I hope you all had a refreshing week! I most certainly enjoyed the past few days in London, because my schedule was JAM PACKED this entire week. There are a bunch of places I was able to visit over the course of the week, and my classmates also got the opportunity to go to Bath and Stonehenge. I personally wasn’t on the trip, because of a class project I needed to complete on the same day (stay in your seats, I’ll tell you all about it)! However, I heard Stonehenge & Bath was a great experience for my classmates who participated!

Internship Update

These past few weeks at my internship have proven to be exciting, yet challenging. I love the fact that I have already been given a huge amount of responsibility around the office, as well as being put in charge of extensive projects such as renovating the organization’s website and assisting with an upcoming conference.

So far, I have also written a book review for the Women’s Resource Centre’s quarterly magazine The Source, which will be published in a few weeks. Overall, I love my internship at the Women’s Resource Centre, and I look forward to seeing how my internship experience progresses over the next eight weeks!

I Spy…The London Eye!

After class a few days ago, I grabbed one of my classmates and we purchased tickets for an evening round on the London Eye. I really wanted to see the city at night, especially because I have been all over the place during the day but never really got to see downtown London in the evening hours. Once we arrived in the South Bank, we ran up to the long line and waited a little bit before boarding.

It was so awesome to see the city at night! Under the lights, London was incredibly vibrant. This beautiful city simply illuminated with all the city lights! Unfortunately, Mother Nature got to the best of the night, and right as we reached the top view of the London Eye it started POURING.

You see, that’s the thing about London. No matter where you are, or what time of day, you risk having to deal with rain. There’s no escaping it, even on the most beautiful nights. My classmate and I thought this was rather hilarious, because it totally WOULD happen to us right as we approached the best view of London.

I’m really glad that I got to experience the London Eye at night, and although we got rained on right at the best scenic view, I will definitely be making another trip around the Eye!

Off to Broadway…the market, that is!
As you may already know, we are taking three classes while we are interning in London. One of our assignments for class was to team up with a classmate and explore a market somewhere in London (and believe me, there are TONS to choose from)! As we were signing up for our markets, I got exceptionally excited when I saw Broadway Market. From what I thought, it was right up my alley because it was located in the theatre district and the main attractions would most likely be music and theatre related.

Boy was I wrong.

As my partner Emilee and I headed to the market -- which was in Hackney, an area known for being very industrial, and more often known as “the real London” -- I realized my perceptions of where I was going were totally wrong.

When we got to Broadway Market, I was completely shocked! This market specialized in baked goods, ranging from cakes and pies to breads and brownies! Right next to the market was a canal that housed a fleet of different boats, each selling different goods. My favorite two were a café and a bookstore. It was so awesome to be able to climb on board the little boats and look around!

Broadway Market also had amazing graffiti art surrounding it. As Emilee and I walked around, we couldn’t help but observe the artwork around us. I got particularly excited when I saw someone’s graffiti that said ‘Brooklyn’ because that’s my hometown!

After our trip, we both decided that Broadway Market was definitely somewhere we would be returning to. I’ll let you know what happens on our next adventure there!

And then there were ghosts….
While we are in London, CAPA (the organization that sponsors the TWC interns in London) has arranged so many different tours and opportunities for us students to explore the city. I signed up for a Ghost Walking Tour, and it was such an incredible experience!

For the record, I just want to point out the fact that almost all of the stops on the Ghost Walk were in a five-block radius of my internship, which definitely freaked me out. Walking to work now is a terrifying experience because I’m constantly thinking about the ghost stories we were told!

The tour consisted of walking through several graveyards, seeing the oldest building in London, hearing about Bloody Mary and where she did her evil deeds, as well as former Queens and Princesses of England that haunted the streets surrounding St. Paul’s Cathedral and Barbican. We also walked around the bloodiest sites in London, learned about old prisons and factories that are supposedly still haunted to this day. I believe all of it.

The best part of the tour, however, was the tour guide. He was so into the stories, and made it such a fun time for all of us!

CAPA has arranged many other walking tours, which consist of James Bond, Jack the Ripper, and Harry Potter. I can’t wait to go on all of them!!

BARCELONA is booked!!!
So... funny story. As I'm sure you can imagine, all of us TWC interns have been talking about all the places we wish to visit while we are over here in London. Personally, I hope to make trips to Dublin, Paris and possibly Amsterdam. However, after being here for a month and not going on a weekend trip has made several of us very antsy, so we decided to impulsively book a trip to...well...BARCELONA!!

I've always wanted to go to Spain, and Barcelona is the ideal place to visit. As my friends Alexandra, Kethia and I huddled around my computer, we found a reasonably-priced flight and hostel for the duration of our visit. We are going for four days in October. I will keep you all posted!!!

Well, this was fun, but all good things must come to an end. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my past week exploring the city, and stay tuned for next week!!

Keep it real,

Sharon