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Not really, but I do hate the groups of women that feel the need to segregate themselves even more by creating exclusive "Just For Women" events and organizations. Browsing through my Twitter feed, I constantly see events with names like Girls in Tech, Women in Tech, Women in Business, Women in blah blah blah. Why do women feel the need to create separate events? Is this not a sexist thing to do?

If someone were to start a group called Men in Tech, they would instantly be labeled as sexist. After labeling this group as sexist, blog posts and tweets would immediately flood the Internet. Is this fair? Why should women be able to create groups and events for women?

Taken from a website called Women Who Tech "We provide a supportive network for the vibrant and thriving community of women in technology professions by giving women an open platform to share their talents, experiences, and insights." Why do you need to give women an open platform? They always have an open platform in the real world! Why is there the need for a separate group to only point out the fact that you are not a man?

Taken from a site called Girls in Tech "Girls in Tech is a social network enterprise focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of like-minded, professional, intelligent and influential women in technology." What exactly are you trying to empower women with? These events seem to say that women need to be empowered in order to succeed.

Don't get me wrong. I have been segregated against because of my dress and painted nails. I have had men label me as ignorant or dumb, solely for the fact that I was a women. While yes, this is unfair, I don't believe the solution to this problem is to create separate groups for those who had their feelings hurt at a regular tech or business event. Instead of making events for women to attend, women should be creating tech events for the entire tech or business field - not for a group of women to sit around saying "we are just as good as the men" - they should be out proving it.

While this blog post will probably offend some  I am still posting it anyways. I am proud of being a women. I like my makeup. I like my dresses, shoes, and purses. I don't feel that because of this, I should have to attend events with names like Women in _______.

Could someone please enlighten me on why these events are needed? - Maybe I'm missing something.

I'm sweaty. It is a million degrees outside. Plans keep falling through. My hotel (if you can even call this a hotel) is like a sauna right now. I'm staying in the worst part of town possible. I can't walk down the street without being approached by some creepy middle aged man. The wifi will barely connect. I have spent 10 times my allotted budget for the past few days. My travel buddy didn't end up working out as planned. Nothing is going as planned. I have wanted to cry in frustration, punch people in anger, and just give up and go home early. (Okay the punching was an exaggeration) One of my friends just commented that I should make this a reality show - probably a good idea - misery always sells. ;)

But this is the end of my complaining. Sorry if my tweets have all been so down and emotional the past few days. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I can't stay mad or upset for longer than 5 minutes. Deep breaths, deep breaths. *phew* I think I'm officially okay. I think just about everything possible has gone wrong so nothing else can right?

Tentative plans :

Stay in Paris until Wed - then train to Italy for a week.

Then somewhere (Belgium/Amsterdam/Greece?) for another 2 weeks.

Then go stay with @Vivacions in Paris until September 6th.

London for 1 more night.

Then home to Seattle.

When I get home I would like to go to a Seattle tweetup, eat thai food, and get some decent coffee. Then go to the gym and work off all the cider I drank while in London. After this, I will be looking for a job in marketing or social Media. Know of anything?

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.

Today I woke up thinking, marketing, marketing, marketing, Oh My God! Okay, I was going to a marketing trade show, not that exciting to normal people, but I was ecstatic. While I have attended quite a few marketing events in the UK, this was my first trade show - Marketing Week Live - "The UK's Largest Marketing Event"

Getting up early, sitting on the tube for an hour, and waiting to get my badge for 45 minutes, I had finally made it! A tad annoyed by the poor organization at the door, I walked happily into the exhibition hall in hopes of seeing some great marketing. Almost immediately my smile diminished. Why?

Most of the businesses sucked at marketing!

Here are a few things a business should refrain from doing in order to not suck at their next trade show or conference. 

