Adventures In Europe

MY TIME ABROAD

Monday, February 27, 2006

Good News!

I am no longer internshipless. I will be starting my placement at Outline Productions on Wednesday. The place is really chill and it looks like I will be jumping in at just the right time. They want me to tune and tweak my Avid skills and help out on some pretty big projects for the BBC and ITV. The place is small, but busy and everyone is pretty much under 30. I can wear basically whatever I want, so it's jeans all the way. The place seems to be a little like Cramer, which is really good because I loved it there. I'm really excited to get things going, but I'm not too excited about long days with no pay :( It'll be worth it in the end though. You can checkout Outline's website

In other happy news, my mom informed me that I made a lot of money for a college student this past year and that I am getting a pretty penny back. I am hoping to take the money and use it for my Italy-Paris excursion after the program.

So Morocco....

Casablanca was ghetto and I wouldn't recommend going there. Marrakesh on the other hand was absolutely gorgeous. The city is framed by the Atlas Mountains and it is really a sight to see. Our hotel was really nice and we enjoyed walking all around the city. It's a great blend of old and new culture mixed together. I would have taken more pictures, but there are just things that you really shouldn't take pictures of in respect of the countries cultural background. The weather was great, I was in flops and I even got a little burn on my face and chest, which is turning into a nice shade of brown. I like having a little color, it makes my hair look blonder. I had the best orange juice in Marrakesh because they literally go and pick the oranges off the tree and squeeze them into a cup. I bought some really cool things (for myself and others) and I wrote some sweet postcards and then realized that I wrote over the space to put the stamps so I have to send them off in envelopes from London. I'm really glad that I made the trek to Morocco, because now I've been to 3 continents, a real world traveler. Now I've just got to get a few more European countries under my belt.

Cheers!

posted @ 7:56 PM Saturday, February 25, 2006

Morocco was awesome! It is definitely something that I will never forget. I'll write all about it later, but now I am tired and I need to get everything organized. Here is a picture of me and Samia on some camels.

posted @ 11:33 PM Saturday, February 18, 2006

MOROCCO HERE I COME!

My last final was yesterday and it went pretty well. My hand hurt for a while after though, 2 hours of writing will do that do you. I will be interviewing with Outline Productions when I get back from Africa. It should be good, the company is interested in me doing some editing work on Avid as well as some production things since I have some experience. Using Avid will be cool, because I really like it, and I think I'm pretty good at it. Even if they don't use anything I edit, just being able to learn it more and get some tips will be great. Hopefully everything will work out.

I'm a little skeptical of the class that I am taking next semester. It's a British film class and well I really don't know anything about film. Yes I know I'll learn something (that's what classes are for) but there are all these pretentious Film kids from Emerson here who are sure to go off on rants about this and that about a film. I know what I like and what I don't like. The good thing is that the class is with one of the professors I've already had and he seems to really like me (but we'll see once I get grades back).

After break it's only 8 more weeks in London. There are still so many places that I want to go. It looks like it's going to be Poland, somewhere in Germany and Prague that'll happen after the break. And then when the program is over it's going to be Paris and Italy with the monkey. I guess I can settle for that much traveling in a semester (although I would definitely love to do more).

Cheers!

posted @ 10:21 AM Wednesday, February 15, 2006

One paper and one final down, one paper and one final to go.

I'm halfway over the hump and now I've reached the point where its hard to get over the rest of it. My mind is set on going to Morocco, so I am struggling through this last paper. It really sucks that most of the kids here just need to get a passing grade because they don't go to BU - I on the other hand desperately need to boost my GPA up. My grades here are basically based on one paper and a final, so I have no idea where I stand.

Bad news, today I learned that the place I was supposed to intern already has too many interns, so at the moment I am intern-less :( I've got the guy working overtime trying to find me something good before I head off to another continent. Hopefully I'll hear something before Friday. So today in my sadness about the internship and my joy over having finished one class I went shopping. I bought two t-shirts and then I stopped myself.

On Friday its girls night. We're celebrating Jen's birthday a little early (because she just can't wait to be 21 - not that it matters here in London). We're going to TGI Fridays to get JUMBO Margaritas and to make a big deal out of her being 21. We might have to explain to people why it's such a big deal, but it will be a conversation starter. After the Friday's dinner we are heading over to where all the rich British boys hang out. We've heard that Prince Harry is even in attendance sometimes. Good times.

