Just Rome-ing Around

Rome wasn’t built in day, but you can definitely see it all in three or four. That was Pam and my opinion, anyway. Rome really grew on me while I was there. It’s a lot smaller than Paris, so waaay smaller than London, but that made seeing all the sights really feasible. And that was our plan. Also, I was happy to find that most people were able to converse with us in English and were incredibly friendly.

Day 5--The day my calves will never forget:
After arriving to Rome around lunchtime, Pam and I had our first genuine Italian food at a little pizzeria across the street from our hostel. Our pizzas were good, but in general, I wasn’t overly impressed by the Italian food we had on our trip, but this is likely because we chose the cheapest ones we could find. I have no doubt that the higher-priced ones serve the most amazing Italian food you can get.

We decided afterwards to just explore the area nearby, but we kept getting curious by things we saw, and ended up walking literally one-half of the city. We explored the ruins around the Roman Forum and Trajan Markets, dating back to the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.


Me with the Trajan Markets, the world's first shopping centers. As a female, I really appreciated this bit of history.

Knowing that we were going to see these areas more in detail later, we decided to see the famous Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps, both huge tourist attractions.


The beautiful Trevi Fountain. You are supposed to throw coins over your shoulder into the fountain--the first to make a wish and the second to return to Rome. I didn't know about the second one, so I don't know if I'll ever make it back to Rome. Hopefully I do though.


The busy Spanish steps.


They look prettier during the summer when they are full of flowers.


Me on the steps.

Walking a bit further, we entered a great park that housed the Museo Borguese, an art museum we were interested in visiting that housed what we at first thought was Michelangelo’s famous sculpture, David. Turns out that it actually is in a museum in Florence, so I guess it’s good that we didn’t pay that time. All the walking sufficiently wore us out for the day, so we had a relaxed chill night at the hostel.

Pam and I stayed at a pretty cool youth hostel, but through a mistake in booking, ended up being in separate rooms. At first, we were kind of worried about staying with six or seven people we didn’t know at all, but it ended up being really cool. During my four nights there, I ended up rooming with a French family, guys from Japan, girls from Argentina, a girl from Mexico and a couple of Americans. (The variety coming from the fact that people left and arrived to the hostel on different nights. I had new roomies almost every night.) It was a cool cultural mesh that I haven’t experienced here yet. Pam had just as much diversity going on in her room, so I got to meet a bunch of other people that way. As long as you’re laid back and open to the rooming-with-strangers situation, these kinds of hostels are definitely the way to go.

Check out more photos by copying and pasting this link to my Facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37878517&l=6dc60&id=15921830.

Paris part two: The Gypsy Saga

Finishing up the last two days in the City of Love...

Day 3-The InSEINE adventures of Sam and Pete

Pete gave this day the highly politically incorrect title of Samantha Schaefer’s Bataan Death March. When I’m in tourist mode, I’m kind of hardcore, apparently. I was determined to see a lot of sights, and when I'm in that mood, strap on your walking shoes or else.

We started out the day by doing a little shopping because Pete needed another sweater, and I wanted to see if I could capitalize on the better exchange rate. I ended up getting nothing, but Pete got a couple of good shirts. I honestly think he has a better sense of style (guy’s style at least), than I do.

We were planning on doing a group walking tour of some of the city’s sights, but at the last minute, decided to set our own itinerary so as to take our time and see what we wanted to see most. We started at Notre Dame again, but this time, took a tour through the inside. Its stained-glass windows are just as incredible as everyone says.


The beautiful South Rose Window, one of the most famous pieces of stained glass in the world.

We then took a leisurely stroll down the Seine River that cuts through the heart of Paris. We had an incredible afternoon on our journey, staging ridiculous photo shoots and visiting vendors that set up tourist-trap shops along the river banks. We ended our walk at the Eiffel Tower. By that time, the line was over an hour long and a little more pricey than we would have liked, so we both enjoyed the experience of looking up at it as opposed to looking down from it.


The Eiffel Tower from where we stood.


Looking at the Eiffel Tower from where we stood.

