I Love My Internship- Part II

So, I have to say that my internship at MSN (a.k.a Microsoft) still rocks! After four days of working there, I have pretty much settled in to my internship. I am starting to work on bigger assignments as opposed to meaningless busy work, which is always good. On Monday and Tuesday, all of us interns had to attend several training workshops. The workshops were fairly interesting and ranged from libel/legal dangers to writing concise photo captions for the web. Besides that, I have been creating photo galleries (doing research, writing captions and getting images) and learning MSN's web content management system.

Today was our British Life and Culture field trip and my day-off. We went to the Tate Britain. I'm not a big art museum fan, but the Tate Britain was okay. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and unlike my tour guide at St. Paul's was concise, and to-the-point. We got to see the construction of a new exhibit at the Tate Britain, which is a giant sculpture made entirely out of kitchen pots and pans. That was kind of cool. The only bad thing is that each week I'm required to write a brief paper on a topic from the field trip or the lecture. This week I have absolutely no idea what to write about from the Tate Britain, which could be problem.

Tomorrow, Microsoft is holding a special, very important workshop, and all of us interns get to be the guides for all the VIPs. I'm secretly hoping that Bill Gates will be there (one can dream right?), but I highly doubt it! Besides that, I'm also going to The Lion King musical tomorrow night, which should be awesome. More to come on my exciting adventures in London.

Sightseeing Cont.d

Yesterday, I spent the day sightseeing. I got up at 7 a.m. (way too early on a Saturday morning) for a guided sightseeing tour of St. Paul's Cathedral. The architecture in the Cathedral, which was built in the late 1600's, was gorgeous. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, but he was also long-winded. He talked about the history of literally every statue at St. Paul's Cathedral! Believe me, there's a lot of statues! After the tour, I climbed 426 stairs (No- I didn't count- there was a sign at the bottom of the stairs.) to the observation deck at St. Paul's Cathedral. The view was amazing. That night, I went to see Wicked at the Victoria Apollo Theater. A bunch of us went to the box office that afternoon for tickets. With my student I.D. card, I was able to get what normally is a 70 pound ticket for a very reasonable 25 pounds. I had a pretty good seat for the show. Of course, the show was amazing. If you haven't seen it already, I would highly recommend it!

Today, I took the tube to Oxford Circus. This weekend I experienced firsthand how congested the tube can get when they decide to close three train "tube" lines for the weekend. Sadly, I am starting to get used to having "my personal space" invaded by a ton of passengers on the tube. Also, It amazes me how no matter how full the train gets, people still manage to squeeze themselves on anyway. Anyway, I took an incredibly congested tube ride to Oxford Circus- a big shopping area in London. I spent literally an hour in Top Shop. This clothing store is ridiculously big. It has 6 different levels with everything from clothes and shoes to a cafe, candy store and even a hair salon. They also offer 10% discounts for students, which is really nice. My third day of work at my internship is tomorrow, so more to come on that.

To see my photos from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, please click on the link below. Once the photo album opens, scroll down until you see "View Album." Click on View Album to see all 14 photos. Enjoy!


14 pictures
View Album at Shutterfly

I Love My Internship!!!

After two days of working at MSN UK, I can officially say that my internship rocks! All the people who work there are really nice, helpful and friendly. I definitely think I will have a lot of great opportunities working there over the next three months. They do a really great job of making us feel like real employees as opposed to interns. I can honestly say that one of my greatest fears was that all I would do at my internship was make coffee and pick up my supervisor's dry cleaning. They seem really willing to listen and consider our ideas. Also while I have only worked there for two days, I can already tell that they will be more than willing to give me and the other interns bigger stories and projects to work on. Also, I was excited to find out that MSN was the number one news website in the United Kingdom. They get over 4 million views to their home page everyday. Pretty cool!

In addition, I really like the work environment. For one, there are no cubicles, which is a big relief. The newsroom is one giant room with the desks facing one another. All the people there are laid-back and nice. I am glad that I finally get to meet and hang out with British people, considering the only people I have been hanging out with for the past two weeks is college students from my program.

Besides my internship, I went to Stonehenge and Bath on Wednesday. At first, I was a little reluctant to go to Stonehenge. I thought what's so exciting about giant stones? But, my initial reaction was wrong. Stonehenge was neat, particularly when you think about how people got the stones there and arranged them in such a specific way without modern tools and technology. Those rocks are seriously heavy. Bath, a small city about an hour away from Stonehenge, was my favorite part of the day. The architecture in the city of Bath was cute and quaint. All the buildings were made of a light-colored limestone rocks. Our tour guide told us that Bath looks a lot like Edinburgh. I have never been to Scotland so for now I'll take his word on that! By far, my favorite part of Bath was a tour of the Roman baths that were located there in ancient times. Most of you know that I took Latin for six years and that I was the Roman historian for my school's Certamen team. So actually getting to see Roman baths that I have only read and seen pictures about it in books was really neat. The Romans were attracted to Bath in part because the only hot spring in England is located there. Seeing the excavations at Bath was beyond cool.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Royal Albert Hall (theater) at Imperial College

Inauguration Day

I was incredibly busy today. Aside from the presidential inauguration, I also went sightseeing and to my internship interview. I am happy to say that I am now officially an intern for the money section at MSN UK. My first day at my internship is Thursday!

