Internship...Days 15 & 16!

Hi All!

So, I'm FINALLY home sweet home!! So great to be back in the USA! Just wanted to catch up on my last few days at my internship.

On Tuesday, it was mainly just Amanda and I working on the projects. We met at the office and then Rachael sent us to get more crepe paer for the roses. We got the supplies from Soho and headed to the Marylebone High Street store. We went to the dungeon and started making roses. We figured out the day before that the roses weren't turning out because we had cut the petal pieces against the grain of the crepe paper instead of with the grain. So this time, we cut them the right way and they were a lot easier to work with. We were then able to stretch each petal to make them look more realistic. It's a very tideous process. First, we took three wire pieces, taped them together, and then wrapped the "stem" in bright green crepe paper. Then we had to cut out 5 skinny petal pieces and 15 heart shaped pieces for each rose. We first started by taping on the "bud" of the flower. Next, we layered in 15 heart shaped pieces and curled the edges. Each rose took about 30-40 minutes to make. We finally came up with an assembly line and finished about 12 by the end of the day.

The next day, Wednesday, our job was to create even more roses. Rachael liked them so much that she wanted to display them in the Marylebone window. The Marylebone store is their flagship store, so any new window display idea is tried there first to see if it receives positive customer feedback. Rachael joined us at the store that day, as well as Lyndsey. Amanda, Lyndsey, and I all worked on making roses while Rachael put them in vases and fluffed and trimmed them up to make them look perfect for the window. We made roses for a good 6 hours and ended up with 13 more, so a total of 25 all together. They looked so great! They are in the window now, so I am having Lyndsey send me a picture of the window since I left before it was installed. Can't wait to see all of our hard work in an actual display! Halfway through making roses, we had a nice sit-down lunch outside to celebrate our last day at an Italian restaurant. After lunch, Rachael surprised Amanda and I with a bag of English candy to take home. It was so cute and the candy was really interesting! What a nice thought. :) Here are a few photos of the roses:

I had such a great time with this internship and my study abroad experience as a whole. I learned so much and it was great to be able to work in head office and see how the company works behind the scenes. It gave me insight into the differences between how business is conducted in the UK and the states. I know it sounds a bit cliche, but it really was a life-changing experience. I have gained so much more confidence in myself, especially knowing that if I can make it in London, I know I can make it in my home country! I've done a lot of things I thought I would have never had the chance to do before and I'm so thankful for each opportunity. Also, it was so nice to work with an English intern. It was a lot of fun to work with each other each day and talk about all of the differences from our cultures. It was also amazing to be able to travel to different parts of England for work and seeing a culture outside of London. I was so sad to leave because it was my life for 10 weeks, but I have to say, I'm so glad to be home! Now it's off to conquer New York City next summer!!!

Internship...Days 12, 13, & 14!

Hi Everyone!

A little bit of catching up to do since I was in Ireland this past weekend! It was SO beautiful...especially the first day! We went to a town called Howth which is about 30 minutes out of Dublin by train. We arrived there and immediately saw the sea as our train pulled up. It was really beautiful and then we walked up the street to the harbour and pier. The view was amazing with the green rolling hills in the background. We got lots of great pictures. Next, we made a 2 hour hike up the "mountain" to a cliff side where the views were even more breathtaking. I literally could have stayed up there the whole trip. The cliffs looked out onto a peninsula with a lighthouse and endless views of the sea. It was gorgeous. The next day, Saturday, we spent the day sightseeing in Dublin. Dublin isn't a huge city, so there wasn't much to do, but we found a lot of fun places to go. We purchased a Dublin Sightseeing ticket for the bus, so it took us to all of the main tourist stops. We saw the Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and made a stop at the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. We had a lot of fun, but then it started pouring and we were all exhausted, so we decided to call it a day and headed back to the airport. It still amazes me that the three of us were able to plan a whole trip and navigate around a foreign country, completely by ourselves! I feel so grown up. :)

Anyway, on Wednesday, for my internship, it was just Lyndsey and I in the office because Amanda had gone to Bath with Sandra to install a window display. There wasn't much for us to do. We worked on organizing our office, which was definitely needed and put each window concept into a separate folder with photos, fabric swatches, etc. Next, Rachael wanted us to go grab some supplies to work on the ballons once again. I asked if she wanted us to try anything different since they hadn't turned out last time, but she said to just make a couple more anyway. We then made our way to the Marylebone High Street store to get to work. I had to leave early that day to give a 10 minute presentation for my internship class, so I only finished one balloon before I had to leave. I felt a little bad that I had to leave Lyndsey there to finish the balloons, but she didn't seem to mind.

On Thursday, it was the three of us in the office. Rachael put us right to work on more mood boards. We had 4 concepts: lace balloons, brightly colored spools of cotton, fringe, and birds. We did some research and printed out images for each board. It always takes a while to find the right images, print them, and cut them out. We finally finished all of the boards and then Rachael critiqued them. She removed a couple of images, but it was a lot less than last time, so we were all happy about that. Next, we had to run to Soho to grab some spray paint for another project. From a previous window, Rachael had some leftover cut-out birds that were plain white. They were really cute and there were a ton of them left, so we decided to reuse them, but spray paint them in teal, fuschia, red, yellow, and deep purple. We picked up all the spray paint and then went out to the balcony at the office to begin spray painting. The wind was blowing really hard, so spray painting was interesting. We ended up losing a couple of birds by the wind and got the spray paint all over us. They turned out pretty cute once we hung them all up together. We eliminated the yellow and red because the teal, fuschia, and deep purple looked best together.

Today, it was the three of us once again. We got there at 9:30 and I printed off my evaluation from Missouri State for Rachael to fill out. I was a little nervous because she can be a little harsh, but she gave me an A-, which I was happy about. She said I needed to have more confidence in my abilities, which I agree with, so I was pretty content with her comments and marks. Next, she went with us to get crepe paper and florist wire for our next project. She had seen the "craft of the day" from Martha Stewart that were crepe paper roses that looked adorable in a recent Mulberry window display. We went to several different stores, gathering different colors. We stopped by Liberty, a famous department store in London by the florist shop. After we got the wire, Rachael wanted us to explore the department store just for fun, so Amanda and I got to wander around Liberty for about 45 minutes. After, we were starving, we decided to get sushi at a cheap sushi place on Marylebone High Street. I had heard a lot of good things about it, so I was really excited, but it really wasn't that amazing. I'm glad we tried it though. After lunch, we went back to the store to the basement(which we nicknamed "the dungeon" because there are now windows) to work on the roses and butterflies. We started with painting butterflies for an upcoming window. Then we attempted the roses...Martha made them look so easy, but of course, they weren't. The crepe paper was so floppy, that the roses looked terrible. We didn't know how to fix them, so we kept trying to make more, trying different techniques. Then I took a break and started taping butterflies on our gold mirror panels. Those actually turned out really cute! Rachael then came to the store to check on us. She loved the mirror panels, but we had to stay an extra half hour to work on the roses. She finally decided that it was the way we cut the crepe paper and that we needed to cut it against the grain instead of on it. Here are some photos from today's work!

The lace when the balloons were popped.

The finished mirror panels that will be installed in a window display on Wednesday.

Well, that's all for now...until next time!

Internship...Day 11.

Hi all!

