Double Oh Heaven

(view from atop St. Pauls)

Hiya! A very common greeting in London. Okay once again so much has happened in a week and I keep doing that thing…whats it called? I do it a lot in college? Ohhhh right procrastination. I got so much procrastinating done today! So ANYWAYS I will cut right to the chase. Last Sunday we went to Oxford which is quite a place. I cannot imagine going to school there because its like tourist season 365 days a year. Like you think random people touring campus is bad, try random people times 2000 and all foreign. How does one study!? We walked around everywhere, the places to see are endless. We ate at this little pub which was by far the best british food in the UK that I've had. The cider was not too sweet and the french fries/chips were out of this world. Perfectly crispy with a nice warm center made with love. After eating we went to the Divinity School/New School which is where the majority of Harry Potter scenes were filmed. My inner (is it really inner?) HP nerd is really coming out on the end of this trip because I have to jam pack it with so many HP things! And I'm basically living in the land where it all started so what can I say! The picture there is of the Divinity school which is where the infirmary and yule ball scenes were filmed. The camera reaaaally makes things look a lot larger than they really are, but it was still pretty excited. Overall Oxford puts every other college to shame and is basically like going to Hogwarts in real life so kind of regretting my college decision? (JK…Rowling)

Next up we had a very chill work week. Since my time here is rapidly ending (tear) they haven't given me any long term assignments to do so I've been doing little things here and there so not much to gloat about this week. Monday I saw Begin Again with my friend Sam which is a great movie, me and Mark Ruffalo are basically besties now so seeing him on the big screen was like seeing an old friend. So on Thursday one of my co-workers informed me that we ALL had Friday off this week. Probably the most exciting news ever and my opportunity to do everything I need to squeeze in. So I got to sleep in a little but not too much so I could start my day! Got up, got an epic brunch at this place called The Diner, why hello bacon we meet again. Also that place is where two girls in our program saw JUDE LAW eating there with his son. I think I should just wait all day everyday for him to arrive again. Next up I moseyed on over to the London Film Museum, with its main exhibit featuring Bond in Motion: 007 cars through the films. This was right up my alley obviously and was a really cool experience. I did the audio tour to get a little more info since I'm not a huge 007 nerd and needed some guidance, but enough of a nerd to have seen a quarter or so of the films. Definitely wish my Dad could've seen all this, so I took plenty of pictures of the cars for him. Trivia question: WHAT movie is this car from? (not the green one, other one top right) Clue: License plate will give you a hint. Dad you better get this 1. Because you love 007 and were probably a child when this movie came out and 2. You're a doctor hint hint. There was a place you could get your photo taken with a suit on and make James Bond like poses but I decided to save my money…but secretly wondered how badass I would've looked…*cue James Bond music*

My favorite cars were the ones in Die Another Day (green), and also the car Daniel Craig drove in Quantum Solace because it was the real banged up version with bullet holes and everything which made quite the effect. The car also was in the Guinness book of world records for most flips a stunt driver has ever done! I bet it was flippin' awesome. It may have been during the plot twist? My head was spinning during the footage. They really managed to turn the movie around, it came full circle. Okay I'm punny, I know.


