Boo.

Oh, it's our last day. It's all just so sad. I need to go pack, so I won't make this long, but here's a recap of today.
We had a brief class in the morning where we wrapped up everything and then had the rest of the day to do as we pleased. We had lunch at Nando's which I am seriously going to miss. We even saw Jose and Raul there! They love that place. From there we went to Sainsbury to load up on British food to bring home. After some work at the flat, aka watching Made in Chelsea, we went to run some last minute gift errands. We went to the wonderful Harrods and got some sweets and checked out M&M World which was pretty cool. We then met up with the big group to have dinner at this super small and quaint Italian restaurant. The owners were super friendly and gave us free food. And the food was delicious. If I can find out what the name is, I would spread it because it's great.
I have not packed a thing, so I need to do that. I'm guessing there won't be much sleep happening in this apartment. Oh well. It's our last night. Boo.

It's the Final Countdown

The last day of work has arrived and as I dutifully got up and made my walk to the school, I was expecting some administrative tasks with a bit in the library perhaps. This was not the case, however. When I arrived, there simply wasn’t anything for me to do, so I was told that I was not needed. So yeah. For my last day, I got a free day. They did tell me to come in on Friday or Monday and they would have some work for me but I quickly set them straight. I have really enjoyed working here and am super glad I was placed at this school. I would divulge and go into all my positives and negatives, but I don’t really want to. We did have to write a summary paper, so there is a chance I will post that on this blog as a final recap of the internship.

So, since I had the day to myself, I washed my hair, which needed to happen, and became addicted to a show called Made in Chelsea which is like The Hills for London. I’m obsessed. It’s insane. I may or may not have watched three or four episodes. Whatever. Hate all you want to. Once the roomies got off work we hung around for a bit before going to Giraffe to celebrate Lindsay’s birthday. We had a great time with some delicious food.

Somehow we managed to flip the switch thing on the breaker box for the living room and kitchen. Before we realized that we had access to the breaker box, we were living in the dark for a bit. Even though the sun sets super late here, when it does set its obviously dark and we had work to do for class the next day. We had a lovely adventure of standing precariously on the backs of chairs attempting to flip switches. And we were successful!

I have pretty much decided that I am not leaving London. I just love it a little too much here and am a big city girl. I’m not used to driving, so I think that will be a bit weird though I will be glad not to be using the tube with all its dusty dirty air. I feel as though my lungs are coated with gunk. I’m gonna really appreciate some fresh air, preferably salty ocean air. I have already made plans that I will be having Chick-fil-A for dinner in the airport no matter how little time I have. (Have I already mentioned this?) It’s a must. I’m gonna be so glad! And I get to see my puppy and family. And I get to sleep. Those are all the positives about going home. There are a bunch of negatives. Hence why I am staying. Sorry I’m not sorry. I mean, who am I going to root for in the Olympics?! USA or the UK? It’s a tough decision I don’t want to make. I’m rambling. One more day. Eek.

Week Six: Day Three: Internship 16

The Library

If I had even considered being a librarian, I can officially over that contemplation. Reception had no need for me so I was sent to the library to see if anyone needed my help. The library was a mess, so it was my job to tidy up. I don't mind doing that at all. Picking up papers and all the misplaced books are what my duties consisted of. The librarian and I also rocked out to some Ed Sheeran and Michael Jackson. Though I don’t mind doing these tasks, picking up everything that all the students have left was kinda gross. After that, we went to the back room to sort the fiction books. I was told to alphabetize from the start of the alphabet and she would start from the back. At least, that’s what I did. She sped through her half and caught up with me around G. My section was beautifully alphabetized and such, and when I went to put a book in her half, I realized hers wasn’t in order. The authors with last names of the same letter were together, but that was about it. I was in a bit of a state of shock. I’ll admit, a little bit of OCD kicked in. I just wanted to stay in the back room and alphabetize her part. I did get a pretty good arm workout lifting all those books and moving rows of them down and such.
She declared she was taking a tea break and wanted to know how I took my tea. Um…I don’t know. I just make it up until it tastes good. I told her something that I thought sounded accurate, a little milk and three sugars, and it turned out pretty good! While we drank our tea, we were able to chat for a bit, which was nice. She told me she wanted to go to the US to be able to understand all the jokes on television shows. Please let me tell you what she wanted to experience in the states.


