Greetings from Portugal!~
I apologize for not updating sooner. Our hostel did not have internet access. I am in the first internet cafe I could find that has been open. Anyway, I´m safe and out hostel is very nice. Quite clean and friendly.
I will be leaving early tomorrow morning for Madrid, Spain where I will meet a friend from Butler and stay with her for a few days. Such a great life I am living right now! I will update again as soon as I can to let you know I made it safely. :)
Now, I am off for more exploring!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Going on trips transforms me into a productive person.
It's just after 5am in London right now. Tomorrow evening I'm flying to Portugal for the weekend. Tonight, I have been catching up on a variety of random things. This is becoming a habit of mine. When I know I will be leaving I feel the need to finish all these loose ends before I go. I think it may be a good thing because then I can finally relax now that I have finished so many things I had been avoiding all week.
Firstly, I cleaned my room tonight which was a large accomplishment. Some people probably wouldn't even consider this clean, but to me, it's a BIG difference. I also cleaned out my email inbox, researched the cities I am visiting, uploading pictures from my memory card, charged my camera, bought tickets for Wicked since they are only on special until next week, adjusted my bank account for the weekend, applied for a frequent shopper card at Tesco (a local supermarket), and wrote some letters. Now, I am blogging which I have also been procrastinating on this week. I'm not sure why, since I'm loving writing the blog. Perhaps, because this week was just ordinary unlike every other one up to this point.
Tuesday 26 October 2010
I had two classes on Tuesday. I was pretty tired, still, from the previous weekend. Branding was in the morning. This was one of the first class periods where we covered some new information that I had not already learned at Butler. I still have yet to start on the final paper....yikes. Next week I am going to HAVE to get going on that. I guess I have done minimal research (well, if visiting the Cadbury Factory counts, hah.).
After class, I had time for lunch and ran to the library for a friend to find some books. The books she needed were unavailable so that was basically a waste of time for me. Oh well. I had the always, intriguing and engaging Internship Module. Not. Tuesday it was pretty painless though because the Prof let us out 2 hours early. I enjoyed that. I think she is realizing that none of us really want to be there. I mean, we really do not care about the culture of the workplace or about memorizing vocubulary an office functions. It's not even terms that actual, real people use. I have never once heard someone describe their office as a "solidarity" or "fragmented" or "Mercenary" culture. And yes, I had to get out the handouts from class just to prove this point. It's not relevant to 20 year olds. She's getting the point and is helping us to understand what is mandatory for us to "know" for the final paper in order to pass the class.
After class, a friend, MJ and I were going to go shopping on Oxford Street. It was however raining and she changed her mind. That was ok. I kind of wanted to sleep anyway. We got out of class early but the Metropolitan tube line was broken so it took us twice as long to get home. Yay TFL (Travel for London).
My friend Elizabeth rented a movie from the library. We wanted to watch Love Actually since it takes place in London but our school's Library doesn't have it. We watched "Bridget Jones' Diary" which also takes place in London. It was cool getting to see the major tourist parts of the city and actually know where they were and what they were like in real life. Pretty cool, actually. I think that is one of the best parts about visiting cities. At least for me, it's pretty amazing to see sights you recognize from movies, textbooks, novels, the news, etc. and realize you are experiencing a world famous site.
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Wednesay was a pretty routine day; I worked at the office until 5:30pm. The other intern, Colleen was in the office so that was nice to eat lunch together and spend more time with her. I worked on editing the brief for the Chairman's Club meeting that is happening next Thursday. I also edited my work on the October London 2012 Update newsletter. My two bosses proofread it and my head boss, Janet had a few changes. I also added pictures to the newsletter. At the end of the day, I was given another 50 companies to research. I was less than thrilled. I get the feeling this project is endless. I'll just have to deal I guess.
I came straight home from work and just relaxed. Nothing really exciting for Wednesday.
Thursday 28 October 2010
DesignComm in the morning and early afternoon. Colin, (our teacher) didn't prepare a lecture so we got to leave an hour early. We finally turned in our tracing letters project. Big whoop. Glad to at least have that under my belt. It will be pretty cool to see the other designs in my class, especially because we haven't worked on it for a couple weeks. It will be like fresh eyes when we look at them in class.
After class, I headed to the library to print my boarding passes for this weekend. For some reason, one of my boarding passes printed and said I was an EU citizen. Of course, I FREAKED out. I called Ryanair and they sorted it all out. It was pretty painless, but I just had a guy feeling they were going to somehow charge me for this mistake. Ryanair is known for charging for RIDICULOUS things since the flights are so cheap. I booked my flight to Poland in Decemeber for under 10 pounds plus taxes. They charge like 20 pounds for each kg your checked bag is over the weight limit. I'm not checking a bag so I won't have to deal with that nonsense. Anyway, my boarding pass is fine now. Everything's a go!
I went to the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising this afternoon. We have to go sometime before our class on Tuesday in two weeks. I knew next week is going to be very busy since I will be gone until Wednesday in Spain. The museum is near Notting Hill, which is an absolutely gorgeous area. It's a mostly residential area on the Northside of London in the buroush of Kensington and Chelsea. Bascially, that means it's a quite upscale area of London inhabited by wealthy families and middle aged to upper couples. I really enjoyed the museum. Of course, I like all of that type of thing though. We filled out a worksheet for class. I was slightly annoyed that we had to do that, but once I got into it, it actually helped keep my focus on track throughout the museum.
This place wasn't what Americans typically think of a museum. It was one floor and mostly made up of a few hallways. It took me a little over an hour to walk through. Imagine display windows, completely full of packages of products, posters, action figures and other miscellaneous items. As you can guess, most of the brands were ones that were/are heavily advertised in the UK. It wasn't like an American museum where each exhibit is clearly outlined. Each display case was jammed full of paraphernalia. You could not see the background of the display case in any of them. I had to trian my eye to only look at certain parts at once because it was so much information to take in.
Below is some photos from Notting Hill and the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising.
For my creative writing class that meets on Fridays, we had to write about a place for this week's assignment. I did mine today in Notting Hill. This was pretty neat because I got to sit and just absorb the place I was in. I wrote about the looks, smells, sounds, what kinds of people live there, colors, unwritten rules of Notting Hill like no loud noises or swearing, no speeding. We had a list of questions to answer and think about.
I will have to visit Notting Hill again on a nice day. I really just loved walking around. On the way back to the tube I stopped at a bunch of cute clothing boutiques. At store, I kept thinking, "I really wish Stephanie was here to shop with me". You would have loved it Steph!
Tomorrow I am headed to Portugal and Monday I will fly to Spain to meet a friend from Butler who is studying there this semester. I will update the blog after I have safely landed in each city. I probably won't actually be able to update it until I return to London on Wednesday though.
I'm so excited about this weekend! It's going to be a good on!
Firstly, I cleaned my room tonight which was a large accomplishment. Some people probably wouldn't even consider this clean, but to me, it's a BIG difference. I also cleaned out my email inbox, researched the cities I am visiting, uploading pictures from my memory card, charged my camera, bought tickets for Wicked since they are only on special until next week, adjusted my bank account for the weekend, applied for a frequent shopper card at Tesco (a local supermarket), and wrote some letters. Now, I am blogging which I have also been procrastinating on this week. I'm not sure why, since I'm loving writing the blog. Perhaps, because this week was just ordinary unlike every other one up to this point.
Tuesday 26 October 2010
I had two classes on Tuesday. I was pretty tired, still, from the previous weekend. Branding was in the morning. This was one of the first class periods where we covered some new information that I had not already learned at Butler. I still have yet to start on the final paper....yikes. Next week I am going to HAVE to get going on that. I guess I have done minimal research (well, if visiting the Cadbury Factory counts, hah.).
