But you must come back to London city

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

 Samuel Johnson

My time in London ended yesterday as I had to take a flight back to Finland with a heavy mind and leave everything behind. I can't say many things what have ever felt harder than leaving London, seriously. I know I'm going to miss it all more than I want to admit. I'm going to miss the strangers who came to talk with me in the streets, the people at work who ran to hug me in the morning, the bright lights of the night in the city. Everything.

My last weeks at work were good, everyone was so nice and I ended up taking two tours as I was able to take any tour in England for free. The first tour took me to Leed's Castle, Dover, Canterbury and Greenwich, which all were totally worth visiting for. I can especially recommend seeing Leed's Castle if you are into historical places and Dover for seeing the beauty of the sea and the white cliffs. The other tour was for Warwick Castle, Stratford, Oxford and Costswolds, which I liked at least as much as the other one. I will never stop admiring how pretty the cities in England are, especially the old architecture is amazing.

I didn't have my camera with me on either of the tours because I ran out of the battery (of course) and I forgot to take my charger, but I have a few pics from earlier days:

Overall the time has passed too fast and I feel like I was there only for two weeks, not two months. I could have continued with this kinda work a lot longer, it was so interesting to meet different people from all around the world every day and take the responsibility of making their day in London a great experience. I think I will be working in tourism in the future again, because this has shown me a whole new world.

Now it's time to hope that I can cope being in Finland again, so thanks for reading and if you are wondering about going to work abroad - do it! It could be one of the best experiences you've ever had before.

- Tiia

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city

Finally I found a bit of time to write something here. The last two weeks have been rather busy, but at least I have managed to do a lot of things! It's been so great here, I probably don't even remember everything I have done anymore.

The work is going without major problems. I have gotten used to a lot bigger groups than in the beginning and the mornings in the coach station are a lot easier than a few weeks ago as I have learned the gates where to take the customers and what to answer to their questions about the tours. Sometimes the tour itself can be very joyful if the group is good and the guide knows how to handle the things. I must say that I am not a fan of history, but I have learned quite a few things about the history of London and about the attractions, which has been really interesting. And it's really nice how well I know the city already and how easy it is to tell the customers (or anyone in the streets) where they have to go when they come to ask me about the directions. I'm all around the city almost every day and it feels cozy, I really like to know these streets. The only thing I have to complain about is the coldness. It has been so freaking cold here for the past weeks that I really hope it gets warmer now because being outside in the wind and rain is just...

My friend from Finland came here a bit over a week ago and we have done something every evening, which has been so much fun. I won't make a huge report of that, but I could mention some stuff.

So we went for a traditional afternoon tea to Hilton Hotel and it was so luxurious to eat all kinds of cakes, scones and sandwiches there. We also watched two musicals, Wicked and Lord of the Dance. They both were amazing, I can't even describe how awesome shows they can put up here!

Then we walked a lot in different places and parks (where we gave nuts to the squirrels and bread for the swans, it's really confusing how close to you all the animals dared to come), went to the movies twice, had a picnic in the Green Park, took a look over the city from London Eye in the evening etc.
I don't know why is it so hard to take pictures, but somehow I haven't managed to take almost any. Though I took a few nice ones:

I think London is the prettiest in the night because the lights are so gorgeous

I can't believe that I have only 13 working days left here. I already know that I won't miss the office days, but I will totally miss some parts of the tours. Yeah, maybe not the afternoon traffic when 10 minutes ride takes about 40 minutes, but the feeling of the city all around you for the whole day and talking to the interesting people from different countries.

And I can't leave this out of my post because it describes my eating habits here so well...

Okay, at least I tried fish & chips one day and it was better than I expected :D

I guess that's all for this time, I will write again in a week or so. Now I should take a look at my thesis which is still unfinished. Obviously I have to start planning my time better because I feel like there's never enough time for everything I should do. Ugh.

- Tiia

I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque

"I have been travelling to countries years

But this is the place I wanted to know

London, that is the place for me"

Another week gone.

