Busy as a Bee

This week has seriously gone by so fast! I cannot believe tomorrow is Friday, I feel like I haven't had a moment to breathe! So I'll recap what has been going on this week:

Monday: 
Full day of work, man those are insane! I wonder what it'll be like to do that on a regular basis, it's really hard sitting at that desk all day. But I have great company so I try not to complain too much. After work I came home and changed then we headed to King's Cross station to meet for the Harry Potter tour! It was really interesting but fast paced, our tour guide was hilarious so animated and excited about everything. We visited a few of the film spots but also places that JK Rowling got her inspiration from which was so different to hear, so many places inspired scenes from HP. We went all over the city hopped on and off the tube and buses (which truly feel like the Knight bus for all you HP nerds like myself haha). It was fun but very tiring!

Tuesday:
Crazy day. Worked from 9-2 mostly preparing for Thursday's cricket event. It was funny because we went to pick up the team polos and then I ended up sorting and labeling them for the players as well as folding them. After working retail for 2 and half years i'm a pretty good folder. Everyone was extremely impressed with how nice I made the piles all look it was hilarious. People kept stopping by my desk commenting on them. Who knew my Abercrombie folding skills would come in handy at the Bank of Ireland?! After work I met my Modern History of Britain class for a walking tour of the old city of London. We learned how underneath the financial district of London are the remains of the old roman city Londinium. They have preserved many of the walls underneath so you can go see them. We didn't do that but it was interesting because event the street names are some of the original Roman ones : Bread street (right where I work!), Love Street, Milk street, etc. Then we ended up at the Museum of London, unfortunately I didn't have much time to look around since I had to head back to CAPA for my theatre class but it was fun to go on the tour. I had my theatre class with the lovely Ruth who gave us a good background of the play we were to see later that night called The Rivals. It's a romantic comedy with fun witty characters and lots of laughs. I truly enjoyed it! It was at the most beautiful theatre too on Haymarket street.

Wednesday:
Finally a day with a tad bit of a break... sorta! I had class in the morning to talk about the play we had seen the previous night then I met up with Alex to have lunch, do some spring break planning, and sight see! We had Pizza Hut buffet which I gotta tell you after living off sandwiches lately was pretty much heaven!!!!!!!! Fast food restaurants are seriously fancy here!!! Like pizza hut is a legit place for people to go... no trashy people like at home haha It was delicious, we both really enjoyed it! Then we went to find the house in Kensington where the Parent trap was filmed for all of you that love that movie (aka Nick ;) ) Which actually wasn't too far from us so that was a cool find, it's in a beautiful neighborhood right by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Then I had my internship class and then I went out with some of the girls to one of the pubs and then the college bar for a bit! 


Thursday:
Today I got up to an extremely early start! I was up at 6:15 am getting ready so I could leave after 7 since it was a 40 minute commute or so to the Lord's Cricket Pitch. For all of you who don't know much about Cricket (which I still don't really ha) this is like a world famous stadium for Cricket players to play at, they hold some of the most prestigious cricket turneys in the world here. We held our event in the indoor school pavillion. It was fun to meet so many people who worked for BoI, everyone is so friendly and they love to talk sports, so that's basically what I did all morning. I really enjoyed watching and I think I kind of get it. Just so you know it's not a pitcher tho he's a bowler haha I got made fun of quite a bit for saying that! But it was great to be apart of the event :) After that I headed to marketing class which went on for much longer than I would of liked, but oh well that's a 3 hour class for you! Then went to find a small purse, cuz I forgot to bring one of course, and a coin purse. Seriously the Brits LOVE their coins! It's the most annoying thing in the world! No 1 pound bills only coins, and then they have a 2 pound coin, and a 50 pence, a 20 pence, a ten pence, a five pence, a 2 pence, and a one pence..... RIDICULOUS! I can't stand it, I had to buy one otherwise I end up digging through my huge purse trying to look for them to pay for my coffee. I got home tonight around 8 and I am already ready for bed. Likely I will soon! Got work tomorrow from 9-3 then I have no idea what I'll do... likely sleep!!!!!! No big plans this weekend yet, I'd love to go to Windsor but it's very very cold here for London weather, which is sad! So we'll see what happens!


1 week until Paris
2 weeks until Munich
so pumped :)


Hope everyone back in the states is having a wonderful week! 
Lots of love from London!

King's Cross Film spot

                                        Where the "real" 9 and 3/4 is!

                                Can you guess this scene? 2nd movie...

                                 One of the Diagon Alley filming spots

                   Where they filmed the Leaky Cauldron scenes (3rd Movie)

 

            I love that this place is called The George, apparently many famous people stayed here such as Shakespeare, Dickens, and others!

Place where they filmed Harry getting dropped off by the Knight Bus (Movie 3)

                             Gorgeous Gothic church filmed in the 3rd movie I believe... 
 

                                              Our hilarious Harry Guide for the evening!
 

                                Ben Franklin's House!!! Just a pit stop haha

                                   Inspiration for Diagon Alley shops

                          Odeon theatre where the premieres are held

                                      Parent Trap House in Kensington!

                                         Lord's Cricket Grounds

                 One of the entrances to the field, I was fortunate enough to get my picture done professionally there with one of my managers, so I can have it framed to take home :) Love BOI

                           Cricket Championship Match for BOI turney

A Show, Stonehenge, & Steam

So finally the weekend! After a busy week of starting classes and work I was definitely ready to go back to some sight seeing and of course, learning more about history :)

Friday I worked for a couple hours, learning about different ways to market for financial services at our bank, there is definitely a lot of paperwork! Glad to be learning more about the business though. After work I went to shop a little bit and met up with some friends to check out Harrods, which is beautiful, and then to lunch! Friday night then I met up with my friend Eric who is also studying here in London this semester for dinner in Chinatown. We decided to check the discount ticket counter to see if there was any good deals for shows we wanted to see. We ended up deciding to go see Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre. My did we get great seats for a fantastic show!!! 4th row watching some really talented actors and an amazing live band! It was a truly fun Friday night. I love that theatre is so big here, I cannot wait to see Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Wicked :) Also with my theatre class we are going to about 5 different plays this semester, should be a great experience!

