London Town

Duke of Wellington (aka Duke's), one of our local hangouts. Home of the cheapest pint we've found. Their beer garden makes me think of Bros.

Abbey Rd. and the infamous crosswalk

Just some of the graffiti that lines the side of Abbey Rd.

Windsor Castle, where the Queen considers her home.

And yes, she was in residence while we were there!

Windsor with some of the girls

My friend, Cara, and I on the 32nd floor looking over Spitalfields

Dylan, Wimbledon, Abbey Rd...livin the dream

Another week in London and I'm definitely enjoying every minute. On Monday and Tuesday, Weber Shandwick sent me to Wimbledon to do some publicity work and help out with an event they were putting on for their client Pernod Ricard, an alcohol distributer.  Jacob's Creek wine is the official wine of Wimbledon so we were out among the people waiting in the queue for tickets.  I had to try and get people to play a game of swing ball while they waited to earn vouchers for free wine when they got in the park.  The game is comparable to tether ball, only there's a tennis ball on the end of the string and the players get paddles to hit the ball around.  At first it was a challenge to get people to play, some were afraid they'd lose their spot in line.  To get more involvement, I even offered to save their spot and queue for them while they played. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to go inside and see a match, but it was really cool to be around the environment and get out of the office for a bit.  It reminded me of tailgating season on Melrose.  Although there wasn't a sea of black and gold, when you step out of the tube station there are packs of people walking down one little street towards the stadium. There are street vendors selling food and yelling you, and people walking around with open bottles of wine! All and all, it was a successful event for the company, the client was happy and we got a lot of coverage. 

Our swing ball set-up at Wimbledon!

Last weekend I started thinking about everything I want to do while I'm here and I officially booked a trip to Paris and Dublin! I'm already heading to Ireland with my mom and a few family friends at the beginning of August, but with the flight as cheap as it was and a majority of the students from Iowa going, I couldn't pass it up.  We'll be leaving in two weeks, early Saturday morning and coming back Sunday night. A very quick trip, but I'm excited to be in Dublin with some people my own age and of course be legal in the bars, something I had to work around the last time I was there.  Then the weekend after that I'm taking the Eurostar on Friday night to Paris! I'm going with about six other girls from Iowa and I'm really excited!! I don't know any French, but a few of the girls have been there before and know a little bit of the language.  Including these two trips, I realized that after today I only have three weekends left in London!
Today I'm going to Abbey Road and an art exhibition about The Doors; very much a 60's kind of day. Then a traditional Irish pub for dinner and listen to some Irish music tonight. I've been looking around for a good music festival and it seems like there's a festival or at least a concert every night of the week in London. Last Saturday we ended up going to a small festival in Green Park with Bob Dylan! We didn't go in, but we found a place to sit in the park, outside of the venue where we could still hear and enjoyed a little Dylan for a while.  So now I can say I've heard Dylan live! For free!
Time is going by so quickly and I don't want to leave! Everyday I sit at my desk and look out at my view and I can't believe I live here.  I love everything about this place. I love the people and the style. The man who stands on the corner everyday handing out papers, smiling and saying 'Good morning!' to everyone who passes by. I love taking the tube to work (even though many times I have to hold my breath from the smell) and being with all the other Londoners starting their day. I never thought I could see myself living in a big city, definitely not New York or L.A. or somewhere like that, but London I can.  And the thought of living in a place where Paris and Irealand can be a weekend getaway? Amazing. 
Thursday night, being the good Iowa kids that we are, we snuck into the sky lounge on the 32nd floor of Nido for a little pre-gaming festivities. The view was crazy! We had a panaramic view of the city right at sunset and it was gorgeous! Of course my awful camera skills don't give it justice, but here's an idea of what we were looking out at:

 Looking out over Spitalfields (East London)



Can't wait to see what the next five weeks will bring.

Cheers!

From Press Release to Published Article!

I helped get this article published! As part of the calling project I did for Weber Shandwick, I called various papers around London to follow up on a press release we did about EDF and a study they did on different English soap operas. EDF is an energy company in the UK and they're also one of the partners for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.  I know, I know, it isn't the most riveting or hard news story you'll find and it isn't in the New York Times, but I don't care! Check it out:

Eastenders Wins Greenest Soap!

