Westminster, River Boats, and Writing Articles

Saturday

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and were greeted by our tour guide who is quite the morning person.

Us with Joel- our informative tour guide and new buddy.

Joel taught us all about “English English”- the words that mean something different in England than they do in the US. In England they say rubbish instead of trash, pants instead of underwear and trousers instead of pants, and instead of saying awkward in an awkward situation (which he imitated in an American accent by plugging his nose) they break out in Kumbaya. He even taught us some abbrevs- like calling the Queen “Her Maj”. Emily, obviously this would have been your favorite part. 

He took us on a tour of Westminster Abbey, and it was incredible. There was so much more history there than I realized. There were even some tributes to Americans like Martin Luther King Jr. and FDR. It was so interesting to see all of the different kinds of people buried there and the significance of it.  The strangest one was Charles Darwin; I thought it was pretty ironic that he ended up buried in a church.

The group outside of Westminster before our tour.

Alpha Gam at Westminster!

So beautiful.

Martin Luther King Jr. in the middle.

After that we took a river boat to Greenwich (pronounced Gren-ich). I had never heard of it before, but it was such a cute little town! We loved it.

We had a guided tour of the Thames on the boat, and our tour guide was hilarious. We got to see a lot on the way to Greenwich.

Waiting for our boat.

Marie, Liz, Grace Ann and Me.

Our boat and the eye.

The Shard- when it's finished it will be the tallest building in Europe.

In front of Tower Bridge- not London Bridge!

Cher used to live here! She moved because everyone knew where she lived because of this boat tour.

This is so weirdly designed so that every room can be water front.

When we got to Greenwhich, we ate lunch at a little pizza place.

Then we just wondered around the town a little bit.

You will see this again, but it will be in Pirates of the Caribbean 4. They filmed a lot of it here.

We stopped by the Greenwhich Market, and it was so great- they had art, jewelry, clothes, food, and tons of other stuff. I made my first real shopping purchase of the trip-some cute handmade bracelets! I even bargained and got a lower price- Dad, you would be so proud.

Sunday

On Sunday we slept in and walked to a cute little restaurant for brunch.

Best hot chocolate ever.

We’d really only explored the area around our building that is on the way to our tube stop, but there was this awesome area on the other side that we didn’t even know was there. It has all kinds of cute shops and restaurants, but most importantly it has the SPITALFIELDS MARKET.

This place deserves all caps. It was incredible. They had all sorts of great jewelry, accessories, clothes, art, food and all kinds of other things. Everything was so unique and fun. We spent a few hours here after brunch and made a few purchases. At first we were really excited/overwhelmed by all the awesome stuff. But I remembered (thanks to all my Bonner family market experiences and the wisdom of Jim Bonner) that you can’t do that if you want to bargain, so we started acting semi-uninterested and asking for deals- worked like a charm! Dad, we’re getting pretty good.

Dying to know more? I wrote an article about the market!

Emily look- It's your Tacky Christmas sweater! This is the second time I have seen it for sale for real. Judy's still got it.

This was our favorite booth! The lady handmade leather accessories, and they were all SO cute!

This is one of her bracelets I got.

We went to the evening service at Westminster Abbey tonight. It was really cool to get to see what an actual service in there is like. He talked about the “small family wedding” that was there a couple of weeks ago. It was different and there wasn’t really a sermon, more like a story, but it was good. We sang a couple of familiar hymns and said the Lord’s Prayer.

Before the service.

We were waaaay overdressed.

We made dinner again tonight- chicken kiev, green beans, and garlic bread! So good! And I remember to take a picture this time.

Yummm!

Monday

Today was my first day of work! I thought I was going to be really nervous this morning, but I really wasn’t. I could really feel everyone’s prayers! It was a really long day - I’m not used to doing ANYTHING for 8 hours slash I couldn’t even take a lunch break until 3- but it went by really fast! It was intense and really busy, but I actually liked it a lot!

This is how the day started out- I walked in and when I went to sit down in the lobby I was greeted by a table full of the latest edition of the magazine. It looked like this…

What a warm welcome!

I would start working the week Mr. President is coming over here for a visit. Oh well, anyways… The first thing they had me do was write an article! It was a little intimidating, but it actually turned out to be my favorite part of the day! It’s already published online!