She wanted to eat a ho-ho. Like the twinkie thing? I suppose. I regrettably had to inform her that Hostess went broke, so that dream may never come true. She was actually disappointed!


Two: She wanted to go to a Seven Eleven, like the convenient store. I quickly told her that people who aren’t hoodlums don’t hang out there. She thought they were corner cafes. No. It’s a gas station with some snacks and lottery tickets.


A grocery store was the third item on the list. She wanted to go to one of our massive supermarkets.
This woman was also super excited that I had shot a gun before and wanted to know all about it. It was so weird. She thought it was the coolest thing! Crazy Brits. Afterwards we worked a bit more on the library. We moved on to the nonfiction section which were organized by a number system. After discovering that this section had no true organization, I just began placing books in the general area where they should be located. It was pointless to try its correct spot, because it didn’t have a spot. The books were simply thrown on the shelf. I can’t even handle that. After all that sorting, I was of no use and sent on my way.


With some time on my hands I did a bit of shopping before coming back to the flat to prepare for dinner. A group of us were celebrating Emily D. and Lindsay’s birthdays. We started with dinner at Wahaca which was an immensely delicious Mexican restaurant. I wish we would have found that gem a bit earlier. It was the girls’ 21^st so we needed to celebrate! From dinner, we went to a bar called B@1 that was recommended to us and it was great! The bartenders were so nice and friendly, and cute I may add. And they had drinks that I recognized! So exciting. They even had alcoholic milkshakes which were amazing. It was a lot of fun to hang out and meet people, and we just had a really good time. We even got them to play some American music, including Baby Got Back. We spent a while there before heading back to the flat. We had to work the next morning, so there was no hardcore partying for us. Boo.

Week Six: Day Two: Internship 15

The Last Monday

The countdown to the flight home begins this week. It’s coming so soon, and in a few short days, I will have Chick-fil-A in my possession. Even though that’s all so wonderful, as I’m sure I have said multiple times, I don’t want to leave. I am all accustomed to big city life. As it is nearing the end of the program, we only have three more days of work. Because my students, as well as the teachers, have left for summer break, I am working in the office completing administrative tasks. I went into work at the normal time, but found that they lady with my assignments didn’t come in until 10. So I sat for a bit until we got in contact with her. Remember all the school report cards that I had to copy last week? Well, it’s a good thing I put them neatly and in orderly form because my task today was to file them all. So, for a good hour and a half or so I filed these reports. The file system at this school is a bit unorganized. There are a ton of files, one for each student of course, precariously hanging in filing cabinets. Some of these children’s folders are like five or six inches thick. I mean, seriously, what can the file have in it? Filing is a mundane task but I don’t mind it. After a while though all the names began to run together and I kept feeling like I had put report after report in one student’s folder and none in the rest. The names just sounded so familiar. Probably the most confusing parts were the names. Some kids had names on their report that were different than the file. So, that was fun to find. Also, there are a ton of students with the name Al (fill in the blank). So, I have no idea how to pronounce or spell their last names, but I had to sift through all the Al (fill in the blank) names to match up the letters on the file with the one on the report. Goodness goodness. But I can’t complain.

