Madrid

I have decided that one of the best parts about studying abroad is getting the opportunity to visit friends in foreign cities. With almost half of my sorority going abroad, I knew there would be plenty of places to visit, but I had no idea how busy that would make me!

After a chaotic first week of work, I realized Wednesday night that I was leaving Friday afternoon for Madrid to visit Sam, my old roommate, Megan, my future roommate, Lindsay and Greta. I always thought that traveling required extensive planning beforehand, but I am learning to love spontaneous packing and no planned itinerary. Nontheless, travel is always stressful, and we are lucky enough to have such great friends help organize these weekends away.

Frannie, Avery, Ashley and I barely made it to the Gatwick Express in time as we all rushed to get there after work in the Friday afternoon tube traffic. Ryanair really is a godsend-although there is no reserved seating and you have to get there at least two hours early, it makes traveling to Madrid for the weekend a reasonable venture. Our flight left at 9 pm, so we spent the two hour flight keeping ourselves awake with our Ipod's and Diet Cokes. It is such a strange experience to leave London at night and be in a completely different city that same night...we were so excited to see our friends that we booked it through customs and successfully the metro line. I keep surprising myself with our ability to find the right transportation in every city we've visited.


I'm sure the Spaniards thought we were all insane as we jumped up and down upon re-uniting in the Metro station. A group of Spanish boys joined in on the group hug, yelling, "Rubia! Rubia!", which Greta later told me, means "Blondes! Blondes!" Apparently, there is a fascination with blonde haired women in Spain. It was a comical introduction to Spain. I could not stop smiling watching all of us together..i can't explain the feeling of hugging Sam in the middle of a foreign country. It's simply not expressable without being corny.


With Megan's expert help, we found our hostel that ended up being a couple blocks from the station (a huge benefit). They took us to a local bar where all the American students studying abroad congregate, and despite our fatigue, spent several hours catching up and trying something called "Panther Milk", which ingredients are a mystery to me. Madrid is completely different than London in terms of its nightlife-whereas in London, everyone goes out around 4 or 5 pm after work and leaves at 12 pm when the pubs close, the Spaniards eat dinner at 10 pm, go out at 12 pm, and stay out until 5 or 6 am. Insanity. That being said, we returned to the hostel at a reasonable hour in order to prepare for Saturday night's activities.


My wonderful sophomore year roomie and good friend Sam, had prepared an extensive itinerary that began with a visit to the beautiful Buen Retrio Pakr, which houses the Rose Garden and Crystal Palace. The amount of intricate fountains and manicured gardens was impressive. We strolled in the park and tried a Spanish tortilla, which is essentially an egg and potato omelet. It was a relaxing start to the day and gave us a chance to catch up with each other.

Sam and I in the Rose Garden

Monument to Alfonso XII

My favorite landmark in the park was the beautiful Crystal Palace, or  Palacio de Cristal. It is a glass pavilion inspired by The Crystal Palace in London  and built for the Philippine Islands Exhibitions. It reminded me of the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco.

 

"Las Rubias" in the Grotto

 

After a quick lunch, we made our way to the Reina Sophia Museum, one of the three most prestigious in the city. It houses mostly 20th century Spanish art, and although most of the art was abstract and difficult to understand, Sam explained several pieces of artwork which proved to be helpful. 

Sculpture in the courtyard of the Reina Sophia

Paella for dinner, with patates bravas and my first taste of sangria followed our museum tour. Now having been to Italy and Madrid, I can say that the best part of both trips have been the walks throughout the cities. I saw so much different architecture, people and food, I felt as if I had been in Madrid for weeks. This is the way I like to travel-without a plan, map or itinerary, but rather, with a few friends and a gorgeous city to explore. Our night out was spent at Pancha, a massive dance club that stays open all night. We had a blast, as I usually do whenever there is dancing involved, and followed the masses to a local cafe where they serve churros and chocolate (cocoa).

