7:40-8:00, I wake up much to my annoyance to the ringing of my cell phone alarm where it is usually turned off to sleep for another 5 minutes. I get up to take a shower and quickly realize if I don't hurry up I'll be late for work(yet again).
8:20-8:45, Get out of the shower, dry my hair, throw on some clothes, put make up on and leave the house
8:50, I either start walking to work or decide to be lazy and take the bus. I try not to take the bus because I'm being cheap and/or feeling fat.
8:50-9:15, My walking commute to work consists of a daily stroll next to an old church converted into a concert hall, a daily food market where I pass by a stall of my favorite coffee, Flat White. ahhh I want those croissants..... I look to my right and I see three ladies chopping up veggies from Sunny's salad stall. I look to my left and I see a man from my favorite curry cart, Mantra, making rice. Le sigh....so good. After I pass by the Mountbatten office, the beautiful Bloomberg building comes to my right. I am completely jealous of their differently lit floors. Orange for one floor, Green for another and Blue for another. Tres cool. I glance by the clear sliding doors and see a TV broadcast either being taped or done live. I look at the open blinds and look at a shadow of my former life, a radio studio. The monitors, studio mics and boards all remind me of my two years at ABC Radio. I continue onto the UBS campus at 3FA just about 50 yards from the Bloomberg building.
9:20-12:30, I settle into work. Unlock my computer, grab a latte from the kitchen. I press the espresso button first then the latte button. The sound of freshly ground espresso beans means I'll have caffeine in my system. Awesome. I make my cereal then proceed to read over work e-mails while briefly browsing the nytimes. I sign onto our internal chat system and see the Mountbattens have already started chatting about our homework(we all hate to do), the GP, goings on and the finanical market. Politics used to be a topic before Obama got elected. It was lovely to see the nice conservative/liberal divide amongst us. I open my notebook and write down a daily to-do list. My personal tasks are right alongside my professional tasks for the day. It's usually the same thing: mountbatten hw, database work, follow up with x person. Some work is completed but I quickly get distracted by ryanair.com and uk.travelzoo.com and e-mails from Elly. I contemplate booking another holiday with my meager £615 montly stipend. le sigh...I can't afford an amazing 7-night 5-star £399 holiday in Turkey. I can only afford 'Free' Ryan Air flights and discount National Express trains.
12:30-2:00, Lunch is usually taken about this time. I either go to the deli next door with some other Mountbattens, run errands around the city, or eat at my desk whilst browsing the internet. hmmm gossip girl recaps on nymag i used to buy lunch everyday but the better sense has kicked in (as well as my lowly bank account) and i try as much as possible to pack lunch. Elly makes me some ham and cheese with mustard and butter(it's a brit thing).
2-6, This time I attend more meetings finish up as much as I can on my to-do list. By the 3:13-4 hour, I'm lagging and need more coffee. I usually get a hot chocolate instead. By 5, I'm either done with all my work or I'm trying to finish up as much as I can for the day. Work is funny and boring 90% of the time. I am insulted at least once by my coworker who sits across from me and at least one IM is exchanged about my lack of excel knowledge.
6-sleep, I get out of work(yay!), go home to eat, sleep, browse fb and "do mb hw." Or I head down to elly's for some dinner, cuddles, hugs and the Daily Show. A night like this is consisted of Elly and I making fun of Turton at least once and bowing down to the awesomeness that is John Stewart. the other occasional option is to actually go out and get drinks. if i go down this route, i'm usually tired after half a pint of strongbow. lol If this is a Tuesday or Wednesday night, I'm home watching Gossip Girl with Deena. I still heart you!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Adventures in Edinburgh (aka I want Starbucks every 5 seconds.)
