. This quote was the first thing I thought of when I found out I was going to be spending the summer in London. Having very limited international travel experience, I did not know what to expect. I did know that this was an incredible opportunity that I could not pass up and being a full-time student working on an MBA and Masters of Science in Accounting gave me the flexibility to make it happen.
I was familiar with the stereotypes of London, mostly summarized by the quote above, but also knew that stereotypes are not always true and that I should not allow them to limit my expectations or understanding of living in London. If you are thinking that sounds like a well-polished definition of stereotypes it is because I am taking two online course while over here, one being Organizational Behavior by Dr. Albrecht which has so far dealt a lot with stereotypes, both in general and in the work environment. Since arriving June 1, I have found that the majority of my stereotypes of London (bad weather, bad food and good ale) have thus far rung true. Only a handful of days have passed where it hasn’t rained (granted last month was the wettest June in history and July is on pace for more rain). The food, in general, has not been awful but certainly not exactly spectacular (and no, I somehow have not had fish and chips yet but look forward to that delight). The ale is delicious (even though I am busy traveling and taking a couple online classes, I somehow made time to give the local ale a proper examination). For the rest of the summer, I will be discovering the rest of the UK and Europe.
P.S. If you are not familiar with the movie Snatch you should watch it, it is a solid flick (along with any other movie directed by Guy Ritchie). And if you are familiar with the movie you should watch it again.
MGMT 541 Organizational Behavior Course: The organization as a social system. Topics include leadership, interpersonal effectiveness, group behavior, managing change, conflict management, motivation and behavior, and interpersonal communications.
Mike Holpe is a UIC Liautaud full-time student working on completing the MBA and MSA doint degree program, with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. He is also a UIC Liautaud Student Ambassador. This summer, he is living in London and traveling throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.