Leaving London!

So today is my last day in London. I've been keeping so busy trying to see and do as much as I can before I leave so that's why I haven't really written on here at all.

Since I last posted, I've been to the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Design Museum, the Tate Britain, and The Bank of England Museum. We also had our "closing ceremonies" on Tuesday, where we got parting gifts and were together as a group for the last time, and last night we had a going away dessert party with cake and ice cream and home made chocolate chip cookies.

I had my last day of work on Wednesday, and as I was leaving my co-workers gave me a card... that had 250 pounds in it. As well as a pack of Happy Hippos, this amazing cookie/candy thing that I love. I can't believe they paid me. More important than the money, obviously, is that I know how much they appreciated everything I did this summer, and it's a really good feeling. I obviously need to follow up with a thank you note, in which I will ask for a letter of recommendation. YAY!

Today I'm going to go walk down by the Thames one last time, and later this afternoon we're all going to have tea at the same place we went the first weekend. I'm almost finished packing, but it doesn't feel like I'm leaving. I'm really going to miss it here.

See you all in a couple days!

This Week

Last night was our dinner/dancing cruise on the Thames, which was so nice. It was perfect weather (minus a little rain) and seeing London all lit up from the river was beautiful. I took a bunch of pictures so I'll post them later.

Wednesday night I went to a screening of Tropic Thunder with another girl on the program (my roomate got us tickets). It was pretty funny, mostly stupid humor, but I'm glad it was free... I don't think I would've paid to see it.

Tuesday night I went to see Wicked with two friends. It wasn't my favorite out of all the plays I've seen here but I still enjoyed it.

Tonight we're going to the Tate Britain, and this weekend I'm going to try to finish up all the things I want to do in London but haven't had time to yet: go to Little Venice, Hyde Park, the V&A Museum, and the Design Museum, as well as ride the London Eye. I can't believe I'll be home in like a week.

Another Wonderful Day in London...

Today we did Madame Tussauds (which was fun except for the lines), The British Museum (the most exciting parts for me were the Egyptian exhibit and the Rosetta Stone), and The London Dungeon (super cheesy but still fun). Andddd I had wonderful fettucine alfredo for dinner, I'd missed it. Overall another great day in London.

Pictures from today!

Brighton

So today we spent the whole day in Brighton. It's on the south coast of England and by far my favorite place that I've visited so far since I've been here. The weather was perfect, sunny and around 80, and it was the best day I've had all summer.

We went straight to the beach from the train station... I think I prefer sand beaches to pebble beaches (yes, even with how much I hate sand) because the rocks hurt my feet. We lay in the sun for a couple hours, which was fabulous because I am finally not incredibly pale. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the beach (I had macaroni and cheese, random but amazing) and then walked to Brighton Pier. We rode several rides (a couple roller coasters, a log flume, a haunted house... yes I kept my eyes closed... and a really incredibly tall one you can see in my pictures called the Booster.) The Booster was SO tall-- I've never been scared on a ride before... until that. We had to sit at the top while they were loading the rest of the passengers and it was ridiculously scary. Once the ride started going, though, it was a huge rush and a beautiful view of all of Brighton. After getting ice cream (wonderful) we went back to the beach for a couple hours before coming home. Overall it was an amazingly relaxing and fun day... I want to go back. It was definitely the boost I needed to make it through these last two weeks in busy, crowded, dirty London (even though I love it).

Tomorrow we're going to Madame Tussauds, The British Museum, and The London Dungeon. Best weekend so far? I think so.

Here's the link to my album from Brighton: pictures.

I promise I will get around to posting pictures from Dublin sometime soon!

Nothing in Particular

So today after work I went to some London Harry Potter filming locations (Gringotts, Kings Cross Station, 12 Grimmauld Place, etc.) and it was awesome.

Today I really miss Madam, mexican food, and home in general. It's nice to know that I'll be home soon.

I had the afternoon of yesterday and I went to the Tower of London. I got to see where Ann Boleyn was jailed, executed, and buried, along with a lot of other important people (Catherine Howard, Sir Walter Raleigh, etc.). I took one of the free guided Yeoman Warder tours, which was really historically informative and entertaining. It's probably been one of my favorite sightseeing places in London.

Afterward I went by Westminster Cathedral, a lot less well-known than Westminster Abbey but still gorgeous.

This weekend is going to be great. Saturday we're spending the day in Brighton Beach (there's a pier and restaurants and I don't know what else) and Sunday we're having a whole day packed of London sightseeing: The British Museum, Madame Tussauds, and The London Dungeon (an amusement park with attractions like Sweeney Todd, Jack the Ripper, and the Great London Fire). super exciting.

Paris Pictures

SO here are my Paris pictures, finally!

PARIS.

Paris

Paris was AMAZING. We took a Eurostar train through the tunnel and it was only like 2 hours from London. We had a bus tour of all the important sites and had lunch in a traditional French restaurant (I had quiche) then checked into our hotel, which was super nice. We even had a view of the Eiffel Tower from our window. Right after we got settled we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. It was 12 Euro to take the lift (elevator) to the top, and the view was absolutely as breathtaking as you could imagine. We also saw the Arc de Triomphe that afternoon. That night, we went to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up (it was blue!) and it sparkles for ten minutes every hour on the hour, and it was so so pretty.

The next morning we took a boat down the Seine that drops you off at the main monuments and places. We went to Notre Dame, and the inside was the most amazing thing I've seen so far on this trip. For lunch I had the best cheese pizza I've ever had in my entire life, ever, then we got back on the boat and got off at the Louvre. We saw all the big works (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Sphinx, Winged Victory) and the building itself was gorgeous. We had to rush, but it was totally worth it. We took the train home (and I read Harry Potter the whole way) and I went right to sleep. Overall it was a great weekend, even though Paris isn't my favorite city in the world, but I'm definitely glad to be back in London.

I'll be posting pictures from this weekend in the next few days!
And, I'm going to Dublin this weekend, yay.

Back from Paris

So, I just got home from Paris. It was amazing, and that's all I have the energy to say about it. I'll write more later.

Oxford

Oxford was absolutely amazing. Look at the second photo album on the last entry for pictures.

We saw SO much Harry Potter amazingness... it was wonderful. At The New College, we saw two courtyards where parts of the movies and at Christ Church College, we saw the Great Hall (!) and a staircase featured in the first movie.

The town of Oxford as a whole was really pretty and really old. We saw a tower that was a thousand years old... crazy.

Today was incredibly rainy in London, and the forecast says it will rain for most of the week. Tonight we saw Avenue Q, a play in the West End, and it was absolutely hilarious; I liked it even more than Spamalot. The only play I plan to see that I haven't already is Wicked.

Upcoming exciting events:
Tuesday- seminar for our Paris trip this weekend!
Thursday- group trip to see Mamma Mia! (the movie)
Saturday/Sunday- PARIS!!!!!!!
Monday- going to Shakespeare's Globe to see A Midsummer Night's Dream

In other words, London is amazing and I'm so glad I'm utilizing my time here so I can see and do as much as possible.

Pictures

I will write about this weekend when I'm not so exhausted. But here are two photo albums, one from this whole trip and one from this weekend in Oxford where we saw all of the Harry Potter filming sites.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006372&l=a0763&id=1395090091

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006586&l=f30f0&id=1395090091

London Wonderfulness

Thursday was GREAT. I had the entire afternoon off to go to galleries; I went to Tate Modern and the Hayward Gallery, which had an amazing exhibit called Art Meets Architecture. That night we went to see Spamalot, which was so incredibly funny.

