No Clever Title Today.

Day two as an intern was immensely better than day one. I felt much more comfortable in the environment and myself and the other intern, Colleen were officially introduced to everyone in the office. The London office has about 60 people. Think London also has offices around the world. It's pretty incredible to go into work and here several other languages other than English being spoke throughout the day.

Today, I worked on another excel document. The data was about prospective clients. The previous intern had done a lot of researc, but it hadn't been formatted well at all. I needed to make one cohesive document of about 8 different lists. I didn't finish it and ran into some bumps because it was just very screwed up. My "boss" didn't even know how to "fix" one of the documents. It will get figured out. It's an excel document, not brain surgery.

I had my Intro to Tourism class earlier in the day. I met some nice people in my class. I may change out of this class if there is still room in a creative writing about London class for study abroad students. It sounds pretty interesting. I emailed the guy in charge. We will see tomorrow if there are spots available. The tourism was somewhat intersting, not as cool as the Branding class I had yesterday. The tourism teacher wasn't dynamic and engaging. It seemed like it should be somewhat simple material but she was just making it extremely difficult. I checked out one of her recommended books for the course out of the library and I am under-impressed (not sure if that is a word). Hopefully, I can change classes. Guess it's up to the Big Man Upstairs if I will get in or not.

After class and work, I headed to the supermarket to pick up a sandwich for dinner before walking to Christine's dorm. We need a whole lot of nothing and it was wonderful. We researched places online to visit in London and just layed around. It was a lazy evening, but it was perfect.

After coming back to Harrow, Elizabeth came to my flat and we briefly chatted about weekend plans. The plan is to head to the English countryside for a day trip on Saturday. The photos online look beautiful. Apparently, a lot of movies have been filmed in the area we are going to, The Cotswolds. I'm excited to see it!  I still have no concrete plans to travel around Europe this semester. I know I'll visit some places, but it's just taking sometime to coordinate everyone' schedules.

Here are some pictures from Harrod's Department store, we visited yesterday.  Keep in mind this is a department store, not a mall. Very cool.

 Above is the Pet Kingdom; so many high class pet supplies it was ridiuclous.

Here are some more pictures from our daytrip on Saturday to Windsor Castle. These are from Eton College, where the royal families send their boys to school. Most of the campus was closed off, but we got to see the main part of the campus.

And finally, here are some some more photos from downtown London. I never get tired of taking pictures like these!

 Pretty flowers near Windsor Castle

 Piccidilly Circus aka Tourist Time

 St. James Park near Buckingham Palace

 Various photos of Big Ben

Classes are....different.

Right now, I am killing time before I actually get out of bed and start getting ready for my day. I have class from 10am to 1pm at the downtown University of Westminster campus. It's about a 20 minute tube ride. Then I'm working at the internship until about 5:30pm. The other intern will be in the office so I think we will have a lot of introductions to new people and how things work. That should make for a more exciting day.

Afterward, my friend Christine and I may be checking out the modern art museum in London, Tate Modern. We will see.

Yesterday, I went to Intro to Branding class in the am. My schedule was wrong so I got to class over an hour late. I felt so unprepared which I hate. And I was late, which I also hate. I chatted with the professor (No one says "professor" here. You just call them by their first names.) and everything is fine. I got caught up and he understood that I am still getting the hang of things and it wasnt completely my fault.

Then I went to my internship module downtown. Now, that 3 hours seems like a waste of life. It seems like it is one of those generic professionalism and career classes. Ew. It's required to get credit for the internship. Hopefully I learn something in that class.

Last night, Chrstine, Mark and I went to this diner near Oxford Street (shopping district). It was in a cute part of the city i had never seen before. Luckily for me, Christine and I share the same love of food. Most of our decisions here revolve around dinner and lunchtime. Anyway, she had been craving cheese fries since about a week ago. She did some research and discovered this place called "The Diner". It was pretty delicious I must say. Thanks google.

After dinner we headed to the famous department store in London, Harrods. It was gorgeous. Looked like a museum. I took a few photos (you konw it!) and I will post them soon. It was gorgeous. It's four floors and each floor has multiple different secions, clothing, furniture, pets, toys, maternity, luggage. Very cool. Now, I can check that off the list, too!

I Don't Want to Grow Up. Or Graduate.

