First-timer

An American who doesn't know how to make coffee? Shocking.

I'm a sort of rarity here, I suppose. I received a brief tutorial in coffee-making this morning. Then I was asked to make some for a client meeting. I just delivered the finished product to the conference room, and my coworker was kind enough to supply a disclaimer that this was the American intern's first attempt at making coffee.

I guess if it tastes bad, now they'll know why...

Smart kid...

I saw a kid chasing pigeons and trying to smash them with his orange plastic dinosaur. He's got the right idea.

I wish I had an orange plastic dinosaur...

Do you hear that?

"Guys, wait. Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"...Exactly."

I'm not a city girl. Some of you may know this about me. Sure, it's fun and exciting to be in a new place with big buildings and loud noises and famous people. But nothing makes me feel more out-of-place than a flat landscape covered in concrete.

It seems like my entire experience in Europe has been one of constant movement. I've been subject to relentless sensory overload. One thing right after another: gotta go to work, then see this monument, that museum, those shops, this park...I can't waste any time. So much to see, so much to do...so much noise. I haven't stopped.

But when Jessi, Jessica, and I stepped off the train in Dover early on Saturday morning, I stopped.

And I listened.

I couldn't hear sirens. I couldn't hear car horns. I couldn't hear people shouting obscenities back and forth. People weren't bumping into me on the sidewalk. I didn't smell cigarette smoke, diesel fuel, or the warm, stuffy, stagnant air of the tube. The wind I felt was not from busses whizzing past me on the busy streets. It was coming from the English Channel. It was fresh. Clean. Cool. I felt alive again.

I spent most of my afternoon out on the famous White Cliffs. I almost cried for joy when I found a trail made of dirt and rocks and grass...and no concrete. As for the cliffs...I don't know that I have words to describe them. The landscape is gorgeous. It. Was. Incredible.

This was just the type of sanity break I needed. I was reluctant to get back on the train that night. 

Now week six has begun. Back to the drone of city life. Back to the daily routine. Back to the commotion. But I feel like I can handle it now. This weekend gave me an energy boost. Bring on the noise. I can take it.

Whirlwind

I know my fan club is dying to know what I did last weekend. (And by fan club I mean the four or five people who actually read this.) So here I present a very condensed version of my jam-packed 36 hours in Paris.

We took the Eurostar to Paris early on Saturday morning. When we got there, we hopped on a bus for a quick tour around the city. I think I’ve made my feelings about bus tours quite clear in a previous post…but this one was a little better. I actually got a couple decent pictures out of it. During the tour we stopped for lunch at a delightful little Parisian café (all 75 of us). Lunch was already arranged and paid-for, so we didn’t really have a choice on what to order. But the food was excellent! I suppose that is to be expected; after all, we were in France.

The bus tour ended at our hotel. We all got checked in, Jessi and I dropped our bags in our room, admired the bright orange couch and our view of the Eiffel Tower right outside our window, and five minutes later walked back out the door to explore the Latin quarter of Paris.

We went through a bit of an ordeal to get there…the Paris Metro is much more confusing than the London Underground. But maybe that’s just because we weren’t used to it. We got in line for the right train, but thought we were on the wrong side of the platform. So we went to the other side, got on, and then realized the train was heading in the wrong direction. So we got off at the next stop, turned around, and got on the train heading the other direction.

At long last we made it to Saint Michel, in the Latin Quarter. Jessi had done some research in advance and learned that this was where a lot of demonstrators would gather to set up barricades and protest wars. The Latin Quarter is considered the “intellectual” section of the city. It’s where the big universities are, and back in the Middle Ages, all the scholars there spoke Latin (hence the name).

Jessi had been to Paris before, so she had already seen a lot of the major tourist sites. Unfortunately for her, she had me as a travel buddy, and I haven’t been anywhere. I dragged her up to Notre Dame cathedral for a quick detour. What an incredible building! I’ve only ever seen it in Disney movies, but it’s so magnificent in person. So many ornate details. And that’s just on the outside. People just don’t build things like that anymore. It’s amazing.

Tip for travellers: If a fragile-looking woman with a forlorn look on her face approaches you and says, “spick English?” don’t respond. Gypsies are everywhere, and they like to take your money and anything else that is not carefully guarded on your person.

