The final week in London was a good one, where I tried to see as many sights as possible before leaving the city and complete my internship on good standing. I was interning for the London Basketball Association, a non-profit who run basketball games throughout the city of London and especially in underprivileged areas. During my internship part of the week, we had our end of season basketball tournament on Monday the 27th of June. At this tournament I saw a lot of the effort and work we had been putting in culminate in a tournament. I was not on the tournament planning side of the organization as much, but I still saw the work being put in. At the tournament I was using some skills I had from home and running the book and scoreboard for a court. With this position, I was able to watch a lot of good basketball while helping as well. My favorite game of the day was one of the semifinal games where there was a dunk! Everyone went crazy after the dunk and although a technical foul was issued, it was still incredibly hype. I had a good experience overall at the London basketball association. I expected to be doing a bit more finance and accounting work and did some more advising that I thought but that was beneficial for me and the organization. For most of my time in London I did not have a direct supervisor in the accounts and finance department, but I got to meet and interact with my supervisor in the final week which was great. He taught me a lot about the accounts and accounting software.
In terms of things around the city this week, I finally got to go on the London Eye. It was something I was planning on doing my whole time in London but just never got the chance to. On Wednesday me and 3 of my roommates went to go up it. I had always seen it from a distance, but up close the London Eye looks a whole lot taller than it does from far away. This fright was further amplified by one of my roommates (I won’t call him out) fear of heights. But we made it on and went around without the eye falling over. The views from the top are incredible and the entire city can be seen, as well as out in the countryside and surrounding mountains.
The second cool sight I saw this week was Greenwich where the Greenwich mean is located. I took the Uber boat, a public transportation network which runs along the Thames River. It was a great sightseeing opportunity in the boat, and even more beautiful sights were seen once in Greenwich. The observatory and the Mean (which is where all time zones are based upon and what separates the eastern and western hemispheres) are at the top of a hill and lookout upon one of the many financial districts of London in Canary Wharf. Overall, I had a great time in London and got to see many sights and gain a plethora of new experiences.
