Living the Whirlwind of the Big City

Did you think I would ever post again? Wow, I have gotten so behind and literally promised myself to start making a daily effort to get better when.... my computer crashed. Lovely. So I'm still going to try my best, but before I get into that story I will start updating you on my life here from where I last left off. Here we go, enjoy!


The week of January 18th-24th:
     Monday was my very first day of class and we take classes through a program called CAPA International Student Programs which is linked with Imperial College here in London. CAPA has a building that's only a short walk from my flat (less than 10 minutes) so it's really great. The first class is with an actual British professor and we take a British History type class. The only down side is that it's three hours long, which is a long time to sit in a classroom. But so far the professor has done a good job at splitting the time up and even giving us outside things to do to get us out of the classroom. That first day we even went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is just down the road (Cromwell Road) from CAPA. I enjoyed the museum, but I could probably use more time there. After that it was time to go back to CAPA for our second class of the night, which is our internship class with our professor from Mizzou, Byron Scott. He is staying in London with all of us for the duration of our trip. We've all really enjoyed him so far. That class is another two hours long of basic discussion about all of our internships. By 8pm we're done with class and ready to get out of there! I suppose I can't complain since I'm only in class two days a week! 
     Wednesday was a day I will never forget, because Wednesday was the day I went to my very first Broadway-like show at a London theater and my oh my what an experience that was! I say this because I went to see AVENUE Q! Let me tell you, you need that kind of an introductory for that show, AVENUE Q! I was not ready for what that show was about to reveal to me. At first it started off normal and I even thought they were trying a little too hard to get me too laugh, but then it actually started to get genuinely funny. (Oh let me point out to you that in this play the characters are actually puppets, the people are just there acting out their voices, but the puppets are the real characters, doing the actions and conversing with one another.) So anyway, then the play started getting very real and VERY sexual. To put it frankly they sang songs about internet porn, sex, "everyone's a little bit racist...sometimes," the puppets actually had intercourse with one another, and so on and so on. But they made it hillarious... in a different kind of way. All I can say is it was an experience that I had no idea I was getting myself in to. One of my friends even said at one point he looked over at me and my mouth was just staring wide open. haha. Don't get me wrong this play is hillarious and the actors are great; I was just shocked. But ladies and gentlemen, this is London for you! The other note about this that I thought was humorous is that on the sign when we were buying our tickets it said that the play wasn't suitable for children 12 and under.... all I could keep saying was, "12 and under? I don't think it's suitable for 20 and under! haha" Well, I really do think some of the things they were trying to teach in this play were actually good lessons, ones that should even be taught in America (like the lessons about racism!) Go see it! :) 
      That Friday CAPA s cheduled a trip for all of its students to go on a trip to Stonehenge and Bath so most of the people from our study abroad group went. The day started off very rainy and windy and let me tell you, that never really stopped! So I ventured off in my rain boots and puffy coat with curly hair and umbrella in hand. Stonehenge was our first stop. Even though the weather was terrible, I managed to embrace my inner eskimo (because I have a very furry hood on my coat so that's just what everyone said I looked like) and take it all in, quickly snapping all the memory-making pictures. All in all Stonehenge was very cool. I really enjoy going to historic sites like those that are so famously known all around the world. Just being there was cool. You should really google the significance of it if you don't already know, since I'm trying to keep these brief :). 
     Next we went to Bath. For all of you book lovers out there, this is the famous hometown of Jane Austen. I am personally a big fan of Jane Austen so this was a fun place to visit. My mom and sisters and I would always watch the movie versions of many of her books together when I was little (and we still do!) so this had a lot of meaning to it. I even got a picture with Mr. Darcy in front of the Jane Austen museum! Although it really didn't turn out that great because he made me laugh the entire time... haha. We took a little tour around Bath which was fun and considering it's not that big we got to see most of it and many of Jane Austen's favorite places and points of "inspiration." Now the tour of course did end with a trip to the famous Roman Baths. I was a little surprised because there really is only one big "bath" that's still a good place for photographs. The others are either drained or dark or not so pretty. The other interesting fact, or at least for me, was that these Roman baths were really used by the Roman "superiors" to take baths. haha. Yes, they just bathed in them for the most part. Of course they also used them for spiritual and healing reasons, but throughout the museum, the main pictures we saw and the stories we read were about their use of them for pure leisure. I thought that was quite funny. So that rounded up my trip to Bath and after that we all got back on the buses and headed back to good ol' London town. It was a long day and we were all exhausted, but it was a good day :).  

The week of January 25th-31st: THE BEGINNING OF INTERNING!
     On Monday the alarm went off promptly at 6am. There was no way I was going to be late for my first day of interning at Fox Business, especially since who knew what was going to happen that day on the tube! I woke up a little tired, but I think I also had a lot of adrenalin pushing me to wake up! All I can say was I was pumped, sort of like the morning before a big game. I picked out my outfit the day before, even trying to make it look a little London-ish so I would mix in a little bit :). Anyway, everything went very smoothly on my morning commute and I was walking up to the building with 15 minutes to spare and breathtaking view of the River Thames to my left and the London Eye, Big Ben, and Parliament in front of me. I couldn't help but get a tad bit choked up as I looked over at the building where Fox was since a rush of emotions just immediately came over me because this was it! I had been waiting for this moment for so long and it was finally here! So I text my parents :), and then saw the time and decided to laugh at myself and go in. To just do an overview the first day was great! Ashley Webster anchors Fox Business Morning which is actually on the US, so you can watch him on Fox there! He does the Live dot com show too after that, so of course you can find him online too. He co anchors with the anchors from NYC (Jenna Lee and Connell McShane) so we're always working with NY on a daily basis. He's really great and an amazing boss. I'm really excited to see what the rest of my time here brings. Allison is the Senior Producer there. So she too is also my boss. I work directly with Allison everyday since of course Ashley anchors throughout the day. She too is amazing and I couldn't be any luckier. I have really been blessed with this internship. Basically everything was laid out for me that day as far as what was going to be expected of me and the things that I was going to be able to do throughout my time there. All I can say is I can't wait to get started, and I'm really excited to learn about the world of "booking guests." :) I can't wait to get this show on the road!