My first day as an intern started today. One word: bleh. I left plenty early so I was not late on my first day. Correction, I left way too early. I got there about a half hour early and walked around the block before going into my building. Of course, this is a giant building so somehow has to come down 35 floors to pick me up from the reception desk. It's fine. They don't mind. So I get up to the office about 8:55am. When I walked in there were like 6 people there. That was mildly embarrasing, but what are you goin' to do?

I meet this very nice older lady who shows me "the essentials", meaning the kitchen.  She knows what's up. She offers me tea. I didn't want to be rude or seem uncomfortable so I took some. Nevermind that I don't like warm, black tea. Like at all. I added milk and drank most of it.

Then we went through "inductions" with Lucette. She is head of the 2012 Olympic Games marketing team that I will be working with. She is quite a nice person, a bit shy but nice all the same. The morning was boring. We went over email, and database and the online staff calendar. It was pretty cool technology but not mind-blowing.

Lunch break was fun though! :)  Underneath all the buildings in the area I am working is a mall. It's pretty incredible, actually. Huge. I brought my lunch today because I didn't know what to expect. I wondered around downstairs. Very cool place. It was extremely busy. It was very strange seeing everyone in work clothes at a shopping mall. If you had on street clothes, you stuck out like a sore thumb.

Then back to the office for entering info into the database. That was not fun in the slightest. I kept thinking, this would totally be worth it if I was getting paid. It's not like I was even learning anything. After the tenth entry, I basically could do it with my eyes closed. I know it was my first day and I can't expect to do much of anything. They need to see that I can handle difficult tasks, am reliable, etc. I know I will learn a lot from this internship I just need to give it time.  I guess even if it's not the job of my dreams, I will still have something amazing for my resume, right??

Sightseeing Should be Considered Excercise.

It can really wear you out! These last few days have been jam-packed with typical tourist stuff "you just have to do" when visiting London. I'm hoping to get all of this done, so I can just enjoy my time here and not feel obligated to do this or that. Does that make sense? I'm not sure, it does in my head though. :)

Every weekend the "Transport for London" closes some tube (subway) lines so they can repair and improve them before the Olympics in 2 years. It's pretty incredible planning actually. Anyway, it is also extremely inconvenient. Yesterday we spent 4 hours on public transporation re-routing because our normal tube lines were closed. We could have gotten around in less than half that time. I guess it's all part of this experience. At first it was so strange to have to factor in hours of travel time into any day, but I think I am finally getting used to it. Here is what I have been up to in the last few days:

Wednesday
Buckingham Palace
Christine and I ventured to Buckingham Palace to take some photos and enjoy the beautiful weather! The weather here has been wonderful! Buckingham Palace is the headquarters of state business of the Monarch. It has 775 rooms. The queen has her own art gallery inside and this building is used as a venue for Royal ceremonies and hosts state visitors as well. We saw it, but didn't take the tour of the inside. I had been there once before so it wasn't as incredible as the first time. I think she enjoyed it though. Afterward we walked through Green Park towards the tube stop to get back to her flat building.



Fish and Chips for Dinner
We finally had our first official Fish and Chips dinner. Let me just say it was delicious! Totally worth the wait! We ate a "chippy" (a restaurant that serves mostly fish and chips) called "The Golden Hind" located behind Christine's campus. Mark joined us for dinner. He ordered "mushy peas", another English favorite, instead of chips. The looks a little sketchy, but I tried them and they were pretty good. It was only minutes away. Once again, the weather was awesome so it made for a very nice walk.

Thursday
Interview at Think London
I left over 1.5 hours early for my interview because I wanted to ensure I wasn't late. I ended up getting there about 15 minutes early, but I did get a bit turned around after I got off the tube. I am working in Canary Wharf; many call it "Mini Manhattan". It's one of the only parts of the city that has sky scrapers. Think London's office is on the 35th floor. The view is spectactular from our window. Wow! Who would have thought a small-town girl from Indiana would land a marketing internship in London! I met this woman named Lucette, the person I was supposed to be interviewing with was sick on Thursday. I'm sure I will meet her tomorrow for my first official day. I'm a little nervous about tomorrow, but everything has gone so smoothly so far, I know it will be just fine. I'm a part of the 2012 Olympic Games Marketing Team. I will be helping recruit new companies to create offices in London. More details to come after my first day of work tomorrow. Below is a picture of my office building.