I had all day Friday off to go to galleries. I went to The Photographers Gallery (which was okay), The National Portrait Gallery (which was great), and the Barbican Art Gallery which had a Viktor and Rolf fashion exhibit that was absolutely ridiculously amazing. Friday night we went to a restaurant that had a 4th of July celebration, and all the Americans sang the Star Spangled Banner as loud as possible at one point and it was wonderful.

Today, I spent the entire afternoon at the London Zoo. We saw all the typical zoo animals (zebra, giraffes, camels, meerkats, penguins, etc.) PLUS the Reptile House, where Harry Potter learned how to talk to snakes... amazing. This evening we went out to dinner with the program at a really nice restaurant.

Tomorrow, we're spending the day in Oxford where we'll see some amazing historical sites (Oxford Divinity School, etc.) and wonderful Harry Potter filming locations.

Back to work Monday, but Monday night, my roommate and I are planning to go see the play Avenue Q. So exciting!

Exciting News

So, although things at my office have been a little disappointing so far, I have a wonderful opportunity tomorrow. Patricia suggested that I go visit the photography galleries in London-- at the company's expense. I'll have the whole afternoon to visit places like Tate Modern (http://tate.org.uk/modern) and Proud Galleries (www.proudgalleries.co.uk) and see some amazing photography exhibits. I couldn't be more excited.

In other news, I did laundry for the first time this evening (yuck) and today was the "hottest day of the year" in London, a whopping 77 degrees Fahrenheit. What a joke.

Yesterday, I got off work even earlier than usual and went to Westminster Abbey. It was 9 pounds for students, and it was worth every bit of it. They have a free audio tour, which I did, and everything was so beautiful (especially the ceiling). As you all probably know, Westminster has held the funerals of many important people (most notably Diana Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth), and it has been the site of the coronation of every British monarch since like 1500. It also holds the tombs of many important British royals (Mary Queen of Scots, King Henry VII, etc.) as well as other famous people (Geoffrey Chaucer, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, The Unknown Warrior, etc.). It was absolutely amazing and the postcards don't do it justice-- I had to buy some, though, since photography isn't permitted inside.

Also, my program has decided to sponsor a trip to Oxford by charter bus this Sunday for only 15 pounds which means we can do our own Harry Potter tour for much cheaper! We'll be seeing everything we would have seen on the tour, but for a lot less money and at our own pace. I can't wait. Saturday afternoon, we're going to visit the filming locations for Harry Potter in London (King's Cross Station, The London Zoo, etc.). Yay for saving money slash Harry Potter amazingness!

Tonight I'm going to take advantage of the warm weather and go take some night shots of Big Ben and Parliament.

My Weekend

I can't believe I've already been here two weeks. I feel like even though I'm here for two months, it's not even close to enough time to do everything I want to do.

This weekend was incredibly amazing, however. Friday I went dancing with some girls from the program at this club where they play mostly American music, so that was fun. Yesterday, we took buses to Stonehenge and Bath. We spent about an hour at Stonehenge, where they have a complimentary audio tour that gave the history and interesting facts. It was really neat and definitely worth seeing. In Bath, we ate lunch at an authentic Italian pizza place (they spoke Italian) and I had an amazing mushroom pizza. Afterwards, we toured the Roman Baths. The baths are surprisingly intact, and they have remnants from the original building. The highlight of the day, however, was the Thermae Bath spa. It was 22 pounds for a two-hour session. The top floor was a rooftop pool from which you could see amazing views of Bath. The second floor had four different steam rooms: mint, eucalyptus, frankincense (!!!!?), and lavender, as well as foot baths with jets and bubbles, and a mineral shower. The first floor was an indoor pool with a current like a lazy river and a hot tub in the middle. It was definitely worth the money-- it was one of the most relaxing and memorable things I've ever done in my life.

Today, I slept in for the first time since being in London-- only until 10am, though-- and went to Camden Market with my roommate and another girl on the program. There was an innumerable number of shops and stands; I got almost all of my souvenir shopping done, and I got a few cool things for myself, too. It was incredibly crowded, so I'm glad I got to see it but I don't plan to go back.

