Journalism Student Hopes Her Future Career Path Involves a Return to London

in Global Matters
April 7th, 2025

Josephine Best Relished Working and Living in London Through Study Abroad

Josephine Best has always wanted to move to London. With her dad hailing from Newcastle, England, and her uncle living just outside of London, perhaps it’s no surprise that Best is drawn to this cosmopolitan and culturally rich capital. In addition to family ties to the city, she has a great appreciation for London’s excellent public transit system that allowed her to explore the city’s history, culture, arts, dining scene, and more.

Studying Abroad in BU’s London Internship Program gave Best a taste of living and working in London. The program combines a professional internship with coursework that examines a particular academic area in the context of Britain’s history, culture, and society. After completing the program’s six-week core phase, Best and her classmates spent seven weeks in full-time internships with organizations across greater London while also enrolled in a related weekly seminar course.

Best interned at a music PR company, and while the experience taught her that she does not want to pursue music PR for her career, she now knows she should try a different path with her journalism degree and penchant for communications. Exploring interests or those opportunities that end up being not of much interest is all part of interning abroad. This helps students like Best determine what works best and gives them firsthand experience, on an international stage no less, before graduation.

“I’ve realized from classes and from that internship experience that I’m not really interested in music PR,” Best says. “I think it’s important to say I don’t know what I want to do at all, and I am graduating in a few months, so it was a nice way to test out an area in a set period of time…that I didn’t necessarily have to go after [once having graduated]. I was still in school, and I had that experience. I decided I don’t like that, so now I can move on, and look at other areas.”

Interning while abroad made the entire experience much more realistic as to what living and working in London could look like for Best upon graduation from BU. Although she is unsure about her exact career path, she is interested in returning to London and charting a path for herself. Learning how to navigate a foreign city and overcome challenges while abroad helped Best build resilience. That resilience and grit will certainly serve Best when she plans her return to London upon graduation.

“I just really enjoyed being there,” Best says. “I found, when I was back in Boston, that London is the first place I’ve ever been homesick for – that wasn’t my actual home, and I’ve never felt that way about Boston, unfortunately, so I really want to go back.”

Best also ended up playing an important role for BU London, when she decided to work as a residence life supervisor (RLS) after her program ended. That allowed her to stay in London for the summer and help build community for the students now enrolled in BU London programs – a community that she very much valued during her time studying abroad.

“BU has accommodations that help create community and help you feel a little bit more comfortable while abroad,” Best says. “Being an RLS helped me appreciate the program that I did even more. When I was in the program, my RLS helped me realize I could maybe stay over the summer, and he coached me through it, which was going above and beyond his job description to help me.”

Best relished the opportunity to meet new students and help them acclimate to their program and time abroad.

“To have had my own experience in the London Internship program and then to watch new students come in [to BU London], I felt that excitement for them and for all the things they were going to experience. I really enjoyed my time as an RLS and working with the people who make [BU] London what it is.”

Best says she has stayed in contact with her BU London professors and felt their commitment to helping create great experiences for students studying abroad, adding “One of my professors ended up giving me a tour of Parliament, which was amazing.”