ONE FINAL POST

Sadly, this is my last London post!  My travels for the next week and a half will be reported on maybe when I get back to KC. 

This past week has been filled with a ton of London stuff. I worked, ate out, went to pubs, hung out with work people and sadly said goodbye to them. I packed and organized a little and now I'm awaiting the arrival of my mom!

Thursday was my last day at work, I went in and went to lunch only to be told I wouldn't be coming back (meaning I have to stop by on monday to pick up some stuff). after lunch they sent me to a nice hotel to get a mani/pedi with a glass of champagne! It was incredible!!! I got them a fun card but I need to pick something else up for them since they are amazing people. They also got me a nice charm bracelet with a red double decker bus for london on it! very fun

Friday we woke up late - since my coworkers would not let me go home sober - and got on a boat to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian. We walked up a steep hill, saw the line, took pictures, saw great views of London and then went to a pub to grab a bite to eat. We got back to London and came back, got ready and went out! I got groped by some nasty old guy whose arm I threw off of me and proceeded to yell at. I felt so violated, but yelling at him made me feel a little better, like I got even or something.

Things I will miss from London:

Pub culture

cider and black currant

cider

steak and ale pies

"chips"

"Cheers!" instead of thank you

the language

people signing emails with x's for "kiss"

traveling anywhere cheap and fast

public transportation

the tube

Cadbury buttons - my new favorite chocolate

Scoop gelato

my walk through covent garden shopping everyday on my way to work

parks

shakespeare in the park

pimms and lemonade

being able to walk anywhere

not having to worry about who's driving home

the different restaurants

tea - every day at work

the voice of the lady on the tube intercom, and the bus lady too

Portobello Road

fashion

clothing stores

shoe stores

any stores really - so many different kinds

milk chocolate digestives

cream crackers and applewood smoked cheddar

having my nights and weekends free to do whatever

the history and old architecture

the london group of people

people I work with

working at Bauer

seeing shows

drinking wine, all of the time

pub food

getting my passport stamped

Things I won't miss:

our shower - freezing cold to burning hot temps

our tiny fridge

our tiny room

our tiny flat

walking up 6 flights of stairs to get home

waiting for busses

tourists

not having tv

our slow internet

trying to sleep through the tube in the morning

the incredibly sick pigeon that hangs out outside our window at 6am

rain

cold

wind

random guys inviting themselves to our table because they hear our accents

"Hi, are you American? I LOVE Americans!"  

"So, who are you voting for?"

"What do you think of Bush?"

the cost of everything

computing pounds to dollars - always a mistake

some of the food

the time change

customs at airports

I'm sure I'll have amends to this list and lots to add, but like I said, this is probably my last post so just trust that I'll miss more than listed!

Hope you  liked reading about my adventures this summer!! It was fun having an audience =)

<3

The last full weekend with my flatmates!

So, the weekend started out on friday afternoon. Sports Day happens every year, hosted by the mag people at Bauer. This day consists of everyone grabbing lunch and lost of booze on the way to Regents Park and then play relay races, tug of war, soccer, and the louiseville slugger game except it was a broom and you put your forehead on it, spin 10 times, run straight for a chair, sit and run back. This was our last game of the day, obviously after a couple hours of drinking. I was the first person up, thought I was fine by my 10th spin around but when my team told me to run I took one step and fell straight over. It was pretty fun and comforting when other people did the same thing. Then after that Bauer had a 2,000 pound tab at a pub up the street. It was fun!

Saturday we got up and went to Portobello road and shopped, got some gifts and food and some of the best pizza at a place where they search the pizza through a car window. After that we were really tired and came home and relaxed, made a dinner with lots of my fresh veggies. Then we headed to a pub and hung out for a while, then a few of us headed home and a the rest of the girls/guys went to a club. 

Today we got up, went to My Old Dutch and got Dutch pancakes - they're crepe-like thickness and I got mine with cinnamon, sugar and syrup. Then we walked to the Science museum but I couldn't stay long because Siobhan - my one supervisor - made me a typical English roast dinner! It was SO good, a roast with gravy, vegs and yorkshire pudding. delicious!!! 

All in all a good day, I thought I had more to report but I'm getting bored writing this since I'm so tired. Today, as KC hits 100 degrees, I wore jeans and a fleece because it was so cold, rainy and windy here! I'm definitely not looking forward to temps that high when I get back!

Only 6 more days with all of the flatmates, 8 more days in London, and 15 more days until I'm back in the states!! All of that is very exciting and very depressing... one doesn't out weigh the other, I have equal excitement to get home as I have sadness to leave my summer home. 

A day in Windsor

Today was a great day - Halli, Christy and I went to Windsor to see the Windsor Castle. This is where the Queen spends most of her weekends and it's about 50 minutes away from London. The town was quaint and cute and had the typical small town feel. There were lots of outdoor cafes and a really pretty river with a ferris wheel. We ate lunch as soon as we got off the train at this huge place called Brown's Pub. They have them all over. We sat on the 2nd floor overlooking the river, partly outside. I had a steak, mushroom and guinness pie - something I will miss very much in the states. It came with mashed potatoes and french beans. (green beans) and a cider, of course. Then we made our way to the castle.

The castle is ENORMOUS.. it's the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world. Google "Windsor Castle", click on the royal collection link and you can find pictures of it in it's entirety, something my camera was not capable of.. or maybe it's that we weren't in a helicopter taking the pics. We got our tickets after waiting in line on a very warm day in Windsor and started our tour. We got free audio guides which were great - Prince Charles was even on it! Felt like I was standing right next to him... k not really.

We walked around the outside, unfortunately did not get to go into St. George's Chapel - one of the finest examples of gothic architecture - but I got pictures of the outside. We took the classic picture with the guard who was moving, so he didn't live up to the "guard" reputation, but we still got pictures.

