Love from London (for the last time),

These past few days have been bitter sweet. Everything I do, I think, “This is the last time I’m going to see this in a while- better take it in.” So I have taken advantage of these last moments by, what else? – doing touristy things.   

Tuesday, I went to Notting Hill to see Kensington Palace (that’s where Lady Diana lived). Next to the palace, there’s a huge park- it’s absolutely beautiful and is now my favorite place in London. I sat and read for a little while before heading to High Street (the two stops are about a 10 minute walk from one another). High Street has treated me well these past few months (with a library, a Waterstone’s, and tons of shopping) and will remain one of my favorite places in London.

Wednesday was the Natural History Museum, where I learned about dinosaurs, mammals (all mammals are warm blooded, but just because your warm blooded doesn’t mean you’re a mammal), reptiles, amphibians, and fish. I also had an in depth look at natural and sexual selection (don’t ask).

Wednesday night was also the saddest night of my time here. My posy of the semester (Joe, Chuck, the Count, Alyssa, Elaine, Allie, Jackie, and B there in spirit) went out to Fulham Rd. to a neighborhood pub. We reminisced about our time here together, talking about some of the funniest moments we’ve had as a team. The boys bought us girls a bottle of wine and then had the brilliant idea of going around and making little speeches. I began the cry fest. I started talking about Alyssa and how she’s going to be my bridesmaid and just lost it- and everybody else. We were all sitting there, crying. I didn’t think I would ever get this close to a group of people and now that I have, I like it.

Anyway, Thursday I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral and had one of my best days in London. I attended a service while there and even took communion- it was very spiritual and was nice. The church was burnt down in 1666 in the Great Fire of London and rebuilt in 1675-1711. It was then destroyed by the Blitz attack in 1940 and reconstructed in 1945, where there was a Thanksgiving celebration to commemorate the end of the War. It now stands as the Nation’s Church and was where Princess Diana was married. I also thought it a great idea to climb its 530 steps (255 ft.) to the very top of the dome to get the best view of London possible. It was the most exhausting greatest idea I have ever had, but the pictures turned out great. I walked millennium bridge (Harry Potter bridge- destroyed in the 6^th film), took my last few pictures and headed home (stopping by Notting Hill and High Street to drop off my library books and buy a book from Waterstone’s for the plane ride home). We went out as a group one last time, saying goodbye to Parliament and then heading over to The Anchor for one last drink in London.

So here I am, Friday morning, sitting on my bed. Alyssa and I are sitting next to each other, like we do every morning, but this morning is the last morning. I have the strangest feeling in the pit of my stomach that I can’t put into words. I had such a unique experience while here and am so grateful to everyone who influenced my trip, whether it be to help me get here or to help me enjoy my time while here. Goodbye London, I love you babe.

Love from London (for the last time),

B

Winding Down…

After Ben left, my weeks were pretty damn boring. I locked myself in my room trying to get a 20 page paper done, a group project turned in, a 2,000 word essay, and study for finals all at the same time. I also had to keep up with all my work at my internship. My last day was bound to come around eventually, but I don’t know if I was ready for it. I bought flowers for Edwina and breakfast for the office and Edwina, Katie, Eleanor, and Jose got me a present! It’s a British cook book, which is perfect because I love to cook, and Ben likes it when I cook. They wrote a bunch of really nice things to me, yearbook style. I am seriously going to miss working for Amazing PR, they taught me so much (proposals, press releases, chase-ups, writing, liaising with clients and publications) and I can’t thank them enough for welcoming me into the company.

After finals and papers were finally turned in, I started focusing on more important things, touristy things!! I went to the Zoo this past Friday with my good friend Bilal. He was having a panic attack, threatening what he would do to me if there weren’t any lions. Thank god there were lions, but they were asleep- that didn’t make him very happy. And when the tiger was asleep too, I thought I saw tears in his eyes. We went into the “nightlife” building and there were rats crawling in tubes above your head. I almost died. There was only one gorilla to see and the baby they promised was nowhere to be seen. We tried to see the penguins, but they aren’t being shipped to London till May- which makes little sense to me.

We also saw the monkeys- they weren’t in any cages! And then we looked at bugs, which was creepy and my skin was crawling the whole time. We eventually went back to the tiger den and he was awake, happy! He even gave us a growl, which I thought was a nice touch. Anyway- it was actually a really fun time for being such a lame zoo.

Saturday I went to the Aquarium (I was having a major need for animals this weekend) with Elaine. We were over by the Thames and next to the London Eye (along with the million other tourists in the city). We saw sharks, lots of exotic and normal looking fish, and touched starfish. Afterward we ate hot dogs and doughnuts (weird combination I know), overlooking the Thames and Parliament- so pretty.  

I can’t believe I’m on my last week in London. Just a few more days and I will be back in merry old Evansville (doesn’t quite have the ring I’m looking for). Anyway, I’ll be posting one more blog before I am officially off the continent, so keep an eye out.

Love from London,

B

Ben’s Visit!! Part 2

So, starting where we left off- Thursday night after Westminster Abbey. We got a tour of Parliament!! My friend Jackie works there as an intern, as many of you know since I need a chaperone to get into barliament every Thursday night. We got to see the House of Commons and Lords. Interesting fact- the queen and her representatives are not allowed in the House of Commons. In fact, a police man gave us a quick tour of the room and told us if they were in session, he would be kicked out and even be put in jail!! We got to see where the Prime Minister sits, and where the queen sits, and all the fancy statues. Then, we got to eat in parliament! I had mashed potatoes and roast! Yummy!