Waking up at nine was rough, to say the least, but we had our bags packed and were out the hostel door by 10 for our last day in Madrid. We tried chicken durum kebabs for lunch, which are Megan's favorite, and walked around the Royal Palace. With a little time left, we hiked up to a park with stunning views of the city, and laid out on the grass. It was a perfect end to a weekend spent with close friends. This trip left me feeling slightly more homesick for Wake than I've been so far, but I am comforted by the fact that I am still loving it here, and am mostly eagerly anticipating their trip to London in December the week before we leave. It will be amazing to get to show them OUR city. :)

With another week of work, I need to catch up on my sleep....there just never seems to be enough time to do everything! But the next seven weeks are going to fly-

Next Wednesday-Mom arrives! Paris for the weekend

Nov. 13th- Amsterdam with Avery, Sam and Lindsay

Nov. 20th- US girls arrive!!!!

Nov. 26th- Thanksgiving-Need to learn how to cook a turkey

Dec. 4th- Madrid girls arrive

Dec. 12th-I come home

Dec. 14th-Sarah and Julie come to SF for my birthday

A day in the life of a PR Intern

Now that I have returned from my mid-semester break in Italy and exams are over, the second half of my program is finally here! Boston University's London Program is split into two parts: the first five weeks I went to two classes from 9-1 Monday to Thursday. For the next eight weeks, I will be taking one class, Seminar in Advertising Strategy, on Mondays, and working as an intern at a firm appropriate to my major.

I started work last Tuesday at a small media PR firm here in London. Thanks to my summer internship last year, the office environment is not new to me, but the cultural differences are much more prevalent than expected. Every morning I arrive and read through all the daily newspapers (which I have had to research extensively in order to catch up on UK culture!). Everyone enjoys a cup of tea and biscuits before rushing off to our desks, which are arranged in specific way so we can discuss and bounce ideas between each other throughout the day. I am working on small projects that the account managers need help with, such as researching potential new business clients, making press cuttings from relevant newspaper articles, calling agents and journalists, and secretarial tasks such as binding, copying, and answering the phones. It has been quite an adjustment from the lecture environment I am used to, as I have never worked in a PR firm before. That being said, I can tell that interning will give me more cultural exposure than my classroom of american students, and I am excited to get to know everyone I work with.

The theory we learn in the classroom is not nearly as applicable as I would have thought. Success within the office tends to be more focused on applying practical knowledge about a company, product or individual. I am learning fast in order to keep up, but I am excited that the office is busy, potentially a sign of a better economy. Although I sometimes feel out of my league, I have learned that asking questions is better than messing up, and in general, most of my co-workers are incredibly friendly and willing to help me out.

Long overdue...Italy Adventures

Hi all,
Time seems to be escaping me here in London. I cannot believe it has been almost three weeks since I last wrote. I take this as a good sign-being that busy makes me feel energized and happy. Although the past three weeks have been a blur of trips, classes, work, and nights out, I find myself missing Wake and San Francisco. You can imagine how excited I was then for an early birthday present-my little sister Sarah and big sister Julie in Tridelt  are coming to SF in December for my 21st BIRTHDAY!! I am absolutely ecstatic and eagerly anticipating our reunion.
After exams finally ended (only two which weren't two bad), Natasha, Calais and I left London at 5 am for Venice and Florence for a week. I was not enthused about our early wake-up, but we miraculously made it there with time for breakfast. We arrived safely and manuvered our way to our hostel and out to St. Mark's Square to meet up with Avery, Frannie, and Tonis, our lovely friend who is staying at Casa Artom on the Grand Canal in Venice. Venice was more amazing than I could have imagined-the pictures do not do it justice! Every building looked like something out of a fairytale. We had INCREDIBLE wine, pasta, pizza, bread and gelato everywhere we went....hard to imagine having that food around all the time! I discovered a new love of crema gelato and tried the most delicious tortellini. Amidst all the eating, we made it to St. Mark's Basilica which had breathtaking mosaic ceilings and ornate sculptures, took a gondola around the canals, and wandered throughout the shops before heading across the city to make it to the station in time for our train to Florence.

