Faculty Commentary: Dr. Cummings

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Posted on September 28, 2022 by MCOB Outreach

MCOB Outreach

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A Trip Across the Pond

Perhaps one of the most unexpected blessings of becoming an academic has been teaching International Business to American students studying in London. For five weeks each summer since 2015, I have been living and teaching at Queen Mary University of London. Class sizes typically range from 20-25 students. Our weeks are filled with guest lectures, site visits, and excursions to places like Oxford, Cambridge, Faversham, Dover, and Bath. However, our long, 3- and 4-day weekends are typically spent traveling outside London. Visits have included excursions to Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Calais, Edinburgh, Milan, Munich, Normandy, Paris, Porto, Rome, Salzburg, Swansea, Trieste, Venice, and many more! As we travel, I always talk to people to find out what they are like, where they live, what they do for a living, how they feel about their government, and always interesting, what they think about Americans.

As each summer passes, and the list of places I have visited and the people I have met grows longer, one significant constant has emerged: basically, people are the same no matter where they live or what they do. There are differences, to be sure, but at the core, the people I have met want the same things I do, the same things you do. We all want the freedom to worship how we wish, good health and prosperity for our families, honesty and transparency from our governmental leaders, and to have the opportunity to work and earn a fair living. 

To be sure, differences exist between Americans and our overseas friends. For example, the limits of physical space in our homes or businesses is a huge deal. We have plenty of space in America, so we build large, expansive structures; doing so is not always possible overseas. Commuting is also different; in America, most of us drive to work, while in Europe or the UK, most people take the train or the subway. Of course, the foods are also quite different, or at the very least, sometimes they take different names. For example, we love our fresh Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay shrimp in Alabama, but although I could not tell you why, over the pond, shrimp are prawns. 

So, then what is the key takeaway? For me, it is actually quite simple. The world is a very big place, but not as big as one thinks, and people everywhere are essentially the same, everyone just lives a little bit differently. What a blessing it is to have the opportunity to teach this to our students. I can hardly wait until next summer!

 

 

Dr. Reid Cummings

Interim Assistant Dean for Financial Affairs

Associate Professor of Finance and Real Estate Executive Director

SABRE 

Mitchell College of Business

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