Why won't you ever do what I want you to? ahhh

So yesterday I had a large reality check from the working world.  I realized yesterday that I can NEVER get a job that requires you to sit in front of a computer all day because that's what I did and I literally thought I was going to pull all my hair out.  It was one of the most frustrating days I've had in awhile and my roommates probably thought I was crazy when I got home because I was in such a bad mood haha.  A run/walk in Regents Park with lots of venting cured that mood right away though so that put me in a significantly better mood.

Microsoft Office was the cause of my frustration because it literally never does what I want it to and yesterday was no exception.  I had to make a stock chart/table of all her accessories that I had counted to day before and I was not sure how the best way to format it was.  I'm not very good with excel so I switched back and forth from using that word and power point until I finally figured out that Excel was the best way to go.  It took me basically the whole morning to figure this out and that frustrated me because I felt like I was taking hours to do something that could have been done in minutes.  I was disappointed in myself because I feel like I was moving too slow and I want to go above and beyond her expectations for me.  My stomach growing caused me to take a much needed break so I headed back to where I had gotten lunch the day before but this time I decided to give McDonalds a chance because they have these new deli select items that looked pretty good...major mistake.  They screwed up my order not once but twice.  First they gave me a regular chicken sandwich instead of the grilled chicken sandwich that I had ordered.  Then they gave me a grilled chicken sandwich with mayo even after I had specifically asked for no mayo.  Third times the charm I guess because I finally got my sandwich 20 min later.  This put me on edge too because my boss probably thought I died yet again.  When I finally tried the sandwich, it was not very good so much lunch was just as frustrating as the rest of my day.

After my McDonalds fiasco, I came back ready to conquer and finish the table.  I had to take pictures of all the accessories and load them and add them to the chart as well.  I finally did all that and saved it and was finally ready to send it to her and be done with it for good...not the case.  The file was too big to send over email because of all the pictures.  So because of that I had to go back and compress all the pictures, copy and paste them back into the chart, and then finally send it to her.  O my gosh I've never hated computers so much but I was SO happy to be done with that chart.  She also complimented me several times and said that it looked great so that did make me feel better that she appreciated my hard work.  Next week we're going to start listing the items on Etsy and start calling around to local boutiques to see if they will purchase and sell some of her items.  I've never done this before so it will definitely be a good learning experience in dealing with buyers and selling products to them.  She even said if we sell a lot, she was thinking about giving me a cut of it...score!  So I have to put my selling shoes on so I can sell her stuff for her!  Hopefully I'll be good at it but we'll see haha.

Today we had a lecture on the Olympics in the morning and a "walking tour" of the site of the 2012 games.  The lecture was actually really interesting and I learned a lot.  Over 10,000 athletes will be here in 2012 from over 205 countries competing in 26 different sports...now that's crazy.  4 billion people will tune in to watch London become the first city to host the games 3 times as well.  They took away baseball and softball for 2012 which I think is stupid and they added women's boxing....someone please explain that to me.  So this "walking tour" was not really a walking tour.  We walked around the sketchy neighborhood that they are building the entire Olympic park in and didn't even get to go in any of the stadiums.  We saw them from a distance which was disappointing because I thought we would get to go in some of the complexes o well.  The stadiums looked really cool though and it will definitely help out the area greatly so it will all be good in the end. 

 The new Olympic Stadium

After all the Olympicing, we went to get tea.  We went to this little french bakery and it was rally good.  I got mango tea and a fruit eclair.  Unfortunately the eclair and my stomach did not become friends because when we went shopping after, I thought I was going to puke everywhere.

River Island, the store I got stuff from last week, was having a one day sale so we decided to go...poor decision.  Once again it was utter mass chaos.  Clothes, shoes, bags, and people everywhere all over the store and the floor of the store.  Shopping here is nothing but frustrating and so annoying.  I couldn't find my size in anything and people bump into you like its no big deal.  The line to check out was so long that even though there was a shirt I wanted, I didn't get it because I would probably still be standing in line right now to buy it.  After the epic fail in River Island, we attempted to go into Zara...again nothing but frustration and rude people.  I go to the dressing room to try on stuff and the guy tells me I can only take in 6.  That was fine but the thing that made me mad was the fact that he just plopped my other stuff that I couldn't take to the dressing room in the pile of stuff to go back to the sales floor.  He said that he couldnt guarantee that it wouldn't be put back out but I had no choice so I just tried on the stuff that I could take back as fast as possible.  5 minutes later I go to switch out my stuff and o it's gone.  I asked him where it was and he says sorry I warned you that they were fast.  Seriously?  He knew my stuff was there and could easily put it aside or tell them not to take it but no he didn't.  He didn't care at all and I thought I was going to punch him in the face.  After that I went upstairs and found more stuff but didn't want to go back to the dressing room.  So I did what I normally do, found a mirror and started to try on a shirt over my clothes.  To my surprise another employee told me I couldn't do that and that I needed to go to the dressing room...really?  At that point, I said screw it they don't deserve my business so we all left.  Morale of the story Zara stinks so don't shop there.  We decided to walk back because it was nice outside and needed to blow off some steam but there were so many people on the street that I don't know if it made me feel better or stressed me out more.  Literally I think that all Londoners do is shop because that's what I always see them doing.  It's ridiculous.  Oxford Street, which is where we were, was more crowded than New York in my opinion and you know it's bad when you think something is more crazy than New York.

