Cheers! Thanks! BYE BUH BYE BYE! - Last two weeks in London

I now only have 4 more days left in London :(. But Here is what has been going on the past week.

Last Thursday, Shandi and I took the other Intern Michelle out to do her first Vox Pop. Then after work, the flat was busy working on our projects that were do yesterday. Friday, we all went to class, came home to work on our projects, and then got ready to hit the town for my pre-birthday celebration. Linden's friend Shelby was in town and so we had a great gaggle of girls who were all looking for a good time. We decided to revisit our beloved Underworld night club where we spent such a special night previously this summer. It was a great celebration and at midnight we all cheered for my coming of (legal) drinking age! Woot Woot look out world I am finally 21.. he he :). 

Unfortunately, my birthday was not as much fun as I would have liked it to be. Most of the day was spent cooped up in the flat, working on our projects. It was a stressful day. But I received lots of birthday wishes via facebook and surprise phone calls and also a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my wonderful family. My birthday evening, the flat girls went out to dinner at one of our favorite spots, GBK Gourmet Burger Kitchen (which we are all going to miss desperately) and then came back to the flat for some casual girl bonding time sipping wine and singing out on our balcony. Everyone pooped out early, but it was a great birthday. My crazier celebrations will occur when I arrive back in the states :). 

Sunday we all worked on our projects and I had a visitor! The European Traveler Kate Lindley stopped by London and stayed at my flat for a night. It was great to see her and hear about all of her European adventures she has been having this summer. 

Monday, Shandi and I received (an almost impossible) deadline for a feature, so my stress level has sky rocketed. I now have to finish my ten page paper for friday and two feature stories by Thursday which is proving increasingly difficult since no one will get back to me. This point can be proven by the fact that I am writing this blog at work right now, waiting for a response from ANYONE! I often think about throwing the towel in on Professional Beauty but the reality of how close to home, my family, my friends and taco bell I am keeps me trudging on. I will miss London very much but the comforts of home are sounding heart wrenchingly good right now. Four more days until I bored the plane to cross the Atlantic for the last time this summer! 

My wonderful birthday surprise!!! :)

Once we arrived home from Ireland, the whole of flat two began hacking and sneezing. It was not a pretty sight. There were kleenexes thrown about and cough drop wrappers decorating our night stands. We were all exhausted anyway from our long weekend in Ireland and I had to prepare for my sister to come, so we all thought it was best to just stay in for most of the week.

I was busy making preparations, cleaning my room, finishing any homework I had, calling my sister everyday to remind her of things she needed to bring just so I would be ready for her Friday morning. The whole week was kind of a blur, with work and school dragging into each other only divided by sporadic doses of sleep and rest. I had to be ready! I wanted my sister to have a fun filled weekend in London and I did not want to be sick for any of it! 

Friday morning rolled around and I sluggishly yet excitedly got dressed and ready to go pick my sister up from the tube station. I looked up her flight and it had been delayed a little so I waited until I couldn't wait any more and walked to Earls Court station. I patiently waited at the top of the steps, holding my breath every time one of the lifts opened, desperately searching for the tall blonde beauty who goes by the name Morgan. Finally, she arrived! We exchanged hugs and excited expressions and then headed outside. I sensed some hesitation from Morgan as we walked out of the station and noticed that she kept looking back behind me. I casually ignored it and we stopped outside of the tube for Morgan to "tie her shoe". As we stood there, a familiar voice came from behind me asking me for the time. I knew before I turned around that it was my best friend Carlye! I had tears in my eyes as we all gathered in a group hug. My excitement could not be contained and I just wanted to scream. With my happiness about Morgan being there, I didn't think it was possible for my excitement to grow, but it did! Carlye was my surprise birthday present and apparently my family had done an amazing job of keeping the secret ALL SUMMER! They had this planned even before I left the country! I don't really know why I am telling you all this because although my mother did a wonderful job of keeping the secret from me, I doubt she had as much luck with all of you! :) 

I took Carlye and Morg back to my flat and got them settled in. We couldn't check into the hotel until 3:00 and I had class at 10:00 so they had some time to rest a while. I suggested they go get a traditional English breakfast while I was at class, which they did and then I met up with them again around 12:30. We decided to head to Harrods so I could show them the amazing pet kingdom, food halls, and the delicious tea at the Georgian Restaurant. We walked around and had tea and scones, but,  not unlike my parents, the girls started fading pretty fast once we sat down. The long day of travel was sinking in and they were both exhausted. Although I didn't have to do as much as they, I was quite tired myself. We waited until after three, went back to my flat to get their things and then checked into the Marriott where my parents stayed, just around the corner from my house. We rested for a while, showered, got ready and then headed out for the evening.

I took them to dinner at Gourmet Burger Kitchen (one of my favs) and then we met up with my flat mates so we could show Car and Morg a proper night out in London. We decided to go to this club called Cargo, which isn't close to where we live by any means. We got there and then had to wait in line forever, but once we got in the scene was cool and there were plenty of good looking men to take our minds off the previous events of the evening. We bar hopped a bit and ended up taking a cab home as the sun was rising. As a result, we ended up sleeping in until 12:30 that afternoon. 

We finally got up, went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Leicester Square, then headed off to catch the tail end of Portobello Market in Notting Hill. Carlye and Morgan both got some goodies at the market. After the market we went home to get changed and ready for our evening. We were going to see the Peter Pan play in Kensington Gardens.  It was amazing. It was in a tent outside and the set of the play was just incredible and we were really happy we got to go. After the play, we got a Fruili at Kings head then we went and purchased some wine and chinese food and then hit up my balcony off of my flat. We casually drank, chatted, laughed and watched You Tube videos before heading back to the hotel for a bit of sleep. 

Sunday morning we got up and headed out to Camden market. After that we decided to go eat at Whole Foods which would have been fine and dandy if we had been able to take the tube. There was a person on the tracks at Earls Court so we had to walk from Hyde Park corner to High Street Kensington, which on the tube map is very close! But walking, it is not! I don't think Morgan and Carlye were too happy with me after the fifth time of me saying "I think we are getting close now". We finally made it, had a lovely meal and then did some shopping! After that we went back to the flat to change and then we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant across from the hotel. After that we went back to my balcony for another long night of laughter and chatting (and drinking).

Monday we decided to be touristy and went to the Tate modern (a modern art museum) and then the National Portrait Gallery. They were both amazing and great and we had a fabulous time. We ate at Pizza Express for lunch and then we went back to our houses and packed our things. I sent Morgan home with a HUGE suitcase of my things which will hopefully come in handy when I return home in 10 days. After we packed, we went to Sainsbury to buy picnic foods then headed up to Primrose Hill, the best view of the city. We had a little picnic dinner, took some funny photos and drank some wine. It was a great night and was so much fun to spend it with some of my favorite people! It started to get cold and we were all exhausted from the weekend and had an early morning ahead of us, so we went back to the hotel and ordered a movie. 

Tuesday morning, I helped Carlye and Morgan get on the right train back to the airport and then I headed off to work. I was so terribly sad to see them go but happy that they were able to come! It was such a fun weekend and the perfect birthday present for me! Now I have a project to finish, two papers to write, a birthday to celebrate, and a feature to finish for Professional Beauty before I can return home in 10 days. I love London so much, but I am really excited to go home :).

Slavancha!!!! (cheers to the Irish!)

OK so I will try and put as much in this as possible... I am a little fuzzy on the specific details because it was two weeks ago and my mind is full of stress and homework, but I will do my best to keep everything straight! Don't be upset if I am skint on some of the details!