I had such big plans for the last week but somehow I didn't manage to do anything I should have. Goddammit.

Everything goes pretty smoothly at work. Today I was in the office and learned to make a lot of new different bookings from other agents, like Flight Centre and Expedia. One day of office work is enough in a week, but it was nice to learn something new. I'm starting to feel like an expert in the tours and last Saturday I was training one new girl, so I have a good feeling that I've gotten better and I am being trusted. Overall, it's starting to get busy as the summer comes closer and the amount of tourists is growing all the time. But it's alright, I prefer busy days more than the quiet ones.

The weather has been so nice for the past few weeks. The mornings are still rather cold, but the evenings are really warm and it feels like a miracle when the sun is shining from the cloudless sky. Sometimes it's almost too hot already. But I'm not complaining! Also, the trees have gotten their leaves really fast and so many flowers have grown up. I was a few days off from the tours and suddenly the whole surroundings of the Buckingham Palace were green, whoa. St James' Park is really pretty at the moment, so in case you are in London for some reason, go and take a walk there :)

I was a bit lazy to take pictures during the past week (I don't know why it feels so impossible to take the camera out, ugh) but there's something:

Now I decided that I won't make any plans for this week because I probably wouldn't go on with them anyway. The musical thing what was for the last week will happen in May, that's for sure.
Though this week I went to the movies once again ooops. The popcorn I bought there tasted awesome and I loved the way how they had put them into a paper bag, haha. And talking about treats, I have ended up buying more candy than ever. Everything is just so good and different, I don't know how will I have time or money to taste them all.

The rest I have left of my last weekend's prey

I'll report more in the next week as my best friend comes here from Finland on Tuesday and I can't wait that we can finally do everything we have planned! For the rest of this week I'll try to relax a bit and sleep as it's rare to get more than a few hours sleep during the working days as I have to wake up so early.

- Tiia

Faces on posters, too many choices

The time is running out too fast. I feel like it's always 5 am and I have to get up and go to work. I really like the life here and I have to say I haven't been this cheerful or glad in a long time, so the weeks passing by so fast makes me nervous. Could I just stop the time, please?

The routemaster tours I do almost every day have started to go by routine. It feels good to know what you are doing and what should be answered to the customers. I must admit that I don't like the office days very much, because it's just making reservations and I can't focus on the same thing for so many hours...

I've had time to visit a few places like Oxford Street, Chinatown and Brixton (this because the office is there). I think this city eats my money faster than it should even I haven't bought almost anything else but junk food and sweets/chocolate. Also I went to the movies two times to check out how the cinemas work here as I worked in one back in Finland, and they actually are pretty different.
Btw, if you are looking for a good grocery shop, go to Asda. I visited one a couple of days ago and really liked it, there was everything I needed. I even found the damn baking paper I've tried to find for two weeks, ahaha. Sour cream is still under discovery and I wonder that will I find it anywhere, maybe I have to find a Lidl or something like that first.

Also I turned 22 this week but didn't celebrate it yet as I'll do that when my friend comes here in two weeks, I only bought some little cakes which tasted bad, ugh. Though I got a musical ticket as a present, but I still haven't decided that should I go to watch Wicked or Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Both of them seem so good that I can't pick only one!

And because everyone likes pictures, have a random bunch of them:

The weather has been kinda nice, there's been only a few rainy days within my whole stay. But that doesn't mean it would have been warm either... It's so cold in the mornings when I have to be outside for the whole time that I'm freezing. I put all the clothes I can on me and yet it's cold. Maybe it's the strong wind, I don't know. And in the afternoon it's so warm that being in a bus is torture. I'm asking the same question in every country I go - why can it never be neutral, not too hot and not too cold? Sigh.

This week I have planned going to some nice cafeteria, see a musical, try to actually take good pictures, write my thesis that is still not ready (yeah I'm probably the last one to finish it but no can do) and discover something completely new, maybe a new area.

