Suparama

I know you all are curious, so here it is... I began my job yesterday as did the rest of the world it seemed and at first, I must be honest, I was bored to tears. Don't worry though, it didn't make me want a career change, I just had nothing to do, literally. For about five hours, I sat and surfed the internet, and by that I mean checked my e-mail about 20 times, examined with scrutiny everyone's facebook and myspace profiles, and realized how totally boring the internet is when you don't have a purpose for using it.

After I came back from lunch I was determined to get a task from my supervisor. He's a myspace junkie, constantly looking at profiles and reading messages, rather humorous for an old man if you ask me. The rest of the guys who work there are all very friendly, but very end driven. By that I mean, they keep to themselves and accomplish what they need to get done. It's very admirable, but it made for a very boring and very lonely first day.

I probably came off a bit pushy, but I wasn't about to have an entire day go by without me doing ANYTHING. So after much pushing, my supervisor had me begin concepting some headlines and art direction for a promotional advertisement for the Suparama brand. Warner Brothers is apparently very interested in creating an animated series using Supamonkey (the graphic you see here) and the firm is creating a story line involving him, an archenemy, and a whole other lot of characters. My task was to create a poster encouraging the banishment of electric polar bears. This probably sounds very strange to you all, imagine how I felt when I had to decipher it through a thick English accent.

Today proved to be much more efficient. I printed off my ideas when I got in this morning and showed it to David, he laughed at a few, but didn't have time to evaluate it. I think that was more of a test run to see what I was capable of and hopefully I passed, proving I can handle assignments and deadlines. I spent most of the day designing 9 ad layouts for a promotional ad for the complete box set for series 1-8 of Will & Grace. Suparama does all the UK packaging of the show as well as the promotion of the product, that's where I come in. I pretty much have the layout of the ad down, but tomorrow, I've got my work cut out for me - I have to get creative and funny with my headlines...not an easy task when British humor is so different than ours. I'm excited though, and hey, I can watch the shows if I want to for inspiration, could you ask for a more unique job?

Well I can think of one more unique job... It relates to the show we've recently become reinfatuated with - Power Rangers. I'm not afraid to admit it. We've downloaded quite a few and are thoroughly enjoying watching these old school shows. It helps pass the time and always proves to be a good laugh, what more could you ask for right?

Some Photos

Alissa, Erin, and Alex on the first night out

Me, Alissa, Megan, and Bomo at Bar Soho

Megan, Bomo, Me, Alissa, and Alex at the end of the night

Megan, myself, and Bomo at Sin

The British guy Alissa was lusting after, I have no comment...

I forgot...

So in describing our nights frolicking about, I totally forgot to mention that we had a guided tour through London the other day. The weather was absolutely horrible, but we got some insightful highlights into the sights and sounds of England.

The Seven Sins

The past two days have been ones of lounging, movie watching and going out. We're finishing this week off as a tourist and tomorrow we plan on becoming native Londoners - starting our jobs, acting responsibly, not looking at our map every 10 minutes...

But before we "grew up" so-to-speak, we had to make sure to party hard. Hence our trip to Sin. A five room club with numerous bars, Sin boasted a varied selection of music genres, tons of girls in scantily clad outfits, and plenty of white couches to lounge in. After some dancing, some smoozing and some drinking, we called it a night and actually made it home on a night bus! This may not seem like anything, but it was a HUGE success.

While I was laying in my extremely hard and uncomfortable bed, I realized the seven of us who went could easily represent the seven deadly sins. Maybe that's why they let us in the VIP line, saving us a whole $4 I might add. Let's make some connections shall we:

Pride: Alex - Alex just recently got some new duds, including a jacket from H&M and some Diesel shoes. In other words, he thinks he's the hott shit of the group right now. ;)
Envy: Megan - Megan has plenty to be envious of, including our ability to not talk on the phone for hours on end, our ability to talk like a build-a-bear, and Alissa's ability to attract weirdos at the club.
Gluttony: Deanna - Oh Deanna...This girl is a crazy alcoholic, lol, enough said.
Lust: Alissa - Alissa has been chasing British men since we stepped off the plane.
Anger: Graham - Poor Graham gets anger out of default, but I'm sure he was angry when he got Deanna's tab at the club right?
Greed: Bomo - This kid is all about getting the most out of everyone else's money. ;) He's a moocher, stealing sandwiches and Strongbow from unsuspecting victims.
Sloth: Me - Seems rather strange to most of you I'm sure, but it's true. I've been the biggest lazy bumb this week than I ever have been. I guess this semester took a lot more out of me than I thought.

