i'm in love with a french tennis player

...and every other male tennis player I saw at Wimbledon today.  Ahh Wimbledon.  Probably one of the many highlights of my trip, definitely in the top 5.  But let me do a quick recap first and then I will get back to Wimbledon...

Saturday

Because we had so many visitors, we decided it would be a good idea to do a little pub hopping.  We went to a pub we hadn't gone to since the first night  and closed it down and then went to Courtfield and closed that down too.  Then we got separated and my group headed to Mango Lounge to see if the rest had sauntered over there, but after an awkward conversation with the bouncers, we didn't find anyone else there, so we decided to try to buy more to drink because it was still early.  Well, in London, everywhere stops selling alcohol at 11 (besides clubs) so we went from convenience to convenience store and finally found one that sold it to us illegally and gave us free chocolate.

Sunday

I had a lie in (that's what they call a lazy day in London) and then headed to the pub (O'Neill's) to watch the Spain vs. Italy game.  It was a shut out for both teams and end in PKs (penalty kicks) and Spain won.  We got to listen to everyone sing their team songs.

Monday

Headed back to work.  Wimbledon started on Monday so the tube and my station were extremely crowded.  They even set up some turf and a huge Wii tennis station right in front of the tube stop.  I'm totally going to play it some time during the tournament.  I had class after work with GK and this Mizzou alum who works for FOX News and was hating on Mizzou and journalism degrees the entire time.  I didn't like him, and he didn't help his case because he kept contradicting himself.

Tuesday

Another day of work.  Today I got to book a meeting at a hotel that I researched and picked and negotiated the price.  I felt accomplished!  Haha.  Then after work I headed to the tennis courts to see what the deal was with tickets.  When I got back home I realized a. Andy Roddick was playing while I was there, and b. I had blisters because I walked an extra 20 minutes to the Park.  no fun.  Then that night we did another little pub crawl and of course ended up at Courtfields.

Wednesday

Worked again.  Had a conversation on the phone with a man I couldn't understand so I had to hand off the phone.  Came home, hung out a bit, and then went to O'Neill's to watch the Germany vs. Turkey game.  It was much more crowded this time.  And I realized I go to O'Neill's too much because a.  I recognize all the bartenders and b.  One knows my drink (Guiness...mmm.  They even pour it so there's a clover on the top).  BBC kept disconnecting so the game kept going out and we missed Germany's second goal.  But the ending was amazing and Germany ended up winning.

Thursday

More work.  During lunch I decided to take a walk around the area and then grabbed lunch at a food court.  I left work early because I was meeting Julia at Wimbledon!!!  I made sure to dress in my preppiest of preppiest clothes and we headed to the que (AKA line) to wait for 2 hours.  After 5 pm the tickets are 6 pounds less so we made sure to get there for after that.  They only let people in if other people leave so that's why we waited.  But it wasn't too bad and the line kept moving.  We finally got in and we could feel the excitement from Centre Court where Roddick was playing.  We weren't able to watch him though because it was more money to get tickets just for his match.  But we heard the crowd up until he lost...

But we got in, and went straight for Court 18 where Venus and Serena Williams were supposed to be playing next.  We got some Pimm's and Lemonade (the staple drink of the summer and of course Wimbledon too) and scored some front row seats on the side of the Mathieu-Chardy Match.  Mathieu is #14, French and totally gorgeous.  I knew it was love at first site.  So dreamy...haha...But then we left because the Williams match was switched for time constraints.  We ran over to their court only to not be able to sit.  So we squished into the outside corner with 30 other people.  I would have been fine if the boy in front of me didn't have a large backpack, talk on his cell phone (so not ok at Wimbledon!), and have TERRIBLE B.O.!  But still, I got to see the Williams sisters in the flesh!  We then walked over to see #3 Erlich (an Israeli) play with another Israeli in doubles against this attractive British guy and some scrawny Australian.  It was such a good and close game and they decided to postpone it halfway through the 4th set with Erlich down 1-2 sets but up 4-2 in this set.  They said it was too dark (there are no lights).  So we headed out, not before stopping for the infamous strawberries and cream that I was told I had to get.

So pretty much, I'm in love with Paul-Henry Mathieu and he has already made $400,000+ in this year alone!  Gosh that sounded shallow!  But seriously though...

Things I've learned:

1.  People don't understand the word "line" it's "que" and "queing up"

2.  Beans and toast is a popular food here

3.  Grilled cheese is toast and cheese

4.  Disney and FOX work together in the UK.

5.  The UK takes a lot of shows from the states.  People LOVE 24 here, and they talk about the OC and The Hills.

Alright, off to bed for me.  I promise I will put pictures up ASAP.  Plus, I have to put up pictures before I see John Mayer, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crowe, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and Jason Mraz on Saturday.  Cannot wait!  Cheers!

I love house music!

