An Overview of Internships

All Different, but Somehow the Same

Truthfully, we haven't spent a lot of time evaluating our intern opportunities. Some have been pretty high powered. A few of the guys have had to wear suits and ties every day. Some have "shadowed" mid-level managers, and did a lot of "observing." A few have been given tasks, with expectations that they work independently and meet specific deadlines. Others have found their work environments quiet, even a little lonely and repetative.

But you know what they say - "You get out, what you put in." - or something like that.

I LOVED my internship! The people were great and I learned so much. The specific assignments were not as rigorous as some, but they did offer a real chance to be creative, to practice computer and research skills, to explore dimensions of the theatre business that I had not given much thought or of which I was completely unaware. For me, the real value of the internship was as much interpersonal and attitudinal, as skill building. Maybe we'll compare notes a little more seriously at a post-semester get together!

The Waiting Game

Thursday (Day 81): Course Registration

Developing a plan of action, attempting registration for the first time ever, in the wee hours of the morning from across the pond is a little daunting. VSB provided plenty of support. Mrs. Pitts, my advisor, has responded quickly to my every email, but the process is .... well, nerve wracking.

Because I'm trying to manage a dual degree program in both the School of Business and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, there are a few more balls to juggle, which makes scheduling tricky. I have mapped out three strategies. With a little luck and lots of help, I'll be able to take ethics with a favorite professor, get into a Corporate Responsibility class with friends from GCP, and schedule Astronomy with a lab, along with two other classes for a total of 19 hours.

Wish me luck. Too bad my weekend destination isn't Ireland!

One Down - One to Go

Our strategy paid off. We're optimistic.

Week 9 - Almost Out of Time

Stress among some members of the Villanova contingent is now palpable. Perhaps some were just overwhelmed by the opportunity of being here. Others have been distracted and dulled by the night life. A few seem completely unaware that there are grades to be earned while involved in a STUDY Abroad program. Whatever the reason, procrastination has given way to panic.

One of the significant differences between our first semester at Villanova and second semester here is that there are significantly fewer graded assignments. And even in British Life and Culture, where there are several graded projects, all are due at the end of the term. So there has been very little feedback on our perfomance to date.

Although the papers requited are of manageable length, failing to pick a topic early, to engage the professor on your topic of choice and waiting til now to assemble resources does make the assignment much more intimidating.

We have two papers and two in-class exams due next week. We have been promised a review class before each exam and have been given practice tests. Members from flats 1 & 13 will join forces to prepare for the dreaded Macroeconomics exam, as well as the final for Business Dynamics.

As of this writing, I am in great shape with my journal project. I have one paper written and the second well underway. My greatest concern is in Macro. I suspect that some of the graphing required for the most difficult study questions would give an Economics major a tough time! The review in Business Dynamics will be critical since it has been so difficult to get a handle on what is important to our professor and what isn't.

The $64,000 question is: Who will press the panic button first?

Week 8 - Celebration Amidst Procrastination

Friday (Day 54): Happy Birthday, Krista!

As a short break, amidst the craziness leading up to finals week, the group got all dressed up to go out to dinner - in celebration of Krista's nineteenth bithday! We were so excited to go to Benihana, a restaurant much like the local Hibacchis at home in the US.

After having a great time dancing around the flat with Krista while getting ready to go out and giving her the pink fluffy Disney Princess crown I got her for the occasion, we met the rest of our friends in the lobby. A quick cab ride later, we were seated at our table. We ordered our food and waited for the show to begin.

We were all impressed by our chef who set the grill aflame - really AFLAME and chopped anything and everything at blinding speed.

The traditional shrimp "toss and catch" went better than I ever could have expected. For the first time, I successfully caught a piece of flying shrimp in my mouth. The girls completely dominated the event, since none of the guys caught their shrimp, while four of the girls did. The fun and games led to some absolutely delicious food! We were completely stuffed by the end of the meal, feeling as if we would need to be carted back to our flats! What a great way to celebrate Krista’s birthday!

Monday (Day 50) Procrastination Takes Its Toll

I have taken to passing Stress Reduction Kits out. Our mid week sightseeing plans have been cancelled in favor of catching up with papers, which are due next week, and trying to get a handle on what kind of preparation will be most effective for exams.

