Assignment 6: Greenwich & Docklands

Greenwich was a nice change of pace from everyday London life.  I loved taking the riverboat there - even though the weather wasn't particularly nice!  On our way there, the boat captain gave us a few tidbits about the places we were passing (apparently if you aren't a registered "tour guide" then you can't say you're giving a "tour"... it's known as information... ha) which helped to give significance to a lot of the things we've seen from land but not necessarily known about.  He touched on the fact that the river used to be the main hub of trading in the city, and was the most important way of transporting goods to be consumed.  He also informed us that all the tap water in London comes from the Thames: "It's the only water on Earth that you can drink and chew at the same time!"..... too much information.

Once we arrived, we went straight to the Royal Observatory, which was quite a hike uphill.  The whole way up I couldn't help but wonder how elderly people get there, considering I had to take a few breaks myself!  At the top of the hill was an amazing view of London, including the Olympic Stadium.  Mark told us that the park below is going to be the site for the Equestrian competitions during the Olympics, so we made it just in time before the park was closed down for preparation!

At the Royal Observatory, we got a picture standing in both hemispheres which was pretty cool.  I felt like I was Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember (apologies to Mark if you don't understand the reference.. great film if you have time) but it was definitely a good tourist attraction!  The Observatory itself I found pretty boring.... sorry to disappoint, but I wasn't particularly interested in all the clocks and "timekeepers" they had on display.

After leaving the Observatory, we had lunch at Cafe Sol, which was pretty decent Mexican food!  It was the first time we'd had it since I've been here, so it was a nice change of pace.  Following that, we stopped through Greenwich Market.  It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but it had some pretty nice things.  There were a few food shops inside, as well as some vintage clothing and little knick-knacks.  I didn't buy anything, but it was fun to browse!

After that, we visited the National Maritime Museum and the Queen's Gallery.  I liked the interactive parts of the Maritime Museum.  A lot of them were made for children, which I think is why I found it fun :)  It was also interesting to see all of the different things they imported and their worth at different points in history.  The Queen's Gallery definitely wasn't as interactive... it was more portraits, but we did get to see the official portrait of Queen Victoria which is pretty famous and I've seen it before in history and art books.

We finished up by stopping through Canary Wharf - it definitely seemed like a little piece of America.  We spent a good bit of time just walking through the tube station and looking at the shops there... by the way, who has a Tiffany's inside a tube stop?  I thought that was a little different.  The day was pretty relaxing overall, and it was nice to get out of the business of the city for a bit.

Assignment 5: London's East End

After visiting Brick Lane during our scavenger hunt at the very beginning of the semester, I decided the East End was somewhere I wanted to visit in daylight and definitely not by myself.  The environment is extremely diverse and can be a bit intimidating if you don't know where you're going.  As a major Bengali community, it was notable that most of the street and shop signs were written in both English and Bengali.

Though my first impression wasn't completely accurate, I'm still glad that I chose to go at the time we did!  We ran into a drunken homeless man who was yelling at us as we passed him and followed us for a bit while we power-walked away from him... weird.  A lot of the shop owners also stand outside of their stores and tried to talk to us as we walked by.  The first part of the walk was much prettier than I expected it to be after having seen Brick Lane.  A lot of the Georgian houses were refurbished and turned into shops on the ground floors, while the tops were left as flats.  We were told the houses were built in the 18th century, which shows just how long the area has been around.

As we continued our walk, we ran into Commercial Street where Spitalfield Market is, but we unfortunately chose to go on a Saturday when the shops weren't open.  We did end up walking past a few more hidden vintage markets that we explored a little bit.  They definitely had their own feel to them, with most of the merchandise being second-hand and mostly outdated.  Mallory and I found a stand that was entirely jorts (long jean shorts) and couldn't help but take a picture of it!!