On the way back we stopped in Selfridges which is a massive department store hybrid because it's like a store, mall, and grocery store all wrapped in one.  We went in there because another girl on our trip had found a box of Lucky Charms for 7.50 pounds....I had to see this for myself.  So sure enough there it was on the shelf for 7.50 pounds...so ridiculous but funny at the same time.  Here's the proof haha

We finally got back and made dinner and have been relaxing ever since.  We've been trying to do research for our trip to Barcelona next weekend and possibly going to Windsor castle on Sunday.  I'm so excited for Spain next weekend and I think it would be good for us to take a break from London and get out of the city to see the oldest castle in the world and just chill.  Hopefully it'll happen but we'll see!  Tomorrow we have an all day trip to the city of Bath and Stonehinge.  I don't really know what to expect again but hopefully it will be fun since we will be gone from 10 am to 11 pm...guess we'll see haha.  I'm so tired after this week though so a nice bus nap will be good.  I'm happy to only work 3 days because I feel like it's the perfect amount and it was great to hang out with everyone today.  I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend and spending time with my friends so hopefully it will be a good one but we're in London so I don't see how it couldn't be.  Crazy to think that I've been here 2 weeks already...going back to real life is going to be hard but that's not for a while so o well!  Well it's off to read and sleep because we have to be up fairly early tomorrow so cheerio!

Working Girl Day 2...success

Day 2 of work=success!  It's weird because half of me loves working and being independent but the other half just wants to stay in college and a kid forever.  I don't feel old enough to have a job but while riding on the Tube yesterday I realized that I am old enough to have a big girl job.  I'm a year and a half away from graduation...scary but exciting at the same time.  I love the feeling of independence that this job has given me but I have a feeling that I'm going to learn how tiring and exhausting the real world is well at least for 15 days anyway haha.

So today my boss showed up a little late which was fine because it made me feel better to know that everyone makes mistakes and are human.  Today was a great day though and we got a good amount done. I did research in the morning on what to call her online store because the name is so important.  The name of the store has to show her style esthetic, describe what she's selling, be memorable to customers, and be easily searchable on the internet.  You would never think that the smallest details down to the name would be important but they really are.  Everything in the fashion industry is about organization, attention to detail, and commitment to your work.  It's amazing how much work goes into being a designer because she basically has to be in charge of and do everything for herself since she doesn't have a ton of money to hire a bunch of people to help her.  I have so much more respect for fashion designers now even after working for one for only 2 days because they really have to go through so much to make it and unfortunately most don't.  We even talked about how hard it is today and it just gave me so much more respect for her.  I really really like this job and I'm seriously so glad I was placed here because it's going to give me once in a lifetime experience and it's definitely teaching me more about the fashion industry.

After lunch, I began to go through her inventory of accessories.  I counted, organized, and separated the different accessories that range from pins to bracelets to men's ties.  I had no idea that she even made half of this stuff and it was really cool to go through because it showed her amazing talent.  The designs are very detailed and lovely and there's no way I could make anything like she did haha.  Inventory basically took up the rest of my afternoon and I did some more research for her store as well.  She let me off early again because she had a meeting with her agent.  I've come to realize that if you ever need help falling asleep, just hope on the Tube because it has literally made me so tired after work the past 2 days.  I was smart today and wore my rainbows on my commute to work and my feet were very thankful haha.  I felt like a true Londoner.  2 of my roommates and I went on a run/walk in Regent's park after work and it felt so so good.  The weather was perfect for running because it rained today and was much cooler thank goodness.  The past couple nights have been brutal and I was definitely sweating last night while I was skyping in my room...so not fun.  The weather is supposed to be low 70s and high 60s the next week though so I'm very thankful because that's the kind of weather that I packed for.  Tomorrow is the last day of work this week and it's crazy because tomorrow we will have been here for 2 weeks.  It definitely doesn't feel like 2 weeks at all either...time is flying by and I know that when we start traveling this trip will be over before I know it which makes me really sad because I'm really enjoying it and then summer will be over too!  O well I'm just going to enjoy everyday as best as I can and not worry about it.  It's time to watch the Bachelorette though so cheerio for now!

Real world here I come!

The real world has got nothing on me haha.  Today was the first day of my internship with a fashion designer and I loved it!  I was a little nervous about it from my experience last week when I went for my interview but today was much better and much less sketchy.  The area is actually very quaint now that I've seen it and I'm pretty sure that I'm really close to where the Olympics will be next year.  I have to ask to find out for sure though. 

I didn't have to go in until 10:30 this morning because I didn't want to get there before her again.  I actually got there a little late because it took me longer to get ready than I thought it would but she didn't care thankfully.  When I got there she had me go run and pick up part of her spring/summer 2011 collection at a PR firm about 30 min away.  I got to ride the double-decker bus and see more of London that I haven't seen before.  It took me a little bit to find the firm because it was on like a tiny back street but I eventually found it haha.  2 of the girls that are on my trip actually work for that PR firm so I saw them when I picked up the clothing.  It was really funny because I actually wondered if anyone on my trip was working for them.  Once I got the clothes, I had to lug them back on the bus back to her studio...that was a feat.  It was SO hot today and I chose to wear black jeans...dumb.  I feel so disgusting from walking around and carrying the dresses everywhere but everyone else said that they had to run errands for their jobs too so I wasn't alone. 

After I got back, I explored the area around her studio because she told me to get acquainted with the area.  The problem was I was still carrying the clothes so the exploring didn't last too long haha.  When I got back, I unloaded all the clothing, ate lunch, and began to help her with organization.  That's pretty much what I did the rest of the afternoon and that was fine with me because I love to organize.  She just moved studios so she still has a lot of organizing to do so we'll be doing a lot of that this week.  I also did some research for her because I will be setting up an online shop for her.  My computer ended up dying though so she let me leave early...score!  We going to start inventory and organizing tomorrow so hopefully it'll be fun!  I really like her a lot so I'm glad that they placed me where we did.  It's definitely going to be a great experience so I'm excited.  It will go by fast though because I'm only working there for 15 days...so weird.

