London Life

Phew. It has been a looooong week. 

Work has been going pretty well, although it's starting to have its frustrating moments.  Last Wednesday they literally told us to 'hold tight' until they found us something to do, which meant Holly and I were basically hanging around Vandon until they finally sent us work that had to be completed in the hour because of a press deadline.  I'm starting to see the pressure and time constraints that are part of magazine publication, which are really quite stressful.  I think it becomes even more stressful for us to be on the outside too, because we want to help as much as possible but we can't do anything really as we're not physically with them.  This past week was a little more interesting.  Tuesday we went to a press viewing of the Turner/Claude exhibition at the National Gallery, did some research, went to the Victoria & Albert Museum for a press viewing that actually wasn't happening for another couple of weeks, and did a lot of event research for the month of April.

Last weekend a group of us went to Liverpool for the weekend.  I'd already been twice while I was in Wales, but it's one of my favourite cities so I was up for going again.  We left London ridiculously early (the things you do for cheap train tickets..) and when we got there we met Regan, who is studying in Wales. We checked into our hostel, one I'd stayed at before and loved, before heading out to explore.  We honestly didn't do much other than just wander, which was nice.  It was a beautiful day, and it was good to catch up with Regan.  That evening we cooked at the hostel, and attempted to go out but we were far too tired.  Saturday morning we went to the World Museum before catching the train.  I actually went to Bangor for the rest of the weekend, since one of my friends from Texas that was in the Central program with me (in Wales) was visiting for the week.  I couldn't not go see her!  Shireen is larger than life, and she is most definitely from Texas.  She is so wonderful though.  I also finally got to see my flatmate Abi, which was wonderful.  And she's coming to stay with me in London next weekend-so excited!  It was just so nice to catch up with such good friends.  My friend Jessica from Central was also visiting Wales for her spring break, and she decided to come to London for the night on Monday.  She had a whirlwind 24 hours in the city--definitely not enough time to see everything, but we packed quite a bit in. 

Central's President, Dr. Putnam, was in London this week as well, along with his wife and one other person from Central.  A group of us had lunch with him on Wednesday, and it was really interesting to hear what he had to say about study abroad as well as listen to what questions he had for us.  I think it's really important and really awesome that the people who make the big decisions about our programs are taking the time to do this at every site.  And it was a conversation--not an interview or a lecture, but an actual discussion.  Dr. Putnam also met with Holly, Beth, and I later in the afternoon to talk about our internship.  I felt bad for Beth--she was absolutely grilled about things that her mum would have been much better at answering.  I'm pretty sure Beth is only a year older than I am and she's only officially been at the magazine for a year, but she answered everything well.  Dr. Putnam mostly wanted to know what the magazine did and how it was run and how having interns was beneficial.  Jen and Mark were both there too, so it felt very serious and grownup!  It was cool though that we got to show him what we're doing though.  Afterwards Jen, Beth, Holly, and I sat and had coffee by the river just to unwind. 
Thursday was an extremely busy day.  We had class all morning, barely had time to grab lunch at Vandon, and then had to be in the East End by 2 for Religions.  We went to a Turkish mosque in Hackney, as we had started our unit on Islam.  The mosque itself was beautiful--it was tiled with blue and aqua mosaic all over, which is typical of Turkish design.  We spoke with a professor of Islam studies from a London university, and he told us a lot about the Muslim community in Britain and the internal changes and progress that Muslims are working on.  We had to take our shoes off in the mosque, and all of the women had to wear headscarves, which is just a sign of respect.  Afterwards we had a meal at a Turkish restaurant, which was really good but I didn't want to eat much since we were also having Indian food later in the evening.  We were all basically sitting on the ground for the meal, with a table maybe two feet off the ground for our food.  The president and crew had come with, so it was a little amusing to see us all squashed in this little cubicle around a table on the ground.  We had just enough time to drop our things off at Vandon before heading to Brick Lane for our Indian/Pakistani meal with the program.  By this time, I was starting to feel pretty awful.  Flu-like sickness had been going around, and since Abby had had it earlier in the week I knew I was bound to get it.  My voice got worse and worse throughout the day, and I was sooo congested.  But I trooped through the meal, which was delicious but way too filling.  We got back to Vandon about 9:30 that evening and I tried to read but I just couldn't--I was too tired.  I woke up about four in the morning and decided there was no way I was going on our fieldtrip that day--it was only to Greenwich, but since it was an assignment for our blogs I'll have to make it up on my own time.  I was just so achy and tired, and I could hardly breathe or talk.  I didn't get out of bed til nearly one--anyone who knows me knows that I never do that.  I finally ate something about five which made me feel better for a while before I crashed again. 
I woke up feeling quite a bit better on Saturday, although I was still a little achy.  Alissa and I got up at a decent time and went to Borough Market, London's upscale food market.  It was like a high-class Des Moines Farmer's Market, if you can picture such a thing.  There were so many free samples, and it was all so so so good.  It actually wasn't that expensive either, so Alissa and I got inspired and bought food to make supper.  We spent the afternoon in the big Waterstone's book store in Piccadilly, which was a perfect afternoon.  I have to admit though the day wore me out, so I was more than tired by the time it was bedtime.  Today, Sunday, we went to the big Hillsong church in London, which as our Religions professor described it is a 'rock for God' church.  That was about right--definitely not my thing.  It was interesting, but it was long and it just was not my kind of church.  This afternoon I've just relaxed and tried to catch up after such a crazy week.
I've also been thinking a lot, almost too much, this week about what to do when I graduate.  It's...terrifying to say the least.  I hate not knowing what's next--I can be a little bit of a control freak when it comes to that kind of thing.  I've found a lot of things I don't want to do, but not something that sounds like a good fit right away.  Mum can attest to my panic--and her response was an e-mail with the subject Boss Mama--and it was probably exactly what I needed to hear.  Still, Boss Mama.  Hilarious. 

Anyway, that's all for now.  I'll try to update a little faster next time!  I'm still laptop charger-less, so I've definitely been spending less time on the computer.  And actually, that's probably a very good thing while I'm in London. 
Much love :)