Let's hope everyone gets through next week.

Week 7 - When You Least Expect It

Friday (Day 47): Celebrating with a West End Mystery

Thursday proved to be a less than exciting day. After leaving Macroeconomics early because I wasn’t feeling well, I promptly walked back to my flat to discover that both Libby and I had caught Krista’s stomach flu.

Note to all study abroad participants: overpack on your favorite meds for such conditions.

I spent the day alternating between sleeping, watching House, and other unfortunate things that need to be done when one has the stomach flu. Meanwhile, prayer that I would be better by the next day was high on my list, since I had a ticket to see the play 39 Steps.

I had heard about the show back at home. It had done well on Broadway in New York and I was intrigued. The show is a comedic reproduction of the Alfred Hitchcock movie by the same name, with a cast of four playing over 150 characters. It has been getting great reviews on this side of the pond, and I was looking forward to seeing it. Fortunately, my stomach stabilized just in the nick of time to catch the tube to Piccadilly Circus to see the show.

I was glad my seat was in the fourth row so that I could better see the brilliance of the actors on stage. Some occasionally played three or four characters in the same scene, even having dialogue with themselves! The only downside was the voluminous amounts of stage fog, which drifted out into the first six or seven rows of the audience, causing some to cough, and all of us to smell like of a bizarre combination of maple syrup and smoke.

The show was absolutely hilarious, and I particularly enjoyed the way the actors interacted with the audience, something rare in today’s popular shows. By the end, it felt as if we knew the actors on a personal level. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and a great way to celebrate the return of my health! Now I just have get going on my school work!

Wednesday (Day 45): Our First Big Assignment

This morning’s class had us all a little nervous. It was our first day of group presentations - the first time since being here that we actually had to submit an assignment. The project was no walk in the park; we had to create a two person skit depicting a sales pitch between a seller and a consumer. It was up to us to pick a product or service to sell. We had to write a script to hand in along with an oral presentation, explaining the data on which our skit was constructed.

My group decided that I would be the owner of a West End theater, pitching my facilities to Krista, who was the writer-producer of a new production Pride and Prejudice: The Musical. (This is what actually takes place at CPT)

Unfortunately, Krista had come down with the stomach flu the night before, so Ajay stood in for her. We were the last group to “perform,” so the bar had already been set pretty high. Still, Ajay and I pulled out all the stops to make our presentation great. While our professor did find some things we could have included in addition to what we had done, on the whole we were pleased with our presentation. Hopefully our professor was as well!

Sunday (Day 42): Last Day of Peace and Quiet

I woke up this morning to go to my favorite sung Mass in Latin at the Rectory. I realized that it was my last day of quiet and freedom, before classes started again, and the comfortable silence and solitude of the weekend would be broken by the return of VU-GCPers who had traveled to Amsterdam and Spain.

When I got back to the flat I worked ahead on some class assignments and took some time out to watch one of my favorite Alan Rickman movies, before cooking dinner and going to sleep. I was awakened at 2 AM to the sound of Krista getting back in from Barcelona. I was immediately wide awake, so we discussed our adventures of the weekend.

I was shocked to hear that a member of our group had her passport stolen, but other than that, I was glad to hear that the group had a good time. I remembered the good times I had myself in Barcelona with the members of Chester County Voices Abroad during my second tour with the group. We looked at each other’s pictures and shared stories for a while longer, before finally going to sleep, ready to face yet another week of classes in London!

A Few Notes on Classes

The Academic Routine

We've started to settle into a routine as far as classes are concerned. Our classroom, which is in the EUSA administration building is a little small, but reasonably comfortable. It's a short walk, so even bad weather is pretty easy to handle. Homework has been lighter than I expected - some reading and review of notes, but nothing burdensome.

By far, I'm liking British Life and Culture the best. Dr. Weight is very knowledgeable and discussion comes easy in class. We are to keep a weekly journal in preparation for a lengthy paper. Actually, my interest in British literature and writing this blog will both be very helpful with the task. Others are already planning to write their whole journal at the end - an interesting approach?

Business Dynamics started out nicely, but because Dr. Tudway is a financial specialist, the course has taken a decided turn in this direction. He's not real keen on the textbook we brought over from the States, so he is providing class notes and readings that are essential for discussion each week.

