I am becoming more and more accustomed to the city as each day passes. What used to seem confusing and more importantly, intimidating, are now familiar to me, almost building a sense of home.
I have found it quite beneficial to have wondered as much as I have here for a few reasons. First, I am more confident that I can get back to Bloomsbury without issue. What I mean by that, is that I now know of a few landmarks which I can take to get me at least close to home. For example, Sunday I went to Hoxton to see if they were having their market and to stop at Poundland/Iceland. Once all of my shopping was done, I was waiting at the bus stop and couldn't remember if I get on the 242 or 243 bus to get back to Holburn. I guessed I needed the 242 (I was wrong). This was a slight problem, but one I didn't realize until I looked outside and saw Liverpool Street. I told myself that I needed to figure it out because I wasn't going to take a tube or another bus home. I started looking for clues as to where I was or where I was going. On the bus stops, it said Holburn, so I knew I was heading in the right direction and then it clicked- the bus terminates at Tottenham Court Road. Crisis adverted.
Building off of that, I did notice that the bus on Sunday (this bus did run through the heart of downtown London) was how many tourists were on the bus. They were very chatty and the people walking on the streets seemed to almost walk in front of a car at every light. It could have been multiplied based upon the fact I was sick, but I just felt like there was a difference presence in the types of people around.
Even after a night at ULU, I am still comfortable with the layout of the area. After Burns' Night, some friends and I wanted to stop and get some food, so we meandered over to Tottenham Court to find some food. Once we got our food, we noticed we were pretty far up, but I took lead and started trekking home. I thought we were going in the right direction, and I got confirmation by passing a building that I saw earlier in the week.
-Why this building stuck out to me was because I was walking up in that neighborhood when a Polish student asked me for directions to ULU. Luckily this was one of the few places I knew, so we both figured out how to get to ULU from the building.-
It was very comforting and relieving to know that after a few drinks, I can still navigate myself around Bloomsbury.
Finally, this week I want to set a task for myself. I go every weekend with Joey and Matt to watch some football matches in a pub. My task is to talk to a patron in the pub about football (obviously who are not Joey or Matt). I did it a little last week, but I struggle when I don't understand what they are saying (thanks to the combination of their accent and the noise in the pub).
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Internship Journal Week 2
This week at my internship, I learned more about non-profit
businesses, small businesses, government mandates, and budgeting than I ever
anticipated being my second week of work, especially working only one day last
week. I did work longer than I anticipated, but the work was rewarding and I
feel like I am honestly helping the business, so I don't mind too much.
On Tuesday, I showed up at 10.30 with Thomas. I proceeded to
my office, where I chatted with Karina about how she was feeling and how our
weekends were. From there, I familiarized myself a little more with what my predecessors did,
along with more information about the mission of the Hoxton Trust. After that,
I read a scholarly paper about the Hoxton area, which was quite interesting. It
talked about how Hogsden was a center for people to come,
especially this one pub. It noted how it was a kind of hang out for
intellectuals, such as Shakespeare. I was happy that I got a chance to read
this because, for me, it validated my work a little more, knowing that the area
where I am working has so much history and culture. Around 13.45, Karina and I
left to go to Locality for a meeting she had with two representatives. At the
meeting, they discussed the meeting that was taking place the following day.
One thing I gathered from the meeting was the recognition of the need
networking between small businesses. That is what Locality is dealing with.
However, it was evident that there was little upwards communication between the
members of Locality and Locality itself. Also a point that was made was the
difference between business communications and relations in London vs. outside
of London. A point was made that for other regions, people would drive two
hours to go to a meeting, where the members of London haven't met since last May.
After the meeting, we went back to Hoxton Trust and then I worked on some
budget things. Finally, we went through some of her emails to deal with what I
will be working on for the rest of my time here. I left around 20.00, so I was
tired, but it was a good day.
Wednesday, I had to leave at 7.45 to meet in East London for the meeting that Karina was chairing. I made it to Bethnal Green and we started the meeting at 9.15. At the meeting were two representatives from Locality, plus representatives from about 8 other non-profits. I learned quite a lot in the early parts of the meeting:
- New
statutory stipulates that charities must justify their need for treasuries
- Businesses
must find ways to quantify their impact and eloquently write it
to government
- Most
small business do not sound confident in their marketing, but do not have
the funds to develop a extensive marketing plan
- The
National Lottery helps with a lot of donations
- Problems
of small businesses:
- Capital
funding (new roofs, windows etc.)
- "Not
sexy, so no one will give us anything."
- Dealing
with interns and volunteers
- Government
cuts
- A
need to differentiate third sector businesses (size and strategies)
- Building maintenance
- Political
lobbying
- small
business representatives needing to go to MPs.
- IT
management
- Networking
- Dis-economies of scale.
- Fundraising
After this discussion, they moved on to talk about further
meetings, along with the use of Locality, so I didn't take as much away from
that. At 12.45 we stopped for lunch, which still gets me. Even though they were
just sandwiches, they seemed so healthy and well prepared, as opposed to what
we would get at business functions at the state. Karina and I left and walked
back to Hoxton Trust, where I worked on getting her budget figures. I was to
take the year to date figures and carry them through to the end of the fiscal
year. I was only dealing with the overhead accounts, then I was to come up with
a figure to allocate to each employee. I worked on that until 19.00.
I picked up a few social aspects at this meeting about British people which I found quite entertaining and sometimes tense. First, I noticed people rarely, if ever, put their hand under the table. It always seemed that everyone's hands were above the table, which I found odd, being that I wanted to put my hands in my lap, but felt like it was improper. Second, was the way the fundraising was treated here. I asked Karina about it, and she said that fundraising is seen as an American thing. She said that people here believe they pay a higher tax so that the public sectors get funds to make things more equal, giving everyone a better chance. "People," she said, "Are just not accustomed to raising their own funds in creative ways."
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BES First Five Weeks: Week 1
Showing up to London was surprisingly more daunting than I anticipated. Spending time in Europe before, I didn't expect to get as much of a culture shock as I experiences.
First, when I got to the Tube Station in Heathrow, I was so confused with the money and the ticket machine, it was a nightmare. The biggest thing I wanted to do was fit it. I realized that this was near impossible with my suitcase and carry-on. But I trucked forward, basically stumbling through the tube, all the way until I go to Russel Square. Then I got stuck exiting because my suitcase didn't fit out the exit. Nevertheless, once I got settled in, I still was on a mission to start trying to assimilate as fast as I could.
I did do my homework before coming. I bought different jeans that fit a little tighter, because that was something I noticed last time. I also tried wearing just plain clothes, that expressed class but subtly. I believe the that after the first week, I still didn't have the hang of it.
Finally, I took the bus to my internship interview and that was a challenge also. First, I didn't know you had to put your hand out to "hail" the bus, so I missed the first bus I needed being it just drove right by. Once I did get on, I booked it up to the top, just to get to see the sights. I caught myself about fifteen minutes on, noticing that I looked so eager, which no one else did. So I determined that I need to have a look that combines apathy with slight anticipation of getting off.
My goal in the next five weeks will be to assimilate more into the London culture. I particularly want to work on shopping at markets, riding public transit, dressing, walking, understanding the currency (the coins are tricky), and the social aspect of it.
First, when I got to the Tube Station in Heathrow, I was so confused with the money and the ticket machine, it was a nightmare. The biggest thing I wanted to do was fit it. I realized that this was near impossible with my suitcase and carry-on. But I trucked forward, basically stumbling through the tube, all the way until I go to Russel Square. Then I got stuck exiting because my suitcase didn't fit out the exit. Nevertheless, once I got settled in, I still was on a mission to start trying to assimilate as fast as I could.
I did do my homework before coming. I bought different jeans that fit a little tighter, because that was something I noticed last time. I also tried wearing just plain clothes, that expressed class but subtly. I believe the that after the first week, I still didn't have the hang of it.
Finally, I took the bus to my internship interview and that was a challenge also. First, I didn't know you had to put your hand out to "hail" the bus, so I missed the first bus I needed being it just drove right by. Once I did get on, I booked it up to the top, just to get to see the sights. I caught myself about fifteen minutes on, noticing that I looked so eager, which no one else did. So I determined that I need to have a look that combines apathy with slight anticipation of getting off.
My goal in the next five weeks will be to assimilate more into the London culture. I particularly want to work on shopping at markets, riding public transit, dressing, walking, understanding the currency (the coins are tricky), and the social aspect of it.
