21/06/10 - I got to cover another event today for AP and it was about how the London 2012 Organising Committee announced it's theme for the Open Weekend at the end of July. It marks the count down until the actual Olympics with different events and challenges all over the country for people to participate in. They partnered with Parkour UK, a group that is hard to explain. I'd suggest going to this website to get an idea. I got to talk to the chair of LOCOG and an executive from BP. Pretty intimidating, but it was cool none the less. Before the event even began though, I started talking to some of the press officers that were working for LOCOG. Then, it came to me. I could totally do that. In fact, I want to do that. I would describe the moment like an epiphany. It's not a feeling that I could describe. The sensation is pretty crazy, but after experiencing it, I felt terrified. I know nothing about public relations. Lets just say that my head was reeling with questions to throw at my roommates when I met up with them later in the day. After rushing back from the event, I wrote up my notes and basically had to leave for class. We were meeting at VML, an advertising agency and then were going to go to The Bush House where BBC is. Considering my "epiphany" I was excited to see some strategic communications (which is the major that incorporates public relations in the journalism school) in action. I was mesmerized, mostly by the free gifts, but also the cool factor that the office had. It was a very hip place. I was looking forward to the BBC though, because I had seen one newsroom before, and considering the fact that I just started thinking about switching, I looked at it as a way to reinstate the feeling that broadcast was for me. The tour was disappointing though unfortunately. I learned a lot about being a correspondent in countries that don't have protection for journalists, but I saw no newsroom action, something that I was looking for.
22/06/10 - I didn't go to work today. No, I didn't skip. I didn't lie and say I was sick. I asked for it off. Why? Why a Tuesday? Because it's Wimbledon. One of the first days of Wimbledon. Not only did I get to go with Becky and her friend, but we got to experience an event that basically makes England famous during the summer. Everyone in the sporting world, tennis fan or not, knows about Wimbledon. I mean, the Williams sisters have faced each other around four times in the finals at Wimbledon. That's where Nadal beat Federer to become number 1 in the world. Stuff happens at Wimbledon, every year.
Being the tennis guru that I am (just kidding folks, I actually thought before this that it was one of the most boring sports to watch, thus, didn't pay attention at all) I thought that it would only be natural to go. The only natural thing that happened was the sunburn that I got. Unnatural is normal at Wimbledon. I saw serves go more than 120 mph. That's fast when you're feet away from the person serving. On the court just a hop, skip and a jump away was Serena Williams, and then Nadal. No big deal. The strawberries and cream... also unnaturally good. The queue to get tickets, very unnatural. It was like people were trying to get tickets to a huge football (American) game in the States, people camped out. For tennis?! One more thing that was unnatural about Wimbledon that I've seen: John Isner's three day, eleven hour match. It happened the day after I went, but even I can understand the significance of that feat. Unfortunately, he didn't make it past the second round (who would when there was no skin on their toes because of blisters?).
Needless to say, Wimbledon was an awesome thing to experience, especially because I'm pretty sure I won't go back. I've experienced it. I came, I queued, and I conquered.
23/06/10 - It was painful to go to work today. And it was all because of what happened at Wimbledon. Literally, I blame it on that. I couldn't sleep because I got burnt so badly. It was a burn on top of a healing burn, which was on top of another healing burn. I'm going to be peeling for weeks. It hurt to bend my elbows to work on the computer! Why??? But, I suffered through with the knowledge that later tonight, I'm going to the musical: Les Miserables with my flatmates. What also kept me going was the USA game versus Algeria. At the time, the people working in the department were British, therefore, we watched the England game on the two big screen TV's in the office. Not fair! So, I was shunned to my computer that has no sound, watching it live, but it was really choppy. I was giving my co-workers my own commentary, and I'm pretty sure they thought I was ridiculous. If you've seen me at soccer matches, you'd know why. When Landon Donovan finally scored in the 92nd minute, I literally jumped out of my seat and yelled "YES!!!!" Simultaneous to my scream, my co-workers grabbed their heads and said "NOOOO!" England won, but because the US won, we won the group and they had to face Germany. I then preceeded to do a happy dance and they watched the replay :) That was the highlight of my internship, so I'll move on to later in the day.
I was meeting up with my flatmates in Piccadilly Circus. Why of all places we decided to meet up there is beyond me. To put it into perspective, it's basically the Times Square of London, but a circle, so it doesn't end. But, we found each other, and we headed to get drinks and so I could get changed before the show.
Les Mis is my favorite musical, hands down. I've probably seen it a ton of times (none on Broadway unfortunately, but now I basically have to) and have loved every second of it. What was especially exciting about this performance though was a special guest is playing Marius. Yes, that's right, the Jo-Bros have infiltrated the musical stage. Actually, Nick Jonas, who was playing Marius, started his career play Gavroche on Broadway. I was nervous, if anyone has heard the Jonas Brothers and Les Mis, you'd know why. But I was amazed. He was a little too quiet, but it fit his role. And he was just a really good singer, so props to you tween pop sensation.
I just love that musical so much, and it didn't disappoint. It's definitely up there on my list of highlights of the trip, mainly because that musical is my all time favorite.
24/06/10 - I had another event to go to today, this was a round table with Mark Cavendish. "Cav" as the Brits call him is arguably the best sprinter in cycling. He talked about the very big crash in the Tour de Suisse that people blame on him to what he's looking at for the Tour de France in a few weeks. It was cool being so close to an athlete of that caliber, and I got a great breakfast out of it as well. When I got back to work, I whipped up a story and headed to the Churchill War Rooms for class. I love WWII history, so this was a huge thing, especially because the British love Churchill and WWII is arguably the turning point for British power in the world. But they put their love for Churchill is a huge. I've never seen so much pride put into one person. We have a couple of big heroes: Lincoln, FDR, JFK, etc. They put all of their stake into Churchill. It's a little over kill, but still cool to see his entire life (and death, they showed a video of his funeral) and his contributions to the war effort.
25/06/10 - Because I went to Wimbledon on Tuesday, I offered to work on Friday, my usual day off. It'd definitely a different atmosphere on Fridays. It's very relaxed (I didn't think that was possible) but everyone's tired from the week, so there isn't a lot of chit-chat. One thing that they do have on Fridays that I never knew about (and it's a good thing that I don't normally work on Fridays) is "treats." Someone, probably a gnome of some sort, brings in a sorts of goodies to eat. I had a delicious cookie, and it was a great afternoon pick-me-up.
26/06/10 - In preparation for USA's game against Ghana, Meg and I went to Hyde Park. We walked by the Serpentine and spontaneously, we decided to go paddle-boating for an hour. It was really funny watching the people struggle with row boats. And we're pretty sure we saw a naked man laying out by the lap swim area. As Meg said, you'll never be bored at Hyde Park.
Sports Cafe was our destination for the game because we would be surrounded by fellow Americans. Wearing our American flag as my scarf, we headed about two and a half hours early to make sure we got a table. Thank goodness we did, because a lot of people were depending on us for getting a table.
We all know how the game ended up going, but the atmosphere at Sports Cafe was cool to experience, even though we lost. I was extremely angry (Meg thought I was going to punch someone, or her because she was sitting next to me) but looking back it was fun to see among fellow fans.
Because of the result, I was extremely emotionally spent and was not in the mood to stay out longer. I had a lot of emotion that I needed to let out, so I contemplated a run, but it was really late, so I decided against it. I'm just glad that we got as far and I think it was a great team that took us there.
'Til next week.
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