BRB, IN PARIS

Oh my goodness, where to even begin. This weekend was our first adventure on our own outside of the U.K. Twelve of us ventured to Paris, France on Friday morning at about 3am and hit the ground running as soon as we got there. We left with no knowledge of where we were staying, how to get there, what to do, nothing. It was so. much. fun. It was incredible to watch our group navigate a foreign country perfectly and be so productive. We accomplished so much in the first day it was insane. When we stepped out of the Metro station we were slapped in the face with the beautiful Notre Dame, then we ran over to the Eiffel Tower, hit the Louvre, and by the end of that day were zombies. We decided to celebrate Ashton's birthday at a really great place called McDonalds. That's right...we ate McDonalds in Paris. I think this is a trend with me and birthdays in Europe. Last year my cousins and I ate McDonalds in Italy for my cousin Aimee's birthday. Ooopsss...GLS has now made it a goal to eat McDonalds in every country we visit. Challenge accepted.

BRB exhausted at 3am. 

Notre Dame with the girls 

Stunning....

Tour de Eifel 

The Louvre is spectacular, it is one of my favorite things we saw. I would have loved to spend a whole day there.  

After a full, exhausting first day, we made our way back to our hostel. Now, let's take a second to talk about hostels. I have to say, every time I've been to Europe I have been so incredibly spoiled it's not even funny. A hostel is a WHOLE different story. None of us showered for 3 days, we slept in a room with some random Turkish men, I slept with TWO eyes open all night, and tried to push the "Taken" scenes out of my head. Other than that, the hostel was great.........

No really, it was okay, I just don't know that my nerves could've taken another night in one, the paranoia was kicking in, but hey...it was cheap! 

So our second day, we woke up early and made our way to the Catacombs...nope....it was closed. We were super bummed. So what did we do next...RETAIL THERAPY and FOOD COMAS. This....this.....this FANTASTIC restaurant is called Cafe Saint Regis. THE most incredible food I have ever put in my mouth came from this place, and came with a big ol' price tag that I didn't even think twice about. I ordered a traditional French dish called Croque Madame, which is a slice of bread with ham and baked cheese with a fried egg on top. It was absolutely wonderful. Megan suggested this place after her trip to Paris and we decided to try it..we never looked back. 

Eating at St. Regis Cafe with Rob and Ashton, or Rashton. 

 OMG.....this Creme Brûlée...I can't even.....OMG...It was the perfect amount of crispy and smooth and sweet and literally SUPERB.

I had to take a moment to come back to earth when I put the first bite of this Creme Brûlée in my mouth.

Not a bite was wasted.... 

After lunch we headed to the river right down from Saint Regis to take some pictures. This was probably one of my favorite things, because we were just strolling around with no agenda, and having a blast in Paris. Sydney and I made some impulse purchases the first day and found these bad boys. These boots have been a life saver in Paris, and will continue to be in London. I'm obsessed with them, however I never imagined I'd ever wear combat boots. I DO NOW.... You should buy some.

AWKWARD SHOES

I made another semi-impulse buy. This AWESOME backpack was half off, and I needed (and by needed I mean I wanted to look legit for spring break) a pack for spring break to fit all my clothes in for the week. This was a must have.

Embracing my inner "College Kid Backpacking Anti-Tourist, Hipster, Hiker chick, European" self

After messing around for a bit, we headed back to the hostel to drop off our purchases and went to eat dinner at another great restaurant. We went during happy hour and had fabulous Sangria and Mojitos. Some of us tried escargot as well....but not me :) After dinner we ran to see the monuments lit up. The Arc de Triumph is so beautiful and HUGE! The Eiffel Tower has a light show every hour for five minutes, so we saw that twice. The lights flash and it is amazing!

The Arc de Triumph 

So beautiful lit up at night. 

So, the ride home was long, and exhausting. We walked this ENTIRE weekend and were just pooped. I've said this a few times, but the ride home was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip :) We were so excited to come back to our beloved London, that we had some different opinions about what would be the fastest way to get home (London really feels like home now). Alan and Rob were adamant about their way being the fastest, and everyone else had our minds set on our way. I suggested we split up and see who gets there the fastest........This brought out our competitive GLS sides, and we immediately started making a complete list of rules and scheming. The boys tricked us and RAN out of the tube at the next stop..it was game on. 

When the boys left we had several stops to plan our course. Much to our dismay, the speaker came on and said that the Northern Line was CLOSED! We all had these distraught looks on our faces and had to quickly come up with a new plan of attack. We were sprinting up the escalators and out of the tube stations. Of course my team won. 

Team Losers...

BRB WINNING...Tired. Ready to be in London. Greasy. and GAME ON

The annoying part of all of this is that the boys never had a plan to play the game anyway....they were going to get lunch cause they knew our way was faster but didn't want to admit it....QUITTERS. 

