Things I have learned whilst in Britain...

1. People Smell. Badly.
This is a stinky city and I would like to blame it on the body oder of the Brits wafting through the air. Not only does the city smell (maybe because i'm used to fresh countryside) but the people have some serious BO issues, as in they could do with either a. being isolated (im thinking they should implement the bubble boy concept) or b. get some prescription deodorant. B doesn't work because as I discovered yesterday they have fairly odd deodorant over here. I was wandering my way through Boots (big pharmacy) and could NOT for the life of me find a stick of deodorant. I began to panic as I quickly began to envision my fear of being one of them, a smelly bastard, become my reality. Ok well thats a bit of an exaggeration because they have spray on deodorant, but that just weirds me out and I didn't recognize any brands. That aside, it really kills your mood when youre stuck on the tube for 4 more stops and the guy standing next to you with his hand gripping the bar overhead has an immense pit stain that slightly resembles Lake Tahoe with a corresponding stench that stings the nostrils of 3 world countries. Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that I learned this fact way before I even got to England. It happened in my math class with that teacher from England. For the love of God I can't recall his name but he smelled SO bad, we would leave class every day with a headache. Not my idea of a good time.

2. There are no rubbish bins (trash cans) anywhere.
Simply put, you will be walking around with an empty cup which once held your non-fat caramel macchiato from starbucks for 45 minutes before you find the trash. They are not in public sites like the tube, train or museums and its really annoying. I swear they do not exist. Mainly I think this is due to the tube bombing from a year or so ago but still, it only compels me to litter. Litterbugs go to hell. In which case this is a call out to Boris Johnson, Gordon Brown or the freaking Queen of England...whoever can hear me...please put some rubbish bins somewhere, anywhere, I dont care. Hook a sista up...I just don't want to be condemned to hell. Thanks.


3. They don't think Americans are cool the way we think Brits with hot accents are cool...
I can't tell you why but i've gotten the strangest reactions from people the second I open my yapper. Maybe its because I open my yapper and not my mouth but honestly, i've made an effort to be extra polite and not offend anyone by my jokes. I've found that the chicks here aren't very warm and welcoming and I've gotten so many dirty looks from them when i'm in a store and have politely asked a simple question. Solution: I utilize my British accent whenever I shop. Simple enough. Seemingly...until I whip out my US Bank debit card to pay and they look at me like i'm nuts because clearly i'm not from these parts. 60% of the time it works every time.


4. Tube rules:

a. Stand sideways on the tube, not forward. If you stand sideways you can successfully lean when it stops and starts without flying forward or back. If you like being catapulted, don't listen to my advice.

b. Dont eat on the tube. One day I realized how dirty and disease prone/ swine flu prone the tube is and thought that hand to mouth would be a deadly movement.
Hence, antibacterial gel is great for on the go. Look at me i'm swine flu free! ps. swine flu is apparently in my building, awesome.

c. Read the daily paper to kill time on the tube, like the Metro. Today they had an article about a guy who had half of his butt cheek chopped off from a boat propeller. Solid reading, always a good time.

d. Avoid the smelly guy mentioned in point #1, there always is one on every tube.

e. Don't take your time when your either entering/exiting the tube doors or the tube gates because they WILL close on you and it hurts. Today I got caught in one of the doors and held up the line. Some bloke behind me kept telling me to move out of the doorway and I kept thinking to myself, well that would be convenient, wouldn't it now?...if only my left arm and handbag weren't deathly clamped in between the doors maybe I could just get out of the way for you, kind sir.


5. Don't succumb to the old men just because of the accent
Just because they say 'ello luv and 'ey there beautiful with smooth british laden lingo doesn't mean that they are nice people. They are the equivalent to the creepy mexicans in orange outside of taqueria de anda hollering at you in spanish. See, not alluring at all when you really think about it.

*sidenote: However, British accents ARE in fact, as cool/hot as we think they are.

6. They eat mayonnaise and potatoes with everything
Chips (fries), jacket potatoes (baked), mashed, broiled, boiled, hashbrowns. Every meal hands down. Potatoes. And they eat everything with mayo. Yummmm.


That is all I can muster up for the moment. More to come.

TTFN,
V

Believe it or not...I'm still alive

Midway through week three in England and after starting my job this past monday, I have indeed survived! Aside from the crampingly small bathroom, where I literally have bruises from knocking my knees and elbows while moving about, everything is A-ok. This past weekend we had the chance to go out for the firs time and experience London nightlife at its fullest. We made friends with the USC EUSA student and went out with them for Tyler's birthday on Friday night. We're all about the good deals to save cash so naturally we hit up the free bars and club and they turned out to be great! Cover charge here is ridiculous...anywhere from $20-40 american! The first place we went to was insane. Next thing you know this white, dorky looking guy with a greased up comb-over do and full on suit busts out on stage and starts rapping to a remix of the Jungle Book (good choice!!!). We were laughing so hard...not because of how ridiculous he looked but how amazing he was!


