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
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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
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
Saturday, May 30, 2009
End of week 1 & all is well
Maybe that title isn't as fitting as I thought...all IS well I suppose, I still love it here but unfortunately i'm sick :-( word of advice, dont get sick in a foreign country. Thank the Lord they speak english... I felt a cold coming on a couple days ago and woke up with severe sinus pressure (typical for me). I mean, really? Don't you think i've been sick enough this semester?! I have a weak immune system still from "glandular fever" aka mono and there was some dude next to me on the plane blowing his nose every 5 seconds so I guess it was inevitable. At least I got sick while im with family and not at work, especially because it was quite easy for me to make a run to the town doctor here...btw they still do make house calls! Im on antibiotics now but didn't feel well enough to make the trek up to London to meet up with Matt and his cousins to go out tonight; i'm bummed. One more day of rest and then Ill be up there tomorrow with the rest of the gang (Denise, Taylor and Tyler). Is it wrong for me to pray to get better so I can go to the pubs?...my mom is rolling her eyes right now (shout out to my Mum, miss you!) haha Anyway, not much to update except for that I finished the second of the Twilight series an hour ago. WHEW I'm living on the edge. The countdown for the mayhem begins! T-minus 24 hours.
TTFN (ta-ta for now)
-V
TTFN (ta-ta for now)
-V
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Jetlag still sucks...but England doesnt.
Wow. So I haven't even been here a week and I'm already obsessed! I'm out in the countryside staying with my Dad's cousins, Richard and Marion, who are absolutely adorable! They've been so hospitable and have taken me around much of the countryside thus far and their house is gorgeous! The shower has jets blasting you from all directions and I kinda wish I was a guy because a lot of the bathrooms here have urinals on the ground, they look like mini toilets. Kinda weird. Richard and Marion used to live in Houston, TX for three years and it certainly rubbed off on Richard, he's absolutely HILARIOUS. He wears a button up plaid shirt, jeans with a big belt buckle and cowboy boots...I wish I would have brought my boots because that would have made for a great picture! To top it off, I was sitting in my room reading the other afternoon and next thing you know I hear Toby Keith being blasted from the next room over. He reminds me a lot of my dad with the way he talks and acts, it's pretty funny. They took me down to this beautiful seaside town 10 minutes away a couple days ago which was fun to walk around. All of the villages look the same and they're so adorable it literally makes me sick to my stomach, I seriously can't handle it.
Yesterday we went over to Salsbury to visit my dad's other cousin, Martin and his wife Maggie who are a hoot. Maybe I think everyone is hilarious over here because of their accents, I don't know, but they have such a great sense of humor. Plus, they all laugh at my jokes, which is a good thing. Although, I have to say i'm holding back a bit...I'm not sure they'd understand my "that's what she said" jokes, which is killing me because the opportunities are endless, especially with all of their funny words. Salsbury is gorgeous (I need to start finding some more adjectives for that because obviously i'm finding everything to be beautiful here...) and we walked around for a bit. It's a nice place to shop but unfortunately the only store I went into was the pharmacy to get some plasters (bandaids) for my blisters :-( We visited the cathedral, which is located in the heart of the city and is surrounded by a large circular gated area of historic "houses" (I think they're mansions) that closes at night. After walking around a bit more we returned home for a spot of tea (as usual), wii and then dinner. The drive through the countryside still scares the crap out of me. In the last post I mentioned how narrow the roads were...well that was in the city. The countryside is a whole other story. I'm not even kidding you one lane in the states is TWO lanes in the country. Down all the roads they have very tall shrubbery lining the streets so you can't see around the corner or over the side and its not like they go slow!! They zoom around the bends as if theyre the only car for miles, yet, they manage to not get into car accidents. We "survived" the drive back to the house and ended up playing some wii after tea. If you ever need a good laugh, try playing wii with a room full of Brits. SO FUNNY! I had gone upstairs to take a quick nap and I suddenly hear, [read in British accent] "Go on, take a good whack at it!" coming from downstairs...wii tennis, of course. I'm ashamed to say that Maggie was actually better than me but I guess she gets a lot of practice. After dinner, they showed me a lot of old pictures that they've kept from when my dad was young...its so funny to see him without gray hair (sorry dad, its true!). Richard and Marion had whole scrapbooks of them and I got to see my grandad and GREATgrandad from when he was he was back in the war. It's crazy to hear stories and see pictures of family that date back that far.
