Ice Cream and Soccer

I didn't sleep well Sunday night.  I think I got on a bad sleep schedule with my lazy weekend.  I trotted off to work feeling pretty chipper because I finally brought my bright red umbrella with me somewhere when it was raining outside (Go me!).  That meant no frizzy hair at work.  Another obvious plus.  Two out of the four of us were sick, so it was pretty quite in our little room of an office.  I caught up on my Marketing Week, Marketing Weekly, Design Weekly, and Grocer readings.  I picked out my favorite articles to be tweeted out over the week.  PS - beware of the shameless plug to occur in 5...4...3...2...1...
All you twitter people out there should follow www.twitter.com/brand_magnetism.  They tweet about a lot of unique and fun design stuff, so get on that.

One of the articles I read had a very interesting title about someone sticking up two fingers to google.  I was like "Woah buddy!"  I thought I knew what it meant because I had watched British television shows at home like Red Dwarf, but I felt compelled to ask about it.  I call it a reverse peace sign, where the back of your hand is facing your insultee and you give a peace sign, but it doesn't mean peace.  I asked if it was the same as the middle finger in America and he said basically it means "F*** you!"  So I followed up with, "Well then what about when rap artists throw up the reverse peace?"  Patrick responded that it wasn't the same because it was out of context.  Everything needs to be in context, and specifically the gesture needs to be straight up and down for it to have the full effect.  So basically, I can now flip you the bird correctly in two different cultures, but I would never do that.  This conversation lead to a more humorous one about what a “thumbs up” hand gesture means in some Middle Eastern countries.  It does not mean, "it's all good", but we will leave it there.  I digress... moving on.

We enjoyed a fajita burrito for lunch and that about sums up Monday.  Tuesday I didn't have to go into the office directly because just after lunch Patrick and I were heading to Uxbridge to meet with someone from Haagen Dazs for a networking type of thing.  It was good that I didn't have to go in early because today I had to dress "smart" or as Patrick put it "suited and booted".  This was my first potential client experience/interaction, so I was nervous and excited.  It was a 40-minute tube ride from central London, so I read Dear John by Nickolas Sparks while Patrick read e-mails.  When we got there we enjoyed a cup of coffee to get into the zone before going in for the presentation.  London has a much greater cafe culture than we do in the states.  If you want a to-go cup you have to specify, otherwise you will get a mug.  Even at a Starbucks.  There is a lot more seating available and people spend tons of time in cafes.  Patrick and I discussed what exactly we would be doing, and what I would be doing.  Since this was my first time I wouldn't be expected to present anything (relief) but I would take notes of reactions and questions.  I was very glad to do it.

The meeting went very well.  The lady from Haagen Dazs was a delight and very spirited.  Patrick presented very well, and I took excellent notes, if I do say so myself.  On the ride back Patrick and I talked about the meeting and what would come from it over our sample size ice cream cups before I fell back into my book, and he into his e-mails.  We parted at Baker Street tube stop, but it was a good day.

Me and Bailey with the Charlton mascot.

That night was our program scheduled soccer match, Brighton vs Charlton.  On the train ride over, rowdy brighton fans boarded and sang merry (out of) tunes for their team.  I thought they were very entertaining.  The girls across from me and the man who smuggle a beer onboard next to me, did not think the spectacle was so entertaining.  The soccer, or as it's called over here football, match was a lot of fun.  We were right on the ground row A and right next to the Brighton section.  It was so easy to root for "Brighton from the south" when they were so spirited.  They ended up beating Charlton 2-1.  Let me tell you, professional footballers a hotties.  Trust me, I was right there.  I would love to go to another match any day of the week.

Brighton fans after they scored their first goal.  "Seagulls! Seagulls! Seagulls!"

Up close and personal to the action.

This is my man.  Hey Painter!

We had so fun (sarcasm) coming back.  Apparently we skipped a gate somewhere on the tube and had to pay extra just to wait a long long time.  Lesson learned: never forget to tap out on the tube.  When we got back, I enjoyed a delicious pickle from my stash and hit the hay.


Today was a day of classes, so besides booking some trips, nothing really interesting happened.  But a lot of interesting stuff will happen this weekend, so stay tuned.


Pip Pip Cheerio!

Travel Update

Tomorrow I leave for Paris tomorrow night.  We are taking a coach overnight and should arrive around 7:30ish.  I'm hoping to post either tonight or tomorrow after class before my trip about this past week so far.  Sunday night you can expect a full update on my magical end to February in Paris.  At least I hope it will be magical.  For updates throughout the weekend check out my twitter at www.twitter.com/rachel_y.

We have been planning a lot of travel in the past week.  It's about time really.  We only have a limited amount of time in Europe and we need to use it to the fullest.  This is the the schedule so far...

February 26-28: Paris, France

March 5: Day trip to Cardiff, Wales

March 26-28: Dublin, Ireland

April 2-11: Spring Break - decided but unbooked

April 16: School trip to Canterbury

April 23-25: Edinburgh, Scotland

April 30: School trip to Brighton

May 6-8: Barcelona, Spain

Still in the works are possible trips to Vienna, Austria, Berlin Germany, and Rome, Italy.

