My First Day

As we all know, internships are valuable learning experiences. And today I learned about running errands, washing dishes and stairs.

Please, take that as the intended joke because in all reality, I am super excited about this internship and had a fantastic first day. When I first arrived, I was greeted once again by Benji, the adorable pomeranian who made me smile right away. Things were a bit chaotic first thing in the morning so mostly I got a glass of water and stayed out of the way until things calmed down a bit. I met Tash, the runner of the company and the woman I would be working most closely with. In a company like this, the runner is pretty much what it sounds like. They run errands, make sure every room is stocked with what it needs and generally makes everything run smoothly. For the duration of the internship, I will be assisting her and helping out wherever I can.

Following the initial rush of everyone getting in and settled, Tash walked me around the building which is on three floors plus the ground floor (which is just an entry way). We have 9 studio rooms to keep an eye on, all with different equipment and such. Downstairs, producers and directors from BBC and other companies come in and cut together their trailers and promos. Once that's finished, the work goes upstairs for final audio and video tweaking. Usually, the producers can do the first cut themselves and the specialists in our company help them with the rest.

So first thing in the morning, Tash makes sure that there's fresh fruit and water in each of the studios that is being used that day (I'll be helping there). As clients start to arrive we make sure they're settled and offer coffee, tea, or other beverages. We have most of it on hand but if there's a special request like a latte, we run out and get it. My first run of the day was across the way to Starbucks for a latte. This was also my first lesson of the day because I realized that places in the UK don't automatically hand you your receipt. You have to ask for it. And because we log these receipts, I needed one. So I was able to run back and get it.

The rest of the morning was mostly spent making drinks, checking on clients, washing dishes and, of course, meeting the other people in the company. If you know me, I'm terrible with names but I'm getting there. I definitely remember Jon, the man in charge and Rachel, my official supervisor in addition to Tash. And I know how Jon likes his tea.

Around 12:30, we asked around and made a lunch run. Since there were two of us, Tash and I split the orders and I found myself headed to Leon, a Mediterranean fast food place, list in hand. All these little errands were a wonderful chance to explore Soho, and I'm loving that part, despite the rain. At least it wasn't too cold!
Once all the clients were fed, I had the chance to run out for my own lunch and grabbed a pulled pork sandwich around the corner. It was yummy, but I think I'll go for something less messy next time!
Our afternoon was much quieter since everyone was hard at work, but there were still a few more errands. A fun one was getting to run out to an adorable little store of cute infant things, most of them handmade. My mission was to pick up a gift for a client who had just had a baby. I love all the little shops in the area and look forward to browsing them when I have a chance.
Once I was back from that, there was a bit of down time where I got to hug Benji and sit with Rachel (a different one) while she showed Tash some things on Avid. I was excited to learn a few things but also that I was recognizing bits and pieces from my classes, which makes me feel like I won't be ENTIRELY out of my depth in a professional world.

Also, Tash said she was really impressed with how fast I was picking things up! I guess I did pretty well figuring out the spreadsheets (they aren't that different than the ones I made for Mostly Harmless Designs) and puttering when I didn't have direct tasks to do (thanks for that skill, Mom!) so I am feeling pretty proud of myself and how I did for my first day.

More details will come after some more experiences and when I'm less exhausted! In the meantime, please enjoy this amazing dog I get to hang out with!

Elementary!

This Saturday, I went out with my friends Sara, Shira, and Morgan to explore some of the nerdier parts of London! As most of you will know, I can get far too excited about this sort of thing. 

The first and main stop of our day was the Sherlock Holmes Museum! The museum is set up in the real 221B Baker Street, a very narrow row home. Interesting fact - the street numbers don't line up because most of the block was destroyed in the London Blitz and was renumbered when it was rebuilt. However, because of the fame of the 221B address, they decided to keep that one the same even if it didn't line up with the new numbering.

It was surprising just how crowded it was! The line stretched about halfway down the block, but actually moved very quickly. They let us in in groups in order to manage traffic. Unlike many museums, it was more of a display. We were expecting a bit more information on Conan Doyle and his life and writing. Instead, the place was set up as if Sherlock and Watson could walk in at any moment and solve crimes. The props were all replicas, so visitors could pick them up and handle them and take photos. Therefore, there are some pretty fantastic photos of us with the Sherlock hat and pipe, sitting in his chair. 

