Nick Krieg

What has been your favorite class so far? How has it expanded your knowledge?

Game Theory with Associate Professor Cliff Bekar changed my academic direction. For me, it expanded economics beyond the theory and into the behavioral and social side. This inspired myself and a few of my peers to form an independent research group to further study some of these relationships.

What made you want to come to Lewis & Clark?

L&C offered (and continues to offer) an experience unlike any other. While I definitely put a lot of value in a liberal arts education, L&C stood out among others because of the community on campus. The professor and students are extremely open and nurturing in any situation. Class sizes are small, engagements and relationships with professors are extremely meaningful, and other students are very quick to accept and help in any way possible. This type of family-like respect and care go a long way, especially when starting college. I certainly would not be where I am right now without the unconditional support of my peers, friends, and professors. It is exactly that support that is so highly articulated and represented at L&C.

Describe your experience as a Third Culture Kid (TCK).

I spent all four years of high school overseas in London. My dad’s job as an institutional investor manager took my family abroad. Every single day I feel grateful and lucky to have had that experience. My time abroad complete changed my outlook on culture and life. Coming from a very small suburban town north of Chicago, I was thrown into the outskirts of one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world. There was obviously a culture shock that lasted a long time—but after I got used to this new culture, it started growing inside of me and finally manifested into an integral part of my identity. During those four years, I was constantly traveling and experiencing new places, new cities, new countries, new people, and new cultures. This experience completely reshaped my personality and identity. You might be wondering if I have any life lessons from my time in London?

1. Learn to enjoy eating dinner late, that’s just how it goes.

2. Learn to love tea, you’ll drink it all the time.

3. Go to Stockholm or Oslo.

4. Go to Zermatt.

5. If someone says, “you alright?” they mean “how are you doing?”—answer politely.

6. Don’t ride the Tube during rush hour.

7. Embrace Pimm’s.

My last piece of advice is more general, and it comes from some street art I saw outside of the Bermondsey tube station in Southeast London: “If I culd bring bck dem days dat made me who I am, I wuldn’t change a fing.”