Then we got in line to go into Queen Mary's Dolls' Houses.. it's a collection of doll houses and miniature items that Queen Mary collected. The main doll house is HUGE, it put my doll house to shame. All of the miniatures in the doll house were hand made by people, even the paintings were painted as miniatures by people. This doll house was made to resemble the castle I believe. It had all of the correct rooms in the correct places. It was fascinating. There were two little girls looking at it when we walked past and they were so excited. I was too so I could only imagine what they were thinking. It made me want to be 7 again playing with my dolls. Then we went into a room of paintings and pictures. There were original paintings and drawings by Da Vinci and photos of the Queen's and King's and their children. There are pictures of Princess Diana with her sons and letters Prince Charles wrote his grandma from the air force/navy (whichever). So that was a cool room.

Next we went through the State Apartments. They were overly elaborate with paintings and gold and ridiculous furniture everywhere. We went to a room full of weapons and guns were hung in circles on the walls - hard to explain and even harder to envision because we were not allowed to take pics inside. Cool though. We saw the sword of Henry XIII. He is buried in St. George's Chapel too.. pretty cool!

After we got through the castle we came out and left... it was fun! Definitely worth the 13 pounds we paid to go. I have a bunch of pictures of the outside I'm posting as I'm writing this.

Tonight I have to edit my 5 page paper due tomorrow  - last one for GK's class though!

Since I only have two weeks left I've been thinking a lot about home. I can't wait to get back but I don't want to leave London and all my summer has had to offer. I love it here and I've had one of the best summers of my life and I don't want it to end! I have completely mixed emotions and I don't know what to think besides to make the absolute most out of the time I have left - which may be a bit difficult considering the amount of money in my bank account - but I'll do it somehow. I want to see as much as possible, do as much as possible and drink as much cider and black currant and pimms and lemonade as possible =)

Here are some things I'm looking forward to since on the subject:

Seeing HEATH

kissing Jasmine's cute face

Jack Stacks and OK Joe's BBQ

SLEEPING... all day maybe

laying out and getting tan

a pedicure/manicure and haircut - in desperate need of all three!

a starbucks or panera coffee

a panera cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese

Brio's lobster bisque

Heath's corn and black bean salsa - I've had salsa twice all summer, that's just not right.

crab dip

real pillsbury biscuits, with apple butter

an American cheeseburger

North Dragon chicken fried rice

Driving my car - but not filling up my tank =(

watching American tv shows - I've missed so much

watching STEP UP 2

a shower with consistent temperature (not freezing cold to 3rd degree burns)

my cocoa butter lotion 

Mug rootbeer

ICED TEA

my friends

columbia

my house

forge and vine - food, terrace, even working

having my own bedroom and bathroom with lots of room

my new roommates!

piano bar

seniors on the quad for bid day 

being able to use my blackberry

not having to worry about a time difference before I make phone calls/send emails

football season

and my senior semester

A list of what I'll miss from London will come later!

pictures are up from today!

updated pictures...

In Barcelona and The Sites albums

The Sites pictures are from Kaylin's bday weekend and the British Museum

Barcelona

Thursday work went by quickly since I was only there for 2 hours. I wrote up a contract, editted another and headed home. I stopped by a really cute store on the way home to get a few things I've wanted for a while. (Thanks mom!)

We left for the airport at about 2:30 and got on a flight around 5:40. Our gate wasn't announced until 5:05 so we found a pub and had a drink.. what other way do you start off a vacation?

We got to Barcelona, gathered our stuff and got on a train then metro to our hotel. We met up with my dad and sean and had dinner at a restaurant off of La Rambla (the main street of Barcelona). We had tapas for dinner - potatoes with this spicy cream sauce, paella with chicken and shrimp (rice in a tomato sauce with veggies and meat that's REALLY good), garlic shrimp, a half rotissery chicken with fries, and olives for the two weird people at the table that like them. We also had 2 pitchers for the table of Sangria De Cava which is my new favorite drink but unfornatuely is only found in Spain. It consists of all of the normal fruit of Sangria but it's made with champagne instead of red wine and it is to die for! After that we walked around and eventually went back to our hotel for the night.

Friday we got up early and went straight to the beach. We spent a few hours in the sun and got hungry so we went to a restaurant right on the beach. Kay and I both had pizza - mine didn't have tomato sauce on it, just Gruyère cheese and prosciutto, it was great! Dad had chicken that was flattened so much it looked like a piece of pita bread and sean had an excellent lamb something or other. We had fresh mango sorbet and a bitter chocolate cake with some kind of cream on top for dessert. Great lunch! Then it was back to the beach but we sat under the shade of a palm tree since we were all pretty burnt already.

For dinner that night, I met up with my dad and sean for dinner at Citrus - pretty good place with even better prices. We split a bottle of Chablis wine that I really liked. After dinner Sean was tired so we took him back to the hotel, walked around to see a Gaudi building that was really cool - I think the guy was on drugs when he designed all of these places though, they are so different and complex but overwhelmingly beautiful. Then we went to the rooftop bar/pool area of dad's hotel that overlooked the city and sat and talked for a while about life.