31/1/13
Sorry about the no post yesterday. I was a little exhausted. I will tell you a little about my day.
Wednesday 30/1
I had to get up early to go to a meeting between Hoxton Trust and other London non-profits to discuss problems and strategies moving forward. I won't bore you with what we did at the meeting, if you are curious, I will be writing an internship journal tonight too probably, so you can read about it further there. The meeting was in the east end, which was the first time I was over on that side of the city. I had to take the tube there, so I got to Holburn on the Central Line, and it was so packed, I had to wait for two trains to pass before I could squeeze on the third one. I rode it outside of the center of London to the stop and got out, and realized that riding the tube is really interesting, because there are times when I leave the stops and have literally no idea what to expect when I emerge.
After the meeting, Karina and I walked back to Hoxton, which took about 25 minutes or so. It was nice, for one to be outside but also because where we were walking was the proverbial poorer section of London. We walked through the complex that was the first public housing buildings in London. Which, looking at them now, I would have figured they were posh flats. When we got back to work, I did some work on the budget, and finished around 7. I was quite exhausted. Basically, I was either traveling or working from 745 until 800. A solid day's work.
Then, I hurried to ULU because it is Wednesday and Liverpool was playing Arsenal. I was only 20 minutes late. The game had 4 goals, so it was a more exciting one. It was really relaxing too, getting to talk to people and just to have some fun. Joey and I were talking to Brian, which he is probably the most down to Earth Londoner I have met so far. Brian works security at ULU, where he checks ids. I finally got to bed at 2:30 I believe, because once I got back, Megan and I had a cuppa, which made me realize that I may need to go get some tea and a mug. Oh yea, I also got a free mug!
Thursday 31/1
Mind you, when I say I go to bed, I mean I get in bed. I got to sleep around 3:45 and woke up at 5:30 because I couldn't sleep well. I just was nervous about oversleeping. Anyways, I got up for the day at 7:50 and went to class at 9:15. Class was fine, and I wasn't too tired, until we got to seminar. We had to discuss the opening of the Olympic games that happened this summer. However, from the reaction of the class, I was the only one to have watched it. So 1) I am a nerd and 2) it was a painfully slow block of time. The proctor was trying to get people to participate, but Leah and I were the only ones to put any input in. So that was a struggle and I hope next class goes better.
Afterwards, Matt and I went to the farmers' market that is just outside the door where we were studying. this farmers' market is in the heart of the university, so they mostly sold food and desserts. After a difficult choice between burgers, a sandwich from a pig (like there was a whole pig and a guy was just pulling the meat off and putting it on bread. It looked so good), seafood something with rice, and lamb, we decided to get lamb.
Basically, there was a roll at the bottom, then salad, followed by such a generous helping of cut lamb. The stuff on top was a mix of a chili vinaigrette and apple chutney- which I am not sure what it is besides apples and raisins (trust me, it's more) but it was delicious.
After about 15 minutes of napping, I went to religion class. The only thing I have to tell you about that is that I made a very sly reference to Spongebob that everyone but the tutor got (he is Scottish, so makes sense). I was very happy about that though because we needed something to spice it up. Also, I sat right in front of the radiator, which made my chair act like a heated seat from a car.
For the rest of the night, I am meeting people at 8.30 in the lounge, so something fun may happen. You never know. Keep an eye out for my other two posts if you get bored you are welcome to read them, but take note that they are assignments, so the writing style is a little different and not directed to people from home.
Wednesday 30/1
I had to get up early to go to a meeting between Hoxton Trust and other London non-profits to discuss problems and strategies moving forward. I won't bore you with what we did at the meeting, if you are curious, I will be writing an internship journal tonight too probably, so you can read about it further there. The meeting was in the east end, which was the first time I was over on that side of the city. I had to take the tube there, so I got to Holburn on the Central Line, and it was so packed, I had to wait for two trains to pass before I could squeeze on the third one. I rode it outside of the center of London to the stop and got out, and realized that riding the tube is really interesting, because there are times when I leave the stops and have literally no idea what to expect when I emerge.
After the meeting, Karina and I walked back to Hoxton, which took about 25 minutes or so. It was nice, for one to be outside but also because where we were walking was the proverbial poorer section of London. We walked through the complex that was the first public housing buildings in London. Which, looking at them now, I would have figured they were posh flats. When we got back to work, I did some work on the budget, and finished around 7. I was quite exhausted. Basically, I was either traveling or working from 745 until 800. A solid day's work.
Then, I hurried to ULU because it is Wednesday and Liverpool was playing Arsenal. I was only 20 minutes late. The game had 4 goals, so it was a more exciting one. It was really relaxing too, getting to talk to people and just to have some fun. Joey and I were talking to Brian, which he is probably the most down to Earth Londoner I have met so far. Brian works security at ULU, where he checks ids. I finally got to bed at 2:30 I believe, because once I got back, Megan and I had a cuppa, which made me realize that I may need to go get some tea and a mug. Oh yea, I also got a free mug!
Thursday 31/1
Mind you, when I say I go to bed, I mean I get in bed. I got to sleep around 3:45 and woke up at 5:30 because I couldn't sleep well. I just was nervous about oversleeping. Anyways, I got up for the day at 7:50 and went to class at 9:15. Class was fine, and I wasn't too tired, until we got to seminar. We had to discuss the opening of the Olympic games that happened this summer. However, from the reaction of the class, I was the only one to have watched it. So 1) I am a nerd and 2) it was a painfully slow block of time. The proctor was trying to get people to participate, but Leah and I were the only ones to put any input in. So that was a struggle and I hope next class goes better.
Afterwards, Matt and I went to the farmers' market that is just outside the door where we were studying. this farmers' market is in the heart of the university, so they mostly sold food and desserts. After a difficult choice between burgers, a sandwich from a pig (like there was a whole pig and a guy was just pulling the meat off and putting it on bread. It looked so good), seafood something with rice, and lamb, we decided to get lamb.
Basically, there was a roll at the bottom, then salad, followed by such a generous helping of cut lamb. The stuff on top was a mix of a chili vinaigrette and apple chutney- which I am not sure what it is besides apples and raisins (trust me, it's more) but it was delicious.
After about 15 minutes of napping, I went to religion class. The only thing I have to tell you about that is that I made a very sly reference to Spongebob that everyone but the tutor got (he is Scottish, so makes sense). I was very happy about that though because we needed something to spice it up. Also, I sat right in front of the radiator, which made my chair act like a heated seat from a car.
For the rest of the night, I am meeting people at 8.30 in the lounge, so something fun may happen. You never know. Keep an eye out for my other two posts if you get bored you are welcome to read them, but take note that they are assignments, so the writing style is a little different and not directed to people from home.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
29/1
For my second day at my internship, I nailed getting to work. I left at 9:45 and got on the bus. Traffic decided to be terrible, so I sat on the bus and waited for my stop. Once I got off and pressed the buzzer, I looked at my phone and it said 10:31.
At work, I read this thing on the history of the village I work in. Little did I know, there was an intellectual's meeting place about three minutes away, one which William Shakespeare frequented. Then, I went to a meeting with a group. I didn't talk, but it was still an interesting meeting. That went over what we anticipated the time to be, so we didn't get back to the office until 415. So I left for a quick lunch, which consisted of a ham sandwich and was delicious. Then I spent the rest of the evening there. We left around 800, but my boss gave me a ride home.
It was my first time in a car in London. First thing, it is so confusing getting in on the left hand side. Second thing, it is so confusing driving on the left hand side. Third thing, it is so scary being a passenger in London on the left hand side when you are confused about where the car will go next.
Sorry this is short but it was a rather uneventful day, just work. I also must wake up early because we are going to a conference tomorrow. And I love the mornings, so it should be great. Goodnight!!
At work, I read this thing on the history of the village I work in. Little did I know, there was an intellectual's meeting place about three minutes away, one which William Shakespeare frequented. Then, I went to a meeting with a group. I didn't talk, but it was still an interesting meeting. That went over what we anticipated the time to be, so we didn't get back to the office until 415. So I left for a quick lunch, which consisted of a ham sandwich and was delicious. Then I spent the rest of the evening there. We left around 800, but my boss gave me a ride home.
It was my first time in a car in London. First thing, it is so confusing getting in on the left hand side. Second thing, it is so confusing driving on the left hand side. Third thing, it is so scary being a passenger in London on the left hand side when you are confused about where the car will go next.
