Final Days in Manchester
Guest Post by: Sheridan Juarez, a Foster School of Business student studying Accounting and Finance. In Spring 2019, Sheridan participated in the Foster Exchange Program at The Manchester Business School in England .
After all my traveling in April/May, it was time to hunker down for the last month in Manchester! This is what I had to look forward to:
The End of the Premier League
Manchester is BLUE! One of the most exciting finishes in recent history, Manchester City beat Brighton 4-1 to claim the Primer League Title narrowly beating out Liverpool F.C by one point. One of the biggest attractions that Manchester has to offer are the soccer clubs: Manchester City and Manchester United. As a lifelong soccer fan I had to choose a club to support during my time here. Luckily, the tough decision was made for me! I became a City fan thanks to a friend who bought me their jersey. I had a great time watching all of their matches and even made some friends with Manchester United fans, too. I highly recommend everyone to come and watch a Manchester City or United game. Fair warning – tickets for United are much harder to get!
Final Exams
University of Manchester dedicates three weeks to their exam period. Exams may be scheduled all in one week, or spread out. For spring quarter, the finals schedule is announced in April. (This is a semester two specific situation as semester one exchange students can take them back at UW). It is a little annoying having to wait until April to find out when the exams are scheduled, especially when trying to book plane tickets home or to travel, but it’s one of the many quirks of the university system here! Another quirk is that some of the classes you take will have most – if not all – of their entire grade based on the final exam. This is very intimidating, because at the UW we typically have a mixture of midterms, finals, professionalism and projects to be graded on. While overwhelming at first, in the end it is not entirely different than studying for a cumulative final at the UW. With positive study habits, time management, and some supportive friends, navigating the final exam period will be a breeze. One last piece of advice – the three week period of exams is a long few weeks when you are just studying. I recommend taking one day off to relax and focus on stress-relieving activities!
The (Very) Last Week
I absolutely loved my time at the University of Manchester (UoM)! This past week I have said goodbye to my closest friends here and I am sad my time here is almost at an end. On the positive side, I look forward to visiting Barcelona for a few days before I head back home to Seattle. I highly recommend UoM to anyone, and even more so recommend the studying abroad experience in general! It truly is one of the most unforgettable experiences in you’ll ever have.