Two weeks ago, Shandi, Linden and I went to see Harry Potter! It was great but we had a little problem before we went. Our movie was at 8:45 and around 7:00 Claire decided she wanted to go. So we tried to look up and see if there were any tickets available near us... thats when we discovered we had booked our tickets in Leicester (which is a town far far away) instead of Leicester Square. So we scrambled and luckily found some open tickets at Fulham Broadway. The show didn't start until 10:30 and lasted really late so then we had to take the night bus home. It was worth it to see Harry though :). Unfortunately, we had a really hectic day the next day!!!

Shandi, Linden and I (which I will now shorten to S and L so I won't have to type their names a million times) had to get up early and go to work all day. Then at 5:3o, S, L and I met at Victoria tube station to take the train the Gatwick Airport. We had our ticket, we were on the platform, ready to go. Our flight was at 9:15, we were going to get to the airport at 7:15 which is the appropriate time to arrive for a flight. Then the looming voice overhead reported that there had been a fatality at another station and all of the Gatwick trains were being rerouted to London Bridge station... mass chaos. Everyone and their dog who were trying to catch a Gatwick flight fled to the online line that goes to London Bridge. It was insane. We went to London Bridge, jumped on a train that stopped at Gatwick and thought we were good to go. The train we chose stayed at the station for about an hour... and then it took about an hour to get to Gatwick. We finally got there around 8:50, ran to security to be turned away and told we

needed a Visa check, waited in line for a Visa check, sprinted over to security and finally made it through. We stood in front of the monitor patiently waiting for our gate to appear so we could make our dramatic run to the plane.... and then our plane was delayed for about 2 hours not to mention the hour we sat on the runway because the weather conditions were to bad to fly in. We thought the only thing left that could go wrong was for our plane to crash....

Fortunately, our plane did not crash and we landed in Dublin around 1:30 am. We hoped on a bus that took us about 4o minutes to a spot in the middle of Dublin outside of Trinity church. We wondered around Dublin at 2:30 in the morning searching for our hostel and after walking in the wrong direction we turned around and found it. We went in to get our key to our room (which we paid extra for so we could have a private room where the tour began) and the guy at reception could not find us in the computer... We were exhausted, in Dublin, thinking we had no place to stay. He found us finally and we went to our room and got about 4 hours of sleep before we had to get up and get ready for the tour departure. 

I got up and showered (the shower was very interesting contraption that took me about 15 minutes to figure out), S, L and I then went down to the lobby to sign into our SHAMROCKER Sourthern Ireland 3 day tour. We signed in, boarded the bus, and began the tour! 

Our tour guide, Kev, started immediately giving us tid bits about Ireland history as we made our way through the countryside. Our first stop was something Castle. Then we went to the Mitchelston caves which was creepy and really cool. Then we headed to Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney stone, where I was granted the gift of gab... however, I am convinced I already had that :). We spent the night in Killarney at a little hostel. S,L and I were in a room with 6 other people and we became friends with three other girls in our room; Kathy, Meredith, and Sarah. We went to dinner with them and then everyone from the tour met at a pub. I had my very first Guinness and hung out with the girls. We stayed there for a while and then Kev got us free cover into the Grand Hotel, a pub/club a couple blocks away. It was a lot of fun and filled with good looking Irish men, my favorite :). We danced all night and finally swaggered home around 2:30 am. Seeing the opportunity to shower in an empty co-ed shower, S,L and I hopped in and then went to bed for about 4 hours before we had to get up again and get on the bus. 

Saturday was a beautiful day to travel through the Irish countryside, besides the fact that it was rainy and cold. We drove along the ocean and through the hills and saw amazing views that could not possibly be captured by cameras. We stopped along the way for some photo

 opps. At one point, we stopped on a beach that legend has takes a little part of your soul when you touch it, and eventually sometime in your life you will have to revisit the spot to collect the little bit of you you left behind in beautiful Ireland. So even though it was cold and rainy, we ventured down to the icy waters to dip a toe in the mystery water (me sporting my ill-fitting, graciously lent rain jacket from Claire). Also, on Saturday we went to the Cliffs of Moher, which are the cliffs from the new Harry Potter movie (if you are a fan its the cave in which Voldemort's Horcrux is hidden that Dumbledore and Harry go to retrieve) and they are also the Cliffs of Insanity from Princess Bride. They were beautiful and scary. We rode a fairy across the river to get to County Clare :) (the most superstitious county in Ireland) and then spotted some more scenic things on our way to Doolin where we were spending the night. 

We stayed in Doolin, the home of traditional Irish music with only 1,000 residents, and went to one of the 4 pubs in town. It was a very cute, traditional Irish bar... exactly how I would picture it with loads of locals who had great Irish accents which I struggled to understand. We had the amazing beef and veggie stew and more Guinness, then headed back to the hostel for an early night. We got up early and headed back towards Dublin with some fun stops along the way including a fairy ring, Clonmacnoise, and one of the oldest whiskey distilleries, yum :). We arrived back in Dublin, S, L and I got on a bus to the airport where we waited to fly home! We got home too late to take the tube and had to take the night bus home, got home about 1:30 in the morning then went to sleep in order to wake up early and go to work!!!!

It was an amazing weekend and so much fun and I can't wait to go back to Ireland!!! 

To be continued....

Coming soon: My weekend with Morgan and Carlye!!

Sorry Readers!

Sorry Blog Readers!

I just wanted to let you know, that I haven't forgotten about you. I did just return from Ireland and I will write about my adventures soon. I am feeling a little under the weather and am also preparing for the arrival of my sister. ON top of that I am trying to work on my final projects for all of my classes! So as soon as I get a down minute, I will fill everyone in! I will be home in 2 1/2 weeks!

Longer Letter Later

Ireland: Here we come!

Not much has been happening since my last post. Monday, Shandi and I went to work and semi-trained our new little intern. Well she is not so little, she is 25. Her name is Michelle and she will be hanging out at Professional Beauty for the rest of our time here. After work, the whole flat went to class which took place at the BBC. We went and had a small tour of the building, and then we were able to speak with the website editor who filled us in on all the logistics of online media. 

After class, Shanid, Linden and I went and ate at Nandos, the one haven in London that has free refills! We love it! Then we intended to go to Quiz night at King's Head, but unfortunately there were no tables left for us to sit :(. So we went and got our own booze, set up Shandi's computer and watched Boondock Saints in preparation for our adventure this weekend. 

Tuesday, we went to work. Today, Shandi and I didn't have to work so I did some much needed laundry and started packing. Tonight Linden, Shandi and I are going to see the 6th Harry Potter movie! Woot Woot. Then we will come home, pack and get ready for the day tomorrow. Tomorrow we have to take our things with us and meet at Victoria station to travel to Gatwick where we will catch a flight to Dublin! YAY! I can't wait for Ireland this weekend! I will let you know how it went when I get back! 

Only 4 more weeks of London! :(

I have some unfortunate news. Tuesday was the Harry Potter world premiere and I have failed the readers by not successfully obtaining pictures and/or an autograph. I did however get insanely wet. It has been sunny for a good two weeks in London, so of course on Tuesday night the wrath of the clouds would burst over Leicester Square where Harry Potter fans waited anxiously to see the stars of the show. Shandi, Linden and I got off work early in anticipation of the premiere. How foolish of us to think that Potter's fans would wait until the afternoon to start lining up. By the time we arrived at Leicester square, the main garden where the stars would be mingling with the fans was already closed off. It had been filled to capacity at 10:00 am... people had camped out there... now that is dedication. Well, we waited for a while in hopes we might catch a glimpse of the stars and then right when they all arrived, a monsoon hit Leicester square... it was like a hurricane, and we were standing in hoards of people who were screaming and running for cover! It was ridiculous. Also, barricades around us had blocked us in and we couldn't get out if we wanted to!  I tried to wait it out for a while, but when my clothes and hair couldn't take it anymore, I called it quits. OF course as soon as I left it stopped raining, but it was alright because I went home and took a hot shower and put my sweats on. Shandi and Linden stayed and did see a few of the stars, but most of their time was spent in the garden. But to make up for it, Shandi, Linden and I are going to see Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince on Wednesday!! yay! I am also about 100 pages from being done with the Harry Potter series which is bitter sweet. 