Sorry this is short but it was a rather uneventful day, just work. I also must wake up early because we are going to a conference tomorrow. And I love the mornings, so it should be great. Goodnight!!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Internship Journal Week 1
This was my first week working at the Hoxton Trust in Hoxton. It was an interesting experience but I am excited for the opportunity and I am looking forward to my second week.
Per our discussion during our interview, I am to work Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10:30 to 18:00. I actually like these hours, because that means that the transport network won't be as crowded as say, if I had to be there at 8:30. So my first day was 22 January. I showed up and my boss, Karina, was ill. So what she had me do was first go through the binders of what the past interns have done to get a little more familiar with the firm. It was quite interesting and beneficial because I was a little unsure of exactly what the firm did. Now I am quite certain about the firms goal, purpose and mission.
However, Karina decided that she was going home, so she left me a little project to work on in her absence. What I was to do was go through the accounts and see how the accounts match up with the budgeted figures, note if they are over or under budget and then, look at individual entries to see where the discrepancies are coming from. To do this, I made a spreadsheet, which took a comprehensive look at each account, then breaking it down to smaller and smaller sub-accounts. All in all, it took me most of the day to finish this, and with each account, I wrote up some notes explaining what stood out to me.
On Wednesday, I got a text from Karina telling me not to come into work because she was not going to be there. This was disappointing but I understand why she could not come into work. It was also a little frustrating because I will have forgot a few of the details from the spreadsheet over the course of the week. Nonetheless, it should be a positive second week and I am looking forward to helping the firm for the remaining time I am here.
The biggest shock to me was the amount of social interactions during the work day. It is a relaxed place to work, so that is nice. The people are also very friendly. Every time I passed a coworker in the hallway (albeit was only three times), we stopped and had at least a 15 minute conversation. These conversations were about everything from how I am getting along in London; to different forms of governments; how parliament works; and even the history of the Hoxton area. I really enjoyed it though because it made me feel accepted and welcomed.
Per our discussion during our interview, I am to work Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10:30 to 18:00. I actually like these hours, because that means that the transport network won't be as crowded as say, if I had to be there at 8:30. So my first day was 22 January. I showed up and my boss, Karina, was ill. So what she had me do was first go through the binders of what the past interns have done to get a little more familiar with the firm. It was quite interesting and beneficial because I was a little unsure of exactly what the firm did. Now I am quite certain about the firms goal, purpose and mission.
However, Karina decided that she was going home, so she left me a little project to work on in her absence. What I was to do was go through the accounts and see how the accounts match up with the budgeted figures, note if they are over or under budget and then, look at individual entries to see where the discrepancies are coming from. To do this, I made a spreadsheet, which took a comprehensive look at each account, then breaking it down to smaller and smaller sub-accounts. All in all, it took me most of the day to finish this, and with each account, I wrote up some notes explaining what stood out to me.
On Wednesday, I got a text from Karina telling me not to come into work because she was not going to be there. This was disappointing but I understand why she could not come into work. It was also a little frustrating because I will have forgot a few of the details from the spreadsheet over the course of the week. Nonetheless, it should be a positive second week and I am looking forward to helping the firm for the remaining time I am here.
The biggest shock to me was the amount of social interactions during the work day. It is a relaxed place to work, so that is nice. The people are also very friendly. Every time I passed a coworker in the hallway (albeit was only three times), we stopped and had at least a 15 minute conversation. These conversations were about everything from how I am getting along in London; to different forms of governments; how parliament works; and even the history of the Hoxton area. I really enjoyed it though because it made me feel accepted and welcomed.
BES Journal #1
Last Friday, I decided to go to see the musical Spamalot! It was a very unique experience and one that I am glad I had earlier in the semester as opposed to later. First, when I walked in, I went to the box office and talked with the attendant. She recommended that I get front row on the upper deck, and that the posted restrictive view message was only because there was a railing, which it is okay to lean over. This encouragement swayed my opinion so I purchased the tickets.
As I proceeded to the bar, I was a little hesitant looking around. First, the upper level bar was small, and almost had a sense of foreboding. On top of that, the theatre goers in there seemed very stiff and unfriendly. Nevertheless, once I took my seat, the culture shock really set it.
I introduced myself to the people on my left (who I later found out were brothers from Scotland) and we started talking a little bit, commenting mostly on the theatre. They were extremely easy going, but what took me by surprise was their comments on the lady below us. They were appalled that she was playing games on her iPad before the show (there was about ten minutes until curtain). Their reasoning was that you go to a theatre to see a show, not play some game which you could play at home, in the car, or honestly anywhere else. This caught me off, because I don't believe that in America one would hear the same opinion. I attributed it to the general attitude of Brits and going to the theatre.
There was a couple who sat on my other side, and the girl was Irish. When they sat down, she went up for a drink and when she came back, the guys on my left started teasing her about carrying two drinks (because she was Irish) and not giving me (who they turned to calling their distinguished guest from New York) a drink. These playful words were cut short by the show, but during the interval, everyone chirped up like there wasn't a first act.
During the interval, the two gentlemen along with the man of the couple all went up for drinks, so I chatted with the Irish girl. Once everyone came back, it was back to teasing. They were picking on each other based upon where they grew up, which I found to be quite odd. I almost felt like it was a racist thing- but it wasn't. It seemed to be in all good fun. What I mean by that is that they had preconceived notions of who these people at the theatre were, and felt no shame in saying them (For example, she was a drunk; the two brothers were sheep farmers; etc). In America, joking about that would seem rude, but everyone was having good fun with it, so I tried just to fit in.
The strangest part was after the few quips back and forth, they got on the subject of oil drilling on the Welsh coast, along with other environmental issues. Again, this caught me by surprise because the diversity of the conversation was such that they went from discussing their hometowns to government issues. Everyone was contributing to the conversation too. It just seems that the people I was with were interested in the show, but also were interested in the social aspect of going to the theatre, which is not, at least in my experience, how it is at home.
As I proceeded to the bar, I was a little hesitant looking around. First, the upper level bar was small, and almost had a sense of foreboding. On top of that, the theatre goers in there seemed very stiff and unfriendly. Nevertheless, once I took my seat, the culture shock really set it.
I introduced myself to the people on my left (who I later found out were brothers from Scotland) and we started talking a little bit, commenting mostly on the theatre. They were extremely easy going, but what took me by surprise was their comments on the lady below us. They were appalled that she was playing games on her iPad before the show (there was about ten minutes until curtain). Their reasoning was that you go to a theatre to see a show, not play some game which you could play at home, in the car, or honestly anywhere else. This caught me off, because I don't believe that in America one would hear the same opinion. I attributed it to the general attitude of Brits and going to the theatre.
There was a couple who sat on my other side, and the girl was Irish. When they sat down, she went up for a drink and when she came back, the guys on my left started teasing her about carrying two drinks (because she was Irish) and not giving me (who they turned to calling their distinguished guest from New York) a drink. These playful words were cut short by the show, but during the interval, everyone chirped up like there wasn't a first act.
During the interval, the two gentlemen along with the man of the couple all went up for drinks, so I chatted with the Irish girl. Once everyone came back, it was back to teasing. They were picking on each other based upon where they grew up, which I found to be quite odd. I almost felt like it was a racist thing- but it wasn't. It seemed to be in all good fun. What I mean by that is that they had preconceived notions of who these people at the theatre were, and felt no shame in saying them (For example, she was a drunk; the two brothers were sheep farmers; etc). In America, joking about that would seem rude, but everyone was having good fun with it, so I tried just to fit in.
The strangest part was after the few quips back and forth, they got on the subject of oil drilling on the Welsh coast, along with other environmental issues. Again, this caught me by surprise because the diversity of the conversation was such that they went from discussing their hometowns to government issues. Everyone was contributing to the conversation too. It just seems that the people I was with were interested in the show, but also were interested in the social aspect of going to the theatre, which is not, at least in my experience, how it is at home.
28/1/13
In case you were worrying, I am still sick. So. Great.
I woke up this morning and felt awful, so I took a shower to shake it. This didn't help, but I pushed through with my plans for the day. I went to the British Museum. I live only 5 minutes away, so that is why I went there and not on some extravagant walking excursion (and it rained...). I tried my best to go chronically through history, but it was hard because the museum was huge. I got a chance to look at some artifacts from Mesopotamia, then to Egypt, then Greece and a few Roman items (truthfully, I was more impressed with the Roman artifacts in the Museum of London).