Today was exhausting. We had to be at the showroom at 8 am and worked until 4:45. This morning, we had to clear all of the rubbish (British word for trash) out of the corridor (British word for hallway). We had to break down all of the cardboard boxes that our torsos came in. Not the most glamorous job, but we finished it pretty quickly. Next, we had to prep the showroom because buyers were coming in an hour after we arrived. We had to put up a decal on the wall that read "FennWrightManson." The thing was, it was in 3 pieces, so it made it that more difficult. First, we had to measure the wall and find the middle and then piece together the decal, measure it, find the middle, and match the two up. We started measuring from the top to make sure we were keeping it straight. All the measurements worked out, but when we finished and stepped back, the decal was totally crooked. The problem was, the ceiling that we measured from was slanted, so it set our whole decal off. So frustrating!! It had taken a really long time and I don't think Rachael wasn't too happy that she had to order a new one.

After, we went back to our office. We re-did our mood board. Yesterday, Amanda was at the office, so she researched and found new images. I guess they were better than last time because Rachael only threw a few out. We tacked them on and pinned the fabric swatches on the board. Then, it was onto our next project. Rachael and Sandra had ordered Petite clothing signage, but it was the wrong size for the frames they were going in, so we had to cut a couple of centimeters off each side. There were a TON of them, so it took me forever! After about 2 hours of projects, we took a lunch break. We walked down the street to a Pret a Manger (pretty much my favorite restaurant in London because its fast, easy, and delicious) and went to the park right next to it to sit and enjoy our lunch. It was nice to have a break and enjoy the rare sunshine! And, in the office today, I wore a dress for the first time, a 12 pound dress from Primark that I bought when I first got here, and a got a million compliments on it. A lady that worked there even took a picture of it on her phone and made her husband go buy it for her! Pretty funny. :)

Next, we went to House of Fraser, a huge department store in London. We have a concession there, which means we have a section of our store in the department store. We had to redo the entire floor and the walls, so it was a long process. We changed all of the metalwork on the walls, so we kept having to run back and forth between the stock room and the floor. The walls were built totally wrong, so it was almost impossible to make the metalwork fit in. We also had to build a lot of shelving units. We spruced up the up-tops by rolling scarves, using graphics, or showcasing accessories. We finally finished the store and headed out around 4:45 and it looked great! So much better than when we got there. That's what I love about visual merchandising; you're able to see your results right after all of your hard work. It makes for a long day, though! I'm gonna have to get used to this grown-up 8 hour day thing!! Now its back to working on my presentation for tomorrow and completing my journal and self-evaulation for my internship class...

Have a great night!

Internship...Day 10!

Hi there!

Today was a very rewarding day. I had to take a train to St. Albans, which is around 40 minutes outside of London. Yesterday, when I went to pick up my ticket, the guy told me the wrong platform. So, this morning when I got to "the right platform," I didn't see my train on the board. So I asked and the sent me to the very bottom floor. But, when I got down there, I saw my train time, but it said it was headed to Luton. I started to freak out, but as the time got closer, below Luton is said "Calling to" with a bunch of towns, so I assumed that meant "stopping at" since St. Albans was one of them. I waited for a while and finally boarded my train, still hoping it was the right one. About 15 minutes through my ride, a worker came through to check tickets. All he said was "thank you very much" so I breathed a sigh of relief because I knew he would have said something if I were on the wrong train. It was another 20-25 minutes and I reached St. Albans. On the train ride there, I had received a text from Sandra with directions to the store. Since I'm TERRIBLE at directions, I was freaking out a bit. I tried to find my way out of the station (which took a while) and then I went up to the bridge she told me to walk over. Apparently, it was the complete wrong way because there was nothing down the way I went. I turned around and spotted a police officer. I knabbed the chance and he told me that main high street was about a 15 minute walk up the hill. So, I started walking until I got to what looked like a small square with lots of shops. However, I was looking for the actual street name "Main High Street" because I assumed that was a real street. I guess that's what the British call just a regular street with lots of shops and things, so I was totally confused for a while. I went down the wrong way once again and finally decided to turn around. And, after a couple minutes, there it was!! I don't think I've been that excited and relieved for a while. I was so proud of myself though for getting the right train and finding my way to the store, completely on my own!

When I got there, they told me to put my stuff up in the break room. You could tell the building used to be something different than just a store. There was the store floor, and then the stairs to the break room was a winding staircase and the break room was more like a little home. There was a kitchen, bathrooms and a bunch of other rooms. The actual stock room was a long hallway, all tutor style with creepy old windows and then a large room with a big fireplace with a bunch of stuff stacked against it. As soon as I got down to the floor, they were like "You know this place is haunted right?" I was totally freaked out! Supposedly, the building used to be a pub and a little boy had fallen off the balcony and died. He now haunts the top floor of the store and they even bought him toys; how creeeppyy! I guess the whole town of St. Albans is supposed to be known for hauntings. Anyway, I then had to reset a whole wall, which meant I had to go upstairs by myself and gather all of the metalwork that I needed. I was SO freaked out because it took me a while to sort through everything and make sure I had enough of the pieces. I swore if I saw a little boy standing in the corner watching me, I was outta there! Haha, I'm such a dork, but it really was freaky.

Anyway, the rest of the day, Sandra, one of my bosses, and I moved the entire floor around to make the store more impactful. We moved certain colors to different walls and reworked the store fixtures to create a better layout. We also categorized the sale to make it easier to shop: tops, casual dresses, skirts, knitwear, and "smart" dresses, which is the British way of saying more "dressy" dresses. Kind of funny to hear and I had to ask what smart dresses meant. It sounds like a smart phone, like the dress has internet or GPS capabilities or something. ;) Then we broke for lunch. I explored the town a bit and then chose a street vendor to grab lunch and take it back to the store. I decided on a ham and cheese toastie (a grilled ham and cheese),chips (fries), and a fizzy drink (soda, because they didn't have water). It was really good, but I was so full I couldn't finish it. After the break, we worked on the store aesthetics. We made the "up-tops" or glass shelves above the hangbars look presentable with scarves, necklaces on jewelry stands, or images in picture frames. We also have a skirt featured in Vogue, so I dressed a torso in the skirt and the table in front displayed the magazine page along with a color story to make it more impactful. We then straightened up the store and put everything in color order. Here's how it turned out!

The vogue table :)

Our navy and fuschia color story.

Our newly organized sale section.

It was around 5 when we left the store, and then it was another ride back to London. It was a lot faster on the way back though, because I rode with Sandra. It was nice to have someone to talk to. After I got home, I made dinner and now I'm starting on homework once again. Can't wait until this internship class is over!! Going to bed early tonight since we have to be at the showroom at 8 am in the morning, which means leaving our flat at 7:15!

Well, that's all for today. Bye! :)

Internship...Day 9.

Well, its now Sunday and I finally have time to catch up! On Saturday, Nicolette and I went to Buckingham Palace to see Kate's wedding dress, along with a guided tour of the state rooms. It was amazing! We were so bummed though because they didn't allow us to take ANY pictures. It was beautiful and I wish I had pictures for everyone to see! Then we went to Marylebone to get a quick bite. We chose an italian restaurant where we could sit outside and I had the BEST margherita pizza of my life. So delicious! Today has been a catching up day, doing laundry and starting on my last few homework assignments.

