Greetings from Across the Pond 💂🏻♀️👋
London, wow! My first week in this city seems to have passed in just a blink. I can tell that time will only seem to go by faster the longer I’m here, so I’m doing my best to soak up every second.
While this isn’t my first time in London, there’s so much more to the city I’m noticing now that I have the time to take it all in a bit more slowly. The opportunity to spend four weeks with colleagues in the Havas London office, aka HKX or Havas King’s Cross, is such a unique and cool experience that this agency offers. Seeing a new place and culture from a visitor’s perspective is one thing, but getting to be involved in the day-to-day around the office provides an entirely new frame of reference for both the city and its people.
Jumping right into things, my first few days at the HKX office held several “inductions” (what we call onboardings in NY) with various teams, and loads of people filling up my “diary” (read: calendar) with invites for the next few weeks. My crash course in English as a foreign language has been quite enlightening so far 😉 Some jokes have definitely gone right over my head, but I’m sure by the end of my time here I’ll be well-versed in Londoner slang.
To my delight, the energy and culture here are pretty similar to that of the NY office in that colleagues act more like friends than business acquaintances and everyone seems to genuinely enjoy working and spending time here. It’s not uncommon to hear teams making jokes at one another, offering to make tea or coffee for the group or to see people running down to the cafe for lunch together.
My mentor, Jessica, has also been so thoughtful in introducing me to a handful of other teams to make sure I’m getting an array of experiences across the different accounts at the agency, too. It’s been such a nice change of pace getting to be involved with a number of brands compared to the one large account I work on back home. And luckily for me, everyone I’ve met and worked with so far has been warm, friendly and inviting, making me feel right at home.
While that’s all for now, if you want to follow along for more, you can join me here as I continue to learn and explore over the next few weeks!
Until next time,
Michaela