Last week, I took the 5 hour train ride via National Express with my roommate Ohan and another Mountbatten Kristin. My train left King's Cross at 10 am without a hitch and I slept 70% of the time. I was really excited for my trip and glad to get away from London for one weekend. I knew that it would be a lot colder and knew I'd spend money that I didn't have on random touristy things. By the time we passed Newcastle, the train rode along the coast where to the left of me i saw beach, rainbows and beautiful views of the (North Sea?). To the right of me, I saw the usual sheep and rolling green hills. It's so true about this part of the world - it's all sheep and green hills. I tried to take pictures of my view and last hour of my train ride but alas my camera failed me.
we get to edinburgh at around 2:30 and realize our hostel is about a 5 minute walk from the rail station, edinburgh waverley. this was the first time ive ever stayed at a hostel but i wasn't too scared. I was only worried about the noise if there would be any. We walk up the royal mile to our hostel, brodies. The check-in process: I zoned out the whole time worrying if our bunk beds would be occupied by some sort of weirdos. Alas, we get into our room and people are fast asleep. Meh? 3 PM on a Saturday? Ok…. As we speak in hushed tones, a girl awakes from her makeshift bunk space made up of tartan blankets draped around her bed bunk sides. Next thing I know it, I see a bunch of curls wrapped up in a towel running toward the bathroom. Uh ok whatever.
We proceed to leave and walk along the Royal Mile. Yes, the spreadsheet I made during that week is going according to plan. Obligatory pictures taken including Ohan’s excitement over her pics with “men in skirt.” We approach the castle proceed to pay where we encounter a kind girl who tells us it’s too late to buy a ticket. The next day it will be then. We walk all the way down to the other side of the Royal Mile and approach the Queens residence when she goes to Scotland, Holyrood Palace. It looks sooo pretty and we wish to go in but it is too late again. After taking pictures in front of Salisbury Craigs and the Scottish Parliament, we walk toward New Town for dinner. By this point, we were starved and wanted anything. We go to a place called Mussel Inn on Rose Street. Kristin and I split a kilo full of mussels in cream, shallot, garlic sauce. Oahn gets a seafood mix in Thai broth. All of us enjoy our meal greatly. Omg, it was so good and so filling. I couldn’t finish all of it.
After dinner, we head to Mary’s close for our haunted ghost tour. It was pricey at 10 pounds (9 if you’re a student), but it was completely worth it. We start at the gift shop and am ushered into a section behind a closed door. The lady, in full costume gives us the ground rules about the tour. She warns this is a real place where things have happened. This is not for the ones that get easily scared she adds. The tour group made up of approximately 15 people descends a flight of stairs down to renovation of an actual close. Our tour guide leads us to different areas of the close. She warns us of paranormal activity in different rooms. There are ghost stories and a recreation of witch trials. Before the tour ends, we go into an old apartment where our tour guide shows us a guy with a toilet which was of course completely odd in that time. We look inside when a couple of people point out a curtain/door moving inside the apartment. Is that a draft? Or is there someone there? The door/curtain moves along with the floor creaking. The door is shut after people start to get scared. Have we just encountered some paranormal activity? Hmm…we’ll never know.
Being scared wasn’t enough so we headed to Grassmarket to get our old man pub on. Lol Before that we got some crepes from a cart in the middle of the street. Later I find out they used to do hangings in that area…nice. After stuffing myself with an apple crepe, we head to an old man bar called the White Hart. For all I know, it could not be an old mar pub but that night it was. Kristin and I drank some ginger and whiskey whilst Oahn had rum and orange juice.
The second bar we went to was on Victoria Street. We go in where, according to Kristin, are giving the death stare. Kristin goes up to buy drinks where we are immediately asked for Ids. The AMERICAN(!!!) bartender proceeds to briefly question Oahn’s California ID thinking it’s fake. Better heads prevail and we’re served. As we’re sitting, chatting watching Oahn star to get red-faced and sleep, men seem to get up to the left of me and fart in my face. Hmm….that was the highlight of my evening. I wish I could show you the face I made when it happened.
