Independence (from England) Day

So today is Independence (from England) Day. And I am in England. No one really celebrates this holiday here, oddly enough. It is strange to know that my friends will be blowing up fireworks and my family will be attending barbeques tonight. I think I have gained a greater appreciation for America since I moved to England. The little things that I used to take for granted are beginning to seem like more and more of a necessity now that I can't have/do them.

On the other hand, they do have "tea people" who walk around all the offices and make sure you have hot tea all the time. We don't have that in America. This makes it a pretty tough call as to which country is better.

We went to see the musical Chicago last night in Covent Garden. I have seen the movie about 16 dozen times but it was so fun to see them trying to use American accents (since the production is set in Chicago...). I think the person teaching them how to talk with an American accent was the descendent of half New Yorkers and half people with a deep southern drawl. All the same, the production was fabulous.

One other thing I have noted is that babies are sort of like an accessory here. While in America teen pregnancy or one woman with a herd of children is moderately frowned upon, the British seem to encourage the population boost merely so that they can dress them up and get the latest stroller model. EVERYONE has a baby. I've seen strollers with umbrellas to keep the sun out of little jr.'s eyes and strollers with built in fans to keep jr. cool and ones in seriously every color. I am not sure what to make of this but if I were to give out stock market adivce I would say buy some stock in British strollers today.

So that will be one bowl of cheese with your chesty cough?

A baker's dozen (that's 13) of people told me throughout the day that today is the hottest day of the year in London.  It is currently 79 degrees. To my coworkers, 79 degrees is cause for tank-tops and industrial sized floor fans and lots of frozen lemonaide. To me, 79 degrees makes me antsy because usually it means it will be followed by an additional 20 degrees two weeks later. I welcome the sun, clouds, and even the rain because this city never stops -- unless baguettes go on sale because, next to the Queen, baguettes are the most important thing in any Brit's life. 

I've been playing hostess for the past week. While I loved the company and being able to show off my amazing city, I selfishly admit that it is nice to finally have my tiny room back to myself. London cooperated with

nice weather and fun events - making me the Martha Stuart of 

London student dorm-hood. I sent them home to the states with loads of pictures and a deep chesty cough which I picked up on the subway one day and won't go away. 

Work continues to be busy and I am thankful that I can blame any mistakes on my internship-ness. I have taken on a huge project and I work on it all day every day (with the exception of my one hour lunch break which I spend people-watching in the park) as if it were a life or death matter. But to me it is. If my bosses are impressed perhaps there is a job in it for me when I graduate. It would be tough to have to relocate back to this big, beautiful city but I think I would manage. I still get star-struck when I have to call Hugh Grant's publicist or mail some props to the set of Harry Potter but I try to hide it. Especially now with my raspy, chesty, cough voice AND my American accent no one can really understand me any way. Case in point: yesterday for dinner I ordered soup, a slice of baguette with cheese and a glass of white wine. I was brought a bowl of soup, a bowl of cheese, an entire baguette, and a glass of room-temperature water. Cool. 

Tower Bridge...

at 9 am....

in the pouring rain

Stonehenge 

The Roman Baths

My new best friend: Jack Black

Tonight we sat in Hyde Park and listened to JACK JOHNSON do what he does best: sing sing sing. With some sushi in one hand and some British magazines in the other, it was a perfect evening. Scalpers kept asking me if I wanted to buy a ticket to go into the concert but I liked my rendition of a Jack Johnson concert much better.

Real Londoners wear black

Real Londoners wear black. This is what I have discovered by playing my new game I fondly refer to as “guess where people are from based on what they are wearing.” Everyday during my hour-long lunch break I wander down the street behind the building where I work through this adorable produce and flower market. Whatever smells the strongest is what I buy (and I usually regret buying it because it, in fact, smells the strongest) and then I sit on the curb and people watch. This is what I have concluded:

Anyone wearing all black, or all khaki: real, legitimate Londoner
Anyone wearing bright colors/crocs/skimpy clothes: Americans

It is hard to sum up all that I have seen and done in the last few days. Somewhere between Big Ben, Parliament, church at Westminister Abbey, high tea at the Kensington Palace, late night stroles on the London Bridge and cute British pubs I have found little time for sleep. Observing this lifestyle is not enough- I want to live it. I've been drinking tea instead of coffee and am constantly referring to french fries as "chips." Probably because "chips" have become a staple in my diet recently. Oh well, when in Rome....

Tonight was the European premier of Kung Fo Panda. While I was not jumping up and down to see this flick, I was really excited to see Angelina Jolie, Jack Black (who was close enough that I could have kissed him, if I had decided to do so) and Dustin Hoffman. We are all kind of best friends now. No big deal. 

While I love my job (and moderately feel like a British version of the Hills on occasion) I feel like work is just something to pass the time between each cute produce market, Shakespeare in the park performance, or afternoon tea. I miss home, but for now I am satisfied with this being home. 

they even gave me my own stapler...

I'm a working girl now. I officially started my internship in the product placement department of rogers and cowan public relations. The office is in this huge high-rise building in the very middle of London. I have all of the big-girl-job necessities: computer, desk, a variety of colored pens, my own email address...and my very own stapler! Basically I've been researching new movies and television shows that are in the process of being filmed or are about to start filing and then cold-call their movie and television production companies to persuade them to use our client's products as props. It is quite brilliant really. With things like TiVo and being able to watch television online, commercials are being phased out. BUT, if you can embed the products into the shows that consumers already watch then you are accomplishing the same thing. I get to work with all kinds of on-screen stars but I don't know who any of them are because I don't watch British television. It's pretty cool all the same. 

