I have been in London for about a week now and it has been great so far. Here is a taste of what the last week has been all about:
Sunday. Day 1. Arrived at Heathrow.
We arrived in London around 8:00 am London time. All was well...I managed to get my luggage off the conveyor belt and put it on a cart (this was a feat as I packed two GIANT suitcases. dumb.). However, this was the end of my successes at the airport. After this we waited an hour and a half for the shuttle that we requested online to arrive. Much of the waiting time was spent panicking because we couldn't reach anyone at the shuttle company and eventually came to the conclusion that the shuttle company was fake because the woman at the airport info booth had never even heard of them. Sketch. But eventually the driver came, picked us up, and we were on our way. The ride was made much better because the driver was hilarious and he kept laughing almost the entire way to Vandon.
Once we arrived the unpacking began and after a nap! For dinner we went to a pub, which for many was their first legal drink. Luckily I am already a pro at legal drinks thanks to Margarita Fridays with my mother, but it was fun nonetheless and it was our first chance to walk around a bit and find our way back to Vandon House.
Monday and Tuesday. Day 2 and 3. Orientation.
We spent both mornings going over rules and getting to know each other. Also some cultural training. Blah. Blah. I think everyone was mostly exhausted from traveling the days before so it was pretty much a blur. But we did get to go on a walking tour of various sights on Monday afternoon. The guide was really knowledgeable and fun so it was actually really fun. So much walking but it is really nice to get out and explore the city. Then more walking and pubs. Yep.
Wednesday. Day 4. Advising.
Wednesday was just dedicated for my advising appointment to talk about what classes I will be taking this semester abroad. My classes include the required cultural classes that everyone must take, as well as a theater class where we will be able to see a play almost every week. This meeting is also where I learned more about the internship or work placement I would participate in for the semester. The internship is at HSBC in Canary Wharf London. HSBC is a worldwide bank that serves customers both internationally and in the United States. I had never even heard of the company until I learned that I would be working there...so I googled it and I found out many fun facts such as:
- the Canary Wharf location (where I will be working) is also the headquarters for the entire company!
- HSBC has over 300,000 employees and serves over 1 billion customers worldwide
- HSBC stands for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Company
Fun huh? It sounds awesome and like it will be really, really awesome to put on my resume.
I also took this evening to travel out to the Canary Wharf district on the tube with my roommate Anna just to make sure I could find it all by myself when I met with the staff I would be working with. It didn't take very long and I have decided I really like the tube because it is sooooo easy to use!! Although I have heard and experienced lines being down which isn't really fun. When we got there the building that HSBC was in was very impressive! It is in a GIANT skyscraper, one of the largest in the area. There is also a very fancy mall close by, which include such stores as Tiffany's. Awesome.
While it was really fun finding the skyscraper that houses my internship, Anna and I also took the free afternoon to go take a ride on the London Eye!!!! It is so huge!! And really cool...we got a bunch of really awesome pictures from the top, some of which can be seen below. There is also a night flight on the Eye which is scheduled through Central so it will be really awesome to see the buildings from that height with all the lights lit up for miles.
Thursday. Day 5. Internship.
Today I had a meeting at 11:00 to meet a representative from HSBC to talk about what I would be doing at the company. I managed to make my way all the way there by myself, of which I felt very proud...And when I got there I meet Denise, who was my contact for the work placement. She was very nice and I got to talk to a couple of other employees in my department. I also got a tour of the floor I will be on (29th!!!!! I think my ears popped...) as well as a couple other floors where I could eat or take a break. I think the building as 42 floors in total. The building is huge!!!!! I also got some bad/good news. I won't be able to start my internship for 2-3 weeks because I need to have a background check done. The news is both bad and good because I basically have another month vacation but bad because the internship does sound very exciting!
The rest of the day was spent looking for Primark, a store similar to Forever 21, and walking around some more.
This is a picture of the HSBC building. Obviously I didn't take it but this is what it looks like!
Friday. Day 6. More Walking.
Our entire group took a trip to find the college where we have our required classes, British Experience Seminar and Contemporary Britain. We also got a student union membership and tour of the facilities that we could use.
Then later in the day we had a scavenger hunt to find various items around the city. We were put into teams and then we had 3 hours to find things like pamphlets, places and random items. My team and I had a fun time finding our way around and looking at the varied sights that the hunt took us on. There were many places that we wish we could have spent more time at, fortunately we can go back later! I don't think we won (we had to get a certain number of points) but we had a good time competing anyway.
Saturday (Today!!). Day 7.
There was anther tour offered today. It wasn't mandatory but many people chose to take part anyway. It was led by the same guide that took us out on Monday and again he was very informative and he also cracked jokes the entire time. The only part that wasn't so awesome was the weather. The rest of the week hadn't been too bad. The weather felt like spring in Iowa and on Sunday the sun even came out for a but, but today it was really cold and windy. After the tour we went to Starbucks for a hot chocolate to warm up for awhile.
Then we left to go shopping!!! However, this is easier than it sounds. On the weekends many tube lines are closed for maintenance and today this included the District Line and our stop St. James Park so we had to try our luck on the bus. Well the bus isn't as easy to use as the tube. Long story short. We spent A LOT longer on the bus than was necessary...I can't say that I regret this because there were a couple of very memorable moments that occurred while riding. My favorite was when our bus driver kept honking at the driver in front of him to pull up but he would't and when he finally did he flipped our bus driver off!!!! Wow. Reminds me of home.
Anyway, we eventually found our way to the destination that we desired all along, H&M. We shopped for a bit and made our way home. Which was slowed down due to the people protesting against tuition increases. There were so many people walking in the street and at one point I think a fight broke out.
Well that's the last of my interesting news for this week. I don't think I can top the bus driver with road rage so I won't try, but I will try to write more than once a week. Maybe every couple of days if I'm lucky...
Pictures from today's tour. More fun!
Nighty Night,
Emily (The Italian in London)
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