Spring has Sprung in London

I think it is safe to say we brought the warm weather and blue skies back to London with us from Spain. This past week we have had the best weather since arriving. Our two month anniversary was this past week, which means only five weeks left of the program. Where has the time gone?

With the weather taking a major turn for the better, we have been outside a lot more this past week. There are so many beautiful parks to sit in and relax, read a book or people watch and we have been taking advantage of every minute we have to be outside.

It was a pretty slow start to the week, getting back into classes and internships. Oh how we missed CAPA the week we were away. NOT!! It's still exactly the same. I don't normally discuss grades and I never post those annoying "look at me, I got a 4.0 gpa status" but I got an 86 on my economy midterm!!! For those who have been following my economy saga, I can hear your claps from here. Thank you, thank you. I didn't even get the lowest grade in the class either, which made me happy. This really annoying kid, who told me in the first class he didn't know much on the subject either and then proceeded to have a debate with someone about economic policies, only scored a point higher than me too. So watch out buddy, I'm coming for you.

On Wednesday night Perri, Helen and I went to see The Drowned Man an immersive theater production. Immersive theater, for those who don't know (I didn't until just recently) is unlike a regular theater performance because the audience takes on an active role in the show. Basically, it was a huge warehouse that has been transformed into a set, with many different rooms and floors and the audience is dropped into one area, left to explore and figure out the story on their own. There is only a small amount of information given at the beginning and in order to figure out the rest you follow members of the cast from room to room, wandering around the building, touching and reading anything you wish. I don't know if I am giving justice to what this experience actually was because it was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever done.

I was very hesitant when buying the tickets because from what I had gathered, mostly from the website, things jump out at you, it is dark and you are alone. Being someone who freaked out when entering a halloween store this past October through a really scary haunted house maze (why they would set it up that way I don't know??) I was really scared I would have to escape through an emergency exit halfway through the show. I can't handle things jumping out at me. But I loved it! It was so mind blowing and beautiful we are still talking about it.

The set itself was so intricate and amazing with so many rooms to explore and props you could pick up and look at. It was encouraged to wander around by yourself and not stay with friends so that is what we did. We were given masks before we entered, to help distinguish the actors from the audience and also to give it a more intimate and private experience, all of your emotions being covered by the mask. Once the doors opened it was up to us to chose where we wanted to go and which actors we wanted to follow. It was a big free-for-all for three hours, everyone wandering around trying to figure everything out. Although at the time you think you are seeing so much, we realized after, when discussing it, that we each missed things the other two saw. This show was the reason Perri wanted to come to London and I can now see why. It was spectacular! At the end we still couldn't figure out the story but the dancing and music was so unbelievable, it didn't matter.

Pub Crawl 

On Thursday night Tara got to London!! We all screamed so loud the security guy knocked on our door because he thought someone was breaking in. He is a bit of an over-reactor though. We went to Roxy that night which is always a good time and on Friday night we did the Camden Pub Crawl (again). Last time I did it I couldn't make to the last place and I vowed not to let that happen again this time. But I failed. Miserably. I don't know what it is but I just can't do it. It starts so early and they make you walk what feels like miles from bar to bar. It is just too much and I get really hungry on the walks which makes it difficult. I think it is safe to say I may not be a pub crawler, at least not this one. But Tara had a great time! She could not have had a better weekend in terms of weather to be in London. Helen made sure she got a little taste of everything and I think she was successful.

Oops we did it again...

Saturday during the day we (including Scott) went back to Portobello Market, the one with the legendary crepes. Luckily this time it wasn't raining, which made walking around much more enjoyable. I found a lot of great things and bought them all. Oops. Perri and I had another crepe and Tara tried one too. She said it was everything she had imagined it would be and more, so there's proof that Perri and I aren't crazy. It was even better the second time. That night we kept it low-key which was nice and went to the rooftop bar at The Shard with Scott. The views were beautiful and so was the building. The people were a bit stuck up and snobby but I am glad I can at least say I have been to the top. I think we may have even seen half of One Direction there too but don't take my word for it. After that we took Tara to Madison's Cafe the other rooftop bar we went to a couple weeks ago with the amazing views of London. She liked that a lot too and Perri was able to join us after work. It was a wonderful evening.

Today we walked around showing Tara the sights. It was so beautiful out and at one point we ended up laying in the grass of a park overlooking the London Eye. It was great. Although it was really sad to see Tara go we are going to see her again really soon when we go to Scotland to visit her. I know we all can't wait!!

There has also been a major update on my internship as well (partially thanks to Scott's encouragement). I had been researching and doing mundane tasks for too long and finally on Wednesday I had enough. I talked to my boss and asked if there was any more substantial and longer-term project I could be working on because I thought I could be doing more than just researching. She agreed and gave me a really cool project. I am now currently contacting and interviewing PR worthy runners who are running the London Marathon for Whizz-Kidz. I then get to write up press releases for them which will be sold to local newspapers and other publications and hopefully larger running magazines as well. I am so excited and happy that I spoke up and asked to be working on something else. This will be great experience and I have been talking to some really interesting people.

I would say I had a pretty great week. I wanted to also just take a minute to acknowledge some of the people here in London with me that I may not single out all the time in this blog but who have really made my time in London wonderful. I know you guys read this and it means a lot to me that you do even though most of the time you are with me during these adventures. Rena, Zoe, James, Charly, Kyle, Teddy and Scott, thank you.

Cheers. XX.