Since I got off early, I got to explore a little around my flat and I found a Marks and Spencers that is close which made me so happy because that is going to be my go to grocery store.  The weather is here SO hot and sticky though.  It's supposed to cool down tomorrow and the rest of the week and I can't wait.  Our flat is so hot because we don't have air conditioning and 2 small fans.  It's getting a little bit better though and hopefully the cooler weather will make it liveable again.  Hopefully work the next 2 days will go well.  On Thursday, we have a lecture on the Olympics and a tour of the future Olympic site and then Friday we are going to Bath and Stonehenge.  I'm excited for both so hopefully they will be fun too!  Well off to fix dinner and relax after a long hot day.  Cherrio!

Are we there yet?

To say that I'm dead tired right now is an understatement...the past 2 days have been non-stop crazy!  Yesterday was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life.  We went to Wimbledon and I'm so so glad that I did!

We started our day around 6:15 and let me tell you that was not easy ha.  We had to take the Tube to get there but the funny thing was, was that we didn't get off at the Wimbledon stop.  We got off at a stop 2 before Wimbledon because the complex isn't actually in the town of Wimbledon...weird right?  When we got there, we joined the queue, which is the never ending line and this is what we came upon...

You can't really tell how many people are in line but let me just tell you that there were about 9000 people in front of us and we got there at 8:15.  People camped out the night before and one of the officials said that people started queueing up at 6:30...some people really like tennis haha.  We didn't seriously think it would be that crowded that early but you live and you learn I guess.  After we joined the queue, the waiting game began.  We sat and stood in like for 8 hours to get in...so worth it though.  The annoying part though was when we got up and moved from this field we got all excited thinking that we were going to get in soon...not the case at all.  We weaved in and out of lines for probably another 3 hours thinking every time that when we went around a corner we were close so it was a lot of ups and downs.  It was pretty cold in the morning so that was a little annoying but thankfully it didn't rain otherwise we would have been screwed.  The weather was absolutely PERFECT when we finally got in which was around 4:30.

Finally getting to go in the complex was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.  It was definitely a surreal moment because Wimbledon is one of my favorite sporting events of all time.  Never in a million years would I ever have thought that I would actually get to go and watch tennis at Wimbledon.  It was so cool and the complex was absolutely beautiful.  There were SO many people there and so many different types of people too.  You saw anything from dresses and suits to like holister shorts and flip-flops.  We wandered around for awhile because we had a grounds ticket which only let us go to courts 3-19.  Most of the good tennis had already been played by the time we got in but I didn't even care because I was in Wimbledon.  We saw Francesca Schiavone, who is a very scary Italian woman that was the runner up of the French open this year I believe, play doubles.  She was the most famous person that we saw though.  We tried to bump off center court tickets but unfortunately I wasn't that lucky.

 Center Court

 All of us waiting in line foreverrrrrr

We ended up leaving probably around 8:30 but I honestly couldn't tell you because we were so tired from the day and so hungry that we could have eaten our hands.  We were all so delirious it was probably entertaining for the people on the Tube with us.  We finally got to this great greek restaurant at around 9:15 and the meal was well worth the wait.  We headed home after our delicious meal at the Real Greek and crashed.  I could barely keep my eyes open because I was so tired and delirious but like I said it was so worth it it's not even funny.

So this morning I got up and ran with one of the girls on my trip and it was great!  I kinda died but we ran through Regents park and it is absolutely beautiful!  I haven't run in awhile so I'll definitely be feeling it tomorrow but it was great to finally exercise.  We did a little shopping at River Island and TopShop today but they were both crazy and I was not in the mood or feeling too well so it was a very short lived shopping trip haha.  We came back and met up with some other girls and began our marathon afternoon of sight seeing.  We originally planned to only go to Big Ben, Parliament, and the Tower Bridge but we ended up seeing all those plus St. Paul's Cathedral, the Globe Theater, the London Bridge (which is not falling down by the way haha), and a couple other that I can't remember.  We walked to all of them too because the weather was gorgeous out today!  It got a little hot but it was a nice break from the cold rainy weather that we've been having.  Don't worry though that weather is coming back on Tuesday...thanks London.

 Tower Bridge

 St. Paul's Cathedral

 Globe Theater

 Big Ben

After all our frolicking around the Thames River we headed back, picked up some pizza at Pizza Express (delicious), and took our dinner to Regent's Park to picnic.  The weather was great and definitely a good night to picnic but apparently we weren't the only people who had the idea because the park was packed.  We were going to go to Primrose Hill to watch the sunset but we got so tired and started to get cold so we headed back for a little down time.  The last 2 days have been exhausting but definitely worth it!  My first day of work is tomorrow though so wish me luck because I'm definitely a wee bit nervous but excited too.  I'm sure it will go well and hopefully go by fast though.  Real world here I come!  Cheerio!

Pictures from the trip!

So since some of y'all don't have facebook and I haven't uploaded any pictures anyway I figured I would add some on my blog!

 Westminster Abbey!

 Harrods

 Chihuly sculpture in the V&A

 In front of the parent trap house

 The Lion King!

 Outside the British Museum

 In front of the Radcliffe Camera at Oxford

 Yummy lunch from Oxford haha

 Christ's Church at Oxford

A couple of us after The Lion King!

Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, and o yeah Oxford

So I realized last night thanks to my mom that I forgot to explain the title of my post yesterday...oops haha.  Mind the gap is what they say when you get off the train to warn you that there is a gap between the train and the platform.  I didn't have anything witty to put for my title yesterday so that's all I came up with ha.

We ventured up to Oxford today and it was actually surprisingly really fun!  We had to be up and ready by 8:15 which was a bit of a struggle but Starbucks solves everything so I made it haha.  The only annoying part was that we were literally all there before 8:30 and the bus was late...lame.  The bus ride was about an hour and the British countryside is beautiful!  The rolling hills were so green so the ride was very nice.  We finally arrived to Oxford and got off the bus and started to walk around and explore the city.  I have to say, I never knew that Oxford was actually like a little city.  I actually really ended up loving the city as a whole because it reminded me of a big college town and it was SO pretty!  The atmosphere was great and there was a large downtown full shops and cute cafes and restaurants.  They even had a TopShop and Primark which I found really interesting but cool because they basically have everything there for them.

