Hampton Court... and a day long boat ride. Friday, June 28th

On Friday morning we arrived at Westminster pier to board a boat to Hampton Court for the day. Upon arrival, I expected the boat ride to take longer than a train but thought max 2 hours. IT WAS A 4 HOUR BOAT RIDE. It takes 40 minutes on a train to get to Hampton Court. Sufficed to say, I was not pleased that I wasted half of my day on a old boat without snacks or entertainment. However, when we actually pulled up to Hampton Court (what felt like one year later) it was almost worth it. Hampton Court is beautiful!! It is a palace that is known for being one of King Henry VIII's main palaces, but other kings and queens have lived there too. We had a 2 hour tour around the castle where we saw the Kitchens, Chapel, Bed chambers, grand eating hall, and gardens. It was so fun and as a wannabe princess I was perfectly happy. We then got to take a train ride home which was SO NICE.

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Henry VII 

Clock Court 

The ceiling in the grand dining hall

More impersonators 

An entire room made out of guns 

London Eye! Thursday, June 27th

On Thursday morning we started the day with a ride on the London Eye! It goes really slow but it's so fun because you really do get to see the entire city of London and surrounding areas because you're so high up in the air! We then wandered into a little restaurant area that is off of Oxford street and had a great Italian lunch! We sat outside and the restaurant had Ipads at every table that you use to order... so modern. We then had another lecture class at the University of London! After class I headed over to Oxford Circus for some shopping and discovered why it is called "Oxford Circus." I tried to get on the tube to go home at 6:15 when all of the londoners get off of work and had quite a shock when I saw the line. That night we went out in Shorteige, a super trendy area in London. Overall a really fun day!

Internship Week Two

I had the second week of my internship! I have started to become more adjusted to the UK work environment and become more comfortable with my internship. I work on the sales side of the PR company so I spent the week updating our buyer data base with the most current contacts. I also created different files for each designer we represent and made a list of contacts I thought would be good fits. We are supposed to get our lookbooks in this upcoming week so I'm excited for some new tasks and responsibilities!

Weekend in Paris!!

Saturday morning we woke up super early and took the Eurostar high speed train to Paris. When we got there we immediately had an appreciation for the UK and their native language being English, we couldn't really figure out where we were going because all of the signs were in French. We checked into our "hotel" (some things really are to good to be true when it costs 30 pounds a night) and went straight to the Eiffel Tower. When we got there I almost cried I was so excited. Often when a landmark has such hype about it, when I finally get there to see it I don't think its as grand or beautiful as it looks in movies and pictures. Well I'm here to tell you that the Eiffel tower lives up to its reputation. It is huge and grand and beautiful!! We took about 100 pictures at every angle so I'll spare you the many pics and only post a few. We then went to a cafe near the Eiffel Tower and had lunch where we had our first interaction with a rude French person... trust me they live up to the reputation. After our terrible lunch experience we walked under the Eiffel Tower and got the BEST crepes I've ever had, I even ordered in French (brought back some of those early high school years of French.) After we walked to the grass fields that are right under the tower and laid there and took more pictures. That night we went out to a couple of different bars, but with each drink costing 15 euros we opted to for two and took the metro home.

Sunday morning we took the metro over Notre Dame. Notre Dame is amazing!!! It is so big and sits up on a hill over a river right next to the lock bridge. We first had le petit dejune at cafe Esmerleda (Hunchback of Notre Dame reference for ya). We then went into Notre Dame and acctually got to go inside while service was going on! It was so cool. After Notre Dame we walked over to the Lock Bridge and took a bunch of pictures and tried to guess the stories of the people who had put their locks on the bridge, that was fun. Next we headed to les champs d'elysses. It is a street I have always wanted to walk down and it reminded me alot of Madison avenue and many other streets throughout the world that have large designer stores. The flagship Louis Vuitton store resides there and it is the biggest thing I have ever seen. We also saw this huge golden gate guarded by these attractive well dressed boys... it was the ABERCROMBIE STORE. Insane. It was the nicest looking abercrombie store I've ever seen. Once we walked all the way les champs d'elysses we stopped at L'arc de triumph. There must be some mysterious way everyone in Paris crosses the street to get to it because we had no clue and had the pleasure of almost dying 5 times trying to cross multiple lanes of traffic going multiple directions. Oh and I was wearing heels. We then bought tickets and climbed all 270 steps to the top of L'arc de Triumph. When we got to the top we all gasped because it was one of the most beautiful views we had ever seen!! After taking hundreds of pictures there we shopped a little more before having a fabulous dinner at a pizza resturant right on les champs d'elysses. Perfect ending to a great trip!

Thursday & Friday June 20 and 21st

On Thursday Morning we went to the British Museum with a private tour guide. The British Museum is HUGE and houses over 6 million artifacts. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures to post at the moment but it was really cool to see. We saw the Rosetta Stone, pieces of the Parthonan, ancient roman artifacts, and egyptian mummies. We also saw the ancient Roman chess set that inspired JK Rowling to write the chess scene in the first Harry Potter book! After the tour we had lunch at a little cafe on museum street, and then had a class on the history of the monarchy in the UK. On Friday we had another class, and that night a big group of us went on a pub crawl around camden town! Sooo fun!

Internship Week One

This week I started my new internship at BLOW. BLOW is a public relations company and also a sales agency. They represent their clients in the press and also sell the collections to buyers. I primarily work on the selling side. Working in a foriegn country is such a great experience but there have been many differences I have noticed in comparison to working in the US. One of my first observations is the level of formality in the office. I work in a very small office with about 6-7 other people, therefore the office is very informal. I find this different from the formal corporate world of America I've gotten so used to, but at the same time it's a nice change! Everyone also drinks tea... sorry I just can't get into that. Starting a new job is always a tough adjustment, especially this time being in another country; however, by the end of my third day I had become very comfortable and able to do more without asking questions. Also became friends with some of the other interns too, love them!!

A Trip to Stonehenge and Bath- Friday, June 14th

On Friday morning we woke up extremely early and boarded a coach (what they call a bus) to Stonehenge. I'll have to admit I wasn't really looking forward to the 2 hour trip to look at some 5,000 year old rocks but the drive through the countryside was beautiful and it was cool to see such an old historic monument. After spending an hour at Stonehenge we traveled onto the city of Bath. We toured the Roman Baths and then had the afternoon to explore the city. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had the best afternoon! That night we explored Camden Town. It reminded me a lot of Athens with all of the young people and night life but it was a great time.

Stonehenge

Selfies at Stonehenge

Making a wish into the fountain! 

Funniest Dog I've Ever Seen

Camden Town!