So now we are all relaxing back in the flat after eating homemade meals and enjoying smelling better after showering. Paris is beautiful, but we were all so ready to back in Bloomsbury. We all agree that after this trip, London is our home and we couldn't have been more ready to get back. Lane Morris picked the most amazing city for this program to take place in. The U.K. is so fab. I'm in love :)

Tomorrow starts another week in stats....blehh....ps I made a good grade on my last test. I'm SO RELIEVED! We are looking forward to hanging out in London this week and maybe seeing a play, it should be another wonderful week here. 

Au Revoir!!! 

BRB CRYING

Wellp, tomorrow is our next exam and the title says it all. I wrote on our GLS Class of 2015 Facebook wall inviting my classmates to join me in jumping off Tower Bridge tonight before we have to go through this hellish exam. I thought I'd never felt stupider than when we were taking Economics....nope ....nope...this is worse. This Stats class is so hard and we are learning things so quickly and learning a whole new software program that is vital to this information as we go as well. I needed a 4.0 this semester.....oops.....not happening.

Crying in Stats at 9 p.m. with Andrew

Still crying in Stats at 9:01p.m. with Carly

So since I'm on a roll, I'll talk about what I miss about America and what I love about London.

Miss about America: 

1. Not being broke. Our money amounts to nothing here. I've never been so frugal in my life (kinda), but hey this is a blessing in disguise! 

2. Dishwashers, although I had become quite used to this living in Laurel. However, I can't complain because my roommates are fabulous dish-washers. 

3. Living with 30 girls. I MISS LAUREL! Carly and I have been teaching (or yelling) the boys how to PUT THE TOILET SEAT DOWN WHEN THEY USE OUR BATHROOM...we're getting there. 

4. The politeness of the south. You really don't see just how different the south is till you go somewhere else. It's so strange to have people literally knock you sideways with their shoulders as you're passing on the street and not even think about it or turn to say excuse me. The inner bitch is coming out in me, and I'm starting to do the same...oops. 

5. Saying ya'll....yeah that word doesn't work in the British accent.
6. My family and friends. I miss 'em every day!
7. Going to church with Kirby.
8. Having coffee every day...with good creamer.

LOVE about London:
1. Living with 27 people and getting to know them probably better than I'll ever know any other group of 27 people. You really don't know someone until you live with them, and believe me, we are livingggggg together. Today was the first day I've gone somewhere alone. I traveled to Notting Hill neighborhood to my place of work (emc3) for a meeting with my supervisor, Dan. It was quite nice to be alone for a bit and try to navigate the city, but I was so ready to come back to my fam here in Bloomsbury.
2. Taking public transport and walking everywhere. I LOVE being somewhere where I am not constantly in and out of the car. It is so nice and saves so much time. I really love this.
3. Not having access to my iPhone all the time. This free's me up so much to really see and enjoy this city.
4. Being able to have a margarita at a Mexican restaurant and not even be I.D.'d. It's fabulous.
5. Living where I go to school. This makes the mornings so quick and easy.
6. Cooking and eating less crap. I can't afford it, so I don't buy it!
7. Planning trips like a boss. We have successfully planned 2 major trips, one being to Paris this weekend, and I can't wait to see how they turn out!
8. THE ACCENTS...DUH
9. Cobblestone streets
10. Beautiful buildings everywhere. Sometimes you only see the store fronts, and forget to look up. When you do, it's a whole different place. The buildings that house these recognizable businesses we see every day are magnificent.

THE LIST GOES ON!!!

I'll keep adding! Cheers~ xoxo

dunnhumby shunnhumby

On Friday, our class took a trip to see a company based here in London called dunnhumby. They are a retail media company that does a lot of business analytics work for major businesses like Kroger, Tesco, Panera Bread, and Sonic. I never knew what all was behind these company's loyalty cards, but it was incredible to learn about it.

Pretty much, dunnhumby is hired out by these corporations to do statistical work for them and help them grow. It is crazy, and a little scary, to know that soon these people will know everything about us just by what we buy at Kroger. There is so much information they can gather just from you using your Kroger Plus Card. We were given a presentation by a man that travels all over the world talking to CEOs looking for the next big step in dunnhumby's partnership network. He basically has my dream job.

We have two students in GLS interning at dunnhumby, and I have to say I am quite jealous of them after hearing all about that company. They are going to have a fabulous experience.

On the way to the site visit we got to see a bit of the snow that had fallen the night before. A few of us went out late after the visit and just explored London in the snow. It is so beautiful here. I'm getting used to living here and really starting to not feel like just a tourist. I am so excited for what the semester has to bring still. We are planning some great adventures!

SNOW!

On the Tube all the way to the end of the line looking business cash. 

Jillian, Georiga, Half of Sarah, Ashton, and Caitlin outside dunnhumby. 

Our whole snazzy looking class after our site visit.

Oxford Shmoxford

Today we visited the beautiful and COLD town of Oxford and saw some of the colleges. We also were able to take a tour of C.S. Lewis' home. This was really neat and we all had a great time. I'm pretty sure I thought to myself "hmm self, what are the worst possible boots you can wear to walk around in the snow?" and I put those on. We missed a big snow storm in Tennessee but let me tell you we got a gorgeous one here in England. BUT, my feet are KILLED and I'm pretty sure I know what frostbite is now! Look at these things...

