Red Carpets, Celebrity Sightings, and Oxford…Oh My

Let’s see, I know I am way behind. Last week, was my second week of work. I moved up from the incompetent American intern to the American intern who can use the printer, phone, mobile network, and most of her computer. I’m learning stuff, so that’s good. Moving on from the boring stuff.

On Wednesday night, Nicole and I went to the London Film Festival gala premiere of The Boys Are Back with Clive Owen. We bought the tickets on a whim the night before and figured “why not the movie sounds good”. So we show up at Leister Square and find that a red carpet has been appeared out of nowhere and that camera men and reporters are swarming, along with just a generally large crowd, are all waiting around it. All I could think was “um WOW, this is sweet.” So once the celebrities were all inside we are allowed to enter. SO what did we do, we walked down the red carpet! Can’t say I’ve done that before. So we stopped and picked up are tickets and went in to find our seats. Then the movie is introduced and the director is called out. Then….. Clive Owen is called out!! Yep he stood in the flesh 6 rows in front me!! He didn’t say anything, only the director talked but he was there. It was Amazing!!! First, real celebrity sighting!!!! Then we watched the move which was actually really good. Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday night.

Ok so didn't take this one. But this was from the night we were there!!!

As far as the weekend goes, Dave, Rebecca, Chris and I had bought really cheap train tickets to Oxford for Saturday. But….sad, Rebecca sprained her ankle (nicknamed “the Cankle”) during the week and couldn’t come. L So the boys and I headed to Oxford early Saturday morning. It was all raining when we arrived and we spent the first few hours walking around in the rain trying to get the lay of the land.

It finally quit raining and we were able to enjoy the town. It was crazy how many colleges are there. Every time we turned around we were running into another one. The highlight of the trip was definitely touring Christ Church. It had an amazing inner square and we were able to see the dining hall that The Great Hall from Harry Potter was based off of. Chris was pretty pumped for this. Our train back to London was not until 10pm so we had all day to kill time and explore. So then went on a little shopping spree and bought souvenirs and explored the markets and ate a lot of really good food. We walked alllll day and by 4pm our feet and legs were so tired we found a random bench and didn’t move for a good half an hour. We ended up spending the evening in the Eagle pub where J.R. Tolken apparently known to hang out. We had dinner and then spent three hours playing cards and tasting different ales. We were home by 11:15 and met up with the rest of the Albion peps in Notting Hill.

Off to Work

The week started off with reuniting with Preetal!! This was the prequel to "Blair & Preetal's adventures in Italy and Greece" that will be occurring in December over Christmas. Her last day in London coincided perfectly with my last free day before me internship started up.

She came to London all the way from Spain!!

This week I'm just going to post my journal entries for my first week on the job. They explain it best.

Rebecca & I on are way to Ernst & Young for our first day

First day: Tuesday, Oct. 13th

I was too exhausted yesterday to write on my first day so I am doing it now. Yesterday Preetal had stayed the night with me again. We didn't get in until 1 am because we met up to have a beer with some of her travel buddies. We got up in the morning and I got ready in the dark since my roommate Karen didn't start her internship until Wednesday. The lack of sleep (few hours plus sharing my twin bed with preetal) was making me really crabby about having to get ready in the dark on my first day.

Anyways, Rebecca and I left a little before 9 and Preetal rode the tube with us part way there before i had to say goodbye. Rebecca and I were excited to start since we have both been interviewing with firms at home but also nervous because neither of us have any idea what we are doing.

Well, we got there and met Tom who had e-mailed us the night before. He gave us a brief tour of the 2nd floor which is assurance, took us to IT to receive our laptops, and told us who we would be working with that day. We would have liked a bit more of an orientation. At lunch, Rebecca and I had to go hunt down our own ID cards to let us back in the building!

I was assigned to sort through papers and file them. I was plopped in front of a huge window that looked out over the river Thames, and right at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. It was beautiful and I so lucky. I could people watch and look at the pretty sites. Well 7 hours later, I was not filing papers anymore but had moved on to cleaning out boxes but was still sitting at that lucky table.