On Friday, my internship didn't go as well as usual. The day before, Lyndsey had been on the phone with Rachael and Rachael told us to be at the office at 9:30 the next morning. Lyndsey then passed that onto us. I thought she said 9:30, but Amanda thought she said 9 and I really couldn't remember, so we showed up 9 the next morning just in case. Turns out, we weren't supposed to there until 9:30, which I think made Rachael a little ancy because the office is so small. She put us right to work though, first by filling out a small questionnaire about how we liked the internship so far, etc. Then we changed a couple of graphics that are hung around the office. We put these huge images in their frames and then folded up the old ones. After, she sent us to get a ton of boxes that came in shipment with all new torso forms. We had to unpack all of the boxes and assemble the mannequins. Not my favorite job in the world, but it had to be done.

Then, Rachael gave us a little project. She wanted the three of us to create a mood board for a window concept that she had come up with. Her concept was bare, modern trees in neon colors for a background of a window display. She said there was no right or wrong, so we just started googling pictures, cutting them out and pasting them on a foam core board along with the fabric swatches. I thought it looked pretty good when we finished and at first, she said she loved it. Next thing we knew, she starting ripping off almost all of the images. She might have left 5 out of at least 20. Every time she tore one of she said "I'm being ruthless, but this doesn't need to be on here." It was really hard to watch her tear apart about an hour's worth of work, but I guess that's the creative process. Trying, trying, and trying again.

After that, she said that she couldn't make any sense of the spreadsheet we had put together on Wednesday of all the stores and their stock of the jewelry stands. We really had no idea what we were talking about when we called the stores; we were just doing what we were told. And all of the stores were really confused because everyone calls jewelry stands by different names. This time, Rachael had us send out an email to all of the stores with pictures of each stand and what it was called. We waited about 20 minutes and then started calling all of the stores. We should have sent out the email the first time because it was a million times easier!! It still took us about 4 hours to get a hold of the stores, which was a bit tiring, but our spreadsheet made much more sense and was a lot better organized.

It was kind of a frustrating day, but I guess not everyday can be perfect! I learned some valuable lessons and learned to deal with a little constructive criticism. Anyway, tomorrow I'm really nervous about because I have to catch a train to St. Albans by myself! Only one of us could go with Sandra to St. Albans, which is about 40 minutes outside of London. Kind of nervous because the train I catch is out of St. Pancras International, so it's huge! Just another reason this experience is helping me...definitely getting out of my comfort zone!

Well, that's all for today. Cheers!

Internship...Days 7 & 8!

Hi Everyone!

Enjoying my first day off in a while! Jess, Nicolette and I slept in and then went to a 5 pound store where literally everything was 5 pounds. I got a cute dress and shirt. We ate outside at a really cute Italian restaurant because it was a beautiful day! Now I'm back at the flat, trying to be productive.

On Tuesday, we had a really fun creative day! Our mission was to get supplies for two different projects. Our first project was creating lace paper mache balloons from a picture that our boss had found as inspiration. We took the tube about 40 minutes away to a street with a ton of cheap fabric stores. We had certain colors of cheap lace to look for, so we grabbed one of two colors from each store. It took us about an hour to get all of the lace we needed. Next, we went to Oxford street to search for paint, glue, and all of the craft supplies that we needed. It was a huge run-around because we couldn't find the right glue and spraypaint that we needed for the next project. The second project was taking a plastic mirror panel and splitting it into four sections, using different techniques on each section. The first section, we used paper mache as a glue and put wrinkled gold tissue paper on it, with the mirror still showing through. Then we tried spray paint and stratched it after it was dry. In another section, we fixed the gold acrylic paint with crackle paste, so I'm excited to see how it turns out. We just did mock-ups of each idea to see which concepts Sandra and Rachael might like best to see if they want to put it in an actual window.

After getting all of the supplies which took from 10-1, we got to work on the actual projects. We spread out on the concrete floor, laid down bubble wrap, and mixed up our paper mache. Cutting out all of the semi-circles took a while and then painting them onto the ballons with paint brushes took a while as well. Although, it was very therapeutic and relaxing. Halfway through our arts and crafts session, Lyndsey, the British intern that is working with us decided we needed a tea and biscuit break (biscuits are british cookies). She made us each a cup of AMAZING tea and bought us cookies to munch on while we worked. It was actually pretty perfect. Here are the finished concepts:

love it!

mirror techniques.

On Wednesday, it was so nice to have a half day! Lyndsey, Amanda, and I met at the office. We had to call all of the stand-alone Fenn Wright Manson stores and get a count of how many jewelry stands they each had in their store. We shipped a lot of jewelry stands out as well. For a couple of hours, we just did research and compiled all of our ideas into a powerpoint and saved it to Rachael's desktop. We actually got out of there at 12!

Now for British-isms!

I had my roommates and I brainstorm and come up with just a few of the differences between London and America, either terminology or other details. :) Here they are:

1. Light switches are all backwards...press down to turn it on and vice versa.
2. There is a button to push before you are able to open the door to exit and a button to flush the toilet.
3. Exit=way out
4. Bathroom=toilet
5. Salad dressing=salad cream..and no ranch dressing! :(
6. Stop lights change yellow between red and between green..I think we should adopt this one so people are ready to go when the light turns green!
7. Pants=Trousers
8. Underwear=Pants
9. Queue=line..."queue up, please=move up in line"
10. Of course, they drive on the wrong side of the road ;)
11. Bangs=Fringe
12. Tanktop=Vest
13. British credit cards have a chip in them where they are simply inserted into the machine instead of swiped.
14. Free ATMS!
15. No frozen foods because there are no preservatives in british food.
16. No air conditioning!
17. Sidewalk=Pavement
18. Vacation=Holiday

Those are just a few, I'm sure we'll think of more! :)
Thanks for reading!

Internship...Day 6!

Hi Everyone!

Today was an interesting day. We were working with Sandra today, Rachael's Visual Merchandising colleague. She told us to meet her at Clapham Junction at 8:40, which is about 45 minutes to an hour to get to from where we live. We decided to leave at 7:50, thinking that would be plenty of time. Except, when we were boarding our first line, we decided to go a different way than last time. We ended being stuck being on a train that terminated, so we had to get off and were stranded at that station for a good 20 minutes. We kept calling Sandra and texting to tell her that we would be a little late. Finally the next train came, we rode it to our stop, and then we had to get on the overground to get to Clapham Junction. That train was delayed, so it was another 7 minutes before it got there. We finally got to Clapham...40 minutes late. We felt SO bad and apologized for being late, especially on our first day working with Sandra. Luckily, she was totally understanding and super nice. We then took another train about 20 minutes away to a town called Kingston, where there was a shopping mall.

Fenn Wright Manson had a section in the department store, with a window that we had to install. The window was decently big, so it took a while to hang our 6 orchid panels. We made them all different heights to add depth to the window. We kept it pretty simple, with only two mannequins, mainly because stock was so low we didn't have much to choose from. Sandra loved it and we even got out around 12:30, which was SO nice.

Here it is!