On Wednesday, Shandi and I went to work and then we all went to class. Then on Thursday at work, Shandi and I had to do some more vox pops which was just wonderful. (not). We had a pretty uneventful weekend. Friday, we went to class and then Shandi, Linden and I went to the London Eye which is a huge ferris wheel that gives you a view of the city. It was a pretty great view and we got some good pictures of Big Ben. Claire's boyfriend was here this weekend and Amanda's family got here on Saturday so Linden, Shandi and I have been just hanging out. Friday night, we had all the intentions of going out, we got all dressed up and then we decided to just stay in and drink. On Saturday, Shandi, Linden and I went to see a photographers exhibition on Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn which was very cool. Then we went to the book store to buy me a new Harry Potter (long story involving missing pages). After that we went to the National Gallery and looked at some cool art. Then we waited in line for a very long time to eat at the London Hard Rock Cafe, the first Hard Rock abroad. It was worth the wait, I actually got to have ranch dressing on my salad!!!! yum. 

Today Shandi, Linden and I headed off to St. Paul's cathedral for a guided tour, and they don't do them on Sundays. So we got back on the tube, headed home, packed a bag of goodies and headed to Hyde park where we read and laid out all day. It started to rain around 5, so we packed up and went home. NOw we are working on some homework and planning for the week ahead! We only have four more weeks of London and we are trying to cram some last minute things in. I am most excited for Thursday because Shandi and Linden and I are going to Ireland for the weekend!!!! YAYA! look out Irish Boys!!!

We finally found the Brits! - Our night in Camden, Independence Day, and Kanye West

Ok guys, sorry I know it has been a while but I will try to fill you in as much as possible.

Wednesday night Shandi and I went and saw the Public Enemies movie... it was amazing and solidified my love for Johnny. Thursday was our flat mate Kristin's last day with us so we decided to go out for one last hurrah. That day at work was Agatha's (the other intern) last day so Jenni took us all to Regent Park for a picnic it was really fun. Then when we got home, Kristin had found this Hookah/dessert/cocktail bar in Wimbley. We got all dressed up and went to make our 8:30 reservation, but there were some tube complications. There was a person under the tube (I know that sounds morbid but we hear it more often than you would think) so there were delays on the one line we needed to take to north London. It took us like an hour and a half to finally get there. Once there, we ordered some goodies and smoked some hookah and reminisced about the last 5 weeks. 

Bright and early Friday morning, Kristin left us and we were all sad to see her go. That afternoon the remaining flat mates all headed to class. When we got done with class we decided to see what fun things we could do that night. Well, we ended up just making some drinks and listening to 90s songs in our living room. Then Reyn, Ricky, and Jessica (other people in our program) came over and convinced us to go out to Camden Town with them to a club called Underworld. Well folks, you know how I said we couldn't find any hot Brits... well we found them! They were all hanging out in Camden Town! who knew. Anyway we danced the night away, made some new, attractive friends and had a brilliant time. We rolled off of the night bus in Earl's Court just in time to see the sun come up. It was a successful night!

Saturday was 4th of July! Most of the readers know I was sad to have to be in a foreign country for one of my top 5 favorite holidays. But it turned out to be a pretty fun Independence day. Shandi and I got up and went to Portobello market to pick up some pictures I was having framed. After that Claire joined us and we went on a "little" shopping spree! (yes some damage was done). When we got done shopping, the flat buzzed as we put on our most patriotic gear (not really, Claire wouldn't let me) and we headed out for some good 'Merican fun at a diner/bowling alley/bar called All Star Lanes. The bowling alley was 50s American themed so it was perfect for our celebration. We bowled two games (I bowled over 100 on both thank you very much!) and just had a great time. We found some cheap and delicious Chinese food right next to our flat and ended the night a little earlier considering we were still exhausted from the night before. 

On Sunday, Claire and I went with Bushnell (another guy from our program) to Wireless 2009 concert in Hyde Park. We spent all day in the sun listening to great music and having fun. We got to see Kid Cuddy (he sings Day and Night for those youngsters out there), Flo Rida and the headliner was Kanye West! It was a great concert and a really fun day, but Claire and I were ridiculously tired when we got home. So we went to bed and I got up the next morning early for work. 

Today I went to work, came home, went to class where we toured The Guardian, went grocery shopping, and then came back home to relax for the night. It is a rainy day in London... THe best times to kick back and catch up on your blogging :)

"I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, whiskey, and you. What else you need to know?" - Johnny

So, Monday started off like any other day. I got up, worked on some homework. The flat mates and I went to Harrods for afternoon tea, and then we got on the tube and headed to leicester square. There were tons of people standing around the movie theater with a huge billboard size poster that had Johnny Depps beautiful face on it and "Public Enemies" written across it. The girls and I grabbed a spot as close as we could to the fence, thats the trick... no matter how far away from the red carpet you are, just find a spot on the fence and chances are you will get some photos or at least a good view. Before Johnny got there, some D-list celebrities walked around for photos and autographs. Freddie Highmore, the boy who plays Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate factory and he is also in August Rush was there and so was the guy from Sweeney Todd, the one who comes with Johnny to London when he gets out of jail, Jamie Campbell Bower. 

Then around 6:30, Johnny arrived. He pulled up in a nice car with the window rolled down waving to everyone. He looked really good...He had to do some press stuff and take pictures, but then he went around to every section of the fence and signed autographs and said hello. Right when he was directly across from my section, getting ready to come to our

side, his body guards (yes at least 3 body guards were surrounding him at all times) took him away to do more press stuff. He promised he would come back though... and he did :). I got his autograph and a little smile from him as well. Oh melt. He is truly amazing. Well worth the 3 hour wait!

Yesterday I went to work and had a nice day. I came home, got ready, and then the flat mates went out to probably the most American place I have ever been to (even in America) called Sports Cafe. It was pretty fun, but I missed the Londonish atmosphere. We danced the night away and took the night bus home around 2:00 am. On the night bus there was a woman professing her immense dislike for Americans and how stupid we are. It was a lovely ride home... 

Today, I had the day off and have been lounging around a bit. I had my half-way through my internship meeting with Boyana (the coordinator for Study Abroad) this morning which went well. I have to go to class soon, and then tonight I am not sure what the flat will be doing. We were thinking about actually going to see Public Enemies, or go to the Canadian festival that is happening in Piccadilly Circus! Who knows where this city will take us...

Wonderful weekend in the sun

This weekend was our long weekend off from school. We had Friday off and we get Monday off to do what ever we please. 

On Thursday I worked all day and it was not a very fun day. My building houses several publications all that belong to the EMAP publishing company and 35 people were fired on Thursday. They are all going to be put into a pool and then interviewed for only a couple of jobs. The saddest part of it all is that one of the girls on our 5 people staff at Professional Beauty was let go, Sara McCorquedole. She is so cute and nice and such a great writer. My editor and assistant editor Jenni and Laura were sad all day because they had to call and tell Sara. To top it all off it was her birthday :(. So now on staff at Professional Beauty publishing a 100 page monthly with few advertisements is Jenni the editor, Laura the assitant editor and Shandi and I, the interns... anyone else see a problem with that. Well, to say the least it is going to increase Shandi and I's work load. Poor Sara :(

On a lighter note, Thursday night me and the girls of Flat 2 got our groove on at ON ANON. We decided to venture outside of Leicester square to get away from the creeper clubs and we wound up trying to get into a club called Cuckoo in Oxford Circus. Linden's friend Shelby was here and she had some connections but unfortunately a group of 7 Americans is not traditionally welcome in exclusive London clubs. So Claire Hanan's bladder led us to a random club called On Anon... there were indeed less creepers but it still smelled like curry and B.O. That did not stop us from get jiggy with it. We danced the night away and when our feet could not take it anymore, we jumped on the night bus and headed home. When we arrived back at the flat we heard the news about Michael Jackson... and then we went to bed. 

