Thank God I Keep a Journal- Weeks 5-10- Katrina Laemmerhirt

Sorry for the MIA blog posts! They weren't kidding when they said you would be busy all day, everyday..

BUT lucky for you I have kept a journal everything I've done! At lot has happened in 5 weeks though so prepare yourself

Week 5:
These weeks were filled with our endless exploration of London and copious amount of statistics homework. How we managed sleep in there I'm not sure. Dr. Mee took us to a lot of places we probably never would have visited. We visited Dunhumby data collection agency, Lloyds of London insurance company, and Oxford University. It was really interesting seeing how companies here operate compared to the US. It was surprising to hear about the amount of psychology and arts and humanities majors that are now working at these prestigious businesses. Besides being nerdy about studying business operations, we've been doing the usually, getting tea and getting lost trying to find the grocery store.

Oxford University 

Lloyd's of London

Week 6:
ITS ALMOST SPRING BREAK! 12 of us have planned a trip to Rome, Florence, and Pisa in Italy and Barcelona and Madrid in Spain. This week of anticipation is defiantly going to get me through the rest of statistics. Like always, on our down time we've been exploring the city. This week we found a couple really cute thrift stores. On February 2nd it was Chinese New Year! All the girls in our flat woke up early and went to the parade. All of Chinatown was decorated in hanging lanterns and flags. Then we made the decision that it would be a great idea to splurge on Chinese food in Chinatown on Chinese new year.. it was a great idea. That same night was the Superbowl so we all squeezed together in our flat with chips and oreos and watched the (really bad) game. Before spring break we made one more outing to Greenwich which was right by the water. It was such a nice day and you could see the entire view of the city of London. There was also a spot where you could stand in-between the east and west hemisphere. Some other random adventures of the week were that we went to the top of The Shard which is the tallest building in Europe and found a wall in the streets where people wrote everything they want to do before they die.

View from the Shard

Greenwich

Week 7: SPRING BREAK…look at my post above this for spring break adventures

Week 8-10:
I thought I could type it all in the post but by battery is 7% so stay tuned! I promise it will be relatively soon


Thanks for reading!
And sorry to the fam that I haven't written on here in 5 weeks.. hehe

-Katrina Laemmerhirt

Berlin and Prague - Rachel van Deventer

On March 1st I headed to Berlin, Germany with Piper, Sarah, Jonathan, and Daniel. We arrived in Germany and headed to our hostel in the area of Mitte. We wandered around the city and did some shopping. Sunday morning we did a walking tour through downtown Berlin. We learned a lot about the history of Berlin during the war and got to see the Berlin wall. Later that day we went into the "Tall Stick and Ball" which was the tallest building in Germany. The city was not very busy and there did not seem like much was going on. It was nice that we did not have to pay to ride the subway  the whole time that we were in Berlin.

On Monday we took a bus to Prague, Czech Republic. After getting on the tube to head to our hostel, we were slapped with a $40 fine each for riding the tube without tickets. I guess we deserved it a little though. Prague was beautiful! There was a festival going on so the town was buzzing! The first night there we all went on a fun pub crawl. Tuesday we had a delicious lunch and went on a walking tour. That evening we headed to an Ice Pub that was cold but a fun experience! Wednesday we just strolled through the city and enjoyed the beautiful buildings and atmosphere of Prague. I am back in London now and start my Dunnhumby internship on Monday!

Mini Break--Piper Davis

So not only did we get a 10 day Spring Break, but we got a 5 day Mini Break after our Management class ended. But before I talk about the trip, I want to share my experience of Management with Lane (and Julie!).

The class was not only fun, but also very eye-opening into the world of business. The concepts we learned in the morning could clearly be seen in our afternoon visits to markets, department stores, Ernst & Young, and the City of London Corporation. Of course, my favorite site visit was Harrod’s. This is the absolute largest store (and most expensive) I have ever seen.

Lane and Julie are so sweet. They invited us over to their flat several times for spaghetti, popcorn, and pizza. I wish they were still here!

On to Mini Break—Berlin was our first destination. We walked out of the subway station in front of our hostel and were greeted with complete silence. There was no one on the streets and hardly any cars. Okay, so maybe we were in a dead area? Nope. Everywhere we went, the streets were clear of cars and few people were walking around. I can’t say that I didn’t mind this (especially after walking on Oxford Street in London), but it was unexpected.

We finally found the usual tourists around the Brandenburg Gate and Berlin Wall. It was amazing to learn to about the Holocaust and the division between East and West Germany. We stood in the very spot where Hitler committed suicide (now a parking lot) and also where his body was burned (now a children’s playground).One night, we went up in the Fernsehturm Berlin, which is basically Berlin’s space needle. The view was incredible.

