A Birthday, A Picnic(k) and A Tourist

What is really sad now is that I have pretty much become so comfortable here that I feel like I live here, but I have to leave in two weeks!  Who knew this day would come??  But now I am making the most out of every day I am here.

Wednesday

Went to work and then came home to go to Julia's birthday celebration.  We met here and her parents at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub.  It's one of the oldest pubs in London and one of three pubs in London that are allowed to have the "Ye olde" title in their name.  It was so neat!  It was built in 1667 and is still running.  There was even a room that said something about only serving men at this part of the bar.  Afterwards, some of us headed to Piccadilly to O'Neills for some live music and dancing and then headed home.

Thursday

Went to work on an absolutely gorgeous day, so at lunch we ate at a tapas restaurant outside to enjoy the weather.  After work, I came home and ordered tickets for The Dark Knight at midnight that night.  So we went to Leicester Square, where the European premiere was held on Monday, only to learn that when they say 00:20 (aka 12:20 AM) on a Friday, they really mean Friday night, not Friday morning.  So we went there for nothing...but that meant that we still got to go the next night.

Friday

Went to work and spent an hour going grocery shopping at Marks & Spencers for food for our company picnick (that's how they spell it here).  Then we went to the park for our picnick where I tried brie for the first time (mmm).  Then I learned how to play rounders which was described to me as "Englishman's lazy version of baseball."  Honestly, I wasn't that great, but in my defense, I didn't understand the rules.  Then I came home and took a nap before heading to The Dark Knight.  On our walk there, we saw asians having a karaoke night on the balcony of the Chinese restaurant across the street from me.  Also, they had metal detectors and police patrolling Leicester Square so we felt paranoid, yet safe.  But we saw the movie, and it was AMAZING!  I was so impressed with everything in it and the story line.  Definitely kept me guessing and I think Heath Ledger did an impressive job.

Saturday

Woke up early because it was my first weekend in London in July (I have traveled the past 3 weekends).  Then Christy and I headed to Westminster Abbey and they have the best audio guides I have ever used.  Definitely beats Bath.  They had pictures and movies on this one!  The Abbey was very impressive and I'm glad I finally went.  Then we headed to Borough Market that is a market with all food.  This is my new favorite place in London.  It smelled amazing and everything looked delicious.  We got these chicken wraps that had salsa on them.  The chicken was so tender and of such good quality.  And then we had fresh Apple and Strawberry juice.  Then we walked around and found things like Ostrich eggs and Zebra meat and decided we have to come back more to get the food and bring some juice back.  Then we went to the Science Museum and saw some neat things, but we were tired and there were kids everywhere, too many, so we couldn't see much.  Even though British kids normally steal my heart because of their accents, I really couldn't stand these ones.

Things I've Learned

1.  How to play rounders

2.  It's only a couple minute's walk from Leicester Square to Piccadilly Circus

3.  London is overflowing with Americans in July

4.  Charles Darwin is buried in Westminster Abbey

5.  Julia's dad is definitely not Mexican

Czeching in and out...oh and I saw Michael Caine

The past few days have certainly been filled of some crazy memories...

Thursday I jetted off to Prague, by myself.  I ventured to Luton airport where I had to sit FOREVER because my flight got delayed.  I finally got on my flight where I was surrounded by stag parties who were so excited to get to Prague and all I wanted to do was read my book and nap because it was after 9 at night. (yes I know I am a loser).  Well I finally made it to Prague and ran to catch the final bus of the night, without buying a ticket, but this is when I first learned that they don't check tickets on any Prague public transportation unless the cops decide to go and fine people.  So I made it to Liz, Bree and Gabby's place for the night.