After work, I went to school to replace my student ID. I had to do a little bit of run around to get it, but I finally have one! My first new form of ID other than my passport. It definitely makes me feel better. When I got back to the flat, I started researching flights to Dublin; I'm dying to go! I've heard its really beautiful and everyone that goes has loved it. I searched for a while and all of the flights were around 140 pounds. I finally got on edreams and found a flight, there and back, for 45 euros, which is about $90! So cheap!! However, they added on another 20 euros for taxes, and then when I put in my card info, they charged 20 euro to use a Visa! So ridiculous. But, one of my flatmates said it is cheaper to book early in the morning, so we are going to try to book it in the morning before we all go to work. Hopefully it is a little cheaper. Still though, pretty good deal!

Tomorrow, Amanda and I are going to be in the office for the first time to do another mock-up of the Christmas window. I think it should be fun! Hopefully we'll have another short day because we are planning to try to go to Wicked again tomorrow night. Crossing my fingers that there will be student stand by tickets available because they are a million times cheaper! Anyway, that's all for tonight.

Cheers!

Internship...Days 4 & 5!

Hi everyone!

So happy right now! Since I was pickpocketed in Italy; my entire wallet, with EVERYTHING in it including credit cards and every form of ID I own, I finally got my credit cards mailed to London and I now have money! Never realized how scary it would be to not have any back-up!

On Thursday, Amanda and I went to RGB studio again to do another web product shoot with the same team, Faye, the director and Jason, the photographer. We had a whole rack of garments to do this time and most of them were from the autumn/winter line, so there were a lot of layers and a lot of fabric, which makes it a little more difficult to pin and make it look nice. It took us a while to steam everything and then take 3 shots of each garment. We did the shoot from 9:30 to about 1 and then took a lunch break. Amanda and I went down the street to a small sandwich place and I had a really good ham and cheese sandwich and chips (crisps as the Brits would say :). Then we went back to finish as much as we could. We finally finished dresses and sweaters done and moved onto coats. We actually got to style a 1000 pound fur coat...pretty cool! After that, Faye let us finish the shoot and go home a little early. They were SO impressed with how much work we got done. They were so happy because we saved them so much time that they got to take a half day the next day. Pretty successful day in all. Other than the fact that I pretty much ruined my favorite flats ever because the whole walk back to the tube station from the studio (about 15 minutes), it was POURING and my shoes got completely soaked. Once they get wet, they get soggy, stretched out, and they smell the next time I wear them. Uggh..oh well, they were starting to get worn out anyway from all the walking.

Today, Amanda and I traveled with Rachael to a town about an hour outside of London today to install another window display. We rode the tube for about 45 minutes and then we got to London Bridge Station to meet Rachael and take a 40 minute train to the cutest town I've ever seen! It's so nice being able to see parts of England I would have never known about otherwise. This was the biggest window display, so Rachael enlisted Amanda and I to help out.

We already knew the drill, so we got started hanging panels from the ceiling rod. We placed the clings on the windows while Rachael made phone calls. After she was finished, we started steaming garments and dressing mannequins. Once we got the mannequins in the window, they didn't look right with the placement of the panels. We finalized placement of the mannequins and then adjusted the panel placement. The right window was then finished, but we still had the left window. The two windows were different heights, so we had to play around with the left one to make sure it looked good, but still was cohesive with the right window. At one point, I had placed the plastic panels on the floor. I was getting down from the window ledge and grabbed the wall that I placed the panels on. While I was sliding down, I sliced my hand, inbetween my fingers, on the plastic panel and it bled for a while. It hurt pretty bad. Then, when I was putting the window clings on, I got a random bloody nose. Really annoying because I got a blood spot on my pants and had to wait in the bathroom until it stopped bleeding.

After the windows, we had a long lunch break. We walked down the street to a little cafe where we could sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. I had a grilled cheese, crisps, and salad. It was good, but it definitely didn't fill me up. So, we decided to make it an even longer lunch and get dessert. Yum, chocolate ice cream sundae. And only 6.60 for everything! I guess getting outside London helps with prices!

After the windows were done and the mannequins were accessorized, we started on the side windows. We re-dressed the torso forms and put a couple of accessory displays on the cubes in the windows. We reorganized the floor a bit and spruced up the table displays. We finished up, got photos, and said goodbye to the adorable ladies that were working. Then it was another 40 minute train ride and a 45 minute tube ride home. Work has been so much fun so far! I'm learning a lot and I get to travel to some really great parts of London. Can't wait to see what comes next!

Here are some photos from the day:

The street view from our lunch table...so adorable!

Some of the store! Love the light fixture.

Window #1

Window #2

That's all for today. Hope you enjoyed it!

Internship...Day 3.

Hello again!

Today was a very sucessful day. We left the courtyard around 8:50 to start our journey to one of the retail stores in a part of London called Clapham Junction, about an hour commute from our student housing. We hadn't anticipated it to take so long, so we made it barely in time.

The store was very small, so the windows didn't take too long to finish. It was the same window scheme, so we already knew what to do. We put the butterfly clings on the windows and then hung plastic panels from the ceiling rods. Pretty easy. Then we gathered and steamed the garments, dressed the torso forms, and pinned and styled until the garments looked good. We fixed up the store a bit, making sure up-tops were in order and everything looked presentable. Here's the finished product:

A little hard to see, but you get the idea :)

Here's the next window:

And the inside of store #1..so quaint!

Then, it was onto our next store. This store was about 30 minutes away, another long commute on the tube. On our way there, we stopped in a cafe to grab a quick lunch. They gave student discounts, AND I had one of the best chicken burritos ever! We sat outside for a while and then walked to the store. We arrived there, ready to do the same routine. The store was a bit larger, and so much cuter! The lady that was first working there, while I was steaming the garments, literally took the steamer out of my hands and took over. I guess I wasn't steaming good enough for her, I have no idea. She was a little strange, but I just kept going on the windows. Amanda and I dressed the next set of mannequins, actual mannequins this time instead of torso forms. I like the mannequins a lot better because I think the garments look more expensive that way...and more flattering.

There was also an older lady there, I'm guessing she was the store manager, but she was so sweet! She raved about how wonderful the windows looked. Also, I heard Rachael talking on the phone to her boss saying how "really, really brilliant" we were. So funny. I think she likes us! Faye and Rachael were fighting over who would get us for the next two days. They decided that we would go to another photo shoot tomorrow and then Rachael gets us on Friday to work on the biggest window display at another store location.

Anyway, here are the windows from the second store:

And the inside of the store:

That's all for today! Cheers :)

Internship...Day 2.

Today was very eventful, long, and exhausting.

I was up by 7 am, showering and getting ready for my internship. I met Amanda in the courtyard at 8:30 and we headed to the Marylebone High Street store for FWM. We were planning on doing window displays all day, so Rachael sent us to the basement to dress mannequins. We pulled all of the garments in the correct sizes, steamed them, and dressed the torso forms. They were perfectly dressed, pinned, and styled, so we put them in the windows. The visual merchandising team that met us there didn't like it, so they stood there analyzing it for what seemed like forever.

Finally, Rachael decided to give us another job. She sent Amanda and I to do what they call "cop shop," short for "comparative shop" where we literally walk around London to take snaps of competition's windows to gather inspiration and so on. So we did! It was a lot of fun and we got to walk around gathering images for about 3 hours, with a lunch break. The best part is, they give us 5 pounds allowance for lunch each day, so I really only paid 69 pence for my meal! What a deal. :) After we were finished gathering images, we went back to the high street store to de-brief. However, when we got back to the store, the mannequins in the window were all wearing completely different outfits than what we dressed them in. They completely changed direction about a color scheme and I was a little frustrated that we had done all that work for nothing...