After class, I had time for lunch and ran to the library for a friend to find some books. The books she needed were unavailable so that was basically a waste of time for me. Oh well. I had the always, intriguing and engaging Internship Module. Not. Tuesday it was pretty painless though because the Prof let us out 2 hours early. I enjoyed that. I think she is realizing that none of us really want to be there. I mean, we really do not care about the culture of the workplace or about memorizing vocubulary an office functions. It's not even terms that actual, real people use. I have never once heard someone describe their office as a "solidarity" or "fragmented" or "Mercenary" culture. And yes, I had to get out the handouts from class just to prove this point. It's not relevant to 20 year olds. She's getting the point and is helping us to understand what is mandatory for us to "know" for the final paper in order to pass the class.
After class, a friend, MJ and I were going to go shopping on Oxford Street. It was however raining and she changed her mind. That was ok. I kind of wanted to sleep anyway. We got out of class early but the Metropolitan tube line was broken so it took us twice as long to get home. Yay TFL (Travel for London).
My friend Elizabeth rented a movie from the library. We wanted to watch Love Actually since it takes place in London but our school's Library doesn't have it. We watched "Bridget Jones' Diary" which also takes place in London. It was cool getting to see the major tourist parts of the city and actually know where they were and what they were like in real life. Pretty cool, actually. I think that is one of the best parts about visiting cities. At least for me, it's pretty amazing to see sights you recognize from movies, textbooks, novels, the news, etc. and realize you are experiencing a world famous site.
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Wednesay was a pretty routine day; I worked at the office until 5:30pm. The other intern, Colleen was in the office so that was nice to eat lunch together and spend more time with her. I worked on editing the brief for the Chairman's Club meeting that is happening next Thursday. I also edited my work on the October London 2012 Update newsletter. My two bosses proofread it and my head boss, Janet had a few changes. I also added pictures to the newsletter. At the end of the day, I was given another 50 companies to research. I was less than thrilled. I get the feeling this project is endless. I'll just have to deal I guess.
I came straight home from work and just relaxed. Nothing really exciting for Wednesday.
Thursday 28 October 2010
DesignComm in the morning and early afternoon. Colin, (our teacher) didn't prepare a lecture so we got to leave an hour early. We finally turned in our tracing letters project. Big whoop. Glad to at least have that under my belt. It will be pretty cool to see the other designs in my class, especially because we haven't worked on it for a couple weeks. It will be like fresh eyes when we look at them in class.
After class, I headed to the library to print my boarding passes for this weekend. For some reason, one of my boarding passes printed and said I was an EU citizen. Of course, I FREAKED out. I called Ryanair and they sorted it all out. It was pretty painless, but I just had a guy feeling they were going to somehow charge me for this mistake. Ryanair is known for charging for RIDICULOUS things since the flights are so cheap. I booked my flight to Poland in Decemeber for under 10 pounds plus taxes. They charge like 20 pounds for each kg your checked bag is over the weight limit. I'm not checking a bag so I won't have to deal with that nonsense. Anyway, my boarding pass is fine now. Everything's a go!
I went to the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising this afternoon. We have to go sometime before our class on Tuesday in two weeks. I knew next week is going to be very busy since I will be gone until Wednesday in Spain. The museum is near Notting Hill, which is an absolutely gorgeous area. It's a mostly residential area on the Northside of London in the buroush of Kensington and Chelsea. Bascially, that means it's a quite upscale area of London inhabited by wealthy families and middle aged to upper couples. I really enjoyed the museum. Of course, I like all of that type of thing though. We filled out a worksheet for class. I was slightly annoyed that we had to do that, but once I got into it, it actually helped keep my focus on track throughout the museum.
This place wasn't what Americans typically think of a museum. It was one floor and mostly made up of a few hallways. It took me a little over an hour to walk through. Imagine display windows, completely full of packages of products, posters, action figures and other miscellaneous items. As you can guess, most of the brands were ones that were/are heavily advertised in the UK. It wasn't like an American museum where each exhibit is clearly outlined. Each display case was jammed full of paraphernalia. You could not see the background of the display case in any of them. I had to trian my eye to only look at certain parts at once because it was so much information to take in.
Below is some photos from Notting Hill and the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising.
Soo much to look at inside the museum!
For my creative writing class that meets on Fridays, we had to write about a place for this week's assignment. I did mine today in Notting Hill. This was pretty neat because I got to sit and just absorb the place I was in. I wrote about the looks, smells, sounds, what kinds of people live there, colors, unwritten rules of Notting Hill like no loud noises or swearing, no speeding. We had a list of questions to answer and think about.
I will have to visit Notting Hill again on a nice day. I really just loved walking around. On the way back to the tube I stopped at a bunch of cute clothing boutiques. At store, I kept thinking, "I really wish Stephanie was here to shop with me". You would have loved it Steph!
Tomorrow I am headed to Portugal and Monday I will fly to Spain to meet a friend from Butler who is studying there this semester. I will update the blog after I have safely landed in each city. I probably won't actually be able to update it until I return to London on Wednesday though.
I'm so excited about this weekend! It's going to be a good on!
Short & Sweet.
Monday 25 October 2010
I had a full day of work in the morning at Think London. I finished up another research list of companies and also started a couple new projects. I began writing the October Update that we send to prospective clients. The update is all about the new progressions in Olympic projects. I basically got to write the entire thing from scratch, which is pretty cool. Plus, it will be sweet to have a copy for my resume. It was a bit frustrating because I didn't really know what Lucette, my boss, wanted. She didn't specify a format or give me any guidelines really. I looked at past examples, but each month is so different they didn't really help give me a concrete idea of what she wanted.
I think that is just the mentality of British people. In America, the people in charge basically tell you exactly what they want from you. The authority tells you what is expected of you. For example, in class, American professors have a syllabus outlining each week's assignments. Here, you have the entire semester to work on one project. There are no deadlines, or guidlines. It's been very frustrating trying to get used to this new style of work. I feel like I am constantly trying to guess what is expected of me, when in reality the authority (boss, teacher, etc.) just wants to see what you come up with on your own. It's taking some getting used to, to function like that.
At work, I also continued working on the briefing about important CEO, Presidents of companies, etc. who will be attending a Chairman's meeting about the Olympics next week. I wrote biographies about the 2 people basically in charge of the entire Olympics, the CEO of Visa Europe, the President of McDonald's Europe, the Mayor of London and others. I am still amazed that I am working at such a high profile company. I don't know if I could see myself working in an environment like this when I am older, but for now it's been a really great experience.
After work, I met a friend from class who lives in Canary Wharf, Camilla. We headed to a part of London I hadn't really been to before, Shoreditch. She frequently goes to "Short & Sweet" movie nights at a pub. They show these short films to the public for free. It was a really comfortable, urban space in the back of a pub. The films were about 8 - 15 minutes long. I didn't know if I would really enjoy it because I am not really into movies, but it was actually pretty cool. The woman who runs the event is crazy! She had so much personality. So much strange personality. I guess it's hard to explain. She was a petite blonde with an English accent I didn't understand. She wore a beige oversize sweater and just giggled almost the entire time she was introducing the films. She was definitely from another country in Europe beside England. Anyway, the movie night was a success and I got to experience a new part of London with a new friend.
I had a full day of work in the morning at Think London. I finished up another research list of companies and also started a couple new projects. I began writing the October Update that we send to prospective clients. The update is all about the new progressions in Olympic projects. I basically got to write the entire thing from scratch, which is pretty cool. Plus, it will be sweet to have a copy for my resume. It was a bit frustrating because I didn't really know what Lucette, my boss, wanted. She didn't specify a format or give me any guidelines really. I looked at past examples, but each month is so different they didn't really help give me a concrete idea of what she wanted.
I think that is just the mentality of British people. In America, the people in charge basically tell you exactly what they want from you. The authority tells you what is expected of you. For example, in class, American professors have a syllabus outlining each week's assignments. Here, you have the entire semester to work on one project. There are no deadlines, or guidlines. It's been very frustrating trying to get used to this new style of work. I feel like I am constantly trying to guess what is expected of me, when in reality the authority (boss, teacher, etc.) just wants to see what you come up with on your own. It's taking some getting used to, to function like that.