Ok, the best part of the whole visit- Paris. We woke up super early to catch our train (doesn’t that sound cool?) to Paris (the Eurostar). We got to St. Pancreas and realized we had arrived 10 minutes after our train had already left the station. We smooth talked the ticket guy and he moved our ticket to a later train, free of charge- thank god. We finally arrived in Paris and headed to the Louvre. We took the masterpiece tour with our audio guides and saw the Venus de Milo, The Victory, and the Mona Lisa-wasn’t nearly as cool as I was expecting, intensely small, quaint I guess.

Anyway, after we took a four hour nap and realized we were in a different time zone, we looked for food. It was after 9pm and everything was closed except our trusty American fast food chain-McDonalds, on the Champs-Elysees, of course. Then, because we were there, we headed to the Arch of Triumph which housed their memorial to the forgotten soldier.

Next day, we went to the Notre Dame and saw street performers! The place was gigantic and they had all sorts of chapels dedicated to different saints (the church, not the street performers). We then walked the Latin Quarter and saw a protest. Something about taking arts out of schools. Anyway, there were balloons, music, singing, and flares. We ate crepes, and croque monsieurs, and hot dogs!

Then we were off to the Eiffel Tower. After waiting in line for the stairs only entrance for half an hour, we waited another 45 minutes in the lift line (or queue if you’re feeling British). We finally made it all the way to the top and I have to say it was breathtaking. It was a bit foggy that day, which made it even prettier in my eyes. Ben and I kissed at the top- something many people will never be able to say in their whole lives.

So, that’s our trip to Paris in a quick flash. Ben had to leave early the next morning, which was sad and made me cry. But, I will be home in a few short days and in the arms of my future husband. Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa, Angie and Bill. You guys are the best; we had the greatest time and can’t wait to have a lifetime of travelling together.

Love from London,

B

Ben’s Visit!!

So, it’s been about a month since my last entry- sorry about that guys, it has seriously been a crazy month. School suddenly picked up and I had about 10,000 words due over the past two weeks-ugh. Anyway, this will be about Ben’s visit, courtesy of my grandparents and Ben’s Family.

Ben arrived here in London on 12^th March around 11:00pm at Heathrow Airport. I went to meet him at the airport and was so relieved to finally get to see him after 2 ½ months! We had such a crazy week, packing in as much touristy things as humanly possible.

Sunday started with the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace- as many of you know, I haven’t had the best of luck at catching the change, but I was bound and determined. We waited for almost 2 hours and had a prime spot to see the main change- it began to rain…….and after attempting to do the ceremony, they cancelled the program! So, after visiting the palace three separate times, I still have yet to see the changing. We were then on our way to the Tower of London. I had already done this once before, but it was great to get to show Ben what I had been talking about for the past few months. Next was Tower Bridge- something new to me as a Londoner. I learned some fascinating (sarcasm people) facts about bridge building and the view wasn’t too bad either. Then, my favorite part of the day- Jack the Ripper Tour, second time around. It was with a different company this time and it was cool to hear some of the other theories behind the murders.   

Monday I had to work unfortunately, but that night we got to go to our first real opera, Aida. It was at the Royal Opera House and we had the pleasure of standing in the very back row- with individual subtitle screens (I’m trying to make it sound glamorous in case you missed it). Anyway, the first half of the show was amazing- complete with naked dancers and genital blood. After we took some illegal pictures of the house, we decided Ben was exhausted from his long touristy filled day and we went home.

Tuesday was another work day, so I missed Ben’s adventure to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Bath. But, on Wednesday we had a fun filled Ben and Bailey day. I showed Ben a day in the life of Bailey in London- long name I know. We went to High Street Kensington and I showed him all my shopping hotspots. We even went to Knightsbridge to check out Harrods- I finally got to see ALL four (maybe five) floors! Then we went to the oldest pub in London (2^nd time around for me) for dinner- the White Hart. Then, I finally got to experience the infamous Ice Bar. It was totally cool- and freezing. Both of us got some super chic ponchos and giant gloves, and I must say, we were the coolest and sexiest kids on the block. Our drinks were in giant ice cubes and my lips stuck to the side of the cup on my first sip. The bar itself was made of ice, the bench was ice, there was a TV in ice, and random ice sculptures and etchings in the walls.

Thursday was the day Ben got to see the most boring school in all of history; City University London. After a few boring pictures, we moved onto one of the most history packed and satisfying days I have had while here in London. First stop was the London Eye- a bird’s eye view of my favorite city in the whole world. Then, the Abby. I have seen this building from the outside, but had never been on the inside. This was one of my favorite parts of the visit. We got to see where Handel, Newton, and Dickens were buried. We got to see where the royal wedding will be, the memorial to the forgotten soldier, and the coronation room and chair. I didn’t get to take any pictures- so you have to see it for yourselves!   

There was one more super fun activity for the night but I will be saving that and Paris for the next blog post. Just want to keep you guys on edge!! Check out Facebook for pics.

Love from London,

B         

Birthday Part 2.

On Sunday the 20^th, I decided to treat myself to a massage! I have been asking EVERYONE (Ben) to buy some sort of massage package for me, but no one (Ben) has listened. So, I decided to buy myself one. I researched some legit places and found The Buty (Beauty) Shop on Fulham. I walked up to the doors and saw a pamphlet, picked one up and looked at the prices, decided right then and there that I wanted a full body Swedish Massage. I marched right in there and asked if I could make an appointment for that afternoon, surprisingly, I could!

My appointment wasn’t till 3:30pm, so I decided to hit High Street for a little shopping, after all, it was my birthday. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything, so I headed back to Fulham and stopped at a Café Nero to get a late lunch. I had a pesto sandwich, pain au chocolat, and a hot chocolate! It was sooo cute, it was in a little coffee mug with whip crème on the top. I even took a picture.

