Recap:
- Had to wake up ridiculously early in Amsterdam to catch our flight back to the UK. Actually got a good nights sleep considering the apocalypse like thunder storm that was raging outside my hostel window. And that I was sleeping in a hostel.
- By 10 am, I had already taken a plane flight, bus rides, and 2 different trains. Needless to say I was pretty exhausted at this point.
- Arrived at AIFS early for our lecture on British History. The lecture was fine because it was Bob (the most intelligent man in London) giving the lecture.
- Did a guided tour of the Victoria and Albert museum. This was honestly the least interesting tour we had taken thus far. This was probably due to having such a hectic morning.
- Rob and I had to rush back to our homestay to get ready for the Shakespeare Globe Theater performance. After making good time the tube, we found out that our bus decided to not to run on this day. As a result, we spent about another hour trying to get to our house which is only 10 minutes away. I took a 25 second shower and we were able to make the performance just in time at 7:30.
Thoughts:
- The Globe Theater show was actually better than I expected. Although the show didn't really contain my type of humor, it was still entertaining and a unique way to spend an evening. The theater itself was indeed very neat. I can definitely appreciate the production value of something like that.
Sunday 31 May 2009
Wednesday 27 May 2009
First Weekend: I Amsterdam
So I spent Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning in Amsterdam and I decided I'm going to just compress this eventful weekend into one ultimate blog post.
Recap:
- Flew on EasyJet airlines for the first time which was actually a little better than expected. They were nicer than Ryan Air aka Greyhound Bus in the Sky. The flights there and back felt like we were in the air for literally 18 minutes (was actually 40 minutes).
- Arrived in Amsterdam around 5:30 on Saturday afternoon. Went to find Bob's Youth Hostel and get checked in. Staying in this hostel was officially the oddest place I've ever slept in in my entire life. More on this below.
- Explored the city of Amsterdam to a great extent. Went to a few parks, the marketplace, the I Amsterdam statue, Red Light District (obviously) checked out the outside of the Anne Frank House and Van Gough museum and a bunch of other interesting things.
- Met a bunch of interesting (to say the least) people at the lounge in the hostel we were staying in. One of the people we met was this crazy Brit named Stuart. I decided to nickname Stuart "Wikipedia" since he seemed to have bottomless knowledge of literally every thing in the universe. He used percentages a lot. Unfortunately, I only believed a small percentage of what came out of his mouth. He was actually pretty cool, and we used him as our personal tour guide for one of the days.
Thoughts:
- Amsterdam really is as crazy as people say it is. Its craziness is actually almost underrated. The first night we got there a few of us experienced a little bit of culture shock because it really is a strange place.
- The food there is a bit weird. It seemed like every thing was made up of really bizarre combinations - like salami and cream cheese or cucumber and eggs. I actually ate at a McDonalds there (sue me) and the chicken sandwich was good but the fries tasted like styrofoam. You win some, you lose some.
- Like I said above, Bobs Youth Hostel was the oddest place I've ever slept in in my life. Hostels are just odd in general. Sleeping a room with total strangers every night is definitely a unique experience. The shower in the hostel looked like a chamber I would be killed in. Aside from this, it was overall a rewarding time. I tried not to complain at all and just thought to myself "your going to remember this trip for the rest of your life, so just enjoy it".
- Even though I thoroughly enjoyed Amsterdam, I do not think I would have liked to spend more than 4 days there at a time.
Recap:
- Flew on EasyJet airlines for the first time which was actually a little better than expected. They were nicer than Ryan Air aka Greyhound Bus in the Sky. The flights there and back felt like we were in the air for literally 18 minutes (was actually 40 minutes).
- Arrived in Amsterdam around 5:30 on Saturday afternoon. Went to find Bob's Youth Hostel and get checked in. Staying in this hostel was officially the oddest place I've ever slept in in my entire life. More on this below.
- Explored the city of Amsterdam to a great extent. Went to a few parks, the marketplace, the I Amsterdam statue, Red Light District (obviously) checked out the outside of the Anne Frank House and Van Gough museum and a bunch of other interesting things.