Sound like a lot of travel?  It is, but I have to make use of my time here.  I'm excited to kick off this season of travel this weekend.  We plan to see all the touristy stuff like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Le Louvre, the Arc de Triumph, and hopefully Versailles.  Expect lots of pictures.

This will be my first experience in Europe traveling to a non-english speaking country.  Wish me luck.  I know how to say "Hello, I am called Rachel", "Thank You", and "I don't speak French."  I will try my best to take videos and create a collage video for here.

I will start my next post now and not leave it all for tomorrow when I should be packing and getting things together for the trip.

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Changing of the Tower Guard

Below is some footage I took of the Changing of the Tower Guard.  Basically it's the inspection of the new guards and then they march off.  I was really excited to see it.  It just randomly started taking place and I got all excited and fished for my camera in my purse.  I like when they stomp around.




Hope you enjoyed that.


Pip Pip Cheerio!

Markets and Towers and Planning, O MY!

Thursday we kicked off our weekend by going to Tortilla, our favorite little burrito stop in town, right after class.  We stayed in that night to watch Atonement and plan trips.  Well Bailey and I are really bad about planning trips so we can just forget about that.  Now, if you haven't seen Atonement, it is a really sad and depressing movie.  No matter how many times I tell people, they don't believe me until they see it.  I personally love the movie.  It's very well acted and directed, but the story line is extremely sad, and should not be watched by the faint of heart.

Friday we got down to business.  Sort of...  We did accomplish two of the walks in my 50 Walks of London guide.  At around noon Bailey and I went to the Tower of London.  It cost us about £13.50 (Look!  I found my character palette!)  It gave us about three and a half hours of entertainment.  I was amazed at the inside of the fortress.  I wish I would have taken more pictures of the inside.  It looked like a walled off village.  I am not sure what I was expecting.  Probably something less quaint, and community like, and more severe.  There were roads and walk ways, and flats that I think people actually live in today.  It was quite an experience.  While we were there we walked around the fortress wall, went inside the White Tower (that's the one the place is famous for) and inside the Bloody tower, where traitors and heretics were kept and tortured.  it was a good chunk of history.  We also got to see the Crown Jewels.  Man, the other half lived goooooood.  There were diamonds the size of baby's fists.  One crown held over 3000 diamonds.  We also got to see the changing of the Tower Guard.  I got a video but it's taking a long time to load so it will eventually be posted on here.

From the tower, we went up to Tower Bridge and paid the £5 it cost to go up to the top.  There was an "exhibition" there.  The view was incredible.  You could see all of London.  The only way up was through stairs, so needless to say, that acted as our workout for the day.  But once up there, it was totally worth it.  I got some great pictures.

A view from the Top!

Lucky for us it was a clearish day.

They had games at the Top.  I totally pwn'd Bailey.  Xs rule!

This us the creepy entrance to the Market

We didn't spend too much time in the Tower Bridge because once you got your pictures and marveled a bit, what else is there to do?  Bailey and I hit the streets to make our way to the Burough Market.  It's a gourmet food market.  We had to go through a creepy tunnel to get there, but once inside, the smells of deliciousness reached my nose.  I had to try really hard to avoid the sweets.  Not having a lot of money in my pocket made it easier.  It was situated nicely next to a cathedral which made it very picturesque.  They had a lot of food to offer, but sadly I didn't get any of the free samples that others got when they visited.  This market was very similar to the Farmer's markets that I am used to back home.

Nice location, don't you think?

After the market we found the pirate ship The Golden Hind to satisfy another one of my geeky loves and then headed back to Vandon House where Bailey and I really got down to our planning stages.  We booked our coach to Paris for next weekend, and began looking at hotels, but we didn't actually book the hotel until Saturday morning.  We decided to go hotel over hostel because it was cheaper and had a better location.  Double bonus!

Saturday all we did was go to the Museum of London.  It was for an assignment because normally it's really cool and interesting.  Right now, however, 3/4 of it is under construction.  All the cool interesting stuff is under construction!  We learned how London came to be from the Neanderthals to the Romans to medieval times, but that was very short, and could have been more extensive.  We were there maybe an hour.  I was a little disappointed that we couldn't see the meat and bones of the place.  Apparently they want it ready by the Olympics so they are fixing it up now.

After the museum we tried to go to the London Eye, but the queue was huge.  We will have to go back in the morning sometime.  We watched Notting Hill to end the night.  Sooooo cute, and based really close to us.  Just a few tube stops away.  I also think that Bailey and I found our Spring Break destination.  I won't say more until I've met with the travel agent, but I may now have some cash to spare for other trips!!!  Maybe one a little further south (wink wink).

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Pancake Day!!!

Can you believe there is a whole day dedicated to Pancakes here?  Sounds like heaven right?  I will get to that in a sec, but first I have let you know about Monday.

Monday was a very blah day for me.  I got up early to go to work.  We had our weekly breakfast in the Clerkenwell Kitchen.  I really love the people I work with.  They want to help me have the best experience inside and outside the workplace.  We talked about travel and good things to do in Paris, which I hope to visit next weekend.  When we got back I got my first assignment of the week.  I am to write a awards entries for few packages tdg did last year.

