It's been a while...

My travel blog didn't seem as fun when I was in Syracuse or Novi, so I kind of let it go for a while. About a month ago, I moved to Pittsburgh for a social media internship at American Eagle Outfitters. I'm having a blast, but I've been so invested in my job and starting up my new blog www.genYspot.com, that again this blog took a hit. But I've decided to revive it. This is chiefly due to the fact that I have some exciting travel plans in the near future.

Starting in the fall, I'll be pursuing a Master of Digital Marketing at Hult International Business School. One of the cool things about Hult is that they have five campuses around the world and they recommend that we rotate (and make it very easy for us to do.) I'll be spending nine months at Hult's campus in London. After that, I'm doing six weeks in Shanghai and then six weeks in San Francisco.

As for now, I'm enjoying Pittsburgh. My internship at AE is nothing but fun, and everyone here is really nice. Pittsburgh isn't a huge city, but it's got its own voice. If anything, it's helping me warm back up to the idea of living in a city. I can't wait to get back to London.

LA...Dubai...where the heck am I?

February has been pretty legit. I went to Los Angeles two weekends ago, and Dubai one week ago. I wish I had blogged right after getting home because now I'm struggling to remember my favorite details, or what I was doing there in the first place.

Los Angeles
Thursday - Spent the day walking around Venice Beach, Santa Monica, and then walked to UCLA where I saw the editors of The Onion speak live. They were hilarious, and now they are following me on Twitter...so I had a good night. (But I was tired...I clocked it, and I walked about 12 miles in the span of a few hours. Rough. Wish that LA's transport system was better.)



Friday - Went to the famous Los Angeles farmers market, had some yummy food. Headed over to the Hollywood & Highland area and gawked at all the people. Ran into zero celebrities, but spent a lot of time looking down; that's a safety hazard.



Saturday - Disneyland. Couldn't help myself, I'm a huge Disney geek. Had a fantastic day. And for you other geeks out there, World of Color is the best nighttime show I've seen at any Disney park. One of the coolest things I've seen in my life, actually.

Dubai



A few weeks ago I got a call from the grad school I'm attending next year. They wanted to fly me to Dubai for the weekend to interview for the Accelerated Leadership Program. Um, yes please? Had a wonderful time interviewing among 24 other amazingly qualified students (which made me even more excited about going to Hult, even if I don't get in the program - I'll find out this week, by the way.) The interview was intense: group activities, individual interviews, presentations, etc. I did my best, so we'll see what happens. After that I had a day to explore Dubai on my own, and I tried to see as much of the city as possible; I definitely need more time to explore that fascinating place.




They have cool names for things.

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And now I'm back in Syracuse, and it's cold.

A Different Path

No other way to say this. I'm graduating a year early from Syracuse and going back to London for grad school. I fell in love with London when I was there, and I have to go back. I'm one of thirty five students in the Master of Digital Marketing program at Hult International Business School in London. (I applied without telling anyone in September and completed all the interviews while I was in London. I found out that I was accepted a few weeks ago, but I wanted to wait until I got back to Syracuse to make sure my early graduation was official before I told everyone. But now it's official, so I might as well share.) What's really cool is that after nine months in London, I will then rotate to Hult's campus in Shanghai for six weeks, and then Dubai for six weeks. I realize that I'll be missing out on a few things by not being at Syracuse for a fourth year, but I think that I'll gain so much more from a new experience.

I am very excited about the classes offered in my program because they relate specifically to the career I want to have. There are courses in International Marketing, Customer Service & Retention Online, Digital Publishing and Social Media Marketing; among many others. The program was just introduced last year, so it is very young and modern. However, I'll definitely be the youngest person in the program, with most of the other students being more than a few years older than me. It will certainly be a change from campus, and even very different from just doing an undergraduate semester in London, but I'm very eager to go.

I'm going to miss Syracuse an incredible amount, but I think that I'll have a greater appreciation for my short time there than most people. Now that I know that this semester is my last one, I plan on enjoying it as much as possible. I never thought I would get into Hult, so I wasn't ever planning on graduating early until I found out that I actually got in. Luckily, I was able to just do some shuffling with my advisor; we found that if I dropped two of my majors and my minor that I'd be able to graduate a full year early...sounds like a fair trade to me. (I don't really want to work in finance anyway...why was I majoring in it again?) Now that this opportunity has presented itself, I can't possibly turn it down. It will be a big change, but I'm so excited that I'm already counting down the days.

Blogging about South Africa for USA Today!

Hey guys! It's a really exciting day for me. A few weeks ago I started talking with the folks at USA Today, and eventually it led to an offer to be a guest blogger for them. I was given the ability to choose any topic I wanted to write about, and my obvious first choice was my experience in South Africa. Well, the blog just went live, and I would love for you all to head over there and read it. (And if you like me, look at the upper right corner of the post where it says "Suzie Someone and 10 others like this" and just hit 'like'...it's not that hard.) (And if you really like me, comment directly on that post - the more activity that post gets, the more likely they are to ask me to write more.)

So head on over to the USA Today College Blog and read what I have to say, and then click 'like' in the upper right corner.