There was also a street that had a row of tiny shops that were very commercial brands, but discretely adorned on the outside.  They were all little cubes that were exactly the same size and had their own merchandise on the inside, but you could easily walk past them if you weren't paying attention.  Along this street and a few others, we found a bunch of graffiti that was pretty amazing.  We've recently developed an interest in Bansky's art throughout London, so it was cool to see knock-offs of his work along with a variety of other art along different buildings.

Our last stop was the Whitechapel Art Gallery.  It was extremely small in comparison to a lot of the museums we've visited for our art class, and housed mostly contemporary art.  There was a room with only projector screens and mirrors in it that were placed symmetrically to mirror the images from the projectors.  There was another room on the upper level with videos of two men dressed in black that created "Human Art" which was absolutely hilarious.  One man would manipulate something in a white room that would cause the other man to move in a certain way so that they would both end up supporting the other and stay in that stance.  There was one part where the man kicks out the leg of a coffee table that the second man is standing on, and he slides forward towards the first man, where he is caught.  It's the little things in life....

Overall, the visit both reinforced and challenged my first ideas of the area.  I'm glad that we got to look into it a bit more and see all the parts that the East End has to offer in a somewhat neglected area of London!

Assignment C: Internship Reflections

• What are you observing about your work environment? If you could, what are two things you would keep and two things you would change?
• I've never worked in such a small business atmosphere before.  The work environment is somewhat casual and laid-back, but at the same time, we are responsible for getting a lot done between a few people, which can be stressful at times.  
• One thing that I would definitely keep is the variety I get in my work.  No two days are the same as far as things we have to get done, and that definitely keeps me from getting bored!  Another thing I really enjoy is the relationship I have with my supervisors.  They're people that you can joke around with and talk about your personal life with, but they also know when it's time to get down to business and get things done.  
• There really isn't a lot that I would change about my internship.  I think the only thing that I might change would be to prioritize things better.  We start every every week with a list of things to do, but they rarely all get done.  There are always things coming up that interfere with our priority list - which seems to be the case in any small business - but that definitely throws off our productivity.

• How does your supervisor's style work for you? What would you want to be like as a supervisor in the future?
• I love Kim's style of supervising, because he gives me a great deal of independence.  If he is teaching me how to do something, he'll go through it with me once while I take notes on it, then leave me to take care of things on my own.  He's always there if I have questions, but essentially he will give me a task and leave me to complete it.  Once I'm finished, I'll have him look things over to make sure I've done them correctly, or have him edit my writing and then we'll move on to the next task.  He also takes my opinion into consideration regarding writing and decisions we make for marketing which makes me feel like I have an impact on what's happening in the company.
• As a supervisor, I would love to have the same style.  It's a good mix of independence and mentoring, and the balance he has is just about perfect. 

• What are you learning about yourself through this internship? What is one thing about yourself that you would like to improve for your next job?
• I'm learning that I really enjoy variety.  This internship compared to my past ones is so much more rewarding because I get to touch so many different parts of the company.  Something I could definitely improve on is my attention to detail.  At times there are so many things happening at once that it's hard to do all of them and notice every single thing about them.  The good thing is, I double-check everything before I'm finished, so normally I notice it then.  

• What are two things you have learned how to do or improved upon during this internship? 
• I've learned how to manage online orders, which is one of my main responsibilities.  I normally start my day off checking to see how many orders have been placed, print all of them out for Linda to pack, make labels for all of them, then pack the chocolates into boxes to be shipped.  During this whole process, I have to keep the online shop updated to make sure we don't duplicate orders and also ensure that customers know when their orders have been sent out.  It's something I've never done before, but I enjoy the process, and it breaks up the time I spend on the computer so that I get to do something with my hands and keep from getting tired.
• I've always enjoyed writing, but this experience has taught me a new way of writing while still keeping my own style incorporated.  Brits have a very dry sense of humor, which is something I've grown up with so it's easy for me to use that in my writing.  I do, however, find myself using a completely different vocabulary - along with correcting my American spelling - to tailor to our readers.  I have Kim look over all of the blogs/newsletters before we send them, so he'll let me know if something needs to be changed and why.