Before we actually saw the downtown area, we walked around all the different colleges and old buildings that have been there for such a long time.  There are actually 37 different colleges at Oxford...I had no idea that there were that many colleges and I honestly thought that Oxford was just one college.  Shows you how much I knew about Oxford haha.  The oldest library in London is located in Oxford but I honestly forgot what it was called.  Our tour guide was really informative but I honestly had no idea about half the people he was talking about so it was hard to pay attention haha.  I felt bad because he really did know a lot but like none of us knew who he was talking about to we were a little add ha.  We walked around for about an hour with the tour guide and then they gave us like a 2 hr break for lunch and to walk around.  They had a little market that I ended up getting my lunch at and it was delicious!  I had a combo of cuscous, a slaw salad, fish, and roasted veggies like sweet potato and squash...it was nom and different than anything that I've had here.

We did a little shopping while we ate and they had so many cute little stores!  I found my stereotypical Oxford t-shirt but I need t-shirts because I didn't pack enough and I figured I could wear it in London and not be judged haha.  Also t-shirts are always good souvenirs so I didn't care.  I made my first purchases at a store called River Island so I was happy ha.  After all the shopping we met back up again to take a tour of Christ's Church.  This is the church where parts of Harry Potter were filmed and modeled after so it was really cool to walk through and see all that!  There is also a ton of history surrounding the church so that was interesting to hear about as well.  The story of Alice and Wonderland was based on the daughter of the dean of the school...never knew that either!  Funny how Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland both have roots in Oxford.  C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien also spent time in Oxford so Oxford is just full of the inspiration for popular stories.  We all loaded up the bus after the tour of the church and began our trek back to good ole London.  It was a solid nap time so that was nice haha.  I think that we are going to try to go to Wimbledon tomorrow so it will be an early morning because in order to get tickets, we have to get in the "que" really early so that we can buy tickets.  We'll see if it happens though but I really want to go!  Either way we will definitely have something fun to do tomorrow so I'm not worried...and no rain today!  Well at least yet haha.  We'll see about tonight though!  Cheers!

Mind the Gap please

Second lecture of my only class and I was falling asleep...great way to start the semester haha.  We had our second class lecture today at 10 am this morning and staying awake through it was quite a challenge.  Even though I've been going to bed at a fairly good time, I'm still exhausted and no matter how interesting a class is sometimes the head bob is just bound to happen.  O it definitely happened this morning but don't worry it wasn't just me...pretty sure everyone was falling asleep this morning haha.  The sad part is, is that the lecture was actually really interesting and it was the same guy who did our first one. 

He gave us a history of London the city and the parts that I remembered were really interesting.  London as a city has such a rich culture and history that I never even knew about.  London is acutally the largest city in Britain and Europe and the people here speak over 300 different languages which makes it the most linguistically diverse city in the world!  Bet you didn't know that because I surely didn't.  He gave us a background of the founding and the different boroughs and London was actually established by the Romans...weird but not surprising.  We talked about the mix of different cultures and we spent a little time discussing how the Parliament works.  We even watched a debate between the Prime Minster and the leader of the opposition party and that was wayyyyy weird and different than things here.  They like hardcore debate and basically roast each other on different issues facing the country and it was so weird.  Our lecturer said that its not personal and that's just how things work over here but it seemed pretty personal to me.  If what I saw in the video ever went down in the US some politicians would definitely get their panties in a wad.  I liked how they were much more to the point here though in that aspect because I feel like a lot more stuff would get done but enough about politics haha.

We hit up H&M after class and let me tell you, it was very hard not to buy anything.  Everything was so cute but I resisted the urge to buy anything and walked out empty handed.  I keep telling myself that I've only been here a week and need to wait so I'm trying to but it's getting very difficult haha...and TopShop is now having a sale so I'll probably be hitting that up this weekend.  Anyway we went to Marks & Spencer for lunch and hopped on the Tube to go back to the Notting Hill market.  Sadly when we got there, none of the vendors were open :( we think that the street vendors don't come today so we are going to try to go over there again when all of them are open.  It was nice to walk around all the little shops on the street though because the weather is so nice today and we really didn't have anything else to do.  One thing that I was super tempted to buy was a Belgian waffle covered in chocolate and ice cream...another day it will be mine haha.  There are so many places to buy sweets here it's ridiculous but I guess that's the way it is everywhere.  Another weird thing about London is that they don't have Mexican restaurants.  One of the girls I was with really wanted to buy some salsa but it is literally no where to be found.  So weird how different the food is here...guess I'm just used to having everything in the US and that's not how it is everywhere else.

After wondering around Notting Hill for a couple hours, we started to get really tired so we hopped back on the Tube and headed back home.  Sitting down never felt so good haha.  My feet are definitely not used to all the walking and no matter how comfortable you think a pair of shoes is, it will get uncomfortable after wearing them here.  Now I know why everyone here is so skinny because they literally walk EVERYWHERE.  I like it because everything is so close but you just feel pooped at the end of the day because you've been on your feet all day.  I do miss being able to drive though because sometimes I want to just run over somewhere and I can't so it's a tradeoff.  I don't know if I'll want to live in a city when I graduate but I guess this will be a great trial run so we'll see! 

