“It Doesn’t Mean You Have to Come Fully Suited and Booted, You Just Have to Dress Smart” – Andrea Lynch

I know, I skipped a day. Sorry, loves, I bet you were just dying with out your three page Devon ramble of nonsense to see you through the day. But no worries! We can always play catch up!

Wednesday, which is consequentially my favorite day of the week, was another wonderful day in London with only a few minor hiccups. We didn’t meet up till 2, so this meant I got to sleep in and still have time to go shopping. This time for school supplies, which is one of my favorite things about going back to school. Interesting thing about London is that their paper is not the same size as American paper. It’s a bit longer and skinnier which means that if I had brought American folders as I originally anticipated, there would have been that half an inch bit of paper sticking out of the top (which I hate. It looks sloppy and the paper gets ruined!). So I had to buy all new paper and folders, (which are harder to find for some reason; apparently they really want you to buy binders. Too bad I hate binders.) but get this, here, folders are not called folders, they are called ‘Document Wallets’. I also bought some of that sticky foam stuff to hang my ‘art’ that I bought at Windsor and thumbtacks for my poster board to make my room look more livable. Can you believe that I came all this way to London without a single pen? I know I started out with one, but I think I left it on the plane with my sudoku puzzle. All I know, is that I’m constantly being handed forms to sign and looking around at people so I can bum their pen from them for a couple minutes. It’s sad. So yes, I bought pens as well!

We met at Westminster Tube stop where Haskett had arranged for us to have a walking tour along the Southbank of the Thames with Kim the tour guide. Since London is very much a walking city, there are tour guides out there who do walks for just about anything. Beatle walks, Harry Potter Walks (so doing that), Shakespeare, Dickens, you name it and there will be someone lining up to take your money and walk you around a bit. But Kim was quite handy. She was full of all this wonderful knowledge about British government and history as well as relevant information to us as to what’s cheap, and where to eat and shop. Have I mentioned my love for the Southbank yet? The part right across from Parliament and Big Ben is quite touristy (it’s where the London Eye and all the street performers who go to live off tourists are), but the farther along you get, the more original the little shops and pubs are. It’s just so green!

Since London is all about it’s pedestrians, we kept running into these bikes that the city provides and that you can rent out. Turns out the first 30 minutes are free! So guess who’s finally going to learn to ride a bike before her 21^st birthday like she wanted? MEEEE. Jeni promised to teach me, so this time, we’re going to make it happen. In 30 minute intervals. We also found this really cool skate park full of graffiti. It looks like the coolest place to photograph. I didn’t really do it justice here since it literally was a ‘walking’ tour but you can see, the place is just covered in it.

We finished up at the Globe and then this is the part of the day that makes me just a tiny bit sad. While everyone got to go explore Harrod’s, I had yet another meeting I had to attend and there just wasn’t enough time to make it fit. NOOOooooo. I just had to buy myself an ice cream on the way home to make myself feel better. Oh well, I’m just telling myself that Harrod’s is more of a full day thing and this way I can go and spend the correct amount of time that should be allotted. I mean, you can’t rush a thing like Harrod’s, can you?

This time, the meeting was for all the kids with Internships. I finally got to meet Andrea Lynch who was my saving grace this summer! After all the paperwork I went through at TCU and after all the drama with my visa you can just imagine how thrilled I was to have even more complications with being placed at a company. Turns out anyplace in London that does production work just wants post people. So yay for you Sammy and Pledger, you will always have a job. It was August and I still hadn’t been placed. So Andrea had to go out side of the companies the school usually affiliates with to find different companies. The whole time she was personally calling me and asking me what I wanted and truly doing her best to place me somewhere I’d be happy. The woman is dedicated and I for one am incredibly thankful for it. I finally got placed at a company the week before I left the states, and they. sound. amazing. Their an International company called Eyeworks that produces TV shows and some small films. So guess what I’ll be doing at my internship? Creating TV shows. Hahaha, I love it! I have my in-person interview with Ben and Matt on Friday, so I’m a little nervous about that, but very much looking forward to it as well. Did I mention how we spent a good 10 minutes at the beginning of my phone interview talking about British TV? I think I already love them.

We reconvened for dinner at Pizza Express in Chelsea for our last meal with Haskett, who leaves today. Chelsea, the posh side of town, is the area where the other half of the group lives at their IES dorm so they were extremely happy that they weren’t the ones who had to travel for 20sih minutes to get home that night. I was expecting the night to feel someone bittersweet since it was our last dinner together, but it didn’t. Maybe because I knew that I’d still see these people around quite frequently. Still, it’s sad to think that was our last free TCU meal for quite some time. *Sniff* Now I have to really pay for my food. There goes eating out.

Love,

An-on-the-search-for-a-good-grocery-store-Devon