- Met a bunch of interesting (to say the least) people at the lounge in the hostel we were staying in. One of the people we met was this crazy Brit named Stuart. I decided to nickname Stuart "Wikipedia" since he seemed to have bottomless knowledge of literally every thing in the universe. He used percentages a lot. Unfortunately, I only believed a small percentage of what came out of his mouth. He was actually pretty cool, and we used him as our personal tour guide for one of the days.
Thoughts:
- Amsterdam really is as crazy as people say it is. Its craziness is actually almost underrated. The first night we got there a few of us experienced a little bit of culture shock because it really is a strange place.
- The food there is a bit weird. It seemed like every thing was made up of really bizarre combinations - like salami and cream cheese or cucumber and eggs. I actually ate at a McDonalds there (sue me) and the chicken sandwich was good but the fries tasted like styrofoam. You win some, you lose some.
- Like I said above, Bobs Youth Hostel was the oddest place I've ever slept in in my life. Hostels are just odd in general. Sleeping a room with total strangers every night is definitely a unique experience. The shower in the hostel looked like a chamber I would be killed in. Aside from this, it was overall a rewarding time. I tried not to complain at all and just thought to myself "your going to remember this trip for the rest of your life, so just enjoy it".
- Even though I thoroughly enjoyed Amsterdam, I do not think I would have liked to spend more than 4 days there at a time.
Friday 22 May 2009
Day 4: Amsterdam Tomorrow!
Recap:
- Had to wake up very early around 8 a.m. to get to the Tower of London tour at 9:45. We thought we were gonna be really late, but it turned out that we were of the first ones there. The Tower of London tour was awesome and we had this intimidating yet great beefeater tour guide.
- Journeyed around for a bit looking for a place where like 10 of could all eat. We finally got to this pretty cool pub and I had fish and chips. Conclusion: fish and chips are not that good.
- Came back home at an early time around 3 and took my first nap in London, which was phenomenal. Also decided that I am going to write my class research paper on comparing advertising in the UK and US. Thats a pretty broad subject but by the time I write it it will be more narrow and to the point.
- Right now I'm about to take a shower and then head downtown to pre-game at a bar and then going clubbing or something. Should be really fun. Oh and a bunch of us are flying out to Amsterdam tomorrow at 3!
Thoughts:
- Even though I previously been to the Tower of London last summer, the second time through it I was able to get more out of the experience. Like I said our tour guide was really charismatic and funny and I was able to learn a good amount about the Tower.
- On fish and chips. Yeah its just not that good. I'd rather have burger and chips, or sandwich and chips or even chips and chips. It's just not a very tasty combination.
- Overall today was a little more relaxing since we only had a half day of class (just the Tower of London tour) and then we were free for the weekend. It was nice since the past few days have been so crammed with plans that it's been a little overwhelming at times.
- I'm obviously very excited for Amsterdam for various reasons. Should be quite an adventure.
- Had to wake up very early around 8 a.m. to get to the Tower of London tour at 9:45. We thought we were gonna be really late, but it turned out that we were of the first ones there. The Tower of London tour was awesome and we had this intimidating yet great beefeater tour guide.
- Journeyed around for a bit looking for a place where like 10 of could all eat. We finally got to this pretty cool pub and I had fish and chips. Conclusion: fish and chips are not that good.
- Came back home at an early time around 3 and took my first nap in London, which was phenomenal. Also decided that I am going to write my class research paper on comparing advertising in the UK and US. Thats a pretty broad subject but by the time I write it it will be more narrow and to the point.
- Right now I'm about to take a shower and then head downtown to pre-game at a bar and then going clubbing or something. Should be really fun. Oh and a bunch of us are flying out to Amsterdam tomorrow at 3!
Thoughts:
- Even though I previously been to the Tower of London last summer, the second time through it I was able to get more out of the experience. Like I said our tour guide was really charismatic and funny and I was able to learn a good amount about the Tower.