The next morning we slept in a bit and then decided to try our luck with queuing at Wimbledon. We took the tube to Wimbledon and were shocked when we saw the hoards of people lined up for MILES.. you might think I am exaggerating but I am not. There were tents set up and everything. We didn't care though, we were determined to get in, even if it meant spending the day lounging in a field... which is what we did. We laid around in the sunny weather for 3 1/2 hours and then finally were allowed to go in. We got to watch a really fun mixed doubles match and explore everywhere else. Our tickets were general admission so we didn't get to see all of the courts but it was totally worth it. We popped into the Wimbledon gift shop before heading home. Once home, we all gathered around my computer and had some girl time bonding while watching the Sex and the City movie. 

On Saturday, Shandi, Kristin, Claire and I got on the train and headed to Brighton Beach. It was a gorgeous day at the beach and so much fun. We spent the day lounging on the pebble beach, reading, drinking some Pimms and dipping our feet in the icy cold Atlantic. After a sufficient day of sun burning, we grabbed some fish and chips and Coronas at a little beach restaurant. Delicious and picturesque. It was a great day, but I went home looking a little

bit more like a lobster than I had before. 

Today was a lazy day in London. Claire and I got up to do laundry which was a fiasco because of broken dryers and such at our launderette, but it all got done. Then the flat was quiet all afternoon while we busy bees worked on our BLC papers that are due Friday. After a hard days work we took in some food at the Portuguese restaurant Nandos. It was amazing and had FREE REFILLS!!!!!!! it was awesome. I had four glasses of diet coke and ice. It was like heaven in a cup. Now we are all hanging out at the flat, making some finishing touches on our homework and mapping out a game plan for our adventure tomorrow... meeting Johnny Depp. AHHHHHHH!!!! 

Planning for weekends ahead

Not much has been happening here in London. Work is slow, we haven't really had to do much except that we have to think up a blog topic and write and blog. Shandi and I both have to do this and whoever has the best one gets published on the website... So we will see how that goes. 

Last night, Linden, Shandi, Claire and I went to Hype Park and saw the Peter Pan statue and the Diana Fountain and we walked forever in the park! It was a gorgeous night and we played with lots of the geese and ducks and it was very fun. Other than work and going to the park, we have been playing some weekend trips. We were going to go to Ireland this weekend but the trip was all booked so we are going to go on a different weekend. On Friday we are going to try and go to Wimbeldon. We heard if we queue at 4:00 we might be able to get some tickets for the day. Then on Saturday we are going to go to Brighton Beach and Sunday is undetermined. Then for the big news... drum roll please..... Johnny Depp, my life's true love, will be here with Christian Bail on Monday for the Public Enemies premiere... be still my heart. I will keep you all posted on Johnny and I's fateful meeting. 

Lovely Weekend With the Rents

This was a very fun and cram-packed weekend. Thursday morning at 7:00 am (1:00 am in Missouri) I picked my parents up at Earls Court Tube Station. I brought them back to show them my flat and drop their luggage off and then we set out to find a traditional English breakfast which includes ham, eggs, baked beans, bread, and a mushroom. A pub in my neighborhood serves all day English breakfast so we grabbed some eats, very delicious, and decided to go tour the Globe Theater. Our goal for the day was to keep my parents up as long as they could possibly keep their eyes open. During the globe tour, which was pretty cool but kind of boring considering that the globe we were touring was built in the 90s (I am all about the originals), my parents began their descent into sleepiness. After the globe, we walked across Millennium Bridge and then headed to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. Sherlock Holmes lived on 221b Baker Street in London so some devout fans recreated his house and set up some trinkets for those Holmes lovers to look at. When we left the Holmes House, we decided to walk up to Oxford street. By that time, my parents were fading fast... we did some more grueling walking and took a few tube lines and then I dropped the rents off at their hotel to take a nap. After a much needed nap, my parents came back to my house and we went and ate at Gourmet Burger Kitchen, a very delicious burger joint down the street. Then the whole flat and my parents went and saw the Hangover... it was hilarious. 

On Friday after my class, mom, dad and I went to do some shopping. We went to Harrods which was amazing and awesome and overwhelming. We perused the diamonds and the shoes (two of my favorite things) and then shopped a little at Top Shop. We then met my flat mates at Ping Pong for a lovely dinner which was followed by a loud, long viewing of Transformers 2 at the Odeon Theater in Leicester square. The theater was huge and had an amazingly powerful sound system. We all left with headaches but were still happy we got to see the movie. 

On Saturday I took mom and dad to Portobello Market in Notting Hill. My mom and I had a great time spending money, dad (although he says he had fun) did a lot of people watching while we shopped. It was a fun day and we had lots of great finds at the market. That night mom, dad and I went to O'neils for some food and then walked to Kensington Park (which I previously thought was Hyde Park but is indeed Kensington) before heading over to the Royal Albert Hall where we saw the King and I. The Royal Albert Hall was phenomenal, and we had GREAT seats, 6 rows from the front! Not only was the show great, but the part of the King was played by Daniel Dae Kim. For those of you who have brilliant taste in television, Daniel Dae Kim plays Jin Kwon on LOST!!!! It was so much fun and then mom dad and I strolled home on the streets of London enjoying the lovely summer night. 

Sunday arrived too quickly and mom, dad and I did as much as we could to delay our farewell. We woke up early and went back to Harrods where we spent most of the day. Dad bought my mom, my sisters, my brother, and me all a little something but I can not say what due to the fact that my siblings have not received their gifts yet and therefore cannot find out from this blog. Around 2:00 we had afternoon tea at Harrods and it was so tasty! We all felt so English with our pinkies out and our scones in hand. Claire, my flat mate, had had tea with her parents when they were there so she accompanied us and showed us how it was done. After tea we shopped some more and then came back to my flat. My street was having the annual Earl's Court festival so we looked around there for a while and then headed off for dinner and Fruilis (a strawberry beer drink that is amazing) at King's Head. After dinner, my parents and I walked to Kensington Gardens, took in the beautiful view of the swans playing at the (what I like to call it anyway) Swan Lake and then went looking for the Peter Pan statue in the gardens. It was a beautiful night and a very great moment to spend with my mom and dad. When the sun began to set finally, we decided to head back to mom and dads hotel room for ice cream and a movie on the portable DVD player. We snuggled up together for our last evening and watched New in Town (horrible film don't watch it). Mom and Dad walked me home and we said our good byes :(. I was very sad to see them go, we had a lot of fun this weekend. 

Today I worked and had class, then had a social with free food. I believe my parents are still traveling at this point in time but hopefully I will hear from them soon to confirm their safe travel home. 

Preparing for the Parents!

The past two days have been pretty uneventful. 