At work, I also continued working on the briefing about important CEO, Presidents of companies, etc. who will be attending a Chairman's meeting about the Olympics next week. I wrote biographies about the 2 people basically in charge of the entire Olympics, the CEO of Visa Europe, the President of McDonald's Europe, the Mayor of London and others. I am still amazed that I am working at such a high profile company. I don't know if I could see myself working in an environment like this when I am older, but for now it's been a really great experience.
After work, I met a friend from class who lives in Canary Wharf, Camilla. We headed to a part of London I hadn't really been to before, Shoreditch. She frequently goes to "Short & Sweet" movie nights at a pub. They show these short films to the public for free. It was a really comfortable, urban space in the back of a pub. The films were about 8 - 15 minutes long. I didn't know if I would really enjoy it because I am not really into movies, but it was actually pretty cool. The woman who runs the event is crazy! She had so much personality. So much strange personality. I guess it's hard to explain. She was a petite blonde with an English accent I didn't understand. She wore a beige oversize sweater and just giggled almost the entire time she was introducing the films. She was definitely from another country in Europe beside England. Anyway, the movie night was a success and I got to experience a new part of London with a new friend.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Portuguese food, Cadbury World, Fabric Nightclub, Stonehenge: Just a few days in the life of a Londoner
**I apologize that I haven't updated in the last few days. This weekend was crazy busy and I feel like I am just now catching up. This one is going to be a long update. You'll probably need at least a half hour to read it all. Not kidding. Hope you are ready, here goes...
Friday 22 October 2010
I had creative writing class in the morning and then joined a friend for lunch in her dorm. We ate with a "friend" of hers Ollie. They met last week at the campus pub at Marylebone campus downtown. He is basically the most ridiculous person I have ever met. She's only met him one other time, that's why I used the term "friend" because they don't really know each other. Anyway, they met at Intermission bar (the campus pub). He was with his friend Vince, but later my friend Christine found that wasn't actually his real name. It's Lawrence. When Ollie met Vince he misunderstood his name and just called him Vince instead of Lawrence. They have been friends for four years and he never changed it back after being corrected. Ollie was going to Amsterdam for the weekend with Vince and some other guys. Vince bought the ticket without even having a passport. Ollie asked us to join if Vince couldn't go, but he is just too ridiculous and we had weekend plans anyway. He came up to Christine's apartment to cook his frozen pizza he bought the night before. It wasn't frozen anymore, just an enormous glob of dough. Yuck. He left the pizza sitting out all night but I guess he just really didn't want to waste it so he ate it anyway. Again, yuck. During dinner he told us this story about how some of his mates were boating off the coast of Australia and one of his friends just fell overboard. His friend went to the upper deck of the boat to enjoy a beer but when his friends came upstairs to get him, his beer was on the table but he was not. This happened two weeks ago and no one knows where this guy is. Isn't that crazy?! Ollie is a ridiculous person.
After lunch, I was exhausted from the week so I just came back and took a much-needed afternoon nap.
For dinner I joined a group of friends from the flat upstairs for a birthday dinner of a girl in one of my classes, Hannah. She's American and from Denver, CO. She turned 21 on Saturday and organized a group dinner to celebrate! We went to this Portuguese restaurant near our campus called Nando's. It was the most delicisou meal! I will definitely be back. Soon. I ordered a chicken on pita bread, chips (fries) and a South African white wine. I figured I'd never had South African wine before so why not? The chicken was so spicy and flavorful. I am hooked and can't wait to eat it again!
After dinner we hung out in their flat upstairs for a little while. It was fun getting to talk to different British people. One girl was from Ireland but the other 10(ish) people were all from England. It was a very relaxed and fun evening.
Saturday 23 October 2010
Saturday was the much anticipated day of touring Cadbury World! Elizabeth, Christine and I were very excited and had been looking forward to this adventure since the about the second weekend when we heard about it. We all share a love for food so we expected this to be a great adventure. It was about a 1.5 hour train ride to get to Birmingham, UK.
On the train I had a very strange, insightful and frustrating encounter with a foreign, dark skinned man. He asked me a few questions about the book (a new Jodi Picoult novel) I was reading. I knew when he started making small talk I knew he wasn't from England. I could tell by his strained English accent and that Londoners don't ever make small talk. Ever. He'd asked where I was from (I'm fairly certain he could tell by my accent I was American) but not in a creepy, invading way just in a curious, inquistive way. We chatted and I told him about where I grew up and I asked where he was from. He said he was from Pakistan and completing his PhD just outside London. He's studying Sociology and Anthropology. I found it interesting that as soon as I learned where he was from, I immediately put an imaginary guard up around me. I think as Americans, the media feeds so much negative eneregy to us about Middle Easteners, more than we even realize. I had no idea who this man was, I had no right to secretely judge him based on extremely biased knowledge of a select few people from his part of the world. I had no idea, I had those kind of prejudices until talking this man. It wasn't like I was treating him poorly or behaving differently towards him than any other stranger, it was just that in my mind I was thinking about all the negative messages and imges I have seen and read about people of the Middle East. Right now, I can't think of a single news article I have read or watched highlighting a Middle Eastern person in a postive light.
Anyway, we kept talking and I asked him he had ever visited the United States before. He said no. Then he proceeded to tell me all these stereotypes he had about American people and how Americans are "hasty" and "don't take time to enjoy the process of life" because we are only driven by deadline and being successful. Also, I'd like to mention he referenced movies as evidence of our culture. He made a comparison to how he would cook potatoes. He went on and on how he would slice them twice, and season them, and cook them to a golden brown. Then he described how Americans would cook them; quickly chopping them and heating them only to scarf the food down. He said he "lived like an American" for two years of his life and made a lot of money but lost a lot of other things in his life, relationships, happiness and personality. He could not understand how and why people live in our culture without missing out on other parts of life. This man also made a point that two weeks ago a journalist was held hostage in Afganistan. American troops were in charge of rescuing her. This man told me Americans couldn't wait any longer and threw a grenade at the holding area to try to set her free. This grenade killed her. He said, that is the British troops were there, this would not have happened because they would have negotiated and worked out the problem instead of just reacting. With each story he told, I got more and more defensive. I was appaulled that he could make such broad generalizations about 300 million people, not to mention the most powerful country in the world, and not think twice about offending me. Granted, I had thoughts about his culture and what his life is like in the Middle East, but I would NEVER have suggested I actually knew anything about what it was like to live there.
I did stick up for myself and my country. I was not about to let this wiseguy, hotshot deface our American lifestyle. Or least, not without letting my opinion be heard. I told him that just because American culture was different, does not mean it is wrong. I said that is the American mindset. You know what you want and then you get it. You don't waste time. Americans want the end result. We want success and achievement. I also told him that just because we are so driven does not mean we miss out on other parts of life. It means we are adapted to live in that way. Not all Americans are workaholics who spend 70+ hours in the office climbing the corporate ladder. As the conversation continued my blood was boiling with anger that a person could harness such judgemental thoughts about such a wide variety of people and speak them aloud.
After I left the train, I was so relieved to be out of that conversation. He was not being hateful. He was speaking matter of factly, like this was such a widely accepted view. Looking back on this converstation, it was very enlightening for me to see how other countries view the United States and also to see where my perspectives are for people of other countries.
Ok. After all of that, we finally made it to Bournville (just outside of Birmingham, UK) to Cadbury World! The anticipation was so great as we stepped into the factory. The streets were literally lined with purple fences. Honestly, I was expecting lickable wallpaper and a moat of liquid chocolate. Those were a bit too high. It was an under-impressive attraction with bad 1990s movies and strange scenery. I think as Ameicans we have such a high expectation in the entertainment instrusty that we want everything to be over the top and extravagant. I was expecting something comprable Disney World and instead I got somthing like Indiana Beach.