Our drinking was short lived since I suck at tolerance and it seems to be the only other Mountbatten that’s worse than myself is also on this trip. Hahaaha We head to the hostel hoping to get a decent night’s sleep where…..we hear that odd sleeper put her phone on speakerphone at 6 am!!!! And talk to her when EVERYONE else is sleeping. Lovely.
Sunday begins with a 15 minute bus ride out to the Leith district of Edinburgh where we get a huge Scottish breakfast made of the following: eggs, beans, mushrooms, toamato, black pudding, haggis(!!), sausage, bacon and toast. I actually liked the haggis. I suppose when you eat everything under the sun growing up, sheep guts isn’t going to surprise you. The black pudding was gross and inedible. I tried to eat as much as I could but the plate or the “big breakfast” as it was called proved to be too big for me.
With our stomachs full, we go back to the Royal Mile to head up the castle again. While Kristin was doing Mountbatten work, Oahn and I went to the castle. We paid 10 pounds to take a bunch of really nice views and really funny pictures. Honestly, don’t spend the 10 pounds if you don’t have to. There are better sites on the top of Calton Hill. The castle is small, unimpressive as well as boring. Hahaha Although a highlight was the Prisioner of Wars exhibition. It was very interesting to see a mock up of where they would live, how much they’d eat, what they’d do to pass time.
After stumbling around Edinburgh taking more pictures, we head into Tigerlily for some drinks and dinner. Their 2 for 1 is a must if you want something different than pubs. It’s good typical hotel food if you’re craving for that. The setting is very funky. Think pink Victorian wallpaper with wicker chairs and beaded curtains. Trust me, it works.
We head back to the hostel early to call it a night. The hostel is buzzing with tons of people in the common room. We soon find out that the crazy girl is having a going away party since she’s moving to Thailand. Fun! I don’t join thinking about how much money I’ve been spending and how I want to steal their baked cake. I retreat only getting a crappy instant coffee with lots of sugar and milk. Sleep arrives fairly early that night….
Our last day in Edinburgh consists of a historical walking tour taking us to the cemetery, where J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter, the castle, hidden passageways and closes. It was a very nice tour indeed. I learned a lot and best of all…it was free!!! Oh and the awesome pulled pork sandwich I got from Oink for lunch. The combo of apple sauce and pork was very tasty.
After a dinner stop at M&S, we kill time at the Royal Mile buying some gifts for friends and family. We board a train back to ol’ London town at 5 pm that night.
Ahh…what a fun weekend indeed!
High points: hearing Oahn get excited over seeing “men in skirt” / see her fall asleep at the dinner table at Tigerlily. Drinking Starbucks and eating awesome pulled pork, mussels and Scottish breakfast.
Low points: having men fart in my face at the pub Saturday night. Succumbing into starbucks’ Christmas cups.
we get to edinburgh at around 2:30 and realize our hostel is about a 5 minute walk from the rail station, edinburgh waverley. this was the first time ive ever stayed at a hostel but i wasn't too scared. I was only worried about the noise if there would be any. We walk up the royal mile to our hostel, brodies. The check-in process: I zoned out the whole time worrying if our bunk beds would be occupied by some sort of weirdos. Alas, we get into our room and people are fast asleep. Meh? 3 PM on a Saturday? Ok…. As we speak in hushed tones, a girl awakes from her makeshift bunk space made up of tartan blankets draped around her bed bunk sides. Next thing I know it, I see a bunch of curls wrapped up in a towel running toward the bathroom. Uh ok whatever.
We proceed to leave and walk along the Royal Mile. Yes, the spreadsheet I made during that week is going according to plan. Obligatory pictures taken including Ohan’s excitement over her pics with “men in skirt.” We approach the castle proceed to pay where we encounter a kind girl who tells us it’s too late to buy a ticket. The next day it will be then. We walk all the way down to the other side of the Royal Mile and approach the Queens residence when she goes to Scotland, Holyrood Palace. It looks sooo pretty and we wish to go in but it is too late again. After taking pictures in front of Salisbury Craigs and the Scottish Parliament, we walk toward New Town for dinner. By this point, we were starved and wanted anything. We go to a place called Mussel Inn on Rose Street. Kristin and I split a kilo full of mussels in cream, shallot, garlic sauce. Oahn gets a seafood mix in Thai broth. All of us enjoy our meal greatly. Omg, it was so good and so filling. I couldn’t finish all of it.
