The city that never sleeps

This is crazy. As if I am actually living in New York. Okay it's only for four months but STILL! I cannot get over how weird it is! 

I haven't really been able to blog because it's been so chaotic here but I've managed to do lots of wonderful things in this beautiful city while also managing to sneak some uni business in there! 

Welcome week was mental, as always! We had a massive mess up with our course selections so had to start from scratch. This didn't exactly go well as the majority of the courses we all wanted were now full or not running any longer - absolute nightmare! We managed to eventually get it all sorted after countless phone calls and emails to every professor at F.I.T! 

I'm now studying quite a range of subjects here such as Fashion Journalism, Buying, Photographic Styling, Leather Accessories and Jewelry Fabrication! The description for all of these sound really fun and exciting which is exactly what I wanted! I'm definitely most excited for Fashion Journalism and Styling as these are the two areas I'm most interested about going into when I graduate at the moment. However, that could all change after these four months! I'm really hoping the Journalism course will help improve my confidence within writing. I like to think I'm pretty confident when it comes to public speaking but I've always struggled with presenting my ideas to peers for fear of them not being good enough - such a silly thought!!

We've done so many touristy things in the couple of weeks we have been here so I will just upload pictures to this post for you to have a look at rather than me banging on about them all!!

Next up - New York Fashion Week! Ahhh!!! 

What a whirlwind month!

I have no words...
HOW has one month gone so quick?! It's been such an amazing summer and I'm sad to see it come to an end! Although I guess it's only really beginning in some ways!

I've spent this month spending time with my family and friends before I go to New York and it's been lovely. I had an American themed leaving party/20th birthday which was fabulous! My mum and dad kitted the kitchen out so I felt like I was in New York. It was surreal. 

I've spent the past month not admitting I'm actually going to New York but today it has finally hit me and now It's the night before I drive down to London for my flight at 10:30 on Monday morning. Terrifying!! 

My final week at LOOK!

This week went SO quick once again! It's already Sunday and I'm wondering where this past month has gone?! 

I had such a lovely month with the girls at LOOK and I really do hope we stay in touch! This week we mainly gutted the WHOLE cupboard ready for the new interns on Monday (which happens to be one of my really good friends Beth!) and now the cupboard is absolutely spotless! 

After a fabulous week I landed back home and went out for my best friends 20th birthday. It was so nice catching up with everyone! Now I've got one month left at home before I jet off to NYC for four months to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology! 

Week three at LOOK!

It's scaring me how fast my time at LOOK is going!! This summer is going far too fast! Before I know it I will be living in the Big Apple for four months..ahh!

On Monday and Tuesday I was assisting Chloe on the main fashion 'Hawaiian' shoot! It was so nerve wracking but I loved every single minute of it! 

It started by packing all the outfits and accessories away in cases and getting them delivered to the studio - which could be seen as the easy part! The next day was the biggest challenge! Trying to find the studio was a mission in its self. After trailing round construction sights I eventually found it and arrived 45 minutes early which meant I had time to settle down and unpack all the outfits onto the rail before steaming. 

After everyone arrived, the photographer, hair and make up artists, the model and Chloe, we could begin shooting! I was in awe watching how the bare studio was transformed and especially seeing the hair and make up artists work their magic on Andy our stunning model.

My jobs included steaming each outfit, dressing Andy and just generally being on hand to help with anything that I was needed for! It went by super fast but I was definitely ready for my bed when the shoot wrapped, especially after the mammoth journey back home!

The rest of the week was pretty similar to the first two. Me and the girls spent the week organising the cupboard and making sure all the returns were being sent back before getting lost in the jungle that we call a fashion cupboard! 

There were so many shoots going on this week so it was pretty manic! Although I didn't mind this as I was getting excited to go home to see all my friends and family while on a day out to York Races! It was such a funny day but I can't wait for bed tonight ahead of my first day of my last week at LOOK! 

Week two at LOOK!

This week has gone SO fast! 

I was doing pretty much the same kind of jobs as last week but I'm still loving it! Chloe asked me to assist her on her main fashion 'Hawaiian' shoot next Tuesday which is soo exciting! 

It will be my first time assisting on a shoot so it will be pretty nerve wracking but exciting all at the same time. It will be so interesting to see how my favourite photo shoots are put together and I'll hopefully learn some tips for when I'm doing shoots in NYC and back at Nottingham Trent! 

My mum, dad and some family friends came down this weekend as well. My dad and Chris went to see Monty Python on Friday night so me, my mum and Lisa have a lovely evening in Covent Garden sipping on cocktails and prosecco until they found us after the show! 

Saturday was another brilliant day, even though the weather wasn't that great! We wandered around for a bit and then met up with another family friend before going to see Jersey Boys which is SUCH a good show! I went in slightly skeptical about it all but I came out a complete Frankie Valli fan - not what I expected to happen! 

The weekend has flown by and now it's time for the week to begin again! As much as I'm loving my time in London and at LOOK I am so excited to get home and see my family and friends before I jet off to New York for four months! Come at me NYC! 

Week one at LOOK!

As I've mentioned on here I've got my self a months long work experience placement at LOOK magazine in London! 

Well, it's the end of week one and there's so much to tell! 

As you can imagine I was pretty nervous at first but as soon as I got in the building and met the  other girls interning there and all the staff I got really excited! We got taught the ways of the fashion cupboard and then we were left to get to know each other.

Everyone is really lovely, which makes going to work in the morning a lot easier! 

After a couple of days of returns, call ins and general assisting the first couple of interns got asked to assist on a photo shoot which is so exciting! High St Hottest and 'Scuba' were the photo shoots for this week and seeing the stylists, Chloe and Lucie, style the clothes was really cool (it will be even cooler when I see it all in LOOK in a couple of weeks!). 

On Thursday night their was a bar on the roof terrace for all staff in the Blue Finn Building which we went along to! It was really nice to get to know the girls outside of the cupboard and have a few glasses of Pimm's after a long day at work! We planned a lot more for the week after, we thought it would be nice to grab a bite to eat and a cocktail! 

On Wednesday I helped Sam, a fashion assistant at LOOK, with 'tap to buy'. This is a feature where readers who buy LOOK on a tablet can click on products and be directed to the stores website so they can purchase the product there and then! It's a pretty long task but it was interesting to see how other areas of the magazine work and also do a bit of online shopping while working! 

I went home this weekend to catch up with friends with family which was lovely but I was extremely excited to get back to London today! Roll on week two...

Bailey's Stardust

During a recent trip to London I visited the National Portrait Gallery and saw the David Bailey exhibition: Bailey's stardust! It was so interesting and exciting to be able to see all these iconic images first hand. I got told I couldn't take photos after about 5 minutes so these are all I could get but I absolutely loved it! 

I really want to get into photography more and photographic styling so I think during my time at FIT in NYC I'll take some classes which will help improve my skills in these areas!