Liz, Katherine & Me w/ the London Tower Bridge

Okay call me Negative Nancy, but I found two things I don’t like. Pigeons and PDA: Go away, please? I realize neither of these things is unique to London, but they are everywhere here.

I’ll start with the pigeons. I hate hate hate them. Nothing disturbs the peacefulness of strolling through a quiet borough or the awe of standing in the shadow of the London Bridge like a hoard of dive-bombing pigeons. They are quite possibly the most worthless, ugly, annoying creatures on the planet. Admittedly, my aversion to pigeons goes back to a bad experience in Boston, which involved me standing in the middle of a large crowd of people with a certain something dripping down my forehead. (Even the 100 year-old couple sitting on the bench that could have passed as unconscious managed to see my living-nightmare and laugh at me. And point…ouch.) I’ve been slowly working on confronting my fear and I can proudly say that I no longer shriek out loud when they get too close. However, I still go into Quasimodo mode and duck and cover…it’s really cute.

Onto PDA…public displays of affection. Why is it a good idea to hug each other while walking up the stairs of the tube station when 3.5 million (actual fact…3.5 million use the London tube every day) other people just trying to make it from point A to point B? That seriously happened the other day. It was so awkward. My brother Adam would probably just call me cold-hearted, but it’s just unnecessary. This really doesn’t bother me even half as much as the pigeons, but just wanted to give you all an update.

Okay now for the events of the last few days! Yesterday and today marked our tenth and eleventh days across the pond. I went to my interview for CNBC and it went well. I always feel dumb in orientation-type settings when all I have to say is  okay, great, uh huh, okay, awesome. Yuck. But oh well…I’m excited to actually start working next week. It looks like I’ll go in at 7am on Tuesdays and Thursdays (which means I need to leave 40 Hogarth by 6:10am) and then either Monday or Wednesday morning too. I’m crossing my fingers for Wednesday mornings because that will give me a little more flexibility for weekend trips, but I’m up for anything.

After the interview I relaxed for a little bit and then headed to class from 4-6. We had to ‘reflect’ via prompts from our Missouri professor about our goals and how we will achieve them. It was actually nice because I know I’m going to wake up one day and realize I am only have a few days left. I’m still a little frustrated about having so much class though. They switched the program long after we committed to it, so now we are only working 20 hours a week and in class for 8 hours instead of full time working with one class, like last year. Great Britain changed the work visas so it’s no one’s fault, but I just hate that we are going to be doing all this class work instead of exploring London.

Enough complaining! Since I didn’t have to work today, I let Katherine convince me to go out with her and her flat mates. We just took the tube to Piccadilly Circus with absolutely no destination in mind, other than fun. Luckily, we found it. I think the place was called O’Neils. It was 3 stories and turned out to be a fun night. The first floor was the typical pub scene. I got a Bulmer’s cider, which I love…even if the bartender had to help me with the money because figuring out all the coins is quite a challenge. Up one flight was the Harpo’s-esque bar…then on the third floor we took advantage of live music and a flashy dance floor. It was great. The bad thing about going out here is that I can’t figure out how to do it without staying out until at least 3 or 4 in the morning. That doesn’t translate to a productive next day. Last night it only took us about an hour to navigate the Night Bus and then I skyped with my mom, dad and sister until the sun started rising so my early morning museum plans got …shifted.

All my flatmates except Liz had to work today, so we cleaned and then headed out with Katherine around 3. We got off the tube and crossed the Thames to find the HMS Belfast. A few miles later we found it. It is soo neat! It’s a big warship from the WWII era. This year is the 65th anniversary of D-Day so it was humbling to see a ship that was at the beaches of Normandy and one of the first to fire on the German forces. There just happened to be a huuuge yacht tied up to the ship that provided a very modern contrast to the Belfast. We made friends with a one of the crewmembers and he said it belonged to a Mexican millionaire who owns his own diamond mines. Wow. I kept thinking, ‘I wonder which boat Dad would be more interested in…’ Obvious. It was so big that the Tower Bridge opened up for it to get through on its way to Bermuda then Cayman and Miami, according to our crewman friend. What a life.