Consequently (lol essay transitional phrase), after my jaunt through the museum I decided to do my favorite thing ever in London which is St. Pauls Cathedral. My parents took me there freshman year of college and I've been waiting to go back. I know the thoughts running through everyones mind is ohhh its a church sounds boring, but its so so much more than that! One London isn't allowed to build skyscrapers that block St. Pauls because thats how epic it is. Theres really cool history in it, like the crypts where the Duke of Wellington was buried, spiral staircase from Harry Potter where they come from Divination class, then theres the whispering gallery which is just amazing. You can walk around it in a circle and whisper into the walls and because of the dome shape you can hear people alllll the way from the other side! Its kind of creepy and being there without my parents I kept hearing the words "whiiisssppperrr" and felt like I was in a scary movie and a ghost was next to me which aint cool. So my quick decision was onto the next level which is the stone gallery. After sweating my way up 376 stairs I was relieved to have some fresh air. Wanna guess what happened 2 minutes later as I was walking around? Oh. It down poured. I'm talking A Bugs Life sized water droplets, and I'm the ant. I embraced it as usual and enjoyed London in its natural element. After my little break and literal cool down, on to the next gallery: the golden gallery aka the tippy top of St. Pauls. I did this by myself 3 years ago while my parents sat and chilled in the whispering gallery and did it in rapid speed. This time I forgot about all the spiral staircases and effort it takes. I'm not one to be afraid of heights EVER but I was getting some serious vertigo and kept telling myself to not look down…but seeing as I'm my worst enemy I did it. 527 steps later I made it to the top with no rain! Sat up there chatting with the worker for a little and joked if he enjoys hiking up all these steps everyday. Pretty sure he doesn't but he lied…in church!? Well that was my day off that ended with reading Gone Girl in a coffee shop near  where I'm staying. All in all I'd have to say it was a pretty sub-par day, mediocre if anything. (I hope you all can sense when I'm sarcastic).

Last night we all watched the first harry potter to refresh our memory for our very big day we had planned. Today we did some quick things before going to *drum roll please* WARNER BROTHER STUDIOS!* Aka Harry Potter land and where dreams come true. Must be Christmas in July or something...My roommate and I first went to Kings Cross to pre game HP with Platform 9 3/4. The people that work there are hilarious and obviously love their job. The line was pretty long but it went by relatively fast and we got our pic! After that went to Harrods, saw everything we can't afford, got some souvenirs and immediately left. Now we're just saving up some energy for the studio tour which I am BEYOND excited for. Well thats all for now, get ready for a nice long blog coming soon after this tour and my last week. Ahhhh don't let it end. Cheers! PS- the worker told me to put my leg like that, should've laid on the ground like my first idea…stay tuned friends!

Tikka Chance On Me

Hello hello! Attempting to get better at reminding myself to blog more so here we go. This week was absolute madness from the start. Monday I woke up with a pounding headache and could barley breathe so I didn't go into work in fear that I would get the whole office sick. It was probably from overdosing in macaroons and bread the day before, curse you Paris! So the only time I left my bed was for food obviously, so I trekked my way to Nandos which I am addicted to. BEST chain in London, its like Boston Market on crack but better because they have avocado and beer. At work I had to transcribe interviews that they conducted for this BBC show thats relatively new called Peaky Blinders. Its based on a real gang in Birmingham in the 1920s and has an awesome cast like Cillian Murphy (Inception, Batman Rises--scarecrow, who knew he was British!?) Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy. Enough said) and Sam Neill (good ol' Jurassic Park). As I'm sitting listening to these interviews and typing everything out (fun fact my word doc was 60 pages and 40,070 words) I'm getting really interested in watching this show it sounded so cool and gritty so I asked one of my co-workers if that had any extra screeners I could borrow. Low and behold they did so what did I do on my sick day? Binge watch the entire first season. It is actually fantastic and there are great female/male lead characters so I would highly recommend everyone getting into this show, especially because I reaaaally need someone to discuss/vent about it with so do me this favor people. Second season comes out in September baby! Also working in PR I'm supposed to get the publicity out about it…is it working?!? Its a prohibitchin' show. Watch it.

On to Wednesday. So I had to deliver jumpsuits/notebooks to journalists for Orange is the New Black because on wednesdays we wear Orange! So I had to deliver these packages to 10 different places all over London. I traveled on 7 different tube stations. 7. There are a total of 11 stations so I did some serious work on London. If anyone ever needs a guide, I'm your girl. Got lost a couple times (totally lying got lost like 100 times) but I successfully delivered them all! And got a major workout in which I probably needed. Maybe. Did I? Moving on.

