I'm Pretentious

It's happened. I have become my own pet peeve and it is all Beijing's fault. Some people today were complaining about how crowded the Tube was, how much walking we had to do, and how janky our accommodations are. None of these things phase me anymore after China and I found myself saying so every time someone said anything. Thus, I became the pretentious bitch who tries to one up everyone and looks down on others for not being like her. I recognize this. However, I still want to slap anyone who complains in front of me. They have no idea, just no idea. The Tube was not anywhere near Beijing subway levels of crowded; in fact I found myself plotting in my head how to fit more people onto the train. At one station today, we let two trains go by that we definitely could have gotten on if only everyone had Beijing skills. When we had to push into the third car, I was the first person in while everyone else tried to be polite. Living in college town Indiana, I didn't realize how invaluable my time in China was in helping me to adapt and survive, but it has definitely come in handy here. I really must quit talking about it though or no one will ever want to talk to me.

Today was another administrative day. We left here at about 7:45 in the pouring rain to venture to City University to meet our internship coordinators and learn about the class we will be taking at City. The Circle line was closed due to someone throwing themself under a train so we had to take a more roundabout route. Apparently, the Tube has all kinds of delays and such nowadays, which I don't remember happening last time. City is several tube stops and one line change from Palace Court. The trains and stations didn't seem to be air conditioned like I remembered them being as I was exceedingly hot despite it being rainy and cool above ground. I got to hear "Change here for the Piccadilly line" which made me happy despite it not having the same inflection it did 7 years ago.

Our intrepid graduate resident Philip got lost leading us and we were late. It wasn't a terribly big deal but my still jet-lagged body and sore calves were not fans of the extra walking. We got more packets of copious amounts of papers to sign and read and know, which was overwhelming. We also met with our project supervisor, Mo, to talk about the academic project that is the major component of our academics besides the class. This is a roughly 20 page paper or project of similar magnitude. We have to have an idea by June 10th and I have to say that I am completely at a loss for what to do. Hopefully my internship will spark some creativity in me otherwise I am going to be in very big trouble.

That meeting was over with at about 10:45 but I was assigned to the last group of internship coordinator meetings at 12:30. I went with a group to get our City University IDs and I am happy to say mine is not truly terrible, nowhere near my Olympic pass photo. Sign-ups for the Arcadia side trips were also today. I noticed I was only about the third person to sign up for the Wales weekend but as long as they don't cancel the trip, I don't really care. I am pumped to be coasteering and sea kayaking on my birthday this year. The last hour before the meeting was spent sitting in Costa Coffee talking with some girls from my housing and some from Redcliffe Gardens in Chelsea.

David, my internship coordinator, informed me at our meeting that Battersea just had a really excellent intern also named Caitlin, so I now have to try and be the as good or better Caitlin. My interview is tomorrow at 11 am with Luke the production manager. It sounded like I will be doing a lot of practical tech work, though alas they have no costuming department. I have to take the Tube and then a bus to reach it, but it is still within District 2, so not nearly as far as some others. David also informed me of a previous intern who got to work Hairspray on the West End because he used to have a contact in the show who is no longer with it. Why he felt the need to tell me this I don't know. He also didn't believe my field work request when I said I would work in any area of the theater, but I assured him that was true. There is no diva here.

After the meeting, I led a Palace Court group back. I know, Caty Natt, daughter of Jane "They moved Winston-Salem" Natt, actually remembered how to get somewhere. It was pretty astounding but then I had been paying a lot of attention due to my love of London and its buildings. I went to Queensway, the nearby shop road, to buy a cheapy cheapster mobile phone and to get groceries. Most importantly I bought four bags of Walkers Cheese and Onion potato crisps and nearly cried with happiness. Now I am preparing to go to bed and sleep 12 hours before getting up to go to my interview in the morning and to buy TKTS at Leicester Square so I have something better to see tonight than the poor souls using the free Wicked tickets we were given yesterday. I really want to stop being jet-lagged so I can actually start to enjoy myself more. Cheerio as they say here.