I woke up this morning and felt awful, so I took a shower to shake it. This didn't help, but I pushed through with my plans for the day. I went to the British Museum. I live only 5 minutes away, so that is why I went there and not on some extravagant walking excursion (and it rained...). I tried my best to go chronically through history, but it was hard because the museum was huge. I got a chance to look at some artifacts from Mesopotamia, then to Egypt, then Greece and a few Roman items (truthfully, I was more impressed with the Roman artifacts in the Museum of London).
When you walk into the Egypt rooms, you are greeted with a big stone. This stone is called the Rosetta Stone, the actual one. It was very interesting, especially because it explained how two archaeologists cracked the code. One was French and the other English. There was also artifacts from statues, the facade of a temple (like the entire facade-no jokes, this place is huge), and some actual mummies. Scooby Doo implanted an impression of a mummy in my head, and it was actually slightly wrong. so that was disappointing. However, it was really interesting to see them. In the Greek room, again I saw statues, pottery, and other things that survived the 3000 years. The most amazing thing though was that they had some of the original statues from the Parthenon, along with the carvings from the inside that told of a great battle between men and centaurs. It was truly breathtaking to see and to think about how the Greeks could build something so magnificent. Finally, this is something that I think I just picked up on, but I have seen more horse heads here than I anticipated. You may ask, "What are you talking about?" but trust me. I have seen about 5 horse heads around the museum and outside on the streets. The pictures below are the beginning of my completion, which I believe should be about 50 by the time I leave.
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| This was a statue in the middle of Hyde Park |
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| Courtesy of the Greeks |
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| From the Egyptians. This was huge, probably twice as big as me |
There was also a very interesting exhibit on coins. There was one piece that had a spiral of the countries of the United Nations. Strangely, the only two coins they had from America are the ones that we never use- A silver dollar (not even a Sacagawea one, like a 1990's silver dollar) and a half dollar. When I got to the European section, I decided that I had to leave because I was too exhausted. I walked to Waitrose to buy some eggs (4) and went back home to make ham and eggs and sleep. Which I did. Then I woke up to Top Gear so that was even better. Tonight, I work on other blog posts that I must do for school, and hopefully be in bed by 12 so I get a full nights rest for work tomorrow!!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
27/1/13
My apologizes to all for my absence. I have been quite busy since my last entry. So let's start with Wednesday and I will catch you all up to date with what I have been doing since then.
Wednesday 23/1
I woke up, ready for my second day of work. I took a nice shower, then looked at my mobile. I had received a text telling me not to come in to work. So I did what any responsible student would when they get a free day off- I went back to sleep. I did wake up for the day at 11:00, and being I all ready showered, I decided that I had to go on some sort of an adventure to validate the day. So I left. I headed towards Oxford Street and just started wandering west. Anyways, I stumbled across Hyde Park, which obviously I needed to spend about an hour just walking around taking in the quietness of a park. One of the entrances of the park looked like this
After meandering through Hyde Park, I took a stroll in Kensington Gardens, which conveniently, is right next to Hyde Park. I got a chance to see Kensington Palace, but I decided against going in. Afterwards, I went to the Albert and Victoria Museum. It was huge. I only explored a little bit, but it was amazing. I particularly liked the examples of iron work and the sculptures.
After, I realized that I should go home because there was a football match on and I wasn't exactly sure the way home. After a little over an hour, I made it back, coming through the West End. I saw the theatre for Les Mis. It is actually no more than a 15 minute walk from my house. As is pretty much everything in London. I truly am living in the heart of London.
When I made it back, I met up with some friends and we went to ULU for the football match. Joey and I made good friends with the bouncer. His name is Brian and he is a Chelsea fan like Joey. So we have a good deal at ULU now. The match was good and I think after, a group of us went to get McDonald's. I didn't but it was fun just walking with them. I went home and made Spaghetti. I believe that is my Wednesday.
Thursday 24/1
Thursdays will be rough from here on out. Especially since ULU shows all the Wednesday night football matches. We have to be in class at 9:15, so that is terrible to begin with. We start out with BES, which tell us cultural things about Britain. For example, we learned about newspapers, how they lean and how important they are to British society. Then we broke up into groups for seminar, where I go with 8 other people to a tutor from Glasgow, Scotland and we get a more comprehensive look into the United Kingdom. So I have class from 9:15 until 12:00, then I go home for a quick lunch and more importantly, a quick nap. At 14:00, I have to go to religion class, which last three hours. However, the tutor is your stereotypical English tutor; tweed jacket, skinny tie, blue pants. He seems like a nice guy. He is also very learned, so it was a little intimidating at some points. But the class seems fun, and we get to go and visit a lot of the religious places in London. I believe Thursday night was a relaxed night. a bunch of us hung out in the lounge, taking, playing cards and eating/drinking. However, it did end up going until the wee hours of the night, maybe 3:00, so that is why I didn't get a chance to blog then.
Friday 25/1
Friday was an interesting day.
I woke up around 11 to a text from Megan, asking what I was doing. With the cheer of 1000 men (sic) I told her that I was going to explore the east end, maybe got to tower bridge, but just walk around. She asked if she could come and I said sure. So after a shower, we headed towards the Thames. On Thursday, she said that she hasn't had a chance to see Parliament or Big Ben or the Eye, so when we got almost to the river, I purposely asked her which way, left or right. Now I figured, she was trying to be polite because I wanted to see the east side of the city, so I did what any good friend would do, and once we actually got to the river, I ushered her right. Right was towards the Eye and Big Ben. I figured she should see that and I didn't really care either way- It's still beautiful. We crossed the Millennium Bridge and stood directly under the Eye. It was colossal. After that, we got to see Parliament and Big Ben from across the river. It was a beautiful London day, so the picture was quite fitting:
Now, the funny thing about this building is how incredibly close one can get to it. I mean, you cannot physically touch it I don't think (except maybe because there was a park to the far left) but you can easily get ten yards from it. It's also incredible how ornate it is too, for such an old building. Once we recrossed the river, we wandered around some streets and found a contemporary art museum. It was featuring an artist who dealt with photography. I know this may come to a shock, but I still dislike contemporary art. For example, in one room, there was a photo of a baby's crib, but there was no baby in it: only an octopus. Another was a picture of a woman playing the piano with a wine glass on the top of the piano. But the twist was, there was a nude man sprawled out on the piano too. I don't know.
We found Buckingham Palace after getting warmed up. It was funny my reaction to it. I go to Megan, "You know, this is extremely impressive, but I feel like I've seen better." Her response was "Dan, you sound like you are talking about women here, not palaces." At this point, we decided to start heading back because we were meeting everyone to go to ULU for Burn's Night, which is some Scottish holiday. So we start walking back, and we end up in Leicester Square. So to get away from the people, we take alley's home. We passed this pub that had a great special for 15 Pounds, but we decided not to stop for dinner yet. So we walked down a few more alleys and stopped at a Pub for a drink. It is amazing the conversations you have with people in pubs. We discussed a lot, including art, theatre, and science, along with society and comparing and contrasting pub culture in the UK and the USA. Then, we couldn't find that pub again for dinner, so we decided just to grab something at ULU because it is cheap there. We stopped on the way home at M&M world. Which is amazing no matter what country you are in.
Once we got back to school, we started playing cards before going out to ULU. It was enjoyable and I think by the time we left, we were a group of 10 or so. Once we got to the door, everyone got ID'd except Joey and I and the girls who were directly with us. Thank you Brian. In ULU, they opened up a whole side that is normally closed and they were playing good music. A lot of it was from the early 2000's, sprinkled with some British songs that none of us knew. We left around 1:00, and again, stopped at McDonalds. This time I got a Chicken Mayo, which is the exact same thing as a McChicken... but if you order a McChicken, it will cost you 2.50 and a Chicken Mayo is 99p.
Saturday 26/1
I slept in on Saturday because I don't think I got to bed before 4. Once I did wake up, Joey, Matt, Griffin, Megan and I went to a pub to watch Manchester play. It was not too exciting of a game, but Manchester did end up winning 4-0 so go Red. Then, we went back and played Pitch in the Lounge while some of the Fashion girls were throwing a party for one of their 21st birthday's. Luckily they left around 10. We took a break to make dinner then played a few more games. I won 1 out of the 5 games we played. So not to shabby for my second time playing. This was a pretty uneventful day so my apologies for not being to exciting today.
