With that said, however, it has been nice to truly get into the swing of things at work. Being there all day helps me complete projects faster, and I have a better idea of how things run because I don’t have to run off after only a couple of hours. It is also nice to be on a regular schedule of getting up the same time every morning and eating around the same time everyday – something that has not happened since arriving in London. Because of this it finally feels like I am a Londoner, as opposed to an American who is just here temporarily.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on how you look at it) for my readers, I am not allowed to talk about what I am doing at work. Rest assured though, I am keeping very busy. This is definitely not your average internship where I am expected to make coffee and deliver mail – I am constantly on my toes, expected to rise to any challenge that is thrown my way. I love it, and I could not have imagined a better internship for me to do this summer.
Even though I have been spending most of my days at work now, I have been still up to fun things after work. On Monday there were obviously no 4th of July celebrations (much to my dismay), but Amanda and I met up with Spencer, one of the British friends that went camping with me on the first weekend in Cornwall, in Oxford Circus. Spencer just moved to London for a new job, and needed some fashion advice so he took us shopping with him. This ultimately ended up as a failure, so we went to a few pubs in Covent Garden just to hang out and talk. Highlight of the night was that we saw the actress who plays Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter movies walking by! It definitely made Amanda and I more excited for the movie premiere that is coming up next week!
Last night I met up with the rest of the students who are still in London for the internship, and headed over to Westminster Pier for a cruise on the Thames! For one of the class presentations we went to the Adam Smith Institute, and they were so impressed with us that they invited us on their “River Boat Party”. We had to dress up in cocktail attire, and were hoping to schmooze with some “posh” British people (if you asked the MP I work for, he would tell you that he was sending me in as a secret spy to gather information from the Conservative party, but this was not the case). Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, all the people on the boat were VERY full of themselves, therefore not that great to talk to – but we had each other to stay entertained so it was still fun. Since we were dressed up nice we did not want to go directly home after the cruise, so Amanda and I met up with Spencer and some of his work friends who were out on Liverpool Street.
Today after work was also exciting, because my friend Jessica (but I call her JBK) from my sorority was in London, and met me at Westminster to hang out with me! I took her and her boyfriend Dave into the Westminster Palace to show them around, and then we explored down around Waterloo. Sadly they had to take off relatively early to meet up with other friends for dinner, but it was so nice to see a familiar face from home.
Due to sheer exhaustion, I have decided to spend the night in, taking time to call my family and Chandni at home (my MagicJack finally works, by the way!), vegging out in front of the TV (there is a special on about the Royal Family, which makes me miss Jennings!), and obviously catch up on the blog.
Seeing that I haven’t done as much cool stuff between this post and the last post as usual, I figured I would write about some broad generalizations I’ve noticed during my stay in the UK:
1) People look at me funny when I say “please” and “thank you”. Apparently please just doesn’t exist, and you say “cheers” instead of thank you.
2) British people LOVE to make fun of each other. This is referred to as “taking a piss” out of someone. However, making fun of Americans is their favorite pastime.
3) You don’t say hi, you say “hiya” or “ello”. You never ask “how are you?”. Its “all right?”, and you are expected to respond “all right”. If anyone told me that they were “all right”, I would ask what was wrong!
4) Everything is “nice”, not “cool”. Beautiful people are "fit", not "hot".
5) Tea time is real. And awesome.
6) Going to a pub is normal. When my dad was here he commented that I always write in my blog about going to pubs. Let’s be honest, he is right! But everyone in England is always in pubs. People typically don’t hang out with each other at home in their flats, they all just meet up in pubs – after work, at lunch, later at night… it’s always socially acceptable.
7) Fries are chips, and chips are crisps. This can get really confusing.
8) Supermarkets as we know them in the US simply don’t exist here. This is good because everything tends to be fresher, but bad because you have to go shopping more often.
9) It always rains. Always. Even if the weather report says sunny, it’s a lie. So. Much. Rain.
10) Public transportation is actually functional. It is an amazing concept.
11) However, on said public transportation, no one has ANY sense of personal space, and has no problem hitting you with their briefcase without apologizing. I really want to shout in some people’s faces YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THE WORLD.
12) On all the electrical outlets, there are little switches to turn them on and off. Such a genius idea to save energy, not sure why the US doesn’t have that.
I know there is a lot more, but that is all I can think of off the top of my head. I will be sure to add some more in my next post as I think of them.
PS. To everyone who has asked me about this (especially you, Mom and Dad!), JBK told me what the jagged street lines are (like the ones on Abbey Road)!!! Basically it is just a warning that a crosswalk and/or traffic light is coming up. Not so exciting, but still – the mystery is solved!
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