Poor Marketing : You would think that at a conference tailored to marketers, a business would go out of their way to wow their potential customers with amazing marketing efforts. Unfortunately, at Marketing Week Live, there were only a handful of displays that were eye catching. From girls walking around in shorts with fliers, to salesmen handing out pieces of candy, many of the efforts lacked a creative spark. There was very little originality walking around from booth to booth and I found myself annoyed with the same repeat efforts throughout the hall. "GIVING ME A PIECE OF CANDY IS NOT GOING TO MAKE ME BUY YOUR PRODUCT DAMMIT!" (the candy wrappers were not even branded!) Yes, I know in an exhibition hall you are confined to a very small space, but there is not reason to not put the effort into making your table visual appealing or devising a fun tactic to attract attendees to your table.

Sleezy Sales Pitches : I had so many people pitch me at this event, before they knew what I did and before they even got my name. I found this to be very rude and a non effective way for them to get new clients. If they would have been able to cater their sales pitch to my field, I would have been much more attentive and they might have walked away with a few additional sales. Over the course of the event ,I even had a few complete blow offs from sales people when I was legitimately interested in the product. Did they lose my business this way too? You bet.

Countless pamphlets : Almost every two seconds, I was having a pamphlet, flier, or business card shoved in my face. Do I remember any of those businesses? No. I do however remember the conversations I had with sales people who actually told me about the service, and not just handing me a flier I was never going to read. Do people actually go home and read all of the size 8 font on a standard size piece of paper?  When was the last time you got a truly amazing flier? Oh that's right....never.

iPad giveaways : It seemed like every company was giving one away. Do I remember the names of any of these companies? Nope. Will I remember if I win the iPad? Yes. Hundreds of dollars spent for one new brand advocate? Even though they may have gotten leads from those who filled out their form, I really have to wonder how many would actually be potential clients.

Poor representation : There were so many displays I had no idea what the product was after looking at the signage for a few minutes. If I don't know what a business does in a sentence or two, my attention is immediately diverted. So many businesses at this show would have been so much more successful if they would have just changed their message only the slightest bit.

I think I could keep going on and on, but those are the main points I would like to make. Overall, I learned a lot from this conference. I learned what not to do in the future.

Yesterday, I officially booked my Eurail pass to travel through 5 countries over the course of the summer! I'm a tad nervous, as I have yet to do a trip longer than 2 weeks. This trip will last for about 2 month and will end in Paris to live with a friend for a few weeks.

These countries I picked for my pass are:

Belgium

The Netherlands

Greece

Bulgaria

Italy

France.

Starting off:

I will be leaving London on the 7th of July to take a bus to France. Then from France, I will take a train somewhere within one of the countries listed above. I have made no travel plans yet. I really have no idea what to see and don't particularly like browsing travel guides. Have you been to any of these places? If so, what do you recommend I see? My plans are really flexible as of right now!

For most of my trip, I plan to couchsurf. Couchsurfing, for those who don't know, is a community of travelers who let one another stay at their place during their traveling. I have done this in the past and have had great experiences from it. Do you know anyone in any of these countries who has a couch I could crash on? :)

Thanks for any advice, stories, or recommendations you might have!

Every third Sunday of June I hate going anywhere. I hate going out. I hate going online. I hate even talking to people. Every where I turn, I see a sign about Father's Day, a tweet about Father's Day, or people walking around with their fathers. Today, I don't even want to go on Google with Father's Day ties dominating their interface. 5 years ago,I didn't have this problem. 5 years ago, I would have celebrated this holiday just the same as everyone else.

I know I am not the only one without a father. Today, it just feels like it.

My father passed away 5 years ago. Since his death, I have tried my best to suppress this fact. After my dad had passed, I cried for an entire week. After that week, I tried not to think. By not thinking about that my dad was gone, it was easier for me to move on and continue life in a positive light. While this may have not been the best way to cope, everyone has their own ways of dealing with death. Forgetting was mine.

Instead of blocking my dad from my memory like usual, today I want to remember. I want to remember his passion for entrepreneurship, his kindness towards others, and all of the valuable lessons he taught me. I want to remember a great man.

