Before my travels

So tomorrow (being Saturday, since it's technically very early Friday morning here), I head off to my mid-term break in Paris and Rome. Pam and I will be taking the Eurostar beneath the English Channel to Paris. Pete's going to meet me there for a couple of days, and then on Wednesday morning Pam and I will continue on to Rome for a couple of days and then fly back to London on Sunday, March 9. It's going to be a whirlwind of a week, but I am so excited. Today, I practiced key French and Italian phrases, namely those like "Where is the bathroom?" and "I'm lost! Do you speak English?" My favorite phrase that I've perfected is "I would like a litre of the house red wine, please" in Italian. Haha. We'll see if I actually use that one.

This week has been pretty laidback. Monday and Tuesday were class days, and besides giving a group presentation on British ads on Monday, were pretty basic. Wednesdays we usually have a class-related field trip, but this week being right before break, they let us have a free day. I ended up having to go into work and help set up for a presentation and party that evening. Prior to going in, I treated myself to the National Portrait Gallery, where they have a current high-profile exhibition of Vanity Fair photos throughout the decades. It was a little pricey of an exhibit, but I loved it. It's amazing to see these famous and beautiful photos of some of the world's most famous people. My favorites are by Anne Leibowitz, whose work is easily identifiable. She's the one who is often behind the big tri-fold Vanity Fair covers with a spectrum of celebrities. She's an absolute genius. Google her. You'll be impressed. After that exhibit, I checked out one of the all the Tudor portraits, which featured original oil portraits of King Henry VIII, his hundreds of wives (ok, he only had 6 in reality...still too many) and a lot of Elizabeth I and her court. I've been so immersed in the Tudor dynasty since reading and watching The Other Boleyn Girl, so I'll ride this wave of interest until I get sick of it. It is intriguing history, though.

After the museum, I went in to help set up for a presentation and screening of the Cannes Lions Festival. This Festival is like the Addies of the US--it's the top ads of the year in all mediums from all over the world. My employer has ownership in the festival, so it was an event put together to show clients a little about what the festival has to offer. The ads themselves were absolutely brilliant. It makes me happy to be in a field that is so creative, even if I never actually create the stuff. The whole night was a lot of fun. We all enjoyed great champagne (probably too much) and tapas, and afterwards one of my bosses and a couple coworkers went out with the interns to a pub for a pint. It's great that we're getting to know everyone on a much more personal level. I feel like I can joke around and be really casual with people in the office. It's so cool to feel that you can relate to people on that level and not just be viewed as "the intern." I had similar relationships with some of my coworkers over the summer, so it's really nice that the same thing is working out overseas. We're at the halfway point in our internship now, which is pretty sad, but I know the latter half of the semester is going to be just as great as the first. It's hard not to have fun when I go into work. It's a nice reassurance that I'm going into the right career.

It's been a nice, low-key week leading up to a crazy one this coming week. I want to forewarn you that I will not be bringing my computer on my trip with me, so there will be no blog updates for a little while. When I return, prepare yourself for a monster entry and too many pictures. Also, I still need to upload some pictures from Greenwich, particularly those where I'm in two hemispheres at once. I'll try to get those up tomorrow, but no promises. Packing takes precendent.

That's it for now. Happy leap year! I'd like to give a special shout out to my cousin, Annie, who turns 6 today! Hooray!