Landed in London

September - December, 2016

Landed in london

Crazy to think I'll be living in London for the next three months. This semester, I'm enrolled in marketing classes, an architecture course, and a playwriting workshop where we see plays each week. Pretty soon I'll be starting my Graphic Design internship with ATC Management!

hopped off the train

Lucked out with my flight- I sat between two super interesting people where I learned about life as a traveling Whales GE Engineer and experiences living in Lebanon. After, I managed to drag all of my luggage down to the Tube and through the City of London to finally locate my Hostel, Wombat's.

This cool alley branched into the River Thames, overlooking Tower Bridge

Wandered with some wombats

Hostel life is amazing. Not only was I able to explore with new, open minded, and excited people from all over the world, but I got to experience an incredibly well organized and welcoming social scene. For cherries on top, it looked super cool.

Learning the land

That first day, I dropped off my bags and wandered out with a map and only 3% of phone battery. Needless to say, my clueless American self was entirely lost for hours on end... which was weirdly relaxing.

Tower Bridge (AKA Cinderella's Castle at night)

Hopped on a free walking tour for the City of London. I got to learn some fun facts about the area and random stories about the structures.

<- Founder's beer on the left

Pimms and Lemonade on the right ->

Unfortunately, only some can appreciate hallway pictures.

I can absolutely get used to this!

"Art Changes We Change." Thought provoking messages and forever famous images embody the Tate Modern Museum.

I spy with my little EYE...

On this cold and dreary day, we visited Hampton Court Palace. Inside the ancient brick walls were courtyards and beautiful (but pretty haunting) rooms equipped with detailed ceiling paintings. We also got lost in the garden maze.

My parents are here! So naturally, we dressed up for a Vintage Garden Party at Downton Abbey, complete with the iconic home/filming site, a pop up carnival, beautiful gardens, and an exhibit on King Tut.

Poet's Corner, housing some of the greats, including Miss Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.

So happy my mom is here! We've been exploring markets, finding amazing street art and watching lots of musicals. On top of that, I'm in a Playwriting workshop where we get to see shows every Thursday. Here's the setlist (the first three were with my mom):

Breakfast at Tiffany's, Wicked, Kinky Boots, Deep Blue Sea, Funny Girl, A Lovely Sunday, The Entertainer, Father Comes Home From the War, Oil, King Lear, The Royale, and The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.

The National Gallery (above) has been my favorite art museum so far. This beautiful building, complete with light purple walls decorated with ornamental molding that surrounds an iron spiral staircase, houses some of the finest impressionist paintings in Europe.

After our gondola boat tour in Little Venice

Wishing every inch of the world was coated in artwork like at Brick Lane...

My mom and I spent well over 5 hours in the Fortnum & Mason heaven (below.)

Off to Paris!

Day 1:

Guess who showed up... my aunt Kavita! Such an amazing and beautiful weekend. On our first day, the three of us took the Eurorail train from Kings Cross (equipped with a wine and cheese brunch), explored an art museum with Monet's "time of day" waterlily paintings, drank the richest and most delicious hot chocolate at Angelina's, watched the sunset along the Seine, and stopped amidst the nightlife for a bite to eat at undoubtedly one of the weirdest restaurants.

Day 2:

After our morning typical cafe coffee, we rented bikes and wandered through the windy streets up to Montmartre. Next, after walking amongst the blocks of artists, we happened upon a Salvador Dali mixed-media exhibit! Kavita found an old wine crate at a yard sale so we took turns swinging it around on our way to the Moulin Rouge and the flagship Laduree store. To top it off, we had the most perfect night, feasting on our wine and cheese picnic under the Eiffel Tower for hours and hours :)

Day 3.

This morning, we walked around the Notre Dame and spent hours in funky thrift shops. I will always remember our beautiful, perfect weekend in Paris.

When walking through Kings Cross, we saw this employee jammin at the keys. I was so very happy.

Getting ready for our weekend adventure!

City University, London, where I studied marketing

"La Vie En Rose" under La Tour Eiffel

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!

Scotland, UK

GO CUBS GO!!!

James Blake - easily one of the greatest performances I've ever seen

Dublin & Howth, Ireland

Home to the Book of Kells and George Lucas's inspiration for the Jedi Knight Library

Barcelona, Spain

Vienna, Austria

Budapest, Hungary

Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio

Florence & Rome, Italy

Days in London are winding down...

Museam with the Graphic Designs that make Harry Potter so magical

Abbey Road: Something in the thing she (London) shows me... I don't want to leave her (London) now... You know I believe and how...

Lucked out with an incredible roommate. Allie & Alley!

Internship with ATC Management

This semester I had an absolutely incredible internship with ATC Management. Though music has always been my entire life, this was my first real experience on the business side of the music industry. I had the opportunity to create contests, design business cards, sit in on A&R meetings, and attend the concerts of some of our artists. I got a more thorough feel for what job I'm pursuing and am so excited for whatever comes next in May!

We wore our ugly Christmas jumpers at Winter Wonderland :)

Home for the Holidays!

That's a wrap, 2017.

You know when you were little and you were so excited to grow up? You could finally drink hot chocolate until midnight and you would adopt all the puppies in the world… This is a scary thought, but in 2017 I’ll be an… actual adult. Graduated and doing adult non-college-y things.

I thought I’ve been ready to take this step quite frankly since high school, but 2016 has definitely prepared me the most. This March I traveled to Granada, Nicaragua to learn about business and graphic design application to NGO’s and the growing impact they have on communities and their economies. Because of this, I decided seek out internships with two contrasting but equally educating and productive non for profit organizations: Evanston Scholars and Ravinia Festival. We could see tangible progress directly benefiting groups we strongly supported (especially regarding music education). These positions, along side my internship with ATC Management in London, gave me the opportunity to reconnect with music. They reminded me that the music industry can have just as much impact and importance on individuals and communities as any other industry.

2016 also brought along my opportunity to travel abroad for four months. Life in London was a wake up call. My entire experience brought on a wind of connecting with new people in new cultures. I was constantly on the move, and am lucky to have discovered so many places. Most importantly, for the first time since singing on stage, I felt the ability to live simply and smart. Living simply and smart makes the worrying go away, embraces the beauty of everything and everyone around, and, most importantly, makes my perspective… a lovely mix of happy and productive.

Hopefully this “lovely mix of happy and productive” will lead to a successful 2017 in job hunting and dog training. And I'll be flying the W all the way🐻💜⚾️ (Maybe I can finally take my little Sadie Sue camping off the leash this year!)