Spending way too much money...

Week 5

This past week has been a week of a lot of money being spent. On Wednesday Steven mentioned a cruise for spring break and a big group of us were ready to hop on board! It was a grueling process of talking to people to get 12 people booked for a cruise. It was a lot of back and forth for me asking people how to spell their names, middle names, and birth dates, and then relaying it back to the guy. After it was all said and done it was a big relief and I am so ready to get on board the cruise for spring break! I’m definitely most excited about beaches, warm weather, and going to Tunisia. Along with booking a cruise for spring break I also booked a flight to Amsterdam the weekend after spring break with Lindsey, Tess, and Mal. It will be a long tiring weekend since we have a day trip that Friday and then we leave really early on Saturday for the Netherlands. After booking two trips I still wasn’t done spending money. With some of the girls we reserved tickets for the last weekend we are here for the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Tour. I’m not the biggest Harry Potter fan but I do really enjoy movie sets and finding out how things are made, so I am really excited to see everything right before I go home. April is going to be a busy month, and this week was clearly the week to spend all my money.

This past Thursday night was a fun night. A small group of us went out to ULU for awhile. It was a lot of fun. Thursdays are karaoke nights, usually I would never think about doing karaoke but somehow Lindsey managed to convince me to sing with her. We ended up starting it off with two random guys singing “I wanna Dance with somebody” by Whitney Houston. Well everyone loved us and the DJ ended up turning off the guy’s microphone because they were so bad. After Lindsey and I sang one song there was no stopping us. We tried to get Tess to join but she was not having it. Charlie had no problem joining in though. It turned into a great night of hanging out with friends and meeting other students at ULU.

Friday was the day that it seemed like everyone had people come visit for the weekend. There were people from Spain, Wales, and some from home. Friday was the day of the advertising field trip. I actually had a good time. We weren’t able to actually go into the grounds and see inside but we got to see the outside of the arenas and see the Olympic torch in progress. There was a diving event but we didn’t end going to it. However we may be going to a different event later in the term. The shopping mall that was by the Olympic grounds was HUGE. I could get into a lot of trouble there and spend a lot of money. Good thing when we went I wasn’t in a huge shopping mood. I will definitely be going back there soon and definitely before spring break. After I got back from the trip with class I went to borough market with some people. It was a good way to end the afternoon. The market was busy, and the weather was absolutely beautiful.  Friday night was a lot of fun. Almost the whole group along with their guests all went out to ULU. It was great being able to hang out with everyone and have everyone go out together. I think it was a good bonding experience for the group.

Saturday was a fairly calm day. I went with Lucy, Abby, and Holly to brick lane to do the east end assignment. It was another wonderful day in London! I could get used to this warmer weather, finally.  The rest of the day was laid back and uneventful. Saturday night was a night of relaxing and watching movies with people.

Sunday there was a bug group of us that went to Hillsong for church. The service was long but I loved it. Matt Redman performed; it was a lot of fun. It reminded me of a big youth conference that I used to go to in high school. It was a good memory to go back too. After church it was a long day of catching up on homework, and blog assignments!

Internship Feb 20-21st

This week at my internship nothing really changed. Except on Monday I wasn't able to really get that much work done. The computers weren't working properly and there was a problem with the searching database. So for most of the day I had to put things into Excel to prepare for other volunteers throughout the week. Tuesday was just a normal day of searching through the database for missing NHS numbers. I have seen Stephen a few times and he has mentioned HR talking to me about going to their department. So hopefully in the next few weeks I will be on to something else and learn the ins and outs of other departments in the hospital.

There isn’t much to update as far as the people and the environment around me go. Everything has pretty much been the same. The people around me are funny and talk about the most random things. I do however get to hear about their families, which is nice to hear about. It always reminds me of home and makes being away from my family easier.  

Making sense of it all; the Museum of London

 Well getting five hundred words for this assignment might be a bit of a struggle. It wasn’t exactly the most entertaining or interesting museum. It probably doesn’t help that museums like that aren’t really my thing anyway. It was more so the beginning of the museum that was boring. However not all of it was a drag and it was better than spending a day sitting in Vandon. I only spent a few hours at the museum but I’m sure I could have spent all day there and then some if I had wanted to. Although it wasn’t my kind of think it did give me insight to what London was throughout the ages. There were some interesting artifacts to look at. There was a lot to take in throughout the museum but for the most part I stopped at just the things that sparked my interest. In the museum I really liked some of the video rooms that accompanied certain times of London. Two of my favorites and what I found the most interesting was the Black Death Plague as well as the Great Fire. There wasn’t much about the Black Death but for what they had I still really liked. As for the great fire, they had what a firefighter’s helmet now feels like compared to what a helmet and a bucket back then felt like. I couldn’t imagine carrying around the bucket, it was so heavy, and wearing the helmet would be so uncomfortable.