I did learn a couple things about Cadbury though. The town was literally built around the factory. The owners built housing for employees, athletic facilities, markets, etc. Cadbury is the leading chocolate in the UK. and was founded nearly 200 years ago.
It was still a fun day because I was with great people. We just laughed it off because it was once again not what we were ready for. Everytimg this sort of thing happens, we say it's because "we are not in America any more, everything is different." The first several rooms were just bad movies from wayyy too long ago. Only one room was an actual factory but it was basically two conveyors belts moving already wrapped chocolate bars to the other side of the room. We did get 4 chocolates out of the deal though, which was utterly delicious. Soo good. The last room we explored we got liquid milk chocolate in a cup with out choice of topping. I choose marshmallows; the combination was divine. I am glad we went because if we didn't we would have been disappointed that we left London without checking it out.
Friday 22 October 2010
I had creative writing class in the morning and then joined a friend for lunch in her dorm. We ate with a "friend" of hers Ollie. They met last week at the campus pub at Marylebone campus downtown. He is basically the most ridiculous person I have ever met. She's only met him one other time, that's why I used the term "friend" because they don't really know each other. Anyway, they met at Intermission bar (the campus pub). He was with his friend Vince, but later my friend Christine found that wasn't actually his real name. It's Lawrence. When Ollie met Vince he misunderstood his name and just called him Vince instead of Lawrence. They have been friends for four years and he never changed it back after being corrected. Ollie was going to Amsterdam for the weekend with Vince and some other guys. Vince bought the ticket without even having a passport. Ollie asked us to join if Vince couldn't go, but he is just too ridiculous and we had weekend plans anyway. He came up to Christine's apartment to cook his frozen pizza he bought the night before. It wasn't frozen anymore, just an enormous glob of dough. Yuck. He left the pizza sitting out all night but I guess he just really didn't want to waste it so he ate it anyway. Again, yuck. During dinner he told us this story about how some of his mates were boating off the coast of Australia and one of his friends just fell overboard. His friend went to the upper deck of the boat to enjoy a beer but when his friends came upstairs to get him, his beer was on the table but he was not. This happened two weeks ago and no one knows where this guy is. Isn't that crazy?! Ollie is a ridiculous person.
After lunch, I was exhausted from the week so I just came back and took a much-needed afternoon nap.
For dinner I joined a group of friends from the flat upstairs for a birthday dinner of a girl in one of my classes, Hannah. She's American and from Denver, CO. She turned 21 on Saturday and organized a group dinner to celebrate! We went to this Portuguese restaurant near our campus called Nando's. It was the most delicisou meal! I will definitely be back. Soon. I ordered a chicken on pita bread, chips (fries) and a South African white wine. I figured I'd never had South African wine before so why not? The chicken was so spicy and flavorful. I am hooked and can't wait to eat it again!
After dinner we hung out in their flat upstairs for a little while. It was fun getting to talk to different British people. One girl was from Ireland but the other 10(ish) people were all from England. It was a very relaxed and fun evening.
Saturday 23 October 2010
Saturday was the much anticipated day of touring Cadbury World! Elizabeth, Christine and I were very excited and had been looking forward to this adventure since the about the second weekend when we heard about it. We all share a love for food so we expected this to be a great adventure. It was about a 1.5 hour train ride to get to Birmingham, UK.
On the train I had a very strange, insightful and frustrating encounter with a foreign, dark skinned man. He asked me a few questions about the book (a new Jodi Picoult novel) I was reading. I knew when he started making small talk I knew he wasn't from England. I could tell by his strained English accent and that Londoners don't ever make small talk. Ever. He'd asked where I was from (I'm fairly certain he could tell by my accent I was American) but not in a creepy, invading way just in a curious, inquistive way. We chatted and I told him about where I grew up and I asked where he was from. He said he was from Pakistan and completing his PhD just outside London. He's studying Sociology and Anthropology. I found it interesting that as soon as I learned where he was from, I immediately put an imaginary guard up around me. I think as Americans, the media feeds so much negative eneregy to us about Middle Easteners, more than we even realize. I had no idea who this man was, I had no right to secretely judge him based on extremely biased knowledge of a select few people from his part of the world. I had no idea, I had those kind of prejudices until talking this man. It wasn't like I was treating him poorly or behaving differently towards him than any other stranger, it was just that in my mind I was thinking about all the negative messages and imges I have seen and read about people of the Middle East. Right now, I can't think of a single news article I have read or watched highlighting a Middle Eastern person in a postive light.
Anyway, we kept talking and I asked him he had ever visited the United States before. He said no. Then he proceeded to tell me all these stereotypes he had about American people and how Americans are "hasty" and "don't take time to enjoy the process of life" because we are only driven by deadline and being successful. Also, I'd like to mention he referenced movies as evidence of our culture. He made a comparison to how he would cook potatoes. He went on and on how he would slice them twice, and season them, and cook them to a golden brown. Then he described how Americans would cook them; quickly chopping them and heating them only to scarf the food down. He said he "lived like an American" for two years of his life and made a lot of money but lost a lot of other things in his life, relationships, happiness and personality. He could not understand how and why people live in our culture without missing out on other parts of life. This man also made a point that two weeks ago a journalist was held hostage in Afganistan. American troops were in charge of rescuing her. This man told me Americans couldn't wait any longer and threw a grenade at the holding area to try to set her free. This grenade killed her. He said, that is the British troops were there, this would not have happened because they would have negotiated and worked out the problem instead of just reacting. With each story he told, I got more and more defensive. I was appaulled that he could make such broad generalizations about 300 million people, not to mention the most powerful country in the world, and not think twice about offending me. Granted, I had thoughts about his culture and what his life is like in the Middle East, but I would NEVER have suggested I actually knew anything about what it was like to live there.
I did stick up for myself and my country. I was not about to let this wiseguy, hotshot deface our American lifestyle. Or least, not without letting my opinion be heard. I told him that just because American culture was different, does not mean it is wrong. I said that is the American mindset. You know what you want and then you get it. You don't waste time. Americans want the end result. We want success and achievement. I also told him that just because we are so driven does not mean we miss out on other parts of life. It means we are adapted to live in that way. Not all Americans are workaholics who spend 70+ hours in the office climbing the corporate ladder. As the conversation continued my blood was boiling with anger that a person could harness such judgemental thoughts about such a wide variety of people and speak them aloud.
After I left the train, I was so relieved to be out of that conversation. He was not being hateful. He was speaking matter of factly, like this was such a widely accepted view. Looking back on this converstation, it was very enlightening for me to see how other countries view the United States and also to see where my perspectives are for people of other countries.
Ok. After all of that, we finally made it to Bournville (just outside of Birmingham, UK) to Cadbury World! The anticipation was so great as we stepped into the factory. The streets were literally lined with purple fences. Honestly, I was expecting lickable wallpaper and a moat of liquid chocolate. Those were a bit too high. It was an under-impressive attraction with bad 1990s movies and strange scenery. I think as Ameicans we have such a high expectation in the entertainment instrusty that we want everything to be over the top and extravagant. I was expecting something comprable Disney World and instead I got somthing like Indiana Beach.
I did learn a couple things about Cadbury though. The town was literally built around the factory. The owners built housing for employees, athletic facilities, markets, etc. Cadbury is the leading chocolate in the UK. and was founded nearly 200 years ago.
It was still a fun day because I was with great people. We just laughed it off because it was once again not what we were ready for. Everytimg this sort of thing happens, we say it's because "we are not in America any more, everything is different." The first several rooms were just bad movies from wayyy too long ago. Only one room was an actual factory but it was basically two conveyors belts moving already wrapped chocolate bars to the other side of the room. We did get 4 chocolates out of the deal though, which was utterly delicious. Soo good. The last room we explored we got liquid milk chocolate in a cup with out choice of topping. I choose marshmallows; the combination was divine. I am glad we went because if we didn't we would have been disappointed that we left London without checking it out.
Getting off the train was so exciting!
This was the extent of the factory that we saw.