Saturday we got up and went to the beach for a little but soon grew tired of that since we were all crammed under one small umbrella and we were burnt and wanted to be out of the sun. We went to the market, got lunch, and walked around La Rambla by my hotel and looked at some shops. Then we split up, took naps, showered and met up for dinner. We went to Can Majo, an incredible seafood recommended to me by several people located right on the beach. We split a bottle of the best wine I've ever had - Grano or something like that - I wrote it down. It's a Savignon Blanc and soooo good. Dad and I split a shellfish and grilled fish platter. We started with muscles and clams and a few shrimp. I tried both the muscles and the clams - they tasted like stronger seafood but I'm not sure I'd order them at a restaurant. Not bad, but not my fav. Then we got a huge plate of shrimp, two types of grilled fish that we think one might've been Monkfish and we had no idea what the other was and didn't care because it was so good. Then we had crawfish I think - cracked in half and grilled and grilled calamari rings.. SOO good! Sean got the seafood soup that was broth with while shrimps, calamari rings, muscles still in the shell and other things. I got to eat the calamari rings and they were great! Then we had desert - dad had tiramisu, Sean had wild strawberries with ice cream and they were warm which was very interesting. I tasted them and they slightly reminded me of cough syrup and after mentioning that none of us could eat any more of them.. oops! I had a crepe filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with warm chocolate sauce and white chocolate shavings. DELICIOUS MEAL!! I give Can Majo 5 stars - best seafood of my life!
After dinner we meandered our way back and dad and Sean went to sleep early since they had to wake up early for their flight =(.

Sunday we got up and went to the beach a little later in the day. We layed on the beach for most of the day, Kay and I broke for lunch and split the best Paella we had all weekend with seafood in it. It wasn't the traditional rice they use but more like a vermacelli. After going back to the beach for another couple hours the girls went back to the hotel while I went to the Sagrada Familia. It's a building the Gaudi designed and after 190 years is still in the process of being built. It has another 70-80 years to go but is very intricate and interesting. I didn't go inside, seeing the outside was enough for me but Kay and Megan said the inside was great too. After a short nap and shower Megan wasn't feeling well so Kay and I went out for our final dinner in Barcelona. We got off the tube in a good area but walked down some side streets to find a cafe with outside seating. I got calamari rings and grilled cuttlefish tapas dishes and we split french green beans fried with ham, it was all really good. We didn't end up eating until after 10, so after a 2 hour meal we were exhausted and ready for bed.

Monday we got up early and went to the Boqueria market right around the corner from our hotel. It's the oldest and best market in Barcelona and we got fresh fruit for breakfast and just walked around. Then we went back to our hotel, packed, checked out and left. It started raining just as we were leaving the hotel so I guess we picked a good day to leave! We had our last Paella at the airport and headed home.

It was a great trip to a great city and the best part was getting to see my fam! Sean had jet lag the whole time so he wasn't in the best mood which is understandable when you're exhausted but I think he had fun anyway.. I even managed to get a little bit of color! Now I just need to get to parks on the weekends and keep it up.

The next three weekends I'm spending in London. I'll be all alone this weekend in my flat since 4 of the girls are going to Paris and Kay is going to Sweden or somewhere odd with Stew and two other people from our program. I'll be spending time with flat 1 and a good book! It should be relaxing and quiet. The next thing to look forward to is the big trip at the end!!

I got a new camera card and for some reason when I plugged it in last night my computer wouldn't recognize it. So, minor problem I need to work out before I post pics but I'm a little behind so multiple albums will hopefully be going up soon!

Thanks again Dad and Sean for coming!!

I miss all of you! 1 more month of life in London and then my final semester of college life begins... exciting but very stressful!

<3

Kay's Birthday Weekend

Last week was pretty easy, Tuesday-Thursday I didn't do much, a few odds and ends, a meeting or two.. it was nice to have an easy week. Thursday I went to a pub over lunch with a few people I haven't been out with from work yet and we had a couple pints, bought by the team lead =).  Thursday we had a work party on a boat on the River Thames. We cruised up and down the river for a few hours with free food and bar and it was fantastic! We got the best views of Parliament and Big Ben and the London Eye and the riverbanks of the Thames. We will definitely be doing a cruise up and down the Thames again before we leave.

Friday was of course pointless. One of the women on our team left Bauer and friday was her last day. We had a going away lunch planned but her wisdom teeth were taken out the day before so she wasn't up for lunch.. we went anyway. We went to an Italian place where the owner thinks our team lead, Rob, is part of the mob and someone important so he always gets perfect service.. haha. Lunch lasted 3 hours, then I went back and Morgan and I stuffed some envelopes and left. Friday night I picked up some champagne, the girls got a cake, and we hung up a huge banner that Ally made at work in our flat for Kaylin's bday surprise. We all went to a pub and met her there late and came back for the surprise. Kay and I went downstairs to say hi to the guys in order to waste time so the girls could get the flat ready to surprise her.. So I eventually got a call from Emily that I figured would say - hey we're ready, come up - but instead I answer the phone to "Jen, seriously the house is about to burn down, get up here NOW" so I made up some random excuse for a reason to run upstairs. We surprised her, had cake and champagne and all went to bed.. it was great.

Saturday Stew and I met at 10 and went to the V&A museum that's full of art, artifacts, fashion and jewelry!! There were necklaces that had HUGE stones on them that were just gorgeous. Then we grabbed chinese food on the way to the British Museum. We walked around the British museum for a while and saw a lot - even a half decayed body from the Egyptian times - slightly gross but cool! I took a picture.

After all of that I came back, showered and got ready for dinner and a show with Kay and her parents. We went to the Wosley and had fantastic seafood.. I got the halibut and then this incredible baked cheesecake with fresh made hot chocolate sauce - it was sooooo good. Then we went to see Grease. Kaylin's mom equated it to a high school production, it didn't really go with the movie and parts were inserted that were definitely not in the movie.. I enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as it could've been.. better than a night at home though! After the show, we met up with the rest of the girls, and Catherine who was visiting this weekend, in Picadilly and went to On and On - a night club with 9 different bars. It was a BLAST, we had so much fun!  