It's finally raining today so we may go tour this historic house (more like a mansion, once again....they call them houses but they look more like castles to me)...I think it used to be occupied by royalty at one point? Not sure... anyway, tomorrow i'm playing in some badminton tournament, which I used to play with my dad all the time so i'm hoping to dominate :-) we'll see. And then friday is some holiday so I think we're going into town to partake in whatever festivities they have. It's been a nice, relaxing week thus far...nothing too ridiculous but i'm saving all that for when my chappy mates arrive later this week...that's when the real mayhem starts! I may or may not come back with a British accent (if I come back!!) it's just too fun. Anyway, i've got to finish up my tea here and get ready to go out for a drive. 'Till next time!
-V
Yesterday we went over to Salsbury to visit my dad's other cousin, Martin and his wife Maggie who are a hoot. Maybe I think everyone is hilarious over here because of their accents, I don't know, but they have such a great sense of humor. Plus, they all laugh at my jokes, which is a good thing. Although, I have to say i'm holding back a bit...I'm not sure they'd understand my "that's what she said" jokes, which is killing me because the opportunities are endless, especially with all of their funny words. Salsbury is gorgeous (I need to start finding some more adjectives for that because obviously i'm finding everything to be beautiful here...) and we walked around for a bit. It's a nice place to shop but unfortunately the only store I went into was the pharmacy to get some plasters (bandaids) for my blisters :-( We visited the cathedral, which is located in the heart of the city and is surrounded by a large circular gated area of historic "houses" (I think they're mansions) that closes at night. After walking around a bit more we returned home for a spot of tea (as usual), wii and then dinner. The drive through the countryside still scares the crap out of me. In the last post I mentioned how narrow the roads were...well that was in the city. The countryside is a whole other story. I'm not even kidding you one lane in the states is TWO lanes in the country. Down all the roads they have very tall shrubbery lining the streets so you can't see around the corner or over the side and its not like they go slow!! They zoom around the bends as if theyre the only car for miles, yet, they manage to not get into car accidents. We "survived" the drive back to the house and ended up playing some wii after tea. If you ever need a good laugh, try playing wii with a room full of Brits. SO FUNNY! I had gone upstairs to take a quick nap and I suddenly hear, [read in British accent] "Go on, take a good whack at it!" coming from downstairs...wii tennis, of course. I'm ashamed to say that Maggie was actually better than me but I guess she gets a lot of practice. After dinner, they showed me a lot of old pictures that they've kept from when my dad was young...its so funny to see him without gray hair (sorry dad, its true!). Richard and Marion had whole scrapbooks of them and I got to see my grandad and GREATgrandad from when he was he was back in the war. It's crazy to hear stories and see pictures of family that date back that far.
It's finally raining today so we may go tour this historic house (more like a mansion, once again....they call them houses but they look more like castles to me)...I think it used to be occupied by royalty at one point? Not sure... anyway, tomorrow i'm playing in some badminton tournament, which I used to play with my dad all the time so i'm hoping to dominate :-) we'll see. And then friday is some holiday so I think we're going into town to partake in whatever festivities they have. It's been a nice, relaxing week thus far...nothing too ridiculous but i'm saving all that for when my chappy mates arrive later this week...that's when the real mayhem starts! I may or may not come back with a British accent (if I come back!!) it's just too fun. Anyway, i've got to finish up my tea here and get ready to go out for a drive. 'Till next time!
-V
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Day One and jet lag sucks...
I'm finally in London! I was picked up from the airport by my cousin Sam around 9am...a bit weary because I chose to stay up all night before I left. I slept on the plane but ended up taking a 7 hour nap once I got to Surrey BUT the good news is when I woke up at 8pm Britains Got Talent was on GO SUSAN BOYLE. Tomorrow i'll be on my way to Devon to stay with some other relatives until the start of my program on June 1. Everything here is gorgeous, we passed by a castle on the way to the house which was insane to see and the houses are super cute cottages. The streets are ridiculously small and so are the cars...not a lifted truck in sight! Driving on the left side of the road is throwing me off and I tried to get into Sam's car in what I thought was the passenger seat...oops. Anyway, not much excitement today since I slept the whole time but I'll be writing more later! Wine & cheese time :-)
Au revoir mes amis,
-V
Au revoir mes amis,
-V
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