• After college, will you look for a company that is similar to the one that you have interned with? Why?
• I would love to work for a similar company after graduation, but in larger scale.  I love the variety, but feel tasks could be streamlined a bit more if there were more employees to take responsibility for them.  Sometimes we have things to do that we end up having to rush through because so many other things come up, and we can't get them done to the high standards that we set for ourselves.

Internship Journal (12 March)

This week, I only worked on Monday due to the fact that I worked the Friday before.  Even though there was only one day, there was no shortage of work to be done.  Again, we pushed the product drops back and still didn't really complete any of those.  My day mostly consisted of packing boxes to be shipped out that had been ordered over the weekend.  The Sunday Telegraph ran a tiny ad for our chocolates to purchase them for Mothering Sunday, and from Sunday morning to Monday morning we received upwards of twenty orders and that took up the majority of my day.  Packing the boxes itself is extremely time consuming, because you have to make sure that the chocolates don't shake around in the shipping box.  Along with that, I have to print off messages and addresses and make sure everything matches up before I can take them all to the post office.

I was originally going to make a "save-the-date" invitation for our blogger event following Easter, but that didn't end up happening.  With all the packing and things to finish before the day was over, I still ended up getting home an hour and a half later than I should have.  I finished my day off by stopping by the Guardian to drop off some of our Easter products for a taste test.  That was next to King's Cross - during rush hour - which was not the best ending to the day.  I hope the food writer receiving the chocolates appreciated my efforts….

Internship Journal (5-6, 10 March)

During the end of last week, Kim and I sat down and decided to make a calendar with everything laid out that we want to accomplish by the end of my time at Demarquette.  That took a good hour and a half... partly because Kim is always getting interrupted by phone calls and random things that come up throughout the day, and partly because there was so much to think about!  We're quickly learning that even with both of us working on things, it's going to be close to impossible to get everything done.

Monday was supposed to start with preparing product drops to different newspaper/magazine companies. By that, I mean I would be going to different places to drop off our Easter products for taste tests, reviews, and product features that newspapers may be doing in order to get essentially free press.  We quickly realized that wasn't going to happen... so many things had come up over the weekend that those were moved to the top of our priority list.  By the end of the week, none of the product drops ended up happening, but we did accomplish lots of other things!

We've been doing a good job of keeping our blog updated to attract readers, who will hopefully turn into customers or promoters for the company.  This week, we added a blog having to do with Mother's Day, and we also developed a newsletter for the holiday.  Just about every newsletter we send out has some type of offer on it to try and increase our orders, but that doesn't always happen.  Either way, we took about a day to get both of those done and that put us behind for all the other things we had to do.

I worked on the 10th so that I could be out of the office for one day the following week as my boyfriend was coming to visit.  Again, we were supposed to get product drops done that day and it didn't happen again.  Packing boxes to ship always seems to get in the way somehow and that day was no exception.  We were also beginning to work on the event that I am planning for the week after Easter.  Hopefully, it will have a decent turnout!

Internship Journal 28-29 February

This week, we were struggling with a lack of online orders following Valentine's Day, while still trying to hit a sales target that would beat last year's.  We landed on developing a Leap Day offer that is "so good, it only comes around every four years!"  Haha... yay for taglines!  We included the offer in a newsletter with a special promo code, and just as we suspected, the orders started pouring in.  That kept me pretty busy for both Monday and Tuesday just spending time packing orders and taking them to the post.

Along with the end of February comes the start of Lent, and we decided to use that as a starting point for another blog post.  I wrote a blog all about the benefits of chocolate and why you shouldn't give it up for Lent!  It seemed to have pretty decent feedback which is always reassuring!  If you want to check it out, visit our blog.  I was reviewing our blog history, and we had more posts in February than almost our entire total before the month began!  Writing is something I've always enjoyed, so it's nice to be able to use that to benefit and market a company with a relaxed and expressive style.

