You don't understand...this is my GIRLFRIEND

I realize that this is my first post in 27 years that is actually about London, and I'm gonna try to make it very riveting so that you think I'm having as much fun in my host country as I am in the countries I'm visiting.  Something that has added to the fun lately?  Having two of my best friends visit.

Now, Alyssia has been here for about a month, which is very exciting and nice.  But this week, Elsha came to visit London with Scott because his parents live nearby.  Last Monday night, I went over to Scott's parent's flat in Green Park and stayed catching up with the two of them until 4 o'clock in the morning.  I was soooo happy to see her (although it made me miss Nomo!).  Although, I think the thing that really made it amazing was that Scott's mom made cookies that she obviously baked with a touch of crack, since they were the best cookies I've ever had in my life, and he sent me home with about 20 of them.

Thursday, the three of us went to Camden market, my favorite place in London.  I don't know if I posted about it the first time I went, but Camden is an amazing flea market that is basically the size of the town I grew up in (small for a town, fucking HUGE for a market!). Elsha and I bought matching clock necklaces, which are sooo cute and sooo worth the 8 quid, and I bought some gifts for my mom and my brother.  We ate the messiest crepes ever, and Elsha took pictures of my face smothered in nutella so make sure you're looking out for that on facebook as I will almost immediately de-tag.  After Camden, we met Alyssia at her flat, (where Elsh nearly peed on the carpet because I had made her hold it so long by scaring her about flea market bathrooms) and then went to a pub for some drinks.  Alyssia and I stayed later than Elsha and Scott because they were having dinner with his parents, and we ended up alone on the second floor of bar.  This was when I decided to slip a couple of things into my purse, including a pint glass, until Alyssia convinced me that the mirror behind the abandoned bar was two-way and someone was watching us.

Thursday morning, besides getting excited to go to Camden and see Elsha again, I woke up early and got super cute because it was finally interview day!  As most of you know, the abroad program I chose comes with an internship that will start in November and last 7 weeks, 3 days a week.  My program, FIE, sets me up with an internship based on my resume, interests and major, and then we go on an interview to confirm the placement a couple of weeks before the job actually starts.  I will be working for a company called NinetyTen (feel free to look it up!), which has created a business social media network and needs me (pause for effect) to market their new product!  I will be working with the co-founder of the company on gaining clients and market share for the newest development of their company.  The job sounds really interesting (to me, at least!) and will be excellent experience.  My boss seems really nice, and everyone else that I met in the office seems super friendly.  I'm also really looking forward to it because internships in the UK are different than those in the US:  I won't be making coffee or "learning by watching," I will be a legitimate member of the marketing team with responsibilities that will be entirely my own to manage.  I think I'm growing up...


Friday, Mimi and I went to the Museum of Brands for our market project.  So many dorky marketing activities going on in my life that I secretly love.  I'm glad, because lately I've been realizing more and more that I'm happy with my major, which is semi-important in the scheme of things.  The museum was tiny but really cool, there was a section of it that showed the progression of certain products over the past 100 years.  We saw displays, for example, that had a can of Pepsi from 1910, 1920, 1930, etc, until 2010.  It's so strange to see how long things have been around and how different everything looked. 

Onto the most entertaining part of my week, and the story of one of my best nights in London so far.  Friday night, Mimi, Mimi's boy Dave (a British guy she's seeing whose adorable and really fun), Elsha, Scott, me and Camille all went to Absolut Ice Bar London to celebrate Camille's arrival to the UK as well of my love of cold alcoholic beverages.  We bought our tickets online, got there, received super heavy/warm capes and gloves, and were ushered into a tiny bar made entirely out of ice.  The bartenders were bundled up like eskimos, serving drinks in glasses made of ice to customers sitting on ice benches posing with ice sculptures taking pictures with ice.  It was fucking AWESOME.  The only thing that sucked about it was that we were only allowed to stay for a half hour, because the bar is kept at -5 degrees and I'm pretty sure you could freeze to death. 

After the ice bar, we went to a club next door and danced the night away on a 80's style light up dance floor.  I got completely shit faced, and then we all parted ways around 3am after a sad goodbye to Elsha and Scott who were leaving London the next morning. In all, it was a pretty epic night.

More to come soon, I have a lot of exciting things planned this week and I plan on updating again on Thursday before I leave for my awesome midterm break vacation with Mimi!

Cheers!