After dinner, we head to Mary’s close for our haunted ghost tour. It was pricey at 10 pounds (9 if you’re a student), but it was completely worth it. We start at the gift shop and am ushered into a section behind a closed door. The lady, in full costume gives us the ground rules about the tour. She warns this is a real place where things have happened. This is not for the ones that get easily scared she adds. The tour group made up of approximately 15 people descends a flight of stairs down to renovation of an actual close. Our tour guide leads us to different areas of the close. She warns us of paranormal activity in different rooms. There are ghost stories and a recreation of witch trials. Before the tour ends, we go into an old apartment where our tour guide shows us a guy with a toilet which was of course completely odd in that time. We look inside when a couple of people point out a curtain/door moving inside the apartment. Is that a draft? Or is there someone there? The door/curtain moves along with the floor creaking. The door is shut after people start to get scared. Have we just encountered some paranormal activity? Hmm…we’ll never know.
Being scared wasn’t enough so we headed to Grassmarket to get our old man pub on. Lol Before that we got some crepes from a cart in the middle of the street. Later I find out they used to do hangings in that area…nice. After stuffing myself with an apple crepe, we head to an old man bar called the White Hart. For all I know, it could not be an old mar pub but that night it was. Kristin and I drank some ginger and whiskey whilst Oahn had rum and orange juice.
The second bar we went to was on Victoria Street. We go in where, according to Kristin, are giving the death stare. Kristin goes up to buy drinks where we are immediately asked for Ids. The AMERICAN(!!!) bartender proceeds to briefly question Oahn’s California ID thinking it’s fake. Better heads prevail and we’re served. As we’re sitting, chatting watching Oahn star to get red-faced and sleep, men seem to get up to the left of me and fart in my face. Hmm….that was the highlight of my evening. I wish I could show you the face I made when it happened.
Our drinking was short lived since I suck at tolerance and it seems to be the only other Mountbatten that’s worse than myself is also on this trip. Hahaaha We head to the hostel hoping to get a decent night’s sleep where…..we hear that odd sleeper put her phone on speakerphone at 6 am!!!! And talk to her when EVERYONE else is sleeping. Lovely.
Sunday begins with a 15 minute bus ride out to the Leith district of Edinburgh where we get a huge Scottish breakfast made of the following: eggs, beans, mushrooms, toamato, black pudding, haggis(!!), sausage, bacon and toast. I actually liked the haggis. I suppose when you eat everything under the sun growing up, sheep guts isn’t going to surprise you. The black pudding was gross and inedible. I tried to eat as much as I could but the plate or the “big breakfast” as it was called proved to be too big for me.
With our stomachs full, we go back to the Royal Mile to head up the castle again. While Kristin was doing Mountbatten work, Oahn and I went to the castle. We paid 10 pounds to take a bunch of really nice views and really funny pictures. Honestly, don’t spend the 10 pounds if you don’t have to. There are better sites on the top of Calton Hill. The castle is small, unimpressive as well as boring. Hahaha Although a highlight was the Prisioner of Wars exhibition. It was very interesting to see a mock up of where they would live, how much they’d eat, what they’d do to pass time.
After stumbling around Edinburgh taking more pictures, we head into Tigerlily for some drinks and dinner. Their 2 for 1 is a must if you want something different than pubs. It’s good typical hotel food if you’re craving for that. The setting is very funky. Think pink Victorian wallpaper with wicker chairs and beaded curtains. Trust me, it works.