Most of you will probably fall asleep reading it, but I can be a dork about this kind of stuff, and I had fun writing it. So here it is, my first big publication:

http://www.newstatesman.com/banking-and-insurance/2011/05/merlin-banks-lending-target

Everyone if the office was SO nice and helpful! God really answered my prayers about this summer, and I can’t wait to see where he takes me over the next six weeks!

I decided to start closing each blog with a Bible verse that I feel like the Lord has been teaching me something from lately.  So here’s the first one:

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Getting Settled in London

I am officially living in London! I meant to start blogging sooner, but procrastinating is what I do, so there’s a good chance most of these posts will be pretty delayed! Here’s a recap of the week so far, enjoy! Warning: It's really long, but it's been an eventful week! 

Sunday-Monday

BHM-ATL-LHR

We barely made it through Anna’s graduation on Sunday afternoon before we have to leave for the airport, car loaded and everything.

My cute little graduate!

We got to the airport, and we were informed that our flight to Atlanta was going to be late, which would make us miss out flight to London. Turns out the Bonner traveling curse is going to follow me even when I travel without them. They said we would make it if we got in a cab right away and drove to Atlanta. So we got a cab and loaded all of mine and Grace Ann’s luggage- not an easy task- only to have the airline people come down to tell us the flight was now going to be on time! Thankfully, everything else went according to plan and we made it onto our flight to London Heathrow Airport.

Just a little light plane reading- British Politics for Dummies, Thanks Dad!

What more could you need for an 8 hour plane ride?

Our plane got in Monday morning, and we took a bus to our housing. It’s pretty nice- kind of a village set up but with a smaller kitchen, no living room, and only two rooms.

The handle on my suitcase completely broke off of the rest of the suitcase as soon as I got it from baggage claim. Don't worry, it was only my max weight one.

The cute little man on the airport cart I had to use to carry the broken suitcase.

Me, Emily, Marie, and Liz at the airport.

Our little kitchen.

My room.

We’re on the 11^th floor and my room has a huge window and an awesome view. The whole building has 33 floors, and it’s the largest student housing in the world.

Tuesday

On Tuesday we had orientation, and I had my interview for work. Thankfully Grace Ann got to come with me to help me find it. If you know me, you know I’m a tad bit directionally challenged. Navigating through the subway and the streets of London on my second day here would have probably ended terribly.

Some of the group at orientation.

After we got lunch in Oxford Circus. 

Luckily work was pretty easy to find, so we got there early and walked around for a while- it’s right on the water and so pretty- then we sat in a cute little coffee shop nearby. I noticed someone sitting at a table next to us, and I thought she looked like a writer from the magazine website. I could have definitely been wrong, so I felt a little awkward, but I went to go ask her if she worked there. She said she did, and we got to talk for a little bit. She was really nice, and gave me some tips for the interview. 

It was only the two of us and they told us not to ask anyone to take our picture unless we wanted to chase them down the street to get our camera back. We didn't think that sounded fun, so we had to take a couple solo shots. 

My interview was for a political/a lot of different things magazine called The New Statesman. I had to sit in the waiting room with another girl for a little while. Eventually my interviewer came out and asked which one of us was Elizabeth. I stood up, but then she did too. I was really confused and he seemed a little confused too. I thought maybe we were both Elizabeths. He asked if we wanted to go get coffee for the interview, and when I was about to say yes, she said no. So then he had to go find us a room to do the interview in, and I’m so confused wondering why this is a group interview when this is supposed to be a guaranteed job! I was already super nervous because I might be the worst interviewer ever. We get to the room and sit down, and he asks us to tell him a little bit more about the program. All she says is “Yeah.” I’m so confused at this point, but I try to tell him about it. He asks us another question about the program and she says, “Well actually I’m really tired, I had a really long walk here.” Eventually we realized that she was supposed to be interviewing with someone else and she had just gotten a tad bit confused. So that was kind of a weird start but it was also pretty funny. The interview ended up going really well, and he even said that it was terrific that I was a Republican. He said my views would be different than pretty much everyone else’s but that they would be interesting. Everyone I met seemed really nice, and I’m really excited to start working there. When I found out the magazine was left wing, I was a little nervous/frustrated that that’s where I would be spending my summer. God’s really been showing me lately that I need to trust in Him, not in how things appear. I thought that there was no way that this job could be for me, but I know God’s going to work in it, and I’m excited to see what I learn from all of this.