PR is madness...and I love it

I successfully finished my first week of work in London! I'm officially an intern at Weber Shandwick and Rogers and Cowan, two PR sister companies that have offices in London and the US.  It's the most intense and exciting job I've had.  I'm doing various jobs for different accounts the company has and helping out with anything they need; such as updating media contacts, taking inventory of stock and researching audiences for each client through social media.  I think the job I liked the most was calling different newspapers in London and pitching stories that were relevant to our clients to get coverage.  The PR industry moves so fast and there's always something someone needs help with.  Most of the time, someone will come up to me with something they need done by the end of the day so it forces you to work fast and really manage your day.  For Rogers and Cowan, who takes care of more things associated with the entertainment industry, I was calling different film and television productions around Europe to see if they were interested in any product placement for the clients we represent.  One morning, in the span of twenty minutes, I had talked to someone in England, Scotland and Germany and called a production that has Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman involved! I'll also begin to get some hands-on experience working with the clients starting this week when I go to Wimbledon for a couple days to do some publicity work! Weber Shandwick represents an alcohol brand that is the official wine for the upcoming tennis tournament and we'll be putting on a couple events early this week.  Everyone in the office has been great and really nice. I'm surrounded by so many accents and I hear 'cheers' and 'brilliant' about twice a minute.  Oddly enough the guy who sits right next to me, Joe, is from Chicago and just moved to London in March. It's nice to have an American to talk about the states with and see how he likes living in London. Overall, I'd say it's going to be a crazy summer and the most challenging thing I've done, but I can't wait!

This weekend Christine Gable and Mike Summers are in town as they end their trek around Europe so I think we're going to explore London for a bit. So far I haven't been very homesick (other than the occasional craving for Falbos), but it was so nice to see some faces from home!

Hope everyone is well!

Home Away From Home

I've been in London for one week and I already feel like I can call this place home.  I'm pretty confident reading the tube and I even have a go-to pub! Thursday night, I went to The Ten Bells with some other Iowa students I'm here with. It's a good place to go for a few pints with a fun atmosphere and is located in Spitalfields just a couple blocks away from where we're staying.  Historically, I learned Spitalfields is the area where Jack the Ripper killed his victims and two of the women actually worked at The Ten Bells! The pub has been there since 1752 and although it was called Jack the Ripper in the 80's, they changed back to the original name.  Our first night there we met local Londoners, an Irish bartendar and even some Parisians! A prime example of the many different cultures you can find all over London.  We've decided it'll be a good place to go for a beer after a day at work, which seems to be done everyday around here.  At about 5 or 6 all the pubs get busy with everyone getting off work and ready to have a drink with friends and co-workers.  You can walk a city block, go past three pubs and they will all be bursting with people in business suits standing outside on the street corner just having a pint. Since there aren't any open container laws in London, you can stand outside on the street with a beer until 11pm.  I'm interested to see what its like working in an office and what the social behavior is like when going out to a pub with your boss and co-workers.

On Saturday, we went on an amazing tour of Westminster.  I had never been inside and it was beautiful, its amazing to think how old it is and how they were able to build it so well that its still standing today.  It was also cool to see exactly where William and Kate where when they got married. Yup, I got up to watch the wedding last month and was able to see that whole building in person.  After the tour we went on a River Cruise on the Thames to Greenwhich, the sights were great and I really liked the Greenwhich area.  A nice little area with a lot of shops and traditional English restaurants.
I did manage to try McDonalds already and it wasn't too bad.  There's a little different taste to the ketchup, but the chicken selects tasted pretty much the same.  I heard the burgers were a little different and the portions for everything are smaller, but it was good to have something familiar.  I've had to get used to the fact that there aren't any free-refills and some places even charge you for tap water.  There are definitely some differences, but nothing that has really been a huge surprise. 
Tomorrow will be my first day working and I'm feeling really good about it! I'm excited to meet everyone and get started.  I think starting a daily routine will get me feeling like a real Londoner.  : )

Seeing the Sights

It's been a busy couple of days so far and I've already seen and done so much! On Tuesday we had an orientation with EUSA and met a lot of students from other American universities; Kansas, Texas A&M and USC.  We also did a walking tour of London and saw a lot of the major sights.  It was crazy to be standing in front of Westminster Abbey when a few weeks earlier I had gotten up at 4 in the morning to watch the wedding there.  Here's a little bit of what I saw:

Westminster

Big Ben and Parliament

The road leading to the palace. You can see Buckingham at the very end.

