Study Abroad at EM Strasbourg Business School : London (and School) Calling

Hey readers! We’re on the home stretch of the semester here at EM, so there has been tons of work to be done. I have three group reports based on presentations that I have either already finished or that will be presented in the coming weeks. Along with this I have a two more tests in French and European Economy. Finally, I have a personal ten page paper due for Experiential Marketing. This is a fair bit of work, but I've been working on it little by little the past few weeks in hopes that I will not get overwhelmed closer to when everything is due.

But don’t worry, all that work hasn't distracted me too much from traveling (sorry mom and dad). I was able to visit London on the weekend of the 14th. Compared to Strasbourg, London is gigantic. I had almost forgotten what a big city feels like. I, along with my friends Sarah and Raquel, flew to London out of the Strasbourg airport. This trip was my first ever experience with flight delays. We had them on the outbound and inbound flights, so we did not get a lot of time to explore London on Friday night. I stayed with a friend from high school who is studying in London, and Raquel and Sarah stayed at a hostel nearby. We went out for burgers our first night, and just walked around for a little bit. I went to a pub with my friend Luke, while the girls went to wait for another friend, Veronica, who was arriving later. We didn't stay out too late though because we had already bought tickets for the London Dungeons and Wicked the musical the next day.
Saturday was our busiest day. We had to get an early start to make it to our booked time for the London Dungeons. For those of you who might not know (or haven’t Googled it), the London Dungeons is an interactive walking tour of the scarier legends and stories of London, such as Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd. It was similar to a haunted house set up, and it was filled with mazes, two rides and the actors playing the roles were really amazing and committed to the overall experience. I had a great time. After that was my more looked forward to activity: seeing Wicked. With my musical theater background in both middle and high school, I love watching shows whenever I get the chance. I have unfortunately always missed seeing Wicked in the US, so this was my opportunity to finally see it. Needless to say it didn't disappoint. I love every second of it. It was one of my favorite things I have had the chance to do. After Wicked, it was getting dark so we hurried and made our way to Buckingham Palace. It was very pretty lit up at night, and although I did not get the best views and did not get to see a guard, I was happy we went to see it. To finish off the day we went to Kings Cross station to take pictures by the Platform 9 ¾ sign from Harry Potter. We got there right as a photographer was leaving, but that also meant no line. So we got to take several pictures of all of us pushing the cart into the magical platform.

Sunday Luke and I spent most of the morning on Oxford Street, a large shopping street in London. I got to go in some shops that we have in Strasbourg and the United States, as well as some that are unique to the London area. That night the Christmas lights were scheduled to be lit, so we planned to see those because you could tell by all the lights they had strung up in the streets that it would be a fantastic thing to see. It also made Christmas feel that much closer because the Christmas lights and markets in Strasbourg do not start until this weekend. We also made our way to the London Bridge, which we also got to see lit up. One of the pros of it getting darker earlier is that we get to see a lot of things lit up, which is always beautiful. I had an early flight the next day, so we went back early after having some fish and chips.
I had a great time in London, but I am very excited to see where the last few weeks of the semester take me.

Until next time,
Happy Thanksgiving!

Your French Falcon,

Carly