Powers Invasion ~ my parents come to London!

It's been a family affair this week-- my mom and dad flew to jolly old Londontown to visit me!  We had a great time, and did so much in just five days!  If you remember my post from when my older sister came to visit me in London, you may already know that we Powerses have a great time whenever, and wherever, we're together... so being all together in London of all places just couldn't be better.  And we had a great time!  Follow the jump and see what we got up to!

Belgian Waffles and Bicycles! ~ Brussels and Amsterdam

This past weekend my roommate Jen and I lived some truly wise words, 
taken from one of the most classic, inspired pieces of film of our 
generation... Up.

Adventures are out there!

With that in mind, we ventured off to Brussels and Amsterdam for the 
weekend!

 

(Intern)ational Experiences!

After my fall break sojourn to Florence, I started the second part of my BU study abroad progam-- my internship!

Through the BU and EUSA placement program, I interviewed and was hired for an internship position with MEC Global, a media planning and buying company.  The company has offices in a number of different areas, (including New York!) and I would be working in the press department of MEC's London headquarters.

Before I started with MEC, I honestly didn't know much about media planning and buying.  I knew I wanted to experience marketing and advertising, since my last internship in New York with SNY focused more on the actual post-production and editing of media (in SNY's case, the media was sports television programming).  It's an entirely new experience for me, so I've just been trying to learn all I can.

Media planning and buying has a number of different sub-areas that I've been learning about.  One of MEC's jobs is to act as a middleman agent between advertisers and, in the press field, major newspapers and publications in London (such as the Sun, Metro, and Times).  Advertisers who want ad space in the papers seek out MEC as an agent, and we negotiate rates with publications and book the clients' ad space.

I've also been exposed to more creative areas of MEC, as well.  On my first day of work I sat in on a brainstorming meeting with my coworkers, and observed and listened as they tossed around ideas for how to promote a new organic sweetener.  It was really interesting to see the start of the creative process, and how the ideas and concepts really start flowing just in these small sit-downs.

I really get along well with the people I've been working with.  There are eight other people on the press team, and I sit at a big desk with five of them.  Somebody is always making a joke or playing music, and the
British sense of humor is definitely something else!  It took a few days to start getting used to the more sarcastic, quick wit of my coworkers, but it never fails to make me laugh-- and it's absolutely part of the culture!

Overall conclusion: so far so good!  I hope it stays that way this semester; MEC seems like a good place to learn more about the industry from a UK standpoint.  And worst comes to worst, I can say I got to work in an office whose kitchen actually had boiling water on tap for constant tea-making.  It's the little things in life...

Fall Break in Florence!

So last time we chatted, my sister and I had just spent a lovely weekend together!  And the *spectacular* grand finale of the festivities, I will remind you... two final exams and a final paper.  Oof.  That's a kicker.

But have no fear!  I have to say, I showed those finals who was boss. :-D  Since I really enjoyed taking the classes and learning about marketing for the first time completely and advertising from a UK point of view, I feel I retained a lot of the information, making the finals easier to handle.

After finals, BU gives the Internship Program students a fall break before we start our work placements.  So with no classes from Wednesday through Sunday...

I was off to Italy!

It's a jolly holiday with Tara! ~ my sister comes to London!

This Megan was "as lucky as lucky could be" this past weekend... my older sister came to visit me in London over her long Columbus weekend!  We've been excited for this trip since she booked her flights last April (we Powers girls like to plan ahead), especially since we had so much fun the last time we were abroad together in the summer of 2006 with our high school (we visited Spain, France, and England).  I feel like I really caught the travel bug that summer, no doubt thanks to her.  We grew so much closer exploring those beautiful cities together, and it was great to have the time right before she left for college.  A group of Tara's high school friends also took that trip, and she always made me feel so included even though they were all a few years older than me.  We shared so many laughs and memories on that trip, and it's one that I will never forget.

I couldn't believe Tara's visit was finally here.  It was so great to have a face from home around for a few days, to just talk and explore together, know what the other one was thinking-- no matter where we get together, it always feels like home.  We had such an amazing weekend, and I was sad to have to say goodbye until December, but we'll have a great reunion over my winter break (and yes, we've already started planning all the fun adventures we'll have.  We are planners, we'll admit it!)

But first... for the fun adventures we had this weekend! 

One month later

I can't believe I've been here an entire month so far.  In some respects it seems like I just got here, but then in others, it feels like I've been here forever...

Cead mile falte! ~ A Dublin Weekend

So, what does one do with a nice long weekend, a fellow free roommate, and a body full of Irish blood?

Why, one goes to Dublin, of course.