An hour or so after we got back from breakfast, the power went out.  Apparently the construction that is going on at the nearest tube station knocked out the power within a few blocks, but thankfully the tube was still working so I had a means to get back.  I learned that rolling blackouts have been predicted throughout England for some time now because they can't supply enough energy for themselves at the moment.  England imports excess nuclear energy from France.  I guess you learn something new everyday.

We decided to abandon ship because without power there is no internet, and without internet, we really can't do much.  How sad is it that today's workplace is so centered around the internet that we literally can't work without it?  This meant that I was back in my room at Vandon House by 1:30pm with my work but no motivation to do it, so I took a nap.  The rest of the day was more of me avoiding work, and sharing my computer with Bailey since her computers motherboard fried on Vday.

I did finish my though, and got up bright and early the next morning with a little hop in my step as I set off for work.  It was Pancake Day in England.  It's the same as Fat Tuesday in the States, but instead of eating whatever they want, they stuff themselves with cakes and pancakes.  Everything was fine until I got off the tube and realized that it was raining and I had forgotten my umbrella.  That meant I had to walk 10 minutes in a near down pour with only a free Metro paper to cover me.  Did I mention that my hair frizzes when it gets wet?  Anyway, the day went well.  I turned in my assignment and it got "good job" but I needed more information to really complete it, and I would get that next week.  For lunch we decided to check out a new startup food spot called Poncho no.8, the gourmet burrito kitchen.  It was good, but I still prefer Pancheros.  They are basically the same thing.  The burritos were so big that we were stuffed when we were done and decided not to get cakes from the cake man down the street from our office.  Hopefully I will meet him next week.

When we got back I chatted with Suni about some of the research that I had done, and my new assignment is to look at how people package things that have a lot of information to display.  This means I get to go shopping.  Woot!  At 4:30 Patrick took me too a Pizza shoot that was taking place right down the road.  I am not kidding you when I say it takes food photographers and a whole crew 3 days to get the perfect 6 photographs of a pizza for promotional and packaging usage.  It really was an experience.  I met a lot of different people at the shoot including a creative director.  He was such a nice guy and showed me a whole bunch of stuff having to do with what it takes to get a final product out on the market.  From there I went back to Vandon House.

It was an exhausting day.  Today was class day.  I had advertising in the morning and Art in the afternoon.  We went to the National Gallery and looked a some Renaissance Christian art.  I got to see works by Raphael, Bellini, and more.  Sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures but maybe I will find some on the internet and share.  I have a funny credit card story coming next.  Stay tuned...

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Valentine's Day FAIL + Camden Market

I hope you all had a good Valentine's Day!  Mine wasn't so hot.  The title says it all.  I will try not to vent on here too much, I mean I have had a few days to cool off from.  Here it goes...

Bailey and I had big plans for Valentine's Day.  We were going to finish all of our homework for our British Experience Seminar which was to visit the Museum of London and and two major markets.  AFter sleeping in for the first time in a while, we set off for Camden Market with Abbey and Jessica.  Let me tell you, Camden Town is crazy.  It houses such an eclectic group of people.  There are super fashionable people, goths, druggies, and "normal" people all walking up and down the street window shopping and such.  For some reason I thought that Camden market was going to be a whole neighborhood deal, like the downtown farmers market in DM, but it wasn't.  It was instead a small uber cramped inlet, packed with people and clothing booths.  There were some really really cute items there, but there were no prices listed and no real comfort to look at them because it was so crowded.  At one point we couldn't move at all while we were trying to get out.

The infamous Camden Market

After escaping the market we wandered the Camden Street.  On both sides of the street stores had step up onto the sidewalks, and in that respect it was more like the markets I am used to.  We saw the outside of the British MTV Centre.  I haven't heard much about it, but I wonder if they do event like the American MTV station.  I would love to go to one.

The MTV Centre

After going to the market Jessica and Abbey went to Picadilly to see the fountain, that supposedly changes to red on Valentine's Day, while Bailey and I go see all that we wanted to see.  Our first stop was the Angel tube station.  We thought there was longest tube staircase there, but there wasn't, only the longest escalator which we had already seen.  then we went to King's Cross to get our picture taken at platform 9 3/4.  We got there just in time.  As we left, three asian girls came screaming around the corner to see it.  Yes, I will admit to being a freak about Harry Potter stuff, but at least I keep myself in check in public places.

Be jealous!

From there we wanted to go to the Barbican tube station for the Museum of London and then onto the Liverpool tube station for more markets, and we thought it was possible.  All the maps said the tube lines we needed were open, but when we got to the platforms, the we discovered that public transit had it wrong.  Everything they said, the opposite was true.  We still could have made it to our locations, but now we weren't in the mood.  Couples were making out everywhere, pink and red were adorned on all the walls, and I was growing sick of all the love in the air, and we decided to call it a day.

