Beginning my Internship and Northern England

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Cerys Ramos Davies

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Cerys Ramos Davies

<i>Home Institution</i>: Loyola Marymount University <i>Expected Graduation Year</i>: 2024 <i>Academic Major / Minor</i>: Journalism <i>Destination</i>: London, UK <i>"Hello" in your host country's language</i>: Hello <i>Program Provider</i>: FIE <i>Demographics</i>: Hispanic/Latinx <i>Future Career Goals</i>: My ultimate career goal is to be a music journalist. I grew up with music fanatics as parents. With such early experiences of live music and pop culture, I have developed a passion for all of the conversations and opinions that surround music and music culture. My end goal is to play a role in these kinds of conversations. <i>Top Three Study Abroad Goals</i>: My first goal is to dive head first into the London music scene. I was born and raised in Los Angeles and continue to attend college in the same city. I have only ever been able to fully experience shows and events in LA and I am ready to broaden my music experience by living in London, another music capital of the world; My second goal is to travel and experience as many cities and cultures as possible. I plan to spend my weekends abroad taking as many planes and trains to as many different places. This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and I plan to make every second of it memorable; My third goal is to reconnect with my heritage. My father was born and raised in Swansea, Wales. As a young child, we used to spend the summer in Swansea. But as my brother and I grew up and life got busier we stopped making these trips. My father unfortunately passed away from COVID-19 in 2021. I plan to spend my time abroad reconnecting with who he was, working on personal growth, and appreciating my British heritage.

My internship placement started this week and I really have been through a rollercoaster of emotions. My internship at The Handbook, an online lifestyle publication, seems to be the perfect fit for me, but it did feel like I needed to adjust. Before the internship, I was used to having Thursdays and Fridays off and now I am going to be in the office from 9 to 6 on Wednesdays and Thursdays and working remote on Fridays. I felt like before the internship I was in a relaxed student mode where my only responsibilities were school and exploring London. Now I had another responsibility that just took a little bit of time to adjust to. The actual first week at The Handbook went really well. It was mostly just learning how to use their systems and begin working on uploads of stories. I was able to pitch a few of my own ideas that I plan to write over the course of the internship that I’m really excited about. It seems like I will fit in at The Handbook quite well.

There are two cities in England that I always knew I needed to come to while I was here. These cities are Manchester and Liverpool. My dad was a music freak and some of our favorite bands come from these cities. This was a weekend full of music tourism. I spent one day in Manchester and the next in Liverpool. From seeing the houses where Morrissey and the Gallaghers grew up to the different Manchester places they either frequented or sang about, I had a lot of moments of reflection and gratefulness within my first day. I felt the closest to my dad I felt in a long time. He was one of the biggest Beatles fans I had ever met, so my stop in Liverpool was just as musically focused. The most meaningful part of Liverpool was the fact that I was able to go into John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes that have been preserved from the time they lived in them. This was not only extremely meaningful because it was something my dad and I always wanted to do, but it was truly mindblowing to be in the places where The Beatles were formed. This trip was definitely one of the most sentimental I had ever been on and I am happy I finally got to to experience those cities.