Today was filled with rest and sleeping and lounging.. just what I needed! I still need to write my paper =( but class doesn't start until 7 tomorrow night though so I have enough time to get a rough draft started. This week consists of a load of laundry, possible a show wednesday night and the BARCELONA!!!!!!!

Guinness and Guinness

First I'll talk about last week since I haven't done that yet..

Thursday:

I spent the entire day in the splicing studio working on a showreel for the EA Games Day. I was there until about 7 and then got up friday  morning and went into work to get everything on a dvd and ready for the presentation.

Friday:

After our presentation went REALLY well, the EA Games marketing people there (17 of them) and a select few Bauer people got to go gokarting. I got to go! I've never done it before but it was SO much fun!  I got slammed into a few times, no big deal just spun in a few circles and got back into the race. I ended up 10th out of 22, and the top 10 went to the final race. I got 8th in the final race, so 8th over all.. not too shabby for a first timer. It made me miss driving though!

After the EA Games part of the day was over, we all went straight to a pub. We skipped dinner - no one really needs to eat and Bauer people made sure my drink stayed full, so much so that my body was HATING me the next morning when I woke up at 4am to pack and get ready to get on a bus to go to the airport for Dublin.

Saturday:

As previously stated - 4am came WAY too early. I ended up packing my toothpaste and two of Kaylin's and a body spray that is much larger than 3 oz.. I think I was still a bit drunk when I woke up.. haha oops! Thanks to Bauer of course!

We got to Dublin at 1030ish and got on a bus to our hostel. We dropped off our bags and headed to get food. We ate at a ridiculous restaurant. First bad sign was that no one else was there, 2nd bad sign was that our server didn't speak english. Halli and Caroline both wanted sandwiches. He wrote 1 sandwich first, then Caroline ordered hers so he says out loud, "okay 1 sandwich plus 1 equals 2". I tried SO hard not to laugh at him the whole time but then I just got incredibly frustrated. It took us 10 solid minutes to order and we were positive that our meals would be completely wrong.  Stew got the stew (no pun intended) and it was a MASSIVE bowl of food, he was eating it for about 20 minutes straight and the broth had gone down an inch in the bowl.  I got a sandwich with tuna, corn and peppers and it was actually really good.

After that we went to the Jameson distillery and went on a tour. After that we walked around, changed and headed to the Guinness Factory. There were 7 floors to the factory so it obviously took us a while to get through all of them. There were 2 floors completely devoted to advertising campaigns for Guinness - by FAR my favorite floors! One was the famous artist who did the toucan commercials and ads.. I really wish I could remember his name. The other floor was filled with ads from past to present. It was great!

We ate at the restaurant there, I got the guinness stew with steak and mushrooms and mashed potatoes, it was delicious. At the top floor at the end of the tour everyone gets a free pint - I just got soda since I hate beer, I tried the Guinness, but I can't drink a full pint of it. The 7th floor was all glass and had a view of the entire city, it was great.

Later that night we went to Temple Bar area. At our hostel in my and Kaylin's room we met this funny little man who had lived in Dublin for 27 years but not anymore and was itching to go out with someone, so I invited him along, especially since he'd just buried his dad in Dublin earlier that day. So we went to a pub and had a drink, chatted for a bit and parted ways. When we walked out we saw some guy get thrown to the ground jokingly by his friend but he landed on the curb in such a way that his shoulder dislocated. When he stood back up his hand was by his knee it was so gross! Then we went to another pub and hung out for a bit but it was really crowded. Next door was live music, so we got a table there and hung out for a while, it was a lot of fun and I LOVED the music.

Sunday:

We got up and ate breakfast at our hostel - cereal for free, then we found the Kilmainham Gaol - the famous jail in Dublin. We took a tour and got slightly creeped out but it was definitely fun. Then we stopped at a pub serving Italian food. Halli and I split a fabulous pizza with chicken and mushrooms.. it was GREAT.

After that we went walking and tried to find a man made beach by the Docklands.. it was supposed to be a really pretty area, but we walked around for a hour and a half and couldn't find it so we gave up. We walked around for a little while more then headed back to the hostel to get our bags and head to the airport.

All in all it was a good weekend, definitely worth the trip. But.... Dublin is not a pretty city and it wasn't what I expected it to be. I definitely had fun, but I wouldn't go back, and I think it's just because I had such high hopes since everyone said it was so awesome, but I guess I was a little let down. It was rainy and really cold on saturday afternoon and night and sunday morning. The rest of the time it was sunny and pretty.

 Our flight got delayed about 45 minutes on our way home and we had to take a midnight bus back to central London and didn't get home until after 2am, so I sent my coworkers an email asking for the day off and they gave it to me! So I spent the first part of today in bed, it was great.

We had class tonight and then I made some dinner. Tomorrow is back to work, but only 7 and a half working days until Barcelona!!!!! 

I'm SO excited to see my dad and Sean!!!!!!!!!

pictures

are updated in:

The Sites (from a historic walking tour of London)

Friends and Fam - just one picture of Spencer Kinard's twin..

Praha!

enjoy!

Praha!

I'll start at the beginning.....

our flight left from Stanstead airport, which requires a bus ride there. Check-in CLOSES 40 min before your flight at this airport, soo we had to be there by 430am to give us enough time to check in by the closing time. that meant getting on a bus at 3:10am, which mean getting up and showering by 1:30am.... yikes! Kay and I got maybe a 2 hour nap in on friday night before heading to the airport. We got to Prague around 9:10 and met up with her friends Tanner, Bradley and Alan. We actually went to their campus in a real car, driven by a real student at the college that helps the american students. It was weird - I haven't been in a real car since I left hte states. We passed through countryside and fields. We grabbed breakfast at a place by the college - I got a crepe with cinnamon and sugar. It was really good, but not very filling.  The boys had ice cream for breakfast, apparently ice cream and beer for breakfast is a normal thing in Prague.  We went to see the castle, old town square, Charles bridge and a few other things. We got lunch on the way - yummy penne pasta in a cream sauce with leeks, chicken and mushrooms. delicious!

