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!