On Tuesday, Shandi and I went to work and had to do Vox Pops. We had to walk all over London, mainly down Oxford street and the Ritzy shopping areas, and interview people on the street. We had to ask them if they knew what a MediSpa is (which no one did so don't feel bad if you are reading this and don't know. I didn't know before I was assigned this either). It is a spa that includes non-invasive procedures such as botox and lip fillers and things like that, but also gives massages and other spa related treatments. So we had to get people's thoughts on these spas and not many people wanted to talk to us. If you don't know what something is then why would you want to talk about it, let alone give a person your name, age, occupation and a head-shot. This was a very trying experience. I hate this sort of thing and I just had to make myself do it! I just wanted to convey to all of the people I was trying to talk to that I didn’t want to have to ask them these questions! It was just as painful to me as it was to them, but of course I could not say that. It was so frustrating and I really had to gear myself up to fling my body in front of someone and pray that they stopped to listen to what I was saying. It was a learning experience and I will NEVER say no if someone asks me to talk to them for a magazine article on the street. Sometimes you just have ot walk in the other guys shoes…

Today I worked without Shandi, in preparation for my parents coming tomorrow! YAY! I wanted Thursday off so I worked on Wednesday alone. I did nothing pretty much all day. Jenni and Laura were both off at a spa day so Sara and Agatha were working with me and they didn't have anything for me to do, so I did my homework, googled a few things, did some searching about film school (random I know but I was just curious to see the admission process for a top film school), and stalked some celebrities. Then I got on the tube and came home, just to turn around and go to class. I am actually in class right now writing this blog! 

I don't know what the plans are for this evening, but I am cleaning my room to prepare for my rents to see it when they get here tomorrow! I am picking them up tomorrow at Earl's Court tube stationed and I have a fun filled weekend planned for us all! I am super excited. 

Before I go I should tell you about an experience I had this weekend that I forgot to tell the readers: This weekend, I was eating some pizza. I didn’t have ranch dressing to dip it in so I was going to try Ceaser dressing. There was a small bottle in the fridge that had been there for a while. It was kind of liquidy looking so I shook it up. I started to unscrew the lid and it began to fizz out of the cap like it was a carbonated drink… I was perplexed. So I took it over to the sink and tried to open it slowly as not to cause a mess. My flat mates were all talking amongst themselves in the kitchen when suddenly… POP!!! The lid FLEW across the room and the contents of the dressing bottle rocketed out of the container!!!! It went EVERYWHERE! It splattered across the wall, it went all over my flat mates’ hair, clothes, etc. It exploded all over my face and body. It sounded like someone had been shot and we all screamed…. It was absolutely hysterical. I laughed so hard, it was something straight out of a movie.

 Thats all... can't wait to see my mommy and daddy!

Shia your breath is so sweet...Transformers Premiere in London

Ok... before I get to the most exciting stuff I will discuss my adventures from yesterday.

Yesterday, the flat mates and I got up early and headed to Hampton Court Palace, one of Henry VIII's most beloved castles... (his son Edward was born there, Anne Bolyen lived there for a while, Katherine of Aragon was sent here.) I was super excited to go and it was very pretty, especially the gardens. I was a bit disappointed due to the lack of Henry VIII history. I figured that since it was one of his favorite places, the castle would be set up to highlight his reign. Well, much of the

 palace burned in a big fire and a lot was rebuilt in the 1700s, so 

much of the rooms were King George's and other Royals from that time. It was still wonderful and I am so glad we got to go. After that, we came home and just chilled at the flat. 

Today, Shandi and I had to go to work until noon and then class from 1-4. That all went fine... we were just really anxious to get out of there because tonight was the London Premiere of Transformers 2. We hopped on the tube and arrived in Leicester square around 4:45. Most of the celebs started filing in around 6:15. Shia LaBeouf was the first to arrive. Many are astonished by this young mans charming demeanor and hot bod considering he got his big break on a Disney tv show playing an uber nerd named Lewis Stevens on Even Stevens. He then went on to play Stanley Yelnats in Holes and now he is the hunky

hunky heartthrob star of Transformers... I literally could smell him.... he was so close and it was amazing. Then Josh Duhmel arrived... back in my younger days a date with Tad Hamilton is all I wanted. Now that the young stud is married off to Fergie Ferge I suppose I will take being insanely close to him at the premiere... Ladies he is just as beautiful in person. Then of course the Diva Megan Fox showed up looking as beautiful as ever. She did not come to our section. It started raining and they hustled the stars in... but we did also get to see Michael Bay the director which was super cool. And I know my brother, the autograph junkie, will be upset to hear that I DID indeed have pen and paper with me, however.. it got trampled in the massive crowd and I was unable to reach it at the appropriate moment... they all totally would have signed though...bummer. It was awesome and amazing and you will be hearing all about the Harry Potter Premiere later in the summer when my flat mates and I attend!

Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth!

Today is the Queen's official birthday... she has two, an official one and an unofficial one. Of course she has two, she is the Queen of England. Anyway, in honor of her Shandi, Kristen and I traveled to Windsor Castle, her favorite castle and the place she resides most often. We had to take the tube to paddington station and then catch a train to Windsor. It was about a 30 minute train ride and we had to switch trains at one stop. The sight of the castle was beautiful as our train approached the station. It was exactly how every little girl's fantasy fairy tale might look. Big castle walls, motes, beautiful towers... it was breathtaking, not to mention it was a beautiful day outside (we haven't been having very nice weather here) so the brilliant blue sky made the backdrop of the castle even more picturesque. We had a bit of bad luck and good luck while we were there, good luck was that we arrived just as the Queen was arriving and they were raising her flag right when we got there, bad luck was that because of this, all of the state apartments were closed and we could not go inside the castle :(. St. George's church (where King Henry VIII is buried) was closed as well. So that was sad, but we did get to go inside the castle walls, and we saw Queen Mary's doll house which was pretty incredible. It was a nice little day trip and then we boarded the train to head back home.

Let me back track a little bit and fill in the past couple of days. Thursday, Shandi and I had the day off since we worked Wednesday and we pretty much relaxed all day with Kristen while the other girls were at work. We did laundry and lounged around most of the day. Then we went to O'neils for a beer and some steak and guinness pie... well I didn't eat the pie but Shandi did. We stayed there most of the night and chatted with some other interns who live in the other building. Then we came home and went to bed. On Friday, we had class from 10-1 and the subject of the class was fashion. Although this did perk my interest more than the past topics, it is hard to stay focused on one subject for three hours. After that our class went to the Victoria and Albert Museum to check out the fashion exhibit. Then we came back to the flat and planned our evening. We decided to go to Abbey Road and take some photos in honor of the Beatles. After that we went to dinner and a trendy chinese restaurant called Ping Pong in Oxford Circus. It was amazing! We had a few cocktails and a great meal and then decided to go to a club in Leicester Square called Metra. It seemed cool when we first arrived, but there was a large amount of foreigners, and not the good kind. We could not even go on the dance floor without having twenty grouping men around us. It was terrible. The only redeeming factor was the very attractive security guard I kept my eye on all night. Although the club was creepy, we still had a fun night... we just can't seem to find where all the attractive brits are hanging out...

I will let you know when that happens ;)

Tube Strike = Armageddon

The past couple of days have been a little bit crazy, especially at work.

 Today at work was our press day, so everything had to be done. Shandi and I were on a roll yesterday, calling to ask last minute questions, doing small interviews with salons for our feature about Most Desirable Salons, searching for pictures to put next to names, and finding a replacement for our Reader Panel, but then the power went out in our whole building! It was chaos considering that a lot of the magazines in our building were going to press the same day as us. We sat around trying to do things without a computer, which proved to be quite difficult. Eventually, our editors decided to give up and figured they could do a lot of their work from home. But they left us measly little interns to stand guard and call if the power returned. We literally had to sit around a deserted dark building and stare at our computers hoping they would switch back on. Around 3:00, one of the head honchos of the building came around and told us that the power was not coming back and that if the fire alarms were not working we had to go home anyway because it was a fire hazard to stay. He didn’t have to say this to many people being as Shandi and I were pretty much the only ones there. So we called Jenni, our editor, and told her the situation. She let us go home at which point we had to begin working. We worked until 6:30 and it was way more exhausting than being at the office. We had none of the resources we usually have and we were communicating with Jenni via e-mail. We phoned reader panels, wrote little blurbs to go with our feature, and figured the final order of our top 50 salons before calling it quits. It was a very long day!

Today was not any less chaotic. As of 19:00 last night, the city of London's tube Union workers went on strike. All tube stations have been shut down for 48 hours. For millions of people who commute to work everyday via the tube (including myself), this is the equivalent of Armageddon.  The tube ride to our work usual takes about 40 minutes, so walking the whole way was out of the question. We had to figure bus routes to work, which was exactly what everyone else in the city did. We ended up waiting for a bus for 30 minutes, pushing our way onto a crammed Baker Street bus, we took that bus for about 40 minutes, and then couldn't find another bus that was empty enough to get on. We had to walk (partially blind due to the fact we had no idea where we were) for 45 min. The cherry on the sundae was it started raining (no umbrella). We finally arrived at the office 40 minutes late (we left 2 hours early, too). Once we got there it was straight to business. We had to edit every single page, look up new statistics, call for product prices and find two new people who we could interview and get pictures from for Reader Panel. We had to leave early from work to try and get to class by bus. We got most of our stuff done at work, hopped on a bus, got lost, walked 20 minutes and got to class about 10 minutes late :)

Good news is since we worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.. we don't have to work until next Monday! Yay!

Now Presenting Empress Claire Constant - she shall rule supreme over all world citizens

Bon Jour!

    Sorry dear avid readers for the blog absence. I have been in the land of lovers (Paris) all weekend and have not had a chance to fill you in on my exciting adventures! This should make up for all those 

hours of sleep you lost wondering what I was doing with my life :) just kidding. But in al

l truthfulness I shall try and make this as thorough as possible.

OK - on Friday, June 5 Lind

en, Shandi, Amanda, Kristin, and I all packed up our luggage for our fun filled weekend to Paris! Before we could leave we had to go to class which was mind-numbingly boring, but this was probably because I couldn't stop thinking of all things Parisian (Men, Fries, Shoes) the usual. After class, we rushed back to the flat, took turns emptying our bladders, grabbed our duffels and ran out the door. The tube ride to the airport is about 45 minutes long, so we left around 1 to get there by 2. Our flight left at 4:00 pm. The flight to Paris was smooth, except for the unnerving fact that we were flying Air France... but we managed to survive. The flight on the way home was a different story... we will get to that part later. We arrived in France and tried to gather our bearings as everything around us had suddenly turned to French, and I am not just talking about the culture, but the language as well. Luckily, Linden has had some training in the French language and did a very good job trying to navigate us out of the airport. She also gave us some key phrases to remember... Je ne sais pas means I don't know and Je voudrais is I would like. We grabbed a taxi, which was a bit of a hassle because none of the taxis are big enough to fit 5 people. It was about a 40 minute cab ride that cost an arm and a leg (65 euros to be exact) but we arrived safely at 

our hostel in CaulainCourt Square.

We checked into our hostel and lucky for us the guy manning the front desk not only spoke English, but he was from Washington,D.C.! We were also pleased to find that we had a private room in the hostel with our own bathroom! We had been told that we would have a random roommate and a public bathroom so that was exciting! The hostel was much cleaner than anticipated as well! It was a small room with two sets of bunk beds and one single. I was fortunate enough to get the top bunk on the middle bed. It was a very small, small mattress with no side rails and extremely high off the ground... you can imagine what was going through my mind when this became my alloted sleeping space... uh huh. yeah. We all had a good

chuckle on the first night when my legs were dangling off both sides of the bed. 

Once all of our luggage was stowed away and we had thoroughly thumbed through my guidebook that I brought along (Mom - 25 best things to do in Pairs was a lifesaver.. glad we got it) we journeyed down to the metro. The metro is a bit different from the tube in London, plus everything is in French so we tried asking the information desk - Par lez-vous anglais? (do you speak English). He said no. Luckily the electronic ticket stand had an English option!!! We got our tickets, figured out our route and headed out to our first destination.

We found a cheap (well at least not as expensive as everywhere else) French restaurant called Le Petite St. Benoit. The menu was hand written in French, but the atmosphere was simply magnifique!! There was an accordion playing and red and white table cloths! It was brilliant and delicious!!! Our waiter was kind enough to tell us what everything was in English. We drank wine and ate steak and soaked in the moment. After dinner we strolled around Paris, walked around the Seine, enjoyed the beautiful weather, saw a man peeing under the bridge, walked to the Notre Dame to see it illuminated and then headed back to the hostel. It was a lovely first night in Paris!

We woke up Saturday morning very early and set out to be touristy. We had purchased passes through STA travel for a hop on, hop off b

us tour. The bus would drop you off at key points in Paris and then you could hop on the next bus when you were done taking photos or looking around. We didn't know where the first stop was but we knew the Louvre was on the list so

 we tried there first. We took the metro and got to the Louvre. It was very cool, but we didn't go in. Fodor (author of guidebook) let us know that the Louvre is free on the first Sunday of every month and luckily thats when we were there! How convenient. The same applied to the Musse´ D´orsay (a museum of modern artists). So we walked outside of the Louvre to try and find the bus. Our search was not helped by the weather in Paris. It was rainy and cold and none of us came prepared for that sort of weather. But we would not surrender to the rain! We were determined to see EVERYTHING we could in two days. So we walked and searched. We finally saw a bus drive by that had the name of our tour on it. The driver acknowledged us, slowed to let people on, we were running towards him, and he freakin drove away! WE WERE STANDING IN THE RAIN AND HE DROVE AWAY! I was not happy. Then we decided to walk over to Musee D orsay to see if there was a stop around there. There was a sign for our bus, but we decided to go get a cup of coffee to warm up and have a bite to eat. We found a little cafe´, where everything was in English, out of the cold weather. 

We ate and then we boarded the tour bus. We were given headphones to listen to a guide speaking in English and a ticket to get on and off the bus. We also found from the ticket that it was valid for two days!! The bus was a double-decker open top, unfortunately it was a bit too wet for the top deck. The first stop was the Palais Garnier - the French Opera House. It was so beautiful!! Pictures could not express the beauty of this building. We paid 4 Euros to enter and it was so worth it. This opera house was the inspiration for the Phantom of the Opera. It has two driveways leading to the front doors and this was so that Napoleon's horses could drive right up. It was so cool. After that, we hoped back on the bus and headed to the next stop. On our drive we passed the spot where Marie Antoinette lost her head and the bridge where Princess Diana died. We stopped at the Arc de Triomphe. It is huge. SOOO much bigger than I expected! But it was beautiful, too. We went over and looked at the tomb for the unknown soldier under the arc. 

Our next stop was Trocodero Square. From this square is a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower. It was my first time seeing the tower and it didn't matter how drenched and cold I was, the tower lit up my afternoon. I had always heard that the tower was a bit disappointing but I have to most extremely disagree! It was amazing. The bus also took us to the base of the Eiffel Tower and that was extraordinary as well. After the Tower, the bus took us to Notre Dame and we went inside. It was gorgeous. 

Exhausted and wet, we all decided it would be a good idea to chill at the hostel for a while and plan our evening. We went back, relaxed, took a little power nap, and then headed back on the town. We decided to go to a restaurant by Socre Cour (the famous cathedral) but when we got there they didn't start serving food for another half hour so we tried finding somewhere else. We looked around and found a moderately priced restaurant that none of us remember the name of but I know how to get there! It was absolutely delicious. After dinner we took the metro to Trocodero Square to watch the Eiffel Tower light show. On the way there, we saw a puppet show on the metro -  the show was a singing mouse with a sombrero singing Speedy Gonzalez... it was a very peculiar choice of show for a French metro, but we went with it. 