After my internship interview, I went sightseeing with some friends. We went to Madame Tussauds (the wax museum.) I experienced firsthand one of the only benefits of being an American citizen traveling in London. In honor of the U.S. inauguration, the wax museum premiered their Obama figure, and they offered free admission to all American citizens with a U.S. passport. This was great since the usual admission price was 25 pounds. I took dozens of pictures in the museum, including one with the new Obama wax figure. After that, I went with a friend to see Abbey Road (the Beatles recording studio). Outside the studio, there is a wall where you can write messages. Both of us definitely wrote on the wall. While I'm not a diehard Beatles fan, it was awesome seeing so many Beatles landmarks (via Abbey Road and the walking tour).

Then at precisely 3:45 p.m. (10:45a.m. eastern time), I went over to the local pub at Imperial College with some friends to watch the inauguration oath and speech. It was interesting seeing their response to his speech. With the exception of a couple of Imperial College students snickering and cracking jokes, their response was overwhelmingly positive to Obama’s speech.

It definitely felt weird not being in the U.S. for Inauguration Day. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out how interested most Londoners were in the inauguration. It was interesting to learn that an overwhelming majority of Londoners approve of Obama. According to my journalism professor, if the presidential election were held in the U.K., approximately 80% of people would have voted for Obama. Besides this, Londoners in general seem much more aware of international news than U.S. citizens. For instance, almost everyone I saw on the tube today had a newspaper copy and they were reading about the inauguration. In fact everyday, it is a common occurrence to see most commuters reading the morning paper on the tube on their way to work.

Now let’s just hope that President Obama can correct eight long years of failed economic and military policy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/20web-inaug2.html?_r=1&hp

Greetings!

The past few days have been amazing! Since my internship doesn't start for another week, I have been doing a ton of sightseeing. On Friday, my roommates and I took the tube to Covent Garden. Covent Garden is this cute, little shopping district with live (and very talented) street performers. There was a flea market with London gift items. There was also a really cool soccer store called "Soccer Scene." Afterwards, I went to Nottingham and specifically Portobello Road. Portobello Road is an outdoor market with all kinds of antiques and jewelry shops. Unfortunately, it was raining and cold so I didn't stay that long. My roommates also wanted to find the blue door from the movie Notting Hill. Unfortunately, we later found out that the door was sold to some U.S. company a few months ago. So, all that's left is an open hole in the ground. So, that was kind of disappointing.

On Saturday, I took a sightseeing tour on the famous double decker buses. It was interesting learning more tidbits about the city of London. I didn't realize how much the city is preparing for the 2012 summer Olympics. All the new Olympic venues will be held a few miles outside the city. Also even though it was in the mid-40s and windy, we rode on the top (open) deck on the bus for the experience. Even in the cold, it was well worth it. Afterwards, we went on a roundtrip ferry ride from Tower Hill (outside the Tower of London) to Westminister, which is by Big Ben and the London Eye.

Today, I got up fairly early to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. It was really interesting, but I'm not sure it was worth waiting out in the 35 degree weather for two hours. I would recommend seeing the Changing of the Guards in the spring and summer months. Afterwards, me and two friends took the tube to Piccadilly Circus. We ate at this cute little cafe, where I had a delicious chocolate croissant. In London, it costs more to eat in a cafe than to take away. It's generally only around 20 pence more, but that's very different from American cafes. Afterwards, we went on a walking tour of famous Beatles landmarks. We saw the famous London Palladium, their Trident recording studio (the other recording studio they used in London besides Abbey Road), Carnaby Street and where the Beatles performed their famous rooftop live concert. The tour was very informative and interesting. Besides that, I took the tube to Victoria to scope out the location for my internship. The building is ultra modern and gorgeous. It's also located next to the theaters where they are currently showing Wicked and Billy Elliot. So maybe if I'm lucky, I can get cheap tickets to see these shows after work.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to do more sightseeing during the day before going to my International Journalism class at 6p.m. More to come on my sightseeing adventures.


Portobello Road in Nottingham

The London Eye

The Tower Bridge in London

London Skyline

London Pictures

Westminister Abbey (from the side)

Westminister Abbey

St. Paul's Cathedral

Update From London

So, I'm falling in love with the city of London. It's an amazing city to explore. Yesterday, I toured the Museum of London and the Natural History Museum. I was thrilled to find out that all museums in London are free and open to the public. The Museum of London was interesting. It showed how the city transformed through the ages (starting with the Roman invasion until the Great Fire of 1666). The special exhibit on the Great Fire was very interesting. But, I was disappointed to learn that the exhibits from 1666 through World War II were closed due to a remodeling project. In the afternoon, I toured the National History Museum, which was awesome. First off, the museum was gorgeous. The museum was enormous and had a cool layout. I seriously got lost in the museum- it's that big! In the earth and rock wing of the museum, we rode on an escalator through a gigantic hollow earth. This led to a giant exhibit showcasing all these expensive gems and minerals. I also saw neat exhibits on dinosaurs, human biology, mammals, reptiles, etc.