Thursday of work was AWESOME! We had a Need for Speed event to promote the DVD coming out on Monday. Basically these super cars drove down from Liverpool, Manchester, everywhere you name it and then all came to Potter Fields Park next to Tower Bridge. It was so fun! Minus trying to control the crowd and every single person trying to snag a DVD. Excuseeee me sir, you have to tweet to get one of these bad boys. I talked to a family from Florida that happened to wander by the event and this 12 year old boy was in awe, it was the cutest thing ever. Overall, I got my tan on and had a blast. The real question is where was Aaron Paul! 

Friday night was Lexies last night in London so we went to this amazing sushi restaurant in South Kensington and got our own little back room, just like Mikado ehhh? We then moved on to this swanky bar with sophisticated folk to get a drink. I'm pretty sure that was the best drink I've ever had, it had whisky, mint, lemon, and Jesus' blood in it I'm almost positive that was the finishing touch. We moved on to Shoreditch which is a fun going out area that we hadn't tried before! Successful evening to say the least and it ended with some KFC. Fast food here puts American fast food to shame, just saying!

One thing I've gotten really good at here is not getting a lot of sleep but getting my butt out of bed and doing things because lets be honest you only London once. Everyones pretty much gone somewhere this weekend so Saturday me and a couple friends decided to go to Portobello Market. This market was fun and had all sorts of things you could buy. It has been excruciatingly hot here so that was a factor. After walking around we headed back home and took our time and walked around the Primrose area since were so close. Primrose Hill will forever be my favorite spot in London, so peaceful and has the best view. After taking a little rest we headed over to Canary Wharf and walked around and had the BEST mexican food at Wahaca. Our waiter Fernando was the best and I listened to everything he suggested I get. Ended the night with a rooftop bar overlooking St. Pauls and laughing with friends, overall one of the best nights I've had here! London ya still take my breath away. Today we are heading to…Oxford! The land that inspired so many scenes in Harry Potter slash some film locations. I'm really only going for the tshirt but what the hell maybe I'll get a little educated while I'm at it. Cue the Vampire Weekend song la la la oxford comma la la la. Stay tuned for adventure stories ;)

LONDON TERMS UPDATES! I know this is the real reason everyone reads this blog. Okay so I'm already turning into a Londoner by saying things like "I popped off to the Loo" and emphasizing the word week-end because that is what they do here. I also have gotten really good at my British accent (in my opinion at least…) Terms: Grilled cheese/any kind of sandwich = toastie, pickle = gherkin (hence the dome shaped building thats in London is called the gherkin building), bollocks = curse word term standing for testicles, brill = short for brilliant, fanny pack = bumbag. I really need to stop saying the word chips because I'm pretty sure every Londoner freaks out with excitement if anyone in the office mentions they have chips. My bad guys I MEAN CRISPS. The real question is do they still call them tortilla chips? The world may never know. Also how are you means you all right as I mentioned before but I can't get used to it! It really throws me off I'm always like yes I'm fine why do I look sick? Whats wrong with me!? Anywho I should probably get ready for Oxford and get out of bed. Pip pip cherrio mates! 

Midnight in Paris

Hi world! Well I need to really step up my game on the blogging because so much happens in Europe I can barley keep up! Yet again another week has flown by and I'm not diggin' it. Time flies when you're having fun am I riiiight? Bad joke moving on. Well I left off on 4th of July where London ignores the holiday completely and pretends like we don't exist. We celebrated regardless and still managed to wake up and face the day. On the 5th we went to see the changing of the guards which is hectic because there are herds of people and pickpockets everywhere and being short has its disadvantages. So technically I "heard" the changing of the guards. And saw where the Queen resides, which I'm beginning to think is reflecting Frozen because she never opens those damn gates. Come on don't be an Elsa, let it gooooo. We also walked by the Tour de France set up and vendors so we got a little sneak peak at all the hype (sadly I was working during that so I just pretend I saw the bikers…) That night our program had our dinner dance cruise on the Thames which was fantastic! When the cruise turned around we got to see London lit up at night which is quite a spectacle. Lets just say drinking + eating + moving boat will never end well (don't worry no one projectiled) we just couldn't pull off any of the dance moves we attempted and heels…just no. Then going to bed you still feel like you're on a swaying boat. Strange.

