Just a normal week in London( :

This weekend was the first "free" weekend we've

had so far. That being the case, most of the kids took off for other countries for the weekend. I however decided to stay in London either because people were going places I wasn't interested in, it wouldn't be worth the money to just go a couple of days, and because there was so much I still needed to see and do in London. Working full time everyday leaves no time to see or do much since everything closes. So I stayed in London while my friends traveled to their various destinations.



Friday after work I headed to the Tate Modern art museum. It was a bit of a journey, but totally worth it. The museum is free and it had some of the greatest pieces of art; pieces I have studied and seen numerous times in books and such, but was finally seeing up close in real life. Most notably they had Matisse, Pallock, Rothko, Monet, Picasso, Miro. The museum itself was huge with 7 floors, with a beautiful restaurant at the top overlooking the River Themes, the Millennium Bridge, and St. James?? I hung out and looked at the art till about 9pm and then made my way back to the dorms. I got back around 10 and was going to go out with some people but it didn't end up happening so I just stayed in and wrote the Paris blog.

Saturday I spent the day outside at Portobello Road. Portobello Road is a street in Notting Hill that is bustling with people, vendors, stores, booths, etc. on Friday's and Saturday's. It is one of those must-go places. It was pretty amazing actually, must bigger and better than the largest open market in America, and I would know since it is in Portland.
I set off by myself, but luckily I ran into some people I know from my program so we all stuck together until they left; I wanted to stay longer. There were vintage clothing stores and antique stores lining the streets. In front of the stores were booths people had set up for the day selling more clothes and antiques, as well as scarves, souvenirs, fresh fruits and veggies, pastries, candy, flowers, and so on. There were also crepe stands, ice cream stands, hot dogs, and some ethnic foods like German, Indian, and Thai. I had some Indian food, (I think) I got peanut sauce chicken with rice, it was good. I also bought some nectarines, a cinnamon apple danish, and a red velvet cupcake from one of the best bakeries in London, Hummingbird Cafe. Don’t worry, I bought some non-food related things too lol. Everything began closing down around 5pm and I made my way back to the Tube station home. I ended up staying home that night as well and just talked to my friends back home on AIM (instant messenger chat) and got some sleep.

Sunday I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to get some more sights in. My first thing was to find some breakfast though and also try to find someone to go with since I was a bit socially deprived with all my friends being gone. I found this guy Nick, from New Jersey, who is on the floor above me. So we went down the street to a popular coffee shop, Coffee Republic. He got a bagel with ham & cheese and I got a croissant with ham, cheese, and egg. It was delicious. I also had an iced chi, but they do it different here. They blend it so its kinda weird but not bad. They also have a huge shake menu there, and really good ones too. For example I'm planning on getting the Forrero Rosche shake one of these days.
After that Nick went with one of his friends site seeing and I did laundry. When that was done I managed to find this girl Devon to go to the National Portrait museum with me in Trafalgar Square. We had a great day. We went to the square, took pictures with the lions, and then walked through the museum. After we wanted to do more, so we walked to the river so we could see Big Ben up close. So after a bit of walking and picking up a few souvenirs for friends, we turn a corner, and it is right there. It was huge and I was so happy because I love Big Ben. We took pictures and then took some pictures of the river and the London Eye Ferris wheel. Now we were hungry and we decided it would be fun to go to the Texas Embassy for lunch. So fun fact, listen up Norman, the Texas Embassy was really Texas' Embassy in London at one point when Texas really was its own country! Apparently them Texans were always very prideful lol. However, after Texas decided to let go of their superiority complex and join the rest of the United States, the building was turned into a TexMex restaurant! haha. And it turned out to be a tasty one too. I had a chicken quesadilla and Devon had chicken enchiladas. Afterwards on our way to the bus station we stopped at a waffle stand and split a chocolate waffle that was also delish. We arrived back at the dorms about 7pm full and satisfied with a fun day full of sights. It was another night in for me and I actually went to bed pretty early (10:45). Next day, back to work.