What a whirlwind week it has been!  I've been so busy with work and everything that I haven't even been able to comprehend what I've been doing!
Wednesday
I went to work and did the usual work stuff.  I went to the infamous Marks and Spencers to pick up a sandwich for lunch.  It cracked me up because they had "authentic New York sandwiches" AKA corned beef sandwiches.  After work a bunch of the employees took me out for drinks to "The Slug."  I surprised them by ordering a pint of Peroni.  For some reason they thought that Americans don't drink...hmmm...Well anyways, they decided that they would get me drunk, before I ate dinner.  And before I knew it I was definitely more drunk than I was planning on.  But somehow, I made it home on the tube by myself. I got home, entertained my roommates for a bit, finally ate dinner, welcomed Miss Laura Eisenbeis to London,  and passed out.  I had forgotten that Eric was coming to stay with me, but he didn't get in until 3 in the morning.  He ended up ringing Flat 5 and waking them all up and totally pissing them off.  But he got in, so all was well.
Thursday
I went to work, not feeling a hundred percent, and helped put together the weekly news email we send out to our clients.  For lunch we decided to go to the super market and pick up food for a picnic.  We got a whole roasted chicken for 3 pounds!  It was awesome and totally delicious.  After work, I came home and went with Eric for a drink to O'Neills.  Then we came back and just hung out with everyone.  Another one of Lauren's sorority sisters came in too so we had another person visiting and we  all just sat around and talked.
Friday
Went to work, did nothing too exciting since I spent the whole morning stressed out over this graph that I was making.  The electricity went out so I had to redo it, then my computer froze 3 times.  I was not happy.  I came home and we all went out to Camden Town to go to Koko.  It was AWESOME.  It was set up like an old theatre and there were so many hidden rooms and floors that we went exploring.  There was even a man dressed up as Elvis (he was completely out of place).  But we were excited because we finally found a place with house music.  There was a stage and a dance floor and on the stage was this awesome DJ duo Joe and Will Ask (I think that's what they're called).  They jammed on their matching Mac laptops.  And then there was this band that played house music and they were really cool too, but at this point there were so many people there and they started moshing so we had to get out of there.  So then we ventured to the bus system again and made it home safe and sound.
Saturday
Slept through my alarm, but we made it to the theatre in time to buy tickets to see Wicked this afternoon.  I came home and went to Portobello again, but the lovely tube system decided to shut down the line we needed to take (and it was only a 2 stop journey!).  We then had to find the right bus to take and then take the bus through the Saturday traffic.  What should have taken 5-10 minutes, took one hour.  So all I had time to do was buy some food from the farmers and book it out of there so I could make it back for the play.  I tried to find the bus, but couldn't so I decided to take the tube, but I had to go on a round-about way since my line was still closed.  I made it home just in time to throw my dress on, grab my makeup to put on during my ride on the tube, and make it to the theatre.  But it was totally worth it!  Wicked was awesome and I loved every second, especially when Fiyero fell up the stairs accidentally.  But I loved it and can't wait to see another musical while I'm here.
Things I've learned:
1.  I have to check out Burrow Market.  Apparently it's a market with lots of delicious food...mmm
2.  How to dance to house music
3.  No girl wants to be called a bunny boiler
4.  There are nine body parts that are 3 letters long.  Can you name them?
5.  I now know all about the different stations on British TV and am learning all the shows.  Shipwrecked seems to be a favourite (just practicing my British spelling).
Ok, I'm out...Cheers!

I love playing host!

There has been a constant string of visitors for the past week and I'm loving it!  First, Christy's friend Kristen was here, then Kristin came, and then I met up with Elise who will be here the rest of the summer and I can't wait to see her all the time.  Then yesterday, since the Bergamo trip is done, we had some of my AKPsi pledge brothers in and one of their friends and some other Mizzou people who were staying in a hotel by us.  It was so much fun to see them and just hang out.  They came by our flat late because they were sight seeing, so we headed to O'Neills to get them some fish and chips, but the kitchen was closed.  So we drank some, the boys went to Burger King, and then we came back to hang out and Kyle and I made grilled cheese for dinner.  Even though they left this morning before I got up, it was still nice to have them here for a short time.  We get some more Bergamo kids tomorrow and other visitors too.  This is fun!  haha

Ok now for what people have been constantly questioning me about: my internship...

I LOVE IT!  I mean it's not like I've done a whole lot in the past 2 days, but I already know that this summer is going to be awesome because of my internship.  I got there Monday morning with no expectations.  I came into the cozy office and met the office manager who then took me into the kitchen to give me the first of MILLIONS of cups of english tea I will have while working there.  She (and everyone else in the office who has made tea with me in the kitchen) is obsessed with their instant-hot type tap.  But this one blows off an obnoxious amount of steam and leaves you feeling like you just got a steam treatment for your face (not bad...).  So after my tour of the downstairs, I went upstairs to meet my supervisor, who is one of the bubbliest people I have ever met.  She constantly is smiling and I can tell she loves what she does.  The office even talks about how she is very knowledgeable in what she does.  I then met some people around the office and found out that one of the guys has family in Chagrin Falls!  What a small world!  Then Steph took me around the office and showed me the other building next door.  The building is separated into: first floor admin and accounts, second floor sales and planning, and the other building has the new type of media focus (cell phone rings, videos, etc.).  It turns out that the person who will be in charge of me for the rest of the summer is on holiday for the week, so things will be different starting next week.  But either way, I still like my job a lot.  I've been learning the programs they use and creating spreadsheets with the airings of the commercials.  I know it sounds nerdy but it's all fascinating to me.  I am perfectly content with listening to the people talk on the phone to clients and media outlets and learning about the business.  I think what I love so much about this job is that I have an obvious place here.  In my previous internship at home, I fit in, but I never had any real tasks to do and I definitely wasn't taught anything.  At AdConnection, everyone wants to teach me things.  They want me to ask them questions about what they do.  They want me to see what they do, and sit in on meetings and check out the sales pitches they've created.  And they ask me if I want to do more.  I never had that before and it is so nice to have it now.