Tonight, it's early to bed to rest up for the work week. This Thursday I'm going to see SPAMALOT (yay!). I'm still trying to figure out plans for Friday (the 4th of July)-- it's going to be the first time in years that I haven't been at the beach with my family, sad. Saturday, hopefully, the Harry Potter tour is going to work out; I'm going to try to book it Tuesday. Saturday night is a "Night on the Town" sponsored by the program. Sunday, I'm going to try to make it to the Tower of London, since we didn't go today, to ride the London Eye, and go to Tate Modern Art Gallery. So much to do, all the time. No wonder I'm exhausted.

Today!

So, they let me off work today at 3:30 because they ran out of things for me to do-- which was completely fine with me because it was a beautiful day and all I'd been doing was labeling envelopes. I took the Tube to Oxford Circus for the first time & went to TopShop, this ridiculously cheap but amazing store (think Forever 21 but much, much cuter stuff). I spent a reasonable amount of money-- less than I would have in the states-- and I love what I got. I decided I'm only going shopping three times while I'm here: once in June, July and August. Two more to go. If I spend the same amount of money the next two times, my bank account will have nothing to worry about. Amazing.

Tonight, we're having spaghetti for dinner (yay) then we have a seminar with an inspirational speaker, Oliver Hicks (I think), who is going to attempt to row solo around the world starting this October. Then lots and lots of sleep. I hope the weather's as nice as it was today (like 75) for the rest of the time I'm here.

Tegan & Sara

Tonight, I saw my favorite band, Tegan and Sara, at a music venue called Shepherds Bush Empire in east (I think) London. It was a huge place with a capacity of 2,000 people or so. I was on the front row of the first balcony-- there were three. I had a great view, and they played for over an hour. After the show, we went to the stage door to see if we could catch them coming out. Instead, they stuck their heads out of a first story window and sang "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper, who they just toured with in the US. It was just as memorable as meeting them would have been.

Work is going well. Today, I started updating their contact database-- it will probably take weeks. At least I get to sit at a desk all day instead of running errands all over the place like last week.

And today on my lunch break, I finally went to the Post Office to exchange more currency. I bought postcard stamps so maybe you'll get one soon. I also got my first piece of mail today; thanks Dad.

Today, I said I was cold at work and one of my co-workers told me to put on a "jumper." A jumper. Apparently, that means sweater in England English. Other fun phrases I've discovered include car park, queue, scarper (sp?), and loo. I'll add more later.

My First Full Weekend in London

This weekend has been amazing.

Saturday from 10am-3pm we took a double-decker bus tour of London. It was chilly and kind of rainy so it wasn't ideal, but we saw EVERYTHING from Big Ben to The Tower of London to Tower Bridge, and about every other famous landmark in London. The pictures are posted at the link below.

pictures!

Saturday night, we took a train to a town called Guildford in Surrey to see "Potted Potter." The point of the play is for two guys to act out all seven of the Harry Potter books in seventy minutes. It was absolutely hilarious and definitely worth the trip. It was also neat to get out of London for an evening and see some of the English countryside.

Today, Caitlin and I woke up kinda early so we could get a full day in London. We went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard at 11:15 this morning. We ate lunch in a cute pub called The Princess of Wales, and I had an amazing stuffed baked potato. After lunch, we went to The National Gallery (admission was free!) and saw works by Rembrandt, da Vinci, Monet, Michaelangelo, Degas, Cezanne, Seurat, Raphael, Botticelli, and Van Gogh. It was AMAZING. Afterward, we had traditional afternoon tea at a really nice hotel overlooking Buckingham Palace. I had peppermint tea and the scones were delicious.

I am exhausted and completely not excited about going to work tomorrow. After having so much free time, spending the whole day for five days in a row inside sounds like the worst idea in life. Oh well.

