British Museum and Tower of London

Today I spent my morning at the British Museum:

Frieze from the Parthenon

Rosetta Stone (The!)

Assyrian guardian statues placed at entrances to temples and palaces

As you can see, the museum is focused on artifacts from antiquity, and I got to see some pretty amazing things.

Next, I went to the Tower of London, a fortress right in the middle of the City, which happens to be almost 1,000 years old…

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Before I detail some of my excursions around the city, I want to describe my internship position and what I am looking to get out of it.

I am interning for a firm call MNI (Market News International). They are a macroeconomic research company whose primary services include the calculation of proprietary macroeconomic indicators (numerical representations of the current and expected states of certain sectors of economies) and the production of monthly and ad-hoc reports detailing the state of economies. These are subscribed to by clients who have a stake in the direction of these economies or are potentially interested in making an investment in them. The economies for which they produce research are several “emerging” economies ( China, India, Russia, Kenya, and Nigeria ) and the U.S. (MNI produces the Chicago PMI index, a well known indicator of US economic activity).

My internship duties consist of assisting the Economics team in the production of the monthly reports and completion of smaller research tasks that are assigned to me. No coffee-getting here.

What I am hoping to gain from this internship is not just related work experience, but also some insight into where I might want to future career to head. For a while I’ve been torn between pursuing a career more related to finance (banking, securities, etc.) or more of a economic research type position. By the end of my internship I should have a better idea.

Anyway, here are some pictures from around London:

The Mall, the famous road that leads to Buckingham Palace.

Picadilly Circus, where London’s theatre scene is centered. Lots of shopping also makes it a hub for tourists.

Another part of Picadilly Circus

Trafalgar Square, which commemorates the British defeat of both the French and Spanish naval fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. At the top is a statue of Horatio Nelson, who led the British to victory but was injured in the battle and died shortly after.

Waterloo Underground station

Earlier I mentioned that Canary Wharf was London’s second financial district; here is the first. It is in the borough known as the City of London. It is referred to as the “City”, and similar to how we might typecast someone who works in New York’s financial sector as a “Wall Street” banker, workers here might be called “City” traders. Goldman Sachs has their London office here.

The name comes from the fact that it is the oldest district in the city. The Romans established the settlement they called Londinium in the area in 43 AD.

Another point of interest in the City is the Tower of London, a medieval fortress constructed by William the Conqueror in 1078. I will be visiting it, so look out for future posts.

Here is Canary Wharf, London’s second major financial district. Stationed here are the world headquarters for Barclays and HSBC, two large multinational British banks. Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Merill Lynch and Credit Suisse, along with several others, also have large presences.

Canary Wharf was also on the opposite side of the city from my accommodation. To get there and back, I had to travel through 10 miles straight through central London. 10 miles doesn’t sound like much in Fayetteville, but in a city of 11 million, it can take a while. On a good day I could get to work in 50 minutes to an hour. Pictured above is the Canary Wharf Underground (subway) station. This summer was also my first experience relying solely on public transportation, which in the case of London, was excellent. Not many people can afford to own cars while also living in the central part of the city. In some parts of the city, they even impose a tax on driving, what they call a congestion charge, to reduce traffic in the busiest parts. It seems to have been effective.

Hey guys, my name is Graham Humphrey and this is where I will be sharing my experiences interning in London this summer!

First off, I will share a little bit about myself. I am from Hot Springs, AR, and am entering my senior year at the University of Arkansas. I am pursuing a double major in Finance and Economics through the Walton College and a minor in Political Science. This is both my first career-related work experience as well as my first time traveling outside the continent.

In the picture above, you can see the Palace of Westminster, which contains both houses of parliament, along with the tower holding Big Ben. It was taken from the London Eye, which is basically a very large Ferris wheel. It is usually swamped with tourists, as are lots of other London attractions during the summer tourist season, but the views were worth it.