Wishing I was still there

I was excited when my parents agreed to spend this much money for me to go abroad for the summer. The GE staff is really helpful all prior to going abroad and they offer a ton of webinars to get you ready.

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I got my internship placement in April and waited for all my visa stuff to arrive. I kept bugging my programme advisor Emily to see if she could contact my placement to see where things were going....TWO WEEKS before I was meant to leave for London, Emily called to tell me that my placement hadn't responded to BUNAC and I would have to be placed elsewhere. So, I was placed somewhere else that didn't actually pertain to my major at all and was under a time crunch for my VISA. My VISA was late and I had to delay my departure 3 days because of this. GE DOES NOT offer any reimbursement of any type for VISA issues. I had purchased a first class ticket as a birthday gift from my parents and because of my VISA being late, I had to buy an ENTIRELY new ticket. Full price. Coach. Goodbye birthday present. This was bottom line the MOST frustrating...besides the accommodations!

Although NIDO is VERY safe. You're literally living in a closet. Smaller than most campus dorms. I think I would have enjoyed my experience so much more if I wasn't living in NIDO. I truly hated it. You don't have your own kitchen and living room like they tell you. It is a bed, desk, and teeny tiny bathroom.

Alright, to the experience itself. I had an AMAZING time in London. I ended up loving my internship. I had the best supervisor and she definitely catered to my needs and helped me get any experience that I was wanting to have. I am an event planning major and I ended up getting to plan and execute my own event for one of the services that I worked for. I learned so much about how a company works and it was a ton of things that I will be able to apply in my future. I absolutely loved London too. It is an amazing city with so many things to do. You are never ever bored. I got to do a bit of traveling as well and I kinda wish I asked for more weekends off so I could travel more. I didn't get as many places as I would have liked to. GE offers a lot of free events (that you pay for in that 8000 package deal) like seeing shows, pub crawls, walking tours and what not. I never went on a walking tour because I have been to London multiple times already. I know people that have never been enjoyed them for the most part.

I had an AMAZING roommate. We found each other on Facebook and requested to room with each other.
We did absolutely everything together and we got along amazingly. She honestly made my experience that much more amazing. I know most people in the programme got along with their roommates but most were not as lucky as me that is for sure.

The GE staff is okay when you get on the ground in London but I felt that I was pretty much on my own which was completely fine with me.

Had my parents known that I was going to London to do nothing that pertained to my major they would have strongly reconsidered sending me there for this price.

Overall, I did have an amazing experience. Was it worth $8000? Thats up to you....I would move to London in a heart beat and my company told me to think of them when I begin my job searching, but the experience is everything that you personally make it.

I would recommend the programme but I would strongly consider thinking long and hard about it.