Work is going pretty well; some days are slow and kind of boring and some I'm really busy and barely have time for lunch and leave work past 6. I get an hour for lunch generally which is nice. There are a few good places around here that are affordable, as in Subway, McDonalds, a few cafes, and a pub that is pretty good. There are also lots of sandwich shops everywhere where you just go buy a pre-packaged sandwich and drink or whatever. I'll do that sometimes and then go sit in the park and eat when the weather is nice. There are always people everywhere, lots of fancy people too. Another big thing is that last week they got a new intern. Her name is Chow and she is from North China. She's been going to school here in London though and will be in her last year. She sits right next to me in the office and we often go to lunch together. So it's really nice having a friend in the office who is on my same level. So yeah, work is pretty good. I've done stuff for 4 different magazines now: the main one, Quintessentially I've done quite a bit with, I did the main fashion layout for Harrods Estates, I converted every page from the past 4 issues of Spear's Wealth Management into PDF's for a company who bought it to publish in Russia, and I spent quite a bit of time transcribing interviews recorded on tape, word for word, onto word documents! And I've done a few spreads for Private Sea magazine. The only thing I can hope is that they will remember to list my name in at least half of those.

Oh and two more cool things I must mention. Last Monday my friend Katie (the one with all the amazing job hook-ups) and I saw the band Death Cab for Cutie (really big in the US) at this really cool venue that looks like an old fashioned theater!! Not only that, but since Katie works at a PR company her boss was able to get us on the guest list… as VIPs!!!! It was spectacular! Not only did we bypass the huge line, but we were escorted in to a private balcony area on the side of the stage to watch the show, complete with a whole drink table. Naturally I went for the champagne and then the Vitamin water. And the show itself was amazing too, I loove Death Cab. Second cool thing, tonight (now last Mon) Katie got us on the guest list for this swanky club Dolce: www.dolcelondon.com
Yeah, Paris Hilton and rock stars hang out there. We were excited! Turns out it wasn't really our scene though. We hung out for maybe 2 hours, saw the rapper NEYO who rented out the VIP section for the night, and then we headed out to see what else we could find. Well knowing us, and knowing London, we found a lot. We ended up at 3 different bar/pubs and met three diff groups of people at each. The first place we met 3 American guys who were actually really excited to find American girls. Apparently Brit girls just don't compare lol. Then at the next place we met this guy from Verona, Italy who is now a cook/chef? at an Italian restaurant in London and invited us for a free meal sometime. Then at the third place we met 3 guys from Paris. We went to the American bar Cheers with them, and I danced a bunch with one of the crazy French guys, it was funny but fun. We did like swing-style dancing. After that our feet hurt so bad and Katie and I headed home. It was a Monday night after all.

Paris! Paris!