Our two hour train ride was a lovely break from all the walking....only to be surprised by Louisa, who met us at the station in Florence. She is another close Tridelt friend from Wake, and it was so wonderful to see her face among all strangers. I am amazed at all of our friends' ability to adjust to a foreign language and city-it makes London seem like New York or San Francisco in terms of cultural differences.
We found a reasonable apartment right in central Florence that needed after our communal bathroom experience in Venice. Walking down the street with my eight friends and the lit up Ponte Vecchio in the background, I realized just how many once in a lifetime moments I've had the past month.

The following night our group stumbled upon a bar with American music-which was what everyone wanted. In true Wake Forest srat style, we rocked out for hours, explaining to the DJ that we needed some more Rihanna, Annie Lennox and JLo in an attempt to feel more at home. The next morning we strolled the Mercado Centrale and found lots of trinkets and insanely cheap pashimas in every stall. Heaven. After a lunch of fresh tomatoes, sweet peaches, and tortellini, we reconvened to head out for our wine tour.
Best part of my trip this far-Lousia managed to find us a reasonable trip into Tuscany for a tour of the area and wine tasting at one of the local wineries. Our guide, Massimo, pointed out all the landmarks and drove us up high where we could see the gorgeous landscape and setting sun. Casa Emma was a smaller, family business winery that continues to grow and harvest their grapes by hand in order to preserve the taste of wine. We learned how wine is made and sampled several types of Chianti, the wine famous in the area. It was informative and I feel much more competent to understand wine after our lesson!

Saying goodbye to our friends from Florence was hard, but we are all anticipating their trip to London in November. Our trip home tok forever but we finally made it back in time to shower and get to bed before class the next morning.
Monday night, I met up with three Sigma Pi's from Wake who are studying in Barcelona. It is SO incredible to see familiar faces here in London-I am counting down the days until Mom and Catherine get here! It makes my living here seem more of a reality..not sure why.

a night of London theater

As classes come to an end this week, I have been dreading writing my two serious papers due this Friday. Classes here have been a big change-although I am not doing nearly as much work as compared to Wake, I feel like I am absorbing more information from my lectures. This is probably because I finally have found actual public relations and broadcasting classes!

I spent the majority of the week working on my public relations report on the Cadbury organization. Eight pages later, I feel like I have a better idea of how PR is situated in corporations and its behind the scenes influence. Everywhere I go, I am reminded by material covered in class. Something as simple as a Stella ad makes me think of CSR and corporate branding. I am taking that as a good sign.

Luckily, amidst all the work, I had something to look forward to this week.The Corrigans gave me the most amazing going-away present ...BILLY ELLIOTT tickets! A night out at a musical is my idea of a perfect evening, and I was so glad I could invite my roomie Devon to come with me after our night at the Globe. After arriving two hours early to make sure we got our tickets (I told you I would, George!), we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. As we walked into the theater, I literally got a chill realizing how amazing my life is in this city. I am finally experiencing a city on my own terms, and it.is.incredible.

The inside of the theater was stunning...with beautiful intricate molding and mahogany seats, it felt like a trip back in time. Just when Devon and I thought it couldn't get any better, we found our seats. 4th row, two in, so close to to the stage I could see the wires and the feet of the actors under the curtain. There are no words to describe the moment...we spent the minutes before the show speechless.

 The inside of the Victoria Palace Theater

                                                                                                                Devon and I

And then then the lights dimmed and I remembered that comforting, exhilarating feeling of being in the theater. Sitting in the Victoria Palace Theater sent me back to high school nights spent in the dark of Wiegand, practicing endless amounts of lines and yet incredibly content. How lucky I am to be able to experience such a feeling every time I walk into a theater. Theater=as good as it gets for me.

I wish I was more eloquent to describe the show itself. The moving, thought-provoking and entrancing story and choreography stunned me into silence. I teared up- watching Billy reading the letter from his mother. During the opening notes of "Solidarity." His final audition piece. Watching this boy perform ballet, gymnastics, tap, all while acting and singing for three hours made me realize how many talented people there are that want to give their talent to an audience. It was incredibly humbling.

This is what I cannot possibly explain via email, skype, or even in person when I get home. That indescribable feeling of satisfaction and amazement that continues to grow every chance I get to experience this city. Thank you, Jane and George, for an evening full of excitement and pure happiness. :)