Tomorrow we have a daytrip to Oxford for my class and I'm pretty excited minus the fact that we have to leave at 8:30.  O well I'd rather get up and see and do things than sleep all day anyway so I don't really care.  I hope it will be interesting but who knows what we'll be doing there.  Lots of pictures will be taken I'm sure and I've probably already taken over 200 pictures and I've been here a week...that's ridiculous.  I know I'm going to forget what some of the pictures are of too haha.  Ok now I'm rambling...who knew blogging would be so addicting?  I actually really enjoy it though because it helps me remember what I do everyday.  Hope y'all are enjoying reading it as well!  Anyway no more rambling so cheers for now!

Hakuna Matata!

So yesterday and today have been a giant whirlwind of activities and that's why I didn't have time to blog yesterday!  This post is going to probably be long just going to warn ya but o well you don't have to read it all haha.

Yesterday we had a free day because some people had interviews for their internships but since mine was Monday, we had the whole day to frolick around the city.  So we were so cultured and went to 2 museums yesterday.  We went to the Victoria & Albert museum and The Natural History Museum.  We went to the V&A first which was wayyyy better than the Natural History museum and I would definitely recommend going to if you come to London.  They had a lot of different artifacts from around the world from sculptures to paintings to jewelry and so on.  They had some paintings by Raphael which were HUGE.  It was really cool to see them but it amazed me how someone could paint something so big and with such great detail.  My favorite exhibit in the museum was the jewelry though.  The had jewelry from all different centuries and it was really cool to see the different styles, materials, and gems or stones used.  I couldn't take any pictures though so that was a bummer. 

After the V&A we went on a hunt to find the house that the Parent Trap was filmed at and we found it!  It wasn't too far from the museums and we were tourists and took pictures in front of it haha.  The neighborhood it was in was gorgeous and I wish I could live there.  We grabbed a bit to eat at a place called Pret A Manger which basically sells fresh sandwiches, salads, and wraps and such and will literally be my go to place from now on because it is so nomolicious.  The only problem was that since it's kind of a what they call "take away" restaurant, we had to eat on a curb haha but it was fine because we needed something quick anyway.

We hit up the Natural History Museum next and it was fun but definitely more geared toward kids and families.  There were lots of stuffed animals and interactive exhibits so if you're not into that then I would suggest skipping it.  We headed back to our flats after that because we wanted to have time to get ready for The Lion King and go out to dinner.  We went to an Italian restaurant near the Tube station and it was good and not too terribly priced.  We hoped on the Tube just in time to make it to the show after that.  The Lion King was fabulous!  I would definitely suggest going to see it anywhere and is definitely good for all ages.  It wasn't as good as Wicked because it was kind of weird to me that they were playing animals but I love the Lion King so I still loved the show.  The singing and dancing was amazing too but I have to admit I was having trouble staying awake haha.  We had been going, going, going all day yesterday and I didn't get a nap so I was really tired.  The music wasn't helping to keep me awake either haha.  I also had a huge headache so that was a bummer but the show was great so it was ok. 

The show ended about 10:30 so we decided to head back to a pub near our flat so we could catch the Tube since they stop running after midnight and figuring out the nightbus system here is SO confusing.  So we headed back but all the pubs close at midnight here which I find weird but I didn't care because I still had my huge headache so I was ok with going home.  So needless to say I had a good nights sleep last night haha.

Today we got up and headed over to the famous Portobello Road/Notting Hill market and I am OBSESSED!  We probably didn't even get through and 8th of the market and they had SO much stuff.  There were street vendors and shops scattered all over the street selling anything from fruit to jewelry to clothes.  I got a turquoise necklace and a poster that says "Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake" but since I was running out of cash and time because we had to be at the British Museum at 2, I didn't buy anything else haha.  We may head back tomorrow though and if not then we're definitely going back another time so that we can see everything.

After the market, we had a tour for our class at the British Museum.  The museum was cool and definitely had a lot of stuff to look at but we were tired from walking around that morning so paying attention was a little difficult haha.  There were so many people there too which was annoying as well.  The museum did have the Rosetta Stone which was really really cool to see though.  I would definitely recommend this museum as well because they had a lot of cool stuff and its free but I was tired so I couldn't really pay attention too much haha.  We ventured to find the 9 and 3/4 station stop at King's Cross after the museum and it turned out to be a letdown.  For those of you who don't know, that's the station where Harry Potter got on the train to Hogwarts.  You had to pay to get to the actual Platform but they have a fake one set up outside the station so we just took pictures there.  We were so tired after all the walking today that we just headed back to our flats for some down time. 

The weather wasn't too bad today because now it's sunny but it did rain when we were at the market so that was kinda a bummer.  I don't know what we'll do tonight because we have class tomorrow but we'll see because I'm kind of tired haha.  I did forget to mention that to get out of one of the Tube stations today, we had to climb 175 stairs because they only had elevators to get out.  That was definitely my workout for the day so my legs are definitely getting there workout.  Something else I forgot to mention is that everyone has been telling us that the weather right now is not normal for June.  They said it's normally hotter and doesn't rain as much so that gives me hope that the weather will improve.  I am making do with my clothes though and it's kind of fun to wear them all in different ways.  Anyway I'm kind of babbling now so I should probably stop.  If I forgot anything I'll add it later because I'm hungry and my hands are getting tired of typing haha.  So cheerio!

I didn't get lost!

So my big interview was today and it went well!  Me getting there is a bit of another story but you'll hear about that in a second haha.  I had my interview at 2 pm today which now looking back I wish it had been a little earlier because waiting till 2 seemed like it took FOREVER.  I woke up early because I couldn't sleep very well because I was so nervous about the interview.  I got up around 10 though, went and got me a Starbucks, got ready, and was on my way.