Once I was back at the Buty Shop, I began my experience with a 30 minute steam shower! Then my “therapist” got me from my steam shower and took me to the massage room. It was a beautiful room with incense and relaxing music that made me want to fall asleep. The whole massage was an hour long and it was just as relaxing as I thought it would be. My therapist says she always includes a scalp massage, which was definitely worth the 4 pound tip I gave her.  I took a quick shower when I got home and prepared for my night at the O2 Arena!

The O2 is like the Madison Square Garden of London. It seats over 15,000 people and there was not a seat to be had!! This was a Russell Howard stand-up comedy show. I had never heard of him, but I figure I like comedy. And I was right, I do like comedy! He was absolutely hilarious- I laughed hysterically the entirety of the 2 ½ hours. He made a few British comments that I didn’t quite understand, but he made a lot of American celebrity comments as well.

Next day is Birthday day! 21! I went to work and was greeted by a bunch of Happy Birthday’s- always loving the attention, it was a good day so far. I was then given a present!! Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. It was a personal tea pot (exclusive John Lewis edition!). It’s something I had off handedly mentioned in passing and Edwina had caught on! This was really way too nice. After lunch, she gave me a cake! OMG, does the hospitality never end? I was very grateful and thanked her at least a thousand times.

When I got home, it was seriously time to party. I had picked out a restaurant/pub that was the oldest licensed pub in London (1216), called The White Hart. The eleven of us FINALLY got there after a few mishaps on the way (me getting left behind) and sat down to look at the menus. Suddenly there was a voice behind me, “Um…..the kitchen closes at 8…..” WHAT??? Guess what time it was? 8. You have got to be kidding me. She wasn’t. So we ended up going to a chain restaurant called the Lowlander and managed to get some decent food and alcohol.

After dinner was over, we went back to The White Hart for more drinks and had a really nice time. When we got back home, my bestie Alyssa, went to our basement flat while I went upstairs. After a few minutes, Alyssa comes up the stairs with a cake!! Awww, so sweet. I got to make a wish with candles and everything. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that she also bought me a conglomeration of little bracelets. It kind of hit me that night that I really have good people around me and I am thankful for all of them- Thanks everyone!

Love from London,

B   

Birthday-Part 1.

What a crazy week! This is for February 14^th through the 19^th.

I got to see an amazing production of Frankenstein at the National Theatre on Tuesday the 15^th. This adaptation was realized by THE Danny Boyle (Academy Award winner for Best Director for Slumdog Millionaire). The two characters (Victor and the monster) played amazingly off of each other. Rumor has it that the two characters switch rolls every night to really understand each character flawlessly. The themes that make up this play are mind boggling to me. Not only do you have the classic good versus evil and the ever present “playing God” issues, they brought in a new one I had never noticed before. The Garden of Eden.  Is this an actual location or is this just a state of mind that we are all born into and we then turn evil because we see the world for what it is? It provoked my mind and I absolutely loved it!

On Friday, I went to a Hot Bikram Yoga class! It was 111°F! I originally thought the class would be a piece of cake- with working out in the hot sun all summer with jeans and a T-shirt on? No problem. Oh man was I so wrong. I was literally dying! Sweat was dripping off of me continuously- all I had on was a bathing suit top and leggings. The class was an hour and a half long and after the first 25 minutes, I thought I might pass out. There were moments when I had these thoughts of just running out the door before anybody could stop me and I would just keep running all the way home. I made it through, however, and I felt a bit of a high from the experience. I had managed it! I didn’t pass out or run out of the room! I had even been able to do most of the poses. I even wrote a blog about the experience for my internship - check it out at http://amazingpr.wordpress.com/.

Saturday. It was getting pretty close to my birthday, so I decided I would do something fun to celebrate. I went on a Harry Potter on Location in London Walk. It was 2 ½ hours long with an ex-actor named Richard. We got to see all the cool places the Harry Potter films had been filmed around London. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione apparate to London in the 7^th film after the attack at the wedding- they went to Piccadilly Circus. They shut down the whole street and brought in 400 extras to film the 15 second scene. I also got to see a lot of the inspirations behind many of the made-up locations (Diagon Alley, Ollivander’s, the restaurant that was destroyed in the 7^th film, Covent Garden- where she did much of her writing).

Westminster station was used in the 5^th film when Arthur had to take Harry to the ministry. Oh yeah, and the telephone booth used to descend into the ministry was just off of Whit Hall! This is the same road the Prime Minister, David Cameron, lives off of as well as where Charles I was beheaded. This road also connects to the road where the UK Parliament is located. There were so many cool things so make sure to check out my pictures on Facebook!

I’ll give you part 2 of my birthday weekend in a few short days so keep an eye out!

Love from London,

B     

I am so warm right now……

As usual, I’m running a bit behind on this. This is for the weekend of February 12^th and the 13^th.

I had my first market experience! I went to the Borough and Jubilee Markets next to London Bridge on Saturday. It’s extremely popular for all their delicious and eccentric food! There were so many people; I have never been so claustrophobic in such an open area. I got to see a giant hogs head on display on top of a case of raw meat- venison and all. Right next to that, there was a conglomeration of “just killed” animals hanging by their necks, waiting to be bought. There was also The Fresh Olive Company, complete with a 75 pound bottle of olive oil!! I decided on a delicious cheesecake pastry, some brie, a loaf of freshly made bread, hot apple cider, a pretzel stick, and banana bread. Everything was absolutely delicious (I would know, it’s all gone now).

