Last Days Across the Pond

Here are some random shots from my last days in London.

Here are some pictures from my office at Whitecoat. I've mentioned all the movie memorabilia, the light sabers and 800 strong DVD collection. The ET and R2D2 were impulse purchases by my boss. The other image is the view from my desk :)

Here is the cake that my coworkers bought for me on my last day, or at least what's left of it. It's the best chocolate cake I've ever had!!! We tore through it.

And finally, after an entire summer in the city, I saw my exact dream car. Olive green Mini with a soft top. Beautiful :)

This is the Crispy Duck... named after the London specialty of Chinatown. My coworkers introduced me to it - needless to say, I've never been the same. It's little pieces of fried duck that you eat with thin tortillas, onions, cucumbers and ginger sauce. Delicious.

I Never Thought a Man Could Wear a Jumper

I can't believe I haven't done this yet: teach yall about all of the weird things English people say! I know I'm forgetting things... I've learned lots from my work friends, particularly when they make fun of me.

Pants: Trousers
Underwear: Pants
Cab: Taxi
Sweater: Jumper
Soccer: Football
Football: American Football
Fries: Chips
Chips: Crisps
Cookies: Biscuits
Weird: Dodgy
Trash Can: bin
Crap!!: Rubbish! / Bollocks!
Tank Top: Vest
Cash Register: Till
Elevator: Lift
Z: Zed
Jerk: Wanker
Bangs: Fringe
Line: Queue
Would like to: is keen to
Great: brilliant
Bathroom: Loo/Toilet
Apartment: Flat
Tennis Shoes: Sneakers
TV: Telly
Cigarette: Fag
Leave: Pop out
Cell Phone: Mobile
Friend: Mate
Whore: Tart
Priest: Vicar
Goodbye: Cheers

"Working" Late

It's 9:30, and I'm returning to the office after a 12 hour day. This is the second time I've come back late — the other night we all came back here at 3am after a £200 meal in Chinatown and a midnight showing of Dark Knight. Today was the big Intel show! Basically lying to journalists about how we didn't completely produce this film on the Macs at our office...


On another note. James said he would offer me a job if I weren't going back to the States. Damn. This situation actually really sucks, because I love the people I work with. I wish I could take these guys back with me to America and do what I love! That would be a good deal. Sweet. Plus everyone would love their accents. And all their toys.

My being here has been called "pronoia" - the feeling in the back of your mind that something is going right!

Here's the Stuff I Forgot...

It's not that I necessarily forgot any of this stuff, it's just that I've been very selective about posting pictures, as our internet is reeally slow! Here's some of the things you haven't seen this summer...


Two great pictures from Italy. This graffiti says "Life is just the beginning of our immortality." This was a pretty sunset as we were strolling around Cagliari.

This painting at the Tate Britain really struck me. It's like a businessman hanging on the cross, with buildings burning in the back. Could be interpreted many ways...

I love this picture of my mom from when we were in Geneva. She's going to hate it. Very unexpected, and check out the fog in the back! What is a Master of Complications? Who knows, they have them in Geneva.

We passed by Frying Pan Alley on our Jack the Ripper tour (another favorite!). Does the name suggest the method of killing?

The lovely sex shops of Soho... what a fun place to work. Also down the street... the Scientology Center!!!

Some of the amazing architecture in Barcelona, as well as the crazy street dancers. That's gotta hurt your head!

Here is beautiful Hever Castle (probably my favorite UK spot of the summer!), view from the garden. Hever, remember, is where the Boleyns grew up!

Okay, this sign looks something you'd see outside a pedophile's house. It's like going up to a shady van that says "FREE CANDY!" Just kidding, these signs are everywhere, alerting that you can top up your mobiles, but the crossed fingers? Weird.

Hmm. This sign for home killed meet is supposed to be enticing, is it?

Seriously? I still can't get used to having a bar on campus. It's like, finish class, have a beer before (or instead of) the next one! Everyday the courtyard was full of kids drinking.

This pub in Covent Garden is called "Nag's Head." I imagine all of you Hanley's will get a good laugh out of that.