After all that filing, I took a break and went to Starbucks, which is just so conveniently close and I got a muffin. Yummy. I sat for a bit and read the school newsletters. Today was very slow, and I got to leave early which was nice. After work, I decided that I could go shopping. I mean, why not? Even though it’s a mad house, I went back to Oxford Street to go in some stores I hadn’t gone in yet. I found some really cute items! I met up with Emily and the shopping continued and then we met up with Lindsay, and we kept going. We hadn’t experienced Selfridges yet, so that was on the agenda. In Selfridges, which is a massive department store, that is decorated really cute, they have two notable stores. The Big British Store and The Yellow Store. The first is what is sounds like and the second carried only yellow merchandise. I must say, I was a bit disappointed.  The Yellow Store was nowhere near as big as I was expecting and all the British items were super expensive and not that British-y. So, overall, it was kinda a letdown. After shopping all day, we were exhausted so we just made our way back to the flat and picked up dinner at Sainsbury.

I’m so sad it’s just all coming to a close. I’m excited to go home, but I know I’m really going to miss London.

Week Six: Day One: Internship 14

Afternoon Tea and Pimms

To celebrate Emily D and Lindsay's birthdays, a group of us planned to go to The Chelsea Teapot for afternoon tea. This wasn’t any regular tea. It was a fancier tea than what we have had. We had tea at 1:30, so it basically served as our lunch. Even though we have declared not to waste a single moment, we decided to sleep in this morning. I think the exhaustion of this entire trip has begun to catch up with me. I can’t wait to sleep for hours upon hours. Since this tea was fancy, all three of us in the flat needed to shower and get ready. Two showers, one hairdryer, and two straighteners. It gets a bit complicated. We also wore sundresses and heels to mark the occasion. Lindsay did not know this was for her birthday, so we had to work around that, although there were several times where we almost gave it away. So we get all dressed up, with newly clean hair and wedges and we go to the tube station. And people are looking like something big is happening. Seriously people. It’s just a dress. I can’t win with my outfits in this city. We make it to Chelsea and now all we have to do is find the place. Little did we know that it was a 30 minute walk! Thirty freaking minutes. In wedges. My feet are still in pain. It was so far away.

Despite the damage I did to my feet, who may never recover, The Chelsea Teapot is a lovely place. It’s decorated all springy with purples and greens. We had our own private room downstairs with a beautiful table set up. Each person had their own unique tea cup and saucer. It was precious. When you ordered your tea, you got your own tea pot as well. So adorable. I got the Earl Grey tea, and it was delicious. For our meal, we started off with tea sandwiches. There was a cucumber and cream cheese, a salmon, and an egg one. They were quite delicious and there were enough that everyone could try one of each. Our next course consisted of scones and clotted cream, which is the best thing ever. Mom start looking for clotted cream and scones, because I’m addicted. I will also need tea. I would buy a tea cup, but I don’t know how to bring that back. But I kinda want one. Thoughts? This course also came with little fruit tarts and strawberries. Delicious. Each of our little courses came out on three tiered porcelain stands, which were so precious. The last course was something sweet, of course. To celebrate the birthdays we had cupcakes!! There were two kinds to choose from: chocolate or vanilla. The birthday girls had fondant decorations on theirs as well. I had a vanilla one with pink icing. And the icing had glitter in it. Let me tell you, it may have been one of the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. Better than Gigis. I know. I said it. It was such a wonderful time, and it was also a way to celebrate the end of our trip. I’m addicted to tea now. It’s great.

We were not about to walk all the way back to the tube station, which was 30 minutes away, so we hopped a bus. We haven’t taken a bus here before, so that was a new experience. We were all a bit giddy and didn’t know how to signal the driver to let him know when we needed to get off. It was great fun. We rode the bus to the tube station then hopped that to return to the flat. When we were on the tube, there was a family, who looked like they had had a super long day and the two kids were sound asleep in the seats. The girl had her face pressed up again her mom’s shoulder and the boy had his knees up at his chest under his sweatshirt. The mom and dad even closed their eyes at some point. When the little girl woke up she had a huge red mark on half of her face from the mom’s sweater. It looked like half of her face had tire tracks on it. And you could tell her eye was having some problems adjusting to the open position. They made it to their stop before we reached ours so they had to wake up the boy. It took a few moments to get him up, but when they did and attempted to hop off the tube, it was clear his legs had fallen asleep. He essentially had lost all feeling in his legs and they were of no use to him. He looked like a baby giraffe who didn’t know how to use his legs. Thankfully, his dad was quick enough to catch him to try and steady him. Well, he didn’t have use of his legs for the next five minutes. They were going everywhere and eventually his dad had to pick him up and carry him. It was too funny. I’m still laughing.

