Portfolio Finito!

So yesterday I finished and turned in my portfolio. 70 glorious pages devoted to my internship.

It actually wasn't too horrible. It definitely helped that I did it in pieces. And it was kinda fun to print out cover pages and organize it so it looked nice. Now, let's just hope I get a good grade on it. (Yesterday, while I was in the computer lab, I heard some kid say he was just starting his. So then I felt a lot better about mine, considering that I was at the time putting the finishing touches on it.)

Katie, Meg, Diana, and I are going out to Ice Bar to celebrate tonight. :-) I'm excited.

Then I have to get started on my 3,000 word paper due the last week we're here. Yuck.

I'm excited for the upcoming weekend because I have Saturday off! Laila (from The Sunday Times) is on vacation this week, so she asked me to come in on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to cover for her. That means I have to work slightly longer hours, but she also told me that it was up to me as to whether I came in on Friday and I shouldn't come in on Saturday. Score! So, on Saturday, I'm planning to go to a market with Katie in the morning and ice skating (!!) at the Museum of Natural History in the evening with Diana and Alli on one of the BU Programme Social Events. And then Sunday is Stonehenge, which I am so psyched for! That will actually be my last weekend in London because I'm going to Paris the next weekend. I'm only here for 3 more weeks, so I need to live it up! :-)

More Thanksgiving Pictures

Courtesy of Diana...

Working hard.

Waiting for the chicken to be done.

Preparations

Friends :-)

Dinner

Cupcakes

Thanksgiving!

(Thanks for the picture, Jay!)
Ok I'm totally labeling this picture with my family's names. Starting with guy in hat at the back and going clockwise: Dad, Mom, Uncle Rob, Nana, Auntie Ellen, Papa, (weird grape thing doesn't count), Ed, Me, Auntie Kay, Steven. haha. You guys definitely see it; don't deny it.

So this past Thursday was the fourth Thursday in November. In the USA, that means it's Thanksgiving and you get a 4-day weekend and you watch the Macy's parade and eat tons of food with your family. In the UK, it's just another day: you get up and go to work and come home. Lame.

So I went to work for the day.

The Sunday Times, aka the bane of my existence, aka the place where I waste ~25 hours of my time every week. The office is on the 5th floor.

Here's a picture of me "working" at The Sunday Times. This picture is going in my portfolio (due Monday) so I figured I'd share it here, too. The funny thing is that I asked someone to take my picture, and he said he was busy now, but he would in a little bit. And when he came over to take my picture, I was in the middle of writing an email, so I had to X out of that and open up the Times website to make it look like I was actually working. lol. And I'm at Claire's desk, so most of the things on the desk are hers -- only the notebook and pen on my left are mine.

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving day. I had some phone calls to make in the morning, but I had nothing to do in the afternoon. So, after twiddling my thumbs for 4 hours, I asked if I could leave when 5:30 rolled around. (I normally work until 6.) They let me, and when I told them about the holiday, the editors wished me a happy Thanksgiving.

I came home and called my family on Skype. It was nice to see and talk to them. I think they were all impressed with the webcam's capabilities.

Then I wandered into the kitchen and my friends and I all began making Thanksgiving dinner. We were making chicken breasts instead of turkey, because turkeys are hard to find and expensive in the UK. We tried to buy a pre-made turkey, but it would have cost us 75 pounds ($150) for a 10-pound turkey. Also, some of the reporters at work told me to stay away from turkey because of the avian flu. So we decided to stick with chicken. I found an easy recipe online involving garlic, parmesan and bread crumbs, and so I made the chicken. It turned out really well. The only problem was that our oven is not that great and we were trying to cook sweet potatoes and the chicken at the same time, so it took over an hour to cook. But everyone loved it (or at least said they did). (Yes, those of you who know the extent of my cooking skills can close your mouths and pick yourselves up off the floor: I actually cooked a successful meal.) So here is what was on the menu for our Thanksgiving: cheese and crackers, bread, chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, carrots, green beans, cranberry sauce (homemade), stuffing, and a fruit cocktail-marshmallow salad. Here is a picture of our feast:


Everything was delicious and we had sooo much food which means we had a ton of leftovers.

