Class, to work, to play... with no breaks!

Thursday was a totally whirlwind! It started out with a tour of Southwest London with my Pop-Culture class where we began in Covent Garden and walked and walked and walked all over learning about little shops with unique histories. It was really interesting to hear about the hippie and punk subcultures. I had no idea the hippies were so prevalent in London. Our teacher was walking really really quickly but I managed to keep up. I don't know how I did that with my huge bag with my computer and everything. I had to switch arms a few times and set it down whenever I got a chance.

Immediately after class, I hopped on the tube to my internship. My class had gotten dismissed a bit early so I ended up getting to Connaught about an hour early. This was perfect considering the project one of my supervisors had planned for me.

I had not even set down my heavy bag when I heard, "I've got a project for you," which of course got me immediately excited. He hands me five vials of face cream and gives me the task of creating packaging with a magnetic closure that suggests high-end quality while still appropriate if one, two, or all five vials are packaged. He also gave me a box of their current packaging as a starting point.

I began brainstorming solutions to the problem and sketching out ideas. After coming up with about six I called my supervisor over to get his opinion. He selected two options, one holding the vials with ribbon, the other a sort of Roman arch/toe separator design.

We then drove to a small design shop to pick up supplies for the mock-ups. I went to get into the car and completely went to the other side of the vehicle. He simply said with a laugh, "That's my side," which queued me to get in on the other. It was a bit unnerving essentially being in the driver's seat with no steering wheel on the wrong side of the road. Then he said, "Just don't scream when you see cars coming at you." I appreciated the heads up as I was pretty freaked out.

Once we got back with the supplies I set to work. I had two hours to mock-up both options. I was so worried I wouldn't get done. After creating the boxes I had to create the holders. I managed to get everything done just in time to head to the tube for the play we had planned to go to.

On my way to the tube station—with the huge bag and computer—I tried to contact one of my roommates to see how to get to the theater. My phone froze and I was left to just wing it and hope I got there in the 45min I had planned. Once I got off the tube at Covent Garden, I wandered around until finally asking directions. The directions I got were terrible; however she did tell me I was going in the complete opposite direction. By some incredible chance, or miracle, I happened to turn to my left to see the theater two blocks down the street. Even more interesting my phone decided to unfreeze! I was able to contact my roommate and get in on time.

The show was great! We saw Spring Awakening, which looked at the relationships and boundaries between parents and children and its influence on sex and love. It was incredible and fascinating to see the juxtaposition of rock 'n' roll music set to Victorian prose. If you ever get a chance to go see it—GO, you will not be disappointed. I laughed and cried even though that is so cliché to say. :)

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Sunday was beautiful so we decided to go out to Hyde Park and wander around. Unfortunately, we missed Speaker's corner, but we have plans to go this weekend. It was a gorgeous day and the park was the perfect idea. We then walked around Kensington High Street and peeked into Harvey Nichols with its elaborate shop windows, and Harrod's, two world famous department stores.

Monday was a bank holiday which meant virtually everything is closed (even the banks!). We made a run to our sponsor school to drop off some paper work then went through our internship commutes again just to be sure we knew what we were doing for our internship interviews the next day. Once we got home we all just spent the evening relaxing and prepping for questions we could be asked. I reworked my resume and internship samples just in case he wanted to see them.

Tuesday was my internship "interview" and by interview I mean first day of work. I walked in all ready to sell my work and my work ethic when I was surprised to see my work station all ready prepared for me. My site instructor introduced himself and immediately set me to work. It was so exciting to see how things work in the UK from a designer's standpoint. I also had my first cup of English tea—which was amazing! 

Wednesday consisted of more work within my internship (which I did not want to leave) and classes. My first class is called Post-War British Pop Culture and is really interesting with almost every class consisting of a field trip to somewhere significant in London. The instructor is pretty eclectic too which is entertaining.

Being a Tourist...

Saturday we got the chance to be complete tourists and take a guided bus tour of London's most famous attractions. Our guide was Scottish, which was a bit odd but still was great and made us laugh throughout the trip. We didn't get a chance to get out much—except for Buckingham Palace, Canary Warf, and St. Paul's Cathedral—but I still managed to take about 250 photos of the sites from the bus. (they are all uploaded on my flick'r page as of today) It was nice to get a gentle overview of the city. While we drove I was making a list of all the places I wanted to see in more detail.

That night we went to Covent Garden and signed up for a Pub Crawl. I had never been on one but my roommates assured me it would be worth it. For ₤12 we got into 5 pubs and got access to drink specials and even free drinks in a few pubs. It was a good way to get introduced to various pubs in the area. We went to two traditional English pubs and one American pub called the Roadhouse. It was great! It had Route 66 and 7Eleven signs, Coca-Cola memorabilia, Jimi Hendrix posters and big trucks and things all over the walls. The end of the crawl lead us to the Zoo bar and club. The cover itself was ₤15 but we got in for free! We spent the rest of the night dancing and having a good time and got to experience the night bus antics on the way home.