Then, Rachael then gave us another project. We went back down to the basement and she had us work on mock-ups for the christmas window display background. The idea was to cut circles out of metallic paper and wire them together so it looked like a big panel of metallic discs. It took 3 hours, but they started to look really neat! I guess Rachael will pitch it to the rest of the team and then they will send it in to have it professionally done. And, Rachael said that Faye, the director from the photo shoot liked us so much that she wants us to come back and help again on Thursday and Friday! Definitely don't mind working photo shoots for a day of work!

We have to work again tomorrow, installing another window display at a different store location, so I'm sure it will be another 8 hour day. I love it, but I'm not used to such long shifts. Welcome to the real world, I suppose! Also, so happy I'm finally finished with my 3000 word essay for my internship class. I think it was so difficult to complete because it has absolutely nothing to do with my internship, just some random topic for busy work. Nothing more do I hate than busy work. Oh well, all done and turned in now.

I guess that's all until tomorrow!
Ciao! :)

Internship...Day 1!

I haven't blogged in a while...not much to really catch up on. I finished up my last week of school (thank goodness) and ended the semester on a good note, a B+ in Trends and an A in Styling! I guess our trends instructor doens't give A's which I think is ridiculous. If you put in the work and deserve an A, why not? Anyway, I was more excited about my A in styling. Really excited to pick up my portfolio and see his comments!

On the Friday morning after classes finished, we left for Paris. We had a package deal through a tour company and it was absolutely fabulous. We started off the day by a train ride to Paris, only about 2 hours, and then got on a bus to ride to our cruise. We took a cruise and tour of Paris from the River Seine and learned about all of the famous bridges, buildings, etc. It was so beautiful! Next, we hopped off the boat and walked straight up to the Eiffel Tower. Literally, right off the boat. It was amazing. We took the lift (British term for elevator) to the first floor of the Eiffel Tower where we had an amazing lunch (in the Eiffel Tower!) with champagne and all. Next, we toured the world famous museum, the Louvre, which was really intersting. I even got to see the Mona Lisa!! So awesome. That night, we went for dinner and got drinks later in the evening. The next day, my birthday, we went to the Notre Dame, which was so beautiful. I got a ton of great pictures. Next we explored the city and walked to the Champs Elysees, a famous shopping street. We walked around for most of the day and then went back to our hotel. We had about an hour to kill before our train back to London, so we went upstairs to the hotel bar. The bartender gave us all glasses of free wine and an entire bottle of champagne for my birthday! After, we got back on the train and traveled back to London. It was late by the time we got home, around 11:30 or so.

I unpacked, skyped, ate, and took a 2 hour nap before I had to get up to catch our flight to Italy. We had a taxi pick us up at our flat around 3 am and rode to the airport. Nicolette, Cassidy, and I flew into Rome, checked into our hostel and immediately went out to explore the city. First, we stopped at the Colosseum, which was amazing. We walked around taking pictures for a while, stopped by the gift shop, and went up to the top level to see the view. After, we kept walking until we stumbled upon more amazing buildings, statues, and beautiful roman ruins. Next, we walked to the Trevi Fountain (also amazing!) and took more pictures and threw our coins in to make a wish. We stopped at a cute little Italian restaurant and there I had the BEST pasta of my life. And a glass of italian wine, of course. :) The next day, we decided to visit the Vatican before our train ride to Florence. It was beautiful, and huge! It really is it's own city!! After, we took the train to Florence, about a 2 hour ride. As soon as we got there, we checked into our second hostel, and took an hour train ride to Pisa, another city in Italy. There, we walked to the Leaning Tower of Pisa! I couldn't believe how far it actually leaned! We had to get typical leaning tower pictures and then traveled back to Florence. When we got back, we had yet another amazing dinner and the BEST coffee gelato I HAVE EVER HAD! I wish I could go back to Florence just to get more gelato. The next day, we walked around the city, through the leather market and onto the museum that housed the famous David Statue. We waited in line for 2 hours and finally got into the museum. However, once we got in, I found out that we couldn't take pictures after I had already taken a few, and a crazy lady came screaming at me to stop and stood there until I delted all of my pictures. Ridiculous. Anyway, we then got a nice lunch, and then headed back to catch our flight to London. I'm literally still exhausted from the two trips right after each other. The next day, I didn't set an alarm and slept until 2:30. Guess it was much needed. Not to mention, it took a full 2 days for my feet to recover from all of the walking, they were about 2 times there normal size from all the swelling!

I finally got caught up on rest and had my first day of my internship today. We were emailed an address for a studio, so my friend that I'm interning with met me in our courtyard at 8:30 to head to the studio. We found it and immediately got to work. It was a huge studio! Our task was to prep all of the garments for Fenn Wright Manson's fall line and shoot them on mannequins for their website. I went to fill up the steamer with water to get it going, but the tank wasn't clear, so I couldn't see how full it was getting. It looked like a pretty big tank, so I kept filling it up. Next thing I knew, it was overflowing and water was all of over the floor. The guy in charge came running over and asking me how much water I had put in. I told him 2 jugs and then he decided then to tell me that it only took 1! (How was I supposed to know??) Anyway, after that "whoops" I steamed the rest of the rack, which took a while. After that, Amanda and I started dressing the mannequin, one garment at a time. We worked with a photographer and pinned each garment until it looked perfect. We took a front, back, and inside out shot of each garment for the website. It took forever to get each garment just right, but the photos looked great. For the whole rack, it took about 5 hours to shoot everything. Halfway into the rack, we broke for lunch. Our boss, Rachael, took us to a really cute restaurant where I had meatballs in tomato sauce with saffron rice. We accidentally stayed for 2 hours, due to the slow service and great conversation between the 3 of us. We had a great time. Next thing we knew, they were calling us to come back to the studio. When we got back, we had a few last garments to shoot. It didn't take too long, and after we were done, Rachael let us go home for the day. It was an amazing first day and I'm so excited to see my hard work on their actual website! Here are a few snaps from the day!

Some of the studio.

Amanda with our rack of garments.

More of the studio.

Amanda, Faye(director of the shoot), Rachael (my boss), and me!

Day 32...Day of Awe.

Hi Everyone!

Today was a great day. Shelise and I got up this morning to go to mass at St. Paul's Cathedral. We left decently early, about an hour before mass started, which we thought was at 11:30. We got off at St. Paul's station and started walking, but ended up walking the wrong direction. We finally looked it up on Shelise's iPhone and figured out that we needed to walk back the other direction. When I first saw the outside, I was literally in awe. It was so beautiful and so huge! We tried to find the entrance (which took a while) but finally found our way into the church. It was absolutely massive. First, we were in the back section because the front section was roped off. We tried to get on the side on the back section, but still couldn't see because of the huge columns. Then, an usher let us through to the front section, in the front reserved row! It had to be one of the best seats in the church. The mass actually started at 11 am, but we made it just in time for the sermon. We were right next to the choir, which was absolutely amazing, and had perfect view of the priest giving the sermon. The mass was so beautiful and I even received holy communion. Great experience for sure.