That night we watched the Eiffel Tower light show, got some cotton candy and lounged on the lawn below the Tower. It was an amazing night, beautiful clear skies after a rainy afternoon and the perfect end to our Saturday in Paris.

Sunday morning, we rose early once again to get in the Louvre and the Musee Dorsay before leaving for our flight. We grabbed the metro to the Louvre and began our eager voyage to find the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and Napoleon's Apartments. We found the apartments first and they were intense! Some of the rooms were EXACTLY as they were when Napoleon lived there. It was soo crazy and insanely beautiful! Ugh history... you are so cool. Then we squeezed through masses of people to snap photos of the Mona Lisa as well as the Venus de Milo. After successfully spotting all of our major points in the Louvre, we ate at the cafe´and then wondered outside into the gardens. The Tuileries gardens are filled with statues, a large fountain and lots of hedge walls. It was beautiful and the weather was nice and it was a perfect French moment. On this excursion, the girls and I decided that I would take over the world someday and become Empress Claire Constant. We would have our portraits painted and have the ability to teleport. Of course I appointed them as Duchesses of all the continents, I am a very good delegator. :) 

After the Louvre we journeyed to the Musee Dorsay and looked at Monet and Renoir and wonderful painters such as that. Then we decided since it was a beautiful day we would jump back on the bus and ride up top this time! That was magical. Seeing the city and all its glory was a truly wonderful experience. Too bad after about ten minutes of that the clouds rolled in, the sun ran away, it started sprinkling and became very cold. But we braved the situation and remained on the bus. We got off at the Eiffel Tower and then headed back to the hostel to call a taxi for the airport. This took a while once again due to us having 5 passengers. We ended up waiting in the hostel for about one hour, listening to the French front desk guy trying to get us a cab. THe cab finally arrived and we got to the airport around 6:15 pm. We were flying Air France home once again but apparently Air France has about 50 terminals and you have to know which one your flight is on, which we didn't. It took us a while but we finally found it, went through customs and security and then waited for our plane. By this point all of us were sick of hearing French, we craved English, and London, and even our crappy flat on Hogarth Road. We wanted to be home. 

Our flight left at 8:00 pm and it takes about 35 minutes to get to London. We arrived at Heathrow but unfortunately could not land and had to fly around through the clouds for 40 minutes. We were all frustrated and just wanted to get on the ground. It was dark and rainy outside and the turbulence was ridiculous. Then suddenly a large flash filled the plane and the aircraft shook. Everyone looked around curiously and the pilot said something over the loudspeaker in French. You can imagine the thoughts racing through our minds after the recent Air France plane crash that was struck by lightening. It was terrifying and a group of loud, obnoxious English teenage rugby players did not help the situation. Fortunately, we landed at Heathrow a short while later and we were all happy to be on the ground! We got on the tube as fast as possible and headed back to Hogarth. It was a glorious feeling seeing our home again...

A weekend in Paris is an absolute MUST but it felt so good to be back in London... I love this city :).

Would you like a lesson in buttrucking?

Today was the first day that I actually slept in! For those of you who know me well, sleeping in is one of my favorite past times. I slept until 11:00! It was glorious. Then I did some homework and then I went to class! Class was alright. Wrote another novel for Reuben. After class we had our first class social! We went to O'Neils pub and we had a few pints while watching some rugby. Go Lions!

Claire, one of the flat mates, used to play rugby so she gave us some lessons on rucking. She told us about the person who comes from behind, and he is called the buttrucker. That was my lesson learned from the day. It was fun. Now we are hanging out at the flat, wishing we had a dvd player to watch a movie on our 3" tv screen. I have a full day of work tomorrow and then we are going out!! YAY!

Pretty Boring Day...

Nothing too exciting today. Went to work this morning. Called about 50 salons to dog on them about not taking our Most Desirable Salons of 2009 survey. Edited some things. Typed up a story that my editor had written on the train... it was very, very hard to read and took about 15 minutes for a very short story. Came home. Watched the MTV Movie awards. Made cookies with Claire. Well, watched as Claire made cookies. And now I am getting ready to read Harry Potter and go to bed! It was a long day at work and I am pooped. But tomorrow I don't have to work! So I think I am going to take myself down to Hyde park and relax for the day. 

Interesting Moment today: On my way home from work, I was in the elevator in the tube and I accidentally pushed the emergency alert button. A loud alarm started ringing, and a voice over told us to remain calm, help was on the way. Well, Shandi and I (and everyone else who was on the elevator) got out of there before help arrived... Don't worry though, I graciously reassured the people entering the elevator that there was no emergency. yikes. Embarrassing moment. 

Another hard day at work...

Today was my second day of work. It was a half day because Shandi and I had to get to class at 1:00 pm. We worked on the 50 Most Desirable Salon survey for 2009, it has kind of become our baby. We were also given things to do for tomorrow as well because our assistant editor is going to Thailand and our editor won't be in all day. So it will just be me, Shandi, and Sarah. But hopefully with all of the work we have to get done, the 9-5 work day will go by quickly.

During class today we went over our projects that were due and then watched a video on war correspondence. It actually wasn't that boring of a class! After class, the flat lounged for a while and then Claire and I went with her friend Abby and Abby's roommate to try and find Parliamentary Hill. It is supposed to have a spectacular view of the sunset. After taking the northern line on the tube all the way up to Hampstead and climbing for a while, we reached a hill, it wasn't Parliamentary Hill from what we could tell, but the view was pretty and there were paths to walk. We went exploring in the woods and saw like 500 bunnies, I am not even joking... 500.  We found some fresh jasmine too.. it was beautiful. Then we started getting sweaty, and eaten by skeeters, and we decided to head home. 

Interesting moment of the day: A girl on the tube showed Claire and I a picture of her boyfriends penis on her cell phone... aww London... what will you introduce me to next...

Oxford!

Yesterday, a bus of about 20 people from the program traveled the hour and a half trip to Oxford. Diane, our tour guide, led us through the history of Oxford and all its buildings. It was a beautiful day, perfect for being outside. We arrived in Oxford around 11 am and Diana took us on a walking tour. We passed all of the famous colleges and Diana gave us a famous person who attended each one. We also saw the Martyrs statue which was built for Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the two bishops Latimer and Ridley. Thomas Cranmer issued Henry VIII's divorce to Catherine of Aragon and all of the bishops were part of the reformation. So when Mary Tudor became queen (Catherine's daughter) she tried to restore Catholicism and had the bishops burned at the stake. We got to see the cobblestone with an X on it on the street where they were burned. 

After touring the town, we had some free time to do whatever we please. The flat mates and I went and ate at Eagle and Child pub. This was a popular hang out for C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. When we finished eating, we roamed around tow

n looking at historical buildings. Then we met with Diana and some of the other group members to take a tour through Christ Church.

Christ Church was originally supposed to be a college sponsored by Cardinal Woolsey, but when the Cardinal fell from King Henry's good graces, the King made it into Christ Church. Christ Church is also the filming area for some of Harry Potter! The main dinning hall is where Hogwarts dinning hall is filmed and the stairs leading up to the dinning hall are also featured in the films. Remember when Neville Longbottom loses his toad on the stairs... those are the stairs :). We toured the cathedral and the chapel where there are many memorials and burials of famous people. It was a very historically interesting day, and Oxford is absolutely beautiful!