Yeah, they're done for. I am searching for some weather boots. I might just break down and buy Hunter rain boots. EEK!!! 

So anyway, this is C.S. Lewis' home in Oxford. We walked down a long path covered in snow and saw a frozen over pond where he used to swim when he lived there. There are currently five students in his home now that give tours a few times a week. 

Walking to Lewis' home 

Sydney and I 

The Kilns

Frozen Pond!

So after most of us toured his home, the whole group ate at a pub called The Eagle and Child where C.S. Lewis enjoyed meeting with J.R.R. Tolkien to discuss their writings. The food was SO GOOD, I had tomato soup and a chicken bacon sandwich with mulled cider. It was fab. 

After lunch our Stats teacher took us around Oxford to see some different colleges. My favorite was Christ Church, where much of the Harry Potter movies were filmed. This was really neat to see. I thought this university was really cool because it is really divided up. Where our school is one big campus, Oxford takes up the whole town, and each college has it's own separate facilities. Students sleep, eat and study in their individual colleges. So interesting!

 We've got a day to sleep in before another week of Stats, then off to PARIS we go for the weekend! Can't WAIT for that! Here's some pictures from Oxford. 

On the top of a double decker bus for the first time

Oxford is spectacular!

Christ Church

The courtyard from the movies

THE GREAT HALL WHAT WHATTTTT

Amanda's travel buddy 

Sydney and Luke on the train ride home

Amanda made a new friend...he doesn't know it yet. 

PIC POST!!!

Here's what you've been waiting for....EEEEK! PICSHAS!! < (Brit) These are from the coach tour we took the other day. We got to see some really neat things, then my camera battery died :( So I only have a few from this day. Enjoy! 

Tower Bridge, so beautiful

Me and sweet little Sophie Henssssslaahhhh 

Throwin it up!  

City Hall. How weird is it that in a city this old, their city hall is this modern!?

Mr. Currey!

Beautiful Buildings

Internship Placement and Pics

So, today was an exciting day!! I had a meeting with the woman with FSU that is coordinating our internships and learned that I will be interning at emc3, which is a lively event-planning/marketing company in the Notting Hill neighborhood of London. I am so thrilled to learn more about them, and I have a meeting with the director next Wednesday to get to know him a little better as well. Here is the link to their website, check it out! Apparently they do some pretty big events, like "stuntman training, Sushi Masterclasses, Fashion events, and Olympic treasure hunts". I hear it is a lot of work, but I'm up to this exciting job! AHHH CAN'T WAIT!

http://www.emc3.eu/

Also, if you're wanting to give me a shout out in the form of presents/money to fund this insanely EXPENSIVE study abroad shindig, feel free to mail packages to:

Heidi Faust

99 Great Russell Street

London, United Kingdom WC1B-3LH

Okay, so today a group of nine of us went on a site visit to a massive company called Lloyd's of London, which is a major insurance exchange. This is one of the neatest buildings I have ever been inside. It is very secure and the dress code was very strict (we had to get "business prof" as we call it). The neatest thing was that the building was inside out. All of the piping, bathrooms, elevators, and meeting rooms are located in pods suspended on the outside of the building, and the inside is clean cut and simple. This maximizes the inside space the company can utilize. The building housed four entire floors of desks where "Underwriters" sit and negotiate with brokers looking for coverage on things from J-Lo's butt to Water-Skiing Elephants for movie sets to army fleets. This was definitely a site visit I enjoyed participating in.


Lastly today, some of us joined our professor, Dr. Mee and his wife for scones and tea, and took part in a religious discussion about C.S. Lewis and how his life changed and how our lives have changed since coming to college. This was very enjoyable, and is a great way to get to know my classmates better. The night ended with many of my peers jetting off to the pubs while I stayed back and worked on the big Statistics assignment we have due tomorrow. They were able to finish their work while I was at Lloyds...oh well! There will be plenty of nights out!

Still working on getting batteries for the camera to upload pics..oops. Stay tuned chaps (<learning new lingo everyday)!

Okay so I'm gonna throw some random pictures at you, enjoy.

My room in our lovely flat. 

Kitchen

Living Room

 Me, Liza, and Amanda

The whole group before seeing a play called "39 Steps"...it was mehh. 

 I think this picture is so cool, it shows how many new buildings there are going up in London, and are surrounded by beautiful old buildings like the one below it. This was right outside Lloyds.

Me, Andrew, and Amanda looking spiffy for the Lloyd's visit. 

The "Inside" of Lloyds (looks like the outside should)

 Four floors of Underwriters and Brokers waiting to negotiate insurance. There are about 4,000 people work on these floors. 

 View from the "outside" elevator. 

 A room in Lloyd's that was transported in some thousands of pieces (maybe 15,000) from another older location. This is definitely a surprise to see in such a modernized building. 

 Escalators on escalators...

anddddd to wrap this up....DIAGON ALLEY....THAT'S RIGHT...HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!