So the first day at one we all went out for drinks at the luxurious Terrace of Wimbledon, for an hour and then went to get lunch and took almost about an hour for that.  They showed me a supermarket that sells ready made sandwiches for cheap, and there's a salad bar and I can buy cheap microwave stuff.  So I don't necessarily have to pack all the time, and I can still save money.

Today I left for work and almost got pushed off the tube because it was so crowded.  I got to work and started working.  I made spreadsheets all day and learned all about TV spots and the different shows in England.  We all ate lunch at a table outside and we talked about things that differ between here and America.  They honestly thought our lives were just like Superbad and Legally Blonde.  I mean I must admit that I base my previous London knowledge off of movies too, like the Notting Hill and Love Actually...but now I realize that it is so much more than that.

Funny work story: We are all sitting there, engrossed in our work, and all the sudden Steph yells, while on the phone, "A cat jumped in the window!"  And seriously, a cat did indeed jump in the window, and run around the office.  I was scared about getting rabies, but everyone was yelling about fleas?!  Random I know, but I guess rabies from stray animals isn't a concern here.

On my way home from work today I ran into quite a bit of trouble.  I got to the tube station to find, after 20 minutes, that the train driver was missing.  So when the next train made it, there were so many people stuffed in because it was the first train in 45 minutes.  I was stuck standing the whole ride.  We also had a signal failure and sat in the outskirts of London in the middle of no where for 10 minutes.  And then when the train started again, people fell from the jolt.  So what should have taken 30 minutes took over an hour and 15 minutes.

In other news I finished my 4th book of the summer...I need a new one...already...

Things I've learned:

1.  Brilliant has many meanings and people say it after EVERYTHING, and cheers too.

2.  Tea is like oxygen to the British.  They drink it every hour and our office has this email thing that emails, in a rotation, to the person making tea, what everyone wants.

3.  Apparently I look under 18 (I've been told this MANY times).

4.  How to spell the English way...AKA colour, honour...

5.  University/College is a Uni

And I have to stop referring to things in American terms because no one knows what I'm saying.

And did I mention I love my job?

Cheers!

My last weekend unemployed

So far this weekend has been pretty chill.  Friday, after I swore off the tube system, I braved the Friday afternoon crowds at Oxford and went shopping.  I figured shopping was better than pouting about my terrible travel experience earlier in the day (refer to previous post).  If I thought my stress level was high before, I have no idea how high it got.  I went to Primark (CHEAP clothes, like 2 pounds for a button down) and so did half of London.  It honestly looked like they all were shopping because the world was ending tomorrow and if they didn't get everything at Primark, they would perish.  So I only got a shirt and a dress (12.50 pounds total) and headed along the street to look at the other stores.  There were at least 2 of every store on the strip, if not 3 and everything was packed.  So then I headed back to the flat and waited for everyone to get back from work.  Christy and I decided to buy our favorite champagne again for before going out.  We then headed to Tiger Tiger, where the cover was 10 pounds!  It had the tightest security I have ever seen at the entrance to a club.  And luckily, after spend all that money on cover, I didn't spend a dime the rest of the night.  It was really crowded, but I had fun and talked to an Irish guy who I didn't understand, a drunk guy who I didn't understand and an Australian guy who was really nice and easy to understand.

Saturday, Christy and I woke up early and headed to the trooping of the colors for the Queen's birthday.  We got there early so we could get a good spot.  We realized that we had a good spot for the later part, not for the early part.  So we saw the beginning,  after waiting for an hour and a half, and decided not to wait another hour and a half to see the rest.  We came back and were greeted by some more mice visits.  This is a serious problem and our landlord seems to not care.  I am so afraid that I will be woken up at night by mice in my bed!  Then last night I went to Heathrow to meet Kristin at the airport.  It was so good to see her after four weeks of being away.  She came back to the flat with me, chilled at a pub until closing, and then we took the tube to the London Eye and walked around, got lost for a bit and then found Trafalgar Square and the bus we needed.  On our way to the bus, I saw a guy in a Cleveland Browns sweatshirt.  It turns out that he's from Seven Hills and is studying in Germany and just in London for the weekend.  This was a better Cleveland run-in than on the tube Friday night...

side note:  I saw a guy on the tube wearing a Cleveland Indians hat and I was like "Hey, are you an Indians' fan?"  and he said "Is that what this hat is for?  I had no idea; I just wear it."  But then we were talking and he told Caroline that he was an undercover cop...luckily we got off the tube when it started getting weird...

