Finally, I got to start my internship this week. Nearly a month after arriving in London, I was able to do what I came here for. Master Adviser is a small business that deals with investments for people for the most part. There are only around 10 employees, and the work environment is much more relaxed than it is in the states. I was told interns usually work from 9-5, but if I was an early riser, which I'm not, there is usually somebody there before 8 and somebody there till around 7 at night, so the hours can be flexible if wanted. Also, just the atmosphere in the office is really relaxed and they will randomly just start talking about football or a holiday they are going on soon. For my first two days, I made two different spreadsheets on excel and did some secretary work to help them get caught up. Not too difficult, but I can tell it's going to be a good experience already.
Yesterday I went to Brixton market with a friend and it was a bit sketchy. You walked down the street and there were tents popped up with things under them that were being sold. On the edges of the street were other stores that were actually buildings, but most of them were meat/fish places and you could smell the fish. They had full frozen fish sitting out ready to be sold. We also went wandering around the area and ended up finding a tennis court and some people playing football. When we were about to head back on the tube, I saw a sign that said "Pound" and as we got closer it was a Pound Store, like a Dollar Store in the states. Everything was a pound, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to stock up on some cheap candy.
I have been planning on going to church since I've been here, but I've been too lazy to actually get up and go. I decided yesterday I was going to go today at 11:30, but I was tired and slept a little too late. Lucky for me there was another service at 3:30, so I got ready and went to it. I went to Hillsong, and it's in a theatre. It is definitely a church for the younger generation as there were fog machines and lights going everywhere before the service even started. The worship band included four keyboards for two people to play, a drummer, 4 guitarists, and seven vocalists. Not only were the songs up-beat, but the people on stage were dancing around, and not only the people on stage, but people all over the theatre were dancing and enjoying themselves giving Jesus praise and worship. It was quite the sight, and made me think why we don't express ourselves more about what we have back in the states. It caught me off guard at first and I couldn't even sing, I was just soaking in everything that was happening, and seeing all the people dance around enjoying themselves. The guy that gave the sermon told a story about when he was in the New York. He was trying to get a taxi and couldn't. Then he found a line with a person whistling in the taxi's so he got in line. When it got to be his turn, he got in the taxi and started messing with his blackberry. He then heard a guy say "Is that all sir?" but he just ignored the voice and continued on with his phone. Then he heard the voice again, a bit sterner this time "Is that all sir?" That is when he realized he forgot about the crazy thing Americans do, tipping. At that point he said if you have never seen an angry New Yorker, take an angry Londoner and put him on steroids and you get an angry New Yorker. Just something I thought was funny, as the first time we went out to eat, we weren't sure if we were supposed to tip. We were told not to, but we were so used to tipping, we weren't sure what to do. Then when people from here go to the states, they're in a worse situation. If we tip here, who's going to get mad about it? If you don't tip in the states, they will get mad.
That's all for now, if you look back farther in my blog you will see an internship journal and internship assignment, these are for my program, and just go into a bit more detail on somethings. Eventually there will be assignments for class posted on here which will be the same thing. God bless and have a great week!
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