The inside of the building was SO AWESOME! Up on the first floor (you enter on floor zero), there was an eatery, which had fruits, breads, juices, coffees, cokes, etc. The best part was that everything was free! I had an apple and a water (because I definitely have not been drinking enough water on this trip), and we headed downstairs to floor -1 (yes, that is actually a real floor over on this side of the pond) and got seated for our presentation.
There were 3 speakers, each of which talked to us about slightly different things. I was furiously writing my company notes the entire time! The last speaker was the most interesting by far! His job dealt with the actual running of the Bloomberg terminal, and as far as I’m concerned, he was an expert at it. He showed us the capabilities of the terminal, such as locating one cruise ship via satellite in just milliseconds. He then told the terminal to show the history of that ship for the past 30 days, and it routed the ships course all around the waters along European coastline. You can also search people on the Bloomberg terminal. He searched people who have graduated from Texas A&M and are now CEO’s of some company, big or small. Within a split second, the terminal had pulled up a list of about 80 Aggies who were CEO’s at different companies around the world. Not only could you see which company they managed, but you could find out their income, their current residence, etc. It was amazing! I know our entire group was blown away by their presentation, and it definitely exceeded my expectations!
Then they gave us a tour of their uniquely designed building, and we were on our way to lunch. Ben, Caitlin, and I stopped into a Pret a Manger (Pret-ah-mon-yay) and picked up one of their pre-packaged sandwiches. I got Chicken Avacado, and it was delicious, mostly due to the fact that I was so hungry. Pret a Manger’s are HUGE in London! I swear they must be on nearly every street. If you buy the food to-go, they charge you about 50 pence less than if you say you’re going to eat it there, which is think is a little strange. I almost feel like It should be the other way around, charging you to take it away versus stay in their restaurant and eat it. Nevertheless, quite a few restaurants over here have adopted that practice, so it’s actually quite common to be charged more to eat there.
Right after lunch, we all gathered back together and left for our company meeting at Harrods Department Store. I had high hopes for this presentation as well, and it didn’t disappoint. The speaker was very entertaining, and liked to crack a lot of jokes. He even made a few Texas jokes about “y’all.” He had a good message from his presentation though: don’t just run to a company right out of college because they specialize in what you want to do, but look for what you aim to do with your career in the long run, and focus on the role that you’re going into. The presentation even gave us little gift bags that had a Harrods teddy bear in them, some of their famous tea (they started as a tea and coffee store), some biscuits, and a Harrods pen! It was so nice of them, and made the presentation a huge favorite among the entire group!
After the presentation, we came back to the hotel, freshened up for about an hour, and left again, this time for Covent Garden, a small shopping and theater district in London. We stopped and ate at this yummy Italian place before we went to our theatre to see The Lion King. I had always wanted to see this play whenever I would go to New York City, but now I was finally getting the opportunity, and I wasn’t about to pass it up. The show was great, although the theatre was a little hot and stuffy, and the bathroom line was horrendous. These days though I’ve almost always come to expect long lines in bathrooms, haha. The costumes were the best part of the show. The actors became the animals. It’s super hard to describe until you’ve seen it once for yourself in person.
On the way home from the show, we stopped into a pub near Picadilly Circus that most of our trip was already at. We were there for a little while until Kinsey got a beer spilled all over her legs. It was time to go after that. So we headed back to the hotel and got some much needed rest. I swear, I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to this jetlag. It’s affecting me more than I was anticipating. Oh well, I feel like everyone is in the same boat. Tomorrow, we have a completely free day, so a big group of us are taking a tour up to Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge. We’re all really looking forward to it! Goodnight!
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