After getting changed, we made our way back out to go shopping. I don’t know why I always go back to Oxford Street. It’s always insane and there are always a million people and yet I keep going back. We just had a few stores we needed to pop into to complete some shopping. I got a British Pandora charm! It’s so great. For the Olympics they have a special British collection with double decker buses and royal coaches, etc. I’m in love. I got a double decker bus with and enamel union jack on the top. I’m in love. I added it to my British bracelet, which also contains a tea pot and tea cup. How appropriate! We also went to Forever 21. Yes, I know we have those in America, but this one was three stories. I got a few cute things. Since we got a late start, the rest of the stores we wanted to go to were closed. Places close so freaking early here! For dinner, we continued the American theme and had some good ole McDonalds. Lauren also met up with us, so we had a great flat-mate dinner. Oh, but the adventure doesn’t end there. We were all waiting for the tube, giggling and in a good mood, when Lauren’s scarf is blown off her neck and goes onto the tube tracks! What were we supposed to do?! A train was coming in one minute, so we didn’t want to risk our lives. We waited and missed that train. After it had gone by, Lauren got on the ground and leaned in and got it. The scarf was saved but did suffer some battle wounds. We wanted to see if we could get tickets to see Rock of Ages tomorrow, but sadly the box office was closed. Soho is another area that I dislike, yet somehow we always end up over there. I suppose because that’s where all the theaters are located.

Our night continued with a stop in The Green Man pub. A very traditional British drink is Pimms and we had not experienced this yet. It’s some type of liqueur with soda water and fruit in it. Kelsey met up with us, as this was on her bucket list as well, and we shared a pitcher. It was good, but not the best drink I’ve had. We stuck with the traditional Pimms that had strawberries, oranges, and limes in it. It was good experience, but I’ll stick to my cider. It was a really fun and busy day, and we plan to pack in more things tomorrow after work. I’m so gonna miss it here.

Week Five: Day Seven: BLC 25

Portobello Market

There is no time to rest here in London town. There’s a list a mile long that needs to be accomplished. We woke up early to go to Portobello Market. A few of the girls have already been there, so Emily and I explored on our own. We did run into Kelsey and Anna on the tube, who were going to have a full English breakfast. (That includes baked beans for breakfast.) Emily and I found our way to the market. Basically this market runs down an entire street for several blocks and it’s just filled with shops and vendors, lining both sides. This market is famous because in the movie Notting Hill, Hugh Grant is seen walking through the market. It’s also something that has been on the London bucket list for a while now.  It rained off and on, and although that was super annoying, we pushed through. Now, markets stress me out. There are a ton of people in crowded spaces with a lot of things to look at. And the owners of the stalls keep calling out to you and try and pressure you to buy things. It’s stressful. Portobello wasn’t as bad as Spitalfields, but still. I was a bit overwhelmed.