Then we checked into our hostel. Our hostel wasn't too bad until we ran out of toilet paper at 4 in the afternoon. I figured they'd restock, but by the time we got back after midnight they hadn't. I went downstairs to tell someone and they completely ignored me. so we had to venture up another flight of stairs to pee.

After we checked in, Kay and I walked around. She got gelato, I got cheesecake from this place suggested to us and then we got some hand made bohemian crystal. so pretty! I got a necklace and earrings. Then we changed and went to dinner at a pizzaria which was so good.

There was a group of guys sitting around us and started up conversation. They were there for their friend's stag party (bachelor) and the guy's fiance had dumped him before the party. cool huh? best part is that he still came to prague, but none of his friends had seen him. 

After that we met back up with the boys and headed to a mexican place for drinks. We had a shot that tasted like christmas - or more like christmas tree. it was okay, not my fav.  Then we went to the 5 story night club. It was fun. at first it was pretty empty since we got there before cover got really expensive, so we just sat at a table at one of the bars and drank.

We took a shot of absynth - I was pretty scared. the guys kept telling me all day that it tasted horrible, that it burned, and all of this other stuff. So I'd really only had 2 drinks before that since I figured it would make me go crazy. Tanner and I took the shot and yes, it was gross and yes it burned, but it was just like taking a shot of anything else, I didn't feel drunk at all. so that's good, but a little disappointing since absynth has quite the reputation.

People in Prague speak enough english to try to sell you things, but other than that we finally felt like we were in a different country. It was fun and exciting and we made it through 24 hours without sleep, so that was successful. We got to the airport today and bought really good chocolate and a t-shirt for heath. there was a really cute coffee mug I realllly wanted, but you had to buy this plate that came with it and the plate was ugly and unnecessary, so I  just passed on the mug.

The town was filled with cobblestone streets, so our feet were in tons of pain by the end of the day. We had perfect weather - sunny and 65-70. We could walk around in our dresses and be fine.. all in all it was a good trip! I'd definitely go back.

Tonight I get to write a paper, relax and re-hydrate.  =)

I'm turning in to a video games expert...

I'm getting pretty bad at this blog thing - mostly because nothing too interesting happens during my days at work so I don't have much to write about.

So here's a brief recap of my week:

Monday I worked and then had a god awful class. A guy from Fox News came to talk to us and was soo incredibly cynical about journalism and life in general he was just horrible to listen to. he made me feel like he was constantly pissed off, oh and that the journalism school was absolutely pointless. GK kinda looked like he was fuming. He also made the comment that newspaper writing wasn't a task for geniuses - anyone can do it. that's not okay in GK's book. This guy did say that advertising is the most exciting part of the business right now - so that was good to hear.

Tuesday I went out all day to a live shoot for Live Hair color. Pretty much stood in the middle of a street lined with stores and picked pretty girls with pretty hair out of the crowd and talked them into entering our competition to be the next "Hair Icon" and get on a video camera, tell a joke and who they were and what they liked about their hair. (the videos are eventually posted online). So that was fun!   I didn't do too much tuesday night.

Wednesday after work Stew and I had dinner at an irish pub - O'Neil's and I had a great chicken and mushroom crock pot, with mashed potatoes and aged cheddar cheese melted on top. Then other people met up with us and we watched the Germany vs. Turkey football game. great game for those of you who don't know - 1-1 at half, then Germany scored at some point in the 2nd half. With two minutes left Turkey scored, then with 20 seconds left Germany got the winning goal.. it was great!

Today I was super busy at work, I didn't get off until  7:30! I'm working on a pretty big EA Games project right now and it requires a ton of work that we didn't anticipate until we kind of got hit with it today.. so Jennie (one supervisor) and I went to a good Italian restaurant for lunch (thanks Bauer) and talked through some stuff, then went back and did most of our project. 

Since I didn't get home until after 8 tonight, I just made a good dinner and relaxed. I chatted with Kaylin's family's friend's daughters who were in town - they were really nice and cute.

Now I'm going to bed.... tomorrow night I'm going to sleep as soon as I get home from work and pack because Kaylin and I are getting on a bus at 3:10am saturday morning to go to the airport and then to PRAGUE!!!!  I'm SO excited. So.. I'm sure the next time I post something it'll be about my weekend in Prague on sunday!

Cheers x

Brighton - a day by the sea

Brighton is a town right on the sea and is about a 45 minute train ride from London. We got tickets on thursday or friday and left this morning around 10 to head out there. Kay and I decided it'd be a great day too see a different part of London, and thinking about the few weekends left that we actually get to spend in London - we took full advantage of the opportunity. 

Brighton is such a pretty town - all of the streets are steep hills, not much fun to walk up and down but still pretty.  We walked to the beach first, of course, and there isn't sand. it's pebbles instead. It was interesting... not messy at all like sand is, but much harder to walk on and our legs got quite the workout. We saw the Pier from the beach and decided to go check it out, from far away we could see rides that looked like a ton of fun. We bought wrist bands and went on probably every single ride. There were 2 roller coasters, which were great for the small amount of space - and when you were on them it felt like you were going right into the water, it was so much fun. there were probably 12 rides in total and a haunted house and we did just about all of them, totally worth it. We stopped to get fried rice for lunch since they were making it at a little stand hibachi style. it was cheap and soo good. Then we ventured to "The Lanes" which are just little streets lined with boutiques.. I'm still deciding if that was a good or bad choice. But Kay and I made some fabulous purchases (including my shoes that I have posted pictures of) and I got a really pretty bright teal dress, and these shell things that hang from the ceiling to put in my room!  