Sunday was quite the adventure. It was Evan Evans day- tour bus day. Three of my friends and I went to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath- all in one day. Think about what you think a castle might look like, you imagine a movie scene right? Well, that’s exactly what it looks like. It was gigantic and beautiful, I felt like I stepped into 1066. We got to see Mary’s dollhouse, a present from the nation to the queen. Everything in the dollhouse was completely real; the books had every word the original copies would have, the piano is playable, the linens are all made of the rarest and finest cloth. We also were able to tour the state rooms, four of them are still in use for parties and other gatherings. The ceilings had gold and pictures of Greek Gods, the walls were covered in luxurious fabrics, and the furniture was to die for- the finest upholstery, with gold accents on what seemed like everything.

The Queen was at the castle when we were, a few people from our tour got to see her leave the castle and drive away! When we went outside, we got to see some guards changing, and during the process, the Queen’s corgis were let out to run in the courtyard!! They were so cute.

Onto Stonehenge. This structure was believed to be built starting in 3000 B.C. and ended around 1200 B.C. Some of the stones are believed to be from Wales, which is a good 200 miles away from where the structure is located. No one knows how or why the structure is built, but there are some pretty good theories. I personally believe it was some sort of sacred and religious place, used for sacrifices. This belief stems from the druids, people who believe in the worshiping of natural things- such as rocks. Of course, the druids arrived many years after the completion of the structure, so they are not the original creators. My suspicion of this being a place of worship increased when I realized the structure is no longer by itself; many famous and important people have decided they wanted this possible holy ground to be their burial site.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how ridiculously cold, rainy, and windy it was. It was so windy that we couldn’t keep our umbrellas up because they kept blowing in our faces and inside out. So we put them down and got completely soaked from head to toe- it was hilarious and an absolute blast.

We then move onto Bath- this place looked like the British version of Greece. It was absolutely gorgeous, complete with houses built on giant hills, roman influence, and epic scenery. The Bath was discovered by the Romans and they used the area as a spiritual and sacrificial space. The museum had all sorts of artifacts that were found in the bath areas, thought to be offerings to the Gods. In the 1700s, it was rediscovered by Queen Anne who discovered it had healing powers (I don’t know about all that, but whatever). After getting a quick sandwich, we were finally on our way home, 2 ½ hours later, we were back in our own rooms. It was quite a day….

Love from London,

B

Pampering.

Because I am the token American in the office, I was given the responsibility of the American in London blog post at work. I went to the Troubadour, which is just a five minute walk from my house. I won’t bore you with the whole night since the blog is posted on my work’s website! Here’s the link again, http://amazingpr.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/the-troubadour-from-day-to-night-american-edition/.

Thursday afternoon, I was taken to Twenty Ten for lunch with my boss and the two other girls I work with. We were celebrating Eleanor’s 24^th birthday; must’ve been some birthday. This place was the swankiest joint I have ever stepped foot in. You know what happens when you’re at a swanky restaurant that’s super expensive? YOU GET SMALLER FOOD! This was so sad- I had duck for the first time, it was absolutely delicious, but I wanted a human portion size. Thank god Edwina forced dessert on us. Ugh, that was tiny too! We even had an appetizer beforehand, which no one was eating for some unexplained reason.  I now believe it was to make the American feel like an absolute pig because I definitely ate the majority and had to stop out of embarrassment.

Someone please tell me an experience that is cooler than mine last Thursday night (February 3^rd). You know what? Stop trying cus you can’t.

My friend Jackie is an intern at Parliament (cool right?), anyway, she can escort people into parliament with her security pass. Guess what they have in the heart of Parliament? Pubs! Can you believe it? I can’t even believe it and I saw them myself (there are 11 total). Oh and fyi- the drinks are government subsidized- this would never happen in America, it was literally mind boggling.

I hate to break it to everyone, but I went on another shopping excursion, what can I say? I’m addicted. Saturday Alyssa and I went to Westfield (I believe the first mall in the UK). 1^st floor was brand galore- D&G, Armani, you know- the norms. Second floor was a bit more consumer friendly; H&M, Zara, Mango, Next, New Look, Monsoon, and Topshop. We were there for about 5 hours total and I bought zero things, but this mall was tricked out to the nine. I have never seen a mall like this in all my life; it was so gigantic and upscale. As we were leaving, there was a champagne bar on the 1^st floor- there wasn’t a seat to be had! Oh yeah, and we saw a celebrity! Well, not really. There was a crowd of people huddled around Gucci, the store was emptied out, and security was keeping everyone back. I couldn’t get a good look though, so I have no idea who it was, but it was so cool!

Since I didn’t find what I was looking for at Westfield, the next day I went to High Street to find heeled laced up boots and a leather Jacket (two things on my list of must haves before I leave London). I finally found a Heeli leather jacket at TK Maxx (same thing as TJ Maxx) for 35 pounds! And after giving up on practicality for the boots, I went for the stiletto heeled boots at H&M-30 pounds!!

Then I got a 60 pound hair cut for FREE!! Amazing PR represents Hair Organics, an upscale hair salon in Notting Hill. They needed models for a training session and I needed a haircut, so I volunteered myself. Elaine, a friend of mine at the house, got in on the deal too. They took me over to the washing area and sat me down in…..a message chair! Then they asked me if I wanted tea; of course I want tea!! They were the cutest little single tea pots I’ve ever seen. The little teapot sat on top of the tea cup- mine had pretty red flowers painted on it. When they were done, Elaine and I were elated, our hair looks amazing! Alyssa went to the free coloring day on Monday and another one of my friends in the house made an appointment to get her hair cut (it looks awesome by the way). Seeing all the excitement, another girl, Andy, wants to get hers done as well- I should be making commission!