So then this morning (Sunday) Kristin and I woke up early and walked to Kensington Gardens to look at the Palace and walk around in the gardens.  Then we visited Peter Pan and saw the Princess Diana Memorial fountains.  Oh and watched a man chase his dog who ran away from him.  We then took the tube to the British Museum and hung out there for a bit (it was WAY too crowded though).  Then we stopped a pub that is officially my new favorite.  It's called Shakespeare's Head and it is massive.  And the menu is not only huge, but it is also CHEAP.  For about 5 pounds I got a chicken sandwich, fries and a beer.  All the drinks were just over 2 pounds!  I am definitely going back.  We came back and then Kristin's bag broke and wouldn't close, and we had a major crisis, but fortunately Carl was here to save the day and fix her bag, probably temporarily, but enough to get to the airport.  So I just came back from sending her off and now I'm looking forward to seeing Elise tonite and the Bergamo and Denmark visitors this week.  Oh and I start my internship tomorrow...

Things I've learned:

1.  Museums on Sundays=no go

2.  People who ride the bus alone like to make random conversations with people

3.  London bobbies (cops) are so much friendlier than US cops

4.  Coors Light is looked at as a "premium beer" (direct quote, no joke)

5.  I still hate mice

oh and Julia and Kevin got back from their Prague/Berlin extravaganza!!  YAY!!

Cheerio!

Oh London public transportation, how I currently loathe the...

After the day I've had thus far, I honestly think I should boycott the tube system for making my day a living hell.  I set out this morning at 11:25 am to find my internship in Wimbledon.  I made it there on the tube perfectly fine.  Once I got to Wimbledon is when everything started going downhill.  I got so unbelievably lost trying to find where I was going.  I ended up in a residential area far from where I was supposed to be.  I came back and walked past the same pub 5 times.  And then I finally found the street I needed.  It was 10 feet from where I had been walking this whole time.  So I found the building and it is nestled in between car repair shops and "tyre" shops (that's how they spell tire).  So anyways, I headed back to the tube station to find that my Oyster card (my pass for the tube) was only for zones 1 and 2 (central London) and I was in zone 3.  So I went to the desk to try and fix my card only to find that it wouldn't matter because my tube line was down because of some spark.  So he sold me a ticket for what he says was one station, but handed me one for a different station (and I didn't realize this until I was already on the train).  I got off at my stop and found out that this was, and I quote, "The Largest London Overground Junction."  Great.  So I get off and some nice man who works there helps me and tells me that I have to buy another ticket to get back to the tube.  So I run all the way down to the ticket window, passed by an elderly man who had taken a spill and had a crowd of people around him, and bought a ticket (so now I'm at 4.50 pounds in just train tickets AKA $9!) and ran back to catch the next train (it's 1:35 at this point).  So I make it back to the tube and get back home.  I head to the ticket window to change my Oyster card and I was fortunate to have a nice hispanic man help me.  He calmed me down and fixed everything for me.  He even made a comment about how I have the same name as Halle Berry and I told him how she grew up in the area next to where I live.  Gotta love the random nice people!  So now I'm at home, debating if it would be okay for me to get a drink, by myself, because that's all I want and everyone else is at work.  I think I might just head to a museum though.

At least today is the last day I have off before I start my internship on Monday.  Yesterday I felt like a housewife because I went grocery shopping, cleaned, met Christy, Caroline and Marylyn for lunch and then came home and took a nap until Christy came home.  Christy and I headed to get burgers from Gourmet Burger Kitchen and some of our favorite champagne.  The burger was delicious, but my stomach isn't used to red meat (and this confirmed my suspicions that the burger I had the other day was NOT red meat...).  So now I think I won't eat red meat for the rest of the summer.

Things I've learned

1.  Clapham Junction is the BUSIEST rail station in London

2.  We may have had a ghost living upstairs...

3.  Londoners get so lost all the time too

4.  Wimbledon is not considered in London

5.  Dublin is nowhere near the Blarney Stone

No longer unemployed!!

Yep that's right!  As of 4:52 pm London time, I have an internship!  All this hullaballoo has finally gotten me an internship!  I received a call at 4:40 from a London number and I was so confused at first because with the combination of a bad connection and a British accent that was hard to decipher, I didn't really understand what was going on.  But apparently I was getting interviewed for an internship with AdConnection, a media buying and planning firm.  So I got the job!  It's in Wimbledon and is 1.6 miles from Wimbledon Park where the tennis tournament is in 11 days!  I am so excited!  I was bummed for .5 seconds when I realized I didn't get the River Publishing internship, but that doesn't matter because this is way cooler!  So now I get to bum around the city until Monday when I start working.