We also worked a bit on the wording for our Diamond Jubilee Collection.  A tag will come on each box purchased and I was able to contribute to more of the "sales" type of talk that would be printed on those.  It's cool to be able to help with things like that and see them come back to the shop in finished form, on the shelf to display for customers!  Our internship is a lot of work, but it's also nice to know that we're having a real, measurable impact on the company and its success.

Internship Journals (February 13-14, 20-21)

For the first time in my life, I got to experience what it's like to work in a chocolate shop on Valentine's Day... needless to say, it was a little hectic.  I spent a majority of the 13th packing boxes to be sent the next day.  (Nothing like waiting until the last minute, gentlemen!)  We also have been focusing a lot more on the social networking aspect of marketing the shop now that I am there to help Kim.  He literally does just about everything by himself besides actually making the chocolate.  Anything from photoshoots to writing to press releases to shipping boxes is on his list of things to do - it's really rewarding to know that I get to relieve him a little!

Anyway, that week I focused a lot on more writing.  We're really making an effort to update our blog so that people will have fresh things to read on a regular basis and we can keep them interested in the company.  I also am being given more input in our advertisement-type writing for tags on our products, press releases, etc.  Valentine's week was pretty full of packing boxes to ship, and we even got to help the shop manager, Linda, for a while!  It's always nice to be able to get out of the back office for a while, but we helped her prepare boxes for corporate gifts, along with getting things ready for the anticipated shop rush for last-LAST-minute shoppers.

Last week consisted of preparing our priority PR lists for different publications.  The people on these lists generally work for more well-known newspapers and magazines and specialize in food writing.  Our goal is essentially to hound them enough that they'll decide to feature our product in their magazine, but it's turning out to be harder this year because of the dramatic increase in competition!  Chocolate shops seem to be popping up everywhere, and a lot of them are much cheaper than we are because the quality isn't as good.  That is the question that we'll need to be answering here in the near future!

Assignment 2: Museum of London

I have to be completely honest when beginning this one... I thought this museum was one of the more boring ones we've visited.  It could be the fact that we chose to go about a month after we arrived in the city and we kind of know some about the place now, but I just didn't take that much interest in it.  I think the fact that also go to a museum once a week for art class was a contributing factor as well - when we're in class, we have someone guiding us through it and pointing out certain things to look at while providing an explanation of things.  That helps draw my attention much more than when I go alone... I've never been much of a museum browser but I did my best!

Something that I probably enjoyed most about the museum was the section on the Great Fire.  I'd learned about it previously in history classes, but not in much depth.  We also talked about it a bit on one of our first tours during the week we arrived in London.  I think I was interested in it because I got to see certain venues that the the fire actually destroyed and was able to compare the modern buildings that are there today.  I did also learn a lot of other facts about the fire that I didn't know about before, such as blaming certain people for the fire.  I thought it was interesting that so many different groups of people were blamed for the fire, regardless of the fact that they had nothing to do with it.  Anyone from Catholics, to Spaniards, to God Himself were all blamed for causing the fire for a variety of reasons that no one could really explain.  The most widely accepted cause states that a fire broke out in the kitchen of a baker - that, combined with a very dry summer caused the fire to spread extremely rapidly with little hope of it being extinguished.

I also thought it was interesting that the number of people that died as a result of the fire isn't known.  Some information at the museum said that because cold weather and lack of housing were very common, it was extremely difficult to tell which deaths were from that, and which deaths were a direct result of the fire.

Some other things that interested me about the museum were the amount of tools they had discovered and had on display.  It was hard to believe that so many tools could have been preserved over such a long period of time, and dated so accurately that they were found to be thousands of years old.  I guess I think of London as a historical city, but in a more medieval context than anything.  The tools I saw put things into perspective and were a good account of how old the city really is.

Overall, like I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed parts of the museum, but overall it hasn't been one of my favorites.  Maybe I'll go check it out again when I'm feeling especially studious.....