Time to go pack for Paris tomorrow. In 24 hours I will be there. I’m so excited to see Paris in the summer. Last time I went it was the beginning of January and beautiful, of course but I think summer Paris will be incredible. If you have suggestions please let me know!

Going to do a little blogging before early bedtime. Tomorrow is my interview with CNBC! I’m so excited. This morning I took the tube to figure out exactly how to get there…and it took me an hour. Whoa. I went a different way home though and it only took 45 minutes. I really can’t complain because I get off at the St. Paul’s Cathedral station, so I get to walk by it every time I go to work and it’s absolutely gorgeous. (The church where Princess Di got married…yes, I’m slightly fascinated by her.) CNBC is on the sixth floor of 10 Fleet Place. The building is really neat and state-of-the-art. I can’t wait to work there!

Today was kind of a lazy day but I did walk over to Kensington Gardens to read my Economist and relax a little. I’m a little nervous that the CNBC Europe people will realize that I am far from an expert on business and the global economy and change their mind about letting me hang out with them…cross your fingers for me. Anyway, I found a bench right outside of Kensington Palace and just sat for an hour or so. I got an email from my friend Cody today and she pointed out that I keep mentioning a to-do list…which is funny because I was just about to do it again. My favorite thing about today was just sitting and not once flipping to a bulleted list that is almost always with arms reach. I read my magazine, did some people watching, and even got to journal a bit—without thinking about getting things done.

This afternoon I got a chance to Skype with my Mom and sister Meg for over an hour! I can’t believe how great it is…I can see them and they can see me which makes any homesickness hard to justify. The only thing that would have made it better would be if Kitty, or faithful and creatively named cat of 18 years could have actually heard me yelling her name from 3000 miles away or better yet, my mom from 3 inches away! Anyway, Mom said she got an email from somebody in the school district about me…apparently my TV/Radio teacher from high school, Mrs. Hoch, sent out some links to my KOMU stories to all the teachers! There’s something about the support of small towns that makes me so grateful to call Washington home...of course it takes me being 1/2 way around the world to realize that. Oh, life!

Okay, that’s all for now! Time to shower, which for the first time in my life I actually dread because the thought of our moldy shower curtain rubbing against the right side of my body makes me gag a little. Sorry, that’s probably too much information…

For not taking your clean American shower w/ non-erratic water temperature for granted,

emily.

Natural History Museum

My second post in 1 day! Too much? Maybe... I’ve been home a lot today because I’m soo tired. Naps have been hard for me here. I have a bad case of FOMO (fear of missing out) but I’m going to have to get over it. I’ve been sitting on the couch for a while trying to play with my website but I can’t keep my eyes open. The format of the site is not exactly what I want it to be but I don’t like the other ones any more so I guess I’ll stick with the sunset for now. And for the record, because I’ve gotten a lot of questions, journeys is spelled correctly. I know it seems like it should be –ies but it’s not. Just fyi. But other than that if anybody has thoughts about the website please let me know!

Katherine (she lives in the flat upstairs, we did Summer Welcome together and were roommates on a 2 week trip to Europe sophomore year…I think she’s an “exquisite gem”) and I went to the Natural History Museum this afternoon and it was pretty neat. Lots of animals and fun science stuff to look at but definitely the wrong day to go. It was absolutely packed b/c of the bank holiday and there is minimal air-conditioning…I have to remember that for when my sister Meg comes because she hates being hot.  So I guess crowded buildings will go on the flex list to be bumped up or down based on temperature and humidity level. I've never gone a summer in my life without AC so this will take awhile before it's a new normal.