Portobello Market

Our tactic was to walk down the center, avoiding umbrellas and such, and look into shops. If something looked interesting, we took a closer look. Things that generally caught our eyes were scarves, teapots, food, and jewelry. We found a really cute place that had a lot of precious teacups that dated back to the 1870s. They were beautiful. I kinda wanted one to put in my room, but resisted. But teacups are so cool. In a stall close to this one, I found a really cute ring. It was simple and small, but I really liked it. So I did purchase that. I’ve decided it will be a piece of jewelry that I wear always, much like my Pandora. Speaking of Pandora, they have a British line of charms here. I’m so tempted. I want one. Badly. After walking the entire market, we decided to head back the other way to get food and to skim the vendors again. A lot of the places have the same stuff, and even though we saw several cute pieces of clothing, it didn’t make sense to buy anything if we can’t try anything on. And British sizes are so complicated. We did find a tent that had scarves for £1. How can I pass up a deal like that?! I found a very cute floral one. So happy. We made our way back to the food portion of the market. Emily had a delicious pesto, cheese, and sundried tomato sandwich on an herb bread. I have been craving paella for a while now, and heard they have some great paella here. When I go to Spain later in life, paella is on the list of dishes to eat there.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t have it here. Paella consists of rice, beans, vegetables, chicken or seafood, and spices. They cook it in these massive skillets that make portions enough to feel 50 people. This booth had chicken and seafood. I got chicken because the in the seafood paella had shrimp in it, and the shrimp weren’t headed or peeled. I can’t handle that. The chicken had while pieces of chicken, which kinda grossed me out. Actually it grossed me out a lot, so I mainly stuck to the rice and such. Overall, it was delicious. Seriously. It was raining pretty hard, so Emily was a saint and held the umbrella over me while I ate. You also got a huge portion. I’m addicted, but I would like some chicken not on the bone please. We also passed a dessert tent and couldn’t pass that up. I had a massive sprinkle doughnut which I engulfed. By that time, it had begun to rain some more and the number of people there was getting a bit overwhelming, so we left. By the time we made it back to our area of town, we were wet and freezing. A few of us had had plans to go to Cambridge and go punting, but with this rain, it was out of the question. Punting is where you get on a big row boat and one person rows at a time. Kinda like a gondola.  We would have been miserable on the water in the rain.

Delicious Paella

Side note: I seriously do not understand why people feel like it’s okay to make-out on public transportation. This is not Paris, the supposed "City of Love." This is London. The underground system is not a turn on. It’s dirty and loud and you are surrounded by 50 of random people. But people just feel the need to kiss and touch and oh my goodness please stop! It’s gross.

We spent some time relaxing at the flat, trying to regain feeling back in our feet. If I never see another flight of steps, I will be so happy. It takes three to get to our apartment. Emily and I decided to go to Chinatown to go buy some cheap scarves that they had there. They were three for £5. That’s such an amazing deal! I went a little crazy, but every know I adore scarves and I wear them all the time. And they were good quality. Because it had been raining like all day, we broke out the rain gear. Did it rain while we went on these errands? Not one drop. We also wanted to look for fascinators at TK Maxx. TK Maxx is basically TJ Maxx. We thought we knew where we were going. Wrong. We ended up in Soho. Scream and run. Soho is a completely different world. Eventually we made it. Thank goodness. Seriously. We didn’t find any fascinators though. I picked up some dinner at Pret and took it back to the apartment. I am so exhausted. Not ready to leave London, but ready to be home and sleep. Sleep all the time. I really love just hanging out at the flat with the roomies. We have the funniest conversations. Today we talked about giving birth. You know the pregnancy pact movie on Lifetime? Well we’re going to make a pact to never have children. Also, like just now, we had some roomie fun. This is hot off the press news. We are all sitting here, blogging, etc, when we hear all this yelling outside. We look out the window and there is an old man talking to a man with pink hair. And they were talking very close to one another and the old man was tapping the other on the chest. So, we didn’t know if they were gonna fight or what. Then the old man tried to fist bump pink hair guy, but he didn’t understand. So then they depart, no fight, and the old man is just standing there yelling after him. Well then a woman is walking by and he goes up to her and is trying to talk to her. We were like “RUN!!” He kept going up to people and trying to talk to them and yelling. We kept trying to predict who his next victim would be and of course narrating the events taking place. So fun, and yet so randomly weird. And now we are talking about scary movies. Heck no. I don’t do this conversation.