After that fabulous adventure, I celebrated the Chinese New Year in China Town! There were so many people; I could barely walk through the streets. We bought some street food; they were called pork dumplings, for 2 pounds. They were kinda gamey and disgusting if you want me to be completely honest, but the bread around the pork was yummy. Then we went to Super Star (a Chinese restaurant) and had a delicious dinner- I had beef fried rice.

This weekend we went to the Borough and Jubilee Markets- I bought some delicious bread and desserts. Tomorrow a few of us are off to Stonehenge!! I’m really excited! Check back next week for the dets.

Love from London,

B

The Tower of London.

Let’s get straight to the good stuff. This is for the weekend of January 28^th to the 30^th.

 Friday morning I went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Thinking I was going to be early, I got there around 10:30am for the changing at 11:15. It was packed. After searching 10 minutes for a spot, I finally found a space on the left end gate and mentally prepared for the awesomeness that was about to begin.

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention- it was freezing. I can’t remember a time that I ever experienced anything colder. I momentarily thought that I lost the ability to be warm. I must admit, it was at my own risk and stupidity. I was wearing leggings with a short little dress, boots, and a thin little coat. I had gloves stowed away in my bag, thank god, but it wasn’t doing much.

Anyway, the festivities finally began at exactly 11:15. It started as a parade, a band leading the way with the guards not far behind. I moved from my gate position to get a better look and ended up right next to them as they entered the palace gates! I turned around to try to see them behind the gates and……ugh, I gave up my spot. So, I spent the next 15 minutes trying to find a spot, with absolutely no luck, and left because I thought my fingers were going to freeze off. Oh well, I live here, so I’m sure I can fit it in again before I leave in April.

On Saturday, Alyssa and I went to the Tower of London! Now this was cool! Did you know that King Henry (VI?) had 12,314 diamonds on his crown? Did you also know that many of the crown jewels that are on display are still used during coronations? There was a spoon in there from the 12^th century that they still drink from! Oh yeah, and the largest cut diamond (The first star of Africa) is on the top of one of their cyphers! We stayed for about three hours; it was one of the coolest things I’ve seen since being here. The amount of history in that place is earth shattering!

Sunday was high tea day. Well, sorta. High tea is an afternoon pass time where people drink tea; eat crumpets, biscuits, and yummy puddings (desserts). We arrived at the original tea place to find it closed on Sundays, which was sad. But we held our heads high as we quickly diverted ourselves to Holborn to try another place- Bees something or other. We arrived and it looked so cut on the outside, with displays of cupcakes and biscuits, I was excited.

Well, too bad, it was reservation only. Hmmm, epic fail. We decided to walk around for a food place instead because we were starving and had given up the unattainable idea of high tea. We ended up finding a place called the Spaghetti House (which is a chain, but we had never been, so it was still a new experience). They had really yummy Italian food and what do you know? They had tea!! We ordered a few pots and it was just as good as the best tea place in town! (Well, I don’t actually know that for a fact, but I’m looking on the bright side here people!)

Keep checking back, this week I got to go to a pub for work and write my first real blog! Check that one out at http://amazingpr.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/the-troubadour-from-day-to-night-american-edition/.

Love from London,

B

Shopping Extravaganza

Ok everyone, I’m about a week behind here, this blog accounts for January 17^th to the 23^rd.

So last week, I was (basically) appointed account manager of one of our clients at the PR agency I work at. I was able to get her some press last Thursday, my very first public relations accomplishment!!! Here is the link; http://www.bridalwave.tv/tag/anne-wiggins-london.

So riding that high, I decided to have a pretty large shopping trip that Saturday, the 22^nd. There is a shopping trip waiting around every corner, but we decided to take the Harrods route and took a short tube ride on the Piccadilly to Knightsbridge. We first visited Zara, a high end cheap store that originated in Europe and made its way to large cities in the States. I, not being from a large city, have never been to a Zara and was ecstatic at the opportunity! I pretty much loved everything, but only bought one thing, which I felt showed a lot of constraint. I bought a cute military inspired jacket for 40 pounds, originally 90 pounds.

Then it was off to Topshop! This store does not exist in the States as far as I know, and if it does, it’s only in New York City. I had the same dilemma of wanting to buy everything, but stopped at one; a super cute pair of black skinnies (those are pants for those of you that don’t know) for 35 pounds! Then off to H&M, this is a super trendy store that exists pretty much everywhere. Didn’t find anything I liked in particular and Alyssa and I booked it to the gigantic Burberry store just across the street!!

I obviously wasn’t going to buy anything, but I had to go, it’s one of my favorite brands! It was like nothing I had ever seen; everything perfectly placed, the walls served as massive televisions and played reels of super chic pictures of all the beautiful models in their awesome cloths, the security guards……um…..staring at me. So, I admit, we didn’t look like we belonged even a little, but I loved every second of the full 10 minutes we gawked like school children. (BTW’s Ben, our children will have baby Burberry trenches-only 225 pounds, hello!!)

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for……..Harrods!! OMG, I have never seen anything like it!! You walk in and you can see anything from Valentino, Gucci, D&G; turn around and there’s DKNY, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel. It made me want to do a high pitched scream of happiness and roll over in a fit of giggles. The whole place is set up kind of like a trade show; there were rooms dedicated to jewelry, handbags, cosmetics, and so much more. The room is split into designers with their extravagant displays and their handsome employees that look at you like your scum if you don’t resemble a celebrity. It was so cool though!  There was also a fish and meat room, vegetables and fruit room, and a candy room!!! This literally looked like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory minus the oompa loompas. You could even sit at the bar and eat right there in Harrods. I wanted to do this but the cheapest ice cream cone was 15 pounds and I thought that was a little much for something that was going to be gone in 5 minutes.