We got to write our names in chocolate. Big whoop.
At the end of the museum, you could get your photo taken and be turned into a virtual chocolate. I didn't wait to do it, just observed people spazzing about it.
See what I mean about the streets being lined in purple??
After Cadbury World we had a few hours to kill in Birmingham. We hit up the local markets, which were considerably cheaper than ones in London. Here is a few pictures from Birmingham.
Saturday night Christine and I went to another mega nightclub in downtown London, Fabric. It was so packed, you had to squeeze and wedge your way through people to move at all in this place. It was a multi-story building with more rooms than you can count. Everywhere looked the same in this place so it was really easy to get turned around. We we tried to leave, we seriously tried 3 different doors before they would actually let us exit. It was actually really frustrating. I would not really want to go back there again, just so crowded and the music was nothting special. I am glad we went, because, again, if we would have lived here for three months and never gone, I would have been bummed.
Sunday 24 October 2010
Sunday was my first true adventure by myself. I bought a tour bus ticket to go to Stonehenge. Our study aborad program is going together at the end of November, but I will be in Switzerland! so I won't be able to attend. I figued it was a pretty good trade. I really wanted to see it, since it is one of the wonders of the world. It was about a two hour bus ride to get to the site. Of course, I slept nearly the entire way. Just the way I like it. When we drove up to the sight it was surreal to see the giant stones. Sunday was another one of those, "Wow, I can't believe I am actually doing this" moments. I'd seen pictures in textbooks a hundred times and now I was getting to experience it with my own eyes. We had about an hour to walk around the sight and we were supplied with an audio guide. I tried to listen and learn the background of the structure, but it was too much monotone speaking to focus. I did catch a few of the main points though.
- created over 5,000 years ago
- an estimated 30 million hours of labor to complete
- part of the structure lines up perfectly to where the sun is at midday on the longest day of the year in the summer
- on this day the shadow of the sun makes a straight line through the circle
- it's believe that some of the 4 ton stones were dragged from Wales to be used for this monument
- it's unknown for the actual use was but some believe it was an enormous calender, a burial site, or worship ground
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Mexicans haven't inhabited England yet. Mexican food is awful here.
Thursday 21 October 2010
I had Design as Communication in the morning. It's getting better. We worked on designs for creating a three dimensional design in Flash editing software. Ehh. We'll see how it goes.
After class, I went to St. Pauls' Cathedral for a Evensong service. I got there pretty early and just walked around outside. Here's a picture from outside the Cathedral steps overlooking the city.
Once entering, it was absolute beauty. So gorgeous inside. I had been very curious to see the inside, since the building dominates the London skyline. I wanted to go to a Evensong service because the choir was singing. I heard it was excellent music and I was not disappointed. It was an all male choir; I'm pretty sure it is typically men and women but it was a special service on this particular Thursday. If you wanted to participate in the service you got to go sit in the "pews" (I'm sure there is an official name for these seats, I just don't know what it is) directly next to the chior. It was a very surreal moment, another one of those, "I can't believe this is actually my life" moments. The stained glass and arches made of marble were so beautiful.
The music was of course outstanding. I'm not familiar with Catholic masses, but many of the hymms were sung acapella. I was somewhat surprised by that. I was also surprised how high many of the men could sing! It was really incredible! I also remember thinking how many young men (guys my age) were in the choir. I thought it was a bit strange. I imagined all to be middle aged. I guess I can't imagine spending every night of the week singing in a cathedral for an hour.
When the service was over, I walked to the back of St. Paul's and just soaked in the moment for a couple moments. I just stood in awe of how beautiful the building was.
I headed back to my flat and some of my friends and I planned to cook a Mexican dinner. THERE IS NO GOOD MEXICAN FOOD IN LONDON. It's awful. At home, I have this type of food at least once a week. My friend, Elizabeth is from Texas and she made homemade guacamole and it was delicious! So good! She also cooked fajitas, rice and refried beans. No one else really helped. I mean, I cut the peppers...does that count for cooking? It was really a great meal.
We shared it with her flatmates, Tom (I think he is from the "hick" part of England if that exists), Bill (a gay fashion design student from England) and Rachel (from Birmingham who is what you think of as a typical college freshmen). We started talking about what American names for items and the difference between what Brits say. For exam we say "sidewalk" instead of pavement and "flashlight" instead of torch. Tom observed that Americans have very literal names for things. Pavement is what it's made of but it's literally a "side walk". I guess it's really true, huh? Many things are just named for what they are instead of making up a name for that object. American culture is all about convenience. That is definitely one of the biggest things I have learned from this expereince so far.
I've got more blog updates tomorrow. Tonight is a night out on the town with some friends! More to blogging to come!
I had Design as Communication in the morning. It's getting better. We worked on designs for creating a three dimensional design in Flash editing software. Ehh. We'll see how it goes.
After class, I went to St. Pauls' Cathedral for a Evensong service. I got there pretty early and just walked around outside. Here's a picture from outside the Cathedral steps overlooking the city.
Once entering, it was absolute beauty. So gorgeous inside. I had been very curious to see the inside, since the building dominates the London skyline. I wanted to go to a Evensong service because the choir was singing. I heard it was excellent music and I was not disappointed. It was an all male choir; I'm pretty sure it is typically men and women but it was a special service on this particular Thursday. If you wanted to participate in the service you got to go sit in the "pews" (I'm sure there is an official name for these seats, I just don't know what it is) directly next to the chior. It was a very surreal moment, another one of those, "I can't believe this is actually my life" moments. The stained glass and arches made of marble were so beautiful.
The music was of course outstanding. I'm not familiar with Catholic masses, but many of the hymms were sung acapella. I was somewhat surprised by that. I was also surprised how high many of the men could sing! It was really incredible! I also remember thinking how many young men (guys my age) were in the choir. I thought it was a bit strange. I imagined all to be middle aged. I guess I can't imagine spending every night of the week singing in a cathedral for an hour.
When the service was over, I walked to the back of St. Paul's and just soaked in the moment for a couple moments. I just stood in awe of how beautiful the building was.
I headed back to my flat and some of my friends and I planned to cook a Mexican dinner. THERE IS NO GOOD MEXICAN FOOD IN LONDON. It's awful. At home, I have this type of food at least once a week. My friend, Elizabeth is from Texas and she made homemade guacamole and it was delicious! So good! She also cooked fajitas, rice and refried beans. No one else really helped. I mean, I cut the peppers...does that count for cooking? It was really a great meal.
Elizabeth cooking dinner. Me watching. Typcial.
We shared it with her flatmates, Tom (I think he is from the "hick" part of England if that exists), Bill (a gay fashion design student from England) and Rachel (from Birmingham who is what you think of as a typical college freshmen). We started talking about what American names for items and the difference between what Brits say. For exam we say "sidewalk" instead of pavement and "flashlight" instead of torch. Tom observed that Americans have very literal names for things. Pavement is what it's made of but it's literally a "side walk". I guess it's really true, huh? Many things are just named for what they are instead of making up a name for that object. American culture is all about convenience. That is definitely one of the biggest things I have learned from this expereince so far.
I've got more blog updates tomorrow. Tonight is a night out on the town with some friends! More to blogging to come!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
If I am only allowed to learn one thing from this semester, it has to be that I know I can not handle doing research for a living.
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Wednesdays I spend at the office in Canary Wharf. The tube was pretty slow again, so I was a little late to work. It's not really a big deal here since so many people use it. Monday, when I was 45 minutes late due to a power failure, several hundred people had to WALK through the dark tunnels of the tube because the trains would not move. Some people were trapped for two hours. That is crazy! It was in the papers here but if something like that happened in America all hell would break lose. Americans would not tolerate that.
