Arianna O'Dell

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Dear London,

I love you.

It is with great sorrow I will be leaving you in two days. The past four months I have spent with you have been the best of my entire life and will never be forgotten. Not only have I learned so much about myself, but I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet so many great people residing throughout London, England, and the world. I have never felt a greater sense of belonging and acceptance since I arrived on your streets months ago. My first extended period of time away from home was surely a fantasic one that I will hold close to my heart forever.

London, I will miss you so much. 

I’ll miss your sexy accents. I’ll miss riding your tube. I’ll miss your 5 o’clock rush hour when the tube is filled with gorgeous men in suits. I’ll miss your high streets. I’ll miss the tech events. I’ll miss Primark and H&M. I’ll miss peer cider and chatting in pubs. I’ll miss your classy sense of fashion. I’ll miss watching the world cup with enthusiastic fans. I’ll miss Embankment and the London Eye. I’ll miss your double decker buses and red phone booths. I’ll miss Abbey Road. I’ll miss your gorgeous parks. I’ll miss your concerts. London, I’ll miss everything about you. Please London, keep in touch.

With a heavy heart I will be leaving you. Don’t worry, I’ll be back.

Love,
Arianna

*London, let me know if you want to grab drinks tonight or tomorrow. I need to drink as much cider as possible before leaving you.

I do not like to give up. Failure is something I do not like to admit.

Today, I will admit something I usually would never come out and say directly.

I have failed.

This morning, while looking at past blog posts, I came across one entitled,  “52 Books”.

At the beginning of this year, I made a goal to read one book per week for the entire year. 52 books. Originally, when I made this goal I thought to myself “oh this will be easy”. It was easy at the beginning. I was motivated and treated it like a competition – determined to win. 6 weeks in, I burnt out. I feeling obligated to read, and reading became more of a punishment. On week 7, I quit.

From week 6 until today, I have only managed to read one book! Terrible!

If I had kept up my pace of the first 2 months, I would be at 23 books today; instead I am 17 books short of my original goal. Today, I realized that even if I can’t attain the original goal, it was a stupid decision to just quit. To give up.

On my walk today, I bought two new books. An hour ago, I just started reading, Small is The New Big, by Seth Godin which inspired this post. Reminiscing about my past goal made me ponder a few things:

Is it better to strive for my original goal, by reading more over the summer? Or to simply read a book each week from here on out?

Is it better to set attainable or to set goals that may seem difficult to reach?

What do you think?

I have fallen in love with London. I like the way it walks, the way it talks, and how it lives.  Over the past two months, I have found very little to complain about here. Any tinge of homesickness is now gone and I find myself saddened that I will have to go back to the states in four months. As each week passes, I only find myself loving the city more and longing for the states less.

Originally, I had planned to go to Spain for the summer, but recently changed my mind. I have officially decided to spend my summer in London. I love the tube, the people, and everything in between. While yes, I would like to travel and see more of the world – I have my entire life to do this. I have only just started building relationships here – it would seem silly to pick up and leave after only 3 months. I would much rather get to know one person well, than ten only briefly.

So far, I have gotten to meet so many great people. From meeting up with Twitter friends, to attending networking events, to Couchsurfing – the transition here has been very easy. Everyone I have met has been extremely welcoming and I am so appreciate for this. Thank you so much to everyone who has met up with me, offered help, or showed me around.

While I do miss all of my amazing friends in Seattle – I don’t think I have ever felt the sense of belonging that I do here. I’m not sure as to why that is. Maybe I’ll feel different in four months, or maybe I will want to move here permantely. Who knows?

If anyone knows of a place in London for rent let me know!

I have been in Europe for almost a month now – my longest span of time being away from the states. So far, I LOVE London. I am seriously contemplating moving to the UK permanently. I love the rushed pace of life, the crowded underground, the lively nights, the kebabs and definitely  the more attractive men.

Some things I am missing from Seattle:

Friends: Good friends are hard to find – when you have them, hang on and don’t let go. I have found some incredible friends in Seattle. In Washington, I have the “help you move, listen you complain, pick you up at the airport type friends.”  So far on this trip I have made a few new friends already, but the adjustment of leaving my very close friends is hard to adjust to at times. Everything something exciting, troubling, or confusing happens I think “oh I need to call _______.” I then realize I can’t.

Washington air: I love the city of London. It’s fabulous. There are always things to do and see, and the city is constantly moving. I truly enjoy this type of lifestyle when in contrast with Seattle. The part of Washington I do miss is the air. I have a harder time breathing over here and have been longing for a big gasp of clean air. I also miss the water. Something about the showers in the UK make my already hard to manage hair extra dried out.

Capitalism: I miss the entrepreneurship culture of Seattle. The last few weeks, I keep changing my mind as to where I would rather live. I realized that the only thing holding me back from moving to Europe is the capitalism and entrepreneurial mindset found in the USA. Entrepreneurship is a part of me; even though I love it here – it would be extremely hard to not be in a culture that fosters my passion for entrepreneurship and business.

Yellow Gatoraide : Whenever I am sick all I want is some yellow Gatoraide dammit! The Gatoraide here tastes like crap – as does the coffee. Since I do not plan to be sick on a regular basis I think I can live with this. Giving up coffee will be a little bit harder; though the tea here is fantastic.