The crowd thinned out once we got upstairs and outside of the main living room. The upstairs contained Sherlock and Watson's bedrooms along with a few more props. However, two of the rooms contained rather eerie wax statues of various characters from the books, which were rather disconcerting. I took a few photos with them but still am not sure how I feel about them. Currently rethinking my visit to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, though I'll probably still try to get there. 

Following our trip to the museum (and an obligatory stop at the gift shop) we wandered around Regent's Park for a while, enjoying the birds and people. Sadly, the outdoor theatre doesn't open until May, because we would have loved to see a show there! 

Our wanderings then took us to King's Cross Station and Platform 9 3/4. Morgan and Shira had already done the photo op but were nice enough to wait while Sara and I got our photos taken. I totally didn't cry when walking into King's Cross. Nope, not me! 

The Platform 9 3/4 photos were very well set up, in my opinion. The line moved through fairly quickly and they had great people with wonderful energy running things. When it was your turn, you got to put on a house scarf of your choice (oh the looks I got when I selected Slytherin) and they posed you with the trolly that's halfway into the wall. You get the chance to take your own photos and then they take one professionally which you can choose to buy or not. Then you're left to find the shop and buy your photos. It was incredibly exciting and I loved the way my picture turned out! It was very hard to resist buying ALL of the Harry Potter things, but I reminded myself that I was going to the Studio Tour in a few weeks. And I'm sure my little sister will kill me if I come back from that without something fun for her. 

Our day ended with dinner at our local pub, the Glouster Arms where I fed my addiction to British meat pies. I don't know what I'm going to do when I go home and don't have easy access to these any more! I guess I'll need to learn to make my own! 

Yum!

I feel like a lucky cat!

Today was a very exciting day and it's only 11:30! As part of the FIE program, we had the opportunity to sign up for an internship at a London company. All we had to do was submit a CV (England's version of a resume) and a cover letter and they would find us a placement. Even though I knew I was guaranteed placement, I was initially nervous that I wouldn't be placed in film, which was my first choice. However, when I got my email last week and found out I was going to be working at a place called Lucky Cat Post Production, I was over the moon. Not only was it a post production company, which is the area of film I'm interested, it is named after cats! What could be better for me?

Today was the final step in my official placement, the interview. Since they'd already decided they wanted me, the interview wasn't competitive, they mostly needed to make sure my personality fit and that I'm not totally insane or something. But I still went in there a bit nervous because I'm not always comfortable talking to people, but as soon as I got inside, I felt much better. The office had a very friendly vibe and most everyone in there seemed very young and hip and smiled at me. In addition, a tiny fluffy dog came up to say hi to me almost as soon as I walked in. I soon learned that his name was  Benji. He was so adorable and well behaved and followed his person around in such an adorable way.

After a short wait, my supervisor Rachel was ready to talk to me. I was surprised to find that they were more interested in making sure I would be okay with the tasks they had in mind for me which would be a lot of running around and making sure things were going smoothly. Between errands and in downtime and such, I will have a chance to learn more about editing and the different programs they use and they're eager to help me advance, so I'm really excited about every aspect of this. I even get to walk Benji in my free time and explore Soho a bit. I just need to remember to wear comfy shoes so that I will be able to do the running around and fetching lunch part.

I start next Thursday at 9:30 and can't wait to let you know how it goes!

Museums and Pubs and Plays, Oh My!

The last two days have certainly been cultural ones! Yesterday, I went with Chanel and Olivia to the Victoria and Albert Museum down the road. One of my favorite parts of London is that most of the museums are free! Though we were there about two hours before succumbing to hunger, we only got about halfway through the museum! And if we'd read absolutely everything, we probably wouldn't have made it past the first floor! That place is huge and full of absolutely everything you can think of. Well maybe not everything, but the collection is very well ranged. I particularly enjoyed the medieval sections. It never ceases to amaze me how intricate and beautiful their art was. I can't even imagine creating most of it with modern tools!

We thought we'd join the collection

Don't I look fabulous in Victorian dress? 

