These past few days have been great but exhausting.  My internship has been fun but I have been working very hard and long so this past week I have been dead tired.  But it is because of my internship that I got to go to the Royal Henley Regatta.  It was definitely the most British and “posh” thing I have done since coming here.  It was really cool seeing the proper and extravagant side of England.  To get in I hard to wear a suit, which at first was cool because I never had to dress like that to go to an athletic competition.  However, after several hours in almost forty degree weather it was a bit much.  It was still a lot of fun.  Another thing I enjoyed very much was seeing an orchestra perform Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at St. Martin’s Church next to Trafalgar Square.  Vivaldi is my favorite composer by far so it was a real treat to finally listen to it life.  Better yet I also got to sit in the front row of the concert because of a student discount I only had to pay 9 pounds.  This Friday I got to see the J.W. Watterson exhibit at the Royal Art Academy, which I feel so luck to have a chance to see.  Some of these amazingly beautiful paintings are over one hundred years old, but they look perfect know, but have themes from Classical Greece, and Medieval Europe, which I have never really seen before.  My favorite thing about London is that I have seen and done things that I could never do in any other city.  There is just so much to do, and I am loving every minute of it. 

First Journal Entry

            I have just finished my first full work, week here in London and it was better than I thought it would be.  In the eleven days I have been here, I have gone to the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, walked under a river in a tunnel, worked in the third best college in the world, and went to the only surviving palace once owned by King Henry VII that people are allowed to go inside of.  I have also gotten along with all of my fellow students very well.  Admittedly, it is kind of weird and hard at times to be the only guy out of eight girls, but I think I am doing as well as I can in this situation.  They are all pretty cool people, so it makes it all the easier.  Because we have been going one hundred miles per hour seeing and doing as much as possible I actually got a little sick so today I am just relaxing and getting small errands done.  Now that I know what my internship is I thought I could redo my learning objectives.

           

            My first objective is to learn as much as I can about how a world renown College Gym is run and what they do to improve.  I have sat through some meetings and have learned that a lot more goes into this business than I thought.  Although, I am not interested in this field for a career for now, it may be helpful later if I change my mind and it interesting even without considering it for a career.

 

            The second objective I have is to finish the research I am doing for my internship.  The location of my internship is looking to have certain South American countries train in their facilities around the U.K. for the 2012 Olympics that will be held in London.  Right now they are having me conduct research on Chile’s, Argentina’s, Mexico’s, and Brazil’s involvement in the 2008 Olympics.  I would like to finish the job and do it as best as possible so that it can help them in the upcoming years and gain some more notoriety.  

           

            For my third objective I would like to watch as many training sessions in the actual Gym part of the business and learn.  I have already noticed some distinct differences in the way American’s work out, and the way the British work out.  I believe I can learn something from the trained personnel in the Gym to improve my understanding of physical training and hopefully improve my workouts in the future.

 

            My time here in London has been great and I only expect it to get better.

Objectives for London

My first general objective for my trip to London is to learn as much about British history as possible.  I have always been interested in world history but I have never learned about the U.K.'s history in detail.  That is why while I'm there, I plan on going to as many of the historical sites as possible, study the topics in class as much as possible and I may purchase books about British history while I am there.  

For my second objective I want to see and experience as much of western european culture as reasonable.  Over the years I have dreamt about being in Europe and just experiencing all that I can.  Now I have the chance but within reason because this project, and my class come first.

The third objective I have for this trip is to do my best in the final project and in my British Life and Culture class.  I always strive to do my best in the classroom and elsewhere, so this trip is no different.