A few things I have learned about myself this far:

I am not a big partier – I tried. I lasted two weeks. Now I am completely bored of the scene, burnt out, and just want to be productive. There was one night where I got completely sick from alcohol and spent the entire next day in bed. I have never felt so terrible. Talk about a waste of time. Just because other people are doing it does not mean I have to. Even at 20, peer pressure is still hard to resist. I don’t think it ever goes away.

I hate traveling with groups of people – We do this often for the program that I am in. No one can make any decisions! It drives me freaking crazy. It takes forever to decide what to do, and makes me feel as I am constantly on a guided tour.  I like to explore cities on my own at a different pace. I am glad I know this for future trips.

I am too independent for my own good – I am used to doing everything for myself. I pay for my own rent, tuition, and all other living expenses. I have held many jobs in the past and understand the value of earning a dollar. I find it very hard to relate to those that don’t. It makes me frustrated when I hear others say “oh it doesn’t matter, my parents are paying for it”  Seriously? In addition, I have also found it hard to adjust to living with a home stay family. I am used to doing what I want, when I want. Even though the family is absolutely wonderful – it seems to be a step backwards from the independence I crave.

I do miss a few things but overall I am very happy here. I can’t believe a month has already flown by. Cheers to the next five!

My guest blog for Husky Promise at the University of Washington

Please Don’t Cut Financial Aid

Read it here

I could draw this post out into paragraphs and give put lots of facts and statistics into it, but instead I’ll make it quick:

I hate people that just want to chat online but never spend real life time together.

I’m more than entertainment value.

IRL > ONLINE

That is all.

There are 3 Types of Entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur – The dictionary would describe it as: “someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it “

The word entrepreneur used to be sacred to me. It was something I longed to be. A word with positive connotations, a synonym for great. An entrepreneur was a person I respected and admired. If you were to ask me five years ago what my definition for entrepreneur was, I would have told you:

“Someone who changes the world for the better with a business. “

After experience and growing up, I  was saddened to learn that my definition was no longer true. My days of adolescence and positive experiences led me to believe that anyone starting a business was trying to do something to better mankind. Over the past few years, I have heard the term “entrepreneur” thrown around to describe anyone with “business” – whether it was being used to describe someone who had built a scam or a respected brand.

I am sad to say that entrepreneur is no longer a term I will always attach positive thoughts with. In my opinion, there are three types of entrepreneur.

The three types are as follows:

The “I Love Money & Myself Entrepreneur” :

Up until a few years ago, my naivety never allowed me to realize that these types existed. After learning that there were people out there, starting businesses to deceive, I was appalled.  To me, the “I Love Money & Myself Entrepreneur” is someone who deceives their customers, stretches moral boundaries, and will stop at nothing to earn a quick dollar. This type doesn’t care about their customers or bettering the world in any way, shape, or form. When you talk to this type of “entrepreneur” about their business you don’t see a sparkle in their eye, or hear a tinge of excitement in their voice. After reading the “4 Hour Work Week” (a book many of my friends raved about) I would classify the author as one of these types. – He was not out to build a sustainable business. He was out to make a quick dollar to benefit himself. Tips like “cutting down chitchat on the phone” and “wearing headphones so no one will talk to you” lead me to believe he was not passionate about building a business or brand. Not listening to others and taking an dictatorship like approach to business might still be entrepreneurship, but in my mind is not respected. Truly caring about your business, employees, and customers means investing time and energy into your business. This entrepreneur doesn’t do this – he doesn’t love his business; if he did he wouldn’t want to shorten his workweek into four hours. Yes, the book had many good tips for productivity – but the author never once mentioned the sense of pride he had in his business. In fact, he rarely mentioned the name.

The “I love the idea of Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur” :

In my mind, I don’t classify these people as an entrepreneur, but by book definition they are. Someone who owns a franchise would fall into this category – a person who wants to own a business, but lacks an idea of their own.  A person who attends lots of entrepreneurship events (with an idea they will never start) also falls into this category. Whether they think entrepreneurship is trendy or cool, this person does not have a passion for business but just likes to talk about it. To answer the question “Are entrepreneurs born or made?” – I believe without a doubt they are born. I have never met anyone with an true love for business that didn’t have stories revealing their entrepreneurial mindset from a young age. In this category I would also include those who’s short term goal is to get acquired by another company. Building a world renowned business and brand known by all doesn’t motivate them – the money at the end of the ride does. In my opinion, I don’t believe an internet business with no business model to be considered entrepreneurship – the hopes of grasping millions of users only to sell your company is not entrepreneurship. I learned this lesson the hard way by being a part of a business whose main goal was to get acquired. If you have no business model you are not a business. Entrepreneurship to me, is the desire to build a sustainable business and brand that you are proud of – not to build something you want to be done with in a year.

The “Genuine Entrepreneur” :

A genuine entrepreneur wants to change the world for the better – whether it is with a product, by providing jobs, providing the world with a better service, or by solving a problem. This Genuine Entrepreneur loves money, but not solely for it’s monetary value. The thrill of the game of commerce motivates them. They love seeing the exchange of a good or service for money. More money for them isn’t an opportunity to go buy a new car, but a chance for them to grow their business. With a grown business, comes the ability to change things on a larger scale – this is their motivation. This type simply loves business, every aspect of it. Those I classify as genuine, can talk business for hours – with eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. Entrepreneurship is their passion and this radiates through any conversation you have with them. They built a business to see it prosper and change the world.

With any endeavor I may choose to undertake in the future I will always strive to be a Genuine Entrepreneur.