The rest of the Latin Quarter was amazing! I’m a sucker for cheap souvenir shops, and there is no shortage of those on the streets of the Left Bank. We went to the Pantheon and saw the crypt in the basement where famous people like Voltaire, Victor Hugo, and Louis Braille are buried. We got authentic French crepes, filled with nutella (the most heavenly thing I have ever eaten). We also went to the Luxembourg gardens and took crazy pictures of ourselves with the statues. Yes, we are American tourists.

We also visited the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. This was a great find by Jessi. It was a popular hangout for American expatriates like Hemingway and Fitzgerald in the 1920s. Very cool atmosphere. I felt so scholarly taking used books off the shelves, sitting down, and reading a few pages. I found myself an old edition of Dickens’ Great Expectations, a book that I started reading but never finished. I thought it would be worth another try, so I bought it.

We ate dinner at another great restaurant, and I’ll say once again that French food is AMAZING.

That night we went to the Eiffel Tower. We didn’t get there in time to go up, but we sat on the grass and admired the sparkling lights. It really was quite a sight.

On Sunday we started off by going down the road to see the Statue of Liberty. Ever seen National Treasure II? Yeah, there really is a Statue of Liberty in Paris. And it was right down the street from our hotel.

After that we took the Metro up to the Arc de Triomphe (with much less difficulty this time). We walked down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees (SHAHMZ el-ee-ZAY – Saying a name like that makes me feel very French…even when I really only know 3 or 4 French phrases). We did primarily window-shopping, because the stores along Champs-Elysees are comparable to those of Fifth Avenue in New York City: you feel unworthy to enter the stores because you know you could never afford anything for sale there without taking out a loan. I drooled over the purses on display in the windows of Louis Vuitton, only to glance at the price tag and see €2,100. *Sigh* I guess I’ll just have to be content with having seen them.

We spent the afternoon in the Louvre, though we only had 2.5 hours there. I knew before going that I’d never be able to see everything on all three levels of the 1.5-mile-long building. So I chose one section and spent all my time there. I saw the collections of Greek and Roman sculptures, including the Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace. I also stumbled across the Mona Lisa. I saw Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, David’s Oath of the Horatii, as well as Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People and The Death of Sardanapalus. I was overwhelmed by all of it. I got chills as I walked through the halls. I almost felt like crying as I stood in front of these works of art that I’d only seen pictures of in my textbooks. I never dreamed I’d get to see them in person. It was breathtaking.

We finished off the day with a visit to Le Sacre Coeur, a basilica on a hill that overlooks the whole city. Quite amazing.

After that, we were back on the train heading home. We did so much there, but I still feel like I barely scratched the surface of all there is to see in Paris. I hope to go back there one day (maybe when I’ve learned a little more French).

So much for making this a “condensed” version of my trip…

For more pictures, see here.

Must be Monday

Today has been a day of firsts.

Today was the first time I've ever been pooped on by a pigeon. I guess I expected it to happen sooner or later. But I wasn't exactly happy when I felt something hit my lower back on the steps of Trafalgar Square this afternoon.

As a result, today was also the first time that I've done laundry in the bathroom at work. I rinsed out the bottom of my shirt quite thoroughly, turned on the automatic hand drier and stood there for about five minutes while it dried.

My friend told me she heard that it's good luck if a pigeon poops on you. If that's the case, I'd hate to know what brings bad luck.

Darn pigeons.

It's the small stuff...

I love the little things that make me smile while I'm at work. For example, my roommate Jessi's latest blog post on the entertainment value of Google's automatic translator. And a description on the back of my Nestle Boost Smashin' Strawberry smoothie (with Mind Boost) that I drank this morning:

WARNING: After drinking your Boost, you may suffer intense feelings of happiness, lust for life and you may start hugging old ladies. Don't be concerned, this is so normal.

Haven't hugged any old ladies yet, but I am very happy right now. I might even say I have a lust for life. I should drink these things more often...

Weather in London

I wore long pants, a jacket, and a scarf to work yesterday. This is the type of outfit that I normally wear during the fall and winter. I wasn't planning on dressing like this in the middle of July.

It rained all day. From 6:30 in the morning (yes, I was awake then) until about 9 p.m. And that's fairly common here. Coming from a place like Utah, I'm not accustomed to this kind of weather. I think I've probably used my little lime-green umbrella more in the past two weeks than in the previous three years that I've owned it. But this is a typical London summer.