- On fish and chips. Yeah its just not that good. I'd rather have burger and chips, or sandwich and chips or even chips and chips. It's just not a very tasty combination.
- Overall today was a little more relaxing since we only had a half day of class (just the Tower of London tour) and then we were free for the weekend. It was nice since the past few days have been so crammed with plans that it's been a little overwhelming at times.
- I'm obviously very excited for Amsterdam for various reasons. Should be quite an adventure.
Day 3: Dream Internship
Recap:
- Woke up and left at 10:30 a.m. for my intern interview with the XK8 Organisation at 12 p.m. I knew I was gonna get lost on my way there, but I didn't know that I was gonna redefine the word "lost" itself. I got lost in every section of traveling there. On the bus, the tube, and in the streets walking around. More on this below.
- Fortunately once I finally arrived to my interview, it went great. The two guys I'm gonna be working for (Jeff and Rob) are two just straight up rocker dudes promoting concerts in the London area. Again, more on all of this below.
- After the interview, I had to get to the British Museum for a guided tour, but of course I got really, really lost trying to walk there. I finally arrived just in time for the tour, which was pretty cool. The only drawback was that all of the objects and artifacts there sort of looked the same and all had the same vibe to it. But then again the museum also contained the most epic looking ceiling I've ever seen in my life. Hopefully when I get some more time I can put a picture of it on here (as well as a bunch of others).
- Post British museum, we walked to the British Library, which was brief but breathtaking (I never thought I would use library and breathtaking in the same sentence, but this one was). We went into this room which contained tons and tons of prestigious literary works including the Magna Carta, original Mozart works, the original Alice in Wonderland and of course, original Beatles lyrics. I wanted to call my dad just to ignite him with pure jealousy when I was just a foot away from the original hand written lyrics of "Yesterday" written by Sir Paul McCartney.
- That night about 10 of us went out to O'Niels again and had a really good time. The only negative was that there was this bartender who clearly did not like Americans, or did not like me anyway. Whatever.
Thoughts:
- On the subject of getting lost, the most confusing aspect of London is the arrangement of the street signs. They are just really small signs that are placed on random parts of buildings parallel to the street. I'm also convinced the street names change almost every block, since that is the way it appeared on my map, which I blame 100% for making me so lost.
- A little more about my interview. I am basically going to promoting various concerts and club nights throughout London through means of creating flyers and internet marketing, (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter etc.) I'm also going to get to attend a lot of these concerts and hopefully get a better sense of what the music industry is really like. I feel like this internship is perfect for me since I already have had experience doing these types of things for North Avenue. Plus the fact that I absolutely love the marketing aspect of music. Additionally I got the sense that I would really actually applying my knowledge and skills to this internship, and not just fetching co-workers coffee or tea. I'm ecstatic about my internship placement especially after going through such a God-awful process to obtain a UK entry visa. But that's all done now and it's all good.
- Really only the consistently bad part of this trip so far is how long to it takes to get back home from most parts of London. It usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour and this involves being a jam packed tube and waiting for buses to come. It's just a pretty tedious process that can wear you down very easily after doing so much in one day.
- Woke up and left at 10:30 a.m. for my intern interview with the XK8 Organisation at 12 p.m. I knew I was gonna get lost on my way there, but I didn't know that I was gonna redefine the word "lost" itself. I got lost in every section of traveling there. On the bus, the tube, and in the streets walking around. More on this below.
- Fortunately once I finally arrived to my interview, it went great. The two guys I'm gonna be working for (Jeff and Rob) are two just straight up rocker dudes promoting concerts in the London area. Again, more on all of this below.
- After the interview, I had to get to the British Museum for a guided tour, but of course I got really, really lost trying to walk there. I finally arrived just in time for the tour, which was pretty cool. The only drawback was that all of the objects and artifacts there sort of looked the same and all had the same vibe to it. But then again the museum also contained the most epic looking ceiling I've ever seen in my life. Hopefully when I get some more time I can put a picture of it on here (as well as a bunch of others).
