This past week was Fall break, or the much anticipated week long break in the semester following mid term exams. I was lucky enough to get beautiful weather and hop across Europe with ease to Barcelona and Mallorca thanks to RyanAir and my european citizenship. Once I again I was able to jump into yet another completely different culture and immerse myself. Being able to speak Spanish fluently, I found the Spanish to be some of the most kind and genuine people I have ever met. Not to say that Londoners are cold or anything of the type, but the tropical air and vibes of Barcelona seemed to make everyone laid back and reminded me of home in sunny Florida. This naturally also made me miss my home even if just for a moment. The hardest part about the break week was when it came to an end and I had to fly back to London. This was when not only the weather, but the reality of the semester being half over hit me like a brick wall. Having a 30 degree drop in temperature from Barcelona to London was shock enough, but upon coming back I had emails waiting and presentations and projects that stared at me from my calendar. On top of this it is officially crunch time for submitting resumes and applications and all such things. While this may all seem overwhelming and quite frankly, it is, it is what I signed up for, and it is important for me to face the challenges that I chose to face. This makes me even more excited to hunker down and get to work.
I still make an active effort to “get lost” in London so that I can discover new places in London and have ended up going to places like the many of the plethora of free museums that contain some of the most important artifacts in human history. My coworkers at my internship have been incredibly helpful in guiding me to new places that only really locals know about. Another favorite place of mine that I stumbled upon is Camden, which is one of the largest street markets in London and is where many great musicians began and tons have performed. Camden and Brick Lane have without a doubt been the most culturally unique places I have found in my stay in London.
I look forward to continuing to explore London and Europe and working hard to finish the semester strong. Cheers and drink tea!