Chatting at dinner.

Then it was time for dessert, undeniably the best part of Thanksgiving.

Our dessert table. 2 pumpkin pies, a chocolate almond cake, 2 cookie platters, a cookie and whipped cream goo (really good). Plus we had cupcakes and an apple pie that was in the oven. We had a lot of dessert and thus a lot of leftovers.

Everyone at dessert

Yum.

So Thanksgiving was a success! I was worried about it at first because I knew that I would miss my family and I was sad that I was missing the one day of the year where I see both my mom's and dad's sides of the family. But I got to talk to my family on the webcam and we had a delicious dinner and so many people sent me emails or messages wishing me happy Thanksgiving that I had a great day and felt very loved and very thankful for everything. Overall, great day.

Getting up the next morning was not so great, considering we started making dinner at 7:00ish and then ate and hung out and cleaned up and didn't go to bed until 2ish. But hey, it was worth it.

I would definitely recommend that the UK jump on the Thanksgiving bandwagon, though. It's so sad to live a life without Thanksgiving.

Catching Up

This past week was pretty unexciting. On Saturday night, I went out to O'Neill's with Meg and Diana. After that, I spent the rest of my weekend catching up on sleep, running errands, and working on my portfolio. The portfolio is 40 pages long and it's due next Monday. It should include: an introduction, daily journal entries, field research, and a conclusion. I'm done with the introduction, and I have been keeping up with my daily entries and my field research. I've started writing the conclusion and I have 5 - 9 more pages to write. I will be happy when I'm done with this portfolio -- but then I will have to concentrate on the 10-page paper due on December 13.

But, what is exciting is that my friends and I are planning to have Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night. We made a shopping list and we're going grocery shopping tonight. Tomorrow night we will prepare most things, and Liz has 2 friends coming to visit on Thursday, so they offered to come over early and get dinner ready so that it's almost done by 7, when Liz and I get home from our internships.

Last night, Liz got hit by a car. She's ok now; she was just shaken up. She doesn't really remember the details of what happened; she was crossing the street and the next thing she knew, a black cab hit her. Her hip broke the headlight and she was knocked over, but she got right back up. The cab driver and people who saw it happened stopped to help and made her wait for an ambulance. The EMTs checked her out and said she was fine and sent her home. She filled out paperwork, too, just in case she doesn't feel fine later. It was really scary and it served as a wake-up call for us because we cross streets every day and should be more aware of our surroundings. I'm just glad that she's ok.

Changing of the Guard

This morning I went to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was quite the ceremony. I didn't expect it to be as formal and long as it was. I got there 40 minutes early, and there was already a crowd outside of the gates, so I stood on the steps of the fountain to get a better view.

Pre-ceremony pictures:

Buckingham Palace

Policeman with funny hat outside Buckingham Palace

The original guard (gray coats, fairly normal hats)

The ceremony began in parade-fashion, with the new guards marching in while playing instruments.

The new guards had tall, furry black hats

Another picture of the new guards

Some more of the old guards marched in.

Some more guards trotted in on horseback.

Then there was a long ceremony behind the gates of Buckingham Palace. The old guards and the new guards faced each other for awhile, and the commanding officers yelled out commands. Then the guards broke out their musical instruments and played a lot of different songs, including the Star Wars theme song (funny). Of course, in the middle of the songs, Mother Nature decided to hate me. It started pouring and I had forgotten my umbrella (oops). Luckily, I was wearing my red eskimo coat and I was able to put up my hood and stay mostly warm.

The guards marching out (the rain had let up at this point)

The guard has officially changed!

I'm really glad I got to see the changing of the guard and that I stayed until the very end. It was a surprisingly fun sight. I would recommend bringing an umbrella, though.