Since I wasn't working Tuesday, I met up with Leah again and we ventured around the Natural History Museum along with 10 million school kids on field trips.  It was neat and I will probably go back soon to see more of it, but so far, it's not my favorite museum.  Then we were starving and were looking for some place to eat so we stopped at one of those food carts and I got what was called a cheese burger (FYI this was my first red meat experience).  When I got it, I wasn't sure if it was the best red meat to be eating (it looked like it might have some other meat in it, but I didn't care because I was STARVING).  So I ate my mystery meat and we headed through Hyde Park to see the Peter Pan statue that my flatmates and I have been searching for.  It was so cool.  All my dreams of flying around London with Peter came back to me, and now, more than ever, I want to sit on the hands of Big Ben like they do in the movie.  We then parted ways and I said goodbye to Leah who is heading back to the States tomorrow, and I headed to the Round Pond in the Kensington Gardens area and read my book.  Another day of sunshine=more color for me!  I am thoroughly enjoying this weather!  I then came to our flat to make dinner and wait for my flatmates to come home from work.  We then headed to a pub for the night until they rang the bell for closing.

Today Alan (another one of the three of us without an internship) and I went to the International Enrichment office to see what the deal was with our internships, only to be greeted by a locked door because they were off greeting the new kids who arrived today for session 2.  So we went to the British Museum and looked at the Greek and Egyptian things.  It was so neat to see parts of the Parthenon and all the statues of the g-ds and goddesses.  Have I mentioned I'm obsessed with Greek mythology?  We also saw the Rosetta Stone.  The Egyptian things were also interesting, and my favorite part was the mummy exhibit.  They had Cleopatra's mummy there!!  It amazed me how they kept the remains so preserved.  It might have something to do with the fact that they remove the brain of the dead through the nose and the other organs through the butt (sorry if I grossed you out).  We then came back and I headed to the book store to find a new book since I am done with the Twilight books until the beginning of August when the fourth one comes out.  I picked up a sandwich and headed to the Belvedere park for the first time and ate and read and watched some young men AKA blokes play football (AKA soccer).  A storm started to blow in so I headed home and received the phone call that held my destiny for the summer.

Things I've learned:

1.  Even the British think the French are rude to English speakers.

2.  Mummification is a long process, but it really preserves the body.  Maybe I should look into it...

3.  Pret a Manger has AWESOME food

4.  I will finally admit that I can't drink as much beer in England as I do in the States because of how much alcohol content is in it

5.  Taking the tube round trip in zone 1 (central London and where I live) is around the same price as a gallon of gas in the States

Oh, did I mention I'm going to Dublin July 5 and 6?  Because I am!  Best 4th of July weekend ever!!  Texas Embassy and Dublin...CAN'T WAIT!!

Cheers!

I'm actually getting a tan in London!

Yep, that's right!  Whoever said it rains ALL the time in London was seriously wrong!  The past week has been amazingly sunny and hot actually!  I have laid out at the park two days in a row!  The paleness I thought was inevitable has not happened.  Ok now for the Weekend Update

Thursday

Thursday night my flat and the boys who were not at the Bauer work party went to Zoo Bar, a club in Leicester Square.  It was so much fun!  But the drinks were a bit pricey.  Apparently the cheap nights for drinking are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays (completely opposite from the States).  We were even privileged to have a random girl get up on a pole and do a complete dancing show for us.  I swear she thought it was ok, but it definitely was not.  After that we had our first experience with the bus system since the tube stops running a little after midnight.  Julia and I were a little lost and some nice bike man (think Shakespeare's bike guys in Columbia) offered us a free ride to the bus stop.  So we took him up on his offer, but for his enjoyment he rode as though we were on a highspeed chase and pretended to hit cars, dodged in and out of traffic and took sharp corners.  But we made it to the bus stop, took the right bus and made it home safe and sound.

Friday

Some people had to work, but the rest of us did not, so we slept in.  Then Julia, Marylyn and I met Christy for lunch by where she works and ate at this little italian place (it was DELICIOSO!).  After that we came back and Marylyn panicked because she lost her oyster card (the tube pass AKA our most prized possessions).  But everything got worked out.  Then Julia and I went grocery shopping and then came back and headed to a pub with some of the guys and our flatmates.  Of course, the night could not go on without a crazy story.  Julia, Marylyn and I all experienced what is known as this "underground males hooking up in random bathrooms together."  But this was in the girls' loo (I should probably use the English terms) and I was definitely caught offguard (don't worry Mom and Dad, nothing happened to me, and I am not completely scarred for life).  Needless to say I probably won't be back there.

Saturday

My flatmates and I woke up early and headed to Portobello Road in the Notting Hill area.  It was AWESOME.  Portobello Road is a street that has a market every Saturday with clothing, jewelry and food vendors.  I got some more pashminas, a new jacket, and food.  The food was the best part.  They had fresh fruit and produce and I was definitely in heaven.  I got an awesome sandwich and some potatoes to bring back home (only 50 pence for a pound!).  And we even found this absolutely delectable cupcake shop.  I got this amazing red velvet cupcake (Kristen, might even rival ours!) and a coke in a glass bottle (which I saved so I could recycle it when I got back home since London is going green and I felt bad throwing it away.).  We then went a the hunt for a trash can which we didn't find for about a mile (the road is 2 miles and we ended up walking there AND back=4 miles).  We came back to the flat and I met up with a friend who I hadn't seen since high school.  I met her at a pub in Covent Gardens and then we walked around and watched the street performers.  There was one who had no crowd and was shouting so we went to see what was going on.  He then started doing a trick for us "American girls" and the Essex boys that came by.  A crowd gathered round and we almost asked him for some commission for attracting him such a large crowd.  He was hilarious, told a bunch of jokes that were not appropriate for the children around, and did some crazy magic.  Then we parted our ways and I headed to the London eye with my flatmates and some of the guys.  We went at while the sun was setting but it was only a 15 minute ride so we didn't get to see the sun actually set.  But it was still neat to see the city.  Then we went to this Cheers place (made after the show Cheers) and haggled our way in for free cover, but then were greeted by overpriced drinks.

