This week has proven to be one of the happiest I have been since arriving in London. I am not sure what it is, but I think I have finally adjusted to what is going on, what I need to do during a weekly basis, and because of it, I had a fantastic week. I genuinely love my internship and this city. I do not want to leave. Everyone is talking about it being the last number of weeks and I just refuse to focus on that fact. I want to relish in every single second that goes on here. Since June, I have been enjoying it here, but there was just something lacking. I am not quite sure what clicked this week, but this is the best experience I have ever participated in. I love it.
Thursday most of us went out to celebrate a great work week with karaoke at our regular ISH bar. A few of us dressed up to go out and had a ton of fun!! It was a really great time and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.. a large number of us did karaoke as well- we have the videos to prove it! :)
On Friday, I headed to the Barbican Center to tour the 007 Design exhibits with Taylor, Adrian and Jessica. On the way to the Barbican Center, Jessica and I wanted to have our fun at Platform 9 3/4, because obviously we're Harry Potter fans!! :) Here are a couple shots that Jessica took of me. Adrian and Taylor stood and looked on at this point, because this was something they had already knocked off their London Bucket List. As for the 007 Exhibit, it was a phenomenal exhibit. I was really pleased with everything they had to display and present. However, I was really unimpressed with the gift shop items. I thought it would be a jackpot for souvenirs to give to my family, but no such luck!! I had pre-ordered my ticket online, I reserved a souvenir booklet and a martini at the martini bar. Thinking this was such a wonderful idea, others came along and we headed there in the afternoon. When we finished the exhibits, we asked how to get to the martini bar. One of the employees directed us there but told us unfortunately the martini bar does not open until 5pm. Who does that? Ugh. Fortunately, they allowed me to get a new martini bar ticket and come back Tuesday. So the four of us are planning on going back after work Tuesday for a martini. Yes please. Shaken. Not stirred. 
Afterwards, I headed to the Tower of London with Jessica, only to arrive and find out that a. they were pretty packed, b. it took three hours to go through, and c. they closed in one hour. Although the £17.90 student rate was not sounding excellent by then, even if we wanted to go anymore they would not allow us. Instead we did a bit of a photo shoot in front of the Tower, and gave the Tower Bridge a photo shoot of it's own. The next stop was food, before Henry V at The Globe. We picked up what was left of food at this little meat side-shop in Borough market and then headed to the Globe!! Here, I was extremely impressed with the show and production of it, the performance was wonderful. If I had the time, I would go to see this show again. It was fantastic!!!! 
On Saturday, I woke up with a plan. The events for the day were to include the British Museum (again), Frisbee Club in Regent's Park, Portobello Road Market, and BBC Proms. I woke up late and ran out of time to hit the British Museum- I'll go next week after work or something, Frisbee Club was cancelled to do rain- stupid inclement weather, and Portobello Road Market was still on!! I headed to Notting Hill with Jessica to find Portobello Road Market. What a treasure, it was phenomenal. Oh my goodness, I walked away with so much for so little! Two necklaces, a ring, two pairs of earrings, and a few trinkets for gifts... and the most expensive article of clothing/most amazing article of clothing EVER: A leather jacket. Wow. Bomber style is my style. <3 I'm in love with a leather jacket. I don't consider myself to be one of those materialistic people, but when I walked into the shop and this jacket was starring at me, I absolutely had to take it home. This was also my first experience with bargaining. I must say, I was quite successful! :) I am oh so please and impressed with myself!! Unfortunately I also misjudged our time spent at the market and also missed queueing for the BBC Proms standing room (for £5). I was really looking forward to seeing My Fair Lady at the Royal Albert Hall, but I'll just have to take a tour of the theatre another time. I needed a night off anyway!
On Sunday, I took a day trip to Brighton through our International Student House trips and events group. Of our group from Wisconsin, three of us signed up a few weeks in advance. Our trip costs included a bus ride to and from Brighton at specific times, a half hour walking tour of Brighton with brief history, and entry admission into The Royal Pavilion. Leaving London on time was overall quite fine, as the bus company added in time to be late at each pick up point-- thank goodness considering we needed to be there at 7:50am, and I woke up at 8:12am. I also made it there by 8:24am and was still able to go! The bus ride was shorter than expected, but that might be because I slept the entire way... good music and a few solid iPod games before I was out like a light. We arrived in Brighton and met our tour guide. Her name is Glenda and would not tell us exactly how long she has lived in Brighton, she only told us 'a long while'. We meandered down streets and through old alleyways into what is called the Lanes. The Lanes are the original streets used when the city was first established, shopping, markets, gambling rooms, small hotels, etc. We walked through and saw a number of old buildings still being used today that were originally built with cement and flint stones from the beach. Talk about an interesting pattern. At the end out our tour, we went into the Pavilion to begin our tour there. It was an audio-walking tour where we each were given handsets to hold to our ear, this way you can listen and tour at your own pace. It was very cool to see the styles chosen to to decorate the house for the Prince of Wales- turned King George IV. Oriental styles were originally chosen for the entry way, and it was said on the audio tour that the people decorating the room had never been to China, or known much about their culture. With how the designs were implemented as the final decorations, you would never know! My favorite room had to be the music room. There was an organ tucked away into the wall, with enough space to fit the King's personal band behind! It was said on the tour, that even the King enjoyed playing wonderful music and would often briefly entertain his guests as equally as his musicians. It was also said that Rossini was a popular favorite musician/composer who came to see the King here and perform quite often. As soon as this information was shared, I had a music geek moment, and loved every second of it.
As for things I planned ahead for London before I arrived here, I specifically packed clothes that I could wear out and throw away prior to returning. I also created a London Bucket List! In order of the clothes, I have already tossed two shirts and three pairs of shoes (I'm sure anyone who knows me and my love of shoes will maybe surprised to hear this, but believe you me. They needed to be tossed. Two more are on their way out. Probably by the time I get home from Paris). I must say I have also taken charge to my Bucket List and there are only a small number of things remaining. I would like to go back to a couple museums I toured earlier in the trip and check out their gift shops one more time, just to be sure I found everything I wanted. Otherwise, I don not have too much more planned. Next weekend, I head to Paris and I have a list of things to experience while there. Following that, is opening weekend for the Olympics. I will be attending a match for volleyball. Then I head to Wales for the last week of my internship to work and participate in their Summer Music School Project! It's crazy to imagine that this experience is coming to an end, but as I said earlier, I refuse to focus on this fact because it is just down right depressing!!
Things to look forward to hearing about: Sweeney Todd, Martinis at the Barbican- 007 exhibit, Sweeney Todd (yes twice), and planning for Paris!!!
Cheers!
Sarah Marsh
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