Top 10 Travel Moments of 2010

It seems appropriate to make one of these lists that everyone else is writing for their blogs. 2010 was such an incredible year for me. I finally broke free from North America and explored foreign countries both on my own and with my friends. I learned so many lessons this year from my ventures. With that said, let's journey back.

10) Moving into my flat

My first apartment was a flat. I think that's pretty wicked.

9) Seeing The Saturdays in concert in London

The Saturdays are an extremely popular girl band in London, and I was lucky enough to be able to see them perform in a really small space. To top it off, I was reunited with Vince and Janelle, two of my favorite people I lived with in South Africa.

8) Bungy jumping from the world's highest bungy bridge





Not as cool as skydiving, but something I've always wanted to do. For those few seconds, I was just....extremely happy.

7) Learning about the Belfast peace walls

It is hard to imagine a modern city going through the hardships that Belfast has endured in the past decade. The walls tell a real story, and I loved that I was able to visit them for my independent study project during the Ireland seminar I went on.

6) Gaining experience from an international internship

It was really a huge learning experience for me to finally be able to put into action the things I learn at school. Even though my employment was brief, it really solidified my career plans now that I've actually been able to try a few things out.

5) Experiencing the 2010 World Cup





I was never much of a soccer fan before this year. That quickly changed. Out of the 64 matches, I think I missed watching just two of them. Attending the first match at the new stadium in Cape Town was incredible.

4) Getting held at the South Africa/Mozambique border because I was an illegal immigrant

In the heat of this moment, I was petrified. We couldn't speak the language; they were clearly just trying to milk us for money, our bus abandoned us and we had a flight to catch or we would be stuck for a very long time. At least I can add "illegal immigrant" to my resume.

3) Skydiving for the first time

It won't be my last time, though. There is no way to describe the feeling from jumping out of a plane. The view on the way down was beautiful; two oceans and a mountain range. I'm hooked.

2) Getting to know my class





The children that I met at Christian David Primary School changed my life forever. They are like no people I had ever met; they were so happy despite some pretty dismal conditions around them. Some of my favorite experiences this summer were just little moments in class where a kid finally learned how to spell a certain word or understood a math problem.

1) A perfect Fall break





You just can't top this. I visited three countries I've always wanted to go to in just one week. I also had an entire day to explore a Disney park that I'd never been to, and as a HUGE Disney geek I was just pumped. Paris was something out of a movie; Milan was an ideal shopping city; and Athens was beautiful. This was easily one of the best weeks of my life.

After writing this, I have to say that 2010 was the best year of my life, so far. If 2011 is even half as awesome, I'll be thrilled.

End of the Year

Alright, so it took me a while to get around to blogging. While in London, I was so busy studying and finishing up my semester that I didn't have time to blog. And ever since I got home I've been just enjoying the time with my family and friends. And Christmas snuck up pretty quickly.

After being home a short time, all I can say is I miss London. That city and I just got along nicely. I'm really excited to get back to Syracuse, but for now I'm just hanging out in Novi.

So what's next? I may be back in the states, but I have no idea where I'll be in May. Last year I didn't completely decide to go to South Africa until about March, so at this point I can't predict my next summer. I do have a feeling that I'll love it, though.

I know I'll be back in London soon. And after spending six out of the past seven months traveling, I'm getting right back on a plane as soon as I can and heading out on another adventure.

It's the Final Countdown

Well, the time is here; just 10 days left in London. I was told that the semester would fly by, but didn't I just get here? As much as I'm really excited to see my family and friends, be reunited with my BlackBerry, and get back to American portions at restaurants, I've really loved London. I'm going to do some posts from Michigan reflecting on my semester, but I wanted to give an update right now.

Last weekend my flatmate and I went on a school-sponsored visit to a show called La Soiree. It was like a circus/vaudeville freak show. It was pretty jaw-dropping and had some really memorable acts. I'm rounding out the final days in classes, so the work has been kicked up a notch. It is the end of an academic semester, as easy as that is to forget. On the work front, I'm really happy with how far I've gone with my internship. I've met some great people and learned a lot, and I'm excited to finish up.

Which leads me to my next point, I've been offered a new job when I get back to campus. I'm thrilled to announce that I've been selected to be on the Syracuse Social Media Team. My job entails me assisting in the facilitation of @SyracuseU, which is the official Syracuse account on Twitter. Combine two things I like: Twitter, and talking about Syracuse and you can see why I'm really excited about the job. It's also a great way to learn more about a field that I'd like to have a career in one day. I've really taken a liking to social media/digital marketing and new trends in marketing, and I plan on pursuing a job within that realm upon graduating. It seems like a great way to break into the marketing department of a company that I'd like to work for and then build from there. A lot of companies are hiring recent grads to fill new positions in this area because they figure we understand the medium better than most people. That is something I'd completely agree with. (PS, follow me on Twitter!)

So even though next semester I'll be blogging from Syracuse, and not South Africa or London, hopefully I'll still have some exciting things to talk about. As for now, I'm enjoying the fact that I have a few more opportunities to enjoy the city with my friends here.