Quick update…

Hello everyone! Apologies for the absence, my mom and sister came to visit me last week! It was so great to see them, although we did not have the best weather. They arrived in London last Tuesday, and we basically just shopped a lot until Thursday morning, when we got a train to Edinburgh. We did a bunch more shopping there, but also visited Edinburgh Castle which was beautiful as always (even though it was pouring down rain!) On Saturday afternoon we hopped a flight to Dublin, where we stayed until Tuesday afternoon. I think we had one nice day there, but it was a good time as well. We highly recommend going to the Dublin Zoo if you ever find yourself in Dublin. Probably the best zoo we’ve been to! 

A view of Edinburgh from our hotel

In other news….A few weeks ago I posted here that I had gotten a job with Chipotle in a new store they were opening in London. I went to a few days of training and decided that working in a kitchen is just not for me! Although it was incredibly difficult to walk away from a job when I didn’t have anything else lined up. I put out some more applications and went to a few interviews but nothing worked out. About two weeks ago I got a phone call out of the blue from Groupon, asking me to come in for an interview. I say this call was out of the blue because I sent in my application for a part time customer service advisor back in February. So, last Wednesday I went in for an interview, and by Friday assumed I hadn’t gotten the job because I was certain they said at the end of the interview that they would get back to me on Friday. Well, today the HR manager called me back and offered me to job! Woohoo! So from now on I will be a weekend customer service advisor, answering customer emails!

We have also recently started a new term at Uni, and I am hoping to work on a project involving therapy animals. I have found one that operates near London that uses horses to help improve mental well-being of children and adults. Cross your fingers it all falls into place for me!

Good news…Finally!

As everyone probably knows, I have been tirelessly job hunting since I moved to London. I actually don’t even know how many jobs I applied to anymore! Anywayyy, the other day I received an email from a jobsite that I’ve been watching, telling me about a restaurant that is opening a few new locations, and that they’re inviting people to come in with their CVs for an interview. So I headed down this morning, met with them, was hired on the spot, and they asked me to start tomorrow!! And I am so excited to say that the company I’ve been hired with is Chipotle! If you are American, you know exactly what this is. If you are not American, I highly suggest you educate yourself and get to know Chipotle! I’m very excited to be working for a company that I myself enjoy already. And it sounds like the opportunities for promotion are readily available…the woman who will be my Manager told me she was a shift manager at another location in London in only 3 months! One of my interview questions, I kid you not, was “So what do you get at Chipotle?” And of course being American and familiar with Chipotle, I had my exact recipe down pat! 

For anyone I know in London: We will be having a friends and family day on April 16, so consider this your invitation to come and try Chipotle! I promise you’ll love it!

Job Hunting…

Hello all, and apologies for the long time since last posting. We didn’t actually have an assignment this past week, as we have been needing to organise our Easter projects. For those who aren’t aware, in the UK there is a month break for the Easter holidays, usually from mid-March to mid-April. And so they’ve assigned us to complete a story during that time. I am currently working on putting together a story showing how many churches in the UK have been converted and re-purposed, as a result of the decline of Christianity in the UK. I’m very excited to photograph a puppet theatre and martial arts centre, both in churches! Oh, and we also have to write a 5 page essay over the holiday…they don’t give us any time to relax! My topic is “With reference to the work of one or two photographers, discuss the significance of the boundary between ‘documentary’ and ‘art’.” So yeah. That should be interesting.

Anyway, moving on to the title of this post….most of you already know I’ve been looking for a job since I actually moved to London. I had interviews for two jobs I was really hoping for, but unfortunately was turned down for both. I’ve been applying to jobs left and right, at least one application in per day. I actually stumbled upon a listing for a live-in housekeeper in Greenwich. I hadn’t really been looking for anything like that, but it’s only part-time at 25 hours per week, plus £100 pay per week, and a fully furnished flat! So I took a chance and sent in my resume, and I’ve got an interview tomorrow! Hoping it will be successful, as I’m getting tired of job hunting!

Just two quick iPhone/instagram pics today!

On the back of the bench I was sitting on in Regents Park. 

I actually have no idea what this is. Just took a picture on my way home from Victoria Station because the light was nice. If you know, shout it out!

UPDATE: Thanks to my musical genius friend Josh, who recognized the building from the cover of Pink Floyd’s album Animal, I was able to find out that this is the Battersea Power Station. So there ya go!

York

So, last weekend, in an attempt to complete my assignment I traveled to York. Although it didn’t really work for my assignment, I took a few pics here and there. York is one of the oldest cities in England. It was founded by the Romans in the year 71, but had been settled before that. In 866, the city was captured by Vikings and named Jorvik. Today, one of the most popular tourist attractions in York is the Jorvik Viking Center, which shows what viking life would have been like in York. I did go to it, and it was very interesting. Way too much to explain here, but during the excavation of the site, there were endless artifacts recovered, as well as human remains. 

The medieval city walls built on Roman foundations that surround a majority of the old city.

York Minster. The largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, York Minster dominates the skyline & has a history of building that dates back to the 8th century at least. I attended a Sunday morning service here whilst in York.

On Monday morning I was sitting people watching in Kings Court, near the Minster, and this happened right in front of me. A butcher and his son unloaded an entire pig (in parts) from their truck and carried it through the Court to their shop in The Shambles, the narrowest street in York that is filled with different shops, and closed to vehicles.

Racing With Pancakes…?

This week our assignment was simple: a photo story on a topic of your choosing in no more than 5 images. I don’t remember exactly how I landed on my topic, but I decided to photograph the Parliamentary Pancake Race.

Ok, backing up — rewind — Shrove Tuesday in the UK is called Pancake Day because traditionally you would would need to use up things like butter and sugar before fasting for Lent. The tale goes that

…in the year 1445, a homemaker in Olney, England, was whipping up a batch of delicious pancakes on Shrove Tuesday when she lost track of time and was caught off guard when she heard the church bells ringing. She supposedly ran out the door, frying pan still in hand, a pancake still in the frying pan, and a headscarf still holding back her hair  — and she showed up at church just like that.  (LA Times)

So, ever since it has been tradition to race whilst flipping pancakes in a frying pan. Even Parliament gets in the spirit! Every year there is a Parliamentary Pancake Race between the House of Lords and House of Commons. All in the spirit of charity, of course…particularly for the UK charity called Rehab. These events have also become covered thoroughly by the media, especially the pancake race at Parliament.  So in addition to covering the event itself, I wanted to show how much the media covers such a silly event.