View from the outside.

We were plannning on tea time, but the reservation could only be made for 3:30. I had already told the photographer that I booked, 4 pm and that couldn't be changed, so we have to save tea for another day. The shoot went great; a lot better than I expected. We planned to shoot at St. James Palace, but ended up finding an even better palace on the way there. I think I got a lot of really great shots. My theme was Phantom Fatale, and I think it transferred through in the photos. So excited to see what my portfolio looks like in the end! Here's a quick sample:

Just a few of my favorites! After the shoot, I made some soup and salad and Shelise and I went through all of the photos, narrowed them down, and photoshopped our favorites. I love the outcome and hope you guys enjoy them too!

Good night :)

Days 29, 30, 31...Busy, busy, busy!

Hi All!

It's been a few eventful days. On Thursday, I went to class to present a practice run of our final project with my group. It went pretty well, so I'm hoping my final project will go pretty quickly since I already know what to do. Except, for my final project, I have to do some sketches of garments, so that might take a while. After class, my flatmate Jess and I went to go find my internship site. It was pretty easy to find, but I'm glad I went the day before. I figured I would already have enough anxiety about the interview on Friday and didn't want to add more pressure by having to find the location. Anyway, after, we went to a couple of stores to check out the awesome sales. I didn't buy anything, but almost every store had at least 30% off sales! Trying to conserve my money for Paris and such. :) We went to a bead shop to get beads for the headband Jess is making for one of her classes and then went down the street to a pub called The George, for my first traditional fish and chips experience! It was SO delicious!

I love fish anyway, but this was fantastic. And, of course, they had strawberry and lime cider, so we had to each get a bottle. I was so excited to finally get my fish and chips. After, we went home to get ready for the night. Shelise had a model casting that night at a club, Amika, and was allowed to bring 5 guests. We got ready, took pictures, and headed out. We got the tube station, walked for a little ways, and waited in line. They let us in for no cover and then led us into a small room and directed us toward one table where we were supposed to stay seated. All of the other girls assumed it was a model casting as well, so we all stayed in the booth. Ends up, there was confusion between the club and the modeling agency and the club wasn't aware that there was a casting at all. After 30 minutes or so, more people started to show up and they gave us all free drinks. Even though there wasn't a casting, it was still a good time! It was a ridiculously nice club, I couldn't even believe there was no cover charge. There were security guards EVERYWHERE and at first, I was afraid to even take photos. Overall though, pretty good night.

On Friday, I slept in a bit and got up to get ready for my interview. I got up 2 hours before I had to leave, so I didn't have to feel rushed and have time to collect my thoughts. I ran through all of the questions I thought they might ask, had 2 copies of my resume and my cover letter ready to go, and my outfit finalized. I was ready really early, so I relaxed in the kitchen with my flatmates until it was time to leave. I left a little more than an hour before my interview, which was way too early. I ended up arriving at my interview location 45 minutes before my interview, so I walked down the street to a little cafe and ordered a can of Sprite and sipped on it until 20 minutes before my interview. I went to the building, buzzed in, headed up to the 4th floor and introduced myself to the receptionist. The office was VERY small and the interview was very informal, which I was really happy about! My interviewer, Rachel, was really young and trendy and very nice. She sat me down, asked me a couple of questions about my resume, and told me about the company. She explained that my lunch would be paid for everyday (amazing!) and that any extra transportation would be paid for if they were to send me to a different part of the UK for work. She said I would be attending visual merchandising meetings with her and her colleague and go to their retail stores to inspect displays and even create some of my own! I'm so excited to get started!! I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be able to have this amazing experience. I will be so much more confident in the career field when I go back to the states knowing that I have experience working abroad in a culture drastically different than my own.

After my interview, I came home to relax and eat. I had a lot of homework to do, so I put a pizza in the oven and went back to my room to get some work done. I guess I set the timer for too long and then forgot about the pizza, so when the timer buzzed, the top of my pizza was burnt to a crisp. It was just cheese pizza, so I ate it anyway, since only the top was burnt. After dinner, I started to look for flights to Italy, since the flatmates and I are dying to go there. After a couple of hours, I actually found a roundtrip flight for 218 pounds! I think it was a pretty good deal considering the prices I had seen before. So after researching for what seemed like forever, we finally booked the flight at about 3 am. We will be going to Paris on the 8th and coming back to London late on the 9th, then getting up the next morning, the 10th, for a flight to Rome at 6 am. We will arrive in Rome around 9 am, check into our hostel, and sightsee to the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, and maybe the Vatican. The next day, we will take a train to Florence and spend the day and night there. On the 12th, Tuesday night, our flight out of Florence back to London is at 7 pm, so I'm super excited for such an exciting trip!!! Paris to Rome to Florence in a week's time! Then the next day will be the first day that I start my internship. I'll be exhausted, but it will be SOO worth it!

Today, Nicolette and I got up and went to the Tower Bridge. We didn't really know exactly where we were going, but we just asked people until we found our way there. It was SO amazingly beautiful! We walked across the bridge and then down into a park where the view of the entire bridge was visible. That's also where I got the best pictures:

Beautiful, right??

After that, we were pretty exhausted so we came back to the flat to work on our photo shoot for styling tomorrow. This is our final project, not in the studio, so we contacted a student photographer and Shelise will be our model. My theme is Phantom of the Opera-ish (still have to come up with a decent title). I have a black mask and all the garments are either black or white and flowy and romantic. Our location is St. James Park and St. James Palace, so I'm excited to see how it turns out! Hopefully I'll have the images tomorrow night, so I can post them soon. Also, tomorrow morning, we are going to mass at St. Paul's Cathedral, which I'm really excited about,too. After mass, we are going to have tea time at 2 pm and then our shoot is at 4. Sounds like a pretty amazing day to me. :) Then it's home to do more homework...I better hit the hay before this big day tomorrow!

Good night and thanks for reading!

Days 26, 27, & 28...School Sucks.

Hello again all.

It's been a couple of days. A couple of boring, busy with homework and project days. It literally has been non-stop going to class, eating, coming home to do projects, and sleeping. Oh, and being sick. I've had almost no voice for the past 2 days and DayQuil has been my best friend.

Nothing really eventful. I went to Trends class on Tuesday to learn that a scrapbook that I had spent hours on, I had done completely wrong...so I had to photocopy the pages I made and cut them all up to put them on my final board. Since our instructor gave us no direction whatsoever, I got completely confused and mixed up all of the assignments. That's one thing about English instructors, there is no structure! Anyway, I think I've got it sorted out now, so I'm just working on re-doing my whole research file. The research file is basically a big scrapbook of fabric swatches, magazine clippings, etc. that inspire trends for the upcoming season. Pretty easy, but very time consuming. Thank goodness that's all the projects for that class that are left.

Today in Styling, we had our last studio photo shoot. It was a male model wearing the shirt I constructed along with the bowtie I threw together when I got to class. Here is a before shot of the t-shirt:

And after:

Just cut the sleeves off and used them to make designs on the front of the shirt. Also bought a couple of badges to pin in randomly.

And the outcome:

Not my favorite model...not much variety, but a decent picture.

Here's a picture of Nicolette and I with our styling teacher...by far my favorite ensemble of his :)

In Robin's words..."Just a simple look." I love him!

