I'm Still Here

AC 424 on our last night in London

Sorry I have been out of touch lately... because I know you all are checking for new posts every few hours. Now that these posts are not mandatory for my course (while I was in London I had to do three each week), it will take a lot of discipline and determination to keep up with them. 

But first, a quick recap: I ended my four week internship in London and said goodbye to all the fabulous friends I made throughout the month. I didn't think I'd be sad to leave since I had so much more to look forward to in the upcoming weeks. But as I drove away from Flat E, I oddly felt a bit sentimental. It's not everyday you get to experience a new city with new friends. As always, there were a few bumps in the road, but when I took a step back and looked at how much I accomplished during the month I really felt proud of myself! [A few photos of our last night are posted in the "Travel-London" tab]

My mom met me in London and we traveled up north to Manchester and Leeds for a wedding. It was my first time meeting much of the family (we. have. so. much. family.) but it was so fun to see my mom reunite with her cousins who she hadn't seen in years. I'm talking, like, over 20 years. 

Mom and I at the wedding reception.

Tomorrow we are off to Amsterdam for four days for a mother/daughter trip. If you know me, you know that I adore my Archie and so naturally, I am so over the moon excited that I get to spend some quality time with her over the next few days. Keep checking back for more photos and blog posts -- I promise I will be better with the updates!

Love to you all xo

Brighton Early

The Lanes

We spent Saturday night in Brighton, a beach town on the south coast of Great Britain, and hung out for the day on Sunday. Brighton is not how I thought it would be. The best way to describe it is this: some areas were like Myrtle Beach -- a little grungy and trashy, other areas were filled with narrow alleys and cute cafes, and the main street was bustling with people and souvenir stores. The beach was filled with pebbles (a "pebble beach" as they call it) and the pier resembled Coney Island with carnival rides and tarot readings. 

The town itself is cute but I'm not sure that there is much to do besides hang out by the beach and eat, which I am completely okay with. It definitely felt weird going from a city like London where there is constant stimulation to a smaller town where I am forced to slow down. I guess I don't realize it but the exact same thing happens when I go home to Kinston from Manhattan. 

Our time in Brighton consisted of napping on the pebble beach, eating ice cream cones with Cadbury flakes and searching for Adele. We walked a lot through the famous Lanes, which were areas with narrow streets. A bunch of secondhand and jewelry shops, pubs, and funky trinket stores lined the alleys. It was all very relaxing and low key.

This is our last week in London as an FIT group. Tuesday and Wednesday are the final interning days and on Friday I will be with my mom. I will then begin my next leg of the trip -- and with my family!

I wish I could type more but I am currently falling asleep at the computer. Be back soon. Goodnight.

The pier 

Mountain Biking

When I booked three bikes and helmets for half a day in South Downs Way, I didn't realize I was signing up for complete failure.

Allix, Shelby and I headed to Brighton for the night with a pit stop at Housedean Farm Campsite in Lewes for some leisure bike riding. Getting to the campsite was one hurdle that I won't even go into, but once we got to the campsite the nice man running the operation asked if we had mountain biked before. Now, here's something to think about: I was wearing keds, Allix had on bright pink lipstick, which by the way, looked super fabulous on her, and Shelby had a shiny Cambridge satchel swung around her shoulder. We all had matching french braids (helmet ready) and Allix had just informed us ten minutes prior that she is scared of riding bikes. We looked at the nice man with blank stares and said "nope!". 

For starters, it took us twenty minutes to find the trail. I think that's when we knew it was all downhill from there (literally). 

Hiking up the initial hill/mountain wasn't even the worst of it. And it was bad. We were huffing and puffing and took very frequent breaks. [Note: none of us have done any sort of physical activity in four weeks] Thank god Allix has an amazing sense of humor because she had us laughing the whole way up. On a more positive note, the farther we went up, the prettier the view got. 

The "trail" ended up being a narrow downhill road of rocks. I'd like to say that we rode the whole way down but really, we just walked our bikes down. There were moments when Allix thought that was it. 

Half way up Mt. Everest. I promise it's tougher than it looks. 

Four falls, three purple bruises, ten mysterious, burning bumps on our legs, one Jasmine band-aid and one broken bike later, we went back to the campsite. Mind you, we had only been riding for one hour. 

In our defense, the nice man admitted that he had recommended a very difficult trail. We proudly turned in our helmets, bought a snickers bar, and hopped on the bus back to Brighton. 

"Mountain biking was probably my favorite part. We were just so out of our element". Yes. That's a nice way to put it, Allix.  


You're the BB to my C

If you have had the pleasure of meeting my dad, then you know he is a very passionate, well-read man. He is constantly reading articles about history, traveling and everything else and can hold his own in any heated debate (or as he likes to call it, "discussion"). I have always admired him for this. 

His main source of news is BBC World News. He raves about how unbiased the reporting is. It is the homepage on his Internet browser and he will fall asleep watching it every night. I'm telling you all of this because our group was lucky enough to tour the BBC studios today and my dad was the only reference I had before walking into it. 

First, we caught a glimpse of the newsroom, which was amazing but overwhelming. There were three computer screens to a desk and everyone had on big headphones. It was cool to see that the news is researched and assembled for viewing in that room by those people. 

Then, they set up a mock studio and let two of us act as news anchors! I was very excited about this so I volunteered to do the set with another student, Gianna. Once I figure out how, I will post the video!

After this, we headed over to the BBC One radio studio and once again, they set up a mock play set for us. I didn't realize this but the station airs live plays. It was very interesting to watch the introduction video to this because obviously the plays are done all through sound. Five students from our group read the script and I did the sound effects, which was actually a lot of fun but I had to pay very close attention to the cues! I flopped leather gloves for flying bats and clinked glasses for a "cheers!". 

Fun fact: the term "broadcasting" came from farmers who scattered seeds for harvest.

That's all for now! Will be back soon xo

Solo

This morning I woke up to another beautiful day in the city. This sunshine is more than welcome to stay!

Half of our group went to Scotland this weekend and my two flatmates went to Manchester for the day. This only meant one thing: it was going to be a solo day exploring. Thank goodness I'm very content in my own company.

I hopped on the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) and headed to Greenwich Park in South East London. The DLR is just another form of London public transportation except that the majority of it is driverless! I sat in the very front of the front car (pictured right), which was pretty neat.

I grabbed a mango and passionfruit smoothie and laid in the park for about an hour. I even fell asleep at one point. It really was just perfect. Later in the afternoon, explored the town of Greenwich. It is much more residential with smaller shops congregated in one area. I also didn't realize it is on the water, which was a very pleasant surprise!

 

I enjoyed that time to myself today. Also, I love knowing that I can get myself around London. A few girls even asked me for directions on the tube and I successfully led them the right way! ... I hope.

View from Greenwich Park

We have less than two weeks left. I really don't know where the time went but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see my family.

I am sorry that my posts are progressively getting more boring. I feel like I am rambling. Am I rambling? 

Ok then... goodnight, all!