Monday we had class. It was going to be a good day I could tell, there was a 0% chance of rain...which is just about as rare as a unicorn. The 5th day of lovely summer weather in London. One odd thing that I did see was a man walking to work and wearing a sweat band. It was warm, but not that hot. When getting to class, we had some extra time to sit and enjoy the weather, and I wanted to go get any sun I could (salvage what I could of my tan that I started before I left) When sitting on my sun drenched bench there was a line of budweiser bottles. One cool thing about London, you can walk around without hiding your booze bottle and be drinking it. It made me laugh that this was on the campus grounds...someone had a good night.
To start things off on even a better note...my Alan Hertz quote of the week. We asked him where to find good Indian food. The answer I wrote down but he described it this way "you will love it, its like eating a rainbow" I laughed because of how he said it. Let your imagination go with it. In class we talked about colonization and imperialism. That leads to my second Alan Hertz quote of the week. "Colonization is just sending people to settle a place and imperialism is just screwing strangers from far away." Also found out the origins of the "I'm a little teapot" song came from. George III suffered from an intense mental disease. When hidden away for treatment, he apparently would ask for his tea by doing the little dance (here is my handle, here is my spout). When the public found out...this is how the song started. I digress....
For lunch we went to this place called the Onion and it was fab! I had a spinach, avacado, and feta sandwich. YUM YUM. After that we met up and did the Inns of London walk. Not that exciting we were just on the west side of London and the coolest part for me was to see the city marks where the "real" London border is. It is a gryffin(dor---haha to my HP nerds). At the end we walked to through the meat markets and ended class in a nice little circle park. When sitting there he explained how close we were to Fleet Street (Sweeney Todd anyone?) and that this nice little park is where people were taken to be executed. They found it funny to kill someone in a park between the meat market and a hospital. One of the famous people who were executed there was the one and only William Wallace. There is a memorial to him (see picture) and there is another piece of history there too. The hole in the wall was damage from the Blitzkreig that never was fixed. Yay history! He also explained the story of the scratching fanny ghost...this gets a little graphic. Not in a bloody way, but in a way that I would feel awkward talking to my grandma about it. So the story goes that on Cock Street--which was named after what was sold there (did I mention Monday was also the day of inappropriate/important signs? hehe)--apparently there is a ghost of a woman who scratches her fanny. In England fanny means va-jay-jay and scratching means pleasuring one's self. So Alan pointed out that men did not run from this particular ghost...they tended to run toward it. bahahaha. After that class ended. Hailey and I decided to go find Fleet Street...more important 186 Fleet Street where legend said this horror took place. Oh we found it. It was awesome. The ironic part now is that a church is now next door. Makes me wonder if it was there when this story happened....many people are still arguing if Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett really existed. Doesn't matter I found it and that made me happy. From there we went and found Drury Lane...only a few blocks down. However, most of the establishments on Drury Lane were theaters and not bakeries. If I started a bakery on Drury Lane I would call it the Muffin WOman.
To start things off on even a better note...my Alan Hertz quote of the week. We asked him where to find good Indian food. The answer I wrote down but he described it this way "you will love it, its like eating a rainbow" I laughed because of how he said it. Let your imagination go with it. In class we talked about colonization and imperialism. That leads to my second Alan Hertz quote of the week. "Colonization is just sending people to settle a place and imperialism is just screwing strangers from far away." Also found out the origins of the "I'm a little teapot" song came from. George III suffered from an intense mental disease. When hidden away for treatment, he apparently would ask for his tea by doing the little dance (here is my handle, here is my spout). When the public found out...this is how the song started. I digress....
For lunch we went to this place called the Onion and it was fab! I had a spinach, avacado, and feta sandwich. YUM YUM. After that we met up and did the Inns of London walk. Not that exciting we were just on the west side of London and the coolest part for me was to see the city marks where the "real" London border is. It is a gryffin(dor---haha to my HP nerds). At the end we walked to through the meat markets and ended class in a nice little circle park. When sitting there he explained how close we were to Fleet Street (Sweeney Todd anyone?) and that this nice little park is where people were taken to be executed. They found it funny to kill someone in a park between the meat market and a hospital. One of the famous people who were executed there was the one and only William Wallace. There is a memorial to him (see picture) and there is another piece of history there too. The hole in the wall was damage from the Blitzkreig that never was fixed. Yay history! He also explained the story of the scratching fanny ghost...this gets a little graphic. Not in a bloody way, but in a way that I would feel awkward talking to my grandma about it. So the story goes that on Cock Street--which was named after what was sold there (did I mention Monday was also the day of inappropriate/important signs? hehe)--apparently there is a ghost of a woman who scratches her fanny. In England fanny means va-jay-jay and scratching means pleasuring one's self. So Alan pointed out that men did not run from this particular ghost...they tended to run toward it. bahahaha. After that class ended. Hailey and I decided to go find Fleet Street...more important 186 Fleet Street where legend said this horror took place. Oh we found it. It was awesome. The ironic part now is that a church is now next door. Makes me wonder if it was there when this story happened....many people are still arguing if Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett really existed. Doesn't matter I found it and that made me happy. From there we went and found Drury Lane...only a few blocks down. However, most of the establishments on Drury Lane were theaters and not bakeries. If I started a bakery on Drury Lane I would call it the Muffin WOman.
After that I went to Oxford Street to do some shopping. London is much hotter than I anticipated. I was expecting cooler temps low 70s and cloudy. Well it might be like that, but it is HUMID as all heck. So dresses, skirts, and shorts are being purchased so I don't overheat. I have seen people in jeans and long sleeves and I don't know how they do it...even in the tube its worse. Complete dead air.