I think it’s starting to become real that I live here. It’s kinda neat to look back on the past week and see how far my flat mates and I have come in terms of comfort level. Each of us is getting more adventurous and independent…I’m really lucky to be in a flat with such a great group of girls. We all have very distinct personalities and I think we are going to compliment each other very well. (Knock on wood!) : )

Loved this cute little boat at Hyde Park

One of my favorite parts of the Harry Potter books is his adventure with the crazy night bus. Now that I live in London, I can relate. Harry meets a crazy bus driver and eventually flies away on the bus with his trunk in tow. My experience last night pretty much mirrored that…except the Slovakian character we met was definitely not the bus driver and I was more concerned about the well being of my flat mates rather than my personal belongings. Don’t worry Mom…we made it home perfectly fine.

We had a great night out at Walkabout (do I italicize bar names?). It was some kind of Australian bar with live music and the 9 or 10 of us had a blast dancing and singing all the American music. So when the bar closed and they kicked us out we just had to sneak back in to “go to the bathroom” AKA talk to the band. The singer (Damien with an awful afro) let us stay to hang out but after we found out he was 33 we were a little less star-struck which worked out when he kind of ditched us…maybe for his 30 year old friends. So getting home became our new goal which is much more challenging than it sounds. During the day London is accessible to anyone, anytime because of the Tube, but after midnight it’s a whole different story. People are great here though…somehow we managed to find the right bus and the other passengers told us where to get off. Last night that meant we had another mile or so to walk, but we made it! Whew.

Yesterday—after my post and before the events in the above paragraphs—I set off for Hyde Park with Katherine and Liz. We had a great time walking around people watching and hunting for ice cream. It was just like we stepped into a postcard. It’s a 3-day weekend here so there are more people than usually and yesterday’s weather was absolutely perfect. It honestly was couldn’t-ask-for-better perfect. The park is absolutely huge and people just hang out and relax with no intention to accomplish anything. I’m still getting used to that way of life. I so quickly jumped from non-stop KOMU/Columbia life to this other world where people sit to sit…not to catch their breath before the next line on their to-do list. We eventually made our way to Hyde Park Corner. Because it was Sunday, there were about a dozen people standing on boxes or stepladders preaching…just like speaker’s circle on steroids. It was cool but maybe not as cool as I thought. The park was beautiful though and it was nice to get out and walk.

When we got back to the flat we finally booked our plane tickets to ITALY! Yay! I’m so excited. They’re for RyanAir, which I’m a little skeptical about, but it will be an experience…and a relatively cheap one. We are going the weekend of June 12 so if you will be there, let me know.

Okay so back to the days I haven’t blogged about yet…I’ll give you the highlights (lessons learned, sights seen, etc). It’s probably a little boring but it’s more for my benefit to remember months from now.

Wednesday
.Boring orientation in the morning
.Trip-Planning with 10 people=yikes. Costs, logistics, priorities, attitudes…learning experience.
.Forgot my Oyster card: Liz and I cheated our way in and then realized we didn’t have a way out. Bad idea. Fortunately she is the sweetest girl on the planet and got the tube worker to feel bad for us…as in he let us out instead of arresting us. :)

Thursday
.Meeting with Boyana and Alex Ruppenthal (Oh wait, I mean Rueben Stern!): I got CNBC! She said my supervisor is “very picky but he liked you a lot on the phone for some reason”. Back-handed compliment? I let it go…
.Got lost by myself. Maybe one of my top 10 favorites things to do in life.
.Zoo Bar: wow. My charming flatmates found the cutest guys to hang out with all night. Being the lucky girl that I am, I was cornered by 2 equally charming 5’3” Indian men who couldn’t get enough of the thumb dance and maybe the shopping cart? Jealous?!

Friday
.Class: Irish professor with suspenders (a requirement for my future husband)! Reminded us to ‘look-up’ when we walk around. Great tip.
.Covent Gardens: great area. Very young and trendy. We’ve been back already since then!


That’s all for now! I’m going to go to the Natural History Museum. It has an earthquake floor that moves. Can’t wait for that!

London love,

em

2/4 Girls on the most recent Night Bus Adventure

Walked out of Tube and stumbled onto this view. No joke.