But the fun continues.  Not long after we got back the fire alarm sounded, but less than a minute later it turned off.  We didn't see people leaving but power was off in parts of the building.  After about 10 minutes I got a text from our roommate.  Apparently we were supposed to evacuate the building.  When we got to the lobby, a fireman was there to scold us a bit.  Oops!  The alarm really wasn't on long enough for us to think EVACUATE!  Turns out the wiring in our building is old and we had too many fridges plugged into one circuit, which led to a wire bursting into flame.  Its all good now, and they returned power to the fridges so we wouldn't lose our precious food.  What we did lose though was the internet.  It took over an hour to get our internet straight again.  Not a fun ordeal.

Needless to say I had the Valentine's Day blues.  It's just one of those moods where you're sick of society and want to throw a rock as hard as you can.  My dinner consisted of a 10 pound (meaning money, so the equivalent of $16 basically) burger at pub that was full of couples, and then walking home in the rain.  Thanks God!  Way to kick me when I'm down!  Of course the best remedy for a sad soul is friends, chocolate and wine.  We had a little single girls youtube get together in our room to end the night.

"At least if we are all alone, we're all together in that too" - Kathy Bates in P.S. I Love you.

Sorry!  I went a little emo on you there.  I think it was warranted though.  That night the motherboard on Bailey's computer died, which meant no more computer for Bailey.  See what I mean?  Awful, AWFUL day.  Anyway, besides Vday, everything else has been wonderful.  Updates on the rest of this week will be next.

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Travel Plans

I'm going to try and keep this short, but I seem to have a problem with that here.  Here it goes.

There is a lot I want to do while in the UK and Europe, and most of them revolve around travel.  Last night we sat down and planned our trip to Dublin, Ireland.  Bailey, Abbey and myself will be going in the last weekend in March.  It's Bailey's half birthday and Abbey's real birthday that weekend so we plan to live it up.  Our whole trip, round trip flights and hostel, is costing us just over $100 and that's for 3 days and 2 nights.  Not bad if you ask me.

Other trips Bailey and I plan to go on are: Paris, Berlin, Scotland and Spring Break which will possibly be in Barcelona.  Not entirely sure on that one yet.

If I am lucky I will get to go to Newcastle, England and Geneva, Switzerland with my internship.

Places I want to go but still need someone to with include Rome, Greece and Wales.  Not to mention Day trips I'm interested in.  Rome is really the place I want to go, so if anyone else is interested please hit me up.

Look, I kept it short.  That's all for now.

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Stonehenge & Bath

As I stepped outside the door yesterday morning, I could just tell that it was going to be a good day.  The sun was shining and the air felt crisp.  Bailey and I briskly set off towards victoria station to meet our coach for our tour.  We didn't look at our departure point before that morning, and we quickly learned that that was a mistake.  Victoria Station has three parts; underground, train, and coach.  The coach station is in a completely different building, and when we got there we found a gate that looked like our tour and went there.  But it didn't feel right so I went back to look at the departure board and Bailey asked information for help.  That was the best move because they told us that our pick up point was on the other side of Victoria station in off street.  GREAT!  It was quite a fun power walk to get over there in time.

We did catch our tour, thank goodness, and by 9:10 we were on the road towards Stonehenge.  Bailey and I might have been the only Americans on the bus.  Everyone else was a tourist from other places in Europe.  The trip went very smoothly, and the view was incredible.  The English countryside is amazing.  It's green and full of life in all it's stillness.  What made it so beautiful were the rolling hills and the different shades of green that encompassed the land.  Really it wasn't too much different than Iowa country side, it just had more green than yellow.

My favorite pic!

When we approached Stonehenge everyone's head started to bob in anticipation.  Everyone wanted to be the first to see it.  This may sound strange, but it was both bigger and smaller than I expected.  The stones are of course HUGE and awe-inspiring when you think of how they were assembled, but the monument also took up less space than I expected.  We only had an hour there, but it was enough.  The openness of the field in which the stones lay and the fact that it was on top of a hill helped the bitter cold wind whip around the inhabitants who were on the walking path around the stones.  We were freezing.  It's a good thing we visited Stonehenge this year though, because in 2012 the site will be much more controlled.  People will only be able to see the stones from a small train.  LAME.  That's so much less personal.

After some coffee and a light snack we got back on the coach and headed towards Bath.  O Bath!  How I love thee.  As we drove up, I was shocked at how big it really was, and it was all beautiful.  Bath stone makes up 99% of the buildings in Bath and it gives the city a very elegant and cohesive look, which is so different from London.  In London adjoining houses may be made of different materials, and where your house may look good by itself, and your neighbors house might look good by itself, but together it looks really bad.

Part of the Circus.

Bath was also really different from London in a few other respects.  In Bath there is a lot of congestion, but it's limited to people congestion.  The sidewalks are crowded but the streets were not.  Motor transportation was not as prevalent.  There were also way more street performers in Bath.  I think that's because there is so much foot traffic.

Our first stop was at Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths.  We only had two and half hours in Bath otherwise I would have stayed longer at the Roman Baths, but I had other stuff I wanted to see and do.  The biggest thing was visiting the Jane Austen Centre.  It was about a half hour exhibition, and I was in heaven.  She is my favorite author of all time.  Surprisingly enough to me I didn't learn that much about Jane while at her center.  I seemed to know most of it already.  What was news to me was that fact that Jane didn't like Bath while she lived there for five years, and did basically no writing within the city limits.