Sunday 27/1
Guess what?! I woke up today to meet Joey to watch Chelsea play, and decided that I physically couldn't because I am getting sick! So I laid in bed until 14:00, then got up to go grocery shopping. I went to by my work because there was a Poundland and an Iceland there, which sells discount food. I got a few things enough for the week and possibly more. I just need to get bread tomorrow for sandwiches before my ham turns. I got on the wrong bus on the way home, so it took longer then I wanted. However, I did get a chance to ride through downtown London. I saw the old London Stock Exchange and Liverpool station. But I was tired and sick so I wasn't too excited. Once I got back home I made a sandwich of ham, cheese and Coleman's Mustard. I would recommend this mustard to people who can handle spicy foods and it has a slight horseradish taste. But it was quite tasty. The rest of the night I will be spending doing paperwork, getting reorganized for the week and finally, answering all my emails from the past week that I was too busy for. Cheers!
Wednesday 23/1
I woke up, ready for my second day of work. I took a nice shower, then looked at my mobile. I had received a text telling me not to come in to work. So I did what any responsible student would when they get a free day off- I went back to sleep. I did wake up for the day at 11:00, and being I all ready showered, I decided that I had to go on some sort of an adventure to validate the day. So I left. I headed towards Oxford Street and just started wandering west. Anyways, I stumbled across Hyde Park, which obviously I needed to spend about an hour just walking around taking in the quietness of a park. One of the entrances of the park looked like this
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| Surprise! I figured a way to upload my photos! |
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| I am not sure why this was in there, but those are all flattened brass instruments. Art. |
When I made it back, I met up with some friends and we went to ULU for the football match. Joey and I made good friends with the bouncer. His name is Brian and he is a Chelsea fan like Joey. So we have a good deal at ULU now. The match was good and I think after, a group of us went to get McDonald's. I didn't but it was fun just walking with them. I went home and made Spaghetti. I believe that is my Wednesday.
Thursday 24/1
Thursdays will be rough from here on out. Especially since ULU shows all the Wednesday night football matches. We have to be in class at 9:15, so that is terrible to begin with. We start out with BES, which tell us cultural things about Britain. For example, we learned about newspapers, how they lean and how important they are to British society. Then we broke up into groups for seminar, where I go with 8 other people to a tutor from Glasgow, Scotland and we get a more comprehensive look into the United Kingdom. So I have class from 9:15 until 12:00, then I go home for a quick lunch and more importantly, a quick nap. At 14:00, I have to go to religion class, which last three hours. However, the tutor is your stereotypical English tutor; tweed jacket, skinny tie, blue pants. He seems like a nice guy. He is also very learned, so it was a little intimidating at some points. But the class seems fun, and we get to go and visit a lot of the religious places in London. I believe Thursday night was a relaxed night. a bunch of us hung out in the lounge, taking, playing cards and eating/drinking. However, it did end up going until the wee hours of the night, maybe 3:00, so that is why I didn't get a chance to blog then.
Friday 25/1
Friday was an interesting day.
I woke up around 11 to a text from Megan, asking what I was doing. With the cheer of 1000 men (sic) I told her that I was going to explore the east end, maybe got to tower bridge, but just walk around. She asked if she could come and I said sure. So after a shower, we headed towards the Thames. On Thursday, she said that she hasn't had a chance to see Parliament or Big Ben or the Eye, so when we got almost to the river, I purposely asked her which way, left or right. Now I figured, she was trying to be polite because I wanted to see the east side of the city, so I did what any good friend would do, and once we actually got to the river, I ushered her right. Right was towards the Eye and Big Ben. I figured she should see that and I didn't really care either way- It's still beautiful. We crossed the Millennium Bridge and stood directly under the Eye. It was colossal. After that, we got to see Parliament and Big Ben from across the river. It was a beautiful London day, so the picture was quite fitting:
Now, the funny thing about this building is how incredibly close one can get to it. I mean, you cannot physically touch it I don't think (except maybe because there was a park to the far left) but you can easily get ten yards from it. It's also incredible how ornate it is too, for such an old building. Once we recrossed the river, we wandered around some streets and found a contemporary art museum. It was featuring an artist who dealt with photography. I know this may come to a shock, but I still dislike contemporary art. For example, in one room, there was a photo of a baby's crib, but there was no baby in it: only an octopus. Another was a picture of a woman playing the piano with a wine glass on the top of the piano. But the twist was, there was a nude man sprawled out on the piano too. I don't know.
We found Buckingham Palace after getting warmed up. It was funny my reaction to it. I go to Megan, "You know, this is extremely impressive, but I feel like I've seen better." Her response was "Dan, you sound like you are talking about women here, not palaces." At this point, we decided to start heading back because we were meeting everyone to go to ULU for Burn's Night, which is some Scottish holiday. So we start walking back, and we end up in Leicester Square. So to get away from the people, we take alley's home. We passed this pub that had a great special for 15 Pounds, but we decided not to stop for dinner yet. So we walked down a few more alleys and stopped at a Pub for a drink. It is amazing the conversations you have with people in pubs. We discussed a lot, including art, theatre, and science, along with society and comparing and contrasting pub culture in the UK and the USA. Then, we couldn't find that pub again for dinner, so we decided just to grab something at ULU because it is cheap there. We stopped on the way home at M&M world. Which is amazing no matter what country you are in.
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| The M&M's seem to like the whole Abby Road thing too. I will have to go find that by the way. But as you can see, I am safe and whole. |
Saturday 26/1
I slept in on Saturday because I don't think I got to bed before 4. Once I did wake up, Joey, Matt, Griffin, Megan and I went to a pub to watch Manchester play. It was not too exciting of a game, but Manchester did end up winning 4-0 so go Red. Then, we went back and played Pitch in the Lounge while some of the Fashion girls were throwing a party for one of their 21st birthday's. Luckily they left around 10. We took a break to make dinner then played a few more games. I won 1 out of the 5 games we played. So not to shabby for my second time playing. This was a pretty uneventful day so my apologies for not being to exciting today.
Sunday 27/1
Guess what?! I woke up today to meet Joey to watch Chelsea play, and decided that I physically couldn't because I am getting sick! So I laid in bed until 14:00, then got up to go grocery shopping. I went to by my work because there was a Poundland and an Iceland there, which sells discount food. I got a few things enough for the week and possibly more. I just need to get bread tomorrow for sandwiches before my ham turns. I got on the wrong bus on the way home, so it took longer then I wanted. However, I did get a chance to ride through downtown London. I saw the old London Stock Exchange and Liverpool station. But I was tired and sick so I wasn't too excited. Once I got back home I made a sandwich of ham, cheese and Coleman's Mustard. I would recommend this mustard to people who can handle spicy foods and it has a slight horseradish taste. But it was quite tasty. The rest of the night I will be spending doing paperwork, getting reorganized for the week and finally, answering all my emails from the past week that I was too busy for. Cheers!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
24/1/13
Sorry I have been out of commission the last few days. I have been busy. To compensate for this, I will write a longer blog tomorrow when I wake up (eventually haha) and I will give you all a big surprise! To all, a good night and look out for tomorrow!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
22/1/13
Today was my first day at my internship. I walked with Thomas, another kid who will be working there, but not with me, and he took us a different way. We took the Tube from Kings Cross to Old Street, then walked the rest of the way there. It was slightly quicker but tomorrow I am taking him on the bus, which involves less walking, which is nice in the cold English weather (joke, I know you guys are at like -75). Once I got to work, my boss was not feeling well, so she left at noon. By the way, I don't have to be there until 10:30. Once she left, I was tasked with doing budgeting items. Basically, I made a spreadsheet for the duration of my day. Thomas and I got lunch around 1, which consisted of a very nice Ruben, which was extremely large for 6 Pounds. I left at 5, which I figured was good enough because I finished everything.
NOTE: Kings Cross is quite busy at 9:30 and 5:00. I guess because a lot of people are getting out of work. But just wanted to let you know.
After, I went to the kitchen to make spaghetti. It took a while for the water to boil. but it did eventually. I actually spent about 2 hours in the kitchen just talking to Matt and Leah. It was nice. We discussed our plans for tomorrow night for the football game. However, we also discussed how we are getting old because we are discussing what our plans are for after our 9 to 5, how we need to relax a little before going anywhere. Just a little comical. Now I am off for some relaxation and probably some television before another early night of bed. Cheers!
NOTE: Kings Cross is quite busy at 9:30 and 5:00. I guess because a lot of people are getting out of work. But just wanted to let you know.