After that we took a pit stop at the Westminster Tube stop to look around and take a few pictures.

Westminster Abbey

They love Abe too!

There are still a lot of signs of the Royal Wedding around the city. The courtyard next to Buckingham Palace is still covered in white tents, and we found this cute sign next to the Big Ben. 

Big Ben- Notice the yellow sign on the fence.

Cute!

Wednesday

On Wednesday we went on a scavenger hunt around the city with our whole group. On the way to the EUSA office where we had to meet the group, we made friends with the cutest little blonde British kid and his mom. Alexandra, you would die- these little kids with their accents are precious. Anna, This is where I heard a British person fake an American accent. The mom was telling us a story and did it. It was crazy.

The scavenger hunt was cool, and I really like our group. They’re all really fun! But after a lot of walking and tube riding, we were pretty tired. We may have stopped at 5 of 13, which was Harrods.

The group at the EUSA office before our scavenger hunt.

Harrods was incredible. It’s like a museum of shopping. I was almost afraid to touch anything. It’s HUGE. And there are cute little old doormen at the doors dressed in the old-timey Harrods green uniform. They’re so sweet, and their British accents are adorable.

In front of Harrods.

Solo shot, I know, but we had to for the scavenger hunt.

Wednesday night we had our Welcome Party at The Foundation. We thought this was going to be like a nice dinner, but it turned out to be some underground club where we had the back room reserved. We had to get our name checked off a list and get wristbands. It was interesting. So intense and official.

Thursday

Thursday was the first day we didn’t really have anything to do, so it was nice to sleep in a little bit and do our own thing, especially since it was the first really nice day.  

Grace Ann’s interview was today, so we went to that. It was pretty far out, but believe it or not, we’re getting pretty good at the subway! Crazy, I know.

She’s working for BBC, so it was cool to see their headquarters and everything. It was in an area that reminded me of downtown Birmingham. But the BBC buildings are all together, and there’s a park around it and a Starbucks and a couple other shops.

We used our kitchen for the first time tonight! It was so good- probably the best meal we’ve had yet, and it was definitely the cheapest. We found an awesome grocery store at our subway station with really great food and even greater prices. It’s called Marks & Spencer, and I’m calling it the UK Publix. Might be hard to believe, but I am being really price conscious here! Maybe living in a place where the price on anything I buy basically doubles does the trick.

Anyways, tonight we made a really yummy pasta dish. I was called Bolognese Pasta Melt, and it tastes much better than it sounds. We also got a loaf of Pantofola bread with red onions (yum!) and provolone cheese and some green beans. It was delicious. We should have taken a picture, but I forgot.

Friday

Today we technically had class, but not really. We were supposed to meet at the EUSA office at 10. Well, Grace Ann and me were a little late (we might not be COMPLETE subway pros yet), and by the time we got there, they were being dismissed for our Harrods Scavenger Hunt. Yes, apparently they are really in to scavenger hunts.

This one was really fun though. Harrods is so huge and they sell everything-LITERALLY (for real Emily). The people are no nice and helpful, some of them seriously seem like robots. All we ended up buying were some chocolate truffles (which were so good), but it was awesome just looking around. I don’t think you could ever get around that entire place- the whole mall takes up 5 acres! Here are some of the things we saw today:

The Egyptian Staircase- really an escalator.

The ceiling of it.

We spent a little time in this section.

My new friend!

After that a bunch of us went to the new cupcake shop that just opened up yesterday in a little building attached to ours. It’s called The Hummingbird Bakery, and it’s so cute and so good! Definitely gives GiGi’s a run for its money. It is going to be a wonderful neighbor. 

Look familiar? They sell the cookbook at Anthropologie.

Ali, are you sure you don’t want to take a trip over here before Czech?

I thought the hummingbirds on the brownies were so cute!

We went to eat dinner in Soho tonight, and it was awesome. We ate at Jamie’s Italian- as in Jamie Oliver!! Hopefully some of you don’t know who that is because I had no idea, but apparently he’s a pretty famous chef and he’s had a lot of cooking shows. I got spaghetti and fried ravioli and it was delicious! I loved the Soho area, it’s so cute!

This was in the front of the restaurant- just thought it was cool!

Mary Margaret, Marie, Me, and Grace Ann at the restaurant.

Well, that’s it for now! Hopefully they won’t all be so long, and I'll try to keep it more up to date!