Also, at one of the downtown campus dorms, one of the elevators has been broken since we got here. The dorm is like 20 floors! Everytime I walk in there I just laugh to myself because of the difference in culture. In America, people want things to be extremely easy and quick. We have no patience compared to people here. For example, on Tuesday when Christine and I ate that "delicious" (Joke.) meal we waited for 15 minutes for our waiter to come back to our table. They had a large party of about 15 people and were paying attention to no one else in the restaurant. They only had two waiters, which was definitely under staffed. Anyway, we just figured out an estimation of the price of our food and left money on the table. It was ridiculous. We were not satisfied. It's just how the culture is here. Just quite different.
Work was bleh yesterday. I worked more on research companies which was less than entertaining. I finally, finished, truly finished the list. At least I think I did. Hopefully next week my bosses will decide which companies to target for the next campaign based on the information I researched. That would make me feel like all that time was actually worth something to them. After I finished that, I worked on editing the brief for the Chairman's Club meeting in early Novemeber. I was researching (shocker!) the biographies of VERY imporatnt people who will be at this meeting. The attendees are the CEO of Think London, President and Chairman of LOCOG (London Organizing Committee of Olympic Games...basically the two people in charge of making the Olympics happen), and CEO's of other companies like Visa, Kraft Foods, Panasonic and several other global companies. I really hope I get to attend this meeting, or at least work more on it. I have already amended my work schedule for this week so that I can be there for it. (And, another reason I amended it was so that I could go to Spain, but that's another story.) We'll see.
After work, I just came back to the dorm. It was a long day and I just wanted to relax, do a little bit of homework and sleep early. I got to do all of those things which was great!
I don't think I have been updating the blog with future trips around Europe. Here are the tickets I have already bought! So excited for every weekend!
Saturday 23 Oct - Birmingham, UK - Cadbury World, the inspiratior for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Sunday 24 Oct - Stonehenge, UK - to see the famous remains from thousands of years ago
Friday 29 October - Sunday 31 October - Porto, Portugal with Sorority sister, Meredith. We are meeting for the weekend
Monday 1 November - Wednesday 3 November - Madrid, Spain to meet other sorority sister, Maggy who is studying in a nearby city for the semester.
Friday 26 November - Sunday 28 November - Geneva, Switzerland. I will be Meredith for this weekend as well. One of my classmates is from a small town outside Geneva and I have already asked her for tips of what we can do there. It's supposedly gorgeous!
Friday 3 December - Sunday 5 December - Katowice, Poland. I am meeting Meredith and her friends. We will be going to Auschwitz for a tour.
Mid December - potential for a trip to Paris with my friend, Elizabeth. Her family is coming to visit and I may be joining them for a weekend in Paris. Why not, right??
It's been very frustrating to plan trips with friends who are studying here in London. It is quite expensive and people just don't want to committ to much or spend the money. I decided I am just going to start doing things I want to do and not wait on them because I would hate to leave feeling like I didn't get the chance to travel.
Still, I can not believe this is actually happening. It's awesome. I'm so thankful for this opportunity. It's truly an amazing experience! Thanks Mom, Dad and Nana for making my wildest dreams come true!
Wednesdays I spend at the office in Canary Wharf. The tube was pretty slow again, so I was a little late to work. It's not really a big deal here since so many people use it. Monday, when I was 45 minutes late due to a power failure, several hundred people had to WALK through the dark tunnels of the tube because the trains would not move. Some people were trapped for two hours. That is crazy! It was in the papers here but if something like that happened in America all hell would break lose. Americans would not tolerate that.
Also, at one of the downtown campus dorms, one of the elevators has been broken since we got here. The dorm is like 20 floors! Everytime I walk in there I just laugh to myself because of the difference in culture. In America, people want things to be extremely easy and quick. We have no patience compared to people here. For example, on Tuesday when Christine and I ate that "delicious" (Joke.) meal we waited for 15 minutes for our waiter to come back to our table. They had a large party of about 15 people and were paying attention to no one else in the restaurant. They only had two waiters, which was definitely under staffed. Anyway, we just figured out an estimation of the price of our food and left money on the table. It was ridiculous. We were not satisfied. It's just how the culture is here. Just quite different.
Work was bleh yesterday. I worked more on research companies which was less than entertaining. I finally, finished, truly finished the list. At least I think I did. Hopefully next week my bosses will decide which companies to target for the next campaign based on the information I researched. That would make me feel like all that time was actually worth something to them. After I finished that, I worked on editing the brief for the Chairman's Club meeting in early Novemeber. I was researching (shocker!) the biographies of VERY imporatnt people who will be at this meeting. The attendees are the CEO of Think London, President and Chairman of LOCOG (London Organizing Committee of Olympic Games...basically the two people in charge of making the Olympics happen), and CEO's of other companies like Visa, Kraft Foods, Panasonic and several other global companies. I really hope I get to attend this meeting, or at least work more on it. I have already amended my work schedule for this week so that I can be there for it. (And, another reason I amended it was so that I could go to Spain, but that's another story.) We'll see.
After work, I just came back to the dorm. It was a long day and I just wanted to relax, do a little bit of homework and sleep early. I got to do all of those things which was great!
I don't think I have been updating the blog with future trips around Europe. Here are the tickets I have already bought! So excited for every weekend!
Saturday 23 Oct - Birmingham, UK - Cadbury World, the inspiratior for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Sunday 24 Oct - Stonehenge, UK - to see the famous remains from thousands of years ago
Friday 29 October - Sunday 31 October - Porto, Portugal with Sorority sister, Meredith. We are meeting for the weekend
Monday 1 November - Wednesday 3 November - Madrid, Spain to meet other sorority sister, Maggy who is studying in a nearby city for the semester.
Friday 26 November - Sunday 28 November - Geneva, Switzerland. I will be Meredith for this weekend as well. One of my classmates is from a small town outside Geneva and I have already asked her for tips of what we can do there. It's supposedly gorgeous!
Friday 3 December - Sunday 5 December - Katowice, Poland. I am meeting Meredith and her friends. We will be going to Auschwitz for a tour.
Mid December - potential for a trip to Paris with my friend, Elizabeth. Her family is coming to visit and I may be joining them for a weekend in Paris. Why not, right??
It's been very frustrating to plan trips with friends who are studying here in London. It is quite expensive and people just don't want to committ to much or spend the money. I decided I am just going to start doing things I want to do and not wait on them because I would hate to leave feeling like I didn't get the chance to travel.
Still, I can not believe this is actually happening. It's awesome. I'm so thankful for this opportunity. It's truly an amazing experience! Thanks Mom, Dad and Nana for making my wildest dreams come true!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
If only the pound was the same as the dollar, shopping would be so much more fun.
Tuesday 19 October 2010
Intro to Branding class was in the morning. The more we get into this class, the more I wish I would have taken a higher level course. We have been in class several weeks now and I really haven't gotten any new information. It was just difficult registering for classes to choose because the education system is much different here.
The UK's "high school" is called "college" and it is not set up like ours. They begin doing classes related to their major when they are high school age. As they get older, students slowly narrow down their choices of a career path so when they are in college they have already had a couple years of education in that field. I was just apprehensive about being behind since this module is a "level 2" module. So it is for sophomore level students, but they have already done these types of classes for a couple years. Anyway, I am doing just fine. Granted I have yet to start on the semester long research paper. I'm not worried. I have started reading for it.
After lunch and epic blog time (Italy trip) I went to my internship module at one of the downtown campuses. It was awful, as usual. It's the professor's first year teaching it. She is "Career Coach". I'm really not sure what that even means?? She's understanding that we all don't want to be at this class. She tries to make it as painless as possible. The class is all Americans who have internships in London so it's cool hearing about their experiences since most of them are much different than mine. Most work in a very small office of like 15 people. Quite different than the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf.