- Post British museum, we walked to the British Library, which was brief but breathtaking (I never thought I would use library and breathtaking in the same sentence, but this one was). We went into this room which contained tons and tons of prestigious literary works including the Magna Carta, original Mozart works, the original Alice in Wonderland and of course, original Beatles lyrics. I wanted to call my dad just to ignite him with pure jealousy when I was just a foot away from the original hand written lyrics of "Yesterday" written by Sir Paul McCartney.
- That night about 10 of us went out to O'Niels again and had a really good time. The only negative was that there was this bartender who clearly did not like Americans, or did not like me anyway. Whatever.
Thoughts:
- On the subject of getting lost, the most confusing aspect of London is the arrangement of the street signs. They are just really small signs that are placed on random parts of buildings parallel to the street. I'm also convinced the street names change almost every block, since that is the way it appeared on my map, which I blame 100% for making me so lost.
- A little more about my interview. I am basically going to promoting various concerts and club nights throughout London through means of creating flyers and internet marketing, (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter etc.) I'm also going to get to attend a lot of these concerts and hopefully get a better sense of what the music industry is really like. I feel like this internship is perfect for me since I already have had experience doing these types of things for North Avenue. Plus the fact that I absolutely love the marketing aspect of music. Additionally I got the sense that I would really actually applying my knowledge and skills to this internship, and not just fetching co-workers coffee or tea. I'm ecstatic about my internship placement especially after going through such a God-awful process to obtain a UK entry visa. But that's all done now and it's all good.
- Really only the consistently bad part of this trip so far is how long to it takes to get back home from most parts of London. It usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour and this involves being a jam packed tube and waiting for buses to come. It's just a pretty tedious process that can wear you down very easily after doing so much in one day.
Thursday 21 May 2009
Day 2: Reality
Recap:
- Woke up easily around 8 a.m. and was immediately excited since I was no longer jet lagged and felt locked into the London time zone.
- Got orientated at AIFS where everyone is really nice and they have a pub located on the first floor. Never thought I would be taking classes in the same building I will also be drinking in.
- Went on a great bus tour of Central London and St. Paul's Cathedral and I probably took over 100 pictures. But about only 4 of them contained human beings, the rest are of various buildings, sights, bridges etc. It was all spectacular.
- Came back and got ready to out to a new bar a little further away from where we were staying. It was a lot of fun, everyone here is awesome.
- Figured out how to use the tubes and bus stops for the most part. The best seat on the bus is the the second floor first row of seats because it feels like you own the street and that you are the director of all traffic. That probably makes no sense unless you have sat in this type of seat.
Random Thoughts:
- London bathrooms (or "toilets" as they call them here) and European bathrooms in general are all tight and unique. A lot of them look like something out of Stanley Kubrick movie. If I ever get rich someday I'm going to convert all my bathrooms to a European style.
- The advertisements here are a lot more poignant, attention getting and just overall better than U.S. advertisements in my opinion. Since there is less censorship in Europe, advertisements are allowed to be more risque, but even the ones that are not racy are still very effective.
- For some reason its funny to me when I hear little UK children speak in their British accents. It seems like they're faking it or something, but obviously they are not and I am just weird.
- I think that my homestay's townhouse smells like Five Guys, which is odd since there are zero Five Guys restaurants on this entire island.
- Woke up easily around 8 a.m. and was immediately excited since I was no longer jet lagged and felt locked into the London time zone.
- Got orientated at AIFS where everyone is really nice and they have a pub located on the first floor. Never thought I would be taking classes in the same building I will also be drinking in.
- Went on a great bus tour of Central London and St. Paul's Cathedral and I probably took over 100 pictures. But about only 4 of them contained human beings, the rest are of various buildings, sights, bridges etc. It was all spectacular.
- Came back and got ready to out to a new bar a little further away from where we were staying. It was a lot of fun, everyone here is awesome.
- Figured out how to use the tubes and bus stops for the most part. The best seat on the bus is the the second floor first row of seats because it feels like you own the street and that you are the director of all traffic. That probably makes no sense unless you have sat in this type of seat.
Random Thoughts:
- London bathrooms (or "toilets" as they call them here) and European bathrooms in general are all tight and unique. A lot of them look like something out of Stanley Kubrick movie. If I ever get rich someday I'm going to convert all my bathrooms to a European style.
- The advertisements here are a lot more poignant, attention getting and just overall better than U.S. advertisements in my opinion. Since there is less censorship in Europe, advertisements are allowed to be more risque, but even the ones that are not racy are still very effective.
- For some reason its funny to me when I hear little UK children speak in their British accents. It seems like they're faking it or something, but obviously they are not and I am just weird.
- I think that my homestay's townhouse smells like Five Guys, which is odd since there are zero Five Guys restaurants on this entire island.
Day 1: Jetlag Dillusions
Recap of the day:
- Flight went smoothly and got in around 6 a.m. (London time). Virgin Atlantic airlines was really, really nice but I couldn't sleep at all.
- Rainy bus ride to AIFS center where Rob almost had a hunger starvation breakdown.
- Chilled at AIFS and took care of some basic things such as getting a new cell phone, taking out pounds and eating lunch.
- Rob and I couldn't go to our homestay until around 4:30 so we basically had to sit in the AIDS computer lounge and fight off Jetlag for 6 hours. It was some of the weirdest hours of my life (since we were all running on zero hours of sleep).
- Finally arrived at our homestay, met our homestay mom, showed us around her amazing townhouse and settled in there.
- Went out to eat at this pretty nice Italian place where the service was terrible but then again thats how it is in the UK.
- Met up with some of the girls at this awesome bar called O'Niels which is probably the coolest bar/pub I've been in. It was gigantic.
- Went to bed around midnight since I had not slept in over 48 hours. Word.
Thoughts:
- I didn't experience much culture shock because of the fact that I had been to London the summer before for a few days so I at least knew what to expect in a general sense.
- One aspect of London that confused was the English accent. They all speak way too fast at times and it is difficult to understand. I usually always ask "what's that?" after they speak to me.
- I love pub culture because it almost like the anti-college house party scene. This pleases me because I was starting to get really worn out on college house parties (unless they were thrown at our house of course).
- Like I mentioned above we were all experiencing rediculous jet lag so I can probably say that today was the least enjoyable day I'm going to have on this trip. Regardless, it was still a sweet day.
- Flight went smoothly and got in around 6 a.m. (London time). Virgin Atlantic airlines was really, really nice but I couldn't sleep at all.
- Rainy bus ride to AIFS center where Rob almost had a hunger starvation breakdown.
- Chilled at AIFS and took care of some basic things such as getting a new cell phone, taking out pounds and eating lunch.
- Rob and I couldn't go to our homestay until around 4:30 so we basically had to sit in the AIDS computer lounge and fight off Jetlag for 6 hours. It was some of the weirdest hours of my life (since we were all running on zero hours of sleep).
- Finally arrived at our homestay, met our homestay mom, showed us around her amazing townhouse and settled in there.
- Went out to eat at this pretty nice Italian place where the service was terrible but then again thats how it is in the UK.
- Met up with some of the girls at this awesome bar called O'Niels which is probably the coolest bar/pub I've been in. It was gigantic.
- Went to bed around midnight since I had not slept in over 48 hours. Word.
Thoughts:
- I didn't experience much culture shock because of the fact that I had been to London the summer before for a few days so I at least knew what to expect in a general sense.
- One aspect of London that confused was the English accent. They all speak way too fast at times and it is difficult to understand. I usually always ask "what's that?" after they speak to me.
- I love pub culture because it almost like the anti-college house party scene. This pleases me because I was starting to get really worn out on college house parties (unless they were thrown at our house of course).
- Like I mentioned above we were all experiencing rediculous jet lag so I can probably say that today was the least enjoyable day I'm going to have on this trip. Regardless, it was still a sweet day.
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