Business journalism isn't our cup of journalism tea, so we were skeptical about this week's field trip to the Bloomberg London offices.
The moment we entered the lobby (early for the first time!), that started to change. I managed to snipe this pic before being warned about the no-photo policy. The lobby had swanky seating, sweet lights, and free magazines. Sure, it was Bloomberg Business Week, but we always appreciate free magazines.
After a short ride to Kings Cross station (unfortunately, no Platform 9 3/4 yet), the London Crew landed at The Guardian. The Guardian is a broadsheet national newspaper considered center left. Their website was named Website of the Year at the Online Media Awards 2012 and their “Three Little Pigs” advert won a Cannes Lions 2012 award. The Observer is the Sunday edition of the newspaper.
There are many preconceptions of British people: the stiff upper lip, the crazed football fans, the tea drinkers and prim and proper posh gents. And the whole gorgeous Mr. Darcy thing.
I'll agree with some of those labels, disagree with some, but honestly the dreamed-up romantic London that has been brewing in my mind since I was little simply does not exist. There isn't a perfect nirvana across the pond. BUT THANK GOD FOR IT. London and the British are gritty, edgy, comical, sharp, and just plain cool. Sometimes it's disgusting. Sometimes it's wicked. (As in the british slang use of the term. Think Ron from Harry Potter saying it.) Let me explain:
1. A lot of British men do not clip their nails. This was revealed to me by a Norwegian friend at my workplace, but I had noticed it beforehand. It's gross and makes no sense. Dear god, am I missing metrosexual America?
2. In general, they don't rinse the suds when they are cleaning dishes. They leave a sudsy plate to dry on the rack. WHY??
3. They are hilarious. Everyone knows about the original British office, Ricky Gervais, the Monty Python troupe, etc. (At least to me. Shelby can't see the brilliance of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. "There are some who call me............. Tim.") Their adverts are hilarious and their commercials make me laugh more than an American comedy. An excerpt of my absolute favorite one can be seen below. Have yet to find the full version.
4. They curse-- a lot. And at work. But somehow when they say it, the words sound musical. It rolls of the tongue in a pleasant way. Those accents... I swear it could save them in a murder trial in the US. They could be like, "yeah, I bloody did it." You're free to go.
As of today, I've been a Londoner for a week. This is my first post because of reasons known to most of you. I'm a procrastinator! Lucky for my future employers and the rest of mankind I've been forced into punctuality. Thanks to London's long commutes and my on-time flatmates/friends I now arrive early (except for the time we ran through the streets to catch the tour bus with seconds to spare and that other time we ran to CAPA and interrupted our speaker). Well, that's no surprise to my readers but on a more serious note, I love it here! I could see myself blending in with the Brits one day. Of course, I've been fed bits of British culture by my second family, the Gray's, ever since I can remember, making me a little more prepared than I thought for the shock of it all. I already knew how to use a kettle and I can actually understand the accent here!
So, let's recap the past week and I'll explain. But before I do, here's a quick shout out to the best parents in the world for handing me anything and everything I've ever wanted in life, including this once in a lifetime experience! I am beyond blessed. Much love to the fam back home.
The crew is home safe from a fun night at KOKO, just down the road. (Yes, this club sounds like a Stefon creation. Read more about it here.) Twas a blast being introduced to some Brit bands (more on that from Shelby later). Reality that we are in London sunk in tonight! Here's a taste of what our ears are ringing from.
Where I was slowly eating breakfast and chillin this
morning, watching some British morning telly.
Since I don't count our first day in London our ACTUAL first day (because we were jet lagged, cranky, tired as hell and hating our lives) today was a beautiful first day.
I'll give you an abridged version of our day. We woke up at a semi-respectable time (10:30) and went for breakfast. We had only bought bread, peanut butter and jelly and some fruit last night at Sainsbury's (an awesome British grocery store we live across from) so we all ate that. Apparently a group was meeting in the lobby of our building to go to the CAPA headquarters at 11:30, but we were busy leisurely eating food since our bodies are still out of wack.
We rushed down at 11:30 to find everyone gone. So we had to get to CAPA in Kensington from Camden. We had never been on the tube before, forgot our Oyster cards, and didn't know the exact address. Long story short we pretty much rocked it. Apparently we took a roundabout way to get there, but we got there, only 30 minutes late.
Welcome to our blog! We're thrilled to be crossing the pond with the Missouri School of Journalism and CAPA International this semester. We have the incredible opportunity to intern in our various fields journalism (Magazine Design, Magazine Writing & Strategic Communication) at a British business. As flatmates & friends, we will be blogging about our adventures. Stay tuned for documentation of our living & learning in London!
