After the Fact post 2

I typed this 3 weeks before I was to leave London:

"Monday, July 26th 2:19 pm

Tea: nonexistant. Drinking coke today. Sorry to let down the stereotype.

Mood: Philisophic

The London adventure is starting to wind down now, and I'm realizing that I didn't write anywhere as much as I had intended to. In all actuality, I simply didnt have the time. Well, maybe I did, but that was time I needed to spend doing nothing, seeing as how everything else was so busy.

At this point, I've seen a fair amount of the city. I've lost 3 railcards, seen one show, celebrated one birthday, attended one gallery opening, made many friends, seen one terrible movie, worked in two galleries, sold one painting, written 9 papers, read 3 books, lost one credit card, and spent more money than I want to talk about. Life seems to have sped up and slowed down all at once. Part of me longs to stay in this outstanding, bewitching city, while the other aches for home like I've never felt before. In two weeks, my family will be here, and I get to act as tour guide around the city, which I find strangely exciting.

I've been to plenty of places in the city, but I've become a big fan of some of the places out of the city that I've seen. Greenwich was outstanding, and the views of the city were breathtaking. Hampton court was even better. Maybe it's because I'm an artist or a writer, or maybe just a geek, but walking down the echoing stone halls gave me chills. Or maybe it was because I promptly got rained on and was freezing, but the history of everything was amazing. Though I'm hesitant to use the term because of its cliche undertones, I was positively spellbound as I wandered around the castle. Everything ached with memories of previous times, and I actively tried to picture people wandering the cobbled pathways in court dress. Up until I saw them, that is. I had a gentleman in full court dress stop, take my hand and bow, calling me, "Your royal madam". I must have looked incredibly confused, because he followed up with, "You're wearing purple, miss. The color of royalty." That made me smile. I could get used to this. Moments later, a much heralded Henry VIII and Katherine Parr walked through the chamber. As he passed me, he stopped and proclaimed, "We've just been married. You may congratulate us." Besides the obvious entertainment, the place is constantly reminicent of period movies and Shakespeare, and I found myself trailing my hands across the walls while I walked. Is it possible to soak up history? I'm such a nerd.

London itself is fascinating. There are so many areas saturated in history and yet its hard to imagine a grungy medieval city when surronded by towering structures of concrete and glass, but small aspects of the city give tip offs to the way things used to be. Tiny alleyways of shadow and cobbled streets, teired shop fronts overlooking walkways of stained stone, old architecture peeking out from years and years of grime and the elements, all wedged between Starbucks and Sainsbury's. Some areas of London seem to be begrudgingly plodding its way into the twenty first century, whereas other areas are exceedingly modern, mixing new and old architecture and mentality to create a singular, original identity that is uniquely London.

Look at me, waxing philisophic again. Feh. I'm sensing that all of my flatmates are starting to tire of living in the same house. We've each had our own little mini freak outs over a wide range of things, but we've managed to go the 2 months so far without killing each other, which I find pretty damn impressive. I feel like I've gained some pretty impressive contacts through work, as well as some lasting friends through my intern mates. The girls I work with are caring and kind, and I wish only the best things in the world for them. Helen aches for the big time as much as she aches for Prince Harry. Shes brash and loud and exactly the type of person I love to hang around with. She reminds me of my sister in a wonderful way. Sixtin is in London from France learning english. Shes an incredibly sweet person brimming with beautiful, bright dreams that I sincerely hope she acheives. Valentina works incredibly hard, and is always there to help anyone in need. She is quick to smile, and oozes fashion sense on everyone around her. And finally Jimena. Jimena is meant for great things. She is outstanding at planning, and PR, and she is incredibly caring and protective of all of her friends. I've become the closest with her, mostly due to my helping her to not freak out at the opening. I feel like sometimes she puts a bit too much on her plate, but shes lucky to have friends around who are happy to help her cope. Wonderfully, she will be moving to New York city in a few months, so I will have oppurtunities to go and visit her after I leave London. Mostly, our group has been spending the past two weeks on our computers, complaining about internet speed and the state of facebook, but we have done quite a bit of work in promoting the gallery and selling artwork, so it isn't all fun and games.

All in all, I'm just attempting to survive the rest of my time here with my sanity intact. Hopefully I'll have another blog for you all soon. I'll continue to post pictures in the meantime, and I would of course appreciate any comments that you leave.

Have a wonderful week, folks. I'll talk to you again, soon.

<3>

"

After the Fact post

So there are several postings that were up on my personal website that I figure I'll post here. These are personal blogs, and have nothing to do with class. You'll notice, however, a few repeats with paragraphs and such. Keep it under your hat, will ya? ;)

I wrote this post the week after I had arrived.

"So, I'm here.

!!

Ok, so there was a bit of drama in the getting here, but all is well now. I got sick LITERALLY the day after I arrived and completely lost my voice, so I was completely voiceless on the three days of my internship, which sucked. I'm still not 100%, but I'm at about 98.

London. Is. Outstanding.

So much character! From the brightly colored wood facades to the crudely cobbled streets, this place is bursting at the seams with history, pride, and personality. Tiny, shadowed alleyways between buildings, grape vines growing down the sides of buildings, quiet little cafes wafting the smell of fresh scones and cappucino into the street... I've become completely enchanted with the place, as expected. Theres just so much life everywhere. Theres something for everyone on the quirky little street corners. And its so big, which for some reason I wasnt expecting. There is art everywhere, in any form imaginable. Gothic architecture arcing into the skies and carefully planned out gardens mingle in the same spot.

I'm waxing philisophical, sorry. But I didn't expect the city itself to have such an identity.

On other matters, my birthday is next week, and I have no idea what I'm doing. I miss my family and friends desperately.

I seem to be getting along with the other interns that I'm currently living with, although I don't know if I really fit in. They're a really neat group of people, and I'm glad that I ended up with them, but I'm not sure what they think of me. I may be being something of a stick in the mud- between being sick and not having much money, I haven't really gone out with the group a great deal. I guess I'm a little insecure, as I usually am around new people. It's worse than usual since Im so far from home, and I'm finding myself craving alone time. Still, everything is fine, I'm still having a ball.

My internship is a lot of fun, I'm getting the oppurtunity to work in a very posh area, and the gallery contains a lot of very interesting artwork. Im actually arranging an art opening at the gallery! I get to pick the artwork that gets hung and who is invited, and I'm in charge of making sure that the place is prepared and presentable for an opening, which, trust me- has been quite an undertaking already. My boss is an absolute ball though, and I enjoy the work. I'm also putting together the website for the place as well, so its proving to be a lot of fulfilling work.

I've taken a lot of pictures, so as soon as I relocate my camera card, I'll be posting some.

Don't forget to comment! I'd love to answer any questions or hear from you!

Love you all, and I'll post more soon!

<3>

I have at least two more blogs to post, as well as an after-the-fact reflection of my trip. I'll get them to you soon!