People people, RELAX!
I'm back.
After traveling around Europe and Asia
I have learned to live without internet and social media.
SIKE.. I'll never be able to live without either.
During the Winter Semester I was admitted into the Global Marketing Program.
This is by far the best study abroad offered at BYU.. no in the world.
London, England
Paris, France
Copenhagen, Denmark
Stockholm, Sweden
St. Petersburg, Russia
Bangkok, Thailand
Beijing, China
Favorite: Thailand
We spent about 3 or 4 days and
met with about 3 or 4 businesses in each country.
Favorite: Microsoft
B-Money was my professor over the
International Marketing and Global Business courses.
He, his wife, and four of their kids tagged along.
Favorite: 8 year-old Caroline
Such a stud.
And so it began...
LONDON
I was so fortunate to have my little Olivia as a tour guide.
Even though she only got in the program because she's from London,
i'm sure glad she did!
Thats a lie. She's chuffin smarter than she looks.
And single.
And she has Rapunzel's hair.
And she introduced me to Bounty and Bueno bars so im forever in debt.
We landed and went straight to church.
They just remodeled the building for the Olympics.
Absolutely stunning.
No A/C of course.
They have bike racks where with the swipe of your credit card the bike becomes yours for hours.
Thinking about starting this business venture in Provo.
The hipsters would just eat this up.
Looks nasty. Tasted delish!
Huge fan of the mushy pea sauce. (No sarcasm)
Luckily we had personal chauffers (Gareth and Marshall)
They drove us to Cambridge University.
We went punting.
Note to future punters: when punting, dont try to be legitimate and use the wooden pole
Met with ConocoPhillips
Sweeney Todd.
Never again will I eat a meat pie. Not that I ever have.
Favorite: Gareth's accent- He's from Whales. Give him a break.
PARIS
We took the Eurostar- underground train- to get to Paris.
We were so jet-lagged the entire trip that anytime we would sit for more than
15 minutes, every single one of us would be out cold.
Well... everyone except J-bird.
Blondes in Paris.
Business visit to Disney Land Paris.
Instead of hot dogs and churros.. they sell croissants.
Our tradish French breakfast.
Chocolate croissants, Hot chocolate, Orange juice.
Laduree
Beware: dont be fooled into buying rose petal macarons.
Actual rose petal flavor. Not red velvet like one (I) would suppose
After a long day of shopping we went and saw Moonrise Kingdom. The theater was tiny with large velvet seats. The movie was in English with French sub titles.
I slacked on picture taking in London.
Lost my camera while chowing down on pastries
at Paul's bakery before the movie.
Thought it was long gone being in Paris and all.
After three stops back at Paul's the next day we finally found an English speaker.
They had my camera! By the grace of God.
Favorite: Running down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in the rain.
Denmark
DANMARK
The land of tall/beautiful blondes!
The boys were in heaven.
Maybe it's because we came here from Paris,
but I believe this is the cleanest city in the world.
Visit Coca Cola
Coke Light = Diet Coke
No comparison.
We dreamt about these ice cream covered waffles
and banana nutella crepes for the rest of the trip.
Fast and Testimony meeting in Danish was amazing.
So similar yet their everyday stories were so different.
We had translators.. I dont speak Danish, silly.
Danish dogs.
Searched long and hard for one of these babies.
Choose the sprite.
Olivia and I decided we'd run here before it closed.
Spontaneous Sunday night activity.
Well worth it.
Favorite: Blue skies, fresh air, nutella crepes.
SWEDEN
We took a bus from Denmark to Sweden
because we had a few business visits along the way.
We were so fortunate to be in Sweden during a national holiday.
(Similar to our Independance day)
There were parades, the king and queen made an appearance,
local food fairs, free museum entrance, etc.
All the Swedes were out to play.
Vasa Museum
Everyone invested in bus passes,
but we wanted to see the city so we passed and went everywhere by foot.
All the time changes finally hit us in Sweden.
We went back to Best Hostel City
(not actually the best hostel in the city.. trust me)
after a late lunch and accidently passed out for hours.
We woke up, went to the grocery store and made dinner in our wonderful hostel kitchen.
Favorite: Being the last ones to leave the mall because we couldn't understand the swedish intercom speaker telling us to exit immediately, there was a fire inside.
RUSSIA
Palaces, palaces, palaces.
They were beautiful. We definitely saw our fair share.
The food.. was interesting.
We quickly realized you can't go wrong with chocolate bars.
Most interesting dinner.
3 Russian speakers in the group.. yet we couldnt quite figure it out.
Borshe
Bff's
She only likes us because we swim with her.
Stumbled upon these babies.
I'm about to become the favorite grandchild.
Anastasia's palace.
Jon.. such a tourist.
We got our hats.
Only so the Russians would stop being so mean to us.
Favorite: Vlad- bus driver
DUBAI
just kidding we didnt go to Dubai.
We had a few hour layover in the airport at 3 am
Quite a cray place.
THAILAND
Finally! No more paying for tap water...
well we couldnt drink the water.. but still!
We were treated like royalty.
Thai's are the happiest people, though they have so little.
Truly inspirational.
After about a 15 hour combined flight,
we got started fast and went straight on a river cruise. You had to be sure to keep your mouth shut on the boat since 80% of Thai's chose to be cremated and poured into this river.
We were fed amazing thai buffets everywhere we went!
Then we got to ride this bad mamajama
I found love in Thailand.
They call them doctor fish.
These little buddies suck the dead skin off your feet leaving them softer than ever.
The trick is being able to bare the tickling sensation.
Especially when they get between your toes
Especially when they get between your toes
or theres a real persisent sucker that sucks one spot for a while.
I paid for 15 minutes and could barely stand 8.
My mom thinks i'll lose a limb one day as a result.
The floating markets.
We quickly realized our driver was only taking us to her friends shops.
They wouldn't let go of the boat until someone bought something.
I walked away with incense, elephant boxers, bracelets,
coconut pancakes, and a keychain.
Yum Brands.
They fed us the Thai version of KFC and Pizza Hut.
I'm glad to be an American.
(I found myself saying that often throughout the trip)
My mouth is still burning. And who ever heard of fish on pizza?
Favorite: 10$ hour long Thai massages
CHINA
Great Wall
Too tall for most everyday things in China.
They thought I was a sasquatch.
Yummers.
Paparazzi everywhere.
We loved it.
Favorite: Coming home with way too many knock offs
and being hated by all the chinese sales women.
I no pay more than 40 dolla fo yo bag!
One told me sternly never to come back. Ill take that as a compliment.
***
Contrary to popular belief.. there were 34 other amazing students on this trip.
Olivia and I are just kind of obsessed with each other.
Geography is Destiny