When the day was over, I was exhausted. I tried walking home because I had said I was going to try it for exercise. However, after 45 minutes of walking I had only made it 3 tube stops and South Kensington is around 10 away. I was tired and disappointed and did not want to go back. Is this what having a real job is like? Because if so, I want to go back to class!

Wednesday, Day 2:

Day two on the job was not as stressful as day one and went very differently. In the morning, I received an e-mail from an associate named Matt that needed some work done. I had no idea who Matt was but he came and found me and explained some data entry work he needed done. I happily did this work until about 11 or 11:30. I also received an e-mail that informed me I would be working at the Universal Music Publishing client all of next week. The woman I received the e-mail from I assume was the manager and she gave me directions and told me that we were allowed to wear jeans to match the clients dress code. That was pretty much the last meaningful work I did yesterday. I had a late lunch and afterward I tried to find out who I was assigned to work for from Tom but he again ignored my request. I don't want to badger people as they all seem very busy but I want tasks to do. So since no one was really responding, I spent the rest of the afternoon looking up Universal Music, reading the EY website, and e-mailing myself journal/blog entries. Rebecca and I ended up leaving at 4:45 which is a lot different from the 5:45 and 6:30 we had on our first day.

Thursday, Day 3:

I am now one of the masses, one of the busy Londoners to rush off to work each morning. By 8:30 I am on the tube. I get on and join in on the daily commute. Everyone with their headphones on, newspapers and books open, and if your unlucky you are standing so close that you get to know your neighbor better than you'd like. I wear boring black and white dress clothes since its my first week and I haven't tried wearing anything that stands out. How did I go from 21 years old to 35 in a week?

At the office, I worked with an American woman named Ann (she had a serious accent and she had to tell me she was American). She had me reviewing and checking the numbers and layout for the financial reports of two clients she is working on. She was very nice and took the time to explain it before I started. (I’m learning that tasks make sense when they are explaining them but not as much in practice). She explained that I need to “cast” the columns of numbers to make sure they are correct. Well, I had to ask what casting was and apparently it’s the British word for adding. Great, not only am I trying to learn how to do this work by understanding all the accounting abbreviations and lingo but I have to learn the general British lingo sheesh!! In the afternoon, I also met Elena who is a manager on Universal Publishing Group. She asked that I come to Universal on Friday and explained an overview of the company and what we would be doing there. I headed home a little after 5.

Friday, Day 4:

Friday, I reported to the Universal Publishing offices rather than the E & Y office. I was so glad I googled my own directions to the office just in case because I discovered that the directions e-mailed to me were very wrong and would have sent me to a completely different tube stop. I spent the day in a conference room with the 3 other women working on this client. Elena explained how she wanted me to transfer information over from financial records to a spread sheet. They were all very friendly and we spend the afternoon listening to the radio and making tea every hour. I tried my best on the assignment but it took me a very long time and by the end of the day I just felt really incompetent next to these other women. Since we didn’t really get any training (I swear I would be better at this job if I had some) I have just accepted that I will be dumb, clueless American intern while I’m here. I’m hoping I will know what I’m doing by the time I head home and it will be worth it. We all left at 5 because it was Friday!

Weekend:

Friday night we went to a party at a club called Penthouse (Because it was on the top level like a penthouse, it was classy no worries). We received a discount because it was one of the BU student’s birthday and everyone in our program was there. The place had views of the London eye and was packed.

Saturday, I got up and went shopping on Oxford street with Dave, Rebecca, and Chris. We first went to Primark where all the clothes are reeeallly cheap but it is packed with people. Then we just leisurely shopped, stopping for cupcakes from Lola’s before heading back and having a laid back night in.

Today, we went out to Greenwich to the market there. And as we do at all the street markets, we ate. We also wondered down the pier, through the really pretty naval college and through the Maritime museum before heading back into the city.

