Each Spring Break, several public relations and advertising students head to New York City to tour agencies, network and learn about the industries. This year, a similar trip took five PR students to London, for a week to learn about public relations on a global level.

The week balanced cultural and professional experiences, says Aimee Christian, the Sandra Frazier Professor of Public Relations and faculty coordinator for the trip. Students visited Real Chemistry, a global provider of public relations and analytics to the healthcare and technology industries and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company. They attended a storytelling masterclass at the BBC, toured CNN International, and had afternoon tea with alumni and students from BU’s Study Abroad program. They also visited Parliament, where they witnessed a debate of the House of Lords, took a private tour of the Royal Apartments. 

“The trip afforded so many opportunities for professional connection, wonderful moments of self-reflection, and curated experiences to understand the importance of storytelling for their chosen profession,” Christian says.

Hiroki Taguchi (’27), a graduate student, says the group had meetings every day, which helped him gain an appreciation for storytelling as well as the differences between a public relations agency and in-house corporate communications departments.

“It’s really essential to understand the organizational structure of the global media as a PR professional,” says Taguchi.

Christian says the trip gave students who were not able to study abroad in London a niche opportunity to gain international experience. That was the case for Ashley Laurent (’26). “Getting to go to all these different places and see how PR can intersect into all of these different industries was really amazing, especially for me as a senior,” Laurent says.

Christian, who had previously worked in Basel, Switzerland, for 10 years, chose to take students to London because she has connections to agencies and partners based in the UK. BU also has a headquarters in the city for its Study Abroad office, and the city offers a lot of inexpensive or free activities for students once they get there, she says.

Students say the Parliament debate, BBC storytelling workshop and tour of CNN International were highlights. Hannah Manber-Rubio (’26) describes the trip as a nice mix of learning about different companies and talking to people in other areas of communication, like journalists.

“It wasn’t just PR,” Manber-Rubio says. “It was really interesting and a cool experience to do it with the backdrop of London and getting that more international experience.”

Marianne Zemmes (’26), a public relations graduate student, participated because she hopes to work in London once she graduates. She recommends that students learn about the professionals they will be meeting beforehand and even prepare questions in advance.

Manber-Rubio says the experience showed her how much there is to do in the field of communications and what that work environment looks like internationally.

“It just makes me feel really good that I studied PR, and excited because I can tell there’s a lot of different opportunities within the greater landscape of communications,” she says.

The trip was supported by Terry Fassburg (’69)—who also helps fund the New York City PR and advertising trip each year—and the endowment associated with the Sandra Frazier professorship. Funding helped to cover accommodations, a student stipend, experiential opportunities in London and a few meals, according to Christian. Students were responsible for air and ground transportation and any incidental spending.

Christian hopes to continue growing the trip, eventually expanding to 10 students, and says there’s been plenty of interest. This year there were 20 applicants for the five spots.