It was at this point when we were accosted by a number of women (who we were informed were gypsies) who approached us one by one, handing us a sheet of paper to read about their sad situation, and begging for money. One after the other handed us the EXACT SAME sheet of paper with the exact same story, so we eventually crossed the street to avoid them. We ended up buying a waffle on this side, but moved out of the way to eat it in secret so they wouldn’t see that we actually had cash on us. We then had to map out our escape route to the metro that best avoided their territory. OK, it was all a little immature, but really funny to us at the time.


Eating my tasty waffle in secret.

Lauren, my suitemate from freshman year, is studying abroad in Paris, so she, Pam, Pete and I all met up for a nice wine night near Lauren’s apartment. It was nice having someone with us who could at least speak French a little (well, a lot) better than us. And her apartment is absolutely adorable--very Parisian chic.

Day 4-Beware the Early Flights:
Pete, Pam and I had a fairly casual day, just exploring little shops in the Saint-Germain area and enjoying one last panini before Pete left to catch a train back to Pamplona. It was a sad goodbye, but I get to see him again in a little over a week for Easter break, which definitely helps out with the heartache.
Pam and I ended up having a bit of a freakout when we realized that the Regional Express Railroad, which we had planned on taking to Orly Airport the next morning, would not be running early enough to catch our flight, so after dinner, we tried to figure out that situation. Lauren luckily saved the day by getting a cab to pick us up bright and early the next morning. He picked us up at 4:10 a.m., so honestly wasn’t that bright at all, both in terms of sunlight and our moods. Words of wisdom for you: Do NOT get early flights in cities where you have to rely on public transportation to get to the airport. Generally, the subways and trains are down until about 5:30 in the morning, so you end up relying on the pricier cabs. So not fun.

That about wraps up the Paris portion. I absolutely loved the city and would not mind going back again. I felt like I only scratched the surface of what the city has to offer. I'll have to buffer up my French a bit and go back for a longer stay one day
Check out my facebook album for this portion: http://www.facebook.com/photo.phppid=37826212&l=885e5&id=15921830.
Also, Pete has made a good video montage of our photos and posted them on his blog that you can access by going here: http://pamplonaprose.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!

Paris, je t'aime

I returned home to London yesterday from my amazing spring break in Paris and Rome. Both places were so much fun and I have a ton to share about each day, but to avoid giving you a long novel and you consequently hating me, I’ll break it up a bit for you.

Overall, the whole trip was amazing. I traveled with Pam the whole time and met up with Pete in Paris for a couple days at the beginning of the trip. The whole thing went pretty smooth travel-wise, despite a little trouble getting to the Paris airport to catch an early flight to Rome. It feels great to be home in London now and not having to feel incredibly awkward searching for the appropriate French or Italian phrases to use. I felt like we did pretty well with our first really big traveling experience in mainland Europe. We did more walking and sightseeing than I thought imaginable, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’ll do my best to break my trip down a bit for you, and make it interesting with some pictures. Of course, these are just a tip of the photo iceberg, so be sure to check out some of the links to my Facebook albums and some other sights.

Paris:

I absolutely fell in love with Paris. I had a fun few days there, obviously with my experience being enhanced by having Pete there with me. I really just liked the city’s atmosphere a lot. It’s a bit smaller than London, so everything’s a little more attainable with walking and public transportation. Also, there’s tons of outdoor cafés and little vendors on the streets selling delicious paninis and crepes (both of which we had too frequently) so there is a distinct street life and general romantic European ambience in the city.

Day 1—McDonalds and a late night stroll. So romantic, right?
Pam and I took the Eurostar from London to Paris, and arrived around 2. Pete had taken an overnight train in, so he had been in the city for a couple hours. I met up with him and we walked around a bit, exploring some of the neighborhoods outside the city center before making our way down to the Saint-Michel area, where Notre Dame is located. I had taken a couple of years of French in high school, but we were both a little intimidated by the language barrier at first, so sadly, our first night’s dinner was McDonalds. I vowed after that to have no more American fast food chains while in Europe. We initially were going to check out a pub crawl in the St. Michel and Saint- Germain des Prés area, which is a hot spot for bars, restaurants and nightlife, but the days travels left us both tired, so we decided to scratch that idea.