Boat Party on the River Thames

This was awesome! It was amazing to see all the beautiful sights of London from a boat during sunset. I didn't bring my camera, but I will get photos from Elizabeth and post them asap. It was gorgeous. It was all study abroad students from the University of Westminster. By the end of the night, the DJ (who was about 65 years old) finally started playing some dance music and that made the night much more fun! Christine and I spent most of the evening dancing! Soo much fun!

Friday

Tower of London

The main attraction to the Tower is the crown jewels of England. The Tower of London is home to the priceless crown jewels of the British Monarchy. I don't fully understand how the Royal system works yet. I've been reading and trying to learn. It is so much different from anything in America. Anyway, we saw the incredible jewels. They were so ornate and breathtaking. Of course, so pictures were allowed. I'm sure you can google them if you are really curious. Over 23,000 gems make up the Crown Jewels (Can you imagine how amazing they are now??). Now, this isn't only one crown; because there are several in the Tower of London. Different monarchs have had different crowns for different occassions. It was incredible. We saw a diamond, literally the size of a baseball. It was unreal. The Emperial State Crown, if I remember correctly is only worn during the coronation of the new King or Queen has almost 3,000 diamonds. It also had sapphires, rubies, emeralds and pearls.  Other than the crown jewels, it is basically a small city within the castle walls. The famous Ravens are located here as well. It's a legend that if the Ravens leave the tower the city will crumble (apparently the Raven's wings are now clipped so they can't fly out). Inside the "White Tower" (the biggest of all the buildings inside) is a small museum of weapons, clothing, horses etc. used during fighting times. It is located at the heart of London near the Tower Bridge. Below are just a few of the photos from the day. We spent probably 4 hours walking around.

Tower Bridge Experience

This was one of the most surreal experiences from this trip so far. After the Tower of London we walked to the Tower Bridge to cross it. It was amazing! It's one of those things you see in movies and books, but once you are actually there, you can't believe it. It was pretty cold and windy on the bridge. I'm attributing that to the water. Very cool though. I got some great photos. Of course, I took more than any normal person ever needs times two. Here are the best ones...

Covent Garden
This is a shopping district. Again, it is mostly for tourists, which is fine. It's just not a typical English hang-out spot. It was as always, absolutely beautiful. So many different shops. Shops for clothing, food, gardening, candles, jewelry, tea, accesories, etc. Not my favorite place in the city because it was unoriginal but still extremely gorgeous and fun to walk around.

Taio Cruz Concert

Christine, Mark and I volunteered earlier to this to earn free to tickets to see Taio Cruz and other artists perform at Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington (still a part of London). It was such a fun time! We in the first tier and could see the whole state perfectly! Loved it! So happy we got the chance to do this! I didn't bring my enormous camera to this concert. Make got some photos so I will have to copy them from him and post them soon.

Saturday

Windsor Castle

This is where the Monarch (currently, Queen Elizabeth II) lives on many weekends. She also conducts formal state business and dinners here. It is used for private and state entertainment purposes. We got to to tour many of the state rooms. It was enormous! Everything you imagine a castle to be! No pictures were allowed inside, but again, you can google it I'm sure ;) The weather was perfect for this day trip. It's pretty far outside the city but it worked out. Elizabeth, had a friend in from out of town who was doing business here. He drove us to the castle and went on the tour with us. He had already been there 5 times (his wife is British). It was beautiful. Some of my favorite pictures from the trip so far were taken at Windsor Castle. I was chatting it up with one of the secruity guards asking lots of questions. He said between Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, approximately 2,000 people are employed to keep the grounds running. That is including secruity guards, housekeepers, guardeners, chefs, parking valets, etc. That was so shocking! It's located at the tallest part of this portion of the city. It overlooks so much of the city. Quite lovely.

Disclaimer: This is probably more photos of Windsor Castle than you will ever care about. I just couldn't choose my favorites so I posted a bunch. This is literally not even half of the number I took yesterday.

 Parade in the street before we went into the castle. Pretty sweet.

 St. George's Chapel - There was the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsing so we got a free concert!

 These are private residences that you can't tour. Ex. bedrooms, studies, etc.