Friday I woke up early with everyone because they had a big presentation and I headed out to go site-seeing.  I took Liz's Prague book with me and found Wallenstein Palace, Prague Castle, some random parks, then wondered around the Jewish Quarter where I got really lost, but it's okay.  Because I found Old Town Square and the most expensive street in all of Prague and went shopping at Hermes and Cartier...okay just kidding but I wished I did.  But I found a Kosher Restaurant and got some falafel and then ventured more in the Jewish Quarter and saw the oldest synagogue in Europe.  Prague is honestly the most beautiful city I have ever seen (minus Tzaft, Israel).  I then came back to the "dorm" and hung out with everyone, ate dinner at a traditional Czech pub, then I fell asleep really early.  So then Saturday we got up really early and saw everything else in Prague that I didn't see the day before, and I was with everyone instead of by myself.  We walked on Charles Bridge, went in some Cathedrals, ate some pizza, saw the big clock, got lost some more, and went back to the dorm and ate dinner and got ready for the pub crawl.  The pub crawl was so much fun and I of course flocked to the British guys on it because I seem to think I identify with them now.

Then Sunday we went to Bohemia Bagel (the start of our pub crawl the night before) to get lunch and our free tshirts from the pub crawl.  Then I headed to the airport.  I either got off the bus at the wrong stop or the bus just drops you off in the middle of nowhere.  But I somehow managed to find my way by reading the czech street signs.  And the rest of my travels were uneventful because I made it back perfectly fine.

Oh and one interesting Prague story.  Friday I went and got some souvenirs for the family only to see that A. they didn't give me Brent's snow globe and B. they didn't give me a receipt.  So I went back the next day and told them that I paid for it and didn't get it, and they just wrapped it up and gave it to me.  If I was in America, that would NEVER have happened.

When I got back into London I went with Julia and her parents to DaMario's, Princess Diana's favorite Italian restaurant this is around the corner from me, where we ran into some of the boys after their venture to Greenwich.  Then we went to a pub for some drinks and uncivilized conversations.

Monday I went to work and then didn't have class so Christy and I went to the red carpet premiere for the Dark Knight.  It was so cool.  We saw the bat mobile drive around for 10 minutes and then Michael Caine and Maggie Ghyllenhall (sorry about my spelling), Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, McFly, and some guy named John that's famous but I don't know who he is.  We staked out on chairs at Garfunkel's and watched the red carpet for a while and then came home.

Today I had work, where 2 of the bosses jetted off for the day to Germany for an hour meeting.  Isn't it crazy that people can just go to Germany for an hour meeting?  Well then after work I met Elise for a delicious Chinese dinner.  And then now we just sang happy birthday to Julia because she just turned 21!  Can't wait to celebrate tomorrow!

Thing I've learned:

1.  People think I can't spell my name correctly because I say "h" wrong in England

2.  Prague people aren't very nice

3.  My cousin just had a baby girl!!  Congrats Marlee!!

4.  People smoke too much in Europe so now my clothes smell like smoke because they have no smoking laws in Prague

5.  Even though I carried around a tour book in Prague, people still thought I was a native.  I guess I really do look like an Eastern European.

Remember that one time I jumped off a cliff?

Yep that's right!  I, Halli Levy, jumped off some cliffs.  But it wasn't as simple as that.  Let me just start at the beginning...

So last Friday night, Christy, Julia and I took the 11:30 pm train to Cardiff, Wales.  We got on the tube a little late to the infamous Paddington Station (think of the childhood stories of Paddington Bear) and had to run to our train just before 11:30.  It was just like in Home Alone Lost in New York when the family was running through the airport.  Well, we made it to our train, with time to spare.  At the first stop we picked up some drunk men who looked like they were in their late 30s.  And they were wasted.  One guy was yelling about losing his cell phone and it turned out that it was right there on the floor.  Mind you it's midnight and these are drunk grown men acting like they've never drank before.  So we switched to "the quiet coach."  We arrived in Cardiff at 2:30 AM and were forced to stay in the waiting room at the station until 5 am so we wouldn't be seen as "trespassers" on CCTV.  So we attempted to make ourselves comfortable in the piss-smelling room and watched Sweet Home Alabama, only to be joined later by quite a few interesting characters.  When we were able to walk around, we decided to make an appearance on the streets of Cardiff, that were still trashed from the night's festivities and eat some McDonald's.  We then found ourselves running back to the station to catch our next train to Haverfordwest (our destination for the cliff jumping).  We jumped on a train that was on our platform, only to find out that we got on the Hereford train...AKA the wrong way.  So we get off in Newport (a place I would never like to visit EVER again) and are stuck there for an hour and a half.  There is nobody working there and it is in the middle of nowhere.  We then take the train to Swansea where we finally get ahold of the place that we were trying to get to and I tell sweet Lorraine our situation and how we won't be able to make it to the morning session of coasteering, so she squeezes us into the afternoon session.  So we hang out in Swansea for a couple hours and do some shopping.  Then we take our 4th and final train of the day to Haverfordwest, hop in a cab and make it to Preseli Lodge with time to spare!