We head back to the hostel early to call it a night. The hostel is buzzing with tons of people in the common room. We soon find out that the crazy girl is having a going away party since she’s moving to Thailand. Fun! I don’t join thinking about how much money I’ve been spending and how I want to steal their baked cake. I retreat only getting a crappy instant coffee with lots of sugar and milk. Sleep arrives fairly early that night….
Our last day in Edinburgh consists of a historical walking tour taking us to the cemetery, where J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter, the castle, hidden passageways and closes. It was a very nice tour indeed. I learned a lot and best of all…it was free!!! Oh and the awesome pulled pork sandwich I got from Oink for lunch. The combo of apple sauce and pork was very tasty.
After a dinner stop at M&S, we kill time at the Royal Mile buying some gifts for friends and family. We board a train back to ol’ London town at 5 pm that night.
Ahh…what a fun weekend indeed!
High points: hearing Oahn get excited over seeing “men in skirt” / see her fall asleep at the dinner table at Tigerlily. Drinking Starbucks and eating awesome pulled pork, mussels and Scottish breakfast.
Low points: having men fart in my face at the pub Saturday night. Succumbing into starbucks’ Christmas cups.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
I only wish that I could celebrate like this tonight
Taken from gawker.com
@DevilsAvocado: Brava
I'm in London, and know many of us will be staying up to hopefully cheer on a great victory for compassion, common sense, friendship and hope.
I remember the 1997 election here (It's a bittersweet memory now, sadly :() and the sheer joy and elation of walking home with my boyfriend passing the Labour HQ, drinking smuggled out champagne, watching the sun come up over the Thames on a country that had got rid of them! We'd done it!
This election is more historic, and more important than that one. I hope so much it's as good.
In London in this U.S. Election Day...
I pause from work right now to show you what has been on my computer screen on this historic day.
On bbcnews.com
On cnn.com
on nytimes.com
on lemonde.fr
on elpais.es
on timesonline.co.uk
on wsj.com
on foxnews.com
on drudgereport.com
Monday, October 13, 2008
London Development Journal
I love cities – always have and always will. There is always something breathtaking about the noises, the lack of space, diversity of people and activities that make the home of millions feel the exactly the same yet so foreign. Stalling a year in New York, I embarked on an adventure to London to gain an outside perspective, to travel, to test my independence, change a career path and most of all – grow up. Through a series of fortuitous events, I left for a year long adventure to the Old World. Many thoughts ran through my head. Would my adventure in London be a freefall from what I was experiencing in New York? Would the other Mountbattens like me? Would my colleagues at UBS appreciate my media-only background? How would I adjust to non 24-hour subways? Ahem, the tube.
I landed into London with a sense of excitement, a bit of worry but most of all jet lag. My wisdom of London was based on two week-long trips to the city, work experience in New York City for two years and an English boyfriend. I was a bit scared of becoming too all-knowing of London with the resources I had at hand. I knew coming in to try to not make comparisons, to take London for what it is - a diverse city of millions with infamously bad weather, double-decker buses and cooler accents than I would ever own. I knew there would be rude, hurried people, obscene amounts of wealth, many different types of cuisine, nightlife, persons and old buildings right next to new. Not much to my surprise, I felt that the atmosphere here is the same back home. I quickly settled onto the enclaves of Shoreditch and Soho. I found my favorite café in Flat White and my local pub at The Eagle. My food cart on 53rd and 6th became the carts of Whitecross Street Market. Primark became my Forever 21.
I immersed myself into determining my right locations for bars, restaurants and other potential London hot spots. Using my resourcefulness, I soon realized that being a Londoner was similar to being a New Yorker. Unfortunately, I did not find my New York Magazine for London. I tried to research the The Times as well as the Guardian. No luck. I was told, “Felicia, they’re not the New York Times, New York Magazine. These are national papers. The London-based focus is going to be harder to find than you would get back in New York.” While this person was correct in an aspect, there were good guides and websites to be found. I found urbanjunkies.com, londonist.com and le cool London. Nevertheless, we need a magazine of living in London.