Just a Note

I'm running out of internet minutes for the week so I will post soon. Until then, check out my flick'r London photos!

Flick'r London Photos

First Friday in London

Orientations filled most of the day Friday. These orientations; however were a waste of time. Most of the information they gave us we had already discovered the day before on the tube. Then, for our internship orientation, the information was so generic it was not much help.

In between orientations we wandered around looking for some place to eat. We came up on this quaint little French restaurant where I had the most amazing French grilled cheese. (I have yet to each any English food however)

After our second orientation, we headed home to get ready for the CAPA sponsored arrival party. Most of the food was gone by the time we finally got there but decided to hang around anyway. After that we headed Leicester Square and got to experience a bit of London's club scene. The Zoo Bar was insane, strobe lights were flashing over a completely packed dance floor. We managed to get into the bar for 2.50 pounds instead of 10 pounds. It was really exciting and was opened really late. Once we left the Zoo bar we wandered into a few more pubs before heading home. We found our way to the bus stop and had no luck trying to figure our how to get home by bus, so we ended up catching a cab for 20 pounds... I video taped the ride home from the Piccadilly Circus all the way back to Kilburn.

First Thursday Night in London

The last few days have absolutely flown by. The first Thursday and Friday in London were a bit crazy but really created interesting opportunities to experience the city.

It began with a mini-tour of London in search of our internship sites. Riding the tube is an experience within itself. It's a bustling fast-paced environment and requires you to go with the flow  and not to stand on the wrong side. Keeping to the left of the walkways was quite difficult and felt extremely awkward. Throughout the day we were able to navigate the tube system and find all of our internships. The last stop brought us to Oxford Street, a hugs shopping street in London. It was so crowed it was a struggle to stay together.

Once we got home from grocery shopping that night we decided to explore the local pubs in our neighborhood. Thursday nights in Kilburn, not too wild. Our first pub had only four men in their 60s hanging out, the second, called the Black Lion, was interesting on the inside but still only had a few people in their late 30s. Finally, in the last pub there were several late 20 somethings listening to mostly American music. It even stayed open until 2am!

CAPA Walking Tour, and then some

The CAPA Walking Tour was pretty brief, it only showed the nearest tube station and the popular Kilburn High Road. It was helpful to get an overview of how to use the tube and bus systems, however.

After waiting for a housing orientation that never occurred, we decided to go to dinner at this cute little restaurant with pretty cheap food. I had an amazing italian sausage pasta with red sauce, it was great! The a few of us decided to take a walk down the street to see what else resides in our neighborhood. We found tons of little pubs and restaurants, from The Cock Tavern to Power's to Ellie's Cafe, we made a pretty long list of places we need to go. 

these pictures show a views of Kilburn High Road including Kilburn Park, and The Black Lion restaurant.

From MSP to London Heathrow

The flight from Minneapolis to London was incredible! I have never had a better "in flight" experience. It began with a friendly stranger making interesting conversation about art, design, music, and photography which put my mind at ease when thinking of the long trip ahead. As the plane took off, I was surprised to see screens positioned in the headrests turn on and display the safety information. The flight attendant in the video had a eerie sense of excitement while referring to the devastation of an unlikely water evacuation and loss in cabin pressure. After the video,  I discovered that the screen doubled as an individual entertainment center with free movies (new ones!), music, and interactive games. As I watched the video, I was served a pasta dinner, which was amazing! I was actually full!

Once dinner was done, I managed to sleep until we were an hour from landing. I was woken up by a flight attendant handing me breakfast! I know, breakfast and dinner, what a deal! It wasn't some b.s. cereal either, it was a full-on hot breakfast egg sandwich! Great!

Day 01 Move-in?

A town house with eight people in one single, two doubles, and one triple... It's an interesting situation, and of course I'm in the triple. Even more, I got here last and was stuck with the top bunk and a dresser that blocks my closet with no hangers. I'm just going to have to do some re-arranging.

There is no one here right now, I'm supposed to go on tour in a bit, but things are quite disorganized so far. I'll let you know how that goes when I get back, I'm bringing my camera!

Packing, Packing, and Freaking Out a Bit

For the last two days I have been trying to figure out how to pack for a month and a half into two suitcases. I managed to completely destroy my apartment in the process, but I'm done now and am just biding my time until 6:15pm when Jenna comes to pick me up to drive me to the airport.

Somehow, I managed to pack everything into my largest and smallest suitcases and my backpack. I've never traveled alone, or traveled abroad, so how can I possibly decide what I need and what I don't? Furthermore, I've never been to Europe, so I feel I need to pack for every possible situation... from fish and chips in a pub to my internship with Richard P. Chapman Design Associates. (which I am beyond excited for!)

Not really a big fan of flying, so we'll see how that goes... I packed three books, my colored pencils and sketchbook, my computer, and snacks—I should be okay, I hope. Eight hours on a plane seems like so long and I still haven't quite figured out the whole time situation yet. I don't care though, I'm so excited to get on the plane to get there and finally be in LONDON!