Now time for the real adventure...

So it turns out, the afternoon session is Christy, Julia, me and 10 guys on a stag party (AKA bachelor party).  What could be better?  So we gear up in our wetsuits, life jackets and helmets and head to the rocky beach.  Then we do the coasteering, which is way more intense than I ever thought.  I'm still sore!  So we waded through the water first which then became quite rough and then there were large rocks/boulders and we had to do jumps off them.  It was crazy.  I can't believe I did it.  At one point we had to scale a rock that was a mini cliff.  I was towards the head of the line with about 8 people behind me.  I freaked out and almost couldn't make it across because I couldn't find footing.  But I made it, even though I did slide down the rocks at the end.  But I have never been more proud of myself.  Every time I took a jump off the rocks, I told the instructor "My mom is gonna kill me!!!!!"

So then we head back to the lodge to see if we could wash up before heading back to London, only to have Lorraine tell us that we have all the time in the world to shower because she wasn't letting us spend the night at the train station again since we missed the last train to London.  So they put us up in the lodge for the night.  I thought the Irish were nice, but the Welsh definitely top my list.  Everyone there was so nice and welcoming and they all had heard our story.  We were the celebrities of the lodge!  There was a different stag party staying and a hen party (bachelorette) and another group all there for the night.  So we hung out with them for dinner and then the 3 of us took a 20 minute trek to the beach only to have a little run in with a dog and some mud.  But we made it to the beach to watch the sunset.  We came back, drank some wine, played some pool (which the balls are just yellow and red, no numbers, no stripes), and then passed out on the couches from sheer exhaustion.  That morning we headed out to London and made it back perfectly, and just in time for Julia to head to work.  And then I finally did my laundry for only the second time this summer, but I didn't have enough change to finish drying my clothes all the way, so I had wet clothes laying around.  Oh the joys of being cheap.

Okay and a quick recap of the past couple of days...

Monday

Went to work and finished up our big presentation for Tuesday.  Then I had to run home so I could make it to Imperial for my meeting with GK and IE about the status of my internship and then sit through class, which wasn't too bad because we talked about advertising the whole time.

Tuesday

Went to work, and it was a quiet day because half the people were off at the presentation.  At lunch I planned on going to buy another book to add to my list of 6 I've read this summer.  But one of the girls at work offered her library card to me.  Best thing ever!  And it made me feel like an actual Londoner since only residents have library cards.  So I came back and about an hour after lunch I hear music and it turns out, they have ice cream trucks in London!  So we all chased down the ice cream man so I could have my first London ice cream truck experience (they thought we didn't have them in the states).  I got an ice cream cone, which is actually whipped cream in a cone (no complaints here!), and we took some pictures, which were up on facebook in a matter of minutes.  Then a few of us headed to get drinks after work where I had more revelations about how I've been lied to my entire life.  Schools have always told me that we had to learn the metric system because EVERY other country uses it.  Well, the English schools taught their students that America uses the metric system.  They use feet and miles here.  So after a few drinks and revelations, I headed to the tube and made a "friend."  This little Indian man from Sri Lanka sat down next to me and told me that I have a great and strong aura.  Now mind you I'm a little drunk and so I become over interested in what he has to say.  I am sitting there, totally amazed at everything he says about me (even though it is all so generic).  Definitely a situation they warn you about.  Luckily he didn't get off at my stop.