While my personal adjustment to living in London was not much of a surprise, there was an adjustment in the professional sector. My previous work experience consisted of assistant work in a newsroom of a national radio news channel. The casualness and frantic nature of the place would be completely different to what I would experience working at UBS. Hello to defending one of the largest financial firms in the world. Goodbye exposing downturns of said company. Hello smart dress. Goodbye Chucks, t-shirts, undone hair and face. Hello hierarchy, team meetings and blocked websites. Goodbye YouTube and Perez Hilton.
The work life I have at UBS has been an interesting one. My daily 20-minute walk to the ‘Square Mile’ consists of passing by markets, too many Prets and EATs for my liking and well-dressed men with popped jacket collars. During lunch, I am mostly perplexed at the amount of sandwiches that one country can come up with. I’m slowly realizing that the £3.49 lunch combo at Boots is the best deal around. The food isn’t half bad either. Perhaps I should come up with a survey about good City eats and publish them for a London newspaper. Alas, I have so many things to explore and enjoy in this city of 8 million.
Overall, I have enjoyed my adjustment period to London town. Although I’ve been hindered by the supposed ‘Fresher’s flu’, I still love cities – always have and always will.
I landed into London with a sense of excitement, a bit of worry but most of all jet lag. My wisdom of London was based on two week-long trips to the city, work experience in New York City for two years and an English boyfriend. I was a bit scared of becoming too all-knowing of London with the resources I had at hand. I knew coming in to try to not make comparisons, to take London for what it is - a diverse city of millions with infamously bad weather, double-decker buses and cooler accents than I would ever own. I knew there would be rude, hurried people, obscene amounts of wealth, many different types of cuisine, nightlife, persons and old buildings right next to new. Not much to my surprise, I felt that the atmosphere here is the same back home. I quickly settled onto the enclaves of Shoreditch and Soho. I found my favorite café in Flat White and my local pub at The Eagle. My food cart on 53rd and 6th became the carts of Whitecross Street Market. Primark became my Forever 21.
I immersed myself into determining my right locations for bars, restaurants and other potential London hot spots. Using my resourcefulness, I soon realized that being a Londoner was similar to being a New Yorker. Unfortunately, I did not find my New York Magazine for London. I tried to research the The Times as well as the Guardian. No luck. I was told, “Felicia, they’re not the New York Times, New York Magazine. These are national papers. The London-based focus is going to be harder to find than you would get back in New York.” While this person was correct in an aspect, there were good guides and websites to be found. I found urbanjunkies.com, londonist.com and le cool London. Nevertheless, we need a magazine of living in London.
While my personal adjustment to living in London was not much of a surprise, there was an adjustment in the professional sector. My previous work experience consisted of assistant work in a newsroom of a national radio news channel. The casualness and frantic nature of the place would be completely different to what I would experience working at UBS. Hello to defending one of the largest financial firms in the world. Goodbye exposing downturns of said company. Hello smart dress. Goodbye Chucks, t-shirts, undone hair and face. Hello hierarchy, team meetings and blocked websites. Goodbye YouTube and Perez Hilton.
The work life I have at UBS has been an interesting one. My daily 20-minute walk to the ‘Square Mile’ consists of passing by markets, too many Prets and EATs for my liking and well-dressed men with popped jacket collars. During lunch, I am mostly perplexed at the amount of sandwiches that one country can come up with. I’m slowly realizing that the £3.49 lunch combo at Boots is the best deal around. The food isn’t half bad either. Perhaps I should come up with a survey about good City eats and publish them for a London newspaper. Alas, I have so many things to explore and enjoy in this city of 8 million.
Overall, I have enjoyed my adjustment period to London town. Although I’ve been hindered by the supposed ‘Fresher’s flu’, I still love cities – always have and always will.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
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