The Roman Baths

Me looking pensively over the bath

There wasn't much time left after the Jane Austen Center so Bailey and I walked around for a 20 minutes and made our way back to the coach.  We got to see the sunset over Bath from on our ride back and it was breathtaking.  Sadly my camera lost battery power and I didn't really get a good shot.  Our tour guide also pointed out the Welsh border.  So no I can say that I have seen Wales.  Our ride back was an interesting one.  There were a group of six Indian tourists sitting behind us, and the four males decided they wanted to sing the whole way back.  Other than that it was a great trip and Bath is now one my new favorite places.  There will be a small update to follow this one.

Sunset as viewed from the coach.

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Greenwich

I woke up bright and early this morning.  Well, only if you consider 8:45 bright and early.  Our program director and assistant director made us breakfast of bacon butties.  It was basically buttered bread with bacon on it.  Have I ever mentioned that bacon in the UK is way different from bacon in the states?  The bacon here is more like ham.  I believe it's from the same part of the pig, just cut thicker.  It was a really good breakfast.  I had two helpings.

At 10:30 we set off on our ferry ride down the Thames river towards Greenwich.  Bitter cold wind whipped around us, and I forgot my gloves back in my room.  I tried to stay outside as long as possible to take awesome pictures but my hands weren't having it.

The ferry arrived around 11:15 and we set off for the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park.  It was on the top of the a pretty tall hill, but the view from the top was amazing!  You could see all the way across London.  At the Royal Observatory there was the prime meridian lies.  I got some cheesy pictures of me there.

Abbey, Jessica and myself posing over the Prime Meridian.

It looks like I'm petting the Queen's house.  The Maritime Museum is on the left and the Naval College on the right if I remember correctly.

Also in Greenwich is the Maritime Museum, the Royal Naval College, and an old Queen's House.  Abbey, Jessica and myself palled around and we stayed the longest in Greenwich.  As we were making our way back we stopped in a few shops.  I bought myself souvenir shot glasses and a gift for my brother.  We also found the Greenwich Market which had food vendors and craftsmen alike sharing the same small space.  It was very unique to walk through.  A shop along the Market is called Mr. Humbug's Sweet Shop.  The man inside was anything but a humbug.  He was sweet and very busily working around the shop to fill candies.  When he heard us speak he was surprised to hear an American accent.  He said we looked so British.  "Americans have the best street wear," he said.  That made it almost sad to hear that we looked british even though I've been striving to blend in this whole time.  I bought some Chocolate covered peanuts even after I got all my chocolate from my parents the other day.  I couldn't help it.  He was so nice, and I love chocolate covered peanuts.  To end our trip we took the pedestrian subway under the Thames.  So officially I have been at the highest and lowest points in London.  Impressive right?!

National Maritime Museum.

Greenwich, although still a part of London, is quite separate in culture.  Our director, Mark, said that is was more like a country town than the outskirts of a big city, and I agree with that.  The buildings were styled in an older fashion, and the parks made up more of the area.  The people were very friendly from what I could tell, except for one older lady.  It had more of a community feel than central London.

Tomorrow Bailey and I are going to Stonehenge and Bath, so to prepare we are watching Pride and Prejudice.

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Cupcake Fail & Valentine's Day Movie Premiere

Wednesday really wasn't that exciting for me.  I went to my advertising class where we sat and listened about advertising for two and a half hours.  Next week our prof says he is taking us to an exhibit of the 100 items that have shaped society.  That should be interesting.  I'm not used to his teaching style of lecturing and using absolutely no visual aids.  You really have to listen and it doesn't help that his accent is so thick.

After class I ran to the stationary store to buy some post cards and a journal for my art class.  I got a pretty good deal I think.  I was hoping to get those postcards sent out today, but maybe not.  Art class was held in the British Museum and that place seems really cool.  There are a lot of old wonders to look at.  I will have to go back there because as a class we only focused on a very small amount of artwork.  It was awesome to see the Rosetta Stone and part of the Parthenon though.

The British Museum

After leaving the Museum, Joe told me of a cupcake place that was supposedly close by.  We searched for the better part of an hour and couldn't find it.  It was a total FAIL.  I had really started to crave them after he mentioned sweets, and then let down when we couldn't find them.  Story of my life.  Joe swears that we will win though.  Sometime while we are here we will find the cupcake shop on Bloomsbury St. and the other 4 cupcake shops and show them who is boss!  But for now the score remains cupcakes - 1, Joe & Rachel - 0.  When we got back to Vandon House everything became instantly perfect because I discovered that I had a package.  It was from my parents and contained all the essentials like pickles, pickle chips, hot cocoa and chocolates!

The real exciting stuff was yesterday.  The European premiere of the movie Valentine's Day came to Leicester Square.  Three of us got out of class at noon and went straight there.  It was only two tube stops away so we were really hoping for good spots, and luck be known, we got em, sorta.  They seemed like good spots but we found out that if we had been only 20 ft right of us we would have got a ton more signatures.  The actors liked to skip us, but I'll go into detail in a bit.