We took a bus to Prague on Monday. On the way, the bus stopped in a German city called Dresden. It was beautiful, and I really want to go visit it someday. It took four hours to get to Prague, so I slept most of the way. We all got money out of an ATM after we arrived. The smallest denomination was 2000 korunas. This is the equivalent to about $100 (Czech money is very inflated). Anyway, we walk down into the subway station, and we notice there is no place to insert paper money into the ticket machine (which is all we had). We walked over to the booth, but no one was there. We watched people for a few minutes, and all of them were just walking through without a ticket. So when in the Czech Republic, do as they do.

Bad idea. We transfer lines and then get off at our stop. A man sees our backpacks (obviously tourists) and asks for our tickets. Of course he didn’t stop anyone else. We tried to tell him that we didn’t know how to pay, where to get change, etc. He didn’t care and fined us about $40 each. Welcome to Prague.

Thankfully that was the only bad part of the trip. Our hostel was very close to the Charles Bridge, which was gorgeous. There were so many shops, restaurants, clubs, and beautiful buildings in this city. It might be my favorite city I’ve visited so far.

We got back late last night, and this week we have advising appointments with Andrew. Monday is the first day of my internship with Red Kite PR. I’m super excited, but also very nervous. Naturally, I didn’t bring my black slacks with me on the trip (instead I brought 5 pairs of pajama pants..). So off to Oxford Street for shopping!

I Keep Rounding Corners and Seeing Epic Things--Sammie Herold

Hey, guys.... gee this is awkward. It has been far too long since I've posted. I don't know if the absence of an overwhelming amount of school work has made me lazy or what...but I just cannot muster up the motivation to write down my feelings and whatnot.

I've been having a whole bunch of feelings lately.

First of all: over the past 4 days, I realized one of my biggest life-long dreams. Well, I haven't been dreaming about it my whole life, but pretty close--since I started studying French 5 years ago or so.

It seems rather cliché to have "Seeing the Eiffel Tower" as an American white girl's dream, but for those of you who really know me, my love for the French language and for France itself kind of borders on obsession. People who have had a French class with me in the past can attest to this. I know I was annoying about it, guys, and I'm sorry. Actually, no I'm not. Désolée, pas désolée.

Anyway...here is one of my favorite pictures of la Tour Eiffel. I cannot decide if I like it better during the day or at night. Bonus: at night, on the hour, this thing SPARKLES.

Almost looks like a Google stock photo, doesn't it? 

In order to save money, I took a Megabus from London to Paris. Let me just tell you how much fun that was. No, seriously...there's no sarcasm there. I met two lovely British girls who were on their way to Paris to run the half marathon there, and a very friendly French boy named Antonin. We all talked for much of the bus ride, and we played cards and drank tea when we had to board the ferry to get to the Continent. They made what would have been a miserable bus ride into an enjoyable experience. First rule of Europe: talk to strangers. (At your own discretion).

The bus dropped me off at Porte Maillot, which was a 5km walk from my hostel. I didn't mind. I wanted to walk and see this city that has plagued my dreams for so long. It was raining, but this is Europe. It's rarely not raining. I'm struggling with my soggy map as I try to get my bearings. I walk down a street, turn a corner, and BAM--there are the Champs-Élysées! And at the end? L'Arc de Triomphe! I'm aghast. It's about 6:45am, so the Champs-Élysées are bare--a rare sight. So I take a stroll down it. I look at my map and compass and head south toward the hostel. 

Paris is exactly how you would imagine. Cafés everywhere, crêperies galore, and cheap, excellent wine (if you buy it in a sketchy convenience store). I'm simply enjoying my walk as I take everything in as I head south. I round another corner and...

WHOA.

 There it is. The Eiffel Tower. For the first time. At about 7:30am on March 1st, 2014. It's just standing there, chillin', doing what it does every day. 

And my eyes just well up. A tear rolls down my cheek as I pick up my pace, almost jogging toward it. I must have looked like a tourist idiot, with my backpack bouncing on my back. I didn't care. 

As I walk through the gardens that surround the tower, I can't help but have a strange feeling in my gut. I'm grappling with these feelings of elation and happiness, but at the same time I'm thinking, "Wow. Well here we go. I'm here, and this is what I've worked toward. Years of studying, hours of scholarship essay writing, months of saving...and here I am. 

.....What now?" 

Honestly, I don't know. I feel like I have to have a new dream to establish, a new "unattainable" destination to reach. I am at a loss. 

You know, I miss home. I do. I miss my people. And my dog. I miss getting a 32oz sweet tea for a dollar and economy-sized bags of shredded cheese. I can't shake this fear of being completely changed when I come home. I'm definitely afraid of being "that pretentious girl who won't stop talking about her trip to Europe." 

What will happen when I round the corner and see...a Pilot gas station? Well, nothing will happen, but I don't want to stop seeing epic things that are older than America is, like the Roman Baths, the Tower of London, or my flat. 

But I'll tell you what. I would love to round the corner and see my mom. 

Or my dad. 

Or Dominic, my awesome little brother. 