Wednesday

Headed to work and had the usual day.  Got invited to the red carpet premiere of Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, but turned it down because of a previous engagement: CHRISTY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!  So we went to Ping Pong Dim Sum for dinner.  Little did we know that we would have a celebrity siting as soon as we came in.  Destiny's Child's Kelly Rowland was also enjoying some dim sum.  Only Emily had enough courage to say hi.  But we had an awesome meal and I had an amazing drink called "Ping Pong" and it was basically a fancy white wine spritzer with grapes.

Tomorrow I head to Prague for my last trip of the summer.  I'm flying by myself to stay with some Mizzou people on the Advertising trip.  Hopefully my travels are uneventful.

Things I've learned:

1.  The bugs in Great Britain love me as much as the ones in the states.  I am once again, as I am every summer, covered in bug bites and hydrocortizone cream.

2.  My tube card works on the trains too in London (these are different than the tube/underground).

3.  Glamour is the number one magazine in Great Britain (a saleslady came today and gave us a presentation about it)

4.  a WAG is "Wives and Girlfriends" of soccer players and they are tanned, botoxed, arcrylic nailed up women

5.  Contrary to previous belief, I think I like chicken curry.  We had some in Wales at the lodge and it was good.  Or maybe we thought it was good because we were so hungry.

Alright, off to bed (it's 2:40 am here) and then work and off to "Czech out" of London and jet off to Prague.  Cheers!

Dublin Highlights: Long overdue

Okay, so sorry this has taken so long but this past week has been VERY hectic.  But let me give you my Top 10 of Dublin (in order of occurrence and not necessarily the greatest moments)

1.  The cab driver on the way to the bus to the airport in London put a light on to let us know that we were talking so loud the driver was having trouble concentrating.

2.  Eating lunch at this pub where the waiter was Romanian and barely spoke English.  By the end of ordering the meal, we thought that Caroline and I were going to get 2 sandwiches each (because we ordered 2 things on our sandwich), Jen was going to get the wrong sandwich, Kaylin's was going to have other stuff on her "grilled cheese only," and Stew, well he got some stew so we figured it would be ok.  But at the end of the meal, we were waiting for a candid camera crew to jump out.  What made it even crazier was the fact that we were the only people in the restaurant.  (Apparently people don't eat lunch out on Saturdays and if they do, they must not eat until 3 pm because that's when everywhere opens)

3.  Becoming a certified whiskey taster at the old Jameson distillery.  I even got a signed certificate and everything.

4.  Learning all about the advertising campaigns at Guinness and drinking more Guinness than I have ever in my life.

5.  Walking back from Guinness with Stew in the torrential downpour because we couldn't fit in the cab.

6.  Going to Temple Bar and, after 2 failed attempts, finding a classic Irish pub complete with live Irish music and a man with a little tiny guitar who was AWESOME.

7.  Seeing the Kilhanmain Gaol and wondering how terrible it would be to be a prisoner there.

8.  Getting lost on the way to the Docklands and never finding them.

9.  Walking around and seeing Dublin.

10.  Did I mention how much it rained?  but on the upside, the Irish are the nicest and friendliest people ever!

Oh and how could I forget the sound the crosswalk signs made when it changed to "walk."  It reminded me of Mario Smash Brothers.  Every time I crossed the street I thought I won a prize.

Okay quick recap of last week...

Tuesday

Went to work and had a lunch out with a bunch of people at the office because it was BOGO at pizza express (yum!!!).  Then Christy and I bought a bottle of champagne and chilled at the flat while everyone else went on Alan's Party Parade (we were way to tired to join).

Wednesday

Of course it had to rain some more...because it will never stop here!  The office manager at work didn't want to go to the post office in the rain, so I went and received a Krispy Kreme donut in return.

