23 Aug Gettin’ Educated and Well-Traveled
I can’t believe my first month in London has already flown by! I feel like I’m pressed for time to travel to all the places I want to see and do all of the things I want to do! However, I have managed to fit some pretty cool trips into my schedule already, like a trip to Brussels, Belgium with Absolute as well as a weekend trip to Copenhagen, Denmark this past weekend! Brussels was smaller than I had been expecting. We basically walked around the whole city in the two days we were there! We did lots of eating, too, from waffles to chocolate to French fries and back again, it’s a good thing I walked so much in Brussels or else I would have gained a couple unwelcome pounds! I managed to come away with a couple cool souvenirs and the memories of a time well-spent going out to a bar called Delirium and just continuing to get to know my new friends. Those same friends have sadly left this past week due to the end of their program closing out. It was sad to say goodbye to such a great group of new girlfriends, but I know that this is only the beginning of our international friendship! To stall the sadness of missing my Absolute friends, I had the happiness of seeing an old friend in Copenhagen to distract me! My friend, Nanna, was a foreign exchange student friend of mine back when I was a sophomore in high school. It was spectacular to hop off the plane and run into her arms after four years of separation across the Atlantic Ocean! We clicked back together despite the years, catching up and walking all around Copenhagen to see the sites that she and I deemed the most important. It was so cool to see into her life in Copenhagen that was so different from the life we had shared together in the US, meeting her friends, boyfriend, and family, seeing where she worked, and hearing her speak her native language. When I left, we gave each other a huge hug and professed that we couldn’t wait to see where we would end up years from now, knowing we will still be friends. I can’t wait!
Back in London it hasn’t just been all fun and games, though! I had a rough week at work observing a Business Battle session (the program I am helping work to improve) and I spent a lot of time commuting to and from the location as well as putting in a lot of energy to participate actively in the program. Watching the kids’ business knowledge grow and be put into action at the market at the end of the week was satisfaction enough for the sacrificed lunches I might have made during the week, however! At this point, I have also gone to a couple career speaker series events with Absolute Internship, including visiting the Bloomberg office as well as receiving a tour of the building and hearing a famous young English entrepreneur speak about what it takes to be successful (almost a mini pep talk, if you will). I feel like I learned a lot from both experiences, like that book smarts and high levels of education aren’t everything when it comes to being successful, as well as the fact that I might actually be interested in pursuing work in a business. I had never considered something like that before, but after taking the BAT I thought that maybe business isn’t so bad and boring as I have made it out to be throughout my life. It would just have to be the right business for me!
This week, I’m taking it pretty easy in the office after the stress of last week and a super fun weekend out of the UK. I’m headed to Edinburgh, Scotland this weekend for a solo adventure. I’ve heard so much about the beauty of Scotland and it doesn’t hurt that I really like the accent the people there have! So I’m headed off to explore, then to come back and get ready for another trip to Paris with Absolute! I can’t wait to continue all my traveling, but also to keep seeing things within London. I went to see Les Miserables at the theater this past Thursday, which was phenomenal, and I continue to go salsa dancing with my coworkers and my Absolute friends, of course. I just hope that this month doesn’t fly by as fast as the first!
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