Ambition

Everything has changed and yet, I am more me than I’ve ever been.

Iain S. Thomas, Author

Now that I have been living & working in London for the last few weeks, it’s about time that I give a recap (this blog post is going to be lengthy, so prepare yourselves):

I started my internship at Zayo Group on January 29th, working under their European Corporate Development Director. Right off the bat, I was thrown into their business – learning Zayo’s company structure & technical departments as well as the various acronyms/lingo used daily in the Mergers & Acquisitions field. Before my first day, I was worried that I wouldn’t be prepared to take on a full-time finance internship since my previous experiences have all been in marketing. However, these last two weeks at Zayo have made me feel more confident than ever expected. My manager & coworkers are extremely welcoming. I don’t think I’ve ever asked more questions in my life in such a short span of time to be honest. It’s even more thrilling to finally grasp and apply concepts that I’ve learned in my classes at Mercy.

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Overall, Zayo has a very open & inclusive company culture, which has allowed me to transition into my internship quite easily. Currently, I am still attending on-boarding sessions to learn about all of Zayo’s services & offerings more in-depth. For those that do not know, Zayo is a global telecommunications company that specializes in fiber and bandwidth connectivity etc. With technology advancing so often, especially in this industry, there is change always taking place. What this means for me is that I will be continually learning at a fast-moving & adaptable pace in an evolving environment. Additionally, Zayo has a U.S. headquarters in Colorado, & a European headquarters here in London (my office). Zayo’s office in London is located in the financial district, right near Fleet Street (similar to NYC’s Wall Street). My commute to work is around an hour each morning, but the Tube system is extremely easy to navigate here (MTA needs to up their game).

Moving on, a few of the tangible skills I have improved so far already include my use of excel shortcuts (I have literally become obsessed with excel & how much faster it is to navigate once you use all the shortcuts) and financial modeling. I am extremely thankful to be gaining so much knowledge from this company, & look forward to my next few months here.

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Now it’s time to cover all of my weekend outings. To start off, the friends I have made here are so freaking awesome. The other GE interns I live with are some of the coolest people. Most are from the U.S. (New York, Maryland, Florida, Oklahoma, Las Vegas, Texas etc) with one girl from Stockholm, Sweden (shoutout to Klara!). I’ve gone out every Friday and Saturday, exploring different parts of the city. The first weekend we all went to a few museums in the High Street Kensington area, & then spent both nights out pub and club hopping near Piccadilly. I’ve also spent a decent amount of time at Westfield Mall in Shepherds Bush, which is probably the largest mall I’ve ever been to in my life. The mall is only a few train stops away from my apartment building in East Acton. So to those of you that know me well, imagine how much strength it has taken me to resist my shopping urges.

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This last weekend, my friend Annie came to visit; she is currently studying abroad in Madrid through SLU. On Saturday we first went to a small, but very cute brunch place in Notting Hill. Later on, we traveled to some tourist destinations & ended the night on a pub crawl in the Piccadilly area once again. It’s amazing how much energy we had by the end of her trip as we walked about 22,000 steps.

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The last thing I want to mention in this blog is my recently acquired, cringe-worthy obsession. First, I must note that at home I practically NEVER watch reality TV. Yet, after arriving here in London, I came across a Netflix series called Love Island. Just like it sounds, Love Island is a UK reality TV dating show taking place on an island in Spain. Some of my friends here, Kaitlyn and Savannah, have also been binge-watching the series. With working full-time, I’m okay with admitting that this is definitely my guilty pleasure after work each day (No shame whatsoever).

To conclude this post, London has been a complete blast. With my newly found ambitions, I have an inkling that I am finally beginning to find my true self here.

Until next time,
✧Ally✧