Second Picture Post :)

This last pic is of Zoolander 2 being filmed in Rome! If you look close you can see Ben Stiller driving the car!

Everything else is from our flight from Geneva to Rome, Rome, Cinque Terra, Pisa, and Florence. Missing you all terribly!!

Love,

Abby

Milan, Riga and Most of Geneva... Almost Free!

Hey guys!  I know it has been some time since i last wrote a blog post but believe me I have been having a wonderful time.  Since our last talk I have been to Milan, Riga, and Geneva (Italy, Latvia, and currently Switzerland).  Here is a review of the past few weeks. I know it is a bit long, so bear with me as I tell the tale of my journey...

Monday 3/30 | Picking up from where I left off before.  This is the day that we left Venice and took a bus through Italy to eventually get to Milan.  On the way we picked up three Luxottica HR employees (as a sidenote this is a sunglass retail company and I will be co-oping for them this summer).  We then drove out to the small town of Sedico to visit their Packaging and Logistics center.  We then drove to Agordo to visit their primary manufacturing center.  Both of these locations are centered in scenic towns nestled in the Alps.  Finally, we drove to Milan where we found our hotel and then were taken to a very late, but authentic, Italian meal by the Luxotticans accompanying us.  Fairly soon after that we all headed to bed.

Tuesday 3/31 | For our first full day in Milan  we had a presentation at Luxottica's corporate HQ in the center of the city.  After this we had the rest of the day to ourselves.  I stayed with a group of girls and went to see the Duomo, shop, eat authentic Gelato (they filled the bottom of the cone with Liquid chocolate here), and eat something called a Panzerotti.  We finished the day by eating dinner at a great Italian place where we tasted some wine, and had a variety platter of pastas.  Our waiter was wonderful- he brought our whole table roses which was super sweet.  

Wednesday 4/1 | This day began with a visit to Ratti- they manufacture silk scarves for all of the most high end brands.  We listened to an Italian man's translator and saw all of their manufacturing facilities.  It really was a cool process to watch. Also the bus ride out was beautiful- lots of mountains and grape fields.  After a break for lunch we had a visit at Bosch.  I will admit that it was arguably one of my least favorite visits because we listened to 5 very Italian speakers present on not so interesting subjects. After Bosch, Paige and I split up from the group and went to stay with the family that hosted her when she worked in Milan. They had a beautiful home and family with two little girls, and they served us an amazing dinner of pasta, mozzarella, cheeses, meats, and breads. 

Thursday 4/2 | We woke up in our room very early in order to meet our group the next day for our company visits.  We sat with Francesca and had cookies and tea for breakfast and then she drove us to the metro.  We met up with our group, sat through another slightly boring visit with a legal firm for the paper industry called Asocarta.  Next we toured Brembo- they make brakes for fancy cars like Ferarri etc.  We finished this day by resting in our hotel, packing, and then eating at an American bar next to the canal.  

Friday 4/3 | Paige and I woke up super early, packed, and went to a gelato place for breakfast haha.  Soon thereafter we were on a bus, and then a plane to Riga, Latvia.  Skipping ahead, we arrived in Riga; a very small old town.  We had Indian food for dinner. Our hotel was awesome- basically like a dorm building and we had it all to ourselves.

Saturday 4/4 | Day 1 in Riga was spent sleeping and catching up on email/showers/blogs. I am pretty sure this day ended eating food with friends at the Kiwi bar. (This was a great rest day)

Sunday 4/5 | Day 2 in Riga as well as Easter Sunday.  Woke up and met with people to go to a Latvian Mass..... I didn't understand anything. We then had brunch at TGI Friday's. Soon thereafter I walked around the entire town with Paige.  I can't describe how small this place was. We saw as much as we could and ate at a Latvian bakery called Regnsis or something like that.  

Monday 4/6 | First day of company visits in Riga- we drove out of the town about 1.5 hours to a bakery that is apparently very successful.  We had a lunch of potatoes, chicken, beef, some kind of vegetable salad, and lots of bread which was fantastic.  It was a very short visit in which our host, Matt Mezinzkis (a graduate of my business program) talked about his experience in Latvia and the business culture there.  At the moment I cannot remember how this day ended.