My First Day of Work

So today was my first day of work. After showering and breakfasting, I made the 45-minute commute across London to Patricia McMahon Photography. It's a short walk, a medium-length tube ride, and a long walk or short bus ride. And very tiring.

There are four account managers, one receptionist and Patricia herself in my office. It's only two rooms, both with a couple desks and workspaces. Today, I did everything from updating photographers' portfolios to calling modeling agencies for updated model directories to looking through a photographer's portfolio and then find magazine advertisements that were similar to his work. It was really neat to see all the photographs; between all the photographers (Patricia represents 8 or 9) they've photographed countless celebrities (Simon Cowell, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Mischa Barton, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Winehouse, etc.) and had works published in Vogue, GQ, Elle, and tons of other magazines. One photographer takes pictures for movie posters, including Wedding Crashers, Elf, Disturbia, Spiderman, High School Musical, and lots of others.

The website is www.patriciamcmahon.com if you want to look at the online portfolios yourself.

I'm pretty sure there is a photo shoot tomorrow, and Patricia said she would take me with her! So exciting.

I'm definitely staying in tonight to get some sleep; I hope I get used to this full-time work schedule thing quickly so I still have energy to see more of London in the evenings.

The only thing getting me through this very long week is Saturday's double decker bus tour of London with lunch at a really cool local restaurant. And Saturday night, I'm going to see "Potted Potter" (a Harry Potter parody play) with my roommate and a few other people from the program in Surrey. I'm sure it will end up being one of the highlights of my trip, haha.

Picture Website

I will be posting ALL of my pictures from London at this website:
Pictures! yay!

This one is my favorite so far.

My First Typical Tourist Day

I have never been so tired in my life. I went on a Tube run with my adviser Mat this morning around 11am to find my job. Turns out I have to walk 10 minutes to the Tube stop, ride the Tube for 10 minutes, then ride a bus for 10 minutes, then walk about 5 minutes to get to my office. At least I don't start work until 10am.

Afterwards, I met up with some other people in the program and we took the Tube to Charing Cross Road. We saw EVERYTHING: foreign embassies, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The London Eye, Parliament, The Stable House (where Princes William and Harry live, in addition to some Duchess and some other royal people), Westminster Abbey, and the Thames River. I took lots of pictures on my new amazing camera; I'll try to post them later. We went to The Queen's Gallery (it was 8.50 pounds to get in), where we saw works by Rembrandt and Caravaggio, and they had a special exhibit of the early sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci. We also saw furniture and paintings dating as far back as the twelfth century, as well as the Royal Crown Jewels.

As this is one of our only free days (no work or scheduled activities), I'm really glad I spent the whole day out sightseeing. I also went by the cell phone store to add minutes to my phone, so it's finally activated so I can make calls. Tonight we have our first group dinner, and after that I'll probably go to sleep early since tomorrow is my first day of work.

#1 bad thing about London so far: the showers. There is only one temperature, scalding hot, and you have to press a button every sixty seconds to keep water flowing.
#2: Almost all drinks are served room temperature, without ice. Even water. I've only seen ice in a drink one single time since I've been here.
#3: The whole wrong-side-of-the-road problem. I always look the wrong way for cars before crossing the road. And people drive faster and crazier than anywhere I've ever seen.

I'll probably be adding to that list as the summer goes on; however, everything else is amazing and I couldn't be happier to be here.

London!

I arrived in London yesterday afternoon to chilly but sunny weather and a really nice, large dorm room. Last night we had a welcome dinner, and then I went to Piccadilly Circus, which is similar to Times Sqaure, with some friends from the program. I love the city already; it's very clean and the people are friendly and helpful with directions. Today we had lunch and orientation to our area and the program, and later we're planning to go out to eat with the girls that live in my flat. The time difference is starting to hit me so I'm going to take a nap this afternoon. My first day of work is Tuesday, and tomorrow a staff member is going to show me how to get there so I won't get lost. Overall, everything is going wonderfully and it seems like this is going to be an amazing summer!