Moving on to Sunday Funday! Pretty sure the only thing we accomplished on Sunday was eating massive amounts of sushi and then laying in bed for the rest of the day but then…FREE ENTRY TO SEE THE BACKSTREET BOYS! All thanks to our friend Murphy and her awesome internship. Crawling out of bed, we are on our way to Summer Time in Hyde Park. We grab some cider and wait for the legends themselves to come on. They come out with "I want it that way" and were getting pumped. Fun fact the Backstreet Boys are as old as me. 21. And they've still got it! About 20 minutes into their set this dark cloud begins hovering over us. And it starts pouring…well…Backstreets back ALRIGHT. We embrace it and take the rain as it comes in massive quantities. Overall great day and experience! 

Next up we have Thursday night. I met Lexie in Notting Hill which is obviously a classy place per the events that unfolded that night. We went to this Italian restaurant that wasn't too fancy near her house and Lexie calls me as I get off the tube asking where I am and being my guide. Mid-sentence she stops and goes "someone famous just walked by…" What is the normal reaction of a film major? Sprint until you get to the location. After about a minute I realized how dumb I looked so I stopped. Her and her friends tell me that MARK RUFFALO walked by. Mark. Ruffalo. And he came in the restaurant and left. I was probably 2 minutes behind that happening and was sad about missing it. LOW AND BEHOLD halfway through our meal he came back in and sat with his beautiful family and we all stared (probably too much). This girl went up to him asking for a selfie, and he was all like I'm with my family and we were all like respect man respect. But if that girl didn't take the initiative I probably would have approached him and blankly stared so we just walked by and said our goodbyes to Matty from 13 going on 30 and the Hulk. If you look closely you can see his head talking to his little son. Precious.

Friday we did a good ol' Camden pub crawl which was interesting. So cheap though and you get a free shot/drink at every location! Highly recommend but the night ended with mexican food instead of the last bar…noooo regrets there.

NOW Saturday we went to France y'all! Had to get up super early and hop on the eurostar so we get to Paris mid-afternoon. You know the stereotype that French people are rude? COMPLETELY TRUE. Walk out of the train station and immediately get run over by some woman with her suitcase. My toes were her casualties and she didn't apologize and kept walking. Manners lady, learn em. We settled in in our magical beds and headed out to the Arc de Triomphe and hiked up to the top which was beautiful. Then we went to Champs Elysses and walked around and ate some yummy pizza and had AMAZING fro yo. That night we decided to head to the Eiffle Tower and sit and enjoy its beauty and drink some wine and buy some grapes and cheese. Lets discuss how grapes cheese and cherries were 16 euro…cheesus. Paris was getting ready for Bastille day and had beautiful lights and everything everywhere. It started raining but at this point I think I've gotten so used to the rain it doesn't phase me anymore. The Eiffle Tower was keeping us warm with its lights (just kidding…) Getting a cab back was a nightmare! Drivers laughed in our faces it was terrible but finally one out of 18 nice drivers drove us back to the hotel. The Metro is waaay too confusing and the doors will close on you and not reopen. We learned that the hard way. Sunday we woke up and had a real and incredible breakfast. Parisian bread is maybe the best thing on the planet. We went with our staff members to Montmartre and hiked up to the church. Then we proceeded to go to Notre Dame and love lock bridge. We ended the day with macaroons from Laduree which are amazeballs. Like easily the greatest macaroons on Earth. Highly recommend to everyone to wait in that line!

Well that is all for now. Time for another week of work and adventure! Hope everyones having a great summer and I didn't ramble too too much…BYE!