After, I went to the kitchen to make spaghetti. It took a while for the water to boil. but it did eventually. I actually spent about 2 hours in the kitchen just talking to Matt and Leah. It was nice. We discussed our plans for tomorrow night for the football game. However, we also discussed how we are getting old because we are discussing what our plans are for after our 9 to 5, how we need to relax a little before going anywhere. Just a little comical. Now I am off for some relaxation and probably some television before another early night of bed. Cheers!
Monday, January 21, 2013
21/1/13
When one goes to bed earlier than normal, one wakes up earlier sometimes. This morning, that happened to me. I set my alarm for 10:45 and at 10:15, I woke up and said "okay, I guess we are doing this." I got up and walked the two miles or so to the Museum of London. I enjoyed the museum a lot. It talked extensively about the Roman period and the Middle Ages, but it seemed to taper off at the end, with fewer exhibits about the modern era (post 1900). All in all, I did enjoy it, and most likely will go back before my time is up here. From there, I walked around a bit more, and took some photos off the Millennium Bridge, where you could see Tower Bridge in the distance. It was a gorgeous day for picture taking at the time when I was walking.
This evening, we went to a play. It was called "39 Steps" and only had a cast of four. They switched characters a lot and it was quite a funny show. I found out that during the interval (intermission) of plays, it is customary to munch on some ice cream. I thought that was a funny custom. However, I did it and I quite enjoy ice cream, so no complaints from me.
Now I am just finishing up some paperwork and other daily things, I will go over some work for tomorrow and then head to bed to be chipper for my first day at my internship! Cheers!
This evening, we went to a play. It was called "39 Steps" and only had a cast of four. They switched characters a lot and it was quite a funny show. I found out that during the interval (intermission) of plays, it is customary to munch on some ice cream. I thought that was a funny custom. However, I did it and I quite enjoy ice cream, so no complaints from me.
Now I am just finishing up some paperwork and other daily things, I will go over some work for tomorrow and then head to bed to be chipper for my first day at my internship! Cheers!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
20/1/13
I made the decision that today would be a lazy day. I woke up around noon and watched Top Gear. I am considering looking into tickets to go to a taping of the show. I think that would be amazing. Once I got out of bed and showered, I met Joe and Matt at the pub down the road. There, we watched the Chelsea/Arsenal football match and talked a little bit. It is funny because when you go to pubs during the week, there is a solid mix of genders, but today, it was about 90% men and the few women who were there were huddled in corners.
By the way, it was snowing again, which really put a damper on London. I think it is lovely though. It makes the city absolutely stunning.
From there we left and walked down to the London pub, which is right across the road from our dorms. We all got fish and chips for a late afternoon lunch; it was relatively cheap at 6.50 a piece. Then we walked over to this pub attached to the Holiday Inn. It was during the Manchester United/Tottenham match. Luckily it was a Man U heavy crowd, so I could cheer a bit. When we walked in, it was packed but Joe found us seats right next to the tv on a bench next to this older man. When we sat down, everyone at the other side of the pub started jeering at us (they knew the old man) and they kept calling us the "four amigos." It was quite funny. Manchester didn't end up winning, but for a consolation, and American scored the tying goal for Tottenham.
After, we all went home and I went to my room to plan out my semester. I have everything tentatively planned, which makes me feel good. I was interrupted by a skype phone call from mom. It was nice taking to her and we planned her trip to see me a little more. Now I am off to bed so I can wake up early and explore a lot tomorrow.
Sorry there are no pictures by the way. For consolation, here is a video that we watched in class on Friday about cheap traveling.
By the way, it was snowing again, which really put a damper on London. I think it is lovely though. It makes the city absolutely stunning.
From there we left and walked down to the London pub, which is right across the road from our dorms. We all got fish and chips for a late afternoon lunch; it was relatively cheap at 6.50 a piece. Then we walked over to this pub attached to the Holiday Inn. It was during the Manchester United/Tottenham match. Luckily it was a Man U heavy crowd, so I could cheer a bit. When we walked in, it was packed but Joe found us seats right next to the tv on a bench next to this older man. When we sat down, everyone at the other side of the pub started jeering at us (they knew the old man) and they kept calling us the "four amigos." It was quite funny. Manchester didn't end up winning, but for a consolation, and American scored the tying goal for Tottenham.
After, we all went home and I went to my room to plan out my semester. I have everything tentatively planned, which makes me feel good. I was interrupted by a skype phone call from mom. It was nice taking to her and we planned her trip to see me a little more. Now I am off to bed so I can wake up early and explore a lot tomorrow.
Sorry there are no pictures by the way. For consolation, here is a video that we watched in class on Friday about cheap traveling.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
19/1/13
Today started out real slow, being that I slept in, but turned out to be quite interesting.
I left my room a little after one thirty to go to the National Portrait Museum and passed Nicole and Kaity in the stairway. They said they were going to do something so I ended up tagging along. We were joined by three other girls to make our party an even six. We decided to go to Harrods. Harrods is a large department store and I was completely blown away by the size of it. I believe it had at least 5 floors of items. In the store, we broke up and I went with Anna. We only got to the third floor before we decided to leave. We did see a glass tiger statue. It was about the size of Woody (my pet dog, he is a bichon frise). Retail price was 15,000 Pounds. Yeah...
From there we went to Brixton market, but it was closing just as we arrived. I did manage to buy some bananas for a decent price. I got four for 75p. Then once I got home, I sat around with Joe and Meg for a while. We decided to go for a walk, so we walked up to Kings Cross, where Joe got some McDonald's and Meg and I got a lamb doner kebab. What that is is shaved lamb put in a pita bun with lettuce, onions, red lettuce, garlic sauce, and chili sauce if you want it. It is amazing, but cannot be found in the states. Then I came home and just relaxed, something I plan on doing tomorrow until the football matches start at 1 or 4, depending on how enthused I am.
Mom is sending out a package soon, so if there is anything you want sent to me, get in touch with her. Ok
I left my room a little after one thirty to go to the National Portrait Museum and passed Nicole and Kaity in the stairway. They said they were going to do something so I ended up tagging along. We were joined by three other girls to make our party an even six. We decided to go to Harrods. Harrods is a large department store and I was completely blown away by the size of it. I believe it had at least 5 floors of items. In the store, we broke up and I went with Anna. We only got to the third floor before we decided to leave. We did see a glass tiger statue. It was about the size of Woody (my pet dog, he is a bichon frise). Retail price was 15,000 Pounds. Yeah...
From there we went to Brixton market, but it was closing just as we arrived. I did manage to buy some bananas for a decent price. I got four for 75p. Then once I got home, I sat around with Joe and Meg for a while. We decided to go for a walk, so we walked up to Kings Cross, where Joe got some McDonald's and Meg and I got a lamb doner kebab. What that is is shaved lamb put in a pita bun with lettuce, onions, red lettuce, garlic sauce, and chili sauce if you want it. It is amazing, but cannot be found in the states. Then I came home and just relaxed, something I plan on doing tomorrow until the football matches start at 1 or 4, depending on how enthused I am.
Mom is sending out a package soon, so if there is anything you want sent to me, get in touch with her. Ok
Friday, January 18, 2013
18/1/13
Ok, so today was my most interesting day in London thus far:
We had a seminar class today at 9:30, so we all went to that as a group. The lecture room was big and we learned about cheap travel options and what we will be required to do in the coming weeks. After that, I went home for lunch of stale bread and water (living the dream) and proceeded to go to Store Street to get my group for the program wide scavenger hunt. I will tell you this first. Out of a possible 14 points, my team got 10.
First, let me tell you about the weather. Today in London, it started snowing. and there is a dusting on the ground. This threw the city into chaos. So public transport was a mess and the sidewalks were cleaned by throwing massive amounts of salt on them. So whence we started from Store Street, we decided to first go to Hamley's Toy Shop. This toy shop was amazing and I cannot wait to go back to explore it when we are not pressed for time. We bought the cheapest thing in there, per our guide, and proceeded down to Trafalgar Square. This was both informative, because now I have some places that I want to go to, like the National Portrait museum and back to the square for more pictures.