Here you can see Michelle with a bag of chips...erm, "crisps," bigger than she is.

Maybe I Could Be a Party Planner!

So we're working like crazy on this Intel job right now. Everyone keeps throwing us different information, i.e., "Oh, we thought YOU were in charge of providing £6000 worth of software!!" We've got 4 brand laptops with a brand new, never realized Intel chip in them (we've discussed selling them on E-Bay. These PCs are driving us mad though... as one is randomly installing some program in Spanish. Iniziando!

This morning there was a solar eclipse! The total eclipse of the sun could only be seen in Russia and China, but some of it could be seen here. Pretty cool, eh?

What's That Orange Smell? One of My 5 a Day!

So I finally got up the nerve to chat with my boss about how I'm doing. I asked how he thought things were going and later told him I can't read him. He agreed that he gets a little wrapped up in projects but said he thinks I'm doing excellent. They're giving me more responsibility on this Intel job we're working on right now.

This, by the way, is kind of like events planning, which is kind of fun but super stressful. I've been on the phone and emailing all day trying to figure out this event for Tuesday. We're only a lowly post-production house! Sheesh!

A Man on the Train Called Me 'Madame'

I'm wearing horribly smelly bowling shoes. I'm also eating chips and salsa (first of the summer) and drinking beer as I bowl with a bunch of kids! Emma has a group of Latina friends here in Belgium, and all the couples are here today with their kids. It's hard core Spanish emersion... everything I used to know so well forgotten and everytime I try to speak it comes out as Italian. I did manage to say, however, "Estoy bien" rather than "sto bene." Frickin romance languages.

Bruges was beautiful. Per the movie, I avoided climbing the clock tower, though we did look at it. We just meandering the beautiful streets and looked at the steepled buildings. By now I've seen lots of churches in Europe, but I have a new favorite. It's so tiny you almost miss it! Ornate gold every where, and they even supposedly have the blood of Christ there.

This weekend was luxury. The bathroom I had to myself was bigger than the entire bedroom I've been staying in all summer. I also didn't share with 5 other girls...

Chocolate, Lace, Beer and a Pissing Statue

So as I sit here typing, the cutest dog is jumping up and down, barking and begging for attention. He's just a little bigger than my foot, which he licks if I don't stick my hand down there!! This is Dash... I want to adopt him.

I'm staying with a family friend, Emma, in Brussels right now. Emma used to play tennis with my mom, and she is also the godmother of my freshman year roommate (small world, eh?). She spent the day showing me around the city - tons of chocolate shops and little beer houses. Did I mention waffle houses? Believe it or not, Belgium is also famous for its comics, many of which get immortalized as graffiti.

Yes, she insisted I tried the waffles! I got bananas and chocolate, but it turns out they're good enough to eat plain. The stories are true.

One of the pictures is a Belgian Landmark: the Mannekin Pis. The story goes that in a battle some guy was ballsy enough to stop and pee on the field, so now they celebrate him. Every time a nation comes to visit they change his clothes. I believe Venezuela was the last to dress him.

Here you can also see Emma and I wandering the Grand Place (she's staring away, admiring the architecture).

I loved this street with the flags, it just shows how much of an International City Belgium really is. Though the official language is Dutch, almost everyone speaks English. The country, however, is currently in political turmoil between the French half and the Flemmish half! That's why so many people had Belgian flags hanging from the balconies (you can see one on top of the Atomium).

Tomorrow, Bruges (without the assassins, for anyone who saw the movie...)

A Royal Ginger??

Currently having a debate with my workmates about the royal family.

"Last night Stephen Colbert called the Queen a cross dresser. Isn't that an insult?" James brings this up after his show last night in response to a London tube ad calling South Carolina gay.
"She's actually quite good looking..."

"What will you do when Charles takes over???" I wonder. That'd be awful.
"No damn different than it is now!" Adam says.
"They should just put Harry on the throne." Sacha suggests. "Throw some parties every night, smoke a bit..."
"He's not even Charles' son"
"That's right, they're all Germans, where did a f***in ginger come from???"
"They should get a black kid on the throne." James nobly offers. "With an afro..."