Tuesday 4/7 | This was our last day in Riga.  It started out pretty early with company visits- first McDonalds (Baltics Region), then Omnium Properties, followed by an amazing lunch at a nearby restaurant that ended in apple cobbler. Afterwards we headed over to the Latvian Central Bank for a presentation.  We then heard from the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and a speaker from the US Embassy stationed in Riga.  

Wednesday 4/8 | This was the day we left for Geneva.  We took 2 short flights from a connection in Stockholm.  We got in very early and were able to grab lunch at a local cafe (crepes). I spoke to the waitress in broken French which was fun.  Took a short nap, did my laundry, watched some Netflix, played some euchre, and went to bed.  

Thursday 4/9 | Everyone had a relaxing morning- our breakfast buffet had/still has amazing pastries, fruit, and tea.  Since our company visit wasn't until 2pm we decided to play ultimate frisbee in a park across the street.  Afterwards we got ready to visit the WTO (world trade organization).  It was riveting. Afterwards we got food from a local grocery store and relaxed- I may have watched more Netflix.

Friday 4/10 | This was an earlier day, but it was okay because we had a bother beautiful bus ride to Vivet, France to visit the global HQ of Nestle.  We had plenty of free time to explore the lake and eat lunch before the visit so we got paninis and gelato and absorbed the fantastic views.  The company visit was very informative with presentations on branding and corporate sustainability.  I think we finished this day by playing in the park again and possibly grabbing McDonalds for lunch... I am not proud.

Saturday 4/11 | This may be one of my favorite days ever.  I woke up early, had my awesome breakfast, and left with a group to go to Annecy, France.  It has a beautiful old town, a lake, a park, wonderful shops, and everyone speaks French!! We explored, toured an old jail, had crepes for lunch, took a boat out on the lake, and had a short nap in the sun.  It was amazing.  By the time we got back that evening we were all exhausted.  

Sunday 4/12 | Yesterday I slept in, and decided to join a group of guys and my friend Claire to go hike Mont Salève, and then head over to a volleyball court to play.  The view was spectacular of the surrounding mountains and the valley of Geneva.  After volleyball we headed over to lake Geneva where we watched the guys jump in the ice cold water.  Not long after we headed back, got some McDonald's (it was too late to go to the grocery) and soon thereafter headed to bed.

Monday 4/13 | Today we visited Honeywell and Givaudan.  Both were very interesting visits (one works with aerospace and much more, the other is a flavor/fragrances manufacturer).  After we got back I grabbed some food from the grocery and joined people at the park for frisbee/ping pong. After that I watched the Lizzie Maguire movie with some girls and now I am up to the present where I am typing my blog in my dark hotel room.  Tomorrow we will have our last company visits and then we will all set off on our separate paths to enjoy our free 10 days!!

I love you all.  As always, keep me in your prayers!  You can always reach my through whatsapp, viber, and facebook messaging! :)

A Picture Post

Here is a small hodge-podge of pictures from my trip thus far! I just wanted to let you all see some of what I've been seeing. This group of photos includes some from Brussels, Munich, the Alps, Venice, and Milan. 

Tale of a Procrastinating Study Abroad Student | Brussels, Munich, Venice...

Well as you may have noticed we have had somewhat sketchy wifi connections since my last blog post.  I am now currently in my hotel in Venice (we leave tomorrow morning).  Real quick let me bring you up to speed. I apologize for the belated nature of this post, and the somewhat rushed explanations of each day since my last one:

Tuesday 3/17 | we took a tour of Bloomberg and EY in  London. Amazing views from EY and I tasted Turkish Delight from a Turkish market stand (its difficult to describe... classic flavor is Rose).  Paige also had us taste Wagamomma... fancy noodles.

Wednesday 3/18 | Took the train under the English Channel get to Brussels. Ate kebabs and waffles almost as soon as we arrived at our hotel.  It was delicious.  After a long day of touring (we saw statues, churches and much more) we returned to our hotel for some well earned rest before a day of visiting. 

Thursday 3/19 | this day we had a wonderful day of touring Brussels and visited the European Commission. We toured the city again and enjoyed the sites.

