Seeing a New Side of Britain
Post by: Ellie Salvisberg, a senior year Foster student studying Accounting. Ellie participated in the Business Britain exploration seminar with a Global Business Center study abroad scholarship.
Having been to London twice before, I was excited to see a new side of the city since I would be staying there for so much longer. This time, I would get to actually live in the city and do things that not all tourists have at the top of their lists. I was so excited to start our program in Bath, somewhere I had never been, before heading to London for three weeks. The exploration seminar was ideal for me because it was the perfect amount of time abroad and I didn’t have to miss an entire quarter of school. While everyday was new and exciting, one of my favorites was the day after Bank Holiday when we went to Salesforce and Buckingham Palace.
Coming out of Bank Holiday weekend, I was grateful for the late start the next day, especially after waiting in the busy customs line until 10pm. I had just spent the entire three-day weekend visiting my family in Switzerland and seeing all the sights I possibly could have. To begin our day, we took the tube one stop to the heart of the City of London. When we arrived at Salesforce, we were taken upstairs and the first thing I noticed were the clear glass elevators. The Salesforce tower is huge so when we got into the elevators it was alarming how fast we were going up, especially in a glass elevator. When we got to the floor we were meeting on, I noticed how modern the office was; I loved the design.
During the presentation, it felt like a recruiting session where they were trying to get us to work for them. They had newer employees come do a panel for us and they kept describing how fun it was to work there. I really liked the environment, and I think it’s safe to say a lot of us wanted to work there after the visit. After the presentation, we were taken on an office tour. The views from every conference room were breathtaking. We were so high up you could see almost all the notable landmarks. In each conference room you could see something entirely different. We saw landmarks such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Gherkin, Tower Bridge, the Shard, and the Tower of London.
After Salesforce, we were released for a quick lunch and then met up again at the tube station to head to our Buckingham Palace tour. I had been to Buckingham Palace before, but never inside, so I was really excited to see the interior. Throughout the tour of the state rooms, what struck me was the similarity to Versailles. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take pictures, but I know I’ll be able to remember the decorations for a long time.
Overall, everyday was a new adventure. Even though I have already been to Europe before, I was able to go to so many new places I hadn’t been before. Just in England, we traveled to Bath, Bristol, London, Cambridge, Stonehenge, and Brighton. I took the fullest advantage of my time abroad and traveled around every weekend. I was able to go to Switzerland (Zurich, Grenchen, Buren, Lucerne, Zermatt), Denmark (Copenhagen), Sweden (Malmo), and Ireland (Dublin). Not only will these experiences leave an impact on me, but so will the friendships. I made so many great friends on my trip, and even though the school year just started, it’s great to see so many new familiar faces on campus.