I met my friend Christine for dinner after class (we are both in the Internship module). We attempted to hit up a Mexican restaurant near Soho (the young, hip part of London). It was a large fail. We had a 50% discount so that was the main motivation for choosing it. The food was very sub-par. Basically bagged nacho chips with bland guacamole, splats of sour cream, beans and dribbles of a sad excuse for salsa. I guess I will just have to take a trip to Spain this semester to get some true spicy food! Not kidding. :)
We went shopping after dinner and I bought a pair of very British shoes. They are called "Oxford" style shoes. Google it. I'm not sure if I will keep them, we will see. I do like them, but just buyer's remorse now I guess. Everything is so expensive compared to home. I just can't let go of how much money I am actually spending. A 30 pound pair of shoes is actually over $50 dollars. Yikes. Still, it's shopping in LONDON so it's fun, even it is just window shopping.
Intro to Branding class was in the morning. The more we get into this class, the more I wish I would have taken a higher level course. We have been in class several weeks now and I really haven't gotten any new information. It was just difficult registering for classes to choose because the education system is much different here.
The UK's "high school" is called "college" and it is not set up like ours. They begin doing classes related to their major when they are high school age. As they get older, students slowly narrow down their choices of a career path so when they are in college they have already had a couple years of education in that field. I was just apprehensive about being behind since this module is a "level 2" module. So it is for sophomore level students, but they have already done these types of classes for a couple years. Anyway, I am doing just fine. Granted I have yet to start on the semester long research paper. I'm not worried. I have started reading for it.
After lunch and epic blog time (Italy trip) I went to my internship module at one of the downtown campuses. It was awful, as usual. It's the professor's first year teaching it. She is "Career Coach". I'm really not sure what that even means?? She's understanding that we all don't want to be at this class. She tries to make it as painless as possible. The class is all Americans who have internships in London so it's cool hearing about their experiences since most of them are much different than mine. Most work in a very small office of like 15 people. Quite different than the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf.
I met my friend Christine for dinner after class (we are both in the Internship module). We attempted to hit up a Mexican restaurant near Soho (the young, hip part of London). It was a large fail. We had a 50% discount so that was the main motivation for choosing it. The food was very sub-par. Basically bagged nacho chips with bland guacamole, splats of sour cream, beans and dribbles of a sad excuse for salsa. I guess I will just have to take a trip to Spain this semester to get some true spicy food! Not kidding. :)
We went shopping after dinner and I bought a pair of very British shoes. They are called "Oxford" style shoes. Google it. I'm not sure if I will keep them, we will see. I do like them, but just buyer's remorse now I guess. Everything is so expensive compared to home. I just can't let go of how much money I am actually spending. A 30 pound pair of shoes is actually over $50 dollars. Yikes. Still, it's shopping in LONDON so it's fun, even it is just window shopping.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Free Food is Cool in Any Country.
Monday 19 October 2010
During the day, I worked at Think London doing research. I looked up information for almost 100 companies yesterday. I finally finished the list. I know it's not truly finished; I'm sure there will be more work to do tomorrow when I get into the office. I know I am also working on a briefing for the CEO of the company. I am writing/editing a document he is going to use at a huge event in November with global companies. I don't fully understand what this event is for yet, I'm sure I will learn about it soon.
Last night, my friend Christine and I went to a Yelp festival near Notting Hill in London. Yelp is an online restaurant, entertainment, bars, etc. rating site. It is mostly used for restaurants. It's pretty simple and really useful. Anyone can write a review for any business on the site. Since our lives revolve around food, Christine and I have been using it a lot for recommendations of places to try. A couple weeks ago she discovered they were having a free food event. All you had to do was register online and show up! Of course we were all over that!
We got to the event a little past 8pm (it started at 8pm). We got some free junk (chapstick, tube card holder, temporary tatoos, etc.) and a nametag. It was in this outdoor facility where you just walked from one booth to another to get free food. It was soo great. We had some delicious Mexican nachos (which was my favorite!), sushi, cookies, rice and greens (and something else, I'm still not sure exactly what that was that I ate), crepes and smoothies. They also had free drinks. They were giving out samples of free beer (I didn't recognize the brand name, and I didn't really like it that much anyway..), Maker's Mark whiskey, bagged wine (yes, single servings of wine in a bag), Saki (not much of a fan, too strong for me) and another kind of organic alcohol. I had no idea there was even such thing as organic alcohol. While we were eating, this woman next to us, had a bit too much of the free alcohol. She was about 45 and was dancing around the facility. It was so hilarious. I wish we could have videotaped her. I'm not sure if she was there by herself but that is what it seemed...
It was a really sweet event. We are all about free food anytime. :) Below are a few pictures of the night.
During the day, I worked at Think London doing research. I looked up information for almost 100 companies yesterday. I finally finished the list. I know it's not truly finished; I'm sure there will be more work to do tomorrow when I get into the office. I know I am also working on a briefing for the CEO of the company. I am writing/editing a document he is going to use at a huge event in November with global companies. I don't fully understand what this event is for yet, I'm sure I will learn about it soon.
Last night, my friend Christine and I went to a Yelp festival near Notting Hill in London. Yelp is an online restaurant, entertainment, bars, etc. rating site. It is mostly used for restaurants. It's pretty simple and really useful. Anyone can write a review for any business on the site. Since our lives revolve around food, Christine and I have been using it a lot for recommendations of places to try. A couple weeks ago she discovered they were having a free food event. All you had to do was register online and show up! Of course we were all over that!
We got to the event a little past 8pm (it started at 8pm). We got some free junk (chapstick, tube card holder, temporary tatoos, etc.) and a nametag. It was in this outdoor facility where you just walked from one booth to another to get free food. It was soo great. We had some delicious Mexican nachos (which was my favorite!), sushi, cookies, rice and greens (and something else, I'm still not sure exactly what that was that I ate), crepes and smoothies. They also had free drinks. They were giving out samples of free beer (I didn't recognize the brand name, and I didn't really like it that much anyway..), Maker's Mark whiskey, bagged wine (yes, single servings of wine in a bag), Saki (not much of a fan, too strong for me) and another kind of organic alcohol. I had no idea there was even such thing as organic alcohol. While we were eating, this woman next to us, had a bit too much of the free alcohol. She was about 45 and was dancing around the facility. It was so hilarious. I wish we could have videotaped her. I'm not sure if she was there by herself but that is what it seemed...
It was a really sweet event. We are all about free food anytime. :) Below are a few pictures of the night.
Monday, October 18, 2010
I never thought my life would ever be this cool.
Thursday 14 October
Design as Communication is on Thursdays. I think it is slowly turning into a cool class, but we are still tracing letters. Next week we are starting a new project.
Thursday night I went to the premier of Imogen Heap's premiere of her documentary, "The Making of Ellipse." I was a litte apprehensive because I didn't really know what to expect or if I would enjoy it. My friend, Elizabeth, won tickets to the premier on Twitter. I seriously, do not know how all of these awesome things keep happening to me?! The film was excellent. I love it. Her work is so brilliant. I had never watched a documentary of the making of an albulm before. I had no idea how much work and time it takes to produce an albulm. It was incredible to see how she makes some of the sounds for her song. She used kids toys, people jumping, staircases, pots, pencils, slapping her skin, the sheets of her bed and other bizarre noises I had never considered music before.
The premiere was actually at my school, The University of Westminster. It was in the theatre where the first motion picture was shown in the UK. It also has the oldest organ in the UK as well. After the film, Imogen played the organ for us. The music was beautiful. Before the show, she came out and we got to meet her! That was very cool. She's won several grammy's in the US but is from England.
Saturday 16 October 2010
I woke up about 5am to take a taxi to the train station. I wanted to get there plenty early to be able to get a ticket for the 7:43am train to Perugia, Italy. It was only ten euro to get there which is crazy considering it's a 3 hour ride. In London, it was ten pounds to ride about 30 minutes via train to the London airport. I couldn't believe how cheap it was! Anyway, I got there incredibly early and got to spend the morning reading my book. I boarded the train fine, but it was a little bit behind schedule. I got to Perugia around 11am on Saturday. Meredith, my roommate and sorority sister at Butler, was waiting for me at the station. I was SO excited to see her! I couldn't believe this weekend was actually here. We had talked about visiting each other for so long once we both decided to study abroad. It was pure elation to see her!
