I spent four exciting months at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in Manhattan, New York from January – May 2025. The teaching style in New York was very different to AUB, and meeting new professors and peers allowed me to gain new insight into my professional work and allowed me to get a new creative perspective.
The institution that I joined was eye-opening – the attitude towards students was casual and inspiring. We had tactile and consistent class meet-ups, which allowed us to work on our current projects and get advice and feedback from our professors and friends.
This opportunity came up very last minute and was a complete surprise – I knew that if I would ever get the opportunity to go abroad within my degree – I would take it if I could. I’ve been travelling before and knew I would absolutely love the experience and make the most of it. Our lecturer sent out an email in November 2024 with the opportunity for our whole course, two other girls and I emailed back saying we were interested, and they sent us further information, and it went from there.
The process was difficult, and it was expensive to go, but I am so glad I went – I truly loved it, and I would do it all over again. I ended up being the only person from AUB to go to New York. It was an expensive experience, but I believe it to be worth it as the experience and skills I learnt I will carry through with me into third year and into my career and life.
The easiest part of my experience was adjusting to a new environment as they made me feel very welcome and included whilst at FIT – due to the large number of international students. There were lots of resources that I could facilitate to make the transition easier such as meet-ups with other international students, and an international team that I could go to for advice and speak to other students in similar circumstances. The other students were also very kind and welcoming to me and made me feel included – I made lots of classmates and friends.
The hardest part of my experience was the application process and the technical side to my visa and communicating with both universities at the same time. I found it difficult to navigate what needed to be done during the visa and application process as information and support was lacking and as it was my first time taking part in something like this meant it was a lot harder for me when organising the study abroad. I only had one meeting with my professors from home whilst I was away, which meant I felt behind on the work I had to catch up on when returning to the UK. I also found it confusing that I had to catch up on a big project when I got home, as I’d completed a full semester at FIT, but the credit system in the UK versus the US was confusing to navigate and took a while to get used to it.
When returning home to the UK, I was nearly five weeks behind on a nine-week project and was only allowed a two-week extension. This meant that I had to rush back to Bournemouth when it got home and spend the next four weeks working on a project, despite finishing a semester at FIT. I also do not know how my grades from FIT will impact the spring semester at AUB as my grades from FIT are in a A-B-C system, which we do not use at AUB.
I took six classes, two of which I got to choose from hundreds of options, I studied ‘styling for visual presentation’, which was out of my comfort zone but turned out to be so much fun.
Most of the students in the class were Fashion majors and had experience in styling and fabrics. We met up once a week from 18.00–21.00, which was also a unique experience for me as I’d never had classes later than 17.00. This was fun as it meant classes were less formal and hands-on. Within this class, we created an eight feet-tall, realistic 1980s subway cart instillation, as well as some other cool projects. I’d never done anything like this before, but it turned out to be such a fun challenge and I know I wouldn’t have been able to do this at any other university. I know a lot of people dropped out of this class as it was intimidating, but I am so glad I stuck it out as I felt like I learnt so many new skills and new experiences, make moving to a new place worth it. My advice would be that if you are out of your depth and scared, this is where you will learn the most and be brave and see it through. You may end up enjoying it and it may be one of your highlights from studying abroad.
I absolutely loved the area of Manhattan I was in (Chelsea) as it was so central. I had a great view of the Empire state building from my bedroom window, and I was a 15-minute walk from Times Square. It was a great destination as it meant I really made time of my time off from class and it was very easy to navigate the subway system, meaning I saw so much of New York during my four months there.
My favourite activity during weekends was visiting art galleries and museums – New York City has hundreds of creative visual opportunities and they were all so unique and special. My favourite museum was the Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibitions were moving, and it also had an amazing balcony with a great view of New York City and of Little Island.
Some of my favourite things in New York to do:
- Betty Boop Broadway show
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Guggenheim Museum
- The Edge
- Brooklyn Bridge/Dumbo Brooklyn
- Little Island
- Chelsea flea market
- Ferry from Battery Park to Staten Island to see a free view of the Statue of Liberty.
New York also had a great selection of temporary art exhibitions that were open for certain amounts of time. These allowed me to visit something more unique and tailored to my own taste. When visiting a certain place or New York you should look these up whilst you're there or ask locals what’s on currently.
I had the great opportunity of taking over the FIT Study Abroad Instagram page (@fitstudyabroad) and I posted a fun collection of images from my time at FIT, and I wrote a summary of some of my favourite things to do. Please look at this post from 24 April – I loved this opportunity!