So getting to my interview was quite interesting.  I had to take not 2 but 3 different trains to get there, 1 of which was an overground train and I didn't even know that London had those.  I surprisingly didn't get on the wrong train or anything though so I was very happy about that.  The Tube is pretty easy to work so getting there to and from won't be too bad at all.  The getting off the Tube part was the interesting thing.  So I'm the only person to get off at my station and there's no like real entrance or exit to the station its just like a walkway down to the street.  As I walk to the street, there is like no one around and I'm in a neighborhood full of warehouses with graffiti all over them.  I felt super out of place because I was dressed in a black skirt, silk top, flats, and a blazer.  So here is me walking along trying to find this place and not going to lie a little scared.  I finally found the building, but then I couldn't figure out how to get in!  I see these punk looking guys and a sign for a cafe so I ask them if they know where the designer's studio was.  They needed the number for the building but of course I didn't have that.  So I ended up having to call her and I forgot to mention that I was like 45 min early because I didn't know how long it would take me to get there.  She wasn't even there yet haha oops but I'd rather be early than late!  So she pulls up like 5 min later and takes me up to her studio.

Once we make it up there, she talks to me and asks me about myself and such.  She was really nice and I really liked her a lot so she made me feel really comfortable which was really good.  She was a little hard to understand but I'll get used to it so I'm not worried.  She went over my resume and asked me some questions and gave me a little idea of what I'll be doing.  I say little because I'm still not totally sure haha.  I think I'm going to be helping her set up an online store and selling her clothes to buyers which I think is really cool!  She also just moved into this studio so I'll prob be helping her with moving and getting settled as well.  She sounded really excited and she said she didn't want to hire anyone as an intern to just sit around so that made me happy too.  She said that she also had about 5 other interns I think so I'm excited that I'll be working with some other people my age as well.  So overall the interview went well and I don't have to go in to work until 10 which is a score so I'm happy!

Since I got there so early, I ended up getting back to my flat around 230 so me and a couple other girls ventured back to Primark because I needed some cheap basics to bum around our flat in because I didn't bring enough...oops o well.  It wasn't as crowded today but it was still a zoo.  I tried on a lot of tops but nothing fit because apparently they don't make small sizes here.  It's annoying but it's also saving me money to use on something of better quality haha or at least that's what I keep telling myself.  So basically I got what I went for and then we went on a wild goose chase trying to find a dumb store called Argos because I wanted to buy a coffee maker and I saw it on their website.  We asked like 5 people where it was and it literally took forever to finally find it.  And just my luck once we found it, they didn't have any coffee makers!  It's like a store where you order from a catalog and pick it up there but I didn't know that...cool.  So dumb but whatever.  We went to another random clothing store after that but I didn't find anything because it wasn't my style...London just doesn't want me to buy clothes apparently.  Don't worry though because I'm not giving up.  I just have to find the boutique type stuff then I'm sure I'll be fine haha.

We cooked dinner again tonight and I made this really good chicken for me and one of my roommates to share.  We finished the movie Elizabeth from last night and then went to hang out with some people at our trip who were at the pub under our flat.  It was fun to hang out with everyone but we have a lot of stuff planned for tomorrow so I want to get a full nights sleep!  Since we have nothing tomorrow till The Lion King play tomorrow night, we want to get as much sightseeing in as possible.  We're going to try to hit up the V&A museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Tower of London...we'll see if it all happens though haha.  I'm definitely excited for tomorrow though and I'll let you know if it all happens haha! 

Kicks are my new best friend

Walking was the word of the day today because we did SO much of it!  For those of you that know me, you can probably guess that I really enjoyed it haha.  I felt like a lump on a log this morning so it felt great to get out and explore the city!  The weather was SO nice outside today so that made the walking that much better.  It was warm enough for me to wear shorts today so I really enjoyed it.

Our first journey was to go find where one of my roommates internships is.  We successfully found it after a little trouble but like I said it was nice to see different parts of the city and get out and do something.  After we found that, we came back and went to the Marylbone Farye which was really cool!  It was a festival to help raise money for teen cancer. TONS of local restaurants and vendors had booths set up all along the streets and it was really cool to see all the different foods and items that people were selling.  The smells coming from all the restaurants were so good it was ridiculous.  I wanted to eat everything like ususal haha but since I had lunch food at our flat I resisted the urg and saved money.  I did end up splurging on a dark chocolate cookie that is nom nom nom though.  It was so worth it though because it is delicious and I will be enjoying it for the next couple days.  The score of the day though was when I bought a whole pineapple and 2 packs of green grapes off a local vendor for only 2 pounds total.  The pineapple is perfectly ripe because I already had a tasting of it tonight haha. 

While going through the festival, we finally found a good grocery store.  The grocery stores here are SO different than the ones at home.  We have it so good in the US in terms of buying groceries so I won't be taking that for advantage anymore.  All the stores are so small, no selection, so expensive, and everything goes bad so quickly because they don't use preservatives.  They also don't have like any low calorie or low fat stuff either which I find interesting.  You would think that since they don't care about that stuff like we do in the US that they wold all be fat but that's not the case.  I haven't seen one fat person which I find really interesting because their food isn't very healthy and they drink ALL the time.  Guess it's because they walk everywhere but I guess I'll never know haha.  Anyway, I finally found pretzels and salad dressing at the grocery store which I was very very happy about.  I will be cooking deliciously all week so I'm very excited because I had my first stab at it last night when I made chicken stir-fry with veggies.  I have to say it was really good and my roomie agreed even though I think I used too much soy sauce haha.  O well live and learn I guess.

After we got back to the fair, we took another walk to find the Blockbuster here because we wanted to watch some movies at night.  We rented a ton of English inspired movies like The Other Boylen girl and Elizabeth because we were inspired by our tour of Westminster Abbey yesterday.  We watched The Other Boylen Girl and part of Elizabeth and I have to say, the royal family was way way messed up.  I don't know what all those people where thinking but just watch the  movies and you'll understand.  Although I think they were crazy, it is a very entertaining and interesting story.