A few notes: I have been singing Billy Elliot all day and am so obsessed. I want to see it again. Also, I feel like a true Londoner these days. We were on the tube today and there were a ton of student groups and I just wanted to get where I needed to be and can’t handle people who don’t know where they are going. I’m sure people were annoyed with me when I first got here, but I have evolved.

Week Five: Day Six: BLC 24

Olympia

As our time comes to a sorrowful end, the lists of things we must do and see seems to be increasing in length. So, it’s only natural that we jam pack every moment of every day with stuff. We had class in the morning and we had an assignment due. We paired up and were given trivia questions to answer about London people, places, etc. Kelsey and I had one about death. Morbid, but interesting. After learning all this trivia, we found there was just so much more that we needed to do. We needed to explore the random places and learn the interesting events that took place there.

After class, we wanted to go see the Olympic site, because it would have been a waste to come to London and not see where the Olympics were being held. It’s a 40 minute tube ride, so we stopped in at Pret A Manger to get some lunch to eat on the way there. Eating on the tube isn’t the easiest thing so we held off until we made it to our destination. The first thing we came across was the Westfield Mall, so we set off in hopes of finding a food court where we could sit and eat. This is a massive mall, like three or four stories with a ton of stores. We had heard about a store called John Lewis, which looks out over the entire Olympic site. We didn’t think you could go into the site, because it’s still under construction, so seeing an overheard view was great for us. This John Lewis store is fantastic. They have everything and a ton of really cute British items, such as tea and biscuits. At the top, where you look over the Olympic site, they have a huge Olympic store with tons of official merchandise. So we went to work. We skimmed every crevice looking for great merchandise to take back home. The more we spent in that store, the more I found that I needed to purchase. So, don’t be surprised if you end up with Olympic memorabilia for a present. They have a massive look-out at the back of the store where you can look at a map while looking at the Olympic village. We saw the stadium and basically the entire venue. We also saw a monument called “The Orbit” which is an artsy looking tower that was recently built. I read in the paper that this is supposed to be the next big London monument, so it was interesting to see. I wonder if it will become extremely popular as predicted. We also went back downstairs at John Lewis and got some British items. Since we were in a mall, we decided to continue our shopping expedition. They have a Primark there! It was crowded but nowhere near the same level as the one on Oxford. One could actually try on items in the dressing room without waiting 45 minutes in a line. And of course, everything is very cheap. Naturally I got a few items and a few presents. I mean, I can actually try on clothing, so why not take advantage of that?! The shopping has officially begun people. I seriously am going to need another suitcase to fit everything.

Olympic Stadium

More of the stadium with The Orbit

After dropping our many purchases back at the flat, we met up with everyone else and had dinner at the Real Food Market. I have been there before, and mentioned this in a previous blog, but it’s a natural food market with food from all over the world. This time I had a burger. The two guys working the stand were super handsome and nice to talk to. They worked on a farm/ranch in Wales and came to London to sell burgers. Gotta love cute British guys. And the burger was delicious and very healthy tasting! I also had a brownie, but who can blame me? We walked around for a bit afterwards and made our way to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament because we wanted to see them at night when they are all lit up. We got there a bit too early, and it was raining, so we went to the tube and headed to Harrods, because it is also lit up at night. It was quite amazing to see! Though it was still raining pretty hard, Emily, Lindsay, and I made our way back to Big Ben to see the lights. It was so worth it. These monuments are beautiful during the day, but they reach a new level at night. We took tons of pictures. We also needed to see Tower Bridge all light up. That was even more spectacular and we got to see the Olympic rings. This was all occurring at like 11:30 and the tube closes at 12, so we were pressed for time, but we made it back in just enough time. Thank goodness.

Harrods at Night

The London Eye

Big Ben

Tower Bridge

When we finally got back to the apartment, we were absolutely exhausted and went to bed pretty quickly. It was another great day in London and I’m going to miss it so.

Week Five: Day Five: BLC 23