Today, I went to a meeting for my internship, which explained our internship duties and expectations. There are quite a few differences between internships in the U.S. and in the U.K. For one, I heard it is quite common for co-workers and supervisors to get a pint during their lunch break. I still can't get over how big pub culture is in London. There are like 3,000 pubs in London alone. Tomorrow, I will find out where I will be interning. I'm looking forward to starting my internship next week.

Besides that, I have been looking into travel around Europe. We have had a couple meetings describing tours and whatnot. So, hopefully I can do a lot of traveling in the next few months. Cheers!

Greetings From London

Yesterday, classes started. We had an academic orientation and tour of Imperial College in the morning. The buildings on campus are gorgeous. The campus tour guide described Imperial College as the "MIT" of the U.K. In the afternoon, my roommates and I explored the campus further. Later, we went to a social and travel meeting. I can't wait to travel around Europe. There were some great travel rates to Paris, Amsterdam, Italy, Switzerland, France, Wales, etc. I also went down to Hyde Park, and saw neat gardens, Prince Albert's gigantic monument, and Princess Diana's memorial. Then, I had my International Journalism class in the evening. So far, the class seems really interesting.

So today, I bought a monthly pass for The Underground. I can't get over how easy it is to get around on the tube. Immediately after that, a bunch of us went over to Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. It was so amazing. We went to the National Gallery and the National Portraits Gallery. Afterwards, we took to the tube to Imperial College for our first British Life and Culture class. The lecture was okay, but I am willing looking forward to the weekly field trips. Tomorrow, we go to the Museum of London, which should be neat.

I really like the location of our flat. It's in a really trendy area in Kensington with lots of things to do. I can't get over how many American fast food restaurants there are in London. Within a mile of my flat, there is a Burger King, McDonalds, KFC, and Subway. Also, the U.K. has a ton of Italian restaurants, which I wasn't expecting.

One of my roommates said that Will Smith would be at Piccadilly Circus tomorrow evening for the premiere of Seven Pounds in London. So, hopefully I can get some awesome pictures! Cheers!

Sightseeing

It was our first full day in London. This morning I went on a sightseeing tour around London. Among other things, I saw Westminister Abbey, Parliament, The London Eye and Buckingham Palace. After the tour, I walked around Piccadilly Circus and took my first ride on the Underground. The Underground is fairly easy to use. In fact, I thought it was much easier than the subway system in New York City. I'm sure this was the first of many times that I will use the tube ("The Underground")

Afterwards, my roommates and I did some grocery shopping at Sainsbury's- a big grocery story chain in London. Grocery shopping in London is so different than in the U.S. For one, there aren't any food preservatives in London- so the food goes bad a lot faster. Most foods go bad within two to three days.

Later on, some of my roommates and I watched the British version of Dancing with the Stars in our flat. The only difference was that it was on ice. British television is very different from U.S. televison. There are only 5 cable channels.

Also, I'm thrilled to say that our flat now has hot water, which is really great. I wasn't looking forward to another frigid shower. Tomorrow, classes start at Imperial College. For me, that means I have my International Issues Reporting class. More to come on my first day of classes.

Finally Here

I finally made it to London. After an eight hour (very long) flight, I arrived in London's Heathrow airport around noon. The past ten hours have been a whirlwind. We got to our flats and then had to take our luggage up four flights of steep stairs, since there was no elevator. After putting our stuff in our rooms, we walked to Imperial College for a quick lunch of "fish and chips" and a brief health and safety orientation. Afterwards, I had some time to semi-unpack my things and get organized before our evening activity.

My flat was about what I had expected from the previous study abroad meetings- very small. There are six of us in one flat, which consists of two "triple" rooms, a bathroom, living room and kitchen. While the flat is cozy, there are some maintenance issues that need to be addressed. For instance, there is no currently no hot water in the bathroom, which is a major problem. Also, there is no electricity in the kitchen.

Besides a few inconvenieces, my time in London has been good. Let's just hope that there is hot water tomorrow! I'm looking forward to getting a good night sleep since it is nearly impossible to sleep on cramped airplanes.

Tomorrow, we are going on a sightseeing tour around London, which should be exciting. More to come about this later.

Getting ready to leave!

As I'm sitting in the Orlando airport waiting for my plane to get here, I can't believe the day is almost here! The past six months have been a whirlwind getting ready for my study abroad trip to London. In August, I began the process with the lengthy study abroad application and essay. Then, there were the two interviews and the semi-complicated process of obtaining a visa. Lastly, there was the challenge of packing four months worth of stuff in 2 checked suitcases (each under 50 pounds) and a carry-on. Let's just say, I'm not a light packer, so this was definitely a major undertaking.

But, now the day is almost here! I will get on a 767 jet tomorrow at 9:05p.m. to start my study abroad adventure.

Welcome!

This semester I am studying abroad in London. I decided to write this blog as a way to keep my friends and family up-to-date on my travels. I will update my blog a couple of times each week. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures.