Crazy Days & Nights

wow, this past week went pretty quick. It really helps to make the work week more enjoyable and go quicker when I go out and do stuff after work. Luckily this past week there was plenty to do with the Euro Cup games in the final rounds, and ending tonight! Its Germany vs Spain for the championship. The pic to the left is some of us @ The Court (the main pub we all go to down the street to watch the games, etc) w/ 2 Brit guys we met.
Here are some pics from last weekend. My friends and I went to Shoreditch and danced to awesome music most of the night. We went to 3 different clubs, The Underbelly, Zigfried, and Traffik. We met a few cool/interesting people, and talked with some crazy djs.



Sunday I went to Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park with Rob. Its where basically anyone who wants to can stand on their soap box and speak their mind. They're pretty much all crazy, but its entertaining and interesting nonetheless. Oh and I made friends with this French girl, Olivia. We hung out for a while while Rob was standing with some others holding a "free hugs" sign. It was funny, but a very good way to meet people. I didn't do it, but sometimes when I was standing with him we would all talk to ppl or sometimes ppl would request to hug me instead. It was a nice day, and Hyde Park is huge. Its where the guy who wrote Peter Pan was inspired/wrote it.
The next day, it was back to work/ :












Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge!

Bus Tour of London!

This post is a mess! Its really complicated to arrange the text and images in this blog/ :
Oh and I'm not sure if I said this already, but click on the pic images to enlarge them to full screen!










London Eye (largest ferris wheel)

We had 2 tour busses, mine was covered. Also, entrance to the Tube-------->


Saturday we went on a bus tour of London and then all had lunch at Sugar Reef. I had a burger, fries, and a brownie a la mode! I was very happy. . . and full.
So this will be mostly pictures. Also you can (and should) click on the picture images to enlarge them to full page. Then click your back button to go back to the blog. Hope you enjoy!







Trafalgar Square is my fave!
Cute Lions!










The Queen's grounds....are very protected






That's Andy, he goes to ASU....







Brit kids~




Me @ Tower of London. Bridge in background (not London bride)












Big Ben! My other fave.

Working Girl

(This first pic is actually the 1st weekend. A bunch of us took the public bus to downtown. All the buses are double decker here. Im 3rd row on the right)

Wednesday morning, 8:15 I woke up for my first day of work. That was probably the 4th time all year (2008) that Ive woken up in the 8 o' clock hour. I got up, got dressed, went to breakfast in dorm 119 that consisted of cereals, bagels with diff spreads, muffins, and juices. eh. Then I went back to my room before heading for the Tube for my daily commute. My commute takes about 30 minutes each way and consists of walking about 1/3 a mile and taking two trains that can get very hot, smelly, and crowded. Oh and they break down, have delays, etc. nearly everyday. But all in all, its not bad lol. Oh and a perk is ppl hand out free newspapers so everyone is always occupied reading them and listening to the house/electronica type music that I can often hear blasting from their headphones. Everyone is hyped up on their music and coffee (a regular comes with 2 shots of espresso). But yeah, everyone seems in a hurry, even the cars drive past and crazy and I can't count how many times I, or someone I've seen, has almost been ran over. And everyone dresses really well, the guys especially. Its definitely nice to look at, but makes me feel grungy, or American.
So back to describing work...I start at 10 and end at 5:30, not bad. So far I've mainly done image searching, which is looking through stock photo sites for all the good images I can find to use for articles in the upcoming Autumn issue, Quintessentially: High. Every issue has a diff theme, and this one will be looking at all things high, such as high resorts and monasteries, mountain climbers, the tallest towers/buildings, private jet clubs, high end chocolates, etc. The magazines are really cool. Very high end with lots of bold graphics and colors and always witty, or as they say, cheeky. The last issue was Fun with a Goose on the cover (pic is the mag layout) and before that, Wicked. Check out my job for yourself, http://luxurypublishing.uk/
So yeah, I've been doing lots of image searching, watching tutorials for Quark, and the first day I spent calling the press offices of companies such as Hermes, Louis Vuitton, La Perla, Cartier, Ralf Lauren, etc. to send them copies of the magazine b/c they had been featured in the main fashion spread. That was kinda intimidating, esp. b/c it was hard to understand them b/c of accents, the old phone I had to use, and noise in the office.
The ppl I work with/for are nice. Not extremely friendly like some of the other interns offices, but nice. Seriously, some of the other kids are getting taken out on lunches, getting VIP tickets to clubs and movie premiers, taken to galleries during office hours, etc. So lucky!!!! And Im so jealous! But hey, Im doing what I want to be doing/learning. The editor in chief, Stephano, reminds me of Andy Warhol but without the social awkwardness. He is really nice and cool in that he is cordial and is always going around looking at everyones' work and taking the time to sit down with them and go over what he likes and doesnt like and why. And he will show them step-by-step how to improve it. He is the top of his game and definitely knows what he's talking about and definitely expresses what he likes and doesn't like. They aren't blunt here, if they don't like something they will say, "That is awful, just terrible!" And if they like something they will say, "That's lovely, absolutely brilliant!"
Wed night me and 4 other girls went to this free show at a pub in the East end. It was kinda like China Town, but the pub was like your typical local music venue, but a little nicer. We all got drinks and watched the first band, The Heys. The girl we went with, Katie, has been friends with them on myspace for 4 years apparently, and was now finally getting to see them live. She was obviously way excited. So, since they "knew" her, we ended up talking/hanging out with them after their set. They were really friendly and even invited us to come hang out with them some more, lol. And Katie says one of the guys has been texting her constantly, hah. So that was lots of fun.
Tonight I got back from work and ate dinner at the cafeteria with Katie and 3 other girls. I've eaten dinner with diff ppl ever night just b/c i always get back at diff times b/c the Tube is rather unpredictable. Oh and I bought a cell phone today so I finally have contact with the world outside of the internet! Incoming calls are freee for me, so if for some reason you feel like calling the UK or somehow have some great phone plan, CALL ME! What you do is: dial 011 then 44 then 753-086-1504 . The phone cost £20, and all of that went to credit my minutes, so essentially it was free, yay! Ahh, I am going to be so broke when I get back. The exchange rate is horrible and everything costs money. For example, the reason Im in my room at midnight on a Friday is because practically everyone went to this big club called Fabric tonight. It coast £15 just to get in, which is $30. And, they didnt leave till about an hour ago and we have to be up at 930am tomorrow to leave for our Bus Tour of London (posting pics soon) So, no thanks. I just pre-gamed with them instead and then came up and started blogging to appease all you inquiring family members ( ; (I love you!!)
So that's what's new! Sleep time~

