Workin 9 to 5

Today was the first day of my internship with MediaEdge:CIA, or as they call it, MEC. Luckily, another girl from KU, Courtney, is interning there with me but in a different department! After my interview last week, I felt like I had a good understanding of what I would be doing but it was nice to start.

I set up my email, computer, and security pass then started on my first little project. On the press team, the main two clients are Chanel and Sony Ericsson. Today I worked on the Chanel account planning for a proposal that is due this Friday. I used a huge database of advertisement information using Nielsen research to check out Chanel's competition. I looked at different cologne advertisements and where they place ads. I spent most of the morning looking at Dior, which wasn't too bad considering all of their ads have a huge picture of Jude Law. I compiled excel sheets and powerpoints to be shown to the client later this week. I continued this for other colognes from Lacoste, Hugo Boss, and Armani. Overall it was really great and I like feeling that I am playing in a part in such a big scheme.

Some things I learned on my first day:

1) Advertising terms are NOT universal. Strapline=tagline or slogan, Creative=artwork...and many more.
2) Even though the British speak English, the keyboard is not the same! The worst was the @ symbol being in a different place!
3) Almost of the women on the tube in the morning wear tennis shoes with their suits and then change!
4) No need to eat breakfast at home, just eat at your desk first thing!
5) Office etiquette is very different. Starting at 9:30am I heard the radio all day. I heard Justin Bieber probably 20 times
6) Lunch is from 1-2, so bring a snack.

Great day and I am looking forward to an amazing summer!

My office!

King of the Castle

After our restful Friday night, we have had quite the weekend! Saturday we woke up early to go the Trooping the Color and to be tourists! Trooping the Color is the city's celebration of the Queen's 'official birthday' and there is a huge parade out of Buckingham Palace into a private venue. We were lucky enough to get really good spots over a group of young kids so we could see! First, around 400+ soldiers marched by, some with guns, some on horses, some playing instruments and even some playing instruments while on horses! It was quite the spectacle, especially with the soldiers in their full red coat and tall back hat outfits. Finally after much waiting we saw the royal family! My favorites of course were Prince William and The Queen! We were literally no more than 20 feet from them, it was so amazing. They love the queen so much here, I think it is kind of cute because in America no one has that kind of affinity for our government officials, but everyone here was waving flags and cheering "God Save the Queen!"

The guards


Her majesty...


We were all so stressed about where to go for the world cup, but luckily Molly's friend recommended a good pub that was walking distance from where we live! So we went to The Gloucester Arms, apparently a pub that Robert Pattinson himself frequents...

We were told to get there at 6:30 (the match showing at 7:30) but we did one more and got there at 5:30! And I'm glad we did because we barely got a table! By 7:30 a group of 7 or so students in the EUSA program met up with us and the pub was packed! There was hardly any room to breathe. It was especially fun to belt out the Star Spangled Banner and have everyone boo us! I'm not used to watching football, or soccer, games so the game seemed long and even longer because I didn't really know who I wanted to win! The odds for the US were 40 to 1, so I didn't have much hope- but I knew either way I would have a fun night. Turns out, we tied and I had a fun night anyways! We made some other friends from America at the pub and had lots of different beers and drinks! The group of us drank beers like Foster's, Beck's, Stella, and Strongbow. It is hard to keep track because they serve beer in pints here, so one "drink" is really like one and a half drinks!

Gloucester Arms


Molly and I



After the game we came back to our flat with everyone and planned Sunday! We decided to take a long day trip to Hever Castle. We took our first train about 45 minutes outside of the city. We knew we were in for an adventure when the only Taxi stand in the small town of Hever was closed. We finally realized the castle was 4 miles from the train station. After much searching we rounded up a taxi and a group of 8 of us made it to the castle! The castle stands on 600 acres and although the castle is small, the area is huge and it is so beautiful. Anne Boleyn and King Henry lived in this castle for some amount of time. We toured the castle and the rose garden, labyrinth (Harry Potter style) and the beautiful lake. I'm glad we got up and did something today because I have a feeling this summer is going to go by so fast!

The Train Station


Castle Grounds


so pretty...


I start work tomorrow, I'm nervous but also so so excited!

cb

Are you Ready?

Well hello! After my interview Wednesday I had some down time so I watched Glee after much trouble with the internet, and the fact that hulu doesn't work outside of America. Molly and Rachel cooked a lovely Mexican dinner for Kelsie and I. Our floor mates were definitely jealous. We decided to go for our first night out! Almost everyone in our building hung out together for a while and then we all headed off to O'Neill's. Rachel, Molly, Kelsie and I stuck with some girls from Bryant College in Rhode Island who seem to know their way around since they have been here for a few weeks. The place was so packed by the time we got there, but that made it more fun! The bar was three floors and more on the 'pub' side. A live band played mostly American songs which made it even more fun! We tried a few kinds of beers, including Bulmers- a cider beer. Delicious, but I am terrified to look up the calories. We have now successfully met students on our program from USC, Bryant, Chapman University in California, Boston College, Texas A&M and Villanova. Many of these kids were with us at O'Neill's. When we had had enough we took our first black cab! It was a perfect and easy way to get home and not too expensive.

Mexican Fiesta Chefs



KU Girls at O'Neill's


Thursday we MEANT to wake up early and shop, run errands and get phones finally. When we woke up at 11:00am, we knew that was not going to happen. We did get our phones and somehow it is cheaper to call America than to call any phone in the UK! We were able to get on a family plan so it is free for us to call each other.

That night we had a party hosted by EUSA at a restaurant/bar called Smollensky's. There was delicious finger foods and everyone good two free drinks- so all in all pretty good. From there, the four of us left with some kids from Chapman to another pub to hang out. Eventually we made it to Zoo Bar, where it seemed like everyone from the 'welcome party' was! It was really fun, and reminded me of the boom boom room in Lawrence-except people are from every country, speaking different languages! I failed at picture-taking Thursday...

This morning we had our first professional seminar...on Business Coms. Pretty common sense but I think it is the only way we will meet up with kids from other schools once we all start work. I did get the BEST brie cheese on my sandwich for lunch from a little french shop. Every Friday we have a different seminar and a visit to a different museum-today was the National Portrait Gallery. Fairly enjoyable, but I have got to find better walking shoes! After the museum we headed over to Knightsbridge, where all of the good shopping is! It was only two stops from where we live but we hadn't been yet. We're saving Harrod's for a day of its own so we checked out Topshop and some other different stores.

Harrod's



We just relaxed tonight since we know tomorrow is going to be RIDICULOUS. First is the Queen's "official" birthday! Her real birthday is in April, but since the weather is usually bad then, the country has a second birthday for her so there can be a proper parade! This is one of the few times she comes out of the palace and can be seen in her carriage, so hopefully we can catch a glimpse of her or the lovely Harry and William! The USA vs. England World Cup game is tomorrow night and I can't wait! We have been stressing so much about where to go, who to root for, what to wear etc. A few people even told us we would get beat up in the streets if America wins! I'm thinking we'll just go to a pub with open seats if we can find one and try not to speak to reveal that we are American!

until next time!

cb

Being a Tourist...

The past few days have been hectic and busy but so great! On our second day, we started off with a orientation for the summer. We learned about the internships and life in London in general. After a break for lunch, we headed off on a three hour walking tour! Our tour guide took us on the tube over to Buckingham Palace and then we walked all around. We saw Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus and most of the popular tourist places. We were able to take some good pictures but we didn't spend too much time in one place. One of my favorite things was seeing all of the elephants around London. The elephants are everywhere! They have all been painted by famous artists and will be auctioned off in the next few weeks and are rumored to go for hundreds of thousands of pounds! The money will all go to helping with the near-extinction of the Asian Elephant. We were exhausted afterwards but we had made plans already for the night! We grabbed a quick dinner at a Lebanese restaurant which was delicious- however we experienced some intense anti-Americanism there. We hopped on the tube and went to the Jack the Ripper tour! Apparently, it is a very popular tour- so much so that there are bunches of them and we almost got scammed out of going on the 'acclaimed' tour we saw in our tour books. The tour was so interesting and disturbing. It's amazing how historic London is, and that so many of these buildings have been around for so long and every area has its own story!Today most of the students had confirmation interviews for the internships. Another student from KU, Courtney is also working at MediaEdge so we were able to travel together this morning! The interview was so informal which let me breathe a sigh of relief. I met my supervisor, Susie, and we just sat in the cafe at the office and talked about the job! The company seems amazing and I can't wait to get started!

Below are some pictures of my apartment and from the walking tour!




My Bed...



Buckingham Palace



Big Ben and House of Lords and Commons



Tower of London

Welcome to London!

Hello!

I have just arrived in London for the summer, and it has already been quite busy! Kelsie and I arrived yesterday morning at about 8:00 AM and were brave enough to take the tube to our apartment with our huge huge bags (or should I say MY huge bags).It was a

ctually a beautiful day, sunny and cool. We met up with Molly and Rachel at the apt, unpacked and headed out to eat. It was hard to stay awake but we tried to fight

through it. We at

e at a very American little bistro near our apartment, which was cheap and good but not very British. We walked around to see the area where we will be staying which has almost everything we could need- pubs, restaurant, grocery stores etc. Our apartment is huge! Way better than I could have expected, with tons of space and looks like it has just recently been redone. At 3pm we had a group orientation and a short walking tour of the area, and we saw where we would be going today (Tuesday). After showering and resting we ventured to dinner, and settled at a local pub that had been recommended to us. The Stanhope Arms was amazing. We had our first fish and chips and tried some different beers and drinks. This would definitely be a great place to watch the World Cup game Friday! After the long plane ride and jet lag we were all exhausted so we just relaxed in our room. Today is a longer orientation and a three hour walking tour! Below are some pictures from yesterday!

cb

tunes of the week 5/10

maybe I should call this tunes of the month, because that's how often I seem to update this.

enjoy!

1. Dreamworld- Rilo Kiley

2. The General Specific-Band of Horses

3. Hide and Seek v. Paparazzi- unknown...I'm not gonna lie, I found this mash-up on www.fratmusic.com

4. When Did Your Heart Go Missing-Rooney

5. The Future Freaks Me Out- Motion City Soundtrack

6. Here (In your Arms)- HelloGoodbye

7. Great DJ- The Ting Tings

8. Always on My Mind- Phantom Planet

9. When Your Mind's Made Up- Once Soundtrack (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)

10. Brighter Than Sunshine- Aqualung

11. Hard Sun- Eddie Vedder

12. You're a God- Vertical Herizon

13. Ruthless- Something Corporate

14. What You Wish For- Guster

15. Volcano-Damien Rice

HTC Droid Incredible.

So in the last week I got a new phone! I was sad to leave blackberry, but really only because of the benefits of BBM. But as I told my parents when I got the blackberry, I knew it was more of a trend and it would die out by the time my contract was up.

After much convincing from a certain technology-obsessive boyfriend, I was given the choice between the Blackberry Storm 2 and the HTC Droid Incredible. I watched one video on youtube and I was sold on the Droid.

My dad has the Motorola Droid from Verizon and loves it. And this is a guy who once went to buy a new phone and asked "give me the phone with the LEAST stuff on it." He was of course excited to have a Droid friend.

As embarrassing as it is, I went to the Verizon store as it opened, but only because I had to make it to a 9:30 class. I was nervous, but when I first held it, I knew I would like it.

Since last week, I have learned everything about this phone, and I love it! Below are some of my favorite features:

-HUGE screen. I found myself thinking that my iPod Touch screen seemed small.

-App Store. Not as big as apple store, but has everything I could need or want

-7 customizable home screens. Easy to set up, and customizable with widgets and programs.

-Camera. 8 megapixel camera takes amazing photos. I emailed my first picture to someone and it was too big to open!

-Google features. This was the first phone I didn't have to wait hours for to get my 600+ contacts transferred. I set up my gmail and all my contacts came in. I have since synced with Google Calendar as well.

I would definitely recommend this to any Verizon users! And as much as I like the iPhone, it felt good to have a friend with an iPhone say that my phone was cooler :)

cb