We got home from Oxford around 5:00. The flat was a stir because at 6:45 the season finale of Britain's Got Talent was on! We had to see if Susan Boyle would win... unfortunately she did not. Dang.. we were all rootin for you Susan! After the Finale, the girls and I made an alcohol run and then came back to the flat for some flat mate bonding! 

Today we have been doing our very fun and educational project (not) that is due tomorrow. Nothing like waiting till the last minute...

Give em a little Razzle Dazzle!

So today started off a bit slow and ended with a bang! Or two bangs from Roxy Hart! The flat was stirring around 9 am this morning as we all buzzed around in preparation for class. BLC. British Life and Culture or what I like to call it, Boring Lame Class!!!!! I do admit, I love listening to the speaker with his British accent and sometimes the content is a little interesting, its just that three hours sitting in a classroom while I am in LONDON is not ok with me. It was alright though, I completed two people puzzlers during the period :). 

After class was over, we came back to the flat and ate lunch. We then headed over to STA travel to book our trip for Paris next w

eekend. We leave on Friday and then spend two whole days in France... ahh I am so excited. A wee bit pricey, but what can you do... its PARIS! When our itinerary had been finalized, we all went 

to the laundry mat across the street. Then Linder (thats what we call Linden since everything in British ends with r) and I sat at the laundry place while Shandir (thats what we 

call Sh

andi for the afore mentioned reason) and Kristen went to TKTS to find us some cheap theater tickets! We scored with great 

seats at the Cambridge Theater for a West End (like Broadway) production of Chicago. 

So we finished the laundry, ate dinner, got ready and headed over to Covent Garden for the show. It was marvelous. A very well put on show. The dancers bodies make me never want to eat again... I say as I take another bite of ice cream...  and I am sure I will be humming all the songs for weeks to come... and all that jazz...  :) 

Day 1 in the Real Working World - exhausting!

I don't know how you old people do it... Working from 9:30-5:30 is exhausting. But it was fun and exciting all at the same time! Shandi and I got up this morning and put on our previously selected outfits. We took the long tube ride to the intimidating office building and slowly approached the stairs. We received our temp/free lance passes to let us in to the building - these cards are also used to swipe open the doors! It is very high tech... 

When we got upstairs, we met with Jenni Middleton, the editor, and she told us a little bit of what we would be doing. Then we promptly got to work. Our first task was to complete this months Reader Panel. We had to take questions that had been answered by salon owners (by the way salon is pronounced SALon - emphasis on the first syllable) and put them into an InDesign layout.. it was very official and quite fun actually. Then we had a one hour break for lunch.

After we returned from lunch, we got to work on our next task. We emailed and phoned like 50 people about the 50 Most Desirable Salons for 2009. It was not fun... then Laura McCreddie edited our Reader Panel and said she was very impressed!!! :) Finally, the clock rolled around to 5:30 and Shandi and I bolted out of there like the place was burning down. "Head for the Hills" we said. We then got on the tube during rush hour which was also NOT FUN. 

We got home around 6:15. Now we are lazily attempting to do our homework and of course we are having a feeding frenzy of our new fetish... ice cream :). Late night run to Sainsburys  anyone? 

Henry the VIII 6 wives he wedded...

Henry the VII 6 wives he wedded. One survived, one died, two divorced, two beheaded!

It is official. Today I went to the Tower of London. It was ev

erything I had hoped and more! It was awesome to see the actual walkways that Anne Boleyn walked on. We stood in the very spot were her head was cut from her body! The coolest part was probably the Traitors Gate. It is the moat you see in movies where people are being taken by a small boat to the Tower to be imprisoned. The actually steps that Anne Boleyn walked up to m

eet her untimely demise are still there! It was awesome... We also go

t to see the bell tower where Sir Thomas Moore was housed before his execution and where Queen Elizabeth I was imprisoned before she was queen because she was suspected of trying to overthrow her sister Queen Mary. AHHH! I may sound like a huge nerd for saying this, but it gave me goose bumps. The fact that it was freezing rain and windy as all get out just made the experience that much more exciting. It was as if God was setting the stage for this historical tour ha ha. 

I could go on and on about the tour, but I suppose I will stop... we got back to the flat and ate a quick lunch before heading off to our first internship class. The class consisted of us typing for an hour and a half. Questions were put on the board, and we had to

 type our answers. I typed four pages (single spaced!). It was not fun. Then we went around the room and talked about everyones job placement and interviews. Lots of people got some really cool internships and it was fun to hear about them. 

After class, we came back to the flat for some flat mate bonding and now we are all nervously pondering tomorrow's activities... our first day of work - DUM DUM DUUUUUHHHMM! I work until 5:30 and then I have to work on a group project at 6. I will report back after my long day tomorrow. 

Hello, My name is Claire. I am an intern at Professional Beauty Magazine!

Today was the big day - our internship interviews. The whole flat was a stir this morning with wardrobe options and hair preparations. Shandi and I left for our interviews at 9:50 and arrived in Mornington Crescent, where The Greater London House building is (i.e. EMap where Professional Beauty is housed) at around 10:30. We grabbed a quick coffee to kill some time at a place around the corner called Costa Coffee (a place I feel like we will be frequenting). Then we nervously made our anxious walk up the stairs to this amazing infrastructure. We found our way to the front desk of Emap and received our visitor passes (only temporary passes mind you :) ). Then we waited.... and down the stairs came Laura McCreddie, assistant editor of Professional Beauty. She is a very trendy, very small young woman. As she approached we stood up and her first reaction to me was "Oh my God you are tall" (read with British accent so it sounds cooler).  

After meeting Laura, she told us a little bit about Professional Beauty, had one-on-one convos with Shandi and me and then showed us around the office. We were introduced to the other staff members Agatha (a fellow intern) and Sarah. The editor Jenni Middleton was out of town. After all of our questions were answered (what to wear, when to be there, what we would be doing) we were escorted downstairs where our new badges were made. No more visitor passes for us! Oh and P.S. - Professional Beauty works in close proximity to a fashion magazine that is said to be TWO YEARS ahead of the fashion curve.. Vogue even relies on them for ideas (GASP). 

After we all returned from our interviews, we decided to take a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral. By the time we got there, the last tour had already left so we scratched that idea and headed to the British Museum. It was very cool - we spent most of the time stalking the Greek statues area. Our feet were starting to hurt so we decided to head home. 

It is now 5:38 and the flat mates are all blogging. Plans for this evening - a trip to King's Head pub for some Lager and Ale... yummmmmm. Then perhaps a stop at Sainsburys for our new obsession - Ben and Jerry's Ice cream... how American of us ;)

TOMORROW, the fateful trip to the TOWER shall commence!!!!! yayay

Interview Preparations!

This morning, one of my flat mates, Shandi, and I got up to "practice" the tube stops going to our interview. It takes 40 minutes to get to where we will be working! We got to see the building where Professional Beauty magazine is located and it is HUGE! Very intimidating... and exciting. When we got back from the practice journey, the other flat mates joined us and we bravely ventured to Oxford Street. Oxford Street houses some of the best shopping in London and since it was a Bank Holiday today, it was crowded to say the least. After popping in to H&M and grabbing a quick bite, we headed towards Primark, which is basically "Forever 21 on Crack" (thank you Linden for that quote). It is super cheap and super stylish and SUPER PACKED~!!! It was hot, steamy and I felt very claustrophobic. Needless to say, we didn't last long in Primark before deciding to come back and try later. 

We arrived home around 4:00 pm  and then went up to CAPA to print off clips and CVs (more commonly known as resumes in the States) to take with us to our interviews. Then we stopped off at Sainsburys to do a bit of grocery shopping. Now we are chillin out in the flat and preparing for our interviews tomorrow!

Will report back with interview results...