Work, Ascot, and Football - What a combo

I haven't been great at updating this blog, I always think about how I should, then get distracted with something else... Regardless, where did I leave off?I got back from Wales exhausted, and I had to wake up bright and early for work the next day! I've been trying to kick the coffee habit, and save money by not buying coffee in the morning. However, the coffee at my office is awful and so I usually end up fighting staying awake until lunch time, where I eventually I cave. You think I would learn by now. I'm doing "market research" for my internship which really just entails me googling companies and what their environmental stance is, then writing up a summary on the industry and inputting individual company information into a database. Fascinating I know. Still, the people are really nice, and they hired another intern who is my age. Her and I are now lunch buddies and chat at work which made it instantly more fun.The week dragged in the beginning but once Thursday rolled around it was my weekend. I spent Thursday at the Camden market which was incredible. Thousands of stalls were sporadically placed among streets and down hallways. You're supposed to haggle down the prices, and i was able to get 3 pounds off of a dress which felt like a score (until I did the conversion to dollars in my head). I left with some new clothes and a dress for.... the Royal Ascot!We woke up bright and early Friday morning for the Ascot. It's basically the British version of the Kentucky Derby. Everyone is dressed up and the hats were insane! Of course the people with the best outfits were also the people who got to be by the finish line. Just like everything in England, it was divided by class. We of course were in the "Silver Arena" with the rest of the commoners. There are grandstands and tables, but most people just picnic. It was so much fun, and I got to see the queen!
It was pretty warm out even though it was cloudy. Right as we we're coming back into London it started to drizzle, but all in all the Ascot was a blast! I did make a couple 2 pound bets and came out even. No complaints here.
On Saturday I walked around the Notting Hill area, we were going to go hang out in Hyde Park, but without fail - it started to rain. London and Seattle are very similar weather wise, however I think it is cloudier here in London. There are rarely clear blue skies.It's been "football" madness over here with the World Cup. Arcadia sent out a challenge to all the students in my program to see who could go to the most bars (of whatever country is playing). I was really jealous because some kids went to a Danish bar for the Denmark game. I totally would have shown off my awesome Danish speaking ability. haha. Perhaps Thursday when they play Japan. I've been to an Argentina game and went to a Spanish bar last night for the Spain game. I'm not that into the World Cup but it's still fun to go and hear the crazy songs and watch everyone freak out. Tomorrow my office is ending at 3pm and then we're going to the pub to watch the England game (the USA game is on at the same time, but i'm pretty sure no one will have it on in the whole city).

More next week after I get back from my beach trip to Brighton.These next photos are from a night walk around downtown London on Sunday evening. Enjoy!

Brazilian Festival LightsThe London EyeClose Up!Big BenTrafalgar Square

Wales!

I won't bore you with the details of my internship (maybe another time, but it's going well!) Instead, I will fill you in on my AMAZING weekend in Wales.
We left Friday afternoon, hopped on the train and headed for our weekend trip to Wales. The train took, what seemed like forever, but we eventually made it to... the middle of nowhere. Before this i naively had no idea where Wales was in realtion to England let alone the rest of the world. Wales is west of England and we had arrived at the western most tip of Wales.My first impression of Wales was that it was beautiful. Green grass, rolling hills, sheep, and the sea in the background.
We settled into our rooms, and decided to go for a walk to the nearest beach. The staff gave us a map and we made our way down the road, across a field, through the woods, and finally made it to the beach. It was totally worth it!
We then made our way back to hang out and rest up for the next busy day. Saturday was incredible. I wish I had pictures but since we were doing water activities all day i didn't even bring a camera. My group started off the morning with sea kayaking. We started off in this small bay....Then we kayaked around the coast going into caves and learning about the sea life that lived there. We saw jelly fish and what they call "sea gooseberries" or sea cucumbers. They look iridescent underwater and light up. It was amazing! After that we went back for lunch and then got ready for our second adventure... Coasteering. This entailed us climbing along the rocks and jumping off into the water. It was amazing. I even did the big jump at the end (only 30 feet but I still felt like a champ). We got back to the lodge and we were exhausted... and hungry. The food that they made for us was so good. By far the best food i've had since coming to London. I even took a picture of the lasagna that they made the first night (Which wasn't even the best meal!)Of course we had to go see the England vs USA world cup game. We trecked up to the local Welsch pub and saw the game end in a tie. After, we chatted with the locals before heading back to the lodge. The next day I went on a 7 mile hike along the coast. The first half was absolutely breathtaking, and the views were incredible!
After we got halfway on our hike, it started to rain. An hour of that and i was definitely ready for the long train ride home.
Wales is absolutely amazing and beautiful. I could definitely see staying again!

All the big stuff

Sorry for the delay between posts, I have limited internet access and not a whole lot of time yet to sit down and write.Anyways....On Saturday we decided to do all the central touristy stuff. We hopped on the tube, which is so warm and muggy that it is uncomfortable! Way faster than walking though. We hopped off right by the London Eye, which is this huge observation ferris wheel. We didn't go on it, but we walked over the bridge and took some pictures.