Friday 3/20 | Toured the European Econopic and Social Comittee and received a presentation.  Those are always fun.  Again we saw as many sites as we could see as we walked all over the city. I am decently certain that we ate a dinner of mussels and frites, followed by a waffle from a vendor that spoke 7 languages allegedly.  He was very nice.

Saturday 3/21 | We were given the opportunity to participate in a game simulating e European Parliament system- it was pretty hilarious to see people go through.  As soon as we finished a group of us went to Bruges- a beautiful place in Switzerland.  It was what I had been wanting to see in Belgium all along.  We ate at a small Italian place in a park and saw a few very old churches.  

Sunday 3/22 | I will keep this one short- we took a 10 hour bus ride to Munich... Slept a lot.  The first thing we did was go directly to the Marienplatz and the Hofbräuhaus.  I got a sausage platter with a friend... Yum.  We then went back and went to sleep easily.  

Monday 3/23 | Today we were welcomed to the Technical University of Munich (TUM).  Through the week that we spent in Munich we took classes here and were escorted around the city by their students.  We had some extra time this day on accident that we used to tour the English Garten- there is place where people surf on a small river... I'll explain this to you someday.  This day we sat through two lectures on TUM culture and main overviews as well as a sociology topic addressing the issues of TB and HIV/AIDS.  They were very interesting.  The day was concluded by a brewery tour that ended with a strange dinner of weird neat and pretzels as well as some of their beer samples.

Tuesday 3/24 | On Tuesday we toured the Deutsches Museum , had lunch with political figures at the 'Ratskeller', and attended a final lecture for the day about entrepreneurship success systems.  We ended our day by locating the Augestiner Kellar brewery (spelling may be a little off).  We had a dinner of Spatzel (cheesy noodles with onions).  Ended our day with a great sleep.

Wednesday 3/25 | This was a very informative and sobering day of touring.  We began with a guided tour of the main parts of Munich, and ended with a tour of the Dachau Concentration camp. I personally think that this way my favorite day, although it is so saddening to hear about this part of hour history. To me these things only speak to how desperately we all need a savior.  After touring the camp, we headed back, and got an authentic German dinner of Spatzel and Schnitzel - literally the best meal I may ever have had.  The schnitzel's breaking was flavored with mustard and was accompanied with potato salad and cheesy noodles with onions.  

Thursday 3/26 | We spent this day experiencing two lectures, one at the Technical University of Munich in the city, and one at their main campus.  We ended the day with a trip overview and a dinner at their local brewery.  I ordered the Spatzel again. Finished with ice cream.  Went home for a good nights sleep.

Friday 3/27 | Our final day in Munich.  So sad to see it go. First we had a lecture on the automotive industry at TUM.  After the lecture we left in order to take a tour of the Audi plant in Ingolstadt.  It is fascinating how they manufacture these amazing vehicles... So many processes.  Afterwards we headed back, rested, ate some kebabs, met eachother at Lowenbrau (another brewery), and went dancing for a little while.  Finally we went to sleep to be ready for the bus ride in the morning.

Saturday 3/28 | What an amazing bus ride to Mestre.  No wonder our advisor tole us we had to stay awake.  We drove through the alps with stunning views of mountains as we crossed from Austria to Italy.  We played Euchre to pass the time.  Upon arrival we promptly went to Venice in a group, ate pasta, and took lots of pictures.  Our hotel is wonderfully positioned next to a square.  I can climb out my window onto a terrace with plants.  The weather was finally warm enough to soak up a bit of sun.

Sunday 3/29 | today was our full day of touring in Venice. We woke up early, had breakfast in our hotel and proceeded to take the bus over from Mestre to Venice.  We arrived in a large group, split up into smaller ones and toured the city.  My group took a Gondola tour (amazing), and continued to shop on all of the side streets that we could visit.  I purchased a classic bag, and a venetian mask.  Oh we also got Gelato. I love pistachio.  Our day ended at a restaurant next to the water.  We got the scampi with tomato sauce and pasta with some Italian wine.  Finally we got lost before we found our way back to our hotel. 

I love you all. Tomorrow we leave for Milan.  As always, keep me in your prayers, and know that I think of you all very often. Miss you!!!