The city was packed with over 1,000,000 visitors from all over Europe for "EuroChocolate." It is a week long festival with chocolate from across Europe. The streets were lined with vendors of fine chocolate. I knew the event was going on, but did not expect the massive crowds. The atmosphere was so full of energy and excitement. Walking through all the people adn trying some amazing chocolate took up a lot of the afternoon. We enjoyed some delicious Italian cuisine for lunch before walking through town. I was so ready to get some delectable food from Italy. Below are pictures of chocolate we tried. Yummm.
We walked through the city a little bit and Meredith showed me all the beautiful sights. I think Italy is my new favorite place in the world. At some point in my life, I just want to go on a trip through all of Italy. Every city I have seen (Rome, Florence, Assissi and now Perugia) is absolutely gorgeous. Below are some of my favorite photos from the weekend.
Before dinner, Meredith and I sat on the steps in the center of town. We were just above the crowd with a great view of all the people. It was a great spot for people watching. From these pictures, you can see just how busy this festival is!
We bought gelato on the way to the bus. I had strawberry and apple goodness. It was from Meredith's favorite gelato shop. She refers to it as "Old Man" because an older man is typically working the counter. No old man when I was there, but it was pretty good gelato.
When we went to get on the bus to take me to the airport we found out it was not running because of the festival. We found this out 30 minutes before it was supposed to board. Meredith instinively takes off running and I follow her. This was hilarious. We were literally sprinting through the streets of Perugia trying to get to the bottom of the mountain to meet the train in time. I was laughing so hard trying to keep up with her. We made it in plenty of time, but this was a very climatic ending to a great weekend with one of my best friends.
I flew out of the Perugia airport. It was so, so tiny. It literally had 2 gates. I couldn't believe. Never been in an airport like that before and probably never will again. I had to take a picture, of course.
Design as Communication is on Thursdays. I think it is slowly turning into a cool class, but we are still tracing letters. Next week we are starting a new project.
Thursday night I went to the premier of Imogen Heap's premiere of her documentary, "The Making of Ellipse." I was a litte apprehensive because I didn't really know what to expect or if I would enjoy it. My friend, Elizabeth, won tickets to the premier on Twitter. I seriously, do not know how all of these awesome things keep happening to me?! The film was excellent. I love it. Her work is so brilliant. I had never watched a documentary of the making of an albulm before. I had no idea how much work and time it takes to produce an albulm. It was incredible to see how she makes some of the sounds for her song. She used kids toys, people jumping, staircases, pots, pencils, slapping her skin, the sheets of her bed and other bizarre noises I had never considered music before.
The premiere was actually at my school, The University of Westminster. It was in the theatre where the first motion picture was shown in the UK. It also has the oldest organ in the UK as well. After the film, Imogen played the organ for us. The music was beautiful. Before the show, she came out and we got to meet her! That was very cool. She's won several grammy's in the US but is from England.
Friday 15 October 2010
I had my creative writing module in the morning. Bleh.
Around 3pm I started the journey to Rome, Italy. My flight left at 6:20pm and it took about one hour and fifteen minutes to get to the airport from class. I finally made it to the airport and sat in the holding area for a little while. This airport is different than at home, because you don't know what gate your flight is at until about 15 minutes before boarding. You have to watch the screen to know where to go. I went to the bookstore and picked up a couple books for the trip. (I almost have on already finished!)
I arrived in Rome about 10pm, but by the time I got to where I was staying it was close to midnight. Definitely, a long day of traveling. I took a bus from the airport to the train station, Termini, in central Rome then tracked down a cab to get to my friend, Alison's apartment. Alison and I are in the same sorority at home. It was so refreshing to finally see a familiar face. We stayed up a few hours and talked. I had to wake up pretty early in the morning to catch my train to Perugia, Italy. Here are some pictures of Alison's apartment. She lives in an apartment where actual Romans live, unlike my dorm here in London. It was really neat to get to see a different style of living in Europe.
Saturday 16 October 2010
I woke up about 5am to take a taxi to the train station. I wanted to get there plenty early to be able to get a ticket for the 7:43am train to Perugia, Italy. It was only ten euro to get there which is crazy considering it's a 3 hour ride. In London, it was ten pounds to ride about 30 minutes via train to the London airport. I couldn't believe how cheap it was! Anyway, I got there incredibly early and got to spend the morning reading my book. I boarded the train fine, but it was a little bit behind schedule. I got to Perugia around 11am on Saturday. Meredith, my roommate and sorority sister at Butler, was waiting for me at the station. I was SO excited to see her! I couldn't believe this weekend was actually here. We had talked about visiting each other for so long once we both decided to study abroad. It was pure elation to see her!
The city was packed with over 1,000,000 visitors from all over Europe for "EuroChocolate." It is a week long festival with chocolate from across Europe. The streets were lined with vendors of fine chocolate. I knew the event was going on, but did not expect the massive crowds. The atmosphere was so full of energy and excitement. Walking through all the people adn trying some amazing chocolate took up a lot of the afternoon. We enjoyed some delicious Italian cuisine for lunch before walking through town. I was so ready to get some delectable food from Italy. Below are pictures of chocolate we tried. Yummm.
Bocci chocolate that is made in Perugia. It has hazelnut in the middle. Delicious.
"Hot Chocolate"
It's not what Americans think of as hot chocolate, it's basically melted milk chocolate. It's much thicker than what we have. Sooo good. We just tried the milk chocolate, "latte", but they had probably 20 different kinds you could try.
About halfway through, I decided it was necessary to purchase a liter of milk and carry it around with me throughout the festival. Meredith and I took turns chugging it out of the carton. Good memories of Italy. :)
"Chocolate Kabob"
This was basically heaven in food form. Imagine a perfect pancake with warm chocolate syrup drizzled on top. Chocolate and hazelnut shavings are on top of that, topped off with whipped cream. It was so filling, but so delcious. After we bought this one, we walked to the edge of the mountain where Perugia is and sat on the wall to overlook the beautiful landscape. We walked through the city a little bit and Meredith showed me all the beautiful sights. I think Italy is my new favorite place in the world. At some point in my life, I just want to go on a trip through all of Italy. Every city I have seen (Rome, Florence, Assissi and now Perugia) is absolutely gorgeous. Below are some of my favorite photos from the weekend.
Before dinner, Meredith and I sat on the steps in the center of town. We were just above the crowd with a great view of all the people. It was a great spot for people watching. From these pictures, you can see just how busy this festival is!
Yes, this is an enormous block of chocolate being carved into a Jaguar. Normal.
Sooo many poeple.
Sitting on the steps, people watching.
Sunday 17 October 2010
We woke up somewhat early to walk through town one last time before I had to leave to catch my flight. Of course, this weekend was all about the food. I had a kabob for lunch. Although, this time, not chocolate it was equally delicious. Bread filled with tomoatos, carrots, lettuce, a couple dressings and lamb meat was to die for. Loved it! Wish I could have that again!
When we went to get on the bus to take me to the airport we found out it was not running because of the festival. We found this out 30 minutes before it was supposed to board. Meredith instinively takes off running and I follow her. This was hilarious. We were literally sprinting through the streets of Perugia trying to get to the bottom of the mountain to meet the train in time. I was laughing so hard trying to keep up with her. We made it in plenty of time, but this was a very climatic ending to a great weekend with one of my best friends.
I flew out of the Perugia airport. It was so, so tiny. It literally had 2 gates. I couldn't believe. Never been in an airport like that before and probably never will again. I had to take a picture, of course.
The airport was about double this size. It was comparable to a couple basketball courts next to each other. Crazzzy!
The commute home was a bit ridiculous. It took me 10 hours to make it back to my flight since starting the journey to the airport in Perugia. Once I got back to the UK, I had to wait in astromical customs lines and some of the tube lines were closed. I made it back fine, it was just a tedious process. When I was with Meredith, we booked flights to Switzerland for November. I am so excited! Can. Not. Wait.
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