Looking back to my childhood, my dad taught me so much about entrepreneurship. From a young age, I learned that working for someone else didn't have to be my only option. My dad supported my family by running two businesses and substitute teaching simultaneously. Not only was he beloved by his students and customers, but everyone he met.  I remember that while grocery shopping, he would call the checkers at the grocery store by first name and start up conversations with strangers. Even though thinking "oh my god, how embarrassing" in my teenage years, I have now come to realize why he did these little things. Taking a few seconds out of your day to care about a total stranger can really mean a world of difference.

My father laid the foundation for my entrepreneurial path, and I can't be thankful enough for this. Whether it was a car wash, a lemonade stand, or painting rocks to sell, my father always encouraged my business mindset. Sometimes he would even let me tag along to sales calls and let me help out in so many different ways. From all of this, he taught me that smiling was absolutely necessary in business. Smiling wasn't an option; it was just how things had to be done.

"A penny saved, is a penny earned" and "You have to spend money, to make money" where phrases constantly thrown around my my dad. Quotations and little bits of advice were constantly given to me, though as a child, I did not appreciate the usefulness of his wisdom. Today, I look back upon the time with my dad with utmost appreciation and gratitude. My father has had the greatest influence on my values.  His early passing has had the affect of allowing me to recognize his principles and morals.  He lived for his family and would do anything for his children.  He was a happy individual with a great sense of humor, and in many ways I want out of my life the love of family and joy of life that he embodied.

This Father's Day, I want to remember. I want to remember Michael J. O'Dell; not just my father, but one of the greatest businessmen who ever lived.

Every Father's day I pretend I'm okay. Every Father's day I'm not. Today, I could use a hug. To everyone without a father or mother,  we can get through today together. Let's not just get through it, let's celebrate.

This afternoon, I went to go visit my homeless friend Joanne, who lives around the Euston Square tube station.

I met Joanne, through the Contemporary Britain course I had partaken in over the past three months. During one of the classes, my professors brought Joanne into our classroom to speak about homelessness in London. After hearing about her life, and the story of how she got to where she is today, I was in tears. Joanne has been raped, attacked, and abused in so many ways throughout the course of her life. She had to give up her children, she was forced to move onto the streets, and she has been unable to improve her situation for years. For Joanne, every unfortunate event, just seemed to follow another. This poor women, has so many factors that should have made her bitter, yet she was absolutely pleasant to talk to.

Joanne has been homeless for 19 years!  Prior to hearing her story, I was very ignorant about the homeless. Living in Seattle for the past two years had hardened me. In my fast paced life, I quickly became immune to the problems of the city. Like many others, I would rush past the problems, instead of trying to resolve them. I know that yes, it is very hard to help everyone, but that should by no means be a reason to refrain from reaching out to help even one person. It only took a few minutes of Joanne's story to remind me of how fortunate I am.

Today, I spent my afternoon sitting and talking with Joanne while she tried to sell The Big Issue. Her daily routine is to get up (from sleeping in a park or shop nook), buy copies of the Big Issue, then head to the tube station to sell the magazines. In an entire day of work, she only sells about 5-10 copies leaving her with barely enough to afford food. At the end of her full day, she finds somewhere to sleep, only to wake up and do it again the next day.

While I was sitting with Joanne, I watched. I watched as people would smile at me, seeing as I was keeping her company. I watched. I watched as people made disgusted faces at the both of us. And I watched. I watched while people completely ignored her. Even though I had only been there a few hours, it was heartbreaking to see. From my experience today with Joanne, I felt there are a few things I felt I needed to share:

The homeless are people! Joanne told me about one instance where a man stepped on her hand, saw what he did, and simply grumbled something rude to her.  It appalls me to hear about humans treating one another like they are worthless. Just because someone is not as fortunate, it does not give anyone the right to treat them poorly. If you can't say something nice, please, just don't say it all. Just because a person doesn't have a house, doesn't make them any less a person.  Why wreck someone else's day, just to have a jab at someone else's misfortune.

