Despite being all hazy and whatnot, I managed to have an awesome first week in London (minus some minor mishaps). On Tuesday, I had the interview for my internship for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI). It is a government organization helping companies export and import throughout the UK as well as abroad. They have sectors for every industry imaginable, and I am interning for the Sports & Leisure Sector. It was very casual, and comprised of me, my supervisor (Andy) and one of his coworkers (Sarah). We talked about the weather (something that I was told the British tend to talk about), and about some work I’d be doing. I asked if I would be taught how to make tea and they laughed, looking confused, and asked me if I personally liked tea. I said I did, but I had asked because during orientation they stressed tea-brewing skills. My coworkers laughed some more and said that I would not be expected to make tea for them. They were very laid back and even said I could work whenever hours (although obviously I decided against the idea of coming in at noon, leaving after lunch).
That night was my first class in London, about London and Britain. Even though it was pretty interesting, I could not stay awake to save my life. At any random time, my eyes would get really heavy, and I would think, “oh no, I don’t have enough eye muscles to fight this!” I would sit there nodding off for I don’t even know how long… until suddenly, the sleep haze went away and I was wide awake. I don’t know what provokes it, or how to suddenly make it go away. But I did realize that day that perhaps falling asleep at 3 am was not such a good thing, and trying harder to go to bed at the right time would not be a bad idea.
Even so, after class ended at 8 pm, I did not go straight home but instead met up with a close high school friend (Stacy), who is studying in London for about 6 weeks and is staying in Kensington, near the CAPA office. We went to Sports Café (which is a sports bar) near the Piccadilly Circus station with some of her friends and some of mine. It started raining when my friends and I left, and it was already dark so the lights were bright and colorful. I went running in the rain.
Piccadilly Square at night
First sunny day in London and I'm stuck in an office building!
Later that night, Alisa and I roamed London again! We went to Hyde Park but it was getting dark so we didn’t go in. Then we went to Trafalgar Square and spent about an hour taking pictures of Nelson’s Column and the pretty buildings and fountains. Just as we were going to leave, I saw Big Ben in the distance and we took another 10 minutes to take pictures of that.
Trafalgar Square
More Trafalgar Square...
The highlight of Thursday was at the internship. Six of my coworkers and I went to St. James’s Park to eat our lunches. We sat in the park enjoying the 2nd sunny day for about an hour and a half. When someone realized we had been gone for a while, she said that maybe we should go back, but another person said “but why?” and then we stayed another half an hour. I love the casual atmosphere and how they can be outrageous with one another. I’ve already gotten a taste of office politics though – they apparently do not like another woman in the office who shall remain unnamed and tease one of men (David) by telling him that she’s in love with him. I’ve been advised to stay out of such politics though, so I just sit, smile, and maybe laugh at their jokes.
At home, things were not as good though. I got home after my internship that day and found out that our water was still not back yet. I had not showered since Tuesday night because the water went out before I got home on Wednesday and I shower at night… and I was starting to lose it. Almost two days with no shower at all and I get a tiny bit grungy. I heard later that many people had actually called in to their internships and told them that they would not be coming in because they were not presentable. I had been drinking tap water too, so I was dehydrated as well as dirty. I decided to take a nap and by the time I woke up at 7 pm, the water was back, thank God. I used twice as much shampoo and conditioner just to make up for the day that I missed, haha.
On Friday, I met up with my friend Yehia – an Egyptian who is an international student at my school, University of San Diego, but came to visit his brother in Oxford before heading back to Egypt for the summer. He loves to wander and make himself get lost, so that is what we did. We started at Victoria, got on the tube and went to Oxford Street, walked over to Piccadilly Circus and went into an Italian café that he said his family loved going to when he was young. We ate what I would consider a full lunch there, complete with a dessert, but he called it a “snack.” He enjoys eating a lot, as you will soon find out, but a good thing about him is that he is accustomed to paying for people, especially girls, when he goes out to eat so my response is always “okay, let’s eat some more!” After that “snack,” we walked over to Hyde Park and roamed around inside there for a while.
Getting crushed by a huge fallen tree in Hyde Park...(just kidding!)
I saw some big geese (yes, that was a fact worth mentioning, I thought).
Then we walked over to Knightsbridge and went into Harrods… a huge high end store with everything you would ever need to live life lavishly. We had sushi as another “snack” in the food court. Then we walked around for a while and… I wouldn’t say that we got “lost,” because we had no idea which direction we were headed towards in the first place. Eventually we wound up at Sloane Square, where Yehia wanted to go into another café to have a hot chocolate. I was still really full from the “snacks” so I just had some green tea instead. Then we got on the tube and went to Leicester Square, where we walked around in circles and up and down the street, reading menus to decide where to have dinner (see? I told you… he likes to eat). We finally decided on a restaurant called Mint Leaf, which had Indian food. It was fantastic! I had a seafood platter with some rice, and we went for dessert as well, of course. Then we had to rush back to Victoria so that his driver could pick him up and take him to Oxford. As for me, I got on the bus like a normal person with a budget would, heading back to my housing.
Indian food for dinner! Yummy!
On Saturday, I met up with my friend Stacy again. She brought one of her flatmates, Jenny, and Alisa came with me. We went to eat at Wagamama’s, a restaurant chain known for its amazing Japanese noodles (they also serve rice dishes as well). It was delicious! I already want to go back. Then we went up to the High Street Kensington station, where the Marble Arch is, and did a little shopping. We went into Primark, a huge store with tons of cheap clothing, which was hands down the busiest store I have ever been in. You could get trampled in that store if you’re not careful. It was loud and bustling and it wasn’t even a market, it was just a store with two floors. After a while, Stacy and I had to run outside because it was overwhelming in there. I guess we are not great bargain shoppers. We walked up the street and went into some shops; I ended up buying stuff even though I knew I shouldn’t have. Oh well… that’s why they invented loans I guess!
Yesterday, a good friend of mine, Isaias – who has been studying in Aix-en-Provence, France for the past semester and is starting an internship with the EU in Strasbourg in a week – arrived in London with one of his friends. I met up with them and went around London, but not to any place new for me. In the evening we went to a pub and met up with another friend of mine who I met last year during my time studying abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico. We all watched a football (soccer) game--Germany v. Poland, and Germany won 2-0. I am still a little bit disappointed that England didn’t qualify for Euro 2008, which I’m sure is not nearly as bad as the Brits feel… I was told by a coworker they’ve only managed to do that twice since the end of WWII, and of course one of the two times has to be when I’m actually in London.
Today at my internship, my supervisor’s two bosses, Andrew and Martin, came back from their weeklong trip to Athens, where they met with companies regarding the London 2012 Olympics. I did some research to prep Andrew for his trip to Vancouver next week about the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, and Martin assigned me a new project – to organize a road show for our UKTI Major Sports Events team, tentatively for September. Martin is leaving again tomorrow for Rome and won’t be back until Friday, and my supervisor is on holiday at home this week. Between the traveling and the holidays, I think that I would not mind this job at all, if I were a full-time employee. :)
On my lunch break I wanted to walk off my McDonald’s (I NEVER eat it in the States, but I’ve already had it twice here and I give into my cravings for fries… I don’t even know why I do it, it’s not even cheap). And just kept walking on Victoria (the same street I work on) and all of a sudden I ran into Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. I have to say, it’s really nice to be walking distance from such infamous sights, as if they were no big deal at all. It’s even more amusing to me that I didn’t even know they were just down the street from me! That definitely would not happen to me at home! I’m in the middle of history!
Hello, Westminster Abbey!
Big Ben! (and the London Eye peeking out from behind a building on the left)
No comments:
Post a Comment