Hi everyone I’m Jenny and I’m one of the three interns at Giles Insurance Brokers in London. Today is the Friday of week one (out of twelve!) and already I can’t believe how quickly time is passing. Before I tell you anything about our week I think you should take a look at this… Aside from nearly making me wet my pants with laughter each time I watch it, it is scarily accurate – as I will explain, our experiences on the tube match it almost identically! Also – it makes sense of the title of my blog. So I guess our journey starts on Sunday with a train to London King’s Cross (sadly – and I am being genuine here – there were no wizards in sight)! 5 hours, two sandwiches and a mammoth get to know each other session later we arrived – half walking, half crawling our way to a taxi with ten bags between the three of us. We quickly dumped our things and headed out for a wander and to get some pizza before retiring for an early night.
As my aching arms indicated on Monday morning, my excessive packing had taken its toll! Luckily for us, it was a bank holiday and so we took the opportunity to explore London, trial the tube (pronounced 'CHOOB' – the Scots have arrived…) and make the journey to the offices in Birchin Lane. While this was a very successful day, it really did not prepare us for what awaited us on Tuesday morning.
“This train is now ready to depart, please stand clear of the doors.”
…
Yes – 8.30 on Tuesday morning and it took us three attempts to actually board a train! We are fast learning that a timid ‘Excuse me…’ doesn’t get you anywhere – you just need to walk like you mean it. (Please see MM clip!) Is it just me or do people in London actually walk differently? More quickly? Always like they have something VERY important to do, anyway! Our day in the office consisted of getting desks, an email address, many files with the data we will be working with and meeting our colleagues for the next twelve weeks.
Over Wednesday and Thursday we spent most of our time familiarising ourselves with the zillions (said the maths student) of acronyms which appear to dominate the insurance world – EBITDA, GWP, IBNR and many more! – and attempting to attach some meaning to the data we received on day one. As the sun has been shining, we also took the opportunity to take our lunches outside and explore the surrounding area – there are lots of lovely gardens and grassy areas hidden away behind the offices. On Wednesday evening we started to explore Angel, and to our delight discovered that it has a shopping centre complete with H&M, wagamama and paperchase (to name but a few) and a cinema! As a squeal from Susan indicated, there is also a Sainsbury’s – and I quote: ‘It’s not even a Sainsbury’s local, IT’S AN ACTUAL SAINSBURY’S!’. Guess that’s our weekly shop sorted. Once more, please refer to MM!! On Thursday evening we were treated to dinner by Chris Giles (CEO of Giles Insurance Brokers and our Global Scot), where we were joined by Managing Directors Mark Addis and Sarah Lyons, and Katie from Saltire! The food was delicious, and it was amazing to get to chat to Chris, Sarah and Mark about the work we’re going to be doing for them, and just to find out a little more about them. Afterwards they insisted we head out for some drinks and ‘let our hair down’ (Chris’s words!) – all in all it was a perfect start to the internship.
Despite being on one of the longest internships, we’re already worried that there won’t be enough time to fit everything we want to do in, so we have written a massive to do list which now has pride of place on the wall above my desk. Top of the list are: Romeo and Juliet at the O2 academy, Dylan Moran at the Apollo, Harrods, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace… In fact, there isn’t really a top of the list – it’s all just too exciting! I think it’s worth a mention that we found out yesterday we’ll be travelling to the Cayman Islands on the 2nd of July and to Tennessee on the 9th (roll on my 21st on the 10th!!). I can hardly contain my excitement, but would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Saltire Foundation for what I know will be an amazing and unforgettable twelve weeks. I don’t know how to thank you enough! It’s bizarre how settled I already feel, and how normal it feels to be coming to work with Susan and Sarah. This has been a pretty mammoth first blog and while I feel like saying it’s a one off, I predict this is only the beginning!
Today we are off to explore a little more in Angel and possibly make a trip to the cinema – will blog again soon! Jenny xxx
Hey Jenni! How are you getting on?
I didn't know that it was one of the SF internships that you got - Jamie told me you were interning down in London, but he didn't tell me how you got on with the SF application.
Any way, glad to see that you're setling in and getting accustomed to london life...and the choob! :) I sympathise with you having to get the subway last year to work in NYC - that being said, I definitely think its worse in London!
Let me know if you're needing any help whilst you're down there!
Graeme
Hi Graeme :)
I'm very well thanks! I think I'm just about up to speed with all the insurance jargon now, which is good. Yep - this internship was only finalised after the application deadline, so we had all initially applied to different internships... It's all been a bit mental - got offered the place officially at the end of April, finished exams on the 24th of May and started here on the 31st but I made it in one piece!
I see from your blog that you're off to the States this summer - amazing! How long are you going for? Will you be at the Saltire dinner in September?
Today we braved the bus (instead of the tube) and it was definitely an error... One came and didn't let anybody on because it was so busy so we had to wait in the rain for the second! Thinking we'll be back on the underground tomorrow ha.
Is that you finished with uni now?? Mental - congrats :)
Jenny xxx
Love the blog Jenny!
Jenny! Your first blog! YAY! Can't wait for San Diego now. Loved the Michael McIntyre clip, I was in London getting my U.S visa on tuesday and the choob was a total nightmare, on woman stood on my foot with her enormous stiletto (unsure how she was planning to work a whole day in those!) and I almost cried with the pain - but remained determined to appear as though I did the whole london underground thing everyday!
Hope the next 11 weeks are as good as your first!
xx
Helen, hi! Thanks so much for your comment and sorry for the late reply - been a bit hectic here in London! Blog number two will hopefully appear at some stage today...
But yes, the choob = bane of my London life!! Although to be fair, I think you get used to it. We haven't failed to get on two in a row this week at least :P Your stiletto encounuter sounds awful - how on earth did you manage not to cry??
Realyl weird to think you wished me happy 11 weeks, but now it's more like 9 and a half... Are you having a good summer? When do you leave for San Diego?
xxx
Helena*! Apologies... xx