So we arrived just after noon and people from the Central program slowly started finding us from 1-3pm.  It was freezing outside.  Luckily the package I got the day before also contained a throw blanket, so I wrapped it tightly around me.  Good timing Mom and Dad!  They didn't role out the red carpet until 5:45ish but the tween British girls behind us felt the need to try to shove to the front at 4.  There was almost a mini throw down.

The stars arrive right about at 6 and included Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Topher Grace (Eric Foreman from That 70s Show), Jessica Alba, Hector Elizodo (Driver from The Princess Diaries), Emma Roberts (Nancy Drew), and Director Gary Marshall (He directed Pretty Woman).  Topher went straight to the media but Ashton and Demi went to the crowd first.  Demi went inside before getting to us but Ashton came to us and stopped signing just as he reached the Iowa girls.  I yelled at him "We're from Iowa!" and Held up a makeshift saying just that and he paused for a second before saying "Really?  What are you doing here?" and then he moved on.  Sad day that I didn't get his signature.  I did get Topher's and Gary Marshall's but the rest all skipped over me.  Bailey got pics WITH Topher and Emma Roberts.  Lucky girl.  Now for the Pics!

Director Gary Marshall.  After he signed my sign that said "We're from Iowa" he offered up that he was from New York.  He was really such a sweetheart!

Ashton Kutcher.  Sorry Demi was inside already.

Topher Grace!!!

Emma Roberts.  The girl is so small she barely hit 5'6'' in 5'' heals.  She signed the girls' stuff on either side of me but not me.

Hector Elizondo.  Nice Guy, but skipped over me for signatures.

This is the best I could get of Jessica Alba.  She really didn't come to close to us.

When we got back we were all so exhausted and cold so we basically ate a huge warm meal and then I crashed like none other.  Today we went to Greenwich.  Update you on that very shortly.

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Internship Day 2

I woke up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.  That's a lie actually.  I didn't want to move.  I hope I get used o getting up early everyday.  I thought about it and I realized that if all goes as planned, I may not sleep in for the rest of the semester.  Eeek!  Ask my mom, I need my sleep.  I'm an 8 hours girls.  Need that beauty sleep.  (Long tangent, time to move on)

So today was Day 2 of my internship and good stuff happened today.  At 9:30 we reviewed my first press release and I was happy to hear that I actually did it well.  After a few minor corrections (like changing a few spellings from American English to UK English) it was sent out to the appropriate media.  I forget what those were, but it's still exciting.  I also read through the food watch magazine to find articles that were of the most interest to me to see if there was anything in there we could work with.

We went out for lunch to a place called Mooli's.  It was an Indian style Panchero's of sorts.  They make Indian flat bread wrap.  I had the pork with a pomegranate sauce and it was so good.  The "chips" of sorts and the "salsa" that came with it were interesting.  I ate them, but they definitely aren't something I would seek out.  The wrap was yummy it.  It had a nice natural spice to it.  On our way back we got stuck in traffic.  It turned our half hour lunch into and hour and half lunch adventure.

After we got back I was given the briefs to the cases that I would be working on.  I'm really excited to get my hands into them.  I need to research the products before Monday.  I would give you more details if I could but branding and advertising is a very competitive business, so I'll just give you the basics.  I also got a few welcome e-mails from people in other offices.  It made me feel special!  Everyone in the office is really nice, and they want to help me, not only with the business but with London.

Classes for the week start tomorrow, and I've still got to do some reading.  Have fun everyone!

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Internship Day 1

I'm extremely tired right now, but I promised my Mom that I would post about my first day at tdg The Design Group that day.

The first day wasn't too strenuous for me, but that doesn't mean that I didn't do stuff.  I started the morning by reading a bunch of trade journals; Marketing weekly, Design Weekly, Management Weekly and Grocers.  Marketing weekly was my favorite.  It broke news of new campaigns and conducted interviews with industry leaders.

We had a breakfast meeting with our team at the Clerkenwell Kitchen, which is just across the courtyard of sorts.  If I had known I wouldn't have eaten breakfast before I came so I just ordered hot chocolate and a croissant.  It was more of an introduction of me to the girls.  We talked about a lot of random stuff, like why there is no Turkey in the UK, and if/why Jersey Shore is so popular in the US.  We also talked about the upcoming London Weather.  Apparently we are going to get some snow on Wednesday.  It snowed a bit today, it wasn't cold enough, and didn't snow enough to stick.  One of the girls was already calling it a Blizzard even though they are only expecting a few centimeters.  I had to laugh internally because back in Iowa right now they are getting inches upon inches and I'm not even sure we would consider it at "blizzard" status.

After breakfast, my new boss, Patrick, took me aside to discuss some of the things I might be able to assist with and different projects that I would be a part of.  On Thursday of last week I had asked to be more involved in the account management/client services side of things, so they have placed me in three different upcoming projects.  Along with that I will be writing press releases which I have never done before, so that will be a good learning experience.  I will also be writing "thought" pieces once a month to comment on the industry, trends and where the industry goes if I heard correctly.  If I write them well enough I might be able to get them published in industry presses, and that would be incredible for my portfolio.  I'm really happy with my placement and the opportunities that will come of it.  I can already tell that I will learn more at this internship than most classes I have taken thus far.