One thing I would like to point out to the Americans reading this, which should be everyone. Londoners take their shopping seriously- I have never seen such intense and dedicated shoppers in all my life. Go to any shopping location in the city on a weekend and you will understand what I mean. Look at the people who are carrying 5 bags of designer clothing, do they look like they could afford a sandwich? Probably not, they would spend their last dime on a pair of Burberry shoes than eat. There is no such thing as saving, people spend- it’s the worst mind set to have, but I have to say that I love it! 

Love from London,
B

The Homestay.

Last weekend, the 14^th through the 16^th of January, Arcadia (the coordinators of my London program) set up a homestay for us to partake in. I have to say, I was not overly joyed about this part of the trip. I wanted to hang out with my newly found friends and go do touristy things with them. But, I put on a smile and decided to make the most of it.

Friday, we left King’s Cross station (I didn’t see Platform 9 ¾, we were on the other side of the station) on the wrong train, without seven of the 25 people that were supposed to be on the journey with us. What a start! This made me laugh, quite a lot actually. How could we have been trusted, as a bunch of 20 year olds who don’t care at all about anybody but ourselves, be trusted to make sure everyone got on the train? So the seven we left behind had to buy their own tickets and they arrived an hour after us, in Peterborough, an hour train ride north of London.  We were dropped off at the platform and we were literally in the middle of nowhere. I was so used to the hustle and bustle of London, I’d forgotten what it was like to not have people pushing at you every second.

I met my family, the Bingum’s, Kam was my “mother” for the weekend and she was a sweetheart. She insisted on stuffing our faces with as much food as humanly possible, which I liked because she was a chef and actually knew how to cook. She made us fish the first night, which I am normally not a fan of, but it was pretty good and I ate quite a bit. After dinner, there is a lot of talking and “retiring” to the living room for tea. The other two girls assigned to this family and I got into a political conversation with them after dinner. This was a little awkward for me at first, considering the majority of the country is liberal and I consider myself conservative, but I didn’t say too much and listened instead. They are very upset by the university tuition increases and made some really good points about how the government spends their money on ridiculous things. It was interesting how many of the problems in England were so similar to the problems we have in America. They explained to us how much they loved the free health care system, which I wanted to know about since our country may be going through something similar. I don’t know how convinced I am fiscally, but there are some good aspects to it.

The next day we went to the 12^th century Norman Cathedral. It was gorgeous and gigantic. It was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever stepped foot in. (You have to check out my pictures on Facebook!) These were built strictly to bring people in because of curiosity and they stayed because of what the cathedrals could provide. These were the center of the community for hundreds of years. They provided a water source, food source, religion, everything. This is how they were able to convert people and make them feel like they were dependent on God; it appeared that God was providing them with survival needs. Kam, our host mother, made a point that most sermons were very somber, making the attendant feel guilty for things they had done, she was not a fan.

The next stop was Cambridge, where we never actually saw the University of Cambridge. There are 31 universities in Cambridge, which none of us knew, so we walked around downtown and were able to see King’s College and a St. Catherin’s. It was a very pretty place and reminded me a lot of Bloomington, with the college town feel and the students taking over the city for eight of the 12 months. On our walk, we spoke briefly about the royal family and how the new generation does not respect the family the way they should. Kam believes the royal family was put on the earth by God and should be respected for that reason. People my age laugh at the thought and don’t have a lot of faith in them. I found this interesting because we are so intrigued by the royal family in America and always assumed it was the same over here, but the family is not brought up very often and is virtually invisible within the culture.  

That night, we had some pasta, again delicious, and “retired” to the living room for tea. We talked about church, which we had planned to partake in the next morning. She had already discussed her discomfort in gaudy productions and made a very interesting comment about religion, “Faith is good, religion is not.” Wow, that’s powerful. She didn’t appreciate the power religion forces onto you, but she did have a lot of faith in God. I was suddenly interested in what was awaiting us the next day.

It was a mega church. Hmmm, how can I get back to London before we enter this place? Ugh, ok, I can’t.  I stood there while seemingly crazy people spoke in tongue and danced around while the Christian “rock band” played “uplifting” music. I have to be honest, I was scared. I wasn’t expecting this at all, how was this not a production? This was just as much of a gimmick to get people to come to church as the cathedral was. Interesting how she didn’t see it that way. However, I am glad I was able to witness this; it gave me a new perspective and definitely something to remember.

After church we had a huge lunch/supper with potatoes, chicken, green beans, carrots, and chocolate cake! Yum! Kam, her husband, and their sons were all very nice and took care of us. We are so appreciative and now have a better understanding of the British.  

Next post involves the greatest shopping trip of my life and a British bar crawl!

Love from London,

B

Internship and Classes (1st Week)

We are going to back up a little bit before I move onto my first week of interning and classes. I want to go back to Wednesday of orientation week, The Jack the Ripper Tour. Andy and I went on a tour of the center of London to see the places Jack the Ripper took his victims to kill them.  Needless to say, I was tagged as the easy target. Every time the scary tour guide made any kind of jumping movement toward me, I screamed pathetically, to the delight of 7 other Americans along for the ride.

Turns out, there may be a link between the Prince of Wales and Jack the Ripper. The prince enjoyed a good time, usually involving a brothel or two, and one night in particular led to a pregnancy with a catholic hooker. Now, if any of you know anything about the English monarchy, after King Henry VIII, there could not be any catholic royals. The Prince of Wales was the rightful heir to the throne and would be and eventually became King Edward VII. With this knowledge, there is enough evidence to link the prince to the hiring of a man who is now known as JACK THE RIPPER. It was much scarier when he screamed it in my face, I promise.