Unic Taxi

During one of the videos with the great fire they showed London and, lit it up as it caught on fire. I thought it was neat how they portrayed it so you could really see how fast the fire spread and how quickly people lost their homes and belongings. Another thing I really liked was St. Paul’s Cathedral as well as how the Globe Theatre looks. I really enjoyed some of the architecture that was displayed. As the museum progressed to more modern times it got significantly more interesting. The “pleasure gardens” was definitely interesting. I really liked seeing all the costumes and the clothes they would wear. The most modern part of the museum, (the end) was by far my favorite. There was stuff about The Beatles and they had old cars on display as well as vespas and carriages. There was also this room that was sort of a map of London. It had a display of the London Eye and information on it as well as Big Ben, Parliament, and West Minster Abby. On the table you could touch certain pictures of things like phone booths or busses and there would be little trivia facts about it all. I thought that room was interesting because it really showed how far technology has developed throughout the years. Overall it was an okay trip to the museum and a decent way to get out and spend a dreary day in London.

Street Life; London's neighbourhoods and Markets

For this market assignment I ended up visiting three of the markets. I was able to go to Borough Market, Camden, and Portobello Market.

Each of the markets had different things that I really liked. Portobello market is definitely my favorite market that I have been too. I love all the little shops that have antiques and all the jewelry that everyone was selling. It was such a cute market and reminded me of Star Hollows from Gilmore Girls! When I went to the market it was on a Friday after an advertising trip. Being that it was a Friday it wasn’t too busy. There were still a lot of people there though. I would have gone through a lot of money at Portobello market if I would have had a lot with me. I did however have a nutella and strawberry crepe, and it was so good. The whole time through the market I could smell all the crepe stands and debated on getting one every one I passed. Eventually I bought a crepe and it was delicious.

As for Camden Market, I love the atmosphere that it is in. I love the young, rocker, hippy vibe that it has. I have been to Camden several times and every time I go I discover something else that I never noticed before. Camden is great place to try new foods, and there is always so much to choose from. There are plenty of shops to walk in and out of and you don’t have to worry about buying something right away, most likely you will see it in another shop around the market. Wondering around Camden Market really makes me want to get a tattoo while I am here! I love how much culture and diversity there is all around Camden Market.

Borough Market was the third market I went to. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t my favorite and it probably isn’t a market I would go back to a bunch of times. However I did love that there were so many stands throughout the market where you could sample things. You could easily make a day out of it and just sample everything and consider it a lunch. There is so much! I did have a really good lemon chicken sandwich for lunch while at the market and it was excellent. One of the things that bothered me about the market was all of the fish stands. I hate fish and the smell of it so it was not appetizing at all. Also the smell of all the cheese stands and the huge wheels of cheese didn’t smell good. I did have a really good time while I was at borough market though. It was a beautiful day in London, the sun was shining and the weather was warm. It was nice to be able to spend a day walking around a market and not be freezing the whole time.

Internship Feb 6-7 & Feb 13-14

Well the last few weeks have been pretty uneventful. For the most part I have been doing the same things but there is always a slight change of what the general task is. The people I work with always have a new file for me each week that has something else missing from it. For the most part I am just searching for missing NHS numbers or GP numbers. Although it gets extremely repetitive there is still something about finding something that is missing. Human nature I guess.

A couple times over these last few weeks instead of sitting at the desk all day I have had to actually go to the ward that the patient was in and look for their file, whether it is to find if they use a different name, such as their middle name, or if it is to look for something else like a phone number. It makes the day a bit more interesting allows me to see other part of the hospital besides where I am currently working.

Even though the day gets repetitive I really enjoy going into work on Mondays and Tuesdays. The people around me are extremely friendly. The other day from one of the ladies I got a custard English donut. It didn’t really taste that much different from what a donut would be at home but it sure was good! They certainly like to be social at work. I like that they get their work done but are still social with everyone and really care about the relationship they have with the people around them. It is a nice change from home where certain places tend to be very serious. The office is never completely silent which I like a lot. It’s always lively and makes for a good day, and it makes the day go by fast which is always a plus!

