Coming to the UK feels like home

Realising a lifelong dream, Katherine Sewell, a final year Monash Business student, seized the opportunity to spend a term at Warwick at the beginning of the 2019/20 academic year. Katherine is studying international management at Warwick Business School and chose Warwick for its diversity.

“Pretty much all my family is from the UK, which was the main reason for wanting to come to Warwick. I’ve heard so many stories, my Grandad went to Cambridge and my Grandma grew up in the north, I thought it would be nice to study in my second home.

Both Monash and Warwick are really diverse universities but the student demographic is completely different. I thought it would be really interesting to study the same subjects at Warwick but with people from different backgrounds to those at Monash.

One of the modules I’m studying here is Equality and Diversity. I’m majoring in human resource management at Monash and have studied the subject before, but thought it would be interesting to do it at Warwick and compare the two.”

Katherine has travelled to 30 countries, 27 of them solo, but this was her first time living and studying in another country. Living on campus, with a mixture of first years and other exchange students, helped her to meet people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

“I’ve always liked the idea of studying abroad, getting a different experience and living in a different country. I wasn’t expecting Warwick to have so much greenery, it’s beautiful. I was really surprised how community focussed everyone and all the societies are. Everyone is really welcoming.”

Coming to the UK wasn’t a shock for Katherine as she’s used to the British eccentricities and has visited twice before, although she has had to come to terms with one fundamental difference;

“I’m used to a lot of the colloquial things we don’t say in Australia, as my family use British language but there are still times when I have to ask people to explain what they mean by a word or phrase!

One of the big differences between Monash and Warwick is when the assessments are, at Monash the assessments are spread out across the term but here all my assignments are technically due when I’m back in Australia after the end of the term.”

Her advice for anyone thinking about going on exchange?

“Your money will come back, your time won’t. If you have the opportunity to do it, do it. This sort of experience is literally priceless.”

On finishing her degree Katherine is hoping to pursue a career in human resources.