Sunday

Once again we had AMAZING weather so Christy, Lauren and I brought a picnic to the park and laid out on a blanket.  I didn't realize how hot is was going to be so I rolled up my jeans and sweated in my black tshirt.  Then we noticed that it is not only okay to wear bathing suits in the park, but it's also socially acceptable to wear just your underwear, even if it is a white thong and you don't necessarily have the body to even remotely pull it off.  Yes that was my view for 3 and half hours, but how could I forget the speedo man!  So after we left, Christy and I decided it was the perfect time to do our laundry.  We didn't realize how hard it would be to find change, do our laundry and then bring it back.  We thought we looked really silly carrying our luggage around, but everyone else is always carrying luggage around so we totally fit in.  Two hours later...we were done! (yes I know it is a terrible story).  At midnight it was Stew's birthday so we celebrated with singing and a small cake and cupcakes and some reading of "this day in history."

Monday

While everyone else headed off to work, I went off to my rescheduled interview at River Publishing.  I met with Angie, my potential supervisor, and had what I thought was a pretty decent interview.  We totally connected with our aspirations to be movie stars, in a perfect world of course.  She told me I would know by tomorrow because she had one more person to interview, out of three.  So cross your fingers for me, because otherwise I will be unemployed!!  Afterwards, I met Julia for lunch, because she doesn't start her internship at NBC until next week, and we went to this pub by the Chelsea FC stadium.  I love pub food by the way.  We then came back home and headed off to the park because it was so hot.  More tanning for me...and another thong spotting (and it was the same lady with her stupid Palmeranian (spelling?) dog yapping away).  We had to come back because we had our lovely class with George, which I still loathe.

Now I'm sitting here admiring my tan while we wait for the guys to get back from their work function so we can celebrate Stew's birthday.  Well that's all for now.  Getting excited for the Queen's Birthday celebration this weekend, so I guess I should say G-d Save the Queen!

My Karma hasn't been nice to me this week

So I realize that I haven't updated in a few days but here is an overview of my past week since I got back from Paris.

Monday

Went to both of my classes and got out of class after 9 pm.  Then Christy and I decided to go find the places where we were having our interviews the next day.  First we went to where mine was supposed to be (Leicester Square) and got bombarded by people trying to recruit us to go to clubs.  We of course got lost and this cute American boy tried to help us figure out where we were going.  I finally decided (30 minutes later) to go into the Raddison and ask for directions.  It turns out, the publishing company that I'm interviewing with is next to Haagen Dazs!  How convenient!  So then we went to find Christy's place and it was all the way in the city of London, aka the business district so it was A. really far away and B. scary to walk around because it's deserted at night.  So we of course walked the wrong way twice, ran into some sleeping homeless people, and saw a sweet bridge with the London crest.  When we finally realized that we were walking in the right direction, we had to go back to the tube station so we wouldn't miss the last tube of the night.

Tuesday

So all day I relaxed and got ready because I had my interview at 3 pm.  This is where my week really took a turn for the worse.  I went to my interview and got there 15 minutes early.  The male receptionist called the woman I was supposed to interview with, but she didn't answer and we just assumed it was because I was early.  So I sat there and waited and after 30 minutes he finally got ahold of her.  But get this, she was out of the office at a meeting somewhere.  Apparently there was a miscommunication with my program and the time was never confirmed.  So I called up the program, furiously, and told them what happened.  They said they would straighten it all out.  I was not happy.  So I got home and although I wanted to go out and get a nice cocktail to drink away my sorrows, I decided that drinking a depressant would not be the best idea, so Christy and I had a Champagne night to celebrate her internship (remember how we thought we found her place the night before?  Well it turns out, our program gave her the wrong address and she had to take a cab all the way to her real place.  But she got the job!).

Wednesday

Still no word on the status of my internship.  We had to get up bright and early to go to Parliament for a tour.  The place was gorgeous and has so much history and tradition in it.  They follow all the customs from the original days, even wear the outfits!  It was neat to learn about their government and see the lavish decorations.  Then we headed out to lunch to a pub.  they gave me my sandwich only to realize that there was something wrong and they had to send it back to remake it.  It took forever to get back and by the time I got it, we had to leave to go to our tour for the BBC.  So I ate faster than I've eaten in my life, and made it to the BBC in time.  It was really cool to see the BBC, but I got called out for talking (as always).  They told us stories about how demanding some celebrities are.  Like J.Lo refused to walk 50 feet to her dressing room so they drove her there and the only other person ever to drive through this courtyard was the Queen.  Prince wouldn't walk to a dressing room on another floor, but since his dressing room was on a different floor, he made someone carry him.  J.Lo required them to paint her entire dressing room white since she refuses to sit on anything else.  Mariah Carey wanted a room full of puppies, unfortunately they could not oblige.

