I love Paris and I wish I could stay here forever. Everything has been so much fun so far and I can wait for the next couple of weeks either. The weekdays were pretty normal. On Monday I worked a half day in the office and for the second half I met Elise and we worked at a cafe. I had banana bread and it was pretty good and the cafe was so cute. That night I met up with the rest of the Americans and we got dinner and watched the soccer game.
On Wednesday I got dinner with Justice. We met up in an area directly in the middle of us which happened to be at the Arc de Triomphe. Everything was really expensive over there. We just hopped on the nearest metro station and got off wherever the vibes just felt right. We walked around the area a bit and found a cute restaurant. It was a crepe restaurant but it was also ski themed, which we didn’t realize until after we ordered. I love ski things and it was amazing; the names of everything were all ski themed too. I got a croque monsieur which had a weird sauce on it so it wasn’t the best but the desert crepe I had was amazing.
On Thursday Elise, Andrew, and I went to London. We were almost late to our flight but we somehow got there right before boarding. (We ran a little) We got to the hostel around 12 so we checked out the hotel’s amenities a little bit. We stayed in a 33 bed hostel room. It was definitely interesting to stay the least. I’m pretty sure it was all of our first times in a hostel. Overall it was pretty good, I just probably wouldn’t stay in a room that big again.
On Friday for some reason I woke up at 5:30 and I couldn’t fall back asleep. I did some work while I waited for the others to wake up. I had to do work throughout the day but I was glad I could get an early start on it. We went over to Westminster first. We saw the Abby and Big Ben. They were so pretty. It was a little shocking that it was so sunny and nice out. We got breakfast at a cute little restaurant near there. After that we went to Buckingham Palace. It was not as fancy as I would have expected. The guards looked cool though; I love the hats. I had to do more work then so I went back to the hostel for a little bit. I got a little lost going back because something wasn’t working with my SIM card so I used pictures of the directions that I took of Elise’s phone. We got lunch at the Old English Bank. I got fish and chips and it was so good. We went to the British Museum afterwards. It was so cool and I love how much history they had. Some of the things they had were crazy.
On Saturday I ended up waking up pretty early again. We got breakfast/lunch at the Borough Market. They had so many options. We all ended up getting Mac and cheese with either grilled chicken or pulled pork. After that we split up a little and Andrew did his own thing. Elise and I went to the Tower Bridge and walked around that area. We then went to the Notting Hill markets. They had so many different items and most of it was handmade which was so cool. Elise and I also tried scones for the first time. We went back to the hostel and Elise took a nap. While she did this I explored the Piccadilly Circus area. Elise and I got dinner at a pub and we both got the fish and chips. We then met up with Andrew and explored the Soho area.
On Sunday, Elise and I woke up early again for some reason. We went back to the Borough Market. We got a fresh juice and then we went to a little cafe in a church. After that we woke Andrew up because we had to check out. We went to the Borough Market and all got different items. I got the famous chocolate covered strawberries that are all over Tik tok. They were so good. After this we went to the Tower Bridge again and then went to the airport to catch our plane.
London is definitely one of my favorite cities. It was also very exhausting. I ended up sleeping for 11.5 hrs total over the 3 nights and I walked about 37 miles.
My internship has helped me develop and work on my French speaking skills. I have also learned a lot about FinTech and the industry. Knowing a good amount of the language definitely made the transition easier. Also learning about the work culture in France prior was very helpful.