The cold wind whips my hair back and forth, obscuring my vision as I cross 34th Street towards Urban Eatery. The hustle and bustle of the city at 7 a.m. is refreshing, even though my only thoughts are about my nice, warm bed. Opening the only functional door of Urban, the warmth hits me. I locate my group’s usual table, open my laptop, and pull up Google Hangouts. Staring back at me are the three Amsterdam students I have been working with for the past few weeks.
My name is Christine Chang, and I am an international business major. I am a current freshman, here at Drexel University, and here is a day in my life as a student in the global classroom.
I think it’s safe to say that the global classroom is not widely known across campus. There is little to no information offered, other than the email that I got from one of the co-directors of this class. In the email that I received prior to starting my first term, the curriculum was laid out: the global classroom is a substitute for Foundations of Business I and II. The curriculum is virtually the same, where we learn about the different disciplines of business, from marketing to accounting to finance. Built into this core business class are different projects, such as Mike’s Bikes, which is a business simulator. The difference, however, is that the global classroom (as it suggests) offers an international project.
Sitting in the dining hall now, my group, both at Drexel and in Amsterdam, work on our second status report. Thus far, we have determined a product, a social cause, and other business specifics that are needed. Wrapping up the Google Doc, we submit our assignment and part ways.
The day is still young as I leave Urban Eatery. Next up is my actual global class, from 12 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
My class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays every week at this time, and each class looks different from the previous. Most of the time, we go over chapter notes, but the in-class activity varies. In the first week of school, we introduced ourselves to the rest of the class. In our second week, we practiced networking skills. This week, our in-class activity revolved around creative thinking.
The clock strikes 1:50 p.m. I gather my belongings and prepare for another cold trip back to my dorm room. Beforehand, I stop by Northside Dining Terrace for lunch to bring back up, the only time I have before my 4 o’clock math class. In the time between my morning and afternoon classes, I take a break. After all, my morning is a four-hour block of just classes. Sitting at my desk, I enjoy a very much needed episode of Grey’s Anatomy and a Chick-fil-A sandwich.
5 p.m. never felt so good until I started school here. 5 p.m. marked the end of not just a dreaded math class, but also the end of my school day. From this point on, I have time to complete whatever work I needed to do. After a ten minute walk from Drexel One Plaza back to North Hall, my homework routine began.
One of the most challenging aspects of working with students abroad is the time difference. Our 7 a.m. is their 1 p.m., so by the time I’m done with class, they’re probably asleep. With that being said, a lot of my homework for the global classroom is preparing for our next meeting. Not that much time is offered in the morning because of our differing schedules, and that’s just speaking about the Drexel students. In addition, the last component of our project is the biggest – our six-minute pitch video.
The first thing that I work on is our video script, an outline of each scene for the video. After consulting with the rest of my Drexel group, I organize what needs to be said and who says it. The most challenging part of the creation of this video is making sure everyone sends me their clips and recordings in time for me to piece it together before the due date.
After my work with the project is complete, I move on to other tasks – business notes, microeconomics notes, math homework, English assignments. By the time I’m done, it’s well into the evening, and I take this time to relax. Looking back at my day, I marvel at how much I got done and cringe at the never-ending assignments I still need to do.
The global classroom requires a lot of out-of-class time, especially since we are working with students in Amsterdam. As tiresome as it may seem, it is also incredibly rewarding to experience what international business is like, and it keeps me motivated to pursue a career in it.