Let's move on to last night. We met up at Piccadilly Circus again and headed to the Sports Cafe. I was the only one who had ever been here before and it wasn't nearly as crowded as it had been when I was there earlier in the week, but still an OK time. We got down and dirty on the dance floor and Alissa and I are determined to outdance Bomo. This may come as a surprise to most of you who know my dancing capabilities, but yes, I have been shown up.

The strangest thing happened on the way home though. After grabbing an overpriced meal at Burger King, we were waiting at the bus stop for our double-decker. A significant amount of time had passed and Alissa and I took seat on a stoop of a nearby building. Then a woman, dressed in Gypsy clothing and carrying a mirror strolled by. I found myself starring and then I made eye-contact...wrong move. She came back and found the need to bless me and my wife (apparently Alissa, sorry we didn't invite anyone to the wedding). After making a scene, she handed me some leaves from a tree. Random I know. Thank god the bus came shortly there after.

I slept in today, having some rather weird dreams. Alissa and I headed off into the city to find a few places and now I'm just chilling, kind of eager for tomorrow to get here so I can start work. I can't wait to meet some fresh people.

There's a man scaling the rooftops of the buildings outside my window right now. I don't know whether to alert the authorities or watch in humor as he makes his way across. The rooftops are quite steep, he must be a mad man.

I guess that's all for now. We're going to attempt to post some pictures later I think, I'll keep you updated.

The Real World

Six strangers, picked to have live in a hostile, work their asses off for no money, and find out what happens when people aren't American, but British. The Real World: Back to London.

It's really how we feel. The six of us are so different, yet we're meshing rather well. Alissa and I were discussing over dinner tonight how we couldn't have a more diverse group of people here representing KSU, yet we all can tolerate each other and have a good time. It's really funny actually because all we're missing are the video cameras following our every move. We live in a rather modern-style hostile, are given a job, live with strangers in a foreign city, and are encouraged to go out and have a good time.

As was the case last night. After our welcome social at the pub down the street, the six of us got dressed up and headed off to Soho for a night on the town. We started off at Metro, and soon found ourselves terribly bored. It was live music in a drab atmosphere filled with smoke and not-so-friendly people. I was happy to leave and wander the streets.

It's hard to get a group of people to agree, but we manage because we're all poor. Our next location was Bar Soho, a bar with mixed audiences, and an all around good time. We were quick to show the natives a thing or two about dirty dancing. We all know that I'm not hesitant to be provocative, but I quickly found out that most of my fellow comrades aren't either. Turns out, they're all a bunch of closeted freaks. :)

As was my last adventure, the night always seems to go sour when it comes to making it home safely. The group was convinced we could make it on a night bus. Ha. We got on one, but found ourselves way out of the way. A taxi ride later and around $10 each, we made it back to Chelsea. Thank god for those lil' black cabs.

Today we all woke up late and strolled to Oxford Street for some Pizza Hut. We're all adjusting to the food here and still craving American every now and then apparently. It's weird how most of the foods here have no flavoring. Some do, however, like the potato chips I've come to like, Honey Roasted Ham Flavoured. Sounds rather intriguing I know...

Tonight was a night to relax and save some cash. I have quickly come to understand the meaning of a budget with no cash flow coming in. After what seemed a never-ending battle with the DVD player, we accomplished watching X-Men 2. It seemed only right since everywhere we go we see ads for the next movie in the series.