My trip to Paris begins at 5:45 when I wake up, get dressed, eat a granola bar, and meet the other 76 people outside who are in the first group to Paris. We then walk to the nearest tube station and ride one stop to the National Train Station. Our train, the Eurostar, leaves at 7:30 and we board and leave pretty quick. Much, much easier than travelling by plane. I sit by my friend Liz and we chat for awhile and then she sleeps and I do my version of sleeping which is about as close to actually falling asleep as I can manage. I was fine though because I had made sure to get 6 hours of sleep the night before (don't worry, I usually aim for 9, yeah life is good).
About 2 hours later we arrive in Paris! As we walk out of the train station it immediately looks so Parisian! We don't look right though, as to avoid seeing a McDonald's. From there we board a nice, big tour bus to take us on an hour tour of Paris and then to our lunch spot right across from the Louvre. We have a few minutes before our reservation so we all take off to take pictures in front of the Louvre. We then have a lunch we were quite impressed with. For starters we had a baked crissont filled with cheese, maybe brie, along with a small salad. Then we had baskets of bread. Then we had chicken stuffed with seasoned pork or something with mushrooms in a wine sauce, and hash browns. Finally we got this white chocolate custard bar which was also delicious. It was a good first lunch in Paris.
From there we loaded back on the bus and stopped by a lookout point for the Eiffle Tower. We all took a bunch of pictures and watched some guys with a boom box dance and act, it was pretty entertaining. From there, we were taken to our hotel, just 2 blocks from the Eiffle Tower, we could see it out our window if we got right up against the edge lol. So we got all checked in. I was assigned a room with 3 other girls, 2 whom I knew, one of which was Liz who I was pretty good friends with. All of us got along great, but I wasn;t worried considering we weren’t really going to be in our hotel room much anyway. Liz and I didn’t want to waste anytime in there in fact, so we got right to getting ready to go out for the night. We both put on some cute dresses and then met up with her other good friend Mary Jane.
It was about 4pm now and we made our way on the Metro to the Champs d’ Elysses. For those who don’t know, this is the main shopping and dining street in Paris and it culminates at the Arc d’ Triumph. It was great. We walked, and shopped, and ate. Yes, we actually found a store on the Champs d Elysses, Promad, where we could afford what they were selling! In fact, they were having such a huge sale of cute clothes, that I nearly had the whole store in my arms as I walked into the dressing room. I ended up buying about 6 really nice tops and a dress for under 70 euro! Yay. Oh and before that Mare Jane and I split a grand marnier (sp?) chocolate and almond crepe, flambé style! Yum.
So after shopping Liz was really hungry because she hadn’t eaten in a while and she was really set on having a big, fancy French dinner. We found this nice place with tons of outdoor seating under read canopies and we had dinner there. Liz had a this weird rabbit thing with a pickle herb jello salad for a starter. Then she had fish, and then crème brulee for dessert, which we all ate a bit of. MJ and I both had this really good chicken, mine with fries and hers with pasta. By then it had finally gotten dark enough for us to go to the top of the Arc d’ Triumph and look over the city. Sadly, by the time we got there it was 10:35, 5 minutes past the last time to go up!! We didn’t even realize it was that late since the sun had just set about 45 mins ago. So we were all rather bummed, but it was pretty cool just being there, underneath it all lit up.
After a little bit there we went back to the hotel to drop off our bags, grab a bottle of champagne, and then headed to the Eiffle Tower!! It was gorgeous! Seriously, it looked like it was a video game animation or something. It was so big and it was this weird blue color. Also, every hour for about 10 minutes the whole thing lit up with blinking lights because on Monday it was going to be Bastille Day (their independence day). So the 3 of us kinda just sat/lied there in the grass in front of the Eiffle Tower for almost an hour. We got back to our room about 2 am and went to sleep.
The next morning Liz left early to go to the Lourve and I got up about 9:30. I had breakfast downstairs with my two other roommates and after that I went swimming at the indoor pool at our hotel. I had really been looking forward to that, I've been missing swimming this summer. Then I got ready for my day in Paris, not knowing who or what I would find. Luckily, in the hotel lobby as I was checking out I found some stragglers like myself checking out. So I ended up joining them in their picnic at the Eiffle Tower. I took off for a little while and left my extremely heavy backpack with them as I walked along the river a ways.
When I got back to the people from my group and my bag I had to go to meet Katie who was done doing her shopping stuff that I didn't want to do. So we decided to meet at the station where we had to go to take the Eurostar back to London because it was already getting late and I was soo tired of walking with my heavy bag and getting lost that I wanted to just get to my final destination and not have to worry about it anymore. So when I finally got to the station I was quite relieved and quite hungry. We walked a ways to this random place with some outdoor seating that had crepes on the menu. Katie and I split a ham, cheese, and egg crepe and split a chocolate nut crepe for dessert. Both delicious.
After we had finished I needed to get to the station to meet up with the other 70 kids to get back to London. But first, I had to use some of my extra euro on yummy French pastries! I bought a chocolate éclair that wasn't creme in the middle, but was like chocolate pudding! I got a choc chip crissont, a strawberry tart, a doughnut puff, and a bar of chocolate. Hmm, I think I was ready for my trip back, haha.

4th of July!

Warning, this is a very long long post. I'll forgive you if you don't read it all.