"Just get a job!" really isn't that simple -On multiple occurrences, Joanne has had someone tell her this. If getting a job really was that simple she said she would get one. Without a permanent address, clean clothes, and shower, getting a job is near impossible. Homelessness is a hard cycle to break, it is not as simple as just getting a job. This is something that is now much clearer to me.

Words can be better than money - I had the same kind of talk with Joanne that I would have with a close friend. We talked, we joked, and we shared experiences about travel, music, and even boys. Being on the streets does not eliminate a basic human need for interaction, conversation, and understanding. Understanding and compassion can be worth even more than a few dollars.

I am by no means perfect. Ignorance was my main reason for never reaching out more over the past few years. I definetely think there needs to be much more education offered that shows people that the homeless are not scary and violent people, they are simply people. In the future, I hope to become much more involved in helping people get off of the streets and live a normal life.

While you are sitting at your warm house, eating a nice dinner, I would just like you to think for a few minutes about how lucky you are. Please take the time to reach out to a person on the streets, it makes a world of difference to them.

$ - 45 Thousand Dollars Down the Drain - $

Okay, not exactly, but this is the amount of money I have paid to attend the University of Washington over the past two years. Outrageous!

For those of you who I have yet to tell, I am still in college. This past week, I finished up my second year, leaving me with two additional years to go.

I tend to leave this out this minor detail when meeting new people. While attending business events, conferences, and chatting with people already in the work force, I have not received much respect when mentioning my age in the past. Even though during my Seattle Ignite talk, I decided to reveal this to many, I quickly went back to my old habit of not mentioning this fact as soon as the talk ended. Why? Even after giving the talk, I was immediately alienated from conversations the moment the student detail was mentioned.

This post is not about being treated unfairly because of age. This is simply a personal reflection on the past two years of my life.

What exactly is the purpose of college?

Some might say that the purpose of college is to find yourself and your passions. I found my passion in middle school, knowing I wanted to own a business. Since coming to college, this still has yet to change, and I know it will not change over the next two years. Unfortunately, during my college experiences thus far, my passion and love of entrepreneurship has not been fostered within most of my classes.

Other people have told me that the purpose of college is to network and make connections. Talking to other college students, they use their age as an excuse for "not having experience" and "not knowing certain things". When talking to most others about starting a business, or doing something outside of the classroom, I am met with a dazed and unwilling look. While many students I meet are brilliant students, they are simply book smart, with little actual common sense. I would much rather "network" with people who are actually doing great things and not just reading about it.

Other might say that you are at college to read, write, and think. This was my main reason for attending college. A desire to constantly learn, has drove me to work hard in all of my education prior to college. The only thing I constantly find myself thinking about in college classes is, "Couldn't I have just learned this from reading a book?"

I am not saying college has been a complete waste of time. Every single non-curricular activity I have partaken in has given me so much knowledge and great experiences in contrast to the classes. But paying 45 thousand dollars for this? I could have still done many of the clubs and activities without enrolling.

My typical class at the University of Washington goes like this:

~Buy an overprice textbook.
~Sit in lecture where the teacher reitterates the textbook that he or she wrote.
~Write an essay to only be told it is not adequate, with little guidance on how to improve.
~Get tested on information that has little to no relevance to real world scenarios.
~Get a grade that has little reflection on what I actually know and understand.

I am by no means saying that I know everything, or that I am done learning. Learning is one of my greatest loves; I just believe the University of Washington does a poor job at encouraging learning and focuses too much on having a high GPA. I am completely open to suggestions on how to enrich my learning experience for the years to come. What can I do to receive more from my formalized education?

So far, the business program has only taught me that sitting in a classroom will teach you very little about the real world. I have not had a class that has truly challenged me to think outside the box since I have arrived on campus. Even if I may threaten to drop out, I know deep down I need to finish what I started. I just hope the next two years will be worth the next 50 thousand dollars!

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?