As my boss was introducing me to everyone in the building they kept saying "Elise? As in Lotus Elise the car?" Lotus is one of Rogers and Cowan's big clients and so we keep a Lotus Elise in the basement to be able to loan it out to sets quickly. Naturally since my name is also Elise I wanted to sit in it. It was the most beautiful car I have ever seen-- way more attractive than Leverne!! 

Getting to work has been quite an adventure because there are two million other people trying to get to work at that very same time. I have to take two different tube (subway) lines and literly have to judo-chop my way onto the trains. We are so crammed that we stand on each others' feet and fall on each other when the tube stops too suddenly. This is what I absolutely love about London. We don't really have things like this in Manhattan, Kansas. 

They also have these annoying men standing at the exit to every tube station passing out free trashy papers and yelling at you. I get the impression that most people don't like this, but they sort of remind me of the ADD SHEET. This is what I absolutely love about London. There are small things that remind me of home!

I've been going out "adventuring" every night with the other girls on my flat. Last night we went to the Sherlock Holmes Pub where all the props for the movie are kept. It was a fun hanging out with locals who automatically think we are cool merely because of our American accents. Then we went walking around on the London Bridge and taking pictures of all of the street entertainers. This is what I absolutely love about London. Everything looks beautiful even in the dark. 

mushy peas and fosters beer

It's just me and my single room. I moved in today to the most adorable flat in the very middle of London. I have yet to leave the room because I am too scared of what I will find- but from my observations out the window and listening to people in other rooms- I have concluded that there are five floors (I'm on the third. No elevator. I'll have a nice butt by the end of the summer) and that the keys stick in the locks because there is no air conditioning. My internet plug-in was broken so I unscrewed it from the wall with a plastic knife that I had leftover in my purse from a meal a few days ago. Being from the midwest makes you very resourceful!

The last week has been a blur. After missing the layover to edinburgh, scotland I was stranded in New York City for 24 hours. Although, I must say, if you have to be stranded somewhere NYC is the place to do it. My mother, sister, cousin and friend from home went to lunch and then bought some broadway theatre tickets from a both in times square. There were no kilts but I'm not complaining.

72 hours and no shower or sleep later we arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland. Who doesn't love grown men in kilts, right?! Due to time, we hit the basics: The Palace of Holyroodhouse (where the Queen lives when she is not in London), the Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Britiania (the royal yacht). If the number of pictures taken were any indication of the amount of fun we were having, my mom, sister and I had a blast. I truly felt like I was in another world. We ate at hole-in-the-wall pubs and drank foster's beer for lunch just like all the locals. Their accents were so thick that they had a hard time interpreting our American accents. Everything moved in a very slow pace and wearing plaid was an honor. Oh, and we decided on the whim to spend our last night on a walking ghost tour of the town. While the tour had absolutely nothing to do with ghosts, other than that it was dark and some of the other people on the trip looked like zombies, we got to see parts of Edinburgh that we never would have seen. 

            

The next morning we took the early train to York. This was an experience in itself, for I am traveling with an entire summer's worth of luggage. We passed wild sheep and the North Sea and all kinds of things that you begin to take for granted after a 3 hour train ride. My mom's friend from Whitby picked us up and we crammed into her eco-friendly speck of a car. York is just like how I had always envisioned England to be. Cute old men with canes walking down cobblestone streets. Houses with flower-boxes in their windows. Shops selling tea and crepes and sweets. Old churches with fascinating histories. It was wonderful, and, if I hadn't been so tired from traveling, I may have been able to keep my eyes open on the bus tour.

      

Then it was off to Whitby, where my mother went to high school. It is a small fishing town right on the sea and it is stuck in a time machine. Everything there is about 30 years behind, which is endearing to visit but perhaps not to live. We tracked down my mom's old house and stood in their lawn taking pictures until she remembered that her old house was in fact the one next to this one. We ate seafood for every meal- including breakfast when the bed and breakfast served us herring and scrambled eggs. We walked up to the Whitby Abby, which is the oldest Abby in the world. What was left of it was beautiful and we shared it that day with hundreds of english school children so it was fun to share in their awe. It is so strange to think that my mom used to hang out on the same pier that we walked down and eat in the same restaurants. 

       

Now I'm sitting in my flat with my freshly re-wired internet and am going to have to venture out to get some dinner. I have plans to meet up with some other Mizzou students tomorrow night so I am really looking forward to that. 

Cheers!

Day One: DETOUR

Well it is midnight and I am supposed to be on a airplane over the big blue ocean. That, however, is not where I am. I am sitting on an airport bed in new york city. Due to shaky weather on the east coast, I missed my connecting flight and am stuck in "airline limbo" until tomorrow. 

So, I'll make lemonade out of lemons and spend the day in the city tomorrow. I am planning on getting up early and taking the subway to my cousin's apartment for lunch. I have no suitcase (of course!!) so I am going to look like a wrinkly, smelly, tired mess walking the streets of new york city but it will be an adventure. Thank you, continental airlines, for giving me a complimentary toothbrush, plastic comb, razor and hairspray. I can only imagine that any problem I run into between now and when I finally get my suitcase back can be solved with those four things.

If this is any indication of what my journey is going to be like- I am going to come back a much stronger and interesting person. Bring on the detours. 

you never know who lives through your experiences

Yesterday my mom's friend called me completely out of the blue to thank me. He said he had received the letter I had sent to everyone who helped me financially with my mission trip to Jamaica and that it had prompted him to go on a mission trip to Ecuador. He said this was the best experience of his life and that he planned on going back again next year. While that letter about my experiences and the lessons I learned in Jamaica may not have been given a second thought by most who read it, for my words to have encouraged another to do God's work is a huge triumph. 

The same scared that I felt before that Jamaica trip is what I am feeling right now about this London trip. Afraid of the unknown. But if the appreciation for another culture and the lessons I learn there can encourage even one person to do the same thing these butterflies in my stomach are worth it.