All week I had been worrying over Friday, July 4th because it is one of those dreadful days that hold with it, expectation. And considering the past few July 4ths have been spent in Coeur d’ Alene with my family and friends enjoying a full day of traditional American traditions, it felt doomed this year. As it approached nearer, I increasingly grew more depressed about being in a completely different country on such a day, with people who came short of my true friends and family. I was determined to make the day as American as it could be however, a day to remember.
So after much searching, Thursday night I finally found a group of people who wanted to go to TGIFriday’s with me for dinner. I didn’t get out of work until 5:30, and that was me leaving early. So when I got back, it was kind of a rush to get ready, and I barely made it for the 6:45 depart time we decided on that day. I didn’t get to do my hair or makeup at all though which wasn’t good, but I managed to dress red, white, and blue. So we got to TGIF at about 7:30, but they said their kitchen was having problems, so we walk across to Planet Hollywood instead. I was kind of crushed that the one thing I really wanted to do was no longer an option. Planet Hollywood was expensive and didn’t really have BBQ, so that sucked. Luckily, most of the group was not impressed either, so after finishing the drinks they bought, we went back to TGIF because their kitchen was running again. Well we finally got seated about 8:45, but I didn’t mind at all. I ordered a half-rack of the Jack Daniel’s bbq ribs, with grilled corn on the cob, and fries. It was delicious and despite not being that hungry and having split some alcoholic, mint Oreo drink with one of the girls, I cleared my plate! Haha
Then the 7 of us, plus Katie who had finally just arrived, headed to a random bar to pass the time until WalkAbout, the Australian bar/club that was having an American Independence Day foam party! Now I must say I was a little skeptical, but I definitely wanted to check it out. A few of the girls, including Katie, went home instead though. We got there, paid our £5, and headed into the massive main room full of people, and went straight to the bar. I held out partially to see if someone would buy one for me, partially b/c I was still full. As luck would have it though, we ended up getting an extra drink (Snakebite-1/2 cider, 1/2 beer, with some raspberry liquor) somehow, so I got it for free! Then we started dancing it up, it was the widest variety of music I’d heard at a club yet, and trust me, I’ve heard a random mix here. But it was so fun, they played some American oldies, some classics like Brown Eyed Girl, and more recent hits like The Killers and Green Day and then your typical dance and club music.
Throughout the night I kept running into more people from our program, so that was fun. Everyone in the place was kind of wet from the foam, and I felt pretty gross. But it wasn't really bad at all, like I'd been told. I was told the foam would like go as high as our waists, but instead there was a foam machine. The club ceiling was like 3 stories, so they had the foam machine going from the top balcony 2 stories above us, and it ran for about 10 minutes every half hour. Oh and it was gorgeous too. It looked like fluffy, multicolored snow floating down on everyone. So after maybe 2 hours in there, I went outside to chat and cool off. And it's a good thing I did, because apparently one of the girls from my group was on her way out too, and had found my wallet! I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t even know it was missing! Everything was still in it, except for my cash along with a blank check. I was so thankful and lucky, but unfortunately the girl, Kristin, who had found mine had all of her stuff stolen and was on her way out to cancel all her cards. So right after that I went in and immediately started looking for cash on the ground, I don’t know why I thought it would be on the ground, but whatever. As I pushed my way through the crowd, eyes glued to the floor, I definitely had some concerned male inquires as to what I was looking for. Well one guy who asked, as I explained I lost my money, wanted to get me a drink, but I said no, I have to keep looking for my money, etc. Well he kept trying to chat anyway so it was kinda hard for me to get on with my search. But then, after swearing to God that I really had my money stolen, he took out £20 and told me to go to the bar and buy him a beer, and that I could keep the change. So I actually got my £15 replaced with £18! I’m really lucky I know, and I was thanking God! So then I chatted with him a bit, and then Twist and Shout came on and I exclaimed how I loved that song, so we danced. He was kind of this older scruffy-looking guy, so I definitely wasn't interested, but hey he had just given me £20 and he didn’t try anything on the dance floor so I was being nice. So after a quick dance, I told the guy I had better get going and try to find my friends. Really, I was wanted to get out of hanging out with him, wanted to find my friends, and possibly head home.
Well on my way outside, I end up talking to this guy, Ignacio who is also heading outside with his friend, so we end up both going outside together. After chatting a bit, we all go downstairs where there is another dance floor and bar and he orders drinks for us all. While he buys drinks for everyone his friend in the red shirt, who looked like Adam Brody, tells me how rich his friend is but that he doesn’t realize it and is actually a really cool person and friend to have and they’ve been friends forever. After getting our drinks, we all go back upstairs into the main club and dance and sing and talk. All the guys have been in London for a month, and the one I was mainly talking to is studying contemporary art because he is planning on being an art auctioneer. Oh, and him and his friends are all from Madrid, except this really annoying Turkish guy we couldn't get rid of (I think you can guess which one he is). Well I end up staying at WalkAbout hanging out with the new people I met, oh and one of the guys was from NY. So that was cool to have an American friend (most of the friends I had come with had gone home), but he was only here in London for the weekend b/c he was actually doing an internship in Dublin. So yeah, we were there until the place closed, and then we went to find the next place b/c apparently in Madrid you party till like 10am! Being as it was 3am, and we were in London, not Madrid, we didn't have a whole lot of luck. We eventually gave up and everyone kind of split up to do their own thing. I figured I might as well go home, so Ignacio and I leave together because he's ready to go back too.
On the way we try to find a hot dog stand. There are these guys on corners selling hot dogs here, and apparently they are illegal, but they are all over anyway. And being hungry, that being our only option for food, and Ignacio telling me how good they actually were, I really wanted to find a hot dog guy. Just about as we were giving up and going to get a cab to our places, we spotted one! We were so excited we ran up to the stand and he bought a hot dog for each of us. By now the sun was starting to come up, it rises much earlier here and sets later, so we ate our food leaning against a big, glass, store window (they don't really believe in benches/sitting areas here b/c of all the homeless ppl I think) and then we got a cab. Turns out we got one of the unlicensed cabs I had been warned about, but it was perfectly fine. I think the fact that it was like 4am and no one was on the road but us helped make our ride a little safer. Plus, there was no meter so we got to name our price. So I get to my dorm at about 430, go up and take a shower to get all the gross foam residue off, and get in bed and sleep till almost 2pm the next day.
Like I said, it was a very long day, and very eventful/memorable at that.
The following night was also very fun . . .but I'll spare you and save that for the next post( :

