First Day in Londontown!

First week in London has yet to hit me. I have felt as if this place is another home. If I were to describe London, it would be the best parts of New York City and Boston with a splash of history. From the names of the cities and neighborhoods to the tube stations to the random theaters in the West End, this city is something amazing. The first day here, I went through customs, got my suitcases, and opted to take the tube with my evil twin, Ramona (aka my book bag), my purse, and my two 35-45lb suitcases. Unaware of where I was going, I waited in the queue and asked where I needed to go. I was not ready to buy my Oyster card (that’s like the Charlie Card for fellow Bostonians), so I took a one-way pass from Heathrow to wonderful West Kensington…. Which was 5.4 GBP, which is equivalent to $7. Shoot me now! On the train, I kept thinking about how crazy my week was and how far I have come to get where I am. This is it. I am in my final semester as an undergrad and I took a plane by myself to London to do an internship. This girl has some moxie. I had to switch from the Piccadilly line going to Cockfosters (yes, I added that because I was giggling to myself the entire time on the train) at the District Line. The most polite thing anyone has said to me is this tube. “Mind the Gap.” “Thanks,” I say to myself. I have two older ladies help me switch trains with my suitcases and I get off at West Kensington. With two suitcases in hand, I look up these stairs that I have to carry by myself. Men take the other stairs and run up and down not even catching my eye. So far, my impression of men in this country is fabulous! I take one suitcase and push it up three steps with my shin and drag the other. When I reach the top, the man working the station opens the gate for me. I was extremely grateful. As I leave the station, I check to see which direction to go and walk up half a mile towards my flat… well, hoping it is the right direction to my flat. Everyone told me this was a posh area, and I start to think what Brits define as posh. It’s dirty and not amazing, but definitely not a ritzy area. I make it to the flat and it’s gated. Jenna, my advisor at school, helps me up to the top of the apartment. There aren’t any elevators, which I’m used to, but I am thankful that I only have to climb three flights instead of five. My roommates are great! I share a bedroom with two other girls and the boy has a single room. We have a living area, with a full out kitchen, washer dryer, and two bathrooms. First night, we went to a local club called “The Albion.” They just finished trivia night and all of us decided to grab a beer. Looking around the bar, it’s amazing how different bars are in different areas of the world. In Georgia, the beer is cheap, the music is either country or rap, and there are so many pool tables. In Boston, the songs are classic rock and nights are college/sports driven. In London, it’s quiet. People are talking and Oasis’ “Wonderwall” is playing in the background. There are also board games that are available to play in the bar. That’s a first for me, and to be honest, I like it a lot. Within the first few days, I have already taken a ride on the Thames and seen Big Ben, London Bridge (which is not impressive), Science Museum, part of the British Museum, the London Eye, and Tower Bridge. I am excited to see more of this wonderful country and city! I just finished my second day at my internship and I can already tell that I am going to learn a lot. I have been sitting next to Mark Summers, who is the owner of the company both days and he has been guiding me and telling me multiple stories of the entertainment industry. Today really was an eye opener. We were casting for an Audi commercial. The first day was for Infiniti but we only had to audition and cast a male and a female. This time, we had to cast for six parts: a British guard, a German tourist, a Cougar, a clumsy man, and an Audi salesman, and a young man looking to buy a car. Each scene had it’s own vignettes and the range of how people look was astounding that walked through the door. One thing that Mark taught me was that many agencies now use this database from castingnetworks.com. It is a database that has an actor’s information with pictures. When someone auditions for a specific role, they are put in a pool with all their information. Mark told me that one person was seriously considered for a $30,000 commercial deal, but lost it because his profile lacked photos. To the director of the commercial, it came across to him that the actor did not care as much because his profile was so scarce, so he cast someone else. A man came in today complaining about how in America people lose their copyrights if a commercial is filmed in Europe and the actors lose their rights and pay. He also complained about how poor SAG/AFTRA is and that really fueled Mark and the other actors in the waiting room seemed to be in a bit of a disturbance. The man was older and was trying to start be like Harold Hill in “The Music Man” telling of the troubles in River City, which Mark squashed and told the man to just not audition. Later in the day, Mark asked me what time the man came in, and he pulled his name from the database and called his agency to inform them of their client. Mark told me that people who represent an amazing company should not work in this business. I know that if that happened in America, someone would have been fired, trampled on, or worse. My lesson for the day: “If you try to start a fire, someone is going to hose you down and black list you.”