The Internship Begins...

It has been a while since I last blogged, since I am getting used to this new stage of my program and adapting once again to working life! The internship phase is now in full swing and I'm liking my placement more and more everyday.  Two days a week I am with the legal team of the organization and the other two days I am at one of the organization's refuges (they don't use the term "shelter" here).  The refuge in particular has been interesting for me, since it is organized very differently than the ones I have worked in before.  The women have their own apartments, where they can stay for around 1 year, so they have a lot more freedom and privacy than at a shelter where they are surrounded by other people all the time.  It is like the transitional housing programs in the US, except that these are women who just left their batterers.  I feel like this longer time frame may make it easier for women to move on, and make it less likely for them to go back to their abusers. It also could make it difficult though, if what a woman really needs is a strong support system of other women around all the time.  I am really interested to see how it works in more detail.

I am also still loving my British Youth Culture class! We took a field trip to Abbey Road Studios on Monday, which was incredibly exciting!! We were just walking down the road, and all of a sudden we were crossing the zebra stripes! It was awesome. To be in a place that I knew for certain all four of the Beatles were, spent a lot of creative time, and loved, was so moving.  The studio is still in use for recording and so we weren't able to go inside, but just being there was enough.  It was interesting to be there at this time, when the studios were just saved by the British government.  The announcement that Abbey Road was going to be sold caused quite an uproar over here, as it is such an important landmark and part of British culture.  Watching the public reaction in the news was really interesting and just illustrated how important the Beatles really were and still are to the British people. 


This past weekend I took day trips from London to Leeds Castle and Canterbury on Saturday, and Bath and Avebury on Sunday.  Both were really interesting and we drove through some really beautiful English countryside on the way to our destinations.  There is so much to see in London and England that I am excited to be staying in the UK for the next few weeks exploring!