History & Culture

Group photo! There's really 130
of us though.








Sorry I haven't updated recently, I've been busy! Our program went to Stonehenge and then Bath City for the day. I had sort of caught a cold the day before, so I was worried I would be all sickly on our trip, but I was actually doing much better and am so glad I went (I wouldn't have missed it anyway). Stonehenge was really cool and really is in the middle of no where. We were there about 40 minutes, which was good because all you do is walk around in a circle looking at the stones. Sadly they are roped off so you can't really get close. Except! If you are a Druid then you get to dress up, walk around the stones, and go in the center to have a little ceremony while everyone else watches and complains about why they get to go in and we don't.

After that we headed to Bath. This city was very cute and as one girl put it, looked like we were in a painting. Our first item of business was lunch! We stopped at the first place we could find that wasn't too crowded or expensive. I had the breakfast platter: fried egg, sausage, ham, beans, and hash browns. One of my friends ordered nachos and had to eat off someone else's b/c it was so bad. I don't know what she was thinking ordering nachos. Most of us ordered fish and chips.
After that was our tour of the Roman Baths. Those were cool too I guess. Oh and at the end you get to try some of the natural spring water. It was not very good and it was definitely warm. No one finished the 1/2 glass they got. After that we walked around Bath, taking pictures, shopping, etc. My money went to a champagne truffle, 2 cookies, and the lunch we had. haha. We got back to London at 8 and I stayed in for the night because I wanted to get over my cold.
The next day I went to Harrods and the Natural History Museum with two of my friends. Harrods is amazing. It's like the biggest, fanciest store I've ever been in. Seriously, when your in the in between areas where its escalators and elevators it looks like one of the fancy hotels in Vegas. And they have these massive food halls where there are all different types of foods from all different countries, etc. It's amazing and you want everything. Some things are definitely expensive, but some are affordable. None of the shopping is though, even now with the big sale going on.
The Nat History Museum was definitely cool too. We only made it through the dinosaur exhibit though b/c we were pretty worn out already. Getting around London is a feat in itself. We are planning on going back. There are lots of museums I still need to go to here, lots.
Next blog will be the 4th of July. But that was a looong day, so I will recount the events of that night later this week( :
For the complete album of Stonehenge & Bath and now also the Museum, go to this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033178&l=e8054&id=29303589