Thursday

Worked again.  We've been working on this huge presentation for Tuesday so I was swamped with that.  But after work, I came home and met up with my friend Jake for dinner.  Played some catch up and whatnot, and then I went to Courtfield with my flatmates and some of the boys.  Story of the night: Some creepy man sits down at the table next to ours and starts talking to Christy and wants to know her name and be her friend.  He is creeping all of us out and we just want him to leave us alone, so Carl steps in, because at this point he is angry, and tells the guy off.  Fortunately he left us alone but all the tables around us were watching him try to talk to us.

Friday

Worked some more.  We went for drinks at lunch and I got a lemonade, but not the American kind.  The make it with like sprite or seltzer water and lemon juice.  Delicious.  Then we all decided to treat ourselves with some food from M&S (Marks & Spencers AKA a really nice grocery store) but I still managed to spend under 3 pounds!  After work I came home and got ready for my trip to Wales...but I am not blogging about that just yet because it is so intense that it needs its own post.

Things I've learned:

1.  There is a Monopoly pub crawl that will be completed by flat 1

2.  I can make a mean cup of tea (I'm ready to try it out on my colleagues at work)

3.  British women LOVE American men and they all want to marry/date them

4.  It's supposed to rain here pretty much every day the rest of the summer

5.  The British economy is in a downturn too. (I know you really wanted to know that)

Alright, time to try to get my bearings back after my adventure in Wales...I can't believe I made it back alive...SERIOUSLY...

How to Celebrate 4th of July in London

1.  Watch Independence Day starting at midnight

2.  Take the day off from work

3.  Wear red, white and blue, or the most American clothes you have

4.  Drink only American beer

5.  Go to the Texas Embassy

6.  Dance to a live band

Yeah that was pretty much my 4th of July.  After a rain filled Thursday where it ended with watching Independence Day, Friday was beautiful.  I took the day off and thought I would go and do some tourist stuff, but I ended up spending my whole afternoon trying to book our train to Wales for this upcoming weekend.  Who thought the only people working at the train station were ones who couldn't speak english?  It was so ridiculous I can't even begin to describe it because you won't believe me.  That's why I gave up on trying to book it over the phone and made Julia go with me to the train station to buy tickets.  It only got worse.  It was so insane and he kept saying "Are you going together and coming together?" and then messed everything up, but fortunately we got our tickets and we're officially going to Wales on an overnight train on Friday and coming back Saturday night.  But then we headed up to Texas Embassy for the night to meet up with everyone else.  And even the boys I met at the concert the previous weekend came up from Surrey.  The night was complete with baseball (even though it was Yankees/Red Sox), Budweiser, burritos, tequila (sorry Mom, but I had to), margaritas, and dancing and singing with the live band.  But don't worry all you adults, I was completely coherent!

Side note: I talked in my sleep that night and said "america" and woke up Julia.

Things I've learned:

1.  Never call the train companies.

2.  Shipwrecked is a show that is a combo of Real World, Road Rules and Survivor.

3.  How to make the perfect cup of English tea.

4.  There are no natural disasters here, like tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.

5.  When it pours here it monsoons!

Stay tuned for my entry about Dublin with special guest, Caroline!

nothing is better than a concert in the park

Honestly, Saturday will forever go down in history as one of my favorite days in my life.  But let's start where I left off first and then I'll explain my reasoning.

Friday

After a day of work, free lunch and then drinks, I was literally dragged out by Julia and Lauren for an adventure in Piccadilly.  Lauren met some club owner of China White where Prince Harry frequents, so we got in there VIP and free of charge.  We got there really early and decided to come back later when it was more crowded.  It was honestly straight out of a movie and creepy.  The sinks had rocks in them and the rooms were floor to ceiling covered in sheets.  So we left and went to Cheers next door.  I proceeded to get hit on my an Italian I couldn't understand and a 50 year old man and the shot girl even sympathized with us because we're poor American girls who can't afford to buy drinks. (but we didn't pay cover because Lauren worked her magic at the door).  We then went back to China White and got led to the VIP table.  So we weren't sure if that meant we got free drinks.  So Lauren checked it out with buying a shot and then we went to the dance floor and the waitress chased her down and made her pay.  Needless to say, I had a nice sober night and tried to enjoy the sweaty European and creepy Asian men dancing on me.  We took the bus home and Lauren got harassed by a South African the whole way home.