Saturday morning I was up early, departure for our trip to Stonehenge and Bath left at 8am! I slept most of the way to Stonehenge, and when we got there my was it COLD! I forgot what it's like to be out in the plains with no trees to block the frigid wind! Stonehenge was pretty beautiful though, I mean it is amazing to wonder how they were able to erect it and what really was the purpose? Or were there multiple purposes? Our tour guide was great and we even got a big handout outlining the numerous theories about this ancient site. After taking some photos and walking around the plain we headed back on the bus to travel another hour to Bath. I didn't know there were so many hills in Britain!

Bath is a pretty expansive town at the top of a hill. It is so beautiful, it reminded me a lot of all the beautiful villages of Italy, it had so much character. All the buildings are erected out of this "Bath stone" that is a yellowish color, very elegantly built! As soon as we got there we met in front of the main church or Abby to discuss the Roman Baths we were going to see. The baths were so interesting, just these natural hot springs in the middle of England, who would of thought huh? Apparently they are extremely warm, they looked kind of gross, greenish in color, but it was cool to see the steam rising out of them, kind of an eerie site to see. They believed the baths had healing powers, and could cure infertility. After exploring the Baths we grabbed some lunch at this cute little cafe called The Hub. Then I did a bit of shopping and we met back up with the group to get a tour of the city. We learned Bath was were Jane Austen spent 6 years of her life, sadly she wasn't very fond of the city, not sure why, it's gorgeous! Also Nicholas Cage apparently had a house there in one of the main neighborhoods not long ago. It's a neat city I'm glad we got to see it! Makes me excited to see some of the other towns in England.

I'm hoping it'll be nice out tomorrow to maybe go see something or maybe check out the neighborhood a little more. It's very weird to think Wednesday I'll have been here for two weeks. I feel like I've been here a lot longer. This week will be another busy one full of classes, a Harry Potter walking tour Monday night :), a play Tuesday, Cricket turney Thursday, walking tour of old city London, and then maybe Scotland this weekend? Plans are in the making so we'll see if they work out! I'm also trying to work out a trip to Germany in February too, I'm dying to get traveling outside London and see some of my many other friends that are in Europe for the semester as well. Can't believe a month from tomorrow too is my 21st birthday! When did I get so old huh? haha life goes by too fast sometimes. I'm still adjusting to this new life here, it's taken me a lot longer than I thought but it's just so different, nothing like I ever thought. Still homesick but the trips and being busy make it a lot better. I'm hoping the family will come here soon maybe for my spring break or they talked about coming after the program, sooner the better, I miss them! 


Well more later! Enjoy the pics!

                                                  
                                           The most haunted theatre in Britain! (Above)

A long way from home

So I never planned on doing one of these but I figure hey then everyone can read it so I don't have to tell the same stories to everyone, and people can follow up on how life is across the pond :) 

For those of you who don't know I'm over in London studying and interning until the end of April. I am currently taking 3 classes: intro to modern Britain, the living theatre of london, and international marketing. Also we are required to take and internship seminar class to sort of "reflect" they say about our experiences working over here. Classes have just started this week and I have gotta say I've never been so intrigued listening to a professor until now! The accent is just so interesting and the difference in phrases is funny it really is like decoding another language. Two of my teachers that I have met so far are British and then my theater teacher is from Scotland originally and she is the most witty and charming little woman. Can't wait to hear her take on the plays we are seeing this term!

I'm also interning at the Bank of Ireland in the Marketing/PR/Events sector. BoI is a very very very large business bank! I didn't know much about it until I got there but man is it big! Everyone I have met so far is lovely, very nice and willing to help, i couldn't be more pleased! I just started this week and already found out that I am going to help out at the Cricket match we are sponsoring in the coming week I believe. I love that I have an opportunity like that so great! 

So far life in london has been pretty good. Some things I am definitely getting used to are the lack of personal space, the fast pace at which people walk at all the time, the tube, buying groceries basically every other day, just walking allllll over in general, and learning how to be more independent since there isn't the same support team that I have at home. I'm not going to lie I have been extremely homesick, it's hard to be away from the people you love most, but I am very fortunate to have an experience like this. It really teaches you a lot about yourself and how you cope with new and sometimes difficult situations. I'm not going to lie I have definitely been way more independent here than I have in a long time, but it's been great being able to go anywhere I like and see all these new and exciting things. 

I have done a bunch of touristy sight seeing so far as you can tell by the picture at the top! I have also gone to see the British Museum the other day and am hoping to get to the Victoria and Albert museum on Friday! It's so great to be around so much history, me being the nerd I am, I couldn't be more humbled by it. I come from a country so young and spacious, it's crazy to be in a place so rich with history and stories even if it is very small! 

We're going to Stonehenge and Bath this weekend so that should be an adventure, also the roommates and I are venturing to Paris I think soon here in February, so very exciting times to come :)

Cheerio! 

                                                Alex and I on the bridge

                                                          Me at the London Bridge
 

                                           Some of the flatmates!

                                                The British Museum!

                                                 The Rosetta Stone

                                          One of the many mummies

                                               Me in front of Buckingham Palace

                                                        

                                                             My love Big Ben :)

 

                                                              Westminister Abbey

                                         The beautiful St. James Park