Then we had to make a decision, we decided to jump on the Tube and head over to Natural History Museum. There, we just got a pamphlet, but again, I want to go back. Then, we were packed like sardines into the Tube for a ride across the city to St. Paul's church. We had to get to St. Paul's by 4 because that is when it closed. We exited the tube station at 3:57, and the map said it was a three minute walk. So we ran there, in the slush and all of us felt like champs because we knew how to run on slush and ice without falling like chumps. We got to the church at 3:59, and it was closed because of the weather. So we took a picture of the sign on the church with a watch that said 3:59.43. So we are basically champs. From there, we decided to walk to St. Pancras Train Station. So we start walking back towards the train station and decided to hop on a bus. That was another point, and the bus took us exactly to King's Cross/St. Pancras. We got the pamphlet and briskly walked back to Store Street. We walked into Store Street at 4:59.37, so we got no points docked. After all the groups came back, we found out that we were the winners! So on Thursday in class, Jen and Mark will give us presents.
Then I went home and asked myself what I wanted to do tonight. I decided that I was going to go check and see how much a show cost on the West End. I showed up around 7:15 and decided that I was going to go see Spamalot! Erik, so you know, it was pretty good. I ended up sitting front row of the balcony between two brothers and a younger couple. We talked during the intermissions and they were all very interesting. After the show, the girl gave me a kiss on the cheek goodbye, which is guess is customary in places in Europe. But it caught me off guard. I didn't make a fool of myself, but I was like "woah... what just happened?" Also, I was surprised with how many references to current events there were in the show. They were picking on the mayor of London and his bikes, along with how the city goes on lock down when there is snow.
I took the Tube home and stopped at a pub for a pint. I just got something on tap and when I took my first sip, I was again confused. My drink was not warm, but it was by no stretch of the imagination cold. I would guess about a solid 45 to 50 degrees, which is too warm for a normal drink. I drank it and wasn't too upset with it or the pub I found down a dark alley at 10:45 at night.
When I got back to my dorm, I was in the kitchen making dinner when a girl walked in. We started talking and I found out that she was my "RA's" friend. I put that in quotes because what I mean by RA is person who is technically in charge but doesn't care what we do as long as we don't wake her up for nonsense. We ended up talking for a while, and she seemed like a nice girl. After that, I ate dinner and here I am. I hope things are well at home and I miss everyone!
We had a seminar class today at 9:30, so we all went to that as a group. The lecture room was big and we learned about cheap travel options and what we will be required to do in the coming weeks. After that, I went home for lunch of stale bread and water (living the dream) and proceeded to go to Store Street to get my group for the program wide scavenger hunt. I will tell you this first. Out of a possible 14 points, my team got 10.
First, let me tell you about the weather. Today in London, it started snowing. and there is a dusting on the ground. This threw the city into chaos. So public transport was a mess and the sidewalks were cleaned by throwing massive amounts of salt on them. So whence we started from Store Street, we decided to first go to Hamley's Toy Shop. This toy shop was amazing and I cannot wait to go back to explore it when we are not pressed for time. We bought the cheapest thing in there, per our guide, and proceeded down to Trafalgar Square. This was both informative, because now I have some places that I want to go to, like the National Portrait museum and back to the square for more pictures.
Then we had to make a decision, we decided to jump on the Tube and head over to Natural History Museum. There, we just got a pamphlet, but again, I want to go back. Then, we were packed like sardines into the Tube for a ride across the city to St. Paul's church. We had to get to St. Paul's by 4 because that is when it closed. We exited the tube station at 3:57, and the map said it was a three minute walk. So we ran there, in the slush and all of us felt like champs because we knew how to run on slush and ice without falling like chumps. We got to the church at 3:59, and it was closed because of the weather. So we took a picture of the sign on the church with a watch that said 3:59.43. So we are basically champs. From there, we decided to walk to St. Pancras Train Station. So we start walking back towards the train station and decided to hop on a bus. That was another point, and the bus took us exactly to King's Cross/St. Pancras. We got the pamphlet and briskly walked back to Store Street. We walked into Store Street at 4:59.37, so we got no points docked. After all the groups came back, we found out that we were the winners! So on Thursday in class, Jen and Mark will give us presents.
Then I went home and asked myself what I wanted to do tonight. I decided that I was going to go check and see how much a show cost on the West End. I showed up around 7:15 and decided that I was going to go see Spamalot! Erik, so you know, it was pretty good. I ended up sitting front row of the balcony between two brothers and a younger couple. We talked during the intermissions and they were all very interesting. After the show, the girl gave me a kiss on the cheek goodbye, which is guess is customary in places in Europe. But it caught me off guard. I didn't make a fool of myself, but I was like "woah... what just happened?" Also, I was surprised with how many references to current events there were in the show. They were picking on the mayor of London and his bikes, along with how the city goes on lock down when there is snow.
I took the Tube home and stopped at a pub for a pint. I just got something on tap and when I took my first sip, I was again confused. My drink was not warm, but it was by no stretch of the imagination cold. I would guess about a solid 45 to 50 degrees, which is too warm for a normal drink. I drank it and wasn't too upset with it or the pub I found down a dark alley at 10:45 at night.
When I got back to my dorm, I was in the kitchen making dinner when a girl walked in. We started talking and I found out that she was my "RA's" friend. I put that in quotes because what I mean by RA is person who is technically in charge but doesn't care what we do as long as we don't wake her up for nonsense. We ended up talking for a while, and she seemed like a nice girl. After that, I ate dinner and here I am. I hope things are well at home and I miss everyone!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
17/1/13
I had to get up early today. I hopped on a bus at 10 and luckily made it to my internship by 11. At my meeting, we discussed what I will be doing during the internship and then we just discussed current issues. The worst part was that my dress shoe broke. So that makes me a little disappointed.
I took the bus back home and crawled back into bed a took a short nap. From there I visited Mark and Jen to discuss my work arrangement and to wish Mark a happy birthday. There, I got to eat a Krispy Kream. It was good, but just not as good as I anticipated. But I mean a doughnut is a doughnut and it was spectacular.
The dorm that we are staying in gave us free pizza tonight and being that we all are paying our own food bill; we gobbled it up like no one's business. Then, Joe and I went for a walk. We walked down to the river and saw Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, Louis Vitton and two H&Ms within 100 yards from each other. It was a long and tiring walk and I plan on going to bed early tonight because we must be up tomorrow ready to go at 9:15. Until tomorrow.
I took the bus back home and crawled back into bed a took a short nap. From there I visited Mark and Jen to discuss my work arrangement and to wish Mark a happy birthday. There, I got to eat a Krispy Kream. It was good, but just not as good as I anticipated. But I mean a doughnut is a doughnut and it was spectacular.
The dorm that we are staying in gave us free pizza tonight and being that we all are paying our own food bill; we gobbled it up like no one's business. Then, Joe and I went for a walk. We walked down to the river and saw Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, Louis Vitton and two H&Ms within 100 yards from each other. It was a long and tiring walk and I plan on going to bed early tonight because we must be up tomorrow ready to go at 9:15. Until tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
16/1/13
Today was my first day of this city really feeling like London. I woke up at 10... then fell back asleep because. Then got up for the day at 1030. From there, I put money on my Oyster Card (basically, it is a card that lets me use any public transport just by holding my card there), then made a trek to my internship location. It was just a dry run because I have to go back tomorrow, only for a meeting, so I get to know my boss and discuss other things probably. Hopefully I get some tea!
After, I took a walk down to the Thames. I went via the financial district, which something I found stunning, but common between Paris and London is that the city itself is incredibly quiet. I mean, the cars obviously are noisy, but if you would take them away, it is nearly silent. Conversations (except by Americans) are in a hushed voice and there are very few, if any, horns blowing.
Once I made it to the Thames, I walked along it for about four bridges. I got to see the Millennium Bridge, which I will probably learn about later, I know next to nothing about it, apart from I believe it was destroyed in Harry Potter; London Bridge; and faintly Tower Bridge, which is the famous one. It was foggy so my pictures are a little shaky. As I write this, I looked into by bag to hook my camera up to my laptop and see that I have left the cord home. So Mom, if you could, grab that and bring it over when you come. Sorry everyone else that you get no pictures until I get the card. (Maybe I will sneak a few with my iPhone and send them that way).
From there, I walked home and decided that I was hungry. So I ended up looking for a place and found none that really tickled my fancy. However, during my meanderings through the University of London, I found a man with a cooler full of food. So I went up there and it was free food. He was the most nice gentleman I have met so far in London, and when he gave me my plate, asked "Would you like some more?" in his English accent. I said no and popped two quid in as a donation. On top of that, I got a slice of apple pie, which instead of giving me the final piece, he just gave me the entire tin. It made me so happy, and it was quite tasty.