Still have tons of work to do. Hopefully things will get more exciting by the end of the week. Tomorrow after class I'm planning to do homework until about 6ish and then we might possibly going to see the musical, Wicked. Then the flatmates and I are going to a model casting party with my flatmate, Shelise. Should be a good time, but I can't stay out too late since I have my interview on Friday. Wish Italy could have happened this weekend, but I think keeping my internship appointment is the smarter choice. Definitely going to Italy before my 10 weeks are over though! Also, definitely getting excited about getting to spend my birthday in Paris. Can't wait!!

Days 23,24, and 25 :)

Today is a game of catch up. I still have about 5 more pages to complete for my scrapbook, a 15 page paper to write for my internship class, and another photo shoot on Wednesday to work on. Ughh..I almost can't wait until these next 2 weeks are done, only for the reason that school will be OVER. But, then I'll be sad because my time here will be half over.

Just found out though that my mom's friend, a travel agent, just found a flight to Italy for $215 roundtrip!! So excited. I've been looking at flights and literally the cheapest I've found was 260 pounds. I'm glad I didn't consider a travel agent to be a career possibility. :) Hopefully we will get to leave for Florence on July 1st, which is also the day of my interview for my internship. I think I might email the lady who is interviewing me and see if I can move my appointment up so we can catch our 5 pm flight out of Heathrow. Hopefully it all works out because I'm dying to see Italy! We will be staying with Nicolette's boyfriend's family, who own a mansion in Florence. Saturday, they will be taking us to see Florence, and Saturday night, they are having a huge party with tons of home-cooked italian food! Sunday, we plan to take the train to Rome and then fly back to London on Monday morning to make it back for class. SOOO unbelievably excited!!!!

Well, Friday, Nicolette and I slept in until about 9:30ish and then went shopping for our next photo shoot. We have to style a male model this time and the requirements are buying something, either an article or clothing or an accessory, and somehow making it different; burning, bleaching, dying, ripping, sewing, anything to make it our own. I just bought a plain red and white stripe t-shirt, so I'm thinking about cutting it into a tanktop and putting badges (British word for pins) on it and cutting slits in it and safety pinning it up. I got a couple of things for myself at TopShop's super sale and some souvenirs. I got two shot glasses, one for me, and one for Duncan. Mine is smaller and says "Mind the Gap," which is what the say we you get off the tube. Duncan's is bigger and has the British flag on it. Pretty cute and only a pound each!

That afternoon, we went to the London Eye, the world's largest ferris wheel. It was really fun! We waited in line to get Nicolette's ticket and then we went through the line to get on the ride. We watched a 4D movie, before which was pretty awesome. It didn't take too long to get through the line, the only thing was, it was raining and a little chilly. We got in the capsule with about 15 other people and the ride was about 20-25 minutes to get all the way around. The only thing I wish would have been different would be having a "tour guide" to tell us what all of the buildings were. I recognized some of them, but a lot of them, I didn't know what they were, so I felt like I couldn't appreciate them as much. Still, though, really neat. Here are a few pictures from the ride. A lot of them weren't that great because of the rain on the outside of the capsule. Got a few god ones though!

Me looking like a tourist in front of the London Eye :)

View from the bottom; waiting in line.

On the way to the top!

Couldn't get a decent picture of Big Ben...

Pretty successful Friday. On Saturday, it was Nicolette's 20th birthday, so it was her day to decide what to do. We got up and went to the Natural History Museum to see the Sexual Nature exhibit. It was originally 8 pounds entry, but we got a student discount and got in for 4 pounds! Pretty interesting...random fact: before mating, male giraffes drink the female's urine to make sure it's fertile. We learned a lot of other crazy information, too. After the museum, we went to an American diner called Ed's. It was amazing; a bbq burger, fries, onion rings and root beer!! On their menu, the most expensive soda was root beer and in parentheses "imported from the US!" They literally have no root beer in Europe! The British couple next to us asked, "I hope you don't mind us asking, but what is root beer? It is made from the root of a plant or something?" We had to tell them it was soda, or the British words for soda, "fizzy drink." Then they saw us get a root beer float, which we explained was ice cream in the root beer and they almost had a fit! Too funny.

All of us at Ed's :)

After lunch/dinner, we went home to rest and get ready for the night. We wanted to go to Tiger Tiger again, because we knew it was free cover before 10. When we got there though, they wanted to charge us 5 pounds, but we threatened to leave, and they let us in for free. It was pretty lame when we got there, so we decided to see if we could get into another club for free. We found a promoter that got us into 2 different clubs and a free shot for 5 pounds, so we took the deal. The first club was not good, so we went to the second one and stayed for a little while. We got bored after about 45 minutes, so we went to one last club. We got in for free when the cover charge was supposed to be 15 pounds, and stayed and danced for most of the night. It was a lot of fun! And, we took the bus for most the way home, so when we got close to home, a taxi ride was only 6 pounds! I'd say a pretty successful night for the birthday girl. :)

Today, we slept in, fixed lunch, and now I'm catching up on homework. It's so beautiful out today, I want to be outside! I've got a bad cold though, so I'm staying in and resting up. Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice too, so we might go to a pool before class. That's all the updating I have for right now...so check back tomorrow! :)

Thanks for reading!

Day 22...Workin' Hard.

Ello :)

All in all, today was a pretty good day. I started out the morning by getting to class around 9 am. When we got there, she told us that we were going to the Fashion and Textiles Museum, but they didn't open until 11 am. Not really sure why we couldn't just show up until 10 because after she gave us a packet of homework, she sent us off to get coffee before the museum. A group of us made our way to the London Bridge tube stop, got out of the station, and turned right like Virginia (our instructor) told us. We kept walking and asking for directions, and no one seemed to know what we were talking about, but still tried to give directions. We walked around for a good hour, looking for the street the museum was on. Finally, we decided to call the museum and the receptionist gave us directions. By the time we got there, I was exhausted.

The exhibit was pretty cool, other than the fact that it cost 4 pounds to get in and only took 10-15 minutes to go through. It was an exhibit for the designer named Tommy Nutter, a menswear designer that made his mark in tailoring. I saw suits worn by Mick Jagger, Sir Elton John, and a Vivienne Westwood blazer! It was really interesting, but I wish it had been more interactive, with videos or something...overall, a good class period. Better than sitting in a classroom!

After class, I came home to start working on my scrapbook for the same class. Then I realized I needed materials, so Jessica and I went back to Marylebone to get supplies, print off stuff at the library, and pick up tickets for the London Eye tomorrow. When I went to purchase my supplies and Ryman, I reached for my credit card...gone. I then proceeded to FREAK OUT, so Jessica tried to calm me down and help me think of where I had it last. She asked if I had put it in any pockets and that's when it hit me...Last night at the pub I had cash and my credit card in hand, not wanting to use all of my cash. However, there was a 5 pound minimum, so I couldn't use my card, so I put it in the back pocket of my jeans and forgot about it. Luckily, when I got home to check my jeans, it will still there! Thank goodness. I don't think I've been that relieved in my life.

I've been working on my scrapbook for a while and I only got two pages done...oh well, I guess I still have until Tuesday. Just want to get as much done as I can so I can have a relaxing weekend. We are planning to go shopping tomorrow for our photo shoot on Wednesday and then ride the London Eye tomorrow afternoon. Pretty excited!