An Italian Mother Wants to Adopt Me

So I just ate a Colomba. That's after the antipasto, the best primo piatti (pasta) ever, il secondo (pork), fruit and wine. The Colomba is our dolce, a traditional Easter dessert that Silvia's genitori saved for her.

Maneeza and I have made our way to the little known island of Sardegna, just north of the mafia-favorite, Sicily. We're staying with my Italian teacher, Silvia, in Cagliari. Yesterday she showed us all around and we had an apperitif on the beach! After our traditional Italian dinner with her parents we started the night.

"If we get there by 1:30, we get in free!" she says. 1:30??? I'm thinking, that's when bars close in Columbia!! We danced at a club on the crystal clear water, and we could see right through to the fish and sand below. Around 5 we made it home. Despite the "typical Italian man" trying to dance on you all the time, I was pleasantly surprised by Italian nightlife. No one was drunk. That could've been because all drinks were €8, or they're just more interested in dancing...

Today we hit the beach! Good thing, because after a summmer in London I stuck out like a sore thumb surrounded by all those bronzed Italians! Silvia drove us around the beautiful coastline before we found a spot to towel down. The water was, again, crystal clear and gorgeous. The men don't wear "trunks" and even the little girls don't wear tops! Everyone is just there in pursuit of relaxation :)

Just a few days in Sardegna have a given me great practice with my Italian! Silvia's parents don't speak English, which "e problema!!" according to her mother, the first thing she said! But I found myself conversing very well with her, and she even said my accent isn't so bad ;) She'd like to keep me around to cook for. Am I starting to think in Italian? Cool.

On our way now to watch Silvia dance with her folk group in traditional Sardegnian costume...

PHOTOS: some of these were taken along the coastline: Silvia talking to Maneeza; we went to a ruin of the old city overlooking the town at sunset: the graffiti says "we love you a lot"

Help! There's a Naked German in My Room!

So there really is a sparsely-dressed German in my room. 4 of them, and they are growing something that smells suspiciously of pickled onions, or really bad sweat. That's hostel life. Eew. The other 2 people are a nice English couple - we've bonded with them!

Day One, from Roma.

Star Spotting

Am currently searching for voiceover artists for our website show-reel. Many of these sites employ pretty serious actors! For a job we did a few weeks ago, we fairly seriously considered Jason Issacs, who played Hook in Peter Pan and Lucius Malfoy in all the Harry Potter movies - I would've gotten to meet him at the recording!! Right now I'm looking at the CV's (resumes) of Harry Potter's dad, Smee from Peter Pan, and men who acted in Gladiator, Elektra, Ali G- Indahouse, The Prince and Me, Hamlet, The Dark Knight and the Bourne Ultimatum! It's difficult not to pick those guys just to get them into the studio - unfortunately none of them quite fit the deep, rich, gravely voice we're looking for....



HAHAHAHA so now I'm looking up freelance motionographers, and I found the guy that did the opening credits for "I Love New York!" How fun. He also worked with Rachael Ray, so I guess he balances out...

There CAN Be Too Much Luxury...

So we just got back from a lovely afternoon at Windsor Castle. Unfortunately the Royal Family was not there relaxing this weekend, but that meant that we got to explore the State Apartment and more of the castle!

We wandered around with our personal audio guides, exploring the gardens and "moat" for a short time, but the real treat was Queen Mary's dollhouse. This was given to her as gift when she was grown up. It's huge! It includes a vacuum cleaner, complete electricity, and miniature crown jewels!!

The State Apartment took up most of the time. Lots of rooms with lots of paintings. Pretty impressive. We also got to see Henry VIII's tomb (at least where his ashes are). They put them in a chapel. Seems unfitting.

Today was a horrible day for travel, as it turns out. Not only were two of the major tube lines near us already closed, but as we were leaving our train into Windsor closed for "emergency engineering." We had to sneak onto a different train back to London, then we heard that a 3rd tube line was partially closed because "someone was under a train." They actually said that very nonchalantly.