Macro Economics so far, is all lecture. I'm liking it more than Micro, this past fall. The courses are similar to the extent that graphing is essential to understanding economic concepts. The text that we are expected to read is not available from the EUSA library, so we are all a little concerned about test prep. Nigel Knight, the professor, is sooooooooooooo British.

Britons at Work has met less frequently, since it will continue through the semester, and will help put the internship in context as we actually experience the British work setting.

Other than positive reinforcement during class discussion, there won't be much feedback on how we're doing until finals. Two professors are asking to see a proposal or an outline for our papers, and there will be two presentations. Soooo, the in-class experience is about the same as VU. The big change is fewer opportunities to earn grades, to make up for a poor first impression or a misunderstanding on the assignment.

Choices to Be Made

Not that I have a lot of experience or anything, but ..... it seems to me that pubs in Europe are different places than bars in the United States. Still in other ways, these places are very much the same, and I am sure we'll see plenty of bars here too.

Be that as it may, the drinking age in England is indeed 18, so even our host agency plans social events at the local pub for us "global citizens," and if you think there are lots to choose from on the Main Line ..... well just imagine.

The beer is dark, served at almost room temperature, and it's not cheap. Some of us have been out every night since we arrived. Others, less frequently. How you spend your evenings and on what you plan to spend your money are things to think about.... And that's just for starters.

There are lots of choices that anyone planning to study abroad has to make. While it helps that Villanova GCPers have already been in class with each other for a semester, we only have impressions of each other. Assumptions are easily made, and "going along, just to get along" is an easy decision - but maybe not the right decision for everyone.

The First Week

Day 6: A More Official Tour of London

After another late morning of sleep, we got ready for our official tour of London with a licensed guide. Since I hadn’t done any real sight-seeing as of yet, I was especially excited for this trip, even though we knew we wouldn’t really have time to stay anywhere for long. From our flat we hopped on the tube and traveled to Westminster. Our first stop, of course, was the Abbey, which houses the tombs of figures such as Charles Dickens and Darwin.

Right “next door” we got a glimpse of Big Ben and the Parliament building. Some day in the not too distant future, I hope to make it there some Wednesday at noon, when the Prime Minister has question time.

It will be absolutely fascinating to see the way their government works, especially after taking Comparative Government last year at good old NDA! We continued to walk past the old Scotland Yard building and the London Eye before reaching Trafalgar Square where Napoleon’s forces were defeated. When we have more time, I'll be sure to get more pictures!

As we walked towards the bus stop to ride through Fleet Street, we passed lots of great theaters! I discovered that Criminal Minds star Mandy Patinkin is doing a London concert series, found the England’s National Opera House (which is featuring La Boheme) and saw the theaters for Avenue Q, Oliver, and Hamlet, currently starring David Tennant!

After another “theater dork” moment, we boarded our first red double-decker bus (top level of course) to ride down Fleet Street, home of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber. On this street are the places of the original barber and pie shops (now occupied by a Starbucks and McDonalds) as well as the building that was used as Gringots Wizard Bank in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Again, a huuuuuggeeeeee dork moment for me. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any good pictures from the bus, but I have the feeling I’ll be back there several times! We got off the bus minutes later at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, which is absolutely gorgeous. Images of Mary Poppins immediately popped into my mind as we approached the steps to take pictures. We'll put this stop high on our agenda for a return visit.

After walking around the perimeter of the church and about halfway across the Millennium Bridge, we heading back to South Kensington for the rest of the day. Dinner out was at Nando’s, our local “don’t get lost” landmark. A showing of the DVD Made of Honor on Krista’s laptop rounded off another great day. (Our flats do come equipped with televisions, but about all we can get is the BBC!)

Day 4 (Thursday): Pub Night and a Show

Today was a wonderful day. I slept in until noon, so it already is feeling like home here! Andrew and I went exploring in Piccadilly, and decided to check out the half price ticket booths for the West End shows. The theater dork in me definitely loves this city! Since we went day of, good seats were kind of limited, but we got great seats to see Chicago for only 24 pounds! Needless to say, I was incredibly excited. Andrew got to see a whole different side of me!