Trafalgar Square

My tube station!

On Wednesday, I went to meet with Rogers and Cowan for the first time and I'm so excited for my job! I'll be working with another girl from Texas A&M who is with EUSA as well and she's really nice.  It'll be reassuring to know there is someone else there going through the same experience. My supervisor's name is Kate Kelly and she's really fun. She said there's a lot going on in the office in the upcoming months so it sounds like I'll have a lot to do and experience a lot of different jobs with product placement and PR.  Some of the clients she named that they represent are Lotus (a popular British car company),  Make a Wish Foundation, and various British actors and television/movie studios.  Although she dropped a lot of  names, I didn't recognize a lot of them.  She did talk about taking me to meetings with clients such as going to movie/tv sets and I'm so excited for that! That'd be amazing to be on the set of a movie in production. I think it'll be a challenge, but I'm ready for it and I can't wait to get started. 

Last night we went to a party at a club called Foundation in Convent Garden that EUSA had for all the students that are here.  It was really fun! Definitely a big city kind of a place.  After that a few of us went to another club in the same area which reminded me a lot of Union back in IC.  It was fun to see Londoners around our age and see how they interacted.  We ended up having to take a cab home and I swear for as far as we had to go and how many people we had, it was a lot cheaper than the cabs in Iowa City!

Today, I think I'll explore around Spitalfiends for a bit and then tomorrow we're starting our British Culture course with a trip to the National Museum and then a dinner for Iowa students at night.  I'm looking forward to everyhting and I'll definitely be keeping everyone updated on the adventures.

Kelly

Finally Here!

I made it! After a four and a half hour drive to Chicago and an eight hour flight, I finally landed in London! Initially, I was most nervous about finding my way with all of my luggage to where I was staying.  I'm sure I looked like a fool while pulling a huge, green suitcase and trying to heave it up and down multiple flights of stairs in the middle of Paddington Station and then again as I pulled them along on the streets of London to try and find Nido as it started to rain.  But I didn't care. As soon as I go off at the Liverpool Street station and could see the city it didn't even matter that I was wet or going in the complete opposite direction of where I needed to be. I was surrounded by red double decker buses, british accents and went by a telephone booth or two.  All my nerves were gone and I was just happy to be back in the city I love. 
When I finally got to Nido, I was greeted by Adam, someone who works at EUSA and who has been helping us get settled.  He's so nice and polite and his accent is precious.  He said 'Cheers!' about three times in 5 minutes when talking to me and I about died. 
Nido is pretty similar to a residence hall, but we each have our own room and bathroom and I share a kitchen area with another student from Iowa.  The windows in all of the rooms are from floor to ceiling so you can see the whole city! Here are a few pics:

I went grocery shopping today and I'm going to have to get used to the fact that they don't have peanut butter, wheat thins or ranch here. Devastating.  But I managed to pick up a few things, including pasta for only 32 pence! Crazy deal. 
I'm definitely going to like Spitalfields (which is in the eastern part of central London) and I can't wait to go exploring in the rest of the city.

Cheers!

My New Job!

I finally received details about my internship placement today! I'll be working at Rogers and Cowan, an entertainment Public Relations agency.  For more info....

http://www.rogersandcowan.com/Default.aspx

With offices in Los Angeles, New York and London, Rogers and Cowan is an internationl agency that has worked with film festivals, film publicity, music publicity, basically anything in sports and entertainment! I'll be helping out with press releases, researching for different PR campaigns, cordinating events and working with clients in the film and tv industry.  I was so happy when I was given my placement and I know its going to be a great experience to learn what it's like to work in public relations.  Not to mention, the film/entertainment industry is what I've always wanted to be involved in.  With only 3 days until I leave and this amazing placement, I've never been more ready to get to London!