The city is beautiful. The lounge we were in on the 10th floor gives a perfect view of the skyline. In the distance, you can make out the London Eye and exactly at midnight, Big Ben's illumination went out. For the second day in a row we've had no rain, let's hope our luck holds out.

A Whirlwind of Activity

I'm sorry everyone, I know you've been dying for an update, but my lifestyle for the past couple of days has not permitted me to sit down and chat. With that said, I hope you got the hint that I've been quite the busy man.

Let's start with orientation and the complete and utter lack of preparation that was done for it. Maybe it's the different culture thing, but to me, nothing seems put together or very professional. I'm a person who likes to know ahead of time what is to be expected of me and I'm running in the dark most of the time. We went over some basic stuff, talked about cultural adaptations, and then all got information on our placement interviews.

As a sidenote, on our way to Orientation I asked how much it was to rent a flat similar to the ones we were passing. The response was absolutely oustanding, a mere £2000 a week. Let me translate that into American, that's roughly $3800 per week...and I compain about $420 a month. It makes much more sense when you look at the cars parked outside, all Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW, Porshe, and Ferrari's.

When everyone was finished, we were broken up into teams and sent off to complete our scavenger hunt. Considering that Alissa and I were not together, I lost interest and didn't really actively participate, just sort of enjoyed the sights as we went along. Her team won though and she got a free drink at the pub later that night. Our first stop was at one of the most beautiful places I've been to thus far - Lexington Gardens and Hyde Park. It's a huge park in the heart of London with trails that go through luscious gardens full of all kinds of flowers and trees that drape down and cover the path. Like the one in the picture above. We traveled quite a bit on the rest of the hunt, seeing some of the more typical things, and I also had my first tube ride after paying out nearly $300 for my two month pass.

We stopped in Chinatown at a pub and had a drink and really got to know each other a bit; we decided we weren't going to win anyways so we might as well enjoy ourselves a bit more. It was there that we made plans to go out later that night.

After finishing up and finding out who the winner was, we left to come back and freshen up, and by that, I mean pass out. London is an expansive town and we walked a vast majority of it, so needless to say most of us were pretty pooped. I got up an hour later though like a true champ to begin my night of partying. I met up with a couple of guys I met earlier that day, Tony and Rob, from different universities in the US. We seemed to bond pretty easily and we went to a club called Sports because it was college ID night (no cover charge and £1 pints). We walked in and there were quite a few people there, but everyone was just sort of mingling around, not really enjoying themselves - we changed that.

Americans are the loudest, most obnoxious, and obviously most fun nationality on this island - I love it! Seeing as everyone was just drinking casually, we decided to take the stage and give our fellow Europeans quite the show. The girls with us had no objections either I might add. The DJ seemed obliged that someone was interested in dancing and quickly changed his genre to American music and then everyone really started getting into it. The drinks kept coming and the dancing got dirtier, it was a great time I must say. I look forward to many more good times with those guys.

Getting home after that, not so fun. The Tube (London's subway system) was closed by the time we left and none of us knew what buses, if any, went near our flat. It didn't help that we were intoxicated, so we used our best judgment and hailed a taxi. It wasn't as expensive as I thought and got us home quickly and safely so I can't complain. I crashed at their flat as I live 25 minutes from there and didn't quite feel up to walking that far at 3 a.m.

I got back in the morning when all the rest of the Kent Stater's where headed out to their interview - I got lucky enough not to have mine until the next day. I slept for a bit, then took a journey to Soho to find Suparama so I would know how to get there promptly for my interview the next day. I love that area, it's always so lively and has a constant bustle that reminds me of NYC. All of the shops and pubs are unique, I can't wait to spend my lunch hour getting to try out all of the cafe's and pubs.

When I got back, I turned around headed back with Erin and Bomo to Westminster to see the houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye. To be honest, I wasn't as impressed. That area is the business district and it doesn't have the cultural impact that areas like Chelsea does. Everything is too tourist oriented and it just didn't feel quite as homey as other parts of the city do. We ran into Alissa coming back and we did a little grocery shopping before we made dinner. Later that night we all holed up in our lounge and watched a movie, all of us were still kind of wore out from all that we had been doing.