The search for the apartment in Boston has begun for me and Jen. That shit is expensive, but I am confident that we will find a good deal. We found this really amazing price for a Dexter Park apartment (now for people who are acquainted with BU they know that this is a swanky place). We also found this awesome place on Corey Street with granite countertops and a pool. It's a little far away from campus, but for the price and the amenities it seems like a good deal.

Cheers!

posted @ 10:58 PM Sunday, February 12, 2006

So we didn't get to Fabric the other night. Well let me clarify that, we made it to Fabric, but then the people wanted us to wait in line to get in and well I don't wait in lines so we decided to go to the old standby and head to WalkAbout. The night was good, it was a nice change of pace. Even though I was excited to see how this Fabric place was I was kind of relieved that I didn't have to pay the 10 pound cover.

Because last night was such a late night, I slept in until 2 in the afternoon and then plopped my ass down on the couch with my blanket and my monkey and watched TV all day. Along with Jen and Anais, I watched 2 rugby games, the Olympics, Dancing With the Stars, more Olympics and then I decided to attempt to work on my papers. I actually really like rugby, it’s quite interesting. I'm still a little uncertain about the penalties, but I like the way that the game constantly moves. There was a little mogul free skiing, luge and pairs figure skating going on at the Olympics so that was cool to watch. The BBC's coverage of the Olympics is similar yet not as good as NBC's back home. The BBC has less human interest stories and they seem to only highlight some areas of certain competitions.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me to get everything done, or close to it. I think that I am going to head over to the library so I won't be so distracted and I can actually get something done.

Cheers!

posted @ 12:37 AM Friday, February 10, 2006

There it is in all its glory, the Silly Walk. I can't wait until it gets a little warmer so I can go and recreate the walk out and about in London. Tonight me and the girls are heading out to Fabric. It's this really big club here in London, with 4 different floors of music. Even though I'm not much of a club person this should be a good time. I've been working on my papers so I deserve some time out.

Cheers!

posted @ 6:43 PM Thursday, February 09, 2006

The past two nights me and the girls hit the local pub and lived it up like real Londoners. The place is called The Devonshire Arms and its right down the street. It's a really cool place, good atmosphere and cheap drinks.

Yesterday I had a field trip with one of my classes. We visited the south bank and saw some places where they have shot various movies. It was pretty cool. After that I swung into the Tate Modern for a brief moment and realized that I can be a modern artist. Granted the paintings and sculptures were interesting and sometimes pretty, I don't know how I feel about these people charging millions of dollars for black canvases with a red dot in them. For the most part things were just weird. There was this whole exhibit that was just white Styrofoam boxes all stacked up in this one room. Odd, that's all I have to say about it. I mean I know there is probably this whole explanation, like it's the post-modern interpretation of some teenagers angst over losing his girlfriend or something, but I don't really care, it seemed more like a waste of space than art.

I really miss listening to the radio back home and learning about new music. It's a good thing I came over with a full loaded ipod. I mean it's not like I actually like half of the new music that is coming out these days, but every once and awhile something good comes on the radio and I want to download it. BU is so talented that they have blocked everyone's downloading programs over here. And I don't like the songs enough to pay 99 cents on itunes for them.

I have no class today or tomorrow so it's hardcore working on my paper time. I'm writing one of mine on British comedy (mostly Monty Python and Little Britain) and their association with patriotism in Britain. My other paper is just a comparison of this one book we read to some handouts, so that shouldn't be to bad. Finals next week and then SPRING BREAK!

Cheers!

posted @ 12:39 PM Monday, February 06, 2006

Last night I participated in the All American spectator sport of watching the Super Bowl. Yes, that's right one of the terrestrial channels (itv) here in London broadcast the Super Bowl. It was quite an experience.

Before I knew that the Super Bowl was going to be on TV I decided that I was going to buy snacks anyways because it was Super Bowl Sunday regardless if I was in London or not. So I got some chips and dip and Samia bought some stuff for Nachos. We ate most of them around 8PM our time, when we learned that the Super Bowl was going to be broadcast here at 11:15 PM. I thought, damn this is great, I can watch a little of the game and most importantly see the Stones at half time. Well let me tell you it was something else. Itv was taking the live feed of the game from the States, but the commercial formats are all different over here, so when American tv would go to commercials we would be entertained with a quick commentary from some British girl or guy who had absolutely no knowledge about American football. Occasionally there was a minor NFL has been who would try and explain something. This one guy was saying how most American watch the Super Bowl not so much for the game, but for the commercials. The girl who was interviewing him was all confused, she was like well why would they do that?