After a LOT of browsing and shopping we sat on the beach for a little bit and then found a great italian restaurant. After that we found our way back to the train station and came home. We were told the night life is great in Brighton but we are exhausted, I don't think we would've lasted much of the night.

So all in all, GREAT day. We're going back for sure. It's so cheap to get there (12 pound train ticket) and quick, and you feel like you've gone so much farther away than that since you're right on the water in a smaller town outside of busy London. It was a great decision and one that we will be repeating. Plus - the shopping and food was cheaper than London! And so far everything we've done has involved some kind of tour and history lesson, which is always fun and good info to know, but we haven't had a day of just .... fun. We needed it and we enjoyed it!

Not much in store for tonight - I'm SO tired since I didn't sleep very well last night and we walked around a LOT today, so I'm putting in a movie and relaxing. Tomorrow we might do a historic walking tour followed by a market then a good dinner of fresh veggies and chicken... possibly some laundry since I'm running out of certain important items of clothing.

My Red Carpet Debut

AHHH!!!!

Tonight was the London premier of Hancock - and we got to go!! I didn't really think much of it, I figured we'd get to see the red carpet, and the movie. Instead we got to WALK DOWN THE RED CARPET!!! I was literally feet away from Charlize Theron - we shared a red carpet with her! and Will Smith, Peter Berg, and Jason Bateman were feet away from us in the theatre...

Here's the play by play:

We get to the reception, help out with the Bauer Winners that won tickets to the premier - had a glass of champagne, took some pictures, walked to the red carpet, hid our cameras and phones in our purses so they wouldn't get confescated, and then walked in!

When we walked in we immediately got to the red carpet - it was so great. I walked right past Charlize, but didn't see Will until later. He showed up about half way through the Bauer reception though - maybe around 5:45-6. He literally took 2 hours to walk down the red carpet. He shook so many hands, took so many pictures with people, he even pulled a little boy out of the crowd over the barracades and took professional pictures with him. We couldn't tell why but the little boy had a picture he had painted and I guess Will liked it! Will Smith is SO personable. He loves crowds and tried to seriously interact with most people he saw. We walked down the stairs leading to the longest part of the red carpet and our roommates were there! (by the way, "we" means me and Morgan) They took pictures of the two of us, and then with Glen - one of Denise's friends (Denise is our boss) and the VP of Warner Brothers - which was cool! I really wanted to discuss tv, specifically One Tree Hill, but she was too busy being important. Oh well.

We eventually got into our theatre and waited there for maybe 25 minutes. Then.......... the ENTIRE cast came in!!! And, being interns, we got the terrible front row seats in the theatre - but that was just fine with me because all of the stars stood right in front of us! Kate (another intern) snuck her camera in and was trying to take pictures from under her skirt, but I'm pretty sure Peter Berg saw her.. haha whoops! There were insane body guards everywhere, but surprisingly security didn't seem that tight. When I was supposed to get my purse checked for cameras and phones the guy just asked me if I had any, I said, "no, I assumed I couldn't take them in so I left them with my friends." and he goes, okay go ahead! and didn't even look in my purse.. I guess they're trusting at these events, I mean they are just movie stars, not like the president or something.

Then we watched the movie, with free popcorn =)

The movie was great! There was a HUGE HUGE HUGE twist I was totally not prepared for, and it completely 

changed the tone and theme of the movie - the previews definitely don't give it away, which was great. Kate and I looked at each other and go uhhhh WHAT?! I liked it. It was also a lot funnier than I thought it would be too, which was nice. It was a great combo of action, funny, sad, happy.. I really liked it. But then again, Will Smith makes pretty good movies, so I didn't expect to be let down.

Yesterday and today I worked on an entry for a huge award in the ad industry. We finally submitted it this morning - I hope we win!! But some aren't as optimistic as I am, they think we don't have a chance, but I thought it was a good campaign. Although, I've never seen the competition, so I could be very wrong.

So yes, the highlight of my week was walking down the red carpet and being practically next to Will, Charlize, Jason and Peter - they're on first name status now, I feel like we're almost friends. =)

Max has the brilliant idea of walking up to celebs out in public, just doing every day stuff, and acting like you know them. He went up to Cortney Cox once, who lives down the street from his grandpa in Florida and said, "Hi! oh my god how are you? It's been FOREVER! We should catch up, you look great!" and she had no idea who he was, but acted like she did! Celebs can't remember all of the people they meet, I think his idea is a great way of chatting with a celeb.. if you can control yourself enough to pull that off.

Tonight is the Chronicles of Narnia premier, I'm assuming another red carpet event, so I curled my hair again this morning and I have a cute dress on ... must look good for the stars! Especially since the premiers and red carpets are on TV.. yikes. I always thought the random people on the red carpets at events were friends and fam of the stars - not just randoms like me! From now on I won't think so highly of them... ha.

So, that was my marvelous night. Hopefully tonight is just as exciting! We haven't been told when the next event is though - so this week might be the one week we get to go to premiers.. I'd be okay with that I think.

I'm taking hip hop dance lessons...

I'm getting really bad with writing on here! Sorry to keep the few of you in suspense! I'll break my weekend into days....

SATURDAY...

started with the Queen's birthday parade. We got up SO early and went to get a great seats to see the Queen's birthday parade. Now, this wasn't the Queen's ACTUAL birthday, it was her "official" birthday. Some King years and years ago decided he wanted to celebrate his birthday in the summer, instead of the winter when his actual birthday was, so he created his "official" birthday and people have obviously taken after him ever since.