Today was my interview. I got up plenty early to shower and shave and make sure my clothes were ironed and I looked presentable, only to be let down in the end. When I got to Suparama, my supervisor who was to interview with me wasn't there, he had called in and taken the day off. I later found out that his son had been injured last night in a Football (Soccer) match and he was at home making sure he was going to be ok. So I got to meet some of the guys I was going to be working with and see the agency itself, very loft like which fits my style. We talked briefly about hours and dress code and what not. I think I'll be fine there, my worries of whether I'll fit in are gone, they all seem very welcoming.

This post is long enough for most of you by now I'm sure, so I think I'll stop with that. But might I add, it's actually sunny in London today, WOO HOO!

A Quiet Day In London

Day two began around 9 a.m. with the most annoying alarm I've probably ever heard, but I guess I'll have to get used to it. I love looking out our window, the view is amazing as we're on the 7th floor (actually the 8th, there is a ground level and then a 1st floor). The buildings here are all pieced together - one building has two totally different roofs and bricks. It's as if two families had decided they wanted to split the cost of building a house and did so literally, right down the middle. There's a flat below us that has an outside patio on the roof, I think we need to make friends with those people. This picture is of our building, but my room faces the other side.

I had french toast and bacon for breakfast, pretty good actually. After that we met a man from EUSA and he gave us a brief walking tour of Chelsea, highlighting good places to get groceries, shop, or just hang out. When we were finished we all walked up to the grocery store and I bought a few things, mostly just snack items as we all know I'm not much of a cook. I had to buy some moouse too because I swear airport security swiped mine.

We're all hesitant to travel outside of the borough because we really don't want to spend the money to buy a pass when we're getting our travel cards tomorrow at orientation. I came back and fell asleep, apparently that jet lag is worse than I thought. We searched around for a while to find a place to eat, a lot of places were either packed or closing, but we eventually found a tiny restaurant to get some chow.

After that we headed to Chelsea Porter, a local pub where Alex got his first drink in a bar (he's 20). We pretended it was his 21st and bought him a shot, it was nice getting to know the people in our group a bit better. Tomorrow looks to be a long day, let's hope the weather improves, it hasn't stopped raining since we got here. We go through orientation and then have a scavenger hunt downtown, the winners get free drinks on EUSA Thursday night. Alissa and I are going to go all out, Amazing Race style - so be prepared for some insight. I'm just excited to see the sights for the first time, Chelsea is beautiful and very safe, but I think we're all craving some London action. I think that's all for now, hope everyone is well. Thanks for the comments, it's always fun to see who has been reading!

P.S. We should have a lot more pictures tomorrow, so you'll get to see some when I update next.

Talk About Your Long Days

Traveling by far is the most tedious and horrendous activity known to human existence, the payoff, however, is worth the hassle. So after rearranging my bags to accommodate the 50 lb. limit (yes, I was over on the one bag), I had the pleasure of traveling to the airport with Alissa's mom and step-father. After making numerous mom jokes the entire time I've known Alissa, I can continue to boast that "Alissa's mom has got it going on."

We met a nice couple from Stow at the airport and chatted with them about Chipolte and then went and had some nasty airport food while we were waiting for our first flight to Detroit. Quickest flight of our lives, 24 minutes....this after Alissa continually made a fool of herself in front of the stewardess (he was male, what do you call them then?).

We then carried what seemed to be our 400 lb. carry-ons like a mile to our next gate - Detroit's airport is huge! After 3 hours of reading, listening to music, and playing the people watching game, we finally boarded and made our way to the very back of the plane where we spent the next 7 hours. It's really, really, hard to sit that long and even watching the numerous movies provided didn't really help.

We got to Gatwick early, but that was derailed by the fact that we waited at immigration for about an hour, all the time, I had to pee like a race horse. The lady was very friendly and in her English accent, she gave us our student stamp and we were on our way to convert our money and watch in shock as our $200 quickly became 94 pounds. Everyone told us that living in London was ridiculously expensive, they were right.

