Walk, Work, Wonder: Interning in London

14 Jul Walk, Work, Wonder: Interning in London

I’m not a morning person. Nothing in the world—not even the mini-fridge full of sugary breakfast foods that I bought in flagrant abuse of my living-abroad-adult-privileges—can make me a morning person. So every day at 6:30 a.m., I still predictably stab my snooze button a few times too many, throw on a dress that is slightly too formal for my office’s casual dress code but that I wear because (a) even after a week at work I still aim to look like I’m trying just a little too hard and (b) it requires the least amount of clothing that I have to worry about making it onto my body, and run out the door.

Now a little more awake, I realize I’m actually running early (see (a) above) and take a minute to enjoy my commute to work. At about thirty-five minutes long, my commute is relatively short for London, and most of it is spent walking. This is a bonus when you work in an area that is the quintessential London mix of quaint brick buildings and towering concrete offices:

(An example of the quaint side of things)

And an extra bonus when your office building has the most fantastically, ahem, stylish purple, pink, green and gold iron work:

(An example of the fabulous side of things)

Once I enter those doors, the pace of my day officially picks up about a hundred notches. The gist of my job is writing blog content for a company that works primarily with students and tutors. Every morning, there is some kind of team communication standup where different members share what they’ve finished, what they’re working on next, and whether they need any help to get it done. I’ll then update my to-do lists (one for the day and one for the week), refresh my inbox, and start in on my first project. Right now, I’m focusing on researching and writing blogs about how to get into the top secondary schools in London, just in time for admissions this fall. Then, after the wonder that is “Lunch Club,” where everyone in the office takes turns making lunch for everyone else, I work as much as I can on setting up interviews with past tutors who have volunteered with my company, which will eventually become stories on the blog as my internship progresses. These two projects, somehow, constitute the fastest nine-hour workday I’ve ever experienced in my life.

After work, I dream about flopping into my bed, but usually force myself to take the long way home, or to attend one of the Absolute evening events, during which I might pass something that looks a little like this— 

—and wonder how exactly I ended up here again, and looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow.
(I’m still not a morning person, though.)