British Tea( r ) Party

Hello World!
I have been planning on writing this next blog since Tuesday…nope. Laziness ensued. Well shit so much has happened yet again in another week! Alright lets start with Scotland. SCOTLAND IS INCREDIBLE. To everyone that wants to visit Ireland and go to the Guinness factory and take cool pictures…go to Scotland. It was so beautiful and the people there are the friendliest people in the world. Getting there was a tad stressful. So I bought the tickets and coordinated it perfectly, I was like ok get on a 730 train and we'll have plenty of time after work to get ready. Guess who booked a train for 630? 1830…stupid military time is SO deceiving. Basically I walked in the door at 5:50 and Haley is sitting there with a face like you screwed up…I could not even tell you what I threw in my bag. I packed in approximately 3 minutes and we were sprinting to the tube station. We arrived at the train with a MINUTE literally 1 minute to spare before the train started. Lexie was sitting there having a minor anxiety attack and wanted to slit my throat. So sweaty and shaking we sit down and immediately start drinking some wine to relax us. The train ride up was beautiful you could see the beach and so many hills. So day 2 we wake up ready to face the day! We take a bus and go to Edinburgh Castle which is indescribable. You can see everything from up there. After touring that bad boy we decided to try the "Scotch Whisky Experience", so whisky tasting that'll go over well right? Oh. Wait. Little did we know we got the gold package for 20 pounds and 5 whisky tastings. 5. One whisky tasted like pure charcoal. So 5 shots deep we realize we need food ASAP. We found the nearest Italian restaurant and had the best meal ever. After that whisky/beer/castle/pasta experience it was nap time. We slept, rallied, partied. I'll leave you with this, scots can rage. Never try to keep up with one. You will fail. And hate your 5 hour non-air conditioned train ride home. The end, until next time Scotland!

Next up Tuesday night! So I'm hoping people reading this have seen the movie About Time? If you haven't watch it please. Its not just a sappy love story and it will make you appreciate the hell out of your Dad. So in the movie they meet at this restaurant where you eat in complete darkness Dans Le Noir. So us girls took the initiative to try this mysterious restaurant. Basically you can choose from surprise, fish, meat, or a vegetarian menu and thats it. Feeling adventurous I chose the surprise menu. So the woman that took our order took us to a man standing at the end of the hallway who would be our guide/waiter. He was completely blind and probably one of the coolest guys I've ever met. He joked with us asking if we were red heads because he fancies them. So eating in complete darkness is the strangest thing in the world. Your eyes keep wanting to see something and I'm pretty sure I made up that I could see my hand. Also guessing what you're eating was pretty impossible too! The only thing I got right was ham. Also silver wear? Nope. Hands it is. After our extremely interesting meal which consisted mostly of laughing, we found our what we ate. I ate ham as an appetizer, and then CALVES LIVER, duck, and rice. I knew there was something weird about my meal…it was way too chewy for my liking. So surprise menu = fail. But overall cool experience I would highly recommend!!

On to Thursday and Today. Thursday me and my roomie decided to seeeeeeee…Wicked! Aka the best play ever. Actually every play rocks but I especially love Wicked. Teared up during defying gravity, can't help it. This was the perfect end to a work day! And we went to Leicester Square to get half price tickets which is just the best hookup ever, all you future London go-ers DO IT. 

Work/Learning updates: This week nothing too exciting happened but I learned so much as usual. Okay when a guy is really hot he's "fit". So you say one guy is fitter than the other. Cotton candy = candy floss, potato chips = crisps, their version of crystal light = squash?! Also today I repped my red white and blue and they all made fun of me and played Whitney Houston America songs…thanks guys. London does NOT celebrate 4th of July at all (makes sense) so instead I got tea bags thrown at me (just kidding). Regardless were all going to go out and celebrate tonight and hopefully not get hit or yelled at. Well that is all for now! Updates after the weekend will be cominggggg. Peace love and pimms!

Our epic meal!

~Also everyone try Peroni. Its like the better version of Heineken~