We walked around the city for another two hours, to find the theater we were going to go to later that night, and I am in love with it, it’s like a mini New York, but with British people! Soon it was time to head back to the flat and get ready for pub night with EUSA and the rest of the group. Tonight we went to the Prince Regent Pub, which could easily be the nicest one in our neighborhood.

After staying an hour for food and drinks, Andrew and I left to get ready for the theater. My sense of direction turned out to be excellent (if I do say so myself). I got us to the Cambridge Theater quickly and took our seats for the show: my first West End production. The two and a half hours flew by. The show was amazing, and as with many shows in New York, I was astounded by the level of talent here. Sure, it wasn’t one of my favorite shows in the world, but it was impressive nonetheless. I can’t wait to see some of my all time favorite shows while I’m here, like Phantom and Les Miz! Definitely a productive and enjoyable day across the pond!

Day 3 (Wednesday): First Class

This morning we woke up to get ready for class at 9:00. Not too bad considering I had all 8:30 classes last semester, and this time around it only takes me about five minutes to walk to the EUSA building. This morning we had Business Dynamics II for four hours with Professor Richard Tudway. Although we were all kind of nervous about having the same class in the same room with the same teacher for four hours, it went by surprisingly fast.

I absolutely adore being taught by British people, and I’m sure they could make even the most boring subjects seem like the most fascinating things in the world to talk about. From what I’ve heard so far, it seems like our class schedule and work is going to be pretty intense, but it will be nice to get into a routine here. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start walking in Hyde Park, which is gorgeous. I need to try to get up early while I’m here. I don’t want to miss a minute of this experience. The night was rather uneventful; I stayed in, talked to my parents, and played some scrabble before going to bed. It’s going to be a good semester!

Day 2 (Tuesday): Orientation and Scavenger Hunt

This morning we woke up and headed over to the EUSA office for our first full day orientation. After learning more about London, our neighborhood in South Kensington, and the do’s and don’ts of interning, we were given a scavenger hunt list that was designed to take us all over London. Before heading out for our day of adventuring, my team: Krista, Andrew, Jen, and I, headed back to the flat to figure out the clues and plan our route. Since we were told that we wouldn’t be able to find everything on the list in the four hours we were given, we chose to find the destinations with the highest point values.

The hunt was made up of different clues pointing us to some of the lesser known attractions of London, like the statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Garden. My favorite part of the day, by far, was our walk around Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of London.

We saw tons of theaters, doing productions of all my favorite shows, and plenty of stores and sights to visit later. The final clue led us back to South Kensington to a pub for dinner, where we calculated our results.

In the end, my team pictured below lost by one point, but the knowledge we gained was invaluable. Not only did we get some great exercise, we got lots of practice using the Tube, and found some good landmarks that will help us get around the city. After spending some time with my fellow GCPers at the pub and in the flat, I skyped with my parents before ending my second day in London.

Of Schedules, Syllabi, and Teachers

I just got home from the first Global Citizens Program meeting that I've been able to attend! It was a good thing I could make it considering the details that were covered.

First, a schedule of events, of sorts. There's an orientation scavenger hunt when we first get to London which sounds interesting. Hopefully it will involve running around London taking pictures with random things! It's probably not, but hey, a girl can dream right? We have classes Monday through Thursday (AKA FRIDAYS OFF!), one class per day. We're all hoping that it will provide for lots of free time, especially considering that the format is lots of participation, one paper / presentation and a final exam!

We got various syllabi, which were exciting if you're a dork like me! The Business Dynamics syllabus is pretty basic, as is the Macroeconomics syllabus. The syllabus for Britons at Work looks a lot like the Britain section of my Comparative Government class at NDA, which will be magnificent! And last but certainly not least, British Culture and Ideas. The selected readings look awesome, especially Satanic Verses and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Fun stuff!

The resumes of our professors are HEAVY DUTY. Do they have resumes. I was excited to see that one of my professors is from Nottingham, which immediately made me think of Alan and his brilliant work in Robin Hood. (Anyone have a spoon handy?) I'm most impressed, however, by my Business Dynamics teacher, Nigel Vincent Knight (how British does that sound?). He's been an economic adviser to Parliament, the Royal Family, and the HSBC. Very impressive.

So overall, it was a great meeting. I'm sooooo excited for London and can't wait for the pre-departure orientation meeting with the London contact person, who arrives next week! Hooray!