Fortunately, Mother Nature throws out little gold coins to keep me from getting completely depressed. Today the sun is shining. That means I can wear a short-sleeved dress with open-toe shoes and eat my lunch outside again.

Mamma Mia, here I go again...

Last night my friend Kim and I went to Leicester Square and Covent Gardens for a little "Girls' Night Out." And I have to say that it was incredibly successful.

We spent a little while browsing various street vendors and shady souvenir shops. We had some pretty good finds. Like scarves that were 2 for £5 (we bought a lot of them, so the lady was nice and gave us each a free one too). And I found myself a Bloomingdale's "medium brown bag" (I love knock-offs, and I'm not ashamed to say that I own several purses of that nature).

After shopping, we grabbed dinner at a little middle-eastern style deli. It was my first time eating falafel. Quite good. And cheap. I think I'll go back there for lunch sometime, seeing as the euronews office is right around the corner.

The highlight of the night was going to see Mamma Mia: the movie at the Odeon Theatre in Leicester Square. The movie premiered there last week. I was expecting a normal movie theater, previews, etc. I was wrong. Not only did we have assigned seating and an usher who took us to our leopard-print upholstered seats...we also got exclusive souvenir programs, a live organ performance, and a look back at footage from the world premiere last week. Everyone cheered as the lights dimmed and the movie started.

I've never seen the musical, so I didn't know what to expect. But I thought the movie was brilliant. Kim and I couldn't keep from dancing in our seats during several of the songs. And neither could the people sitting beside us. And behind us. We all clapped to the beat and sang along with Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, and Christine Baranski as they sang "Dancing Queen". We danced to the beat of "Take a Chance on Me". I've never had so much fun in a movie theater. I mean, come on, you can't help but dance when ABBA is playing.

The characters were amazing. I particularly enjoyed Meryl Streep's performance as Donna, a free-spirited single mom running an old hotel on a remote island in Greece. I love her versatility as an actress.

Pierce Brosnan had a great performance as well. But then, he's just downright attractive. Can he do any wrong?

Good story, amazing cast, rad music...basically, this was the ultimate feel-good movie. I highly recommend it. And I got to see it before any of you. Haha! Look for it when it's released in the States

Happy Fourth...

Today is the Fourth of July. 

Yesterday was the Third of July. 

Tomorrow is the Fifth of July.

To the British, there's nothing special about today.

But it's special to me. Here's to a free nation. Happy birthday, USA.

Fulfillment.

Our new Comment:Visions webpage launched yesterday. It's funny how excited I am to see concrete results of what I've been working on for the past two and a half weeks. And this month's topic is quite interesting. Austin, you'll appreciate this one...all about robotics and automation.

Eight hours in Brussels

I spent Monday in Brussels (Belgium). Well, eight hours, to be precise...and six of those were spent in a meeting.

It was my first time riding a train. That was exciting.
I was there with my boss and my project manager for a Comment:Visions event. It was a panel discussion, and the topic being addressed was climate change and the effect it will have on everday lifestyle. Interesting debate. On the one hand you have political measures (i.e. raising taxes on carbon and subsidizing taxes on other forms of energy), but you also have new technologies (electric and solar-powered cars, for instance). And of course there are the lifestyle changes that we as individuals can make.

I think my default reaction to the problem of climate change is to just throw my hands up in the air and say, "There's nothing we can do." But after listening to over 90 educated and innovative thinkers at this event, I'm beginning to see possible ways to reduce our energy consumption. I guess that's what I get for being put in charge of getting experts' opinions on how to address the energy crisis.

The meeting was successful. We had a good time socializing afterward. And then we got back on the train to come home.

Regrettably, I didn't get a chance to try any Belgian chocolates. Or waffles.

Indulgence comes with a price

This morning on my way to work I decided I wanted a jelly donut, even though I had already eaten breakfast and knew it wouldn't be good for me. So I bought one at the store and continued walking to work. As I was walking, I took bite after bite of the sugar-laden amazingness, enjoying every moment of it. But my little bubble of happiness didn't last long. As I took another bite close to the center, a huge glob of raspberry jelly oozed out of the side and dropped onto my nice, clean, WHITE shirt...

Perhaps that should be a lesson to me...