After four amazing weeks abroad, we made it back to Texas. I will miss all of the incredible friends I have made, as well as the professors I have gotten to know so well. We saw some amazing sights on our trip, including the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa, and the London Bridge. I will forever cherish the memories and friendships made during these last four weeks.
During our time in both France and England, I noticed that business hours are very different compared to the United States. For instance, most restaurants are closed for most of the day, and only open during normal eating hours for lunch and dinner. These times are usually about 12 pm to 2 pm and 7 pm to 9 pm. This made it difficult for us when we had later days and needed later dinners, so we usually ended up eating fast food on those days. Most of the shops also close fairly early, I noticed that there were very few open past 5 pm. In the U.S our clothing grocery stores stay open fairly late, most of our H-E-Bs are even open until midnight!
I also noticed at most of our company visits that the companies typically preferred face-to-face relationships with their clients. For example, when we were at Lloyd?s of London, we learned that brokers must come in to talk with underwriters to purchase insurance policies for their clients. They work out most deals face-to-face rather than online, as I feel most U.S. deals are made today. This makes their relationships more personal, but it is certainly more convenient to hop on a Zoom call rather than meet in person.
I am so glad to have gone on this trip; I had so many once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I will never forget. My favorite memory is the beach day we had in Nice. Most of our group sat on the beach and listened to music for most of the day and simply enjoyed each other?s company. I also believe that we had some of the best professors at Texas A&M on this trip; they truly helped make each day unforgettable.
