Deniz Sari
Wharton ’26
Finance
SA: King’s College London
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Studying abroad in London was my first experience traveling to the UK and Europe while navigating a different academic culture alone. London taught me independence, and I learned how to truly take care of myself. Of course, while at Penn, you also learn to be independent, but starting from scratch in a new country and school as a junior made it feel like I was back in my freshman year. I took advantage of this experience and tried out activities such as rock climbing, paragliding, and sandboarding down dunes in the desert. Being abroad also forces you to become accustomed to different cultures, and I was able to navigate the differences as I travelled more.
One experience that was quite unique to me was recruiting for my junior summer while abroad. I spent January-April of my time abroad recruiting with several different companies. There were times where my classes would finish at 6pm and I would have to rush home to reach my 8pm interview. I was grateful that the time difference wasn’t awful, considering that it was only 5 hours from Eastern time. This experience taught me time management and that there is always a balance to be achieved; you can’t always be having fun when you don’t put in the work.
My Experience Abroad
While at King’s College London, I was enrolled in 4 classes. As a finance and management concentration, I took an entrepreneurship class as well as a marketing class. The entrepreneurship class allowed me to create a business plan from scratch and better understand the efforts and factors that go into creating a business. The marketing class went hand in hand with the entrepreneurship class, as it allowed me to create a marketing campaign for a nonprofit organization. In addition, while at King’s College, I was able to attend an event that featured the founders of startups. These experiences spurred my passion for business, particularly finance and management, as it allowed me to better understand different factors that influence the industry.
As I continue to pursue a career in finance, particularly the buy side, it is critical to understand how to communicate with individuals. Communicating with people from different countries where we don’t speak the same language was both a challenge and an adventure. It allowed me to get creative in how I spoke to people and also let me utilize body language and hand gestures to better understand them if they didn’t speak English. These are all important traits when it comes to speaking with clients, for which I am eternally grateful. Visiting countries such as Morocco also allowed me to utilize the skills I learned in my negotiations class, which forced me to step out of my comfort zone.
Other Highlights
The first highlight from my time abroad was definitely the people I met. I became friends with people from all over the world, including Australia, Hong Kong, Austria, etc. This was an incredible experience, as I was able to learn about their norms while we both adjusted to the customs of England. Our conversations were always entertaining, and our adventures while wandering around London were the highlights of my experience.
The second highlight might be a bit odd to some, but it was fascinating to me. I loved taking public transportation in new countries. Growing up in New York, I took the train to get everywhere. I personally loved the public transit in London, as it was very efficient and easy to navigate. Additionally, it was interesting to see how cities such as Budapest and Vienna had a trust system in place for public transit. It was interesting to see the different modes of transportation present in every country. It also served as a fun puzzle to solve, with directions and stops being said in different languages.
The third highlight was definitely the food. Exploring new countries allowed me to try their national cuisines. This included dishes like Morocco’s tagine, France’s escargot, Scotland’s haggis, and much more. Understanding a culture through the food was critical for me, as I come from a family of restaurant owners themselves. It also sparked fun conversations on how to properly eat the meals with the locals neighboring our table.