I also really enjoyed just how many tea pots from around the world were featured. I wanted to take about half of them home and now really want to learn how to properly brew tea, and not just with tea bags! I'll get on that. It's a good excuse to buy some of the pretty tea pots I've seen online. 

After a relaxing late afternoon, I decided I had enough energy to go out with some of the others in my group and braved a club/bar called O'Neil's for a few hours. Though I still find clubs too loud and crowded, I managed to have a good time! 

Despite being exhausted the next day, I managed to be on time for my lunch date today! I found my way through the tube by myself for the first time to meet an old friend from the US for lunch. We met at a place that had caught my eye on our bus tour - the Hung Drawn and Quartered! The conversation was excellent and the food as good! I had my first traditional meat pie in a pub and look forward to eating it again! 

Suri and her guinea fowl pie!

I am very pleased that restaurants here provide vinegar for your chips (we'd know them as french fries) because I adore them served like that but you don't often find it in the US!

Tonight climaxed with a trip to West End! Everyone in our British Life and Cultures class attended a performance either last week or tonight of 39 Steps. Going into it, I didn't really know much of anything about the play, so I had no idea what to expect. Our group was scattered throughout the rather small theater, and I wound up in row C, fairly near the center so I was very excited about my seat. Since I didn't know anything about the play, I made friends with the two people sitting behind me to ask them. They were a mother and daughter all the way from Australia. The daughter had just finished a high school exchange program in Germany and they were traveling briefly on their way home. 

My conversation with the daughter reveled that she was familiar with some of the places I'd seen in Sydney when I was there with People to People and we had a lovely conversation about Australia in general. Apparently it's REALLY hot there right now, approximately 40 degrees Celsius (she wanted to know why Americans wouldn't use Metric and I sadly didn't have an answer). Also, it is, in fact, true that everything in Australia wants to kill you. Everything is poisonous. I also picked up the tidbit that when they rate the risk of fire danger, the lowest possible score is medium! Also, after some severe fires a few years ago, they needed something worse than "high risk" and invented CATASTROPHIC! Only in Australia, right? 

Anyway, after chatting, I had also learned that I was expecting a comedy based on a 1915 spy novel and an Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. It was a 4 actor show, with these 4 actors playing every role. So when the lights dimmed, I was already excited. 

The show turned out to follow a 37 year old man named Richard who runs into a lovely mysterious woman named Annabella at a rather strange play. She fires a gun in the theater and gets him to take her back to his apartment where she reveals that she is a secret agent and that important knowledge is about to leave the country. Shortly after, she is killed, leaving Richard a murder suspect. I don't want to give any spoilers, so instead we're going to move onto the unique elements of the play. 

Because there were only four actors in the play and one of them constantly playing Richard, the others were left playing every other character! This required fantastic comedic timing and physical acting on their parts. I was insanely impressed with all of them being able to transform into an entirely different characters with entirely different mannerisms instantly. In addition, they pulled off some of the most impressive quick changes ever - often in only a few seconds. I'm sure there was layering involved but that doesn't make it any less impressive. I know I couldn't even begin to do it! One of my favorite bits was when the two male character actors were each playing several characters in the same scene and portrayed it by switching between two or three hats in rapid succession. It worked very well and was also absolutely hilarious! 

In addition, I was very impressed by the minimalistic sets used throughout the play. With a few basic props, sound effects, lights, a fog machine, and fantastic acting, the production managed to convey everything from a living room to a moving train. Despite the minimal sets, you totally believed it in the moment! As a former techie, I am insanely impressed by the timing and complexity of each of their cues! 

Overall, the play was very dry, British humor that reminded me very much of Monty Python. Between that and the Hitchcock references they kept slipping in, I couldn't stop laughing! They put a fantastic spin on the tropes of the thriller genre and turned them into fantastic comedy. The only disappointment I had was at the end, they had a perfect opportunity to say "it's just a flesh wound" and didn't take it! 

Photography in the Park

Well, today was my first day of classes. But I'm going to wait to cover that until I've experienced them all.

Today after class, I went to Hyde Park with my friend Shira who was part of the Sherlock crew last night. She invited her friend Sara and we set off, ignoring the ominous clouds that were creeping on the horizon. However, it's London, so we figured that it was lucky we had any sun!