On Tuesday was a busy day at work. Learning more things every week. More tasks means the day goes by faster. I broke one rule (my rule that I wasn't going to do) and left the house without the umbrella. Sad morning. The first day without sunshine all day. It was sunny later, but walking to work...I got wet. The down side to my place of employment, no air conditioning. So my office has two windows but each of them dont open that far and there is no air flow. I could feel the heat radiating around/off me. Lots of water drinking...its too hot for tea now. This one guy at work is trying to push me to drink a redzone which is the equivalent to our red bull. I think he wants to see me hyped up on sugar or something. Whatever...that is way too unnatural. After work I went to return the clothes I bought yesterday (from the God-forsaken Primark) and went to another store and experienced the BEST customer service I've ever had. I asked for shorts and she ran around the store, picked out all their styles, and brought them back to me. I was in shock...very helpful and successful, got a pair of shorts. The best part about this store, I get an extra discount because I'm a student. Gotta love it. I also recieved my first piece of mail from a loved one. Grandma and Grandpa Bormann sent me a card. I was so pumped. Who would have thought that a letter would get me so jazzed? Other random things that I encountered during my day. -Low pants on the tube....apparently belts dont exist here either. seriously. I would feel uncomfortable with that much of my undies showing to the world.
-I was updating websites and a title of one of our videos is "Is Bin Laden a security guard?" and I laugh because I could ask that
about my boyfriend. "Is my boyfriend a terrorist?" hahahaha.
-HP trailer came out that day. Now that England is out of the world cup, this was the top/breaking news story of the day. I was excited, but I heard someone say "really? this is the biggest news we have?" Apparently not all England people like HP.
-I was updating websites and a title of one of our videos is "Is Bin Laden a security guard?" and I laugh because I could ask that
about my boyfriend. "Is my boyfriend a terrorist?" hahahaha.
-HP trailer came out that day. Now that England is out of the world cup, this was the top/breaking news story of the day. I was excited, but I heard someone say "really? this is the biggest news we have?" Apparently not all England people like HP.
-The word "queue". Pernounced Q like the letter. I am not a fan. The one phrase that I strong dislike it. Worst part if I ask someone if they are in line....the have no idea what I mean. They look at me as if I am speaking a foreign language.
Wednesday was a very uneventful day. I am at the point now where I should start feeling homesick and I'll admit it, there are times when I long for the country air, wide spaces, fishing, and the sound of crickets. But I'm not wishing my time away, I am just truly appreciating Wisconsin...something I never thought I would say. ha. This day was defined by random happenings and a long day of work. I finally figured out the sizing system here which I'm not a fan of. Clothing you go two size up and shoes down 2 sizes. So not only does it look like I have mini feet but the numbers on the clothes make me feel frumpy. Ah well. Another random happening...there has been a summer international conference at our hostel for like a week and that morning I had to do a double take. I thought I saw Nathan...but he has a twin who is French. Hot sticky day at wo
rk. But one funny quote. For our entertainment channel we compared J.K Rowling v. Stephanie Meyer (aka HP v Twilight) and someone asked what the J in J.K. Rowling stood for. After a few guesses one lady said, "I dont know...Jesus?" I laughed...to myself...very hard. Yes, Jesus Rowling...that makes sense. Also was a long day at work stayed an extra hour to revise a spreadsheet the boss lady wanted, but the plus side is that her and the managers loved it. Very impressed I guess. Finally my random moment topped off on the tube ride home....where most of my people watching occurs. Best place for it really. I wonder how many people watch me and experience the same thing.
-There was a 14 year old girl witha pin button that said "I <3> 
-Some man yelled at me from across the street as I was walking to the tube, "Nice legs" This man was old enough to be my father. The men here do not have filters at all. Everything that happens in their head comes out of their mouth. Disgusting really.
Finally to talk about the "tube rules" There are two rules. If sitting in a seat, watch who enters at each stop because you should offer your seat to 1) a pregnant women or 2) an elderly person. Here are my issues with the rules. How embarrassing would it be if the person was just heavy and not preggers? Imagine if I was attempting to be nice when I ended up insulting the person and then worse yet, I'm stuck in a tiny car with them for goodness knows how many more stops/delays etc. Also the fact that alot of other people in the car would see/hear this and collect mean thoughts about my originally nice gesture. Almost the same thing goes with an elderly individual. When I get older and someone would offer their seat to me I would automaticaly think shoot, I look old. As my mom always reminds me age is only an age, and you don't always have to act it either. So what qualifies as elderly? Grey hair, wrinkles, cane? You tell me. Personally there are some clearly elderly people who probably shouldn't ride the tube. It is a mad house during rush house and they could get trampled if they dont keep up. One lady I saw the other day...it probably ended up taking her 10 minutes to climb the steps, but what could I do?
Thursday. Last work day of the week! I enjoy my internship, just the days get long. Everyday that I'm there they keep adding more things for me to do, so that must be good. They must like me enough to keep giving me more projects and assignments. That is usually a good sign, right?
Anyways I decided to be brave and wore jeans. Bad life choice. HOT. I am now offically the coordinator of our facebook and twitter accounts. That is MY project. Yay for social networking being incredibly popular...and in my case...fun! Not that eventful of a day overall, but I do have a hot date tonight.
Like most weekends, I dont know what I'm going to do yet, but I'm sure it will be fun :)
Cheers until my Sunday update of my weekend!--Heidi
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