Saturday AKA the best day ever

We got up and headed to Portobello Road for food for the day and then went to Hyde Park for the concert we've been waiting for all summer.  It was awesome.  I honestly don't think there are any words to describe how amazing it was.  First this band that won some contest was on, and they were good.  Then Robert Randolph and the Family Band came on and I was so excited because I hadn't see them since the DMB concert after senior year.  They were everything I could've hoped for and more.  Then Jason Mraz was on and Christy took a video of us singing.  Next was John Mayer and Christy and I decided to get closer to see him.  When we came back to where we were, we couldn't find the rest of the girls.  This group of British and New Zealand guys made fun of us for being lost and we ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the concert.  We danced through some Sheryl Crowe with them.  And she looked amazing (white pants suit...I hope I look half as good as her when I'm her age.).  We had dance offs and just had an absolute blast.  We then spotted the other girls finally right before Eric Clapton came on.  So we hung out with them and then went back to the guys.  After watching the videos we took from his performance, we noticed that we were the ONLY ones dancing in the whole crowd.  The concert ended with everyone coming back on stage.  Probably my favorite concert ever.  We hung out with the guys after (they were from Surrey) and witnessed a man streaking and a man playing bagpipes.

Sunday

I had a nice little "lie in."  And then didn't leave the flat until I went to get my "fringe" AKA bangs trimmed.  Which are much shorter than I'm used to I might add, but I'm getting used to them.  Then Marylyn and I met Julia at Wagamama with a 2 for 1 coupon I got from work (they're one of our clients).  We saw the Euro game between Spain and Germany through the window and watched the Spain fans go CRAZY.

Monday

Went to work as usual and had the typical day there.  Then we had our lovely class where I got my paper returned and it had a circle around Perez Hilton with a "?" next to it.  I only referred to him because our speaker did (who was the former editor of the Guardian (a national paper here)) and I assumed as a journalist, he would know who that was.  Whatever, I hate that class and it's not the reason why I'm here.

Tuesday

Went to work again and had a good day.  I took a nice walk through Wimbledon and found restaurants that I didn't know were there.  I didn't realize that it would end up being the hottest day of the year and I would feel so sweaty when I got back.  But then of course I got back and still had a cup of tea.  Which I made by myself and didn't ask anyone else if they wanted any because I was scared to make it for everyone since I have such high expectations to live up to.  So when they found out that I made it "selfishly" they told me that I would end up greedy and a conquerer.  But it's okay now.  We all then walked to some really far tube station after work to go to a quiz night at a pub (AKA trivia night).  It was so much fun.  I knew more than I thought.  There was a question though that was "what does the American slang word 'cheaters' mean?  Eye glasses or boots?"  Ummm when have you ever heard that term?  I was not happy with that question and I ended up guessing glasses and it was right, but really?  I thought it was funny that they would even have that question.  There was even a question "What sport is the shortstop in?"  Well we were in like 5th to last place, but only 6 points behind the first place teams.  I would definitely go back, unless I have the same issue with the tube as I had coming back.

Wednesday

Another day at work, but today was a little chilly so I got some soup and rolls for lunch (only 1.70 pounds for lunch!).  Then I came home and went for a little girls night at the pub with Julia and Caroline for a drink.  We met a man who was in town by himself watching Wimbledon.  I honestly don't think I could do that, stay in a hotel by myself and sit alone at a pub, but I completely commend him.

Things I've learned:

1.  There is a TV show that puts colleges up against each other and one of the guys at work went on it when he was in school.  Definitely a pop culture reference that I need to know.

2.  Quiz nights are huge here.

3.  Wooden ties are a stereotypical souvenir here (don't worry dad I will buy you one).

4.  Don't call pants "pants."  They're trousers here.  Pants are underwear.

5.  Friends was just as big here as it was/is in the states.

Ok.  Off to bed.  Night!