PS. Turns out no one ever made it to Fabric b/c ppl got lost and when they finally found it there was like a 2 hour wait to get in! ha. Everyone said I should be glad I didn't come.

First Weekend; lets go

Well much has changed since Friday the 13th. I am now sitting in my
dorm room on the 2nd story of an old college dorm, facing a big
maple tree, above a very busy and noisy street.
Saturday Rob and I hauled my bags across the London underground and to the UCL (University College London). I suppose that is just a practice run for when I have to haul my two big bags from JFK airport to the city and then to Newark, NJ! ahhh.
So Sat I got all checked in and then they had all of us meet on the veranda of this big building with about 10 big pillar columns and served us apple and cranberry juice in wine glasses, which is what everyone thought it was until they got up to the table. Well right away I found/was found by ppl I had been chatting with on Facebook, so that was good. Then we all went in and had dinner which was sadly the best meal I've had since that Indian restaurant. After, we were free to do what we wanted, and all having received our Oyster card (subway pass) we really were free~
Well me and a few other ppl already had made plans/reservations for the Absolute (Vodka) Ice Bar. None of us really had phones though, but we all somehow managed to find each other again after dinner, mostly thanks to this ASU guy on the floor below me who had opened is room for anyone to come in and party. So a big group of like 18 of us all headed out to Piccadilly Circus (London's Times Square). The 9 of us parted from the rest once we got there because we had to make our reserved time at Ice bar. Well we ended up getting lost and going in squares until we finally found it at midnight. Luckily, we could still get in and we did. It was cool too, and good thing considering it was 15 L which is $30!

Last night a bunch of us went to this big sports bar right in Piccadilly (london's times square) and watched the big soccer match. The place was packed. So we watched the whole game and in the last 5 minutes Turkey came back from 1 to 2, to tie it, and in the last 2 minutes scored to win the game. Well, everyone went crazy! half the place was for Turkey and the the other for Chez. There was a big fight downstairs and the police came and arrested ppl. then there was some serious parading in the streets. And the best part was, we were right in the middle of it. It had started in the bar we were in and went all through the town. People were shouting and whistling and cars were honking and at a standstill. It was insane. After that we got back on the Tube (subway) and came back to our neighborhood. After getting some snacks at the store, a few of us went to the pub down the street. Us UCL ppl made up almost the entire upsairs and I got to play two games of pool. Sadly I wasn't playing very well which I blame on the entire thing being a mini version of normal pool and not the alcohol b/c I actually hadn't had even a whole drink all day. And that I blame on them serving us Pizza Hut (yeah, they have like all our fast food places here) and soda for lunch. Then later I had a huge coffee b/c they only have one size most places. And for dinner I had one of the guy's leftover burger and onion rings. Lets just say I was not feeling well, but didn't want to go home either. If I had I'd just be sitting there till about 5am b/c thats what time I finally fell asleep!@$ grrr. But the night was actually a lot of fun.
Today has been really mellow. I got up late, took a shower, and have spent most of the day uploading pictures and doing internet stuff. I also took a test run to my job so I'd know how to get there Wed. Its such a nice fancy part of London, Im excited. Too bad that means I'll be eating in the underground convenience store for lunch, haha!
Tomorrow most ppl start work, but I get to go explore, and shop! One of my new friends told me she found Top Shop today, which is like H&M but better and apparently huge! So Ill be spending my afternoon there. Hopefully I can fall asleep tonight. And if not, that's what the red wine I bought is for~~