My first assignments were to make a short intro of myself to be sent out to the company, and to write my first press release.  I wasn't given much information, and there doesn't seem to be much to work with but I hope I write it alright.

Tomorrow, first thing, we are going to review my press release and after that I get to hang with Sonny, the account manager of sorts.  She said she would show me the town around the office and also brief me on our first project.  Wish me luck!

This weeks updates include our classes on Wednesday and Thursday, and the Valentine's Day premeire after class on Thursday.  Hopefully its not too cold.  Friday we go to Greenwich on a ferry down the Thames river.  I'll wrap up the week on Saturday with hopefully a trip to Stonehenge and BATH, and some markets and a museum on Sunday.  It's a big week ahead.  Can't wait to experience it : )

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Chester & Liverpool Weekend Trip

Liverpool.  Home of the Beatles.  Masters of the Maritime trade.  Home of the Liverpool Football Club and it's many, many fans.  The city has a lot going for it and perhaps a lot going against it.

This tale begins on the morning of Friday, February 5th.  I was the first to wake in my room.  I was also the first to go to bed the night before, so this wasn't much of a shock.  What was a shock was the feeling of nausea that overwhelmed me.  At first I thought it was the same nausea that had held me for a short time before I came to London.  A combination of nerves and excitement.  I was wrong.  Let's flashback to the night before.  I made myself a small humble meal that consisted of a chicken and cheese pita sandwich.  However, the chicken I used had expired on the 3rd of February, a whole day before.  The sealed chicken seemed fine even when I opened it, but in retrospect, I don't think it was.

An example of the Medieval structures through Chester.

The most photographed clock in the world.  Move over Big Ben!

The three and a half hour bus ride to Chester was a struggle.  I couldn't stay awake because I thought I might get sick, and I suffered from what seemed like hot flashes that could only be cured by the coldness of the window.  Needless to say, it was not a fun coach ride.  Chester was a unique little town.  It has the most photographed clock in the world, the most complete roman wall in the UK, and Medieval buildings in its center.  I thought it was quite cute, but didn't explore it much.

Pretty self-explanatory.  Penny Lane was on Paul and George's bus ride to school.

When we arrived in Liverpool around 5, I was feeling tons better than I had before.  We had about 2 hours to explore until we went on our first organized group event.  A few girls and myself found a fabulous open air mall and went to town.  Bailey bought a whole bunch of stuff, but I decided not too.  I am not a fan of our exchange rate.  Fifteen pounds might seem like a good deal, but that's really $22.  I will have to budget better.  Anyway, our first activity was called Shiverpool, and it was a walking ghost tour of the city.  I found it quite entertaining, especially with since we had a guy named Benji in our group.  They picked on him quite a bit.  After the tour ended we had beers at the Philharmonic Pub.  I got back to my bed at the hostel around midnight I believe.  We had to walk about 2 miles back, that was fun.  I thought my bed was pretty comfortable.  I had nothing to complain about because I slept like a rock.

Also pretty self-explanatory.  Strawberry Field was a boys shelter that was and still is run by the Salvation Army, but also sports strawberries.

The Beatles Story Exhibition.

The next day marked our Liverpool and Beatles tour.  It was a 2 hour coach ride and I got some amazing pictures.  It was a good thing the tour was early because by the time we were done, a crazy fog had moved in and we could no longer see across the Mersey river.  Bailey and I went through the Beatles Story, which is an interactive museum of sorts.  I learned a lot about the Beatles that day.  Afterwards we grabbed lunch and went shopping a bit.  I got some new flats.  When we got back to the hostel around 5 people were preparing for the night already.  They wanted to to Liverpool like a true Liverpoolian.  By 7 we were a a pub called the Flute celebrating Michelle's 20th birthday.  It was a good night for a lot of people and a not so goodnight for others.  I was again back at the Hostel by 1am after meeting a bunch of friendly Liverpool men.  They were all really willing to chat.  All proudly claiming to be "scousers" and extremely lively in their conversations.

The next morning, after hearing some crazy morning after stories and hearing people piece together their nights (One girl didn't get back to the hostel until 7 AM, and one girl was brought back by the police because she got lost while following someone she thought she knew) we all boarded the bus.  This time my bus ride was quite enjoyable, but I don't think I can say that for too many others.

Liverpool was quite an interesting city.  Here are some of the observations that I have made. 1) It has a lot of History that is hidden throughout the city, and the modern parts are really cool as well. 2)  All that History seems to be buried in dirt.  I can't believe how industrial and run down some parts of the city actually were.  It was much "dodgier" than any part of London I have spent a significant amount of time in.  3)  People in Liverpool have a much more relaxed fashion than those in London.  I saw a lot more sweatshirts, skaters/punks, and girls wearing tights or leggings as pants.  4)  The men are much much friendlier.  Like I said before, they were not afraid to come up and say hello or start a conversation.  They were funny, and very animated with everything.  If I do say so myself, the men were also more attractive, and all the girls would agree with me.  5)  The streets were louder.  People were not afraid to yell across the street to say hello or tell someone off.  On our Ghost tour someone yelled from a car that we should all "get a life, you twats".