Tomorrow is my interview for my job and needless to say I'm very very nervous.  The designer that I'm interning for will be personally meeting and interviewing me when I get there so that's going to be interesting.  I'm really excited because it's a fabulous opportunity but still very intimidating.  Hopefully I won't get lost on my way there because apparently I have to take 3 different trains on the tube and it said give yourself 40-60 min to get there.  I will definitely be leaving at least an hour and a half early because I do NOT want to be late and I figure it's better to be early than late.  So pray that I get there on time and that my interview goes well haha.  It's not till 2 so I will have time to get up and be completely prepared for it so I'm happy about that.  Hopefully the weather will be as good as it was today too because I'll be in nice clothes haha.  Fingers crossed!  Well anyway I'm heading to bed soon but Happy Father's Day to my daddy and I'm sad I can't be with him :( Love you dad!

Exploring the city!

So today was a whirlwind of difference than yesterday and in a very good way!  This morning I was awakened by sunshine and it made me so happy!  The weather was much better today and we got our first real glimpse of all of London.  The past couple days we have only really explored what was near us and today we had a sightseeing tour that was awesome.

We started our tour outside of our flat which was really nice because we didn't have to walk anywhere haha.  A coach bus drove us all over the inner parts of London and we had an awesome tour guide who knew London inside and out.  Apparently the weekend is the time that everyone and their mom does road work because it was literally everywhere.  We had to take a lot of diversions not detours to our final destination Westminister Abbey but it was still really cool because we got to see a lot.  We saw where all the theater shows are and boy do the Londoners love the theater.  We had to have passed at least 10 or 12 within a span of like 2 minutes and that's not even all of them.  We'll get to experience it next week when we go see The Lion King which I may add I'm super pumped about!  We also saw some of the shopping districts, a lot of the embassies, political buildings, St. Paul's Cathedral, and many other things that I just can't remember right now haha.  The buildings and architecture here is gorgeous though.  All the buildings here are just so detailed and just beautiful so I took lots of random building pictures just because I think it's so pretty haha.

After the bus tour, we took a tour of Westminster Abbey.  I didn't even know that we were doing that today and it was awesome.  I never realized how much history surrounds the Abbey and it was awesome learning and seeing all of it.  We walked right where Kate walked down the aisle just a few months ago and it was crazy because it didn't even really look like the same church on the inside.  There was so much royal wedding stuff everywhere, which I think was a little overdone but whatever haha.  Our same tour guide took us around the church and I never knew that so many people are buried there!  From poets to kings and queens to and even mathematicians, you name it, they were prob buried there.  There is a man buried there in his coffin vertically because he really wanted to be buried there but was too poor to afford it so they cut him a deal and buried his coffin vertically haha.  I thought it was funny but it was kind of creepy walking all over dead people.  We saw the tomb of Elizabeth and both Mary's as well as many other kings and queens.  It was really cool to learn about all the history surrounding them because the whole royal family is really interesting to me.  The church itself was beautiful.  Like words can't describe how intricate and detailed the inside and outside of it is.  I would show y'all pictures but you can't take any once you're in the church...kinda lame but I understand.  If any of y'all ever come to London though, definitely go to Westminster Abbey because it was awesome!

We headed up Knightsbridge after The Abbey and went to the famous Harrod's.  They were having their one sale of the year and it started today so y'all can only imagine how freaking crowded it was.  There were probably more people there than there were at Primark yesterday...it was nuts.  There was SO many designer items and of course I wanted to buy all of them but maybe one day I will be able to afford it haha.  I looked at a couple things but realized that everything is probably cheaper in the US so I didn't buy anything.  Me and Allison did buy lunch there which was really cool except for the fact that we had to eat it outside the store because for some reason they have a dumb policy that you can't eat the food you buy in the store.  Even though it was similar to buying food at the deli counter, I still think it's ridiculous that you can't eat in the store that you buy food from.  O well we made do and ate on the ledge of one of the windows of the store.  People probably thought we were crazy but I don't care because it was so good haha.  I got some kind of chicken kabob and bean salad so it was well worth the awkward surroundings.  After that, we hit up more shops along the same road and I got some jewelry in TopShop.  I'll prob go back and buy some clothing there later in the trip but I don't want to buy anything now and then find something I like better later.  Gotta see everything first right?

After the shopping, we got some dinner supplies and rode a double decker bus back to our flat.  I really enjoyed that because we got to see where we were in relation to everything and we got to see things from a different perspective.  After a long day we have come back and chilled for awhile which has been really nice.  We'll be cooking dinner tonight and then heading out to explore the city a little bit more.  Tomorrow we're going to a festival that is really close to our flat and we're going to try to map out how to get to all of our internships, which should be fun but possibly a little interesting.  Guess we'll see!  Until tomorrow!

Rain, rain, and more rain

Well if you didn't already figure out, it rained quite a lot today.  We started out the day dry but that didn't last very long at all.  It rained pretty much all day which was a bummer and definitely didn't help with getting over the jet lag.  And not only did it rain all day it was SO cold!  And y'all know how I deal with the cold so the weather is not my best friend right now.  It is currently pouring so needless to say walking to get to dinner was fun haha.  I'm hoping that it won't be like this the whole time we're here but I know London is known for being rainy so keep your fingers crossed that it won't be!

Anyway enough about the weather.  Today we had orientation and it was great!  We had a police officer come and talk to us about safety which was very helpful and according to him Londoners love them some alcohol which I never knew.  He was funny though because he was very very skinny so I would never take him for a police officer.  Also interesting is that they don't carry guns, they only carry sticks to beat you with because apparently guns are illegal here.  Anyway, the people from our program also gave us facts about London as a city and their culture...also very helpful.  It's amazing how different the British are than us.  I never knew that there were so many differences. 