Sadly, the audio was all messed up for the Stones performance, but I made the most out of it. I really liked the stage, the shape of it reminded me of the stage that U2 uses. The songs choice was good, predictable but good. I was reading on Boston.com today that: During "Start Me Up," the line "you make a dead man come" was cut short. A barnyard reference to "cocks" in the new song "Rough Justice" also mysteriously disappeared. Censorship at its worst. Nothing was bleeped out here in London, because they don't believe in censorship over here. They are firm believers that if you don't like something you should turn it off.

This is the last week of classes, then we have time to work on papers and projects and study for our final exams. I've got a little start on some of the things so I am hoping to use some of the free time to plan a few weekend trips. I've got to get to Germany, Poland and it looks like Prague for Easter break. And maybe Vienna if it looks like I can financially do it, because it just seems like a cool place to go. I've also go to start planning my traveling to Paris and Italy after the program with Jon. So much to do and so little time. I'll manage to get everything done.

Cheers!

posted @ 9:48 PM Sunday, February 05, 2006

It's very weird that it's SuperBowl Sunday and the Patriots aren't in it, and I'm not going to see any of it. It kind of sucks because the half time show is the Stones this year, something I'd really like to see. (Sorry but the safe choice of Paul McCartney last year just didn't do it for me.) I'm hoping that I'll be able to at least get a few clips off of the internet of their performance. I think that I might go to the grocery store and get some official SuperBowl snacks anyways, just to make it feel more like home. I think that I'll be rooting for Seattle, not really sure why, but I will be.

So yesterday I went to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. Stonehenge was cool, but what made it even cooler was the mockumentary type thing I had going. Of course I brought the video camera with me and well I decided to have some fun this time. Our tour guide was going on about pre-historic man moving all the rocks there from Wales, but I thought I could come up with a better story. And so I did. I mean it seems obvious to me that the Woolly Mammoth was involved with the creation of Stonehenge. I mean how else did they get those heavy rocks up the hill and placed on top of one another. If everyone else can have a theory then so can I. I also decided that the place was probably not created as some kind of religious center, but really as one of the earliest disco techs. Its distinctive rounded shape screams dance hall, rather than religious altar. In all honesty though how can anyone truly know, how, when and why people built Stonehenge? I understand that they have analyzed the rocks and dug things up near the rocks, but I mean no one was there. I guess my theory just seems to be a lot more fun.

Cheers!

posted @ 12:36 PM Friday, February 03, 2006

So I have begun my research on Morocco. I want to go horseback riding in Marrakesh and visit the marketplaces in Casablanca and a whole lot more.

So there's some news on the internship...I've rejected the offer for the West Park Pictures place, because it seemed like it would be too much research and not nearly enough production, which is what I am really interested in at the moment. So I got the internship people back on it and they've set me up with an interview for Prospect Pictures. It seems more for me. They are one of the top independent production companies in the UK and they have some pretty popular shows. If I were to intern there it seems like a lot of my time would be spent on this live in studio cooking show they do. I know that cooking really isn't my thing, but that's the good thing about it, it'll be totally different. I've worked in live TV before and its so much fun. So, fingers crossed, I hope they like me and want me to intern there.

I signed up for a London Library card today. I have two weeks to write two papers, a group project and study for two finals. It's so weird that I am already getting ready to take finals, it seems like things have just started, but in reality it's already been a month.

So the people here have this weird thing about it being cold. Today the housekeeper was in and she was talking to me about how cold it was outside. So I'm thinking like cold, I mean freezing right...WRONG, it's like 35 degrees outside and these people are complaining. Obviously they have never been to Boston. I mean it doesn't even snow here in London; they have nothing to complain about. And in the entire month that I've been here it's only rained about 4 times. If this is their idea of cold, then sign me up for it.

Cheers!

posted @ 2:43 PM

CONTACT ME

Email ME
Send Me an IM
Skype: Cinderellie5

LINKS

Skype
Europe Pictures
Other Pictures
My Space