Here's Notre Dame, glowing at night. Apologies for the blurry picture.

Day 2—I like the way you Louvre
Pete and I ended up a little more rejuvenated than the day before, so we set off to do some serious sightseeing. First stop was exploring Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, were Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried. It was an old cemetery, full of these moss-covered mausoleums, which ended up being quite pretty to stroll through. Jim Morrison’s grave was pretty cool, and an obvious pilgrimage destination for Doors fans of all ages.


The really old and beautiful cemetery.


Jim Morrison's grave. On a wall of a mausoleum next to his grave, people had graffitied their tributes, with things like “This is not the end…break on through” and “Ciao Jim.”

We enjoyed a panini and crepe after the cemetery before heading off to the Louvre. By luck, the first Sunday of every month is free entry, so being the budget-watcher that I am, I was probably too excited about this. The Louvre is absolutely gigantic. There is no way you could see the whole thing in one day. Honestly, it might take you at least 3 whole days to see the whole thing. We obviously saw the Mona Lisa, along with all the other hundreds of tourists, clamoring to snap a photo. Mine ended up blurry, but it’s ok. The Mona Lisa is actually quite small, and they keep you back so far from it that you really don’t get a good look, which was a little disappointing. We checked out a couple of other DaVinci’s and Renaissance paintings and explored some of the richly decorated rooms of Napolean III (not Bonaparte), who actually lived in the Louvre during his reign.


Pete at the Louvre, as I experimented with "artsy" photo angles.


The one and only Mona Lisa. Sadly, blurry again.

To celebrate our one year since starting to date, Pete treated me to a nice French dinner down in the Saint-Germaine area. Every restaurant experience was so funny because we were both so tense before we ordered due to the language barrier. Immediately after ordering our food, we both became noticeably more lighthearted. We enjoyed some wine and great conversation, so our wine and dining anniversary was a truly romantic Parisian evening.



Check out the full facebook album by going to: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37820758&l=f2c4c&id=15921830

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!

Sitting in a pub that's older than my country

I'm going to Tarantino this story a little bit and tell you my most recent adventure first and kind of work my way back through my memory of the past week or so.

Today Pam and I attended mass at a nearby Catholic church with a couple of friends of ours. It was the Latin mass, and so some of the prayers and all of the songs were in Latin, which was kind of challenging, but still really fun. Afterwards, Pam, Alex and Steph Coon and I traveled out to Greenwich (pronounced Gren-itch), which is in East London, on the other side of the Thames. It’s a really cool city with a number of great attractions. On a nice day, you could make a whole day out of it by traveling out there and enjoying lunch in Greenwich Park, shopping in the markets and visiting the Royal Maritime Museums and Royal Observatory. We got out there a little later, especially after a good 30-45 minute walk from the tube station since the connecting line was shut down, so we only hit up the Royal Observatory. It’s the place where they have the Prime Meridian marked, so you can stand with your feet literally in two hemispheres. Obviously, pictures of this momentous occasion were taken, but I’ll have to upload them later. My camera’s out of batteries. If I get a chance, I’d love to come back on a sunny day. The Observatory is settled on a tall hill with a spectacular view out on the city. You can’t see way west toward Westminster and the London Eye, but you can see a lot of the east part of the city.

Last evening, I accomplished one of my London goals by hitting up the famous old pub, Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, where Charles Dickens used to haunt, as well as several of London's old journalists, as its location on Fleet Street (yes, Sweeney Todd's area) used to be a major newspaper hub back in the day. This pub was REbuilt in 1667 after the great London fire, so it is extremely old and rich in history. I literally felt like I was walking a time portal as I entered into the building with it's dark, uneven floors and walls, it's little bar rooms and restaurants tucked into every corner and the smell of charcoal burning in the fireplace. It was seriously one of the coolest places I've been in London. Pam and I had dinner there and a couple of drinks and chatted for a few hours, which made for a really nice evening. I really wanted to try a meat pie at a pub, so I felt it appropriate to make this the night. So I ordered a steak and kidney pie. Ever tried kidneys? Not for me, I discovered. But the steak aspect was good as well as the bountiful chips (fries) that came along with it. All these good chips make dieting in London hard, which I was not expecting.