With luggage in tow, we made our way to the train station and after some initial confusion got on the Gatwick Express headed for Victoria. It was here that I got my first real glimpse of England. Gatwick airport is 35 minutes outside of the city, so the countryside provided some nice views. The weather here though is rainy and chilly, as predicted, but we made do.

The next stop on our journey was taking the Taxi to our residence hall, in all reality, it's a fancy hostile. The man who drove us was just starting his first day, but he did fantastic and got us here in no time. He was quick to point out though that he didn't understand American Baseball, a rather humorous conversation..you had to be there trust me.

We couldn't check in until 2 p.m., that's five hours ahead of all you in the states, so we sat around in the common room, completely drained of any energy. My roommate, Alex, is part of the 6 of us from Kent State, so my fears of getting some strange person are over. He seems cool, we should have no problems. The room is tiny and dormlike and the bathroom quite funny. The flusher for the toilet is on the wall and when you do flush it, a tinny hurricane ensues...it's crazy the amount of pressure that tiny lil' porcelain seat can produce.

After a nap, a shower, and some unpacking, Alissa, her roommate Megan (also from KSU), Alex and I decided to venture down the street and see what Chelsea (the borough we're living in) had to offer. The shops are amazing, but it was a late Sunday night, so nothing was open, not even any restaurants....my first meal in London had to come from McDonalds. :( The BBQ sauce isn't the same FYI.

Our night sort of finished there, we're all tired and well, I at least, was getting cranky. Tomorrow we have a walking tour and we're going to start planning where we want to visit and what we want to see. I'll fill you all in later.

Pre-Trip Jitters

So it's 4:30 a.m. and I can't sleep a wink. I can't tell if it's because I'm nervous, excited, or sad to leave so many amazing people behind. I know that I'll see them all relatively shortly, two months isn't that long in the broad scope of things, but I'm accustomed to spending every day with the same people over and over again - it's going to be a big change. But if there's anything that I am, it's determined and I'll make it through this summer I'm sure.

On a brighter note, I think I've got everything ready to go, let's just hope I hit that 50 lb. weight limit ok. You never really realize how much crap you've got until your forced to only choose less than 100 lbs. to take with you and live off of for a limited amount of time. If I make it through this, hell, I might as well apply to be on Survivor, at least I'll give my aunt a decent person to root for ;)

I went and saw the Da Vinci Code tonight (highly recommend it) and there are scenes that take place in London. The whole time I couldn't stop thinking about not only how thirsty I was but how I would be there in less than 24 hours. I'm going to have to look right before I cross the street, mind the gap before I step off the Tube, and drink much darker beer than I'm used to, but I think I'm ready for it. I hope this experience is just a preview to what I'll be doing the rest of my life, I'll guess we'll see.

Preparing for Departure

Hey everyone! Welcome to my blog, where I'll be updating everyone on what's happening in my life while I'm over in London. Hopefully I'll have some totally amazing stories to relay and some even more amazing photos to prove it. I promise I'll try my best to make things interesting.

I'm so excited! In just four days Alissa and I will be boarding our plane that will take us to that all powerful nation floating in the Atlantic Ocean just off of Europe. For those of you that don't know where I'm working, it's an ad agency called Suparama Supermonkey. I know...crazy name, but I'm totally pumped to work there. You can check out their Web site at www.suparama.com and look at some of the stuff they have up, although I wouldn't recommend it if you have dial-up. From what I can see, Suparama, located in Soho, has a variety of accounts to work on, one of them being Warner Home Video. It also looks to be an amazing social atmosphere - the agency shares a building with an art studio and a bar.

But what is the best part about this trip is the fact that I'm going with someone I care deeply about. Alissa means the world to me and the fact that she's moving to Florida when we get back to the states is devastating. I can't wait to create even more memories with this girl; she's always involved with the highlights of my college experiences and I'm sure this will be no exception.