Hopefully the Longest Post - a weekend in London

Hello there everyone!  I appologise for the length of this one- I have been putting it off until I got some decent free time. I just had a really wonderful weekend of tourism.  My feet are really feeling it... we walked for soo many miles!  

On Saturday we all woke up at a reasonable hour and went down to have our hotel's complimentary breakfast- which is pretty nice I must say.  Bacon here is more like canadian bacon or ham, but I still think it's delicious.  After a bunch of us with mutual interests found eachother we left to hit the city.  We started by taking a brief walk though Hyde Park, which was really beautiful in the early morning.  Some of the guys in the tall fluffy hats on horses came riding by.  After that our plan was to see as many sights as we could and then eventuallly take a boat tour down the Thames River back towards the general location of our hotel.  We saw St. Pauls Cathedral from the outside, walked across the Millenium Bridge, saw Shakespeares Globe Theatre, and stumbled upon Borough Market (in perfect time for Lunch I might add; I got pasta from La Tua Pasta, some baklava, and some amazing hot cider).  After our lunch intermission we continued on to rest with WiFi at a Starbucks, walked across another bridge, and came to the Tower of London/the location of the boat tours.  We then were ushered onto the boat to take a short guided trip back towards the London Eye where we finally walked back to our hotel.  

Sunday was mainly spend touring Harrods- for those of you that don't know this is a store that takes up an entire block and devotes entire floors to shoes/purses.  Essentially it would be a rich shoppers' heaven.  Paige and I toured around for awhile, tried on glasses, asked for perfume samples, and ate a large sundae in their ice cream parlor.  It was huge, and entirely delicious... and it may have been lunch.  There was a man working in the pizza parlor next to us that sang opera in Italian- just beautiful.   It reminded me of the classical sort of music that Grandma Lytle would enjoy! This day ended with Indian food (sweeter than expected, and delicious naan) that was located close to our hotel at the Premier Inn, and finally, an early night's sleep. 

Today is Monday, and we spent today touring businesses again.  We started out by visiting Unilever at their beautiful building.  Everything was glass and accented with bright garrish colors.  Here we listed to two people speak about their experience with social sustainability and huge market brands.  They served us lunch (with options like duck pancake wraps, various cheeses, salads, fruits, etc.).  As always there was tea- Twinnings seems to be the most common brand.  Next we went to some Austrailian based bank called Macquarie. A very enthusiastic woman spoke to us about her experience within Corporate Governance.  Lastly we listed to a UC alumni named Andrew Schemmel talk about his experience at Eisvogel (they buy and sell businesses).  Today just ended with some chicken, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.  

As always keep me in your prayers!  I love you all and miss you very much.

London, Interbrand, Credit Suisse, and LPK

Well, it is the first full day of company visits today.  Yesterday we delt with jet lag, walked all around London, and saw all of the major sites to see (Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and much more).  After a very full day of restlessness, flights and touring, we finally made it to our hotel.  I slept so well that night it wasnt even funny... haha.  Today however, I woke up completely rested and began a day of touring companies (Interbrand, LPK, and Credit Suisse).  I fell in love with the creative atmosphere and drive present in companies such as Interbrand and LPK.  I would work for both of those companies in a heartbeat. To finish the day off we were taken to a pub by a local LHP student that works for LPK in london... what great connections we have.  PS I totally now mostly know how to navigate the London Tube.  I feel quite content about that part.  

 

This evening my class of friends and I enjoyed a well earned drink at a local pub.  It was really great to talk to everyone and learn their stories.  I think I will end up enjoying those things the most.  Well goodnight everyone.  Wish we a wonderful trip and keep me in your prayers.    

The First One

Why hello there to all you lovely people- friends, family, and miscellaneous others.  For the sake of introductions: my name is Abby.  I am a quirky and fun college student embarking on the journey of a lifetime through Europe, who aspires to make it all the way to the end without tripping in a public place.  As you may imagine, I am immensely pumped to be able to see all of these beautiful places in this order: London, Brussels, Munich, Venice, Milan, Riga, Geneva, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, and finally Paris.  Still, I am as nervous as ever to pack 6 weeks of stuff into 1 suitcase... but I suppose I shall figure it out. Wish me luck and be sure to keep tabs on my sure-to-be-awesome-yet-haphazard journey of amazingness.