Babushka and Greenwich

So on Saturday, I talked to Jonathan (a reporter) at my internship and he said that I might want to ask Kathleen if I could work in a different department (i.e. style or sports, etc.) because there would be more work for me to do there. He said he knows that it must be hard to be an intern in the news department because it's a big department and everyone's so busy. I was glad that he acknowledged that it was normal for me to encounter difficulty/boredom at my internship. And I think I will talk to Kathleen on Wednesday.

Saturday night was a lot of fun. I went with Meg and Diana to a bar called Babushka and we met up with Liz and some of her friends there. Here are some pictures:

Getting ready in Diana and Meg's room while listening to Britney

Meg and Me :-)

Me and Liz and her friend

On Sunday I tagged along with Steve on a walking tour of Greenwich. Greenwich is east of London and it is the home of Greenwich Mean Time, the Prime Meridian, the Maritime Museum, and many other navy/water related things. We took a boat to get there.

Wharf = Ware House At River Front. You learn something new everyday. This one reminded me of Hailly.

The Queen's House

Park with the Royal Observatory (the center of space and time) at the top of the hill

One of the many Royal Observatory Clocks


The Prime Meridian

I am simultaneously in the East and West hemispheres! How exciting!

View of Canary Wharf from the Royal Observatory

View from the Royal Observatory

View of The City from the Royal Observatory

The Royal Observatory. We saw that ball drop at 1:00pm, which it does everyday. It was not too exciting -- kinda like how the ball drops on New Years and you think is that it?.

Steve and I also walked around the town and checked out a market and the Mass Maritime Museum. It was a fun daytrip, but very cold! We ate lunch/dinner in the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. It was actually delicious -- the first good burger I've had over here in the UK/Europe!

Today I had class and tomorrow I think I will try to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and then work on my portfolio.

Tower of London

Yesterday I went to the Tower of London, which was amazing. It is a really cool sight, and I walk by it everyday on my way to work. I enjoyed seeing it from the inside and viewing the crown jewels (which I couldn't take pictures of). Also, here's a fun fact: one of the crowns was missing because it was "In Use," i.e. on the Queen's head as she gave her speech for opening Parliament.

The Tower of London in all its glory. This picture does not convey the magnificence/hugeness of the Tower.

Tower Bridge. Way cooler than London Bridge.

The shooting of the cannons. I arrived just in time to see this!

There was lots of smoke everytime they shot a cannon.

When the ceremony was over, they hooked the cannons up to trucks and drove them away.

This is a picture just inside the entrance of the Tower.

Ravens and their cages. According to superstition, when there are no ravens at the Tower of London, the monarchy will fall. So, by law, the Tower of London must have at least 6 ravens at all times. Now it has 8 and their wings are "trimmed."

The inside of the Tower of London looks and feels like a small village.

A memorial plastic pillow to commemorate the spot where two queens had their heads chopped off.

This building houses the crown jewels.

The White Tower. This is what the Tower of London is all about. It's a museum now, and there is a chapel inside.

A chopping block and ax. Apparently there were health and sanitation requirements for beheading (why? the world may never know), and a block could only be used once. However, this one was used twice and the executioner got in trouble and the Tower of London got to keep the block and put it in a museum.

Giant armor and baby armor. The giant armor was made for a 6ft 9in man who apparently did not exist, and the baby armor is made for "too perfect" of a body, so these were apparently just examples of an armor-maker's work.

All in all, it was a great day, and I really lucked out with timing. I arrived just in time to see the cannon ceremony and then get a Beefeaters tour. And I walked into the White Tower just in time for one of the 3 tours they give during the day. It was very informative.

One thing I thought was funny: The Tower of London has been used for almost paradoxical purposes -- to imprison criminals and to protect royals. I guess its really good for keeping some people in and other people out. The Tower has had so much history occur within its walls -- from beheadings, to marriages, to baptisms, to torture, etc. Crazy. It's definitely a cool place.