We took our first stab at the Tube today and thankfully we didn't get lost!  The Tube is actually really nice and not very hard to figure out once you undestand how it works.  It will be my best friend for the next 6 weeks as long as my legs haha.  We walked SO many places today which was fun except for the fact that it was on and off raining all day which I already memtioned.  We also got more information about our internships today which was really exciting!  My interview is on Monday so please pray that it goes well because I will probably be peeing my pants from nerves.  I'm interning for an up and coming Scottish fashion designer which I'm SO excited about!  It's a fantastic opportunity and definitely a once and a lifetime opportunity so hopefully my interview will go well!  Pretty sure she will be interviewing me since they told me to ask for her when I arrive on Monday.  If that's not intimidating, I don't know what is haha.  I'm very excited though and definitely ready to gain some experience in that area.

We then had a break for lunch and ate at a cute little Italian cafe.  Margarita pizza nom nom nom.  It was kind of expensive though.  Everything here is kind of expensive unfortunately.   After lunch, we had our first lecture for my class and our teacher was great!  He was super interesting and we discussed British and American stereotypes as well as the differences between Great Britain and the United Kingdom.  I actually learned a lot and our professor made it really fun so I'm actually looking forward to that class if it's going to be like it was today!  We'll see though because it could turn out to be a bust haha.  Tomorrow we have a sightseeing tour of London and I'm super pumped because I'm ready to see more of London.  I still feel like we're not even really here because we haven't seen a lot of the city yet.  Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow during it because I definitely want to see the city clearly!

We also got our first taste of London shopping today...well a little bit of it.  We went to Primark, TopShop, and Neu Look (if that's how you spell it) and it was a little overwhelming.  Primark is like a New York city Forever 21 x like 1000.  It was absolutely nuts!  There were SO many people everywhere and SO SO many clothes everywhere.  I don't normally get overwhelmed in those kind of stores but it was SO crazy.  Everything was way super cheap though because I saw shirts starting at 2 pounds.  The clothes I'm sure are not good quality but if you need any basics or trendy items it's def the place to go.  Neu Look is similar but a little more expensive and a little better quality.  TopShop was the nicest of the 3 so I'll head back there some other time of the trip to buy something I really really like.  I only bought a grey sweater because I didn't want to buy a lot of things that would fall apart and I definitely want to explore more shopping too.  I needed the cardigan though because it's a lot colder than I expected.  Mom, should have brought the tench haha.  And we aslo found a TK Maxx...not TJ Maxx though it's TK. I guess it's their version and it was basically the same but we all just thought it was funny.

Alright alright enough about shopping sorry but I will be writing a lot about that when I'm here because y'all all know I love to shop!  We're all still really tired so we'll prob head to bed earlier tonight so we can rest up to explore the city tomorrow!  We're going to try to walk around to places we haven't seen yet and hit up a different grocery store because the one close to us is not so good.  Well that's all I got for now so pray that it won't rain tomorrow haha!  Love and miss all y'all!

We're here! We're here!

Greetings from across the pond!

Well we have made it safe and sound to London after what seemed the longest, weirdest day of my life.  This whole jet lag thing is screwing with my mind and body a lot and needless to say I'm not a huge fan of it haha.  The whole flight was a big blur but went bye surprisingly fast.  The Miami airport was a bit of a struggle considering we had very strong turbulence or should a say roller coaster rides coming into and out of it.  I love to fly but I was a little freaked out from the turbulence because I literally felt like I was on a roller coaster.  We made it safely though so all is good.

Quick tip when flying to Europe overnight...go to sleep wayyyy earlier than you think you should.  Since I'm a night owl and there were ample great movie choices on the in flight movies, I kinda lost track of time and went to sleep way way way too late.  By the time I realized it, I was only halfway through The Adjustment Bureau, which was a great movie by the way, and it was already 11:30 which is 4:30 in London time.  We were to arrive at 8:30 so that's only 4 hours of sleep if I'm lucky.  I was not so lucky.  Sleeping on the plane was much more difficult than I remembered and I think my neck will have a nice crick in it for awhile.  It was also very cold so I probably looked like a huge red blog considering that I was wrapped so tightly in my blanket.  So by the time I was situated, the dumb airline decides to turn on the lights and serve us breakfast only like 2 hours after they had served us dinner...not cool.  So needless to say there was no more sleeping for me.

We arrived at the airport around 8:30 and then it took like an hour to go through customs.  We made it through and then had to ride a bus to a different terminal to meet the group which was quite a seen with all 4 of us lugging 2 huge suitcases a piece throughout the airport.  I was a process but I'm sure the other people enjoyed the entertainment haha.  The group flight was delayed 2 hrs because of bad weather in Atlanta so we loaded up on coffee and waited until they arrived. 

Once we all got here, it hit me...I'm really in London!  It's so crazy and surreal but I'm so excited to be here!  It was about an hour bus ride from the airport which was a nice nap time.  We finally arrived at our flat and got our workout for the day carrying our suitcases jam packed full of clothes up lots and lots of stairs.  The flat is really nice though!  We have a kitchen with everything we need, a tv, and just enough room for all of us.  We actually have a living room which is really nice to hang out in. 

We're really smack dab in the middle of everything which is really nice because we have a taste of home mixed in with the taste of London.  We went and got our phones and kinda got the lay of the land today but it was a bit overwhelming.  Note...do not go to a small grocery store when everyone gets off work because everyone and your mom will crowd you in a very small store.  That was definitely an experience but we're heading back tomorrow to get what we really need.  We have orientation tomorrow which will help us get even more acclimated which I can't wait for.  I can't wait to get settled and have a schedule because I like my mom work much better on a schedule.  I'm very excited for everything coming up and I can't wait for my interview and to start working.  I really like London so far so hopefully I will fall more in love with city as we explore it and that it won't rain the whole time because that would just be no fun!  Well that's all for now because I'm exhausted so goodbye for now!