Or my closest friends. 

Or Rocco. 

Or Garrett. The hug I'm giving that guy when I get back. He better start bracing himself. 

I am so incredibly happy that I got to see Paris. I got to see it with a friend from French class! Even better! Katie showed me all the great spots--one of my favorite being Sacré Cœur. You can see all of Paris from there, man! She showed me such an amazing time both in Paris and Bordeaux, where she lives. She even took me to a legitimate French college party. We each got two free t-shirts! It doesn't get any better than that. Turns out even organizations in France use free t-shirts to woo people into supporting their causes. Countries are not that different. ;) 

Again, thank you all so much for reading. I'm sorry about being so lazy about writing. If you're reading this, I think you're super special. 

À bientôt! 

Westminster Abbey and Bath - Rachel Van Deventer

For the past week and a half I have been enjoying London and my management class. The course is interesting and we get to apply the concepts that we learn in class to the marketplace during afternoon site visits. Last weekend, we went to Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War Rooms, and to Bath, England. Westminster was very beautiful and historic. I was surprised to learn that Charles Darwin, Issac Newton, and Charles Dickens were all buried there. The war rooms were very interesting and taught me about how vital Churchill was to Britain during World War II. Sunday we went to Bath where we visited the Roman baths that are nearly 2000 years old. The baths still have warm water flowing into them from a natural hot spring. We also got to go to a fashion museum in Bath!

Overall, life is good and I am back into the school routine. I leave for Berlin and Prague Saturday morning though!

Spring Break - Jonathan Edwards

My Spring Break was absolutely amazing! Ten days of backpacking through the UK and Ireland with Ben. I had every single experience you can expect when traveling: new friends, staying in hostels, walking ALOT, getting lost, and experiencing more culture in a day than I have in my lifetime so far. I could easy write a 10 page essay on my break (which I did on my personal blog) but I want to focus here on some of my favorite scenic photos which everyone seems to enjoy.

Ben and I traveled through England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. We experience some of the most awful weather I have ever seen and it rained 8 out of 10 days. However, there was sunshine that popped out of the clouds every now and then and I was able to snap some wonderful photos.

Saint Andrews, Scotland is the birthplace of golf and brings a solid meaning to the phrase "God's Green Earth." I could have stayed there for days on the green grass or sandy beach. The views drew me in and the sea washed away all my thoughts leaving me in a state of pure bliss. The photos that follow may look fake but I promise they are 100% real and that I took them with a simple Samsung camera.

I know this blog post is short for a 10 day trip, and honestly I could write much much more, but I think these few photos of Scotland say more about my trip than I actually can. I had the chance to witness true natural beauty of a kind not often found anywhere else in the world, and I will never forget that.

10 days to never forget - Sarah Hudson

As I sit here still recovering from spring break, I am going to reminisce over the past 10 days of awesomeness.

Spring break was absolutely amazing. So much fun, so much sleep, so much no sleep, so much food, so much walking. And I loved every minute. My group was comprised of 7 people, and it was the perfect number! Not too many and not too few. We went to Venice, Rome, and Barcelona.

Venice was beautiful and quiet. It was a nice escape from the busy streets of London. It was my second time going, and although I liked it better the first time when we went in the summer, I still thoroughly enjoyed this time with my friends and lots of walking. We walked 13 miles one day and literally saw the entire island. We met some cool Columbians from our hostel and enjoyed seeing Lido (a water bus ride away from the main island) and having dessert day. Best decision of our lives. We found a great restaurant for our last night in Venice where we ate authentic Italian food and listened to the owner play the guitar and sing. He serenaded me; I loved it.

My group in Venice!

Next we hit up Rome which we didn't really like that much. It was pretty dirty and crowded, but we didn't regret it. It is just one of those places you have to go to. We saw all the traditional Roman stuff: the Forum, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Vatican. We also hopped on a few buses that may or may not have been free, but we made them free. We stayed pretty far away from the city center, but the hotel was really nice. Word to the wise: don't take a hotel's towel and leave the one you brought. They will charge you 20 euros. Been there done that. Anyway, we also saw what we think was a mafia mugging in broad daylight. It was terrifying, and we walked the opposite direction. We are smart people. Go GLS.

The girls in front of the Wedding Cake Building in Rome

Our last stop was Barcelona, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to travel internationally. We loved it so much. Mediterranean Youth Hostel for the win. Barcelona was so good to us. It was warm, sunny, beautiful, clean, and safe. We walked a lot in Barcelona too, but this was more of a stroll. We saw a castle and sat on the beach for about an hour. It was so peaceful and satisfying!

Last night in Barcelona and of spring break ):

Management started today, and we all already love it! It is so fun having Lane and his wife here in London. I can't wait to look at next year's GLSers spring break pictures and blogs. Then again, maybe I can wait. It will make me jealous and sad. That's why we are living it up now!

Until next time, cheers!

--Sarah