I love playing host!

There has been a constant string of visitors for the past week and I'm loving it!  First, Christy's friend Kristen was here, then Kristin came, and then I met up with Elise who will be here the rest of the summer and I can't wait to see her all the time.  Then yesterday, since the Bergamo trip is done, we had some of my AKPsi pledge brothers in and one of their friends and some other Mizzou people who were staying in a hotel by us.  It was so much fun to see them and just hang out.  They came by our flat late because they were sight seeing, so we headed to O'Neills to get them some fish and chips, but the kitchen was closed.  So we drank some, the boys went to Burger King, and then we came back to hang out and Kyle and I made grilled cheese for dinner.  Even though they left this morning before I got up, it was still nice to have them here for a short time.  We get some more Bergamo kids tomorrow and other visitors too.  This is fun!  haha

Ok now for what people have been constantly questioning me about: my internship...

I LOVE IT!  I mean it's not like I've done a whole lot in the past 2 days, but I already know that this summer is going to be awesome because of my internship.  I got there Monday morning with no expectations.  I came into the cozy office and met the office manager who then took me into the kitchen to give me the first of MILLIONS of cups of english tea I will have while working there.  She (and everyone else in the office who has made tea with me in the kitchen) is obsessed with their instant-hot type tap.  But this one blows off an obnoxious amount of steam and leaves you feeling like you just got a steam treatment for your face (not bad...).  So after my tour of the downstairs, I went upstairs to meet my supervisor, who is one of the bubbliest people I have ever met.  She constantly is smiling and I can tell she loves what she does.  The office even talks about how she is very knowledgeable in what she does.  I then met some people around the office and found out that one of the guys has family in Chagrin Falls!  What a small world!  Then Steph took me around the office and showed me the other building next door.  The building is separated into: first floor admin and accounts, second floor sales and planning, and the other building has the new type of media focus (cell phone rings, videos, etc.).  It turns out that the person who will be in charge of me for the rest of the summer is on holiday for the week, so things will be different starting next week.  But either way, I still like my job a lot.  I've been learning the programs they use and creating spreadsheets with the airings of the commercials.  I know it sounds nerdy but it's all fascinating to me.  I am perfectly content with listening to the people talk on the phone to clients and media outlets and learning about the business.  I think what I love so much about this job is that I have an obvious place here.  In my previous internship at home, I fit in, but I never had any real tasks to do and I definitely wasn't taught anything.  At AdConnection, everyone wants to teach me things.  They want me to ask them questions about what they do.  They want me to see what they do, and sit in on meetings and check out the sales pitches they've created.  And they ask me if I want to do more.  I never had that before and it is so nice to have it now.

So the first day at one we all went out for drinks at the luxurious Terrace of Wimbledon, for an hour and then went to get lunch and took almost about an hour for that.  They showed me a supermarket that sells ready made sandwiches for cheap, and there's a salad bar and I can buy cheap microwave stuff.  So I don't necessarily have to pack all the time, and I can still save money.

Today I left for work and almost got pushed off the tube because it was so crowded.  I got to work and started working.  I made spreadsheets all day and learned all about TV spots and the different shows in England.  We all ate lunch at a table outside and we talked about things that differ between here and America.  They honestly thought our lives were just like Superbad and Legally Blonde.  I mean I must admit that I base my previous London knowledge off of movies too, like the Notting Hill and Love Actually...but now I realize that it is so much more than that.

Funny work story: We are all sitting there, engrossed in our work, and all the sudden Steph yells, while on the phone, "A cat jumped in the window!"  And seriously, a cat did indeed jump in the window, and run around the office.  I was scared about getting rabies, but everyone was yelling about fleas?!  Random I know, but I guess rabies from stray animals isn't a concern here.

On my way home from work today I ran into quite a bit of trouble.  I got to the tube station to find, after 20 minutes, that the train driver was missing.  So when the next train made it, there were so many people stuffed in because it was the first train in 45 minutes.  I was stuck standing the whole ride.  We also had a signal failure and sat in the outskirts of London in the middle of no where for 10 minutes.  And then when the train started again, people fell from the jolt.  So what should have taken 30 minutes took over an hour and 15 minutes.

In other news I finished my 4th book of the summer...I need a new one...already...

Things I've learned:

1.  Brilliant has many meanings and people say it after EVERYTHING, and cheers too.

2.  Tea is like oxygen to the British.  They drink it every hour and our office has this email thing that emails, in a rotation, to the person making tea, what everyone wants.

3.  Apparently I look under 18 (I've been told this MANY times).

4.  How to spell the English way...AKA colour, honour...

5.  University/College is a Uni

And I have to stop referring to things in American terms because no one knows what I'm saying.

And did I mention I love my job?

Cheers!