The park is absolutely gorgeous! I am very jealous of Will and Kate having it for their back yard. Sadly, we didn't see them, but there were a wide variety of dogs and people to observe. I got some fantastic photographs that I'm incredibly proud of, which is my main reason for posting this entry. While we were by the pond, a family showed up to feed the birds, so I was able to get some absolutely fantastic shots.

I loved this puppy

This game was "how close can I get to the swan before it tries to hurt me?"

My favorite shot of the day!

Feeding the birds!

More sneaking up on wildlife

Sara and Shira

We also stumbled upon the Elvin Tree, a beautiful piece of art in the middle of the park. The artist had carved and painted faeries right into the tree. The tree itself has since died, but the carving is preserved. It is so beautiful, I think I'm in love!

Weekend Adventures

As this adventure continues, I wish more and more that I could detail each and every detail of my activities here. Every moment is exciting and a new experience. However, I don't think even my mother would want to read absolutely every detail of my days and the time and energy required to type it all up is beyond me at this point. However, I shall do my best to find a balance between too much and not enough. 

Our first weekend of the semester was definitely jam packed, particularly Saturday. FIE set us up with two tours, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Our morning bus tour was a great way to get the feel for how London is set up, however, 9:30 felt awfully early to be sitting in comfortable chairs in a moving bus. I managed to stay awake, but I know a lot of people didn't! 

Probably the coolest thing I learned on that bus trip was that London is so bit that it actually includes two official cities! The technical city of London only covers about one square mile within the greater London area and is only the financial district. The rest of the city is actually the city of Westminster. You know you're entering the city of London because there are dragon statues that guard the entrance. 

In the afternoon, we were scheduled for a tour of Parliament. Though I'd initially planned a nap between the tours, our faculty member invited us to lunch with him. He'd initially only mentioned it to two or three people, but all of a sudden there were 13 of us traveling together. We took the tube to Westminster Station and took a walk past Parliament and across the bridge. Our path took us along the Thames and past the London Eye. I wish that we'd had a bit more time to look around because it was full of street performers and people with large bubble blowers and that sort of thing. We wound up finding a cute sandwich cafe for lunch where our professor surprised us by saying that lunch was on him! (Well, probably on Temple, but still) 

After lunch, we walked back to Parliament and stood in line for our tour. Though we did have to go through the expected metal detectors, I was surprised at how relaxed security felt in comparison to anything in the US. 

Parliament was such a beautiful building and I wish I'd been able to take more pictures inside. However, photography and sitting were not allowed. I've never wanted to sit so much on a tour! They had us stand RIGHT by the benches Parliament sits on but we weren't allowed to sit down (which I get but it still was a pain!). It felt so incredible to be in the same room where everything in British government happens! 

While there, I found out something interesting. The phrase "toe the line" actually comes from British Parliament where the parties sit facing each other. There is a red line in the carpet on either side that they cannot cross while debating, no matter how heated things get! 

That evening, I braved my social anxiety to go to a club with my roommate and a few of our friends. Though it was certainly an adventure, I don't think that clubs are my thing. It was far too loud and far too crowded and it was impossible to have a conversation with anyone. And I keep telling myself that it was a good experience. 

Sunday night was much more to my taste. I spent the evening with a few friends watching the newest episode of Sherlock! Getting to watch it live on BBC, while actually in London was fantastic! Particularly because we were able to point out places we'd been earlier in the week! In addition, watching with a group was a wonderful experience because we were all able to yell at the screen together and share our emotional reactions. 

A Successful Adventure!

So after an early morning meeting and a few hours of rest (we had a late night) a few of us decided to break out of our little Kensington bubble and explore London. If you know me and my sense of direction, you'll be surprised to find out that I was the navigator, but it's true! Before we left, I looked over the map and found a few iconic, free landmarks that were relatively close to each other and to Tube stations. 

So with a surprisingly large group, we met up and headed out for Picadilly Circus. Despite the dreary England weather, we had a good time shooting photos and being typical American tourists. From there, it was only a short walk to Trafalgar's Square and the fantastic giant lion statues! Unfortunately, it was a bit misty and rainy, so the statues were extremely slippery and I was embarrassingly unable to climb up for a picture, but I am determined to try again when it's dry. 