After that we moved on to some pubs and ended up getting a reserved table at a cocktail bar because it was Tyler's birthday. Eventually we moved on to this legit club where apparently Sam Ronson (aka Lindsey Lohan's ex...slash maybe back together??) was DJing...the tabloids the next day said that Lindsey was in London with her so she must have been there! After I fell off of a step in the club and fell flat on my face while I was searching around for everyone and completely embarrassed myself we started to head home. On the way back to Nido we stopped by the "food & wine" place to get a 1 pound pizza (deal!) and as I returned to my room I looked out the window and noticed that the sun was starting to emerge in the distance...bedtime!
Night: success.

Sunday we went to the British Museum and I saw the Rosetta Stone and many other super old things... It was really cool but, honestly, I don't know how to write about a museum and make it sound incredible?? But it was, you have my word.Moving on. Work started Monday and I love it! We're in the middle of planning an event lecture and workshop that is at the end of June. Its based around the Olympics and the aftermath...as many Olympic venues have failed after the games ended. The goal of this conference is to bring awareness to issues that are linked to the Olympics through Non-profit and Societal organizations so that they have a say in how things are run when 2012 approaches. London Civic Forum is a small organization but we work with thousands of other non-profits. They invited me to go to a press conference to hear the Major, Boris Johnson, speak on the Olympics BUT the stupid underground transportation unions (tube) decided to strike because they're selfish and "demented" as Boris said, so I couldn't make it to the press conference :-( I was really bummed but I get to hear him speak next week too! The tube strike is incredibly annoying and it makes it a nightmare to travel. It took me 2 hours to get to work via bus this morning and I dont work that far away. Lame. That aside everything else is just peachy OH and I got accepted to University of Kent in Canterbury for the fall...FINALLY! Time to run, i'm about to go watch the England futbol game (soccer, not american football...I WISH!) at a local pub. Should have brought my jersey.


TTFN,
V

Nido is Neat-o

Sunday morning I finally made the trek out to London to meet up with Matt and the three that flew in later that afternoon. Once I arrived we indulged in BBQ and some wine/brews and then went to dinner after at an amazing Italian restaurant where Matt's dad treated us...I cant get over the food choices here, its a bit of a problem. We pubbed it Sunday night which was where I discovered cider...how we dont have cider in the states I dont know, its SO good. Monday we took the day to drag our overweight luggage through the tube and across the city so we could move into our nido accommodations. This must have been hilarious to watch, we were all over the place...especially when Matt thought it was a good idea to kick my massive suitcase down the escalator when Tyler was in front of us. Luckily, it didnt knock him off of his feet but I found myself in a bit of a mess when I got to the bottom and couldnt move it out of the way fast enough. Lets just say I almost cause a massive human collision at the bottom of the escalator and it wouldnt have been pretty!

Nido is a giant complex (950 students) that is solely for study abroad students, which is awesome because we get to meet people from all over the country! Its virtually new and has a restaurant, cafe and work out room. The rooms are really small; i'm sharing one with Denise but we manage. Theres a communal kitchen on each floor which is air conditioned...while the rest of the complex is not, so we tend to crash in there for a bit on the scorchers. Great weather thus far but a bit too hot in my opinion because we have to walk everywhere and I always walk with a purpose so it wares me out! Its been a fun relaxing week so far, pub crawled most nights which is EXPENSIVE! Its funny to watch us scrounge for cheep food around here, our goal is always under 5 pounds, which is pretty reasonable I think. Tis a shame because if we walk right up the street about 10 minutes we end up in Angel, which is a very social and beautiful area- tons of great places to eat, drink and shop there= potential bank busting. http://www.nidolondon.com/london/kings-cross/home.php

We walked through South Kensington Gardens and another park yesterday and that was a blast. We figured we had accumulated several miles walking by the time we were done but it was well worth it. Its nice to see the city still has tons of stunning parks kept up because its always great to be able to get away on a sunny day and hug a tree as one of my profs would say...or maybe just sit under one and read :-)

I just now returned back to my pad from my placement interview (we dont start until next Monday) and it was amazing! Well, aside from making a wrong turn off of the tube station and getting lost in the ghetto it was great. The office for London Civic Forum is small, but comfortable...literally, I get to wear jeans, t-shirt and flip flops to work everyday! Woohoo! Paul, my boss, was incredibly delightful and explained the project i'll be working on, which is a conference called The Big Opportunity. This is a chance for London's community to get a say in the bigger picture of the 2012 Olympics and what happens after its over(in London...for those of you who are behind in the news). London is trying to work on the raising issue of lack of sports and exercise in today's society, which is the cause of world obesity. This conference touches on those problems as well as how the city is going to utilized sources for the Olympics that they already have in order to save money, space and allow growth in the economy. Nearing the event on June 25, ill be working a lot, normal hours are from 10am-6pm but I may stay late or come early BUT the good thing is he compensates by giving me full on days off! Ill have monday and tuesday following the conference off...always a plus!! I spoke to him about working extra on other projects so I can get in some good experience and he knows that i'm into sports so he's going to scope out some things for me to get involved in and give me some contacts that LCF has worked with...aka BBC sports n.b.d. He sounded like he was interested in using me past the program date because I told him I'm staying for 7 months so this may end up a potential job! Not bad. Everything else is great and am really enjoying myself! I'm going to go grab dinner and go to the pub for our welcome reception so AU REVOIR MES AMIS!

TTFN,
V