This past week flew by as well! It seems the longer I am here, and the longer I long to stay (longlonglong), and the faster the weeks go. I can’t believe I have to go back to the States soon.
Anyway, so, Monday, my boss asked me to go into the office both days this week since there was a lot to do. I still had not gotten my iPhone back at this point, so I set my alarm on my super high tech English phone (please note the sarcasm in my voice) and that was that. Well, apparently my wonderful phone didn’t automatically change for daylight savings (our daylight savings is a few weeks after yours for some reason, so now we’re back to being 5 hours ahead). I woke up an hour later than I should and had to email my supervisor and tell her what had happened. She was really nice about it and told me not to worry. I headed into work and upon my arrival, I actually had a number of things to do right away. After a little bit, she handed me a book full of destinations and travel agencies and I had to put all of their information into a spreadsheet. I did this for the remainder of the day as well as all day Tuesday. I have about 200 listings in there now and I am not even halfway done yet. It is definitely a very tedious, eye-crossing task, but at least I am being useful. I got an email from one of the ladies at ICLC and she told me my phone had come in! I was so excited to be reconnected with my iPhone. Yes, we all know I’m addicted, but this week was rough! I’m still working out a few bugs since it’s adjusting to working internationally, but for the most part, it’s all good!
Tuesday night, I headed out to the Rocket (the place with the snakebite drinks we went to when the Ithakids were here) to meet up with Ben, Chris and Jenna and some of their friends for Ben’s 22nd birthday! We had a blast, that place is slowly becoming a favorite. There are so many different types of people in there and the drinks are so cheap. Both times have been such a laugh. WE then planned to head to Sports Café (a very Americanized bar) to continue celebrating since Ben’s birthday was at midnight and the Rocket closes at midnight. While we were waiting, Jenna and I decided to go sit with a group of locals that appeared to be arguing about a football match. Soon as we sat down, they refused to keep arguing and went on asking us about America and whatnot. They were a riot.
We finally headed to Sports Café and celebrated Ben’s midnight birthday while waiting for the tube. We were definitely those loud Americans screaming Happy Birthday, but it was great. A lot of people who are studying here go to Sports Café on Tuesdays. It’s cool, but it is all Americans and kids studying abroad here that go. So it’s not your British bar experience, which is what I love about being here. The drinks are fairly cheap and the place is huge. They played some throwback American music and it was definitely still a blast even though it was all Americans. I kept saying that I would have to leave after whatever song was playing, but then they would go ahead and play another song I couldn’t leave during. Finally, I headed home around 2:30 and was not really looking forward to getting up for class the next morning. It was totally worth it though because we had a fantastic time.
Wednesday, I had class and it was British Pop. Pretty standard day in the class. We talked about Folk music and Folk rock and whatnot. My professor was talking about a concert that we were supposed to have gone to, but clearly nobody had. Everyone has been sick and it was such a trek to get there that I think a lot of people had the same thoughts as me and just decided it wasn’t worth it. The professor didn’t go either so it was a little awkward when he was asking questions and nobody answered.
After class, I rushed home to eat quickly and drop my books and laptop off. I then made my way to High Street Kensington to meet Miguel so we could hang out in Hyde Park. It was an absolutely beautiful day. I had on a tanktop and I was sweating. I even got some sunburn apparently. We grabbed a few beers and just hung out in the grass. He taught me a Spanish card game that was really fun once I got the hang of it. I was winning for a while but then he decided to turn on his competitive side and then he won by a landslide. I have no idea what it was called, but we played with Spanish cards which are much different than regular playing cards.
After the park, he took me to Holland Park. This park was a little different than Hyde Park. There were Japanese Gardens and fountains and even peacocks! It was really beautiful.
We then started walking towards Belushi’s (a bar in Shepherd’s Bush) and stopped in Westfield. I needed to snap pictures of sporting advertisements for my Sport Marketing class se we figured the mall would be the best place. I snapped a few and then we headed to the bar. We had a few drinks and watched the Barcelona v. AC Milan football match. The place that is normally pretty fun was crawling with whackos. They literally all were just the weirdest people we had ever encountered. It seemed as if Miguel and I were the only normal/sober ones there. We waited for a couple of his friends, but then they ended up not showing up. We were exhausted so then I headed home around 11.
Thursday, I had class from 10-5. In my sport marketing class, we watched some videos and then discussed the problems as well as the opportunities from small sporting events gaining rapid recognition in regards to marketing.
In SPUK, we got to go tour Wimbledon. It was awesome. I don’t really know anything about tennis so it was interesting to see the “home of lawn tennis.” The courts are all grass and are absolutely beautiful. It’s so green and clean cut. We actually ended up having the same tour guide as our tour guide on our sports walk a few months ago. He loves our professor, Gen so it was so funny.
After our tour, Gen took us all to a pub she sued to go to when she was in Uni. It was such a beautiful day again so we sat outside and had a pint. Another lovely day.
Tonight, or should I say, early tomorrow morning, Chelsea, Alex and I are leaving for Amsterdam for the weekend! I’m so excited because a lot of travel blogs I have researched for work have said that their favorite city is Amsterdam although they have been all over the world. We definitely plan to hit up the Heineken Factory and the Anne Frank house. Everyone who has gone this semester said the Anne Frank house was incredibly moving. I’ve read her diary and a number of books on the Holocaust so I would love to be able to see it. There are also some cool markets apparently so that should be fun. My main girl, Ketchup, sent me an itinereary of all the stuff she did when she went last semester so I hope to see some of the stuff she did and it’ll almost be like she is here with me! I’m so excited for another weekend trip, although not too excited to be flying out at 6am, meaning that we have to leave our flat around 2:30am. This is going to be interesting.
Miss you all and hope that you will receive the next batch of postcards soon! I mailed them from a semi sketchy looking mailbox so I hope they get there.
Also, I PROMISE I will have a picture post soon. I just need to upload everything and it takes so long. But it is coming I swear!
Sending lots of love from London,
Xx Paige
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