The Chesire Cheese has been around for 15 sovereigns. It's hard to comprehend that!


The ceilings were so low!


This weekend has been pretty laid-back. I stayed in most of yesterday, just getting some homework done for a group project we have due on Monday and investigated some traveling options for Pete's and my Easter break to Vienna and Bratislava in a couple of weeks.

Friday night I had a great time out with the girls. A group of 8 of us went to a very small and posh club out in Fulham, which is further south outside of the city. We talked the bouncers down about £10 to get in and danced the night away. In all honesty, I enjoy the pub atmosphere better than club atmosphere, but I really had a great time dancing with my friends and experiencing something entirely new and a little out of my element.

As far as other highlights throughout the week go, besides The Other Boleyn Girl premiere, I took a nice day-trip through class out to Dover castle and the city of Canterbury. Dover Castle was extremely fun and gorgeous. We had some serious fog on our way there that finally broke when we hit the castle. It's situated atop the famed white cliffs of Dover, right on the English Channel, and is a really unique structure in its history because it has been used for tactical war purposes from the 1200s through WWII. Even now, there is a military church there, run my priests in the militia. The grounds were beautiful and fun to explore for a short hour and a half, or so. I could have spent more time there enjoying the sunlight and the scenery, but we were jetted off to the city of Canterbury (Chaucer's Canterbury Tales ring a bell?) to explore the Canterbury Cathedral, where Christianity formally was brought to the UK. It also has some historical significance as Bishop Thomas Beckett, now known as St. Thomas of Canterbury, was murdered in the cathedral itself back in the 1200s. It was a cool church, but lately, after St. Paul's, Westminster and a couple of others, I feel like I've reached a saturation point with visiting churches. We managed to stop in one more in Canterbury, where St. Thomas's finger bone, one of his only remains, was placed in a box above an alter in memorial. Very weird, but interesting I guess? We walked around Canterbury after lunch for far too long, and were happy to be bussed home, as these all day trips can be really exhausting. Luckily, this week we do not have one and just are meeting with our internship coordinators to discuss our mid-term progress.

On that note, I am shocked that it's already mid-term. As of today, I've been abroad 47 days, which astounds me. Part of me feels like I've been here forever, yet it's hard for me to comprehend that I only have a few weekends left in London due to all the traveling I will be doing the remainder of the semester. I put all the things I want to see/do on a calendar so that way I could visually see what needs to be done when, and I'm shocked at how everything is starting to get squeezed in. Hopefully I get it all done.

Here's a couple of pictures from the trip Wednesday.

What I could see of the white cliffs of Dover.


The Dover Castle keep, which was set up on the interior to show what it would have been like when King Henry VIII and his court would have occupied the castle.


This old lighthouse was constructed by the Romans in 160 AD. It is actually called a pharos.


Just so sexy.


St. Thomas Cathedral at Canterbury


Inside the nave at the cathedral.


A couple more things. Check out this picture of me as the "Official Creeper to the Stars" behind Scarlett Johansson. This photo was on Perezhilton.com this week, which is easily the world's most popular celebrity blog that a ton of my friends back home read. My flatmate Alex is snapping the photo, and I am peeking out over her shoulder with a look of sheer joy for being within feet of Scarlett. Unfortunately, my face actually makes me look like "that girl" who was purposely trying to get in that shot. Not really what I was going for, but oh well. I'll take my fame where I can get it I guess. Just get a good laugh out of the photo. It's pretty funny.



By the way, I want to let you know that have not let my recent celeb exposure get into my head. I don't anticipate or necessarily want anything like this to happen again, but it was a really cool experience while it lasted.

Here are some pictures of St. Paul's from my adventure last Saturday. It is a gorgeous building with an even more gorgeous view of London. Enjoy!

Pigeons at St. Paul's


Walking toward St. Paul's. So pretty.


From atop the dome, looking over the front of St. Paul's, west onto the City.


A view of the London Eye, Waterloo Bridge and way in the distance, Westminster and Parliament.