It looks all cloudy out, but it really was a nice warm day. We walked through St. James Park and there were all these people lounging on the grass and trying to feed the pelicans that lived in the pond. The geese looked just like the geese at home. So i wasn't too excited. But I took a picture anyways. At the end of the park was Buckingham Palace. It was crowded and tons of tourists of every nationality.
The guards with the funny hats were marching around, although I'm not totally sure why. I should probably google it. Everyone just runs up to the gate to take pictures and stare at them. It seems like the weirdest job. Then we stopped by Westminster Abbey, so intricate and HUGE. We wandered around that for awhile walking over all the people that were buried inside. They had their name, occupation, and how they died which was really interesting to see. Many of them did not live past 50!After that we were all really tired, so we went back to the house to rest up. Then all of the interns went to this fun bar not too far away to hang out, dance, and bond. Ok that's all for now. I'll update on my internship and studies soon

Interviews and Touristy Stuff

My Interview on Thursday went really well. It's been absolutely beautiful this weekend, which the locals all say is very unusual for London. I decided to walk there and it wasn't too far away, however I made the mistake of walking in heels. 20 minutes and countless blocks of cobblestone later I had blisters all over my feet, and realized that people who walk to work wear tennis shoes and change them later. I made it to the University and met up with our project adviser. He was a funny absent minded economic professor, who loved to talk so much our group was the last ones to leave the luncheon.
That night we went to explore more of our neighborhood and ended up at a bar called Traffic. It was fun - but small, and they kept playing the same 5 songs over and over. I think it was just for us Americans, but Party in the USA was one of them.
Friday was really hot, and I decided to get lost by myself and wander the Notting Hill area - I had to drop something off at my program's office. I ended up walking down the street where all of the foreign embassies are and it was gorgeous! I would have taken pictures but apparently its illegal there, and there were police everywhere. Pretty much the other half of the people in the Internship program live in the Notting Hilll are in these really cool flats. They are near so much food and shopping and overall nice things. Where I live, is a bit different. I live in this random old building, that's set up a lot like a dorm. The people are great, but the area is referred to as the "Brooklyn of London" whereas where the other housing is "Soho." Still we have a lot of fun places to go out, and it's definitely not touristy. Here are a couple of photos, but I still haven't taken any of my room (too messy already!)

Outside of Thoresby House
The Staircase Inside

On Saturday, some of us decided to see the Touristy parts of London. But i'll update on that later. More pictures I promise!

Navigating the Streets

So winding down my second full day in London and it has been packed! After my unsuccessful venture for sheets last night, some of the other interns and I decided to explore the local pub scene. We already were running on zero sleep, what's a couple more hours. We went to two pubs and tried some local beer and cider. The first was your typical local pub. There were big wooden tables and our bartender named Joel. Joel was around our age and had a humorous aversion to Americans, or anything that wasn't from London. The second pub, but more of a bar, was called "road trip." It had a chandelier made out of skulls(fake?) and the goonies playing on flat screen TVs.
Today, we woke up early still jet lagged and ready for orientation. They gave us the spiel of what was different from the UK and America. My favorite difference was that arugula is called "rocket." This came in handy for lunch when I ordered a Chicken and Rocket wrap. We had short meetings with our coordinators about our internships, and then we decided to get cell phones, sheets, and explore. Once our errands were done, a bunch of us decided we would find our own way to meet the rest of the orientation at the Tate Modern Museum. So we hopped on the tube and arrived quickly at the London Bridge.
I led the way... although not always with the knowledge of where I was going. We ended up on London Bridge arguing if it was THE London Bridge (kindof) and if the cool looking bridge in the background was really the one the nursery song referred to. (it wasn't). After that I led the way along to water and we accidentally discovered some cool historical things.

Southwark CathedralThe last 2 walls of Winchester Palace
The Golden Hindle ship recreationShakespeare's Globe Theater
Iron Gate in front of the GlobeThe Tate Modern Museum
And last but not least.... the Millennium Pedestrian Bridge

And that was my first full day in London.

Wet and Rainy - Just Like Home

I arrived in London after a plane ride that seemed to take FOREVER. I kept battling the man sitting next to me for the armrest and he ultimately won. The flight was delayed over an hour and then it took at least 30 min to get through customs. I feel like London is a lot of waiting so far.... after clearing customs we then waited for a bus to come pick us up! The place where I am living looks pretty much like the picture on wikipedia. It's in a newer section of London so it doesn't feel as old and historical as the rest of it, although I've barely seen any of it! We were told not to bring sheets for the bed because it would be easy and cheaper to find them when we got there. That was definitely a mistake.

We had a meeting in our residence hall that lasted until about 5:30 and then we were given a tour of the neighborhood. Well we also needed to get sheets, and some of the more inexpensive places close around 6. We ran around trying to find sheets and comparing cost and all I ended up with in the end was a duvet cover and pillow cases, still no sheets and definitely no towel. Everyone speaks English, although sometimes they stare at you like you are an alien speaking jibberish.

All in all, its been overwhelming but interesting so far. It's been about 30 hours since i've slept and all I want to do is curl up in bed. Oh wait. I still don't have sheets.