OH Liverpool.  You have given me some fun memories.  To see more pictures follow this link: Pictures

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Internship Interview

Thursday seems like so long ago, and yet I had such a good experience at my interview that it still sits pretty freshly in my mind.

I had two classed Thursday morning, my British Experience Seminar and Contemporary British Culture.  In BES we talked about our trip to Liverpool that was to come.  I'll post the details and pictures in my next post.  In CBC we got a breakdown of the course, but ended with group seminar where we talked about things in British News.  I actually enjoyed that because I am a freak who likes news and current events and hearing other peoples perspectives on the subjects.  Apparently the Tiger Woods ordeal was just as big here as it was back in the states.  Right now the big scandal story is about the English Football (soccer) Captain who cheated on his wife with a teammates ex-girlfriend.  Fun stuff right?  The nation is arguing about whether or not he should step down from his captaincy.

Anyway, after class Bailey and I went back to Victoria Station to return our Coach tickets to Dublin.  We solved our Dublin Dilemma and now we are going sometime in March and we are bringing our new Central friend Abbey with us.  They charged us 25% of the ticket price to return it.  The website made it seem like we could get a 100% refund, so I wasn't very happy about that, but I did it anyway.  I want that Greenwich experience on Friday, and then on Saturday we are doing a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath.  I'm soooooo excited about Bath.  I have wanted to visit there since I read my first Jane Austen novel.  Hitting up the Jane Austen Museum will be a must.  Plus it's still a traditional looking town.

But I digress, this post is supposed to be about my Internship interview.  Well, my interview was at 4pm so I had to leave Vandon House around 3pm.  It didn't help that the easiest way to get there by tube had severe delays so I had to head in a different direction.  Once I got there I was sweating from hot tube and slight nerves.  I'm pretty sure that my perfect hair was pretty messy at this point (I'm giving up on it.  It just doesn't want to cooperate at all, but hey, that's life).

The office for The Design group is just a room.  I was shocked at how small the organization was, but I would later find that TDG that I will be working for is just the London branch.  There are only 4 people in the office.  Three girls and the director Patrick.  Patrick was the one who took me to the coffee shop next door for my interview.  In some ways it was an interview.  He asked me about my strengths and weaknesses.  He also asked me about my life goals and where I want to be in 10 years.  But the other part of the interview was asking me what I wanted to get out of the internship and what sorts of jobs I might perform.  He told me about the company and even said that he plans on taking me to some of the other offices in the EU and UK.  I'm all for that!  Some of the other offices include Newcastle (the headquarters) and he mentioned Geneva.  He said he would reimburse me for travel and food that I eat while I work.  That makes the whole thing worth it right there.

There was only one awkward moment in the whole ordeal.  He asked me if I skied but with his accent and I totally misheard him.  I thought he said "Daewski" and I told him that I had no idea what "daewski" was.  Patrick had to use hand motions for me to figure it out.  I was quite embarrassed, and I had to tell him that I have no idea how to ski and haven't tried to yet, but I have tried snowboarding, and that's a bit of a lie because I don't think plastic snow boards down 100 ft hills count.  I would definitely be more than willing to try though.  Conversation came very easily and I'm excited about what I will be able to do for TDG and what they will be able to do for me in experience.  I start tomorrow at 9 am, which means catching the tube at around 8.  The good news is that dress is "creative" when we aren't speaking with clients.  I'll let you know how my first day goes.

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Nighttime Stroll & Rainy Day Exploration

Last night Joe went to his first theatre production for his British theatre class so Bailey, Alex and I wanted to do something to get out of Vandon House.  Our original plan was to go to the Angel tube stop to see the longest escalator on the tube, but we got sidetracked taking awesome pictures of London at night.

The Eye was all red for national heart month.

I make it look so Big!

The Tower of London at night.  Kinda creepy.

It took us somewhere around 6 tries to get this shot and by the end my catch phase was "Well we can't fix me so let's move on"

The River Thames all lit up.

The London Bridge looks a lot more awesome at night than it does during the day.

So far today we haven't done much.  Alex, Joe and I hopped on a tube and went to Notting Hill.  None of us knew where the famous places were so we just walked and came upon the Kensington Palace and gardens.  We strolled for a while and it began to rain.  Way to go London.  It completely poofed out my hair.  Proof in the pictures below.  There were some differences between Notting Hill and Westminster that I noticed.  First thing, a lot more housing.  It seemed like a mainly residential area, but the stores that they did have were all about interior design and home furnishings.  The other thing was there were a lot more dogs in Notting Hill.  I'm surprised I didn't see more dog poop on the ground.

A sweet statue.  Doesn't he just look like a BA of the olden times?

We found an empty tube car so I had to play!

My wonderful rain ruined hair.  See my bangs curl?  Pure Awesomeness.

Pip Pip Cheerio!