Everyone wanted to see how they put melted chocolate into a Churro...like I said we like to eat at the markets :)

Adventures in Edinburgh and St. Andrew's

I am back from the land of Scottish Whisky and plaid kilts. We (the parents and I) took a five hour train into the center of Edinburgh on Tuesday afternoon and spent the evening getting settled into our apartment at 4 Cowgatehead (yep that is the actual name of the street) which is just down the street from the castle.
Wednesday we explored. The city is gorgeous in a very Gothic sort of way. It is not that big but built up on top of itself. Everywhere you look there is a hill up or down, a tiny alleyway that they call "a close" running to somewhere, and a sharp stairway that is a shortcut to the street above. It was crazy but really cool compared to London which is flat and realllllly wide and expansive. We took a bus tour that had a guide explaining everything. Well the guides had thick Scottish accents and I had to keep translating to Mom who swore they were not speaking English hehe.
We discovered that Blair is one of the original Scottish clans and therefore very common/popular in Edinburgh. 1st I found Blair Street and was thrilled. Then I found a Blair House, and found Blair plaid, Blair malt whisky, Blair key chains, mugs, and shot glasses. Sorry, for a kid who could NEVER find her name on those buy things with your name on it this was just too much fun and I was probably a little too excited about it.
We spend Thursday shopping and eating at the local pubs. (no one tried haggis even though mom thought about it. I on the other hand am only so adventurous). In the evening, we went to a Scotch Whisky tasting and saw the largest collection of scotch whisky in the world. There were a LOT of bottles and it was fun to try the different types of whisky.

Ok so here is my Harry Potter rant, yes I am a dork but it must be shared. There were unexpected Harry Potter/JK Rowling references on this little trip. First, I got my picture with platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross station before we left (yes I took a picture with a wall, I am a shameless tourist). In Edinburgh, we saw the school where JK Rowling went to become a teacher before she wrote the books. Then we went past the mansion/palace prep school where her children currently go to school. And finally, the entire city looks Harry Potterish (and also Mary Poppins, its something with the chimneys and roof tops).On Friday, we took a day trip to St. Andrew's. The town was really cute however, we went so Dad the golfer could see the birthplace of golf. We ate at the clubhouse, walked around the old course, bought some souvenirs, and took pics of Dad posed in front of the greens. Dad was just thrilled to be there and Mom and I were trying to figure out how it was possible for the Scotts to be playing golf 600 years ago.

We flew back to London on Saturday afternoon. Sunday was the parents last day in the city and we took a visit to the British Museum. We got back just in time since Sunday we also met up with Preetal who came for a visit!!!!!!!! It was a great trip and the parents our back home in the states. My fall break is over and tomorrow I start my internship at Ernst & Young.

Look Who Came to Visit

So my parents are here! 2 hour bus ride to airport, 8 hour plane ride, 5 hours of jet lag, a train, a suspended tube, and cab...I guess they love me (or just really want see London hehe).

Since they've been here we've been busy trying to see the sights. The only bad part is that they are here the weekend before my finals. So we've been sight seeing during the day and I write papers and study at night.Thursday night we went to a pub and ordered our first fish and chips (mine too) and some good old strongbow cider (I really wish we had this in the states).

Lets see, Friday I took them to Ernst and Young right on the river by the pretty tower bridge so they could see where I will be going to work every day starting next week. It's about a 20-25 minute commute.On the way back, we stopped at the Westminster tube stop to look at Big Ben. I suggested we do the tour of Parliament since it is cool to see the inside that is always on TV and hear about all the history. Since we were right there, we decided to get tickets to the London eye. We grabbed dinner first and then went on the eye (it is a sweet, huge, ferris wheel) once it was dark. It really does give gorgeous night views of the city that my camera couldn't really capture.





















On Saturday, I took them to Portobello Market. It was a bit cold and windy for being outside but we made the most of it. Mom and I together for shopping?! Nothing was going to stop us. Thank goodness Dad is such a good sport.

Yesterday, they went downtown to Covent Gardens and the theater (they spell it theatre here) district. I was studying most of the day but met up with them for a little browsing in the Natural History and Victoria & Albert museums across the street before I went back to hitting the books.

Today, they went and enjoyed Harrods department store and had lunch while I was taking my final (at least they brought me back some leftovers). I met them for a late dinner at the pub and we figured out the logistics for leaving for Scotland tomorrow.

So I'm supposed to be packing and should get back to it. Family vacation to Edinburgh tomorrow!