From Trafalgar's Square, we wandered down to Buckingham Palace! It was a pleasant walk, though I think I'm going to in great shape after this semester - there are so many places to walk in London! Anyway, more photos were taken and we were very clearly tourists but we'd decided that as a group, we couldn't help it and we might as well embrace it, at least for the first month or so of the trip. 

At that point, we had run out of solid plan, but weren't ready to head back. My roommate Sammie had wanted to stop by Primark, which we'd heard was a cross between Target and Forever 21. 

Since we were all getting a bit hungry, we first found our way to Nando's, a British fast food place we'd heard about. We were all incredibly surprised when we got there! We'd expected something set up like our McDonalds, but instead we were seated in our own alcove, practically a private room, but distinctly more booth-like. I know one of the other girls took a picture, so I'm hoping to get ahold of that later. We placed our orders at a counter and they brought them to our table. The restaurant seemed mostly focused on chicken, but had a few other interesting options as well. Every sandwich option could be a wrap, burger, or pita style. Overall, a fantastic experience!

Once we found our way to Primark, we discovered that it was HUGE! 4 floors of huge. It was mainly clothes and fashion, with a few odds and ends such as pillows. Even better, everything felt very reasonably priced and was super cute. So I know where I'll be shopping if I need replacement clothes. 

Now that we've gotten out of our little area, the city doesn't feel quite so big and scary, and I'm looking forward to planning a few more of these excursions. It made me really happy to sort of head up this group and make this adventure happen. I have a few others in mind and can't wait to share. Before I go, allow me to leave you with one of my favorite pictures I took today, it felt very London-y to me! 

Observations About London

After having been in London for roughly 48 hours, a few things have stuck out to me in particular, as an American traveling abroad. 

1. Dogs. People have their dogs EVERYWHERE. I've seen dogs of all shapes and sizes in parks, on the streets, outside restaurants. Quite a few of the smaller ones have been in bags and I saw one woman with one big dog on a leash and a smaller one in a bag. Unfortunately, when I asked our student tour guide, he looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if it was rude to ask to pet dogs. So apparently they don't do that here. I may try anyway because dogs are awesome. 

2. Scooters. Like push with your foot razor scooters. For some reason I'm seeing more of those here than I have anywhere outside a playground. Granted, that's only about 6, but I've seen both children and young women riding them so apparently its a legit means of transportation. 

3. Street signs. When I was horribly jet lagged and trying to find my residence, I was initially baffled. I couldn't find street signs anywhere! Eventually I realized that they were on the sides of the buildings rather than on the corner. Realizing that made finding my way around so much easier. 

4. London, or at least the Kensington part of it is very clean. Particularly compared to Philadelphia, there is hardly any litter. Admittedly, there are some areas where people don't clean up after their dogs, but overall, it feels very clean and I don't constantly feel the need to take a shower after being outside. 

5. Alcohol. It is everywhere. Unlike in the US (or at least PA) where it all seems to be behind glass cases and locked doors and ID checks, even Sainsburrys (a slightly more posh Wal Mart feeling place) had isles and isles of alcohol. And I can't walk down a street without seeing at least 5 bars or wine shops or something of the like. 

6. The architecture. One of the reasons I came to London was the feel of the city. When I was here before I remember being entranced by the buildings. There's so much history in London and a lot of the buildings are older than the entire US (As an official country. The land existed of course). Everywhere I look there is a beautiful shape or fascinating bit of stonework. Everything has character and my inner filmmaker loves every bit of it. I'm headed out in a bit to go on an adventure with my camera so there should be photos soon! 

I'm Finally Here!

Oops. So its been like 2 months since I last posted on this. Once again I've proved that I'm bad at maintaining a blog. But I'm finally in London! So I plan on doing a lot more of it for those who want to follow my adventures! Plus I woke up this morning to my mother Facebook messaging me wanting to read my blog. So I suppose that's the best reason.

I've now been in London a bit over 24 hours and its just starting to seem real. I meant to start this blog yesterday with the details of my arrival but between the jetlag and being many thousands of miles away from my mother, I was a bit overwhelmed and teary.