So anyway, onto my internship. I work for a PR company that specializes in luxury goods, which is pretty cool and I couldn’t wait for my first day. Monday rolled around and I spent the day learning all of our clients, researching what they did and how they did it. I looked though the press books to see the press releases they had done for their clients in the past and gave the dog a few treats. I found out the owner of the company pays for our lunch every day, which is super nice of her and very helpful when it comes to my finances.

The first two days went by with nothing too exciting happening. The third day, Thursday, was an utter disaster on my part. I was calling trade publications to see if they would be interested in writing pieces about one of our clients. All of a sudden, I get a call from one of the publications. She was hysterical and asking me all sorts of questions about who I was and why I emailed her and who I was talking about and how she was sick so she couldn’t talk to me. It was horrifying; I lost all communication skills and started stumbling over my words like a bumbling idiot. She got frustrated at me and hung up the phone, ugh, my first real life work embarrassment. I thought this only happened in the movies. The others looked at me with a “what happened?” face, and I unconvincingly tried to explain it was the wrong number.

On Wednesday, I had my first classes in London. First up, Marketing in the UK at 9:30 at City University. Do me a favor and think about the most stereotypical English man possible. That is my professor. Which is completely awesome. He has the bad teeth, the three piece off color suit, and the Austin Powers glasses. He has the most random train of thought, making my notes impossibly difficult to interpret. But, it sounds like the class is pretty much going to be a repeat of my last semester marketing class, so at least it’ll be relatively easy.

After class, Alyssa and I went to Primark! This was my second time at this mega Forever 21 type store and I was dangerously in love (I had gone on Monday after my first day of work as well). This store is terrifyingly awesome. There are a thousand people in this store at all times, from every country, speaking every kind of language possible- this is the awesome part. The not so awesome part, there are people everywhere, picking up the exact sweater you need in the perfect size just as you’re going for it. Then, when you finally find the sweater again, you go to wait in line- oh you mean the line that is wrapped around the entire store? No problem.

While waiting, someone is shouting at you that you can only take 8 items into the room. 8 items? I only have a sweater. I start to look around and notice people have gigantic baskets with at least 30 items each and they’re trying to decide which items they want to try on this time around. Holy crap, I just want to try on this one sweater. I finally try it on, and guess what? It doesn’t fit, you know why? Because I completely guessed on the size. The sizes here are not marked with an S, M, and L, these numbers are all over the place and I have no idea what I’m doing. So, I finally figure out 8 looks like my ideal size and I grab that and wait in the fitting room line for another 20 minutes. Ugh. Ok, awesome it fits. And guess what? I ended up buying a pair of jeans for 8 pounds!! That’s like $12! I like it here.

We finally get to my last class of the day, Diversity in the British Workplace, 6:30 pm. This is going to be an easy one. We talk about how pathetic we are to the workforce since we are unpaid interns and no one cares about us or what we have to say. Awesome. Then we get to talk about how worthless we will be once we are newly paid employees. Even more awesome. What a life.

After class, a bunch of us went to the Hollywood Arms (a pub in Chelsea), rumored to be Hugh Grant’s favorite. This place was awesome, it was super posh and they had mood lighting and music. The drinks were five times more expensive, but it was almost worth it to be around sophisticated drinkers, rather than bumbling drunks. It was Allie’s 21^st so we had a good time and called it an early night. (Check Facebook to see hilarious pictures of the boys doing a wedding toast!)

Stay tuned, I had my homestay this weekend and should have the blog posted soon!

Love from London,

B

Week of Tourism and so much more...

Ok, so it’s officially been my first week here in London. It has been a whirlwind already but I’ll try to fit in as much as possible….

So from Tuesday till Friday we encountered the most boring orientation material known to man so I will not bore all of you with the gruesome details. Thursday I had my interview for my internship, which went sooooo well and I can’t wait to get started tomorrow. After getting a tad bit turned around and asking a lovely lady in a shop for directions, I found out the company is a two person operation with two interns, me and a girl named Elena; she is from the UK and seems very sweet.  My job entails blogging, tweeting, and data basing (I think I made that word up), among other things. 

I said I wouldn’t bore you with orientation stuff, but I do have to mention the extremely inefficient way of registering for classes here in the UK. Does anybody remember registering in the 50’s? Well, I don’t but I got a pretty good taste of it this past Friday. We had to line (queue) up at a classroom which held desks that represented classes with the professor of each class positioned at their designated desk. Once we entered, we had to find the class we wanted to take, go up to the professor sitting at the desk and have them manually sign us up on a piece of paper. Once the slots on the paper were full, the class was full and we had to figure out where to go from there.   Luckily, I got all the classes I wanted and walked out rather quickly (I was trying to get out of Friday classes so I could travel, especially with Ben in March, but no luck), others were not so lucky and were stuck in the congested hot room for hours! After signing up for classes, we had to line (queue) up at another room and get all our classes officially signed off. It was painful, but I got through and we move on.

Enter Friday night. I have never pegged myself as a drinker, mostly because I don’t drink. So, I’m sure you can imagine I was a little nervous when I was supposed to go to a pub/bar (I don’t know the difference) with a bunch of people I had only known for a few days. I was pretty sure I didn’t like alcohol from the stuff my father had given me to show me how horrible the taste was so I never tried it myself (it worked), and I wasn’t excited to be pegged as the girl who hates drinking and doesn’t see the point in it. We ended up going to a pub (we were later told it was the largest pub in London) called At World’s End in Camden Town. The music was so loud and had an emo screamo theme to it, which I was not feeling off the bat. Hmmmm, this was not going well. So after consulting with a few people, I decided on a Rum and Coke combo. This was absolutely delicious and it is the only drink I will drink at this point, which I get made fun of for, but oh well.