Afterwards I called up my program and they told me good news!  I have an interview on Monday morning with my internship!  So that meant I had the rest of the week off.  So I looked up trips to Prague for the weekend and thought I found some.  So I booked it, but I looked today (Thursday) and saw that they messed up the booking and had me down for the wrong day.  So I had to call and cancel my trip and sat on the phone, INTERNATIONAL CALL, for 17 minutes talking to an Indian lady.  So now I'm not going.

Later some of my flatmates and I went to Kensington Gardens to sit and read because it was beautiful out.  We sat in these chairs for a while and then saw that there was a guy collecting money for using the chairs so we booked it out of there so we wouldn't have to pay.  Then some of us went to a pub to hang out for the night.

Thursday

Julia, Kevin and I went on a London Walk about the Beatles (thanks Aunt Jori for the recommendation!).  Our tour guide was an intensely avid Beatles fan, Beatles button down, Beatles man bag and all.  He acted like him and Paul AKA Paul McCartney were BFF.  Most of the rest of the group competed on who was a larger Beatles fan.  But we saw some really neat stuff, like where they recorded different songs, places they frequented, the place they sang on the roof for their last live performance and Abbey Road and recording studio.  It was totally worth the 5 pounds.  Then we stayed in the area and found this French pastry shop where we had lunch.  It was AMAZING.  They even gave use free samples of this chocolate pastry that was chocolate upon chocolate upon chocolate, AKA deliciousness!  I then came back and went to Waterstone's bookstore (London's Borders) to buy the final book in the Twilight series (yes I'm obsessed).  On the way back, we saw this lady drop her stroller with her two babies inside and it looked like she hurt them, but apparently they survived the fall.

Okay well I'm all caught up now so now I can look forward to the weekend!  Chip chip cheerio!

Things I've learned this week:

1.  Never book flights on cheapoair.com

2.  Don't try to custom order in a pub

3.  Australians love Billabong

4.  Leicester Square is a huge hotspot

5.  People pay to register their TVs every year and all the money funds the BBC

Crepes, Wine and Bread

Yeah that was pretty much my diet this past weekend in Paris and I loved it!  Crepes are AMAZING and the wine of course too, and who could forget the delicious French bread?

Friday we headed off, straight after class, to the coach station to catch our bus to Paris.  The coach station is just like an airport, but there were pigeons flying in and out because the doors were open.  I thought one was going to take off my head off.  When we finally got on the bus, we were welcomed by the wonderful smell of gross (a combination of BO and urine).  And of course Lauren and I decided to sit across from the bathroom in the middle of the bus, but the door didn't stay closed, so everytime we took a turn, we got an even larger whiff of the gross smell.  Well besides that we got to go on the chunnel.  The bus drove onto the train and then we rode underwater to France.

We finally got to Paris at 9:30 (30 minutes early) and had to figure out the Metro (the Paris subway).  So we go to the machine that wouldn't take any of our credit cards.  Then we find the ticket window where the lady was mean and didn't speak English.  We finally found someone who spoke French and English and got all of our tickets for the Metro and got on the Metro.  It was the complete opposite of the nice and clean Tube in London.  There was grafitti EVERYWHERE and it was actually kind of scary.  But we made it to our hostel and the guy at the desk had the grossest teeth EVER.  But our rooms were nice and we had our own bathrooms.  Definitely not your stereotypical hostel that you always hear about.  So then we went to a pastry shop for dinner and crepes (crepe #1) and then went next door to the cafe and sat on the sidewalk sipping on wine and cocktails.

The next day we got up nice and early for our full day of being tourists.  We headed out to the Louvre, only to make a wrong turn and find Notre Dame (beautiful) and then made another wrong turn and end up at the Pompidou Museum of Modern Art.  And Marylyn really wanted to go in.  But somehow we all got separated and some of them ended up at a Starbucks, so we gave up on the museum and finally ran into them.  We headed to the Louvre.  It was really neat.  I saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, some Rafael work and some Egyptian stuff.  All totally worth the 9 Euros admission.  Then we headed to a cafe to drink some wine and eat dinner.  I got a bowl of French Onion Soup because I thought it would be the most cliche thing to do.  We then headed down the Champs-Elysees where all the shops are, got some crepes and continued down to the Arc de Triomphe.  Since it is located in the center of the busiest round-about in Europe we had to go underground to get there.  They were doing this ceremony for a fallen soldier while we were there so we couldn't go in the very center, but it was still neat.