I flew in on Kuwait Air, arriving yesterday. Despite being mad at them for delaying my luggage (I still don't have it, but I'm working on it), they were a relatively decent airline. The in flight entertainment was lackluster but I mostly listened to my audiobooks and fell asleep. The food was actually amazing for airline food. I would actually define it as food! Plus, they fed us both dinner and breakfast, so lots of points there.
I was seated next to an elderly man who appeared Arabic. I don't think he spoke much English but we got on well enough. He seemed very keen to help me and did a lot of passing me things from the flight attendant.

By the time I got through customs and out of the airport, I was absolutely exhausted. It's amazing how long a tube ride can seem when your body says it's 4 in the morning and you've slept about 3 hours on a plane. But I managed the tube ride and even found my residence without getting too lost. Once I figured out that the street signs were on the side of the buildings, I made use of my map (Thanks Dad!) and did relatively well. Even better, I happen to be living in the building where we all had to pick up our keys, so I didn't have to drag my luggage very far (though I was in fact missing half). So I found my room and put everything down. My roommate was no where to be seen though her luggage was here. I was infinitely less embarrassed about having packed my stuffed red panda when I saw the stuffed bear on her bed.

Despite my hope for a nap, I found a schedule on the bed indicating that I had some checking in to do at the FIE office, Foundation House, which is about a ten minute walk from my residence, Metrogate. However, I found the computer lab downstairs and checked in with my mom and Facebook to let everyone knew I arrived safely and headed out.

The trip to Foundation House was pretty uneventful, I got checked in, got my Oyster card which is how we get around on the tube, and was able to sign up for a pay as you go cell phone plan. It will be difficult to get used to not having a smart phone, but that's probably good for me. We took a brief walking tour of the area to get a feel for things. So I was able to figure out where to do the grocery shopping and where classes will be held (Foundation House). Once we got through the tour, I wandered to Sainsburry's which is along the lines of our Wal Mart in selection and relatively inexpensive.

Since my luggage was delayed, I had to pick up a towel as well as something to eat for dinner and breakfast. Also, since our beds were pretty plain, I picked up a blue duvet cover that is serving to make this feel much more like home. Probably silly in retrospect, but my exhausted, over emotional brain wanted to feel like I was taking ownership of the room.

Once back at the room, I had a couple hours before my hall orientation meeting, so I got the wi fi figured out, and discovered something interesting about England. Signing into Netflix gives a rather different selection of media than back in the states. Not any worse or better, just different. For instance, I was able to watch the 4th Pirated of the Caribbean movie and saw a lot more recent Disney than I have access to at home. I don't plan on spending a whole lot of time watching Netflix of course, but it's really nice during down time.

At this point, I also met my roommate, Sammie. She is also a Temple student, an advertising major. After living alone for a year and a half, I was a bit worried about having a roommate but so far so good.

After a brief nap, we went downstairs to our Residence Life orientation meeting, where we met our Resident Life Supervisors or RLS's. So far, life seems pretty much what I expected here except that they enforce quiet hours after 11 PM. Which is not all together a bad thing at all. Apparently, since we are staying in Kensington, a very posh area, they like to keep things quiet.

Beyond that, I tried to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime, but couldn't help dozing off around 10. Which isn't an unreasonable bed time, just felt awfully early. However, it was probably good because we had to be at a meeting at 9:15 this morning for our proper orientation. My main comment about this orientation is that it was unfortunate that they didn't feed us or provide coffee or anything because I know almost everyone was dozing off very quickly.

However, we got out for lunch at around 12 for an hour and a half lunch. My roommate and I found a cute cafe with her friend Morgan where I got a coffee with EXTRA espresso so I'm actually functioning now. After eating, we met up with two girls from American University who were eating next to us and wandered around for a while.
We then returned to the meeting for a lecture on student life and such, where we found out about how things are run (more on that as it actually happens). And the meeting even let out an hour early, so Sammie and Morgan and a few others of us went to Sainsburry's to pick up some groceries, so I now have decent meals for a few days.

And now I'm relaxing before our reception at 6 which is right across the street. They're providing free food and drinks and will have a few things we can sign up for and all that, so it should be a good time. I'll be sure to let you know when I find out.

Fun fact: Prince William and Kate and George live a few blocks from me in Kensington Palace and before the baby, Kate could often be seen walking to dogs in the park and Harry still frequents the stores around here!