The Super Bowl annually attracts 150 million viewers worldwide. It's the biggest sporting event on the planet, right? Not quite. The annual Champions League final more than doubles the worldwide size of Super Bowl audience. English Premier League side Chelsea are the reigning title holders of Europe's biggest club soccer championship, and on April 6, they hosted Spanish super club Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League quarter final tie. A sold out crowd of more than 40,000 squeezed into Stamford Bridge in West London to watch French superstar Karim Benzema score a hat trick for the visitors. Few Americans will ever see a performance like that, in an atmosphere like that. Alexander Hawkins '23 was in the stands.
Alexander spent the spring semester studying in London. The management major took 15 credits while juggling a 20-hour per week internship, and he always managed to get where he needed to be on time using the Tube.
Before leaving for London, Alexander had only ever explored the east coast of the U.S. His first week abroad, he sat down with his flatmates, they pulled out a map, and began to make their plans. They looked up cheap flights and cheaper hostels, and over the course of the next few months, they traveled to Italy, Spain, Ireland, France, and Scotland. While in Madrid, Alexander met up with some Siena friends studying in Spain for the spring.
"Thank you Matt Schiesel (associate director of study abroad and international fellowships) and the Study Abroad program for making this journey happen!"
"Growing up in a small town with minimal experience travelling, I was sceptical of spending the next three months in a major city, thousands of miles away from home. Little did I know how beneficial this experience would be for me. I partook in multiple internships, traveled Europe, and made many new friends and connections."
Alexander Hawkins '23