Saturday a bunch of us went to the British Museum, which was the biggest and busiest museum I have ever seen!! I stayed in medieval Europe room for 45 minutes; it is my favorite time in history. We had lunch at King’s Kebabs, which was so yummy. I have never had a kebab before and it was gigantic and extremely greasy (all the better). I had a little bit of a confusing moment when ordering my meal because the man asked me if I wanted chips, and I didn’t know why I would. I looked at him in a quizzical way, thinking I misunderstood and then he said, “Do you want fries?” Oh right. What a typical American, oh well.

 The next day, we had a preview of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. We even walked a little bit of the Princess Diana Memorial Walk, which was a beautiful park in the middle of London. We barely got to see anything, so we are going back at least three times in the next three months. A few of us have decided to try and attend a service at the Abbey, which would really be something to remember. We had lunch at a cute little shop right next to our house, which I can’t remember the name of, but they had the best chicken penne pasta ever created!

I will be writing two blogs this week since I started my internship and classes (and my first shopping trip!), so keep a look out early this weekend for an update. If you want to check out any pictures of my trip so far, I have been correlating my albums with my blog titles on my Facebook.

Love from London,

B

1st Day

I’m finally here!! Yeah! It was a long journey so let’s start from the beginning……

It started in Evansville, Delta flight to Atlanta. This went surprisingly smooth. My whole family plus Ben and his family went to Denny’s for lunch and we all enjoyed each other’s company. We then caravanned to the airport because everyone wanted to see me off and I wanted a few more hours with them.  Once we were all waiting outside of security and looking out at the planes leaving the airport (actually only one plane, Evansville is a very small airport), waiting for my flight to be called, it really was sinking in, I was off to London. This came with another hit, I was going alone, no Ben to help me this time, no one to stop the tears if they ever chose to come. This was a scary thought but also empowering because this would be the first time I would be doing something on my own- I kinda liked the sound of that. Once the good byes came, I started to tear up, but never got too emotional-which came as a surprise, to me and probably to everyone else too.

The next thing I know, we are in the air and landing in Atlanta, whole thing went off without a hitch, thank God! So I get in the airport and there was a little confusion about which gate my flight was departing from, but the crises was quickly averted and I sat at the correct gate in plenty of time. After checking in with Ben and my Daddy, I ate at Fridays and then got a hot chocolate from Starbucks, making it back to the gate about an hour before departure, perfect. Except immediately after I sat down, my first delay made its appearance, this would not be such a big deal except for the fact that I had transportation that would be leaving the airport at noon and this delay was going to get me there at 11:15, which was pushing it a bit. But I kept my cool and sat patiently.

And now the second delay, which not only was annoying in the first place, but we all had to move terminals because they were going to put us on a different aircraft all together.  I still managed to keep my cool because this was still going to get me there on time. In the process, I met three other people who were involved in the same program as me and we decided to cling onto each other for dear life. We finally boarded the plane, put our belongings in the appropriate places and headed down the runway……

My third and final delay. As we were getting ready to launch ourselves for take off, they found another technical problem and we were forced back to the gate and to board another flight. This was starting to upset me, I never became outwardly emotional but I was starting to brew on the inside. This was not only going to cause me to be late and miss my transportation, this was going to cause me to miss my orientation meeting and miss vital details about the rest of the week. Well, finally we took off and I endured a relatively sleepless night with random people I had never met before and was forced to trust. We finally landed in London at 3:30 pm, 5 ½ hours later than original planned. At this point, I was calm because on the way down I was given my first live glimpse of the city I thought I would have to wait another 10 years to see. It was pretty magnificent, the tall skyscrapers in some areas, the super old buildings in other areas, and the large residential areas where all the houses looked exactly the same strewn throughout.

Once off the plane I high tailed it to customs where there was a simple two question game and I was through!!! I met my fellow students at the baggage claim, where we waited an eternity to finally get our bags, and then we were off!! We weren’t really sure where we were off to since we now needed to find our own transportation to our residential areas and none of us had ever ridden a subway or a taxi. We followed the signs to the underground, which was super cool and we even had to get off and get on a connection train to our final destination at the Paddington station. We were very proud of ourselves. Now to tackle a taxi, well thank goodness there was a sign for that too and we followed it out and what do you know, a constant line of taxis, just waiting for the idiot American who knows nothing about public transportation.

I finally arrived at 5:45 pm, exhausted from lugging 120 lbs. of luggage all over London. We knocked on the door and what do you know, no one is home! Hmmmmm, this would normally be the point where I sit down and start crying uncontrollably while thinking, “Why me?!” However, I was still running a high from the little adventure I had been able to take without calling home and asking Ben for directions to the London Underground, so I said to the boy with us, “We will stay with the bags while you go and find a payphone and call the emergency number they gave to us.” The boy agreed and we waited outside with all our belongings on the front steps. He came back and said someone would be there shortly (meaning an hour) and I was finally able to see my new living space for the first time.

It’s a very quaint neighborhood and a cute apartment, I live with two other girls and there are a total of 6 girls living in the flat and 26 living in the whole building. I am now in that awkward stage where I haven’t really been able to see any part of London except underneath it and I am missing Ben. I know once I’m out and about tomorrow, I will be able to relax a little and truly enjoy myself, I can’t wait!

Side note; All pictures are courtesy of Ben because he bought me a camera for Christmas!

Love from London,

B