I'm up in the spire now! I could slide down the dome if I wanted...Ok, maybe not.

Lily Allen + Samantha Schaefer = BFFs(?)

The Royal Premiere of 'The Other Boleyn Girl' surpassed my expectations. The movie itself was wonderfully done (though, I definitely prefer and recommend the book). However, it was the star factor that still has me going back and being like, "Wait, did that just happen?"

Take, for instance the picture that I found of myself online at several websites. I was walking in with famous Brit singer, Lily Allen, and got stuck behind her during a huge photo shoot. Oops!





I was trying to quickly get out of the way so I wasn't "that girl" to the celebs. But too late.

So here's the whole story: After work Tuesday, Denise and Lillian, two of our supervisors took us down to the Radisson Edwardian on Leicester Square, right next to the Odeon Theater where the premiere was. We had a couple of snacks and drinks before heading toward the red carpet, which in this case, was actually a turquois color. Here's me with Sarah (far left) and Alex, the two amazing girls I intern with on the turquois carpet.



We timed our entrance just right. Literally, as we were walking up the carpet, Natalie Portman was just 10 feet away from us doing interviews and Eric Bana who played King Henry VIII just a couple feet further. Then out of nowhere swoops in Scarlet Johansson, passing within an arms length infront of us. I am using all of Alex's pictures to document the night because my camera's night vision quality was absolutely awful.


Our view of the Odeon walking up.


Eric Bana doing interviews.


Natalie Portman doing interviews (the one with the hair slightly up, with the beautiful curl). She looked absolutely amazing.


Scarlett Johansson as she walked past us.


Scarlett working it for the cameras. She is even more gorgeous and very tiny in person.


Scarlett and Natalie walking onstage before the movie began. Isn't Natalie's dress stunning? Alex was third row, so was able to take these amazing photos.


The main cast on stage as the director, Justin Chadwick spoke. He's so young and great at what he does.

I was up in the balcony level, which actually proved quite fun. When Prince Charles and Camilla arrived, they were seated at the bottom of the balcony, about 15-20 rows in front of us. The cast also had seats nearby. It was hard to comprehend at the time that I was in the presence of royalty, let alone the future king of England. They seem like such friendly people. Denise, our boss, got to meet him earlier in the day at a luncheon for trustees of a film board. She raved about Charles and even Camilla (I think she's on Team Camilla, not Diana. My boss, Lillian, is definitely rooting the other way.) At the end of the film, Charles and Camilla walked up the stairs and stopped just a couple rows in front of us to talk to friends, so I got a good close-up view. I was tempted to snap a picture, but no one else was, so I didn't want to be rude about it. You'll just have to take my word for proof.

Overall, an incredible evening. I know I will never get to experience anything like it again in my life, so I definitely enjoyed getting dressed up and living in the moment. London is an amazing city--a financial headquarter and a huge cultural and entertainment hub--that I'm so lucky to get to enjoy at this point in my life. I know at the end of this, I'll be anxious to get home and back to the pace of the States, but in the meantime, I'm really appreciating all the experiences, whether or not they involve the Royal family.

I have a few more pictures of Dover Castle and the Canterbury Cathedral that I need to upload and tell you about, but I need to get going at the moment. I'm working on planning Pete's and my Easter break. Next week (beginning the 1st) is my mid-term break, and Pam and I are going to Paris and Rome. Pete is going to meet us in Paris for a couple of days, so I'm really excited to explore the city with him. My suitemate freshman year/roommate part of sophomore year is living in Paris for the semester, so she's going to be an awesome tour guide as well. Two weeks after our mid-term break is Easter break, and Pete and I were wanting to go a little further east like to Budapest or Prague or Vienna, but flights are proving difficult. So I'm still looking around. Hopefully there will be some breakthrough.

All right, I'm out. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Also, one more thanks to Alex for the photos. They are magnificent.

Life as a rock star?