We saw William and Harry and the Queen herself.. along with about 50 bands and 500 soldiers.. it seemed like it took forever, but worth it. We had our own little tour guide in front of us, he was pointing out all of the important people and explaining why things are as they are.

We followed the parade with the purchase of theatre tickets - the best purchase so far I have to say.. (aside from travel) we went to see Into the Hoods. (intothehoods.com) and it was AMAZZZING!!!!!! It wasn't a musical even though that's how it's classified. It was a production. It was like a ghetto fairy tale, but absolutely jam packed with DANCING! It was all hip hop dancing, or something of that nature and it was incredible. I sat there with a smile on my face the entire 3 hours. I want to see it again and again and again!!!

So skipping back to before the best play ever.. we went to Portabello Road after getting the tickets to buy fresh veggies for dinner that night. Kaylin and I had a feast.... we made:

Marinated Chicken breasts - in the oven, Mashed new potatoes, garlic bread, fresh broccoli, fresh green beans, fresh corn on the cob. And we stopped at the famous Hummingbird Bakery to get cupcakes for dessert!!  sadly, we ate every last bite of it and it was delicious!

After the play I think we were all in such awe that we just wanted to come home.

SUNDAY...

We all slept in, and then Kay and I went shopping, though very unsuccessfully. I didn't buy a single thing. I really wanted a dress that I found but of course they didn't have it in my size! SO disappointing. After that we came home and made another good meal (I had fusili pasta with chicken and mushrooms in a wine sauce) and relaxed.

MONDAY...

started with work.. we worked on Hancock premier ticket winner stuff all day - and I did a few random other things.  Monday  night we were given tickets to the outdoor theatre again in Regent's Park and I have pictures to post eventually. We saw Twelfth Night - it was funny but I definitely liked Romeo and Juliet better.

TODAY...

I went to see parts of a Colgate TV commercial shot. It was interesting to see how the client, media planner, and account manager work and how differently their brains function, and how much BS the account manager has to give the client to make them happy. My future has a lot of brown nosing in it.... great.  Other than that, nothing too exciting.

Tomorrow is the Hancock Premier with Will Smith!! I'm verrrrry excited! I hope I get to meet some celebs!!! But I highly doubt that will happen...

So that about covers it... Ally, Emily, Morgan and Danna went to Amsterdam this weekend... they loved it but I think I've reached my spending limit on travel!

A head's up on my travels since they are all officially booked, in case anyone is keeping track:

June 28-29 - PRAGUE

July 5-6 DUBLIN

July 17-21 - BARCELONA

August 12-19 - VIENNA, VENICE, FLORENCE/TUSCANY, PARIS

<3

POETS day...

We learned a new saying at work the other day... Friday's are POETS day. This saying sounds quite romantic, but it is much better than that. POETS day = Piss Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday!  I love it!  I'm never saying TGIF again.

Anyway - thursday was a pretty jam packed day with work. Last night, after we booked our HOTEL in BARCELONA I went to pick up my AMAZING care package from my lovely mom. It was the best thing I've received all summer! I'm eating apple butter every day til it's gone. I guess no one answered the door upstairs, so they dropped my package off with the guys in the basement - luckily they didn't open it and steal anything! They admit they thought about it though. I shared either way. Then Max and I took a trip to Sainsbury's to get some food and had a wonderful rotissery (spelling?) chicken dinner. I of course provided chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Then we hung out, talked celeb gossip, watched youtube videos and relaxed. Then I came up stairs and I guess went to sleep... not very eventful. Most of the roomies saw Wicked last night and raved about it. I can't wait to see it in August with you mom!!

Today, as is normal on Friday's at Bauer, work was laid back and unproductive. I sat in on a client meeting though - that was interesting. I enjoyed seeing the PITA (haha... Dad I remember our saying!) client battle it out with the mags guys (and girl) about how she wanted her product shot and message portrayed and how they could and thought they were supposed to be doing it. She kept stressing, for literally 25 minutes, that she wanted a RED HAIRED model, only red hair, absolutely NO blondes. Then out of no where she goes, "Oh wait, blonde is okay, blonde is our best selling color right now, let's do blonde" I swear the guy almost jumped across the table at her. It was great. The meeting lasted soo long though just because this one lady had to interject her opposing opinion every 5 seconds. Which, I guess was as it should've been since it she is the client and it was her product and her campaign. but still. It was interruption after interruption. I felt bad for poor Ruth - the Account Manager, she was just trying to mediate and keep everyone on schedule and on topic. I definitely liked sitting in on the meeting though, so I could see what I'll eventually be doing! Gritting my teeth in front of the clients while making them happy and trying to keep the people I work with happy as well.

Oh - to add on to that, another lady in the room, also the client, was someone I was warned about. She is supposedly incredibly difficult. As soon as she walked in she asked for tea, from me. Seriously? Do you REALLY want an American making your tea? She goes tea, two sugars, strong. ummmmm what the hell does that mean lady?! So I brought her tea, with 2 scoops of sugar. She goes ummm where's my milk? I almost said, well I figured "Strong" was the equivalent to "black" coffee - no milk. But I would've looked like a colossal idiot so I just got her some milk.  I also got a major "are you serious" look when the girls asked me what kind of British food I liked and I said none.... whoops, bad idea. I recovered by describing how picky I am, but still. 

***side note - for those of you who don't know, or can't figure it out PITA = pain in the ass.

I love the girls I work with now. I definitely feel comfortable around them and I feel like every question I ask they give me a complete answer and throw in some extra knowledge I'll need too. And I feel appreciated. That's huge. I'm glad things are working out!

We decided to eat lunch out today because Max recommended a great crepe place.

***side note - Max is one of the guys living in the basement flat with the rest of the boys on the program. He also works at Bauer and this is his second summer doing the London program because they asked him to come back, and he also did last semester here too. He's somewhat of a seasoned vet.