Bath & All

Week 4

Well to start off with Bath was a lot of fun. Although I did miss London and being in the city it was a nice change for a couple of days. Walking around Bath was is a lot different from walking around London. The people in Bath walk so slow compared to what I am used to in London. I found that there were several times when I was getting annoyed because there were people walking too slow in front of me, or they were blocking the sidewalk so I couldn’t get past. Naturally I really liked all the shopping there was in Bath. There were plenty of places to go and a lot of places I have never heard of. My favorite part of the trip was definitely the rugby match. I had so much fun and I didn’t have to understand the rules to enjoy the game. As far as Stonehenge goes, it was cool to see just so I can say that I have been there but it is definitely unnecessary to spend a huge amount of time there. I thought the time we spent there was the perfect time frame. I pretty much felt the same way about Lacock village. It was cool seeing some of the Harry Potter stuff. I don’t really even like Harry Potter but it was nice seeing it and taking pictures so my friends back home can see it.  Although it was a great weekend I was definitely happy to be getting on the coach to head back to the city.

On Monday I met up with one of my friends and had some wine. I used to go to school with him back in the states and I worked with him over the summer. A few years ago he moved back to Germany and was in London for a few days. It was great being able to see someone I haven’t seen in years. It was also really nice talking to him about people back home. It felt good to be able to have a conversation with someone here that knew people from home and knew who I was talking about if I told a story about them. It was like having a bit of home come to London for a few hours.
Tuesday was Valentine’s Day. Back at home everyone just carries on with their days and it’s not really a huge deal. However it was neat walking around the city and seeing all the stuff for Valentine’s Day, you could feel all the love in the city. Some of the girls and I had a good time drinking wine and watching The Vow.
Each week is going by faster and faster, before I know it is going to be time to go home. I certainly miss everyone from home but I would be okay with time slowing down a little bit. This past weekend a lot of people were out travelling. Vandon House was extremely quiet. It was nice having a weekend to just relax and not really do anything. It was good being able to hang out with just a few people, play some games, watch movies, and have quiet.

Internship Assignment B

Kirsten Reynolds

West Middlesex University Hospital

A.      West Middlesex has a vision of becoming a world class hospital for their community and to offer quality care in every way to each and every patient.

B.      The Executive Directors are responsible for the everyday running of the organization. The Non-executive Directors, bring their independence and specialized expertise to the Board, providing the necessary checks and balances to ensure that governance of the organization is running smoothly.

C.      Board meetings are held every 8 weeks with the trust board; these meetings are open to the public. The board meetings are where issues are discussed and big decisions typically get discussed and made.  There are separate committees that manage different part of the hospital. The Remuneration committee is responsible for setting the executive salary levels; they are also responsible for monitoring the NHS pay scheme. The Audit committee reviews the financial governance and control of the hospital. There are a lot of fundraising that takes place for West Middlesex and it is the Charitable Funds committee that is responsible for overseeing the hospitals charity funds. The progress of financial management and performances are overseen by the Finance and Performance committee. The clinical and non clinical governance arrangements are monitored by the integrated governance committee. Clinical Excellence committee assesses and evaluates clinical performance. Lastly the delivery of the statutory duties in terms of staff and service delivery agendas are overseen by the Equalities committee.

D.      Although there isn’t a private hospital extremely close to West Mid, West Mid does offer private patient care within their facility. I think by doing this it definitely attracts people who do want private care to still come to West Middlesex.

E.       West Middlesex hospital is funded by the government like all NHS hospitals. However on top of the funding from the government there are plenty of voluntary donations and fundraising.

F.       Donations to the hospital and funding from the government enable West Mid to buy specialist medical equipment, additional training and development opportunities to staff, and improve the environment for the patients and their families.

G.     West Middlesex has an estimated 1,900 employees currently working.

H.      As an employee at West Middlesex employees receive at least 27 days’ of holiday each year, along with public holidays. Other benefits include training, occupational health services, membership of the NHS pension scheme, and study leave for sponsored courses.

I.        A current issue that West Mid is facing is the amount of room in their A&E along with the waiting times. However currently they are in progress of building an add-on to the A&E to hold more beds and to hopefully reduce waiting times. Another issue they are facing like other hospitals is financial problems. With the cuts that have been made it is effecting the amount of money hospitals in London are being provided.

Internship Assignment A

What I most want to get out of this is an understanding of another cultures business atmosphere. It is important to gain that understanding of other cultures when working internationally. I want to understand what things could potentially make or break a business deal with British culture.

Throughout my internship I really want to be able to get an understanding of how a hospital is run and taken care of beyond the medical aspects. I want to see everything that goes into making the hospital run successfully.  I want to see how their NHS system is run with their universal healthcare. It’s so different from the United States and I want to get an understanding of how things would potentially go if the U.S. switched to universal healthcare instead of independent health insurance. Another reason I am really interested in it, is for the basic knowledge of business administration in a hospital. We rarely if ever hear about the finance, IT, HR, and other departments in a hospital. All we ever heard about is doctors and nurses. There are other people involved within a hospital and that keep it going and I want to know how all of it works.