Perfect Place and Dream Job

I can’t even begin to describe all the amazing things that have transpired over the course of the last few days, which honestly makes the day I arrived seem so long ago! I will try my best to convey this life-changing experience so far, although I know my words and few pictures can hardly be enough to explain this transformative adventure.

When I arrived in London, I couldn’t contain my excitement, captivated by an empowering feeling of independence. I was content with my room, which I decorated with pictures from home, but I couldn’t wait to explore my temporary home for the next nine weeks. Camden is an incredibly unique part of London that can best be described as ‘90s grunge. This funky oasis of hundreds of shops and food vendors is breathtakingly cool with thousands of interesting characters wandering throughout.

As planned and without hesitation, I visited the crucial places to begin my food exploration: Nando’s, Pret a Manger, a crepe vendor, traveling through to Indian food with my friend visiting from Texas A&M, the much-craved Mexican food, and the traditional British pub. At this pub, called The Elephant’s Head, my roommate and I met locals and people from Australia, Germany, and Ireland. The best way to learn about the world is by talking to people since everyone knows something you don’t.

And if you were wondering about the Mexican food here, this particular restaurant we went to served popcorn instead of chips and salsa before the meal, and they call queso “Texas cheese sauce.” One of my favorite meals so far has been from a Dim Sum restaurant that has 50% discounted Dim Sum from Monday through Wednesday (absolutely delicious)! My roommate and I decided that it would be a good idea to go there every week.

As for my exploration of London, Parliament Square was first on my list. It still feels surreal to be surrounded by Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Houses of Parliament! Harrods was a close second on the list to visit, so my roommate and I decided to spend half the day roaming around the endless department store with wide eyes. Our next stops, Covent Garden and Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross were just as fascinating as I remembered. However, the most interesting place I got to set my eyes on was the hotel where Monica and Chandler from Friends first started their relationship!

Now comes the most remarkable part of my story: my internship with PopShack. I met my supervisor, Victoria, at Soho House, a private members club and restaurant. After a delicious meal of avocado and poached egg on toast with a cappuccino, we walked down the street to the office. She scanned her fingerprint to unlock the door, and we climbed up three floors of stairs. Passing a couch in the shape of big red lips, we arrived in the place I will be going to every weekday for the next nine weeks. I met some of my coworkers and immediately was put to work; however, to call this “work” would not exactly be the correct word to describe what I do.

After a quick lesson on WordPress, I am asked to write my first daily blog post for PopShack’s website over any pop topic I wanted. You can check out the blog at . Sitting in on two casual meetings and sharing my ideas (which they actually decided to use) led me to the realization that this was going to be well worthwhile. I was also made an administrator of PopShack’s official Facebook page and was introduced to HootSuite the next day to manage PopShack’s Twitter account.

It gets even better!

I shared my idea about inviting select people on Vine who had many followers, which they loved! I was in charge of selecting the Viners and presented them to my supervisor. She then allowed me to reach out to them through e-mail, offering them free tickets to PopShack Live, PopShack’s huge concert in July. I have actually begun to receive responses from these Viners with thousands, if not millions, of followers!

After being put in charge of creating the social media plan for PopShack’s upcoming event, Cimorelli Week, and meeting the famous UK popstar, Elyar Fox, you would think this couldn’t get any better!

Well it does.

On my second day of work, my supervisor invited me to go to a sold-out R5 concert next week to take pictures for Instagram and live-tweet the show! I may even get to meet and interview the band!

I am incredibly grateful and feel so blessed to receive this wonderful opportunity! I couldn’t thank those who have helped make this possible enough!
Thanks and gig’em!