So, he recommended this crepe place that was great! I had a chicken, cheese and mushroom crepe. Then we went to find gelato and found the BEST gelato place literally 3 minutes from Bauer, good and bad news. It was VERY reasonably priced and DELICIOUS!

Tonight we went to get Mexican because it sounded good. We had some margs and ate some decent, but overpriced mexican food and on our walk back got approached by some guy who apparently loves and is attracted to all American girls. Obviously he's never been to Yorker Porker County - haha! He was fun and his friends that were obviously a couple wanted us to join them at a pub.. but Ally, Morgan and Emily are leaving for Amsterdam at like 4am and me, Kay and Megan are all going to the Queen's Bday parade and we're getting there by like 7:30 so we can actually see her. We've been told people camp out all night... understandable, I mean she does SO much for the country --- not. she's more like a figure head, a mascot really. But we have to be awake super early for that, so it's an early night tonight.

Maybe Sunday I'll finally sleep in... I think we're seeing a show tomorrow night too. The plan is to make a good dinner at our place and during the day find cheap tickets to Into the Hoods - it's a ghetto show with dancing so I'm obviously VERY excited!!! 

Want to know what else I'm VERY excited about?? MY DAD AND SEAN ARE COMING TO BARCELONA WHEN I'M THERE!!!!! How awesome is that?!  

Dad and Sean - I'm so glad you're coming, we're going to have an absolute BLAST!! 

One last thing - I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my very special someone.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATH!!!!!!!!!!  well.. officially in 48 minutes in London... in KC it's more like 7 hours from now, but I get to be the first to officially say it! Have fun getting older.. =)   I miss and love you!

I miss and love the rest of you too!  Night

I <3 Advertising

So I've been getting a little lazy with my blog.. the end of the night I'm pretty tired...

Yesterday was great, as was today. My work load is getting heavier and today I got assignments that consisted of more than mailing magazines to clients, so that's good. I have to give a presentation of some sort tomorrow or thursday, so I'll spend tomorrow preparing for that. I'll also be putting together a powerpoint for a big Ford presentation on thursday.. among other little things.

I bought a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses today for prize winners. One of the girls just handed me her credit card and said just please keep it under 200 pounds.. thats $400!! on a prize... thats ridiculous. This company likes to throw around their money. But I guess when you own the best magazines in London, and the best radio stations in London you have that kind of money to spend...

I'm kind of helping to plan a reception before the Hancock premier for prize winners.

We have an intern lunch tomorrow at the Century Club, so that should be exciting!

Last night after work we got taken to Shakespeare in the Park with clients to see Romeo and Juliet - AMAZING!! I loved it.. I want to go back every week and see a play, I don't care what play it is. Romeo and Juliet was incredible.. It was held in Regents Park and it was in an outdoor theatre. It was a half moon stadium with an outdoor stage surrounded by trees and flower bushes. not so fun for my allergies... but I dealt with it.

I really can't think of much else to say... my internship is going much better - I'm starting to love it. I love the people I work with and I love all of the fun things we get to do! Plus - the area right around our office is sooo great, I seriously think there are 25 shoe stores within a 5 minute walk, and most are right across the street.. so that's dangerous buttttt I'll keep myself under control.

I think thats it... goodnight!

<3 

The boys were here...

Saturday morning while Kaylin, Megan, Chris and Steve went on a walking tour of London, I went with the rest of the girls to Borough Market.. it's the oldest market in London and it was PACKED. I felt like a sardine. People were everywhere. This market only had food though opposed to Portabello that has clothes, vintage stuff, antiques and food. It was fun. I bought a cheese burger for lunch with sharp cheddar cheese which was delicious, then I bought a big loaf of fresh ciabatta bread for sandwiches at work this week. After that we walked along the river Thames and went to see the Tate again - just one floor though. After that I wasn't feeling well still so I go the tube home. Well, eventually I did. I walked to one station and it was shut down so I had to walk to another one. London is not like NYC though, there aren't subway stations on every corner here, more like every mile, mile and a half. So that was fun =(

Last night we went to Cheers London. Named after the Boston bar / tv show Cheers. There was a Red Sox jersey hanging on the wall which reminded me of home and every single place we visit here plays American music, its all we hear! So we met up with a few guys from the basement flat and then girls from flat 1 joined as well and we hung out for a while. Eventually the techno music shifted to music thats a bit easier to dance to, so everyone headed to the dance floor. It was so crowded and so much fun. We danced for probably 2 hours straight - no stops. Then we got the bus home and didn't get lost! It didn't take long either, it was great.

Today we woke up and Chris and Steve made me and Kaylin onion, cheese and red/green pepper omelets - they were great! After that we walked to Hyde Park which was PACKED today since it was 75 degrees but felt more like 85. Everyone was outside, it was gorgeous! but a bit hot. We do live on the fifth floor - all of the heat comes to us and London doesn't believe in AC. Then we stopped by Imperial to show them around and went to get food to grill tonight. The boys stayed at this hotel/hostel that was amazing. It had a back deck/patio area with a grill we could use and a trampoline and a hot tub and picnic tables, so we grilled chicken and baked potatoes. it was fantastic. Then we went to a pub to watch the end of the Germany/Poland football/soccer game which is always a fun environment with people singing and chanting constantly.. it made me excited for our football season. After all of that we came back and played card games.. it was fun! something I definitely haven't done in a long time.  Now I'm going to sleep since my throat still hurts and I'm still stuffy.. I need to NOT be sick.

Oh yes... PICTURES ARE UPDATED!!!  

I added pictures to the following albums:

The Sites

Friends and my summer fam

Cinema and TV Benevolent Fund

Enjoy!  Goodnight