13 Charlotte Mews, Camden Town. Such a small street that it isn't even on the map. But on this little alleyway of an road is Allison and Busbsy Publishers. In my opinion, because the company includes my name, I believe it's fate that I should work for them. So at 9:30 a.m. this morning, I set out to Goodge Street Station. Though it isn't far from Baker Street Station (which is the one by my flat), there is no direct line to it, so I had to take three--Bakerloo to Picadilly to Northern. Thankfully none of these were of the 5 or so lines that were experiencing delays this morning. Sitting on the train, I felt all business-y, blending in with the rest of those toting briefcases and newspapers quite nicely. Upon arriving at Goodge, I saw that this station was underground moreso than the average tube station--there was a sign on the staircase saying that there were 136 steps and those who may have trouble with such exertion should take the lift instead. I don't have trouble climbing stairs, but I took the lift anyway. It spat you out on Tottenham Court in the middle of Camden. Camden is known for its markets. So the whole street smelled delicious--fresh fruit and vegitable venders lining the sidewalks and drifts traditional English breakfast wafting from little cafes. I immediately turn left onto Tottenham Street (naming two streets similarly--a bit confusing, but I guess it's no different from Commerce Rd. and Commerce Rd. in Commerce in MI) About a block down, there's a little archway between a nail salon and a dry cleaners inconspicuously marking Charlotte Mews. It looks like a a back-alley, but is actually lined with offices for a design studio, a PR firm, and other such businesses. I walk up to number 13--a gold-plated sign with the words A and B Publishers swirled on it was posted next to its blue door. I pressed the intercom button and was greet by a very friendly voice and was let in.
Swinging the door open a bit too hard, as it was lighter than I expected, I found myself standing on the base platform of an extremely long staircase, down which Leslie was coming. Leslie is in charge of the marketing aspects of A and B. Extending her hand, she introduced herself and opened a door precariously positions off the middle of the staircase. Inside I met Georgina, who oversees the editorial end of things--I would be working primarily under her. The three of us sat down at a conference table next to a bookshelf that took up the entire wall, displaying most of the books that they have published within the last few years.
Conversation was very informal and relaxed, which I liked a lot. They did have questions for me, but they were posed in such as way that I wasn't nervous. I also asked them questions about A and B too. And every once and while we got off topic and talked about other things we do in our lives--which to me is a rather good sign. I think that shows that our personalities are compatable to work together.
Half an hour later, all questions were answered. Leslie took note of my schedule for next semester and told me that she'll be in touch. Though I didn't get a definite "yes, you have this internship," I feel pretty good about my chances. Considering my schedule and saying they'll contact me soon are pretty good signs I think. I know they are interviewing a few more candidates today and early next week, so I should know relatively soon.
Overall, I think the interview went really well and I can't wait to find out officially if I have the internship. I can definitely picture myself working there--it is exactly what I'd want to do for gaining work experienc.
In other news, I finally explored all the quintessential London sites with my friend Anne from my theatre class--and I did so unintentionally!
On Thursdays I have my theatre class. Typically we just meet at Regent Campus, but some weeks we meet at different theatres for tours. This week we saw a play at the National Theatre and we have a corresponding tour to go with it. So yesterday I woke up earlier to get to the theatre on time for class. But when I got there, no one else was there, not even my professor. So I texted Anne to see if I was in the wrong part of the theatre and got the meeting place wrong. She was running late but said that it sounded like I was in the right spot. When she eventually got to the theatre, we walked all around the building, walked through every entrance, but still could not find our class. Then Anne pulled out her planner. It was then we realized that the National Theatre tour was NEXT week, not this week. Usually if we see a play in a particular theatre, the tour is in that same week. But this was the one exception.
Now, by this time, we had already missed about a half hour of our 3 hour class. And it would take another half hour to get back to Regent Campus. We reasoned that since we had already missed a third of the lecture, we might as well just skip the rest of it. So instead, we did some site seeing and did the proper tourist-y thing of going on our own walking tour and taking pictures of everything. Anne is from Canada, and one of my closest friend who is also in the study abroad program. Though I love doing things with my flatemates--they are all from the U.K. so they don't necessarily want to see the obvious London sites. So it was nice to have someone who was coming from the same place as me and do the tourist thing. We saw Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park and Green Park, and Buckingham Palace. We also walked through the other end of the city of Westminster (which is where my flat is, I didn't realize Westminster extended so far--it's one of the biggest cities in London). We found a great Italian restaurant for lunch--Anne had a craving for pizza and me for pasta. It was a little on the expensive side, but it was delicious! I'll just eat a bagel for lunch every day this week to balance out the expense, haha. It was worth it.
I have gotten a little behind on posting pictures because it takes some time. But I will try to put them up this weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment