Day 29 VCUK-7 July 2019

I woke up early again and then Anthony and I went on a BTS sightseeing adventure. These have been my favorite parts of the trip so far. Its so exciting to be in a place where BTS was but also just doing something dumb like taking photos where they did and getting to know someone new is just my favorite type of fun.

Anthony also likes KPop and BTS and does illustration mostly. We chatted about future jobs and UD and Kpop and BTS and traveling and London.

First we went to the Disney Store but I was dumb and didn't check the opening times so it was closed until noon. So we went to the next spot which is The LightpoleTM. Tae from BTS took pictures at this lightpole in the middle of Regent's Street in front of Burberry when he was last in London for their tour and so many people have taken pictures in front of it now. There was a line to take the photo during the week of the Wembley concert!

There was no one there when we went though. We took a bunch of photos and it was dumb and fun. Then we went to Beak Street which is where JHope took photos while he was in London for their tour. We recreated those photos too. Anthony was impressed with my internet sleuthing skills to find this spot cause it's just a random street. Then the restaurant wasn't open yet so we went down to Picadilly Circle and hung out on the fountain for a bit and chatted and listened to the street performer. I swear all buskers have 4 songs. They always do Hallelujah and an Ed Sheeran song and then maybe a Beatles song and then Despacito or whatever recent big pop song works for their instrument best. I wonder how they switch out also. I feel like they sign up for time slots and must have some sorta permit which is interesting. I always thought that buskers just showed up and set up wherever they felt would make them money. I wonder how much bank you make in an hour.

I wonder since dollars are coins here if people make more money. Like do homeless people make more or less money in England as opposed to in America. I feel like generally people carry cash less worldwide so that already is probably hurting the homeless populace but I feel like people are more likely to give coins that bills no matter where you live and since coins here are full dollars I wonder if they get more money here or if they get less because its a full dollar so people give it less.

Then we went to lunch at Flat Iron on beak street which is where Tae from BTS ate. It's a super small cute little steak place. All they sell is two types of steak and then little sides and sauces and that's it. It was exciting and really cute. I've never ordered steak before I've only eaten it at home. I got the steak (it was skirt steak) medium well and got a side salad that had blue cheese and pecans. Anthony got medium steak and fries. It was really good. It was cooked on a piece of brick sorta like how dad does cedar plank salmon and then was on a block of wood. Then instead of a knife its a tiny butchers knife which so cute and funny. Then all the sides come in little metal cups like camping mugs. Also every group gets popcorn and you sit at a table for 6 so two other sets of people sat next to us. It was neat. They also gave us extra fries because they made too many apparently. The fries were good but supppper greasy and salty. The steak was perfectly cooked for me and had a really interesting taste but I don't think it had any sauce or seasoning besides salt. The salt was a little too much in certain parts but overall it was a great meal. I was very excited. We also took a picture there like Tae did.

Then we went to the Disney store and took a picture inside the Cinderella Carriage like JHope did. The carriage was super cool and I freaked out a little. They also had a whole Lion King and Toy Story thing and statues of Spiderman, Anna, Ariel, and Moana.

Then we went back to the flat and I hung out with the guys for a bit and tried to figure out what to do. The guys were going to Portobello market and then the soccer finals are on at 4pm but I have a ticket to the Churchill war rooms at 4 and I don't know what to do.

Krista texted me freaking out. She said she's going to loose her s*** on me but I don't know why and it was completely unprompted. I'm honestly really done with her and her ridiculous mood swings. I think she's freaking out on me because I did more work than I was supposed to do but what am I supposed to do when she's unreliable and doesn't have a track record for finishing projects on time. I'm not out here gonna ask for an extension or present something incomplete when I have time to put in and finish the project while she procrastinates. She was also annoyed that I didn't have time to work on it and didn't respond to her immediately. But we literally had all week to do something and she didn't make any approach to do so. I was free all week and had told her in advance that I was going out on the weekends to do things and I don't have service to text. After sending me too many angry texts she suddenly just started asking me for my opinion on minute things in the project which was a little annoying cause it was unnecessary and I was able to complete my part without her input on every detail.

I hate how she gets on my nerves and ruins my good mood. I keep having great weeks until she randomly remembers she should be working on the project and then explodes in stress on me for no reason. I hope I never work with her again and I hope my desk is never near her.

Honestly I just really don't like group projects. It always ends up with an unequal division of work which is cool and all but it always leaves me feeling like I didn't do enough or drives me nuts cause people always want to sit down and work on it together but after you discuss it I don't see why I need to sit and watch over your shoulder to do it or vice versa. I think you should meet in the beginning to figure out a goal then go off and make stuff and then come back together to get on the same page and then do that a couple more times until it's done. I don't think I can be a designer cause it's always done in teams or groups and I am absolutely miserable every time I work in a team like this. I like working in groups to bounce ideas off each other but it doesn't make sense to me to have two people doing the same job. I think I will find something like illustration or something that can be done by myself but as part of large group not a tiny team.

The guys ended up not going to Portobello and I decided to go to Churchill's War Rooms because I think the soccer game will be uneventful and US will win. Also no one's going to watch it at a pub anymore they're all just gonna watch in the flat separately so I don't feel like I'm missing out.

This was the right choice. The War Rooms were super neat and there was a museum on Churchill's life. I didn't realize he changed political parties three times and was PM twice. Also he's an honorary American citizen and has a passport and his mom was an American heiress. He also possibly invented the overalls but I think that's false. It's interesting because the place was built in secret underneath Downing street but it was fortified with some American steel technology but they honestly didn't think it would survive a bomb. Thankfully it was never bombed which is wild but nearby it was. The rooms were so small and everyone was forced to sleep and be there 24/7 so they also had to do sunlight treatment to get enough nutrients. The map room was my favorite. It was super cool and is apparently left the exact way it was when they locked everything up 6 days after V Day. The walls are covered in maps and have little push pins in it and it was cute. Apparently one guy left his sugar cubes in his desk which were in a little envelope labeled as his. Churchill had a bedroom and everything there but apparently he only slept there 3 nights of the whole war and mostly would sleep in the apartment upstairs on the ground floor. However most people lived there for 6 years of their lives.

When I got home I caught the last 15 minutes of the game (including over time). It was 2-0 and it was clear we won. It was sorta ridiculous Netherland's defense was awful an we were in their box every 2 minutes taking Terrible shots at goal. Nevertheless we won and it was cute. Also the stadium chanted for equal pay and I think that's the real win here. It's ridiculous how our women's team is way better than our men's but is still not being paid freaking equally just because they're women. If that's not some 1800s bs I dunno what is. This women's world cup was monumental because people actually watched it this year and it actually had big sponsors and companies equally put in sponsor that they do for the mens.

After the game I spent time finding new music and then I worked all evening on the projects due this week. BTS released new playlists of music and they usually have pretty good tastes so I downloaded them onto Apple Music and then looked for more new bops. I worked on the bench with Jess. Our bench is called the communication bench and is a bench for people to sit on and then helps them make friends either with the person next to them or connects them to another person on the bench somewhere else in the world. It has a partition where you answer some questions and then it connects you to a person (next to you or far) and gives you some prompts to begin chatting.

Then I went and worked on the JWT posters with Krista which was boring cause honestly I finished the project on Tuesday and she essentially just made me sit there and watch her do stuff and then would ignore my input but at this rate I don't really care anymore because I'm not putting this in my portfolio and I think however it's turned in now will be fine and so I don't care what she changes or does. She changed all the type and is still insisting to use both our illustrations even though they don't match and are not cohesive at all but she's taking it personally when it's literally not personal it's about giving a nice looking cohesive presentation of our ideas. I don't care any more and I'm moving onnnn.

I went to bed and watched Hwarang and then slept.