12 more hours...

I will see Pete in 12 hours. I am ridiculously excited about this. But I will warn you, I probably won't blog until after he's gone. I might be able to put a few pictures up here and there, but don't assume that I've fallen off the end of the Earth if you don't hear from me until Wednesday. I'm so excited to give him a taste of London. Honestly, London isn't the most romantic city in the world, but I know this is going to be an incredibly romantic weekend sightseeing and hitting up pubs and concerts with him. Rain or no rain, this is going to be an incredible weekend and start to next week.

Of course, we will be staying up late to watch the Superbowl on Sunday, which I believe will be at 11:30 p.m. here. Oh well. I will still get a couple of hours in before work. As an American, it is my obligation to watch this game, and luckily Imperial College will leave their pubs open to cater to its American exchange students. Hooray!

Tomorrow, I'm sending Pete on a scavenger hunt while I'm at work in hopes that this will keep him preoccupied so he doesn't go to sleep. I know, probably a little mean, but I just don't want him to mess up his sleep schedule right when he gets here. I can't give away some of the stuff on the list, but I think it'll keep him busy. Hopefully he doesn't get too pissed off at me for making him more exhausted than he already is.

The past few days have been nice and low key. I had a great night on Tuesday when I celebrated my friend, Mary Elyse's 21st birthday at a pretty cool club in Piccadilly called TigerTiger. It was pretty tame (pun intended) on a Tuesday, but you can tell it's a crazy time on weekends. I had a great time hanging out with some girls I hadn't really spent time with since I've been here.

Yesterday we visited the Tate Britain, a beautiful art museum comprised mostly of British artists' works. You'd think I'd be museum-ed out by now, but honestly, each one is so different that it doesn't bore me at all. Plus, it's winter still here, so there's not a whole lot to do outside during the colder days.

Last night, Pam and I attended a public forum, which was set up to discuss the media coverage of the Madeline McCann case. We went for our International Issues and Reporting class, and I'm really glad I went because I got to witness the British press functioning right before me. Here's the story: Madeline was a 5-year-old kidnapped while vacationing in Portugal with her family last May, and she has yet to be found. Her story has been a year-long media sensation, causing a lot of debate about how the media's covered it, what the PR spin on it is and who is to blame. This was my first quasi-press conference I've attended, and there were parts of it that entirely shocked me. Some people came there to play the blame game only. They adamently accused the girl's parents of killing her and collecting money donated to her fund. The thing is, no one knows who's to blame. There are no hard facts. To go in there to a conference that is focused on the media's coverage and behavior and then turn it around and start pointing fingers without any evidence is ridiculous. These people got a lot of "boos" from the majority of the people attending. Needless to say, it turned into quite a lively experience, which I really got a kick out of. I feel bad saying that, since this girl's disappearance is at the core of the issue, but some of these people were so tactless. I know this rowdiness isn't typical at all of British media or citizens, but it was still interesting to see all the different perspectives and attitutudes people have on the issue.

I was not interested in pointing fingers, but in the media's coverage of the issue. I could go on and on about the lack of journalistic principles in this case--how the incessant coverage has turned this little girl's sad case into almost celeb gossip; how stories and accusations in the press go unchecked; how sensationalism runs rampant--but really it's not worth it. I'm kind of jaded about the whole journalism thing. I guess it's good I'm going into advertising.

All right, I'm out for the night. I need to get some stuff ready for Pete's arrival tomorrow. I'll try to keep you posted throughout the weekend, but if not, you'll hear from me Wednesday or Thursday!