 - Tiia

Please mind the gap between the train and the platform

So, now the work has started and I moved to the permanent place on Saturday. The first week was full of new stuff to learn and it was quite busy, but I'm glad that I have had a chance to get to know so many different things already, it's just great. The weather has been rather cold and I have been feeling like the Finland's bad weather followed me here, but today it was really warm and I hope it stays this way now.

I'm working in a big coach tour company who offers a bunch of tours around London, England and Paris. After one day of training I got to know that I will be assisting in one tour what takes place in London. So if I'm not in the office (where I make reservations), I'll be in the open-top bus tour. It's kind of interesting as the mornings are all chaos in the coach station until all the buses are filled with people and they are ready to go. The bus ride itself is rather peaceful as I'm taking care of the audio guidance and the rest is just walking to the different destinations, having a Thames river cruise and keeping the people together in the group. That can sometimes be really hard if there are like 40 people and you are in the middle of the crowd where they can disappear very easily. So shortly that's how my days pass by, being in a bus tour twice a day and helping the customers with anything they have in mind. I like this kind of job more than the office work, it's so much better to actually be around London and see things/communicate with the people than only sit in front of the computer all the time. And the really useful part is also that I will talk a lot in English every day and I have already noticed within one week that how much better my spelling is getting, yay.

A pic of the scenery I see every day during the tour

Also I'm glad to be in this new area, Southwark, which is a lot closer to both the office and the coach station. I can go to the coach station by bus and I think it's nice because using the underground usually takes a lot more time as you have to walk in the stations, change the train and all, not to mention that I don't even have any underground stations near enough to use. I used underground a lot during the past week and now I'm gladly sticking with the busses. To mention something about my new room, I have to say that I liked the last one better because I saw outside to the road from there and it was more cozy, but this is okay.

Rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers to everyone from Paddington

Though always when there are good things, there surely will be something bad too. I haven't faced many problems yet, except that my phone broke on Wednesday. I have no idea what happened to it, but it just shut down and never woke up again. I tried everything, but it's all dead. Unfortunately, I need a phone all the time at work as I have to arrange things with the office while being on a tour, I had to buy a new one. It's a horrible old Nokia without a touch screen, so I feel like I'm back in the 90's with this level of technology, haha.

I don't have much anything else to write right now, I just wish this week will be interesting and I'll spot some new places to visit!


- Tiia

People so busy, make me feel dizzy, taxi light shines so bright

Hiya!

Welcome to this blog about my internship in London. I'll be staying here until the last week of May and I'll update this every week, so I hope you enjoy in case you are reading :)

To open up this idea a bit, I'm a 21 year old girl from Finland and I'm keeping this blog for the school while I'm having my internship in London. All the things I mention here are my own opinions and I do not represent the school, the project or my working place.

So, I'm finally here and I couldn't be more happy! The whole idea of moving to London has been stuck in my head for three years now and it still feels incredible that this really happened. Whoah.

Though this week has been crazy. I've been super busy and I had some really huge troubles with finding an apartment and on Friday morning I still hadn't any idea where I would be staying. Then I unexpectedly got a message from one place where I was waiting in line that there would be a room available from the 4th of April, so I paid the deposit and will go there in a week. It won't be the whole apartment what I would have wanted, but having my own room with a shared kitchen will be fine, at least it's better than nothing, haha. Now I'm staying a bit far away from the city, but this room is nice and I can handle the long ride to the work for a week. I'm just so glad everything worked out in the end, even everything seemed so difficult only a few days ago.

I arrived here in the last evening, so I haven't had time to do much but walk around the hoods today and tomorrow I'll go to the city itself. It's been 6 months when I was here for the last time, so I have really missed everything!

I won't be walking with a camera around my neck all the time, but here are a few pics I took today (notice the awesome phone quality):

A pic of the building where I'm staying for the becoming week

The scenery from my window isn't the best, but it's nice to follow the traffic

I walked across some bridge earlier and spotted these on the railing, it feels so cozy to see the details like this all around the city

I guess that's it for today, I'll post something in the next week after I have started to work and explored the city better!

Cheers,
Tiia