Using a rough estimate on mapmyrun.com, I walked about 6.7 miles. That is a very rough estimate, and I know I walked more. But I love how much I get to walk here and it never felt like it was too much.
We went bowling around 445. It was a really retro place. It was in a basement and was pretty dark and furnished from what seemed like the 70's. Then we went walking around looking for a pub, and ended back up at ULU. ULU is the student union, which has a pub on the first floor. So we went in there and just as we walked in, there was a football match on. So I stayed to watch that then returned home to get ready for tomorrow. Overall it was a good day and I am hoping I have many more of those just walking and exploring days.
After, I took a walk down to the Thames. I went via the financial district, which something I found stunning, but common between Paris and London is that the city itself is incredibly quiet. I mean, the cars obviously are noisy, but if you would take them away, it is nearly silent. Conversations (except by Americans) are in a hushed voice and there are very few, if any, horns blowing.
Once I made it to the Thames, I walked along it for about four bridges. I got to see the Millennium Bridge, which I will probably learn about later, I know next to nothing about it, apart from I believe it was destroyed in Harry Potter; London Bridge; and faintly Tower Bridge, which is the famous one. It was foggy so my pictures are a little shaky. As I write this, I looked into by bag to hook my camera up to my laptop and see that I have left the cord home. So Mom, if you could, grab that and bring it over when you come. Sorry everyone else that you get no pictures until I get the card. (Maybe I will sneak a few with my iPhone and send them that way).
From there, I walked home and decided that I was hungry. So I ended up looking for a place and found none that really tickled my fancy. However, during my meanderings through the University of London, I found a man with a cooler full of food. So I went up there and it was free food. He was the most nice gentleman I have met so far in London, and when he gave me my plate, asked "Would you like some more?" in his English accent. I said no and popped two quid in as a donation. On top of that, I got a slice of apple pie, which instead of giving me the final piece, he just gave me the entire tin. It made me so happy, and it was quite tasty.
Using a rough estimate on mapmyrun.com, I walked about 6.7 miles. That is a very rough estimate, and I know I walked more. But I love how much I get to walk here and it never felt like it was too much.
We went bowling around 445. It was a really retro place. It was in a basement and was pretty dark and furnished from what seemed like the 70's. Then we went walking around looking for a pub, and ended back up at ULU. ULU is the student union, which has a pub on the first floor. So we went in there and just as we walked in, there was a football match on. So I stayed to watch that then returned home to get ready for tomorrow. Overall it was a good day and I am hoping I have many more of those just walking and exploring days.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
15/1/13
So today I got to sleep in. I got up at around 10:15 and from there, I showered and went to my advising meeting. I showed up early, so I went to the coffee shop next to store street. It was decent and I could see myself going back a few times. The prices weren't too bad either. I got word about my internship, which I start Tuesday. The lady does not work on Monday's so most likely, neither do I. How it may work is that I work Tuesdays all day, Wednesday in the morning and Thursday either in the afternoon or Thursday from home. The nice thing about that would be I have a four day weekend, being we have nothing on Friday ever.
After that, we had cultural training at 2. It was okay, but it was more to do with dealing with culture shock than actually telling us about the different cultures. That lasted three hours, but it was compulsory, so I had no choice.
Shopping came next. We went to a place called Waitrose, which is a big grocery store, but nothing like Wegman's. I got some decent food that should last deep into next week. I do not know what tonight will bring, but I assume it will be either something or nothing, depending on what happens.
After that, we had cultural training at 2. It was okay, but it was more to do with dealing with culture shock than actually telling us about the different cultures. That lasted three hours, but it was compulsory, so I had no choice.
Shopping came next. We went to a place called Waitrose, which is a big grocery store, but nothing like Wegman's. I got some decent food that should last deep into next week. I do not know what tonight will bring, but I assume it will be either something or nothing, depending on what happens.
Monday, January 14, 2013
14/1/13 (Updated)
I took a shower today. First one since I left and it felt great. It was so good in fact, that I plan on taking one tomorrow too!
We had orientation today and we got a crash course on how to survive the next few months. It was good and we got a free lunch. I took a sandwich piece containing something. I have decided that it was tuna fish and corn, which I thought was a weird combination. Anyways, from there I went back to the room and then we went on a short walking tour of the area. It was short because it was snowing and raining and who wants to be out in the snow and rain? They said that snow is not normal, so when it does snow, the city shuts down. After the short walk, we went to the British Museum. I anticipate going back at least three or four times, maybe more, just to see everything. There was literally a facade of an old Greek building in the museum and that was only one room. I also got to see a mummy. I was a tad disappointed because for some reason, I thought that the mummy would be white, and wrapped up like a real mummy. Instead, it was like a dark brown and kind of gross.
We stopped for a pint afterwards which the director bought for all of us. It was fun but real warm in the pub. From there, I explored the city with Joe. Then, once I returned home, explored the city with a bunch of the girls. We all were on a mission to get cellphones. I was lucky to have them because I didn't care enough to ask questions or try very hard. But I now have a top of the line phone, that was quite expensive. In total, it cost 25 Pounds, but I need it so I guess its worth it. My spreadsheet is coming in handy, and I expect when I have more time, I will be able to develop it into something marvelous.
That is about it for today. Tomorrow I am off to my individual advising meeting then something else I think. I am not sure. But either way it should be interesting.
**After I wrote this, I went with my some of the girls I met in the program and my roommate to one of the girl's friend's flat (sorry if that sounded confusing). There, we met up with some British kids and some Americans and it was a decent time. We got to telling stories from home and comparing the two countries. Note: In the UK, they usually eat their chips (fries) with ketchup but mayonnaise is acceptable.
We had orientation today and we got a crash course on how to survive the next few months. It was good and we got a free lunch. I took a sandwich piece containing something. I have decided that it was tuna fish and corn, which I thought was a weird combination. Anyways, from there I went back to the room and then we went on a short walking tour of the area. It was short because it was snowing and raining and who wants to be out in the snow and rain? They said that snow is not normal, so when it does snow, the city shuts down. After the short walk, we went to the British Museum. I anticipate going back at least three or four times, maybe more, just to see everything. There was literally a facade of an old Greek building in the museum and that was only one room. I also got to see a mummy. I was a tad disappointed because for some reason, I thought that the mummy would be white, and wrapped up like a real mummy. Instead, it was like a dark brown and kind of gross.
We stopped for a pint afterwards which the director bought for all of us. It was fun but real warm in the pub. From there, I explored the city with Joe. Then, once I returned home, explored the city with a bunch of the girls. We all were on a mission to get cellphones. I was lucky to have them because I didn't care enough to ask questions or try very hard. But I now have a top of the line phone, that was quite expensive. In total, it cost 25 Pounds, but I need it so I guess its worth it. My spreadsheet is coming in handy, and I expect when I have more time, I will be able to develop it into something marvelous.
That is about it for today. Tomorrow I am off to my individual advising meeting then something else I think. I am not sure. But either way it should be interesting.
**After I wrote this, I went with my some of the girls I met in the program and my roommate to one of the girl's friend's flat (sorry if that sounded confusing). There, we met up with some British kids and some Americans and it was a decent time. We got to telling stories from home and comparing the two countries. Note: In the UK, they usually eat their chips (fries) with ketchup but mayonnaise is acceptable.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
13/01/13
Well it's complete. I am back in Europe and now I am almost fully situated in my room. The flights were long yesterday. It was just a lot of sitting and being tired. Since when I woke up Friday morning at 7:30, I have gotten probably a total of 6 hours of sleep. So I expect that I will be going to bed relatively shortly. The time difference from home is 5 hours, in case you were wondering.
When I got into Heathrow, I just felt disgusting. So I was quite self-conscious when I was being interrogated, which right away I was treated to British hospitality (sarcasm). Getting on the tube wasn't too bad, just took an hour to get from the airport to my stop. My room is cozy. I share a room with a student named Griffin. His bed and mine are both lofted on opposite sides of the room with our desks under. The nice thing is that at the foot of each of our beds, there is a television and encompassing our beds are personal curtains to keep the sun out of my sleepy eyes.
I spent more money today than anticipated but I also believe that is how the first week will go. Other than that, things are going quite well. I have not taken a picture yet because getting here was such a hassle and my luggage was a mess. Maybe tomorrow on our walking tour I will take some. Once the sleepiness wears off and I start becoming accustomed to the city, I think I will really enjoy it. Or not... but I think I will.
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