So then we started to head out to the Eiffel Tower which we had gotten glimpses of the entire day, but hadn't seen it upclose yet.  We went too far around the round-about and ended up going the completely wrong way.  But we stopped at a pastry shop and got chocolate croussants and other delicious pastries and got directions.  We finally get to a building, turn the corner and there it is standing right in front of us.  It was absolutely breath taking.  We then waited to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and were serenaded by some boys from Holland and one proposed to Caroline.  On our way up, it got dark so the Tower lit up and it was gorgeous.  We saw the whole city from the top.  When we got to the bottom, we realized we had spent a total of 3 hours waiting in line and going in the tower.  We were so exhausted from the day that we just went back to the hostel and went to sleep.  But before I went to sleep I made sure to get my large French baguette and ate the ENTIRE thing.

The next day, the boys left in the morning to go back to London, but the girls ventured out to the Palace of Versailles.  We were first told that the Palace had free entrance, then we got there and they said it was 25 euros so we went to the gardens that were only 6 euros.  There they told us five more prices for the palace, so we were confused.  We walked around the ENORMOUS gardens.  I swear King Louis was compensating for something.  We then decided that since we came all this way, we were still going into the Palace, no matter what the cost.  So we waited in line and, fortunately, the price had dropped to 10 euros (weird I know).  This Palace was just as amazing as it's gardens.  The only disappointing things were the construction (there was a fake picture of the palace covering up the under construction part),  the annoying tourists who bumped me out of the way and wouldn't let me take pictures, and that Julia and I didn't take our romantic row boat ride.  We then went to this nice little crepe cafe where we got galletes, wine/drinks, and more crepes (i think this was #4).  The waiters were making fun of us being American and one had a crush on Caroline.  But then we got kicked out because they closed at 6 pm and headed back to our hostel.  We then went to the coach station and boarded our night bus (and we were reunited with Christy and Emily who were staying with a friend for the weekend).  On this bus we had a little boy who wouldn't stop crying.  But that wasn't the worst thing.  We got to the chunnel and were told to get everything off the bus and they shut us in this glass room (looked like a gas chamber to me).  They scanned our passports and Xrayed our bags.  We got back on the bus, only to be driven 500 feet across the border to get off and get our passports stamped in England (I already have an England stamp, I wanted a France one!).  We finally permanently got back on the bus only to wait 2 hours because we were early and the chunnel was late.  So we ended up getting in 30 minutes late at 6:30 am.  But it was totally worth it.

Other noteworthy tidbits:

1.  At the ATM there was a French homeless guy who kept talking to me in French even though I told him I only speak English.  I was so flustered and wanted to get away that I ended up crossing the street without looking and almost got hit by a car (Mom and Dad I know you loved reading that)

2.  Speaking of ATMs, I think Kevin tried to use 30 but none accepted his card.

3.  When Lauren woke us up the first night from a night terror, I couldn't find my phone and decided that someone had entered our room and stole it.  But it ended up being stuck in my pillow.

4.  Another Halli embarrassing moment: I wasn't paying attention and accidentally put Lauren's contacts in the first morning.  And only realized it after I decided that my contacts felt weird and Lauren was missing her contacts.

5.  I was mistaken as a French girl at the Arc de Triomphe and someone tried to convince Marylyn she was Brazilian at the Palace of Versailles.

Au revoir to all!

Next time I will tell you about my mishap with my internship...stay tuned...

Make that 1 more flatmate

Yep, we found some cockroaches.  Gross I know.  But we killed them.  I think we were more afraid to open the door this morning and see that we had an infestation of mice and roaches that formed over the weekend.  Either they aren't here or they're hiding.

I'm going to quickly go through what happened before I left for Paris on Friday because we just got back from our overnight busride and I need some sleep.

Thursday we our internship placements.  I still have an INTERVIEW with River Publishing, but I found out that it is competitive with people outside the program.  So now I'm freaking out that I won't get it.  I'm going to spend all my time until tomorrow at 3 pm preparing.  But, she told me all these details about the internship and it sounds absolutely amazing.

My flatmates and I went to see Sex and the City early that evening.  These mean French girls made us move because they tried to enforce the assigned seats rule, but nobody follows it.  But that could never ruin the movie.  It made me cry.  If you haven't seen it yet, go see it!

Then came back and had champagne (to celebrate our internship interviews and Sex and the City) and made the most amazing dinner.  And when I say most amazing, I mean it was the best meal I've had since being here (and I have eaten really good food) AND I made it.  Grilled bell peppers in olive oil and italian seasoning, added noodles and spaghetti sauce.  Bon appetite!

Then we had a fiasco.  We participated in a little mouse hunt in Caroline and Lauren's room because we found the mouse.  Well maybe mice, we're not sure, but chaos definitely ensued.

Paris: details after I have some sleep and can comprehend the weekend.

Things I've Learned:

1.  Kids ride scooters EVERYWHERE (like the razor scooters).  It's a necessity.

2.  Brand Republic is the British version of Ad Age

3.  I spend too much money

4.  Don't stand next to the street because huge double decker buses will hit you (Christy had two close calls)

5.  Everyone says cheers instead of thank you.

Okay off to bed since the bus ride didn't allow me to sleep much.  Good night, or rather good morning (it's 7:28 am here.)