Ladies and gentleman, look for me on the red carpet. No joke, this Tuesday, I get to go to the world premier of The Other Boleyn Girl, starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Our boss at work has great movie connections and so generously gave the interns passes to the premier. What's more is that this is the Royal Premier and thus, Prince Charles and Camilla will be present. How crazy is that?! Check out the movie trailer by going to www.sonypictures.com/movies/theotherboleyngirl. I'm quickly trying to read the book before I go, though I am only a fifth through. Regardless, it looks to be an incredible movie and an incredible night. I am so excited to share it with my co-workers. I honestly can't believe that I am so lucky to have this opportunity--just to be in the same theater as some of the world's greatest movie stars and (I still can't believe this) royalty, is beyond my comprehension. Stay tuned for pictures by Wednesday or Thursday.

Getting that wonderful news was one of the great treats we received at work this week. We were treated to the Century club, an exclusive private club that some of our bosses at work belong to, for lunch and a late-night cocktail party on Thursday night. The way they do clubs in downtown London is different than our country club method in the United States. It's not necessarily about the money, but about your profession. Century is comprised of people in advertising, film, entertainment, music or theater, so it's definitely a very artsy club. It's about creating an atmosphere or vibe with its members. I've enjoyed lunch there a few times--fabulous food. Smoked sea bass and a light mozzarella, tomato and basil salad were on the menu this go around. We stayed late after work on Thursday and then headed straight back to Century for an open cocktail bar and appetizers at the rooftop (which of course was covered, given that it's February in London). It was a great relaxed evening, just enjoying the scene and observing some of the posh London crowd.

Honestly, my job treats me and the other interns like rock stars. It's absolutely incredible. I feel so blessed. Their generosity is beyond belief, and I keep telling them that when I go back to Missouri, I won't know what to do with myself because I'll have been so spoiled. I've been thanking everyone incessantly, but I don't feel like any amount of cards I give or teas I make can really compare to what they’ve given me. In case you are wondering, I do actually do work at my internship. I've been really busy the past few weeks and Lillian has given me a couple of projects that I've really taken under my wing and have become the main contact for. As much as I love the perks and lunches that I've been showered with at work, getting good, hands-on agency experience is by far the best part. I feel like I've grown a lot in a professional sense, and am looking forward to see where I am by the end of this.

Moving away from work, it's been a fairly quiet week. On Wednesday all my flat mates and I went to see Avenue Q, a hilarious musical with a human and puppet cast. I like to think of it as an R-rated Sesame Street. Every taboo subject is touched on and sang about in such a light-hearted cheery tune. The irony is delightful. My stomach hurt from laughing at the end. Here are a few stage shots.







I’d highly recommend the show for anyone with a sense of humor. Although, it’s definitely not for the kids. Read a plot synopsis and you’ll get the point.

I forgot to mention that I saw another musical last Friday night. Pam took me out to Richmond, a western suburb of London, for a musical that her work had given her tickets to. It was an off-West End production called Next Door’s Baby about two Irish mothers and their families competing in a beautiful baby competition. It was a small cast of maybe 10 and it was at London’s only theater in the round, which means that the audience is seated all the way around the stage. It was an amazing musical. I loved the cast and the plot, and although the music wasn’t my favorite out there, they all had such amazing vocal quality. I also just loved that I was seriously 5 feet away from the actors themselves. You felt so engaged in what was going on. And the fact that it was a smaller theater and not some big West End/Broadway production, made me feel really part of the everyday London community, not so much as a tourist.

I also mentioned a bit ago that I’d upload pictures from the Lion King that I went to over a week ago. Check out some of these costumes:




Scar and Simba.


Yes, those are people in giraffe costumes. They were my favorite.

This weekend has been pretty relaxed. I haven’t done a lot besides my laundry and then a solo trip to St. Paul’s, which was absolutely amazing. The church itself is huge. Going in, I knew that the dome was big, but until you get inside and stand under the rotunda and look up, you can’t fully fathom how big it all is. It is an absolutely gorgeous building, and I had a great time exploring and climbing the 400 and something stairs up to almost the highest point of the steeple where I was able to snap some panoramic pictures of London. Thank God it was a clear day. It was an absolutely breathtaking view. I’ll post some pictures soon.

That’s about it for now. Stay tuned for Tuesday’s pictures! If I can, I’ll snap some of the stars or the royalty, but no guarantees.