I'll have more on that tomorrow :) Good night!

Day 21...Interesting.

Hi everyone!

So, no blog last night because I was literally up until 1:30 am, working on my stylist project that was due today and preparing for my photo shoot. It's been an interesting day.

Nicolette and I were up at 6:30, and left the flat at 8 am. We got on the tube and tried to transfer lines, but the Central line which we were planning to take to Oxford was closed, so we had to find a bus that would take us instead. After our bus ride, we stopped off to get coffee and went on a mission to find props for our photo shoot. I was on the hunt for a black skinny tie, and happened to find one at Claire's on Oxford. Really cute, skinny, black, and lace, and only 6 pounds 50! Nicolettes were a bit more hard to find. She based her photo shoot on a circus theme, with a white ruffle dress, a small black top hat, striped tights, and a whip. To get a whip, we had to find an "adult" store because that was the only place to get a whip. We went in and actually found one; it was perfect! Then, we got on the tube for another 40 minutes to find a tiny trimmings store that carried mini top hats. It took FOREVER to find it because it was hidden in an alleyway, so we had to break out the map, but we eventually ran into it.

The photo shoot went great, we used the model provided for us and our flatmate, Shelise, who is a professional model, also took a couple of photos for us. I have to say, I like Shelise's look a lot better and I think she was able to pull off the more edgy look I was going for. I'm really happy with her final images. What a great portfolio piece! After all the shopping, running around, and photo shoot madness, I convinced the flatmates that it was time for a drink. We went down to Covent Garden, where there are a lot of great pubs. We went to The Porterhouse, which we've heard is a great place. When we got there, it was packed, but we luckily found an empty table. We got a couple of pizzas and ciders. I think I found my new favorite drink...Strawberry & Lime Cider; delicious! So, we just got back..it's 12 am here and I have 9 am class, so I better be heading to bed. Interesting day and a good night...I think I'm starting to love this city even more. :) Have to say though, I do miss the fam and the boyfriend. It will be bittersweet coming home, but I think I'll be ready when the time comes.

Here are some photos from the photo shoot and the Porterhouse:

The provided model..probably one of her better photos.

My gorgeous flatmate, Shelise! Thanks for being my model :) You rocked it!

At Porterhouse :)



That's all for now. Good night!

Day 19...Stressful!

Hi All!

So today has been pretty hectic. I slept in a bit and then Nicolette and I got ready to run some earrands before class. First we decided to go to the post office, since we both had letters to mail back to the states. I had my Father's Day card to send to my Dad, but when we got there, I realized I had left it in my other bag...so frustrating! Oh well, I guess I'll do that tomorrow after class. Then we went across the street for lunch to a place I've never been before, Eat. It was pretty good; a mexican wrap and chips. Then we went to campus to talk to our internship advisor. I have an internship with a company called Fenn Wright Manson, which is a ladies occasion clothing store. He said I will most likely be working in home office instead of a retail store, so I'm really excited to get some executive experience for my resume! I have my interview on July 1st, so I'm hoping it goes well!

We then went to our Styling class and the photographer critiqued everyone's photos from the shoot last week. He liked mine a lot, so I was happy about that! We then got ANOTHER assignment...a second photo shoot, on Wednesday! The theme is black and white, so right after class, Nicolette and I went on a hunt on Oxford Street for the perfect ensembles for our next shoot. I picked a black and white striped skirt and a thick, black studded belt. I'm going to pair it with a black fitted blazer in my closet. I want to the model to wear the blazer with no tanktop underneath and a black fedora to finish it off. I can picture exactly how I want the photo to look, so hopefully it will come out like it did last photo shoot!

We got home around 8:30 pm, and it's now 11:20. I've been working on my collages and looking up flights to Italy. It's insane how expensive flights from London to Florence are; I thought it was supposed to be cheap!! Hopefully we can find something a little cheaper when we research on Wednesday night after all the madness is over with the photo shoot and the stylist project being finished. We would be staying with Nicolette's boyfriend's family (confusing, I know), so we wouldn't have to pay for lodging or anything, so that makes me feel a bit better. And, Italy is one of my top destinations...it looks so beautiful! Hopefully everything will work out.

Well, I better get to bed considering I have to be up and ready to go by 7:45 tomorrow morning. Thanks for tuning in! Have a fabulous night :)

Days 16, 17, & 18...Catching Up!

So, I'm a little behind..but it's been a busy and fun-filled weekend!

Friday was pretty bland. I actually got to sleep in, though, which was really great! I woke up, showered, and then got to work on a Stylist assignment that's due on Wednesday. Our assignment is to create 10 collage/mood boards, 2 pages for each of the following categories: Color, Line, Texture, Photography, and Lighting. All images must embrace our own unique style and a 500 word essay describing each page must be included. Pretty intense...and it takes FOREVER. Oh well, at least it's fashion and somewhat enjoyable. Then the flatmates and I decided to go to a club called The Zoo Bar that night, which was pretty fun. Drinks are so expensive though, so I just had one drink, which was fine. We danced most of the night, which was a blast!

On Saturday, Nicolette, Jessie, and I decided to go on the Monumental Walking Tour, hosted by our university. We started at 10 am and didn't finish until 4 pm, but it was amazing! I'm so glad we went. We saw so much; Buckingham Palace, St. James' Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey! Our cultural activities director is awesome and I learned a lot about each sight. Here are just a few of my favorite photos from the tour!

Buckingham Palace, and what the Queen refers to be, her "office" which she is mainly present on weekdays.

After walking around for what seemed like forever trying to find something to eat in Covent Garden that was cheap enough, we settled for a hole-in-the-wall diner that served American food! P.S. British ketchup is NOT the same as American ketchup! Oh well, still good :)

The beautiful Trafalgar Square!

The Westminster Clock Tower, nicknamed Big Ben. However, Big Ben is actually just the 3 resounding bells at the top of each hour. The London Eye is also in the background, which I hope to ride soon!

The magnificent Westminster Abbey! The entrance where the royal couple walked in to be married.

I was exhausted when we got home, so I took a quick nap and rested my sore feet. When I woke up, we all made dinner and planned to go out again and started getting ready. Normally, I use two converters and an adapter to plug my straighner in and it usually works just fine. Last night, I decided I wanted to borrow Nicolette's crimper to do my hair, thinking it would be fine with my 2 converters and the adapter. I split my hair into sections and started crimping. Next thing I knew, I took the crimper off of my hair and my entire strand of hair was in the crimper, literally frying. It singed my hair right off! It was putting off so much smoke that the smoke detector went off and maintenance had to come up to my room to make sure everything was ok. So embarassing, and yes, a strand of my hair is missing on the bottom layer. At least you can't really see it...still, though, crazy. Then we went tried to go to a different club, but it ended up being closed, so we went to the same club as the night before.

This morning, after a good night's sleep, Jessie, Shelise, and I decided to go shopping on Oxford Street. I had a couple of returns to make and ended up not buying anything, except a cute bag to carry to school. We all made dinner and I've been working on my stylist project since 4 pm...it's now 12:20 am now. Still have 4 collages to go and write up's of each page, ahh! Welcome to college, I suppose.

Anyway, that's it for tonight! Thanks for reading!