Doing a little blogging before I go out to explore on this beautiful London afternoon…

I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything since Monday! Time is so strange here…it’s going too fast. Since I’ve missed a lot of days I’ll just give you a recap of big events of the last week. It’s hard for me to do anything halfway, and this blog is more proof of that. I keep putting it off because I don’t have time to write the way I want to, but if I continue that trend I’ll find myself on the long plane ride home with 3 entries. Yikes.

We’ve had a great week to say the least. I think I’ll start from today and go backward. I just got back home (no longer just ‘the flat’) after church this morning at Westminster Abbey. It’s so humbling to think of the millions of people—famous and ordinary—who have worshiped there. It was also neat for me because the first time I saw the Abbey was in 1997 on TV. My mom, sister and I cried as we watched Princess Diana’s funeral along with a few billion other people.

Yesterday reminded all of us that we aren’t quite over the time change. Nobody woke up until 11! We all got ready and headed out to buy train tickets to PARIS. Yes, I’m spending next weekend in Paris. I’m so excited…the Chunnel will get us there in just 2 ½ hours! After the tickets, the big group split up and 6 of us went to Portobello Road in Notting Hill. Possibly my favorite thing so far! It didn’t seem like much at first, but with every turn around a corner it got better…street vendors with antiques, jewelry, scarves, then came the food. Fresh, colorful (and cheap!) fruit, veggies, hot chorizo sandwiches, seafood, crepes…you name it, it was there. We walked for a few hours wishing we hadn’t eaten for days before so we could try everything.

Toward the end of the road we decided to get on a random bus since our only bus experience was at 2am and not ideal. Since I kind of like being lost, I thought it was great when the double-decker drove away from the city. We got off eventually and took a tube back to familiar Earl’s Court, but it was a fun little tangent on our trip. Back at Flat 3 I finally watched the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy…the fastest 2 hours of my life! Still not sure how I feel about the ending but it was definitely a surprise to me. I won’t spoil it here in case any readers haven’t seen it yet—although I don’t think I have to worry about having many readers other than my faithful fam... :)  Which reminds me, that they are probably asking why I was sitting in my flat instead of out exploring. Don’t worry we went to the pub 50 yards down the street for a beer. I tried Bulmer’s Cider this time. Love it. Had a great time talking too…I think we are all starting to open up and it’s refreshing to just hang out and not be worried about a to-do list.

Okay, I can’t stay inside anymore…I’m going to Hyde Park to see Speaker’s Corner which is like a crazy version of Speaker’s Circle at Mizzou. As Katherine calls it, “Brother Jed 2.0.” I’ll finish the highlights of the week later.

London love!

Emily

P.S. I have great pics for this entry...just creating a little suspense by making you wait... :)

Portobello Market...Unbelievable

So I live in London. As of now I still feel more like a tourist than a resident, and I’m kind of okay with never becoming just one or the other. Today was a great start at mixing the two…we started this morning a little bit less jetlagged but I was (am) still pretty out of it. I couldn’t get out of my bunk bed until 20 minutes until our meeting time. We got on a tour bus and headed off for a morning of sightseeing. It’s now 12:35am (6:35pm Missouri time) and looking back I cannot believe how much ground we’ve covered today. I want to add pictures—and I will as soon as I can figure it out—to chronicle everything just because there’s no way I can remember it all. The cutest British woman name Diana was our tour guide and she was just like Mary Poppins! I was about to say that she had an umbrella and everything but I realized how silly that sounds…only the dense Americans like me don’t have an umbrella handy at all times! Maybe I should have brought the ‘authentic’ Mary Poppins umbrella that my mom and I bought on Broadway over spring break…don’t laugh, we were on some kind of Broadway high.

Anyway, the bus tour was a great first-look at the famous sights of London…we saw St. Paul’s cathedral, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (including demonstration at Parliament Square), Buckingham Palace, No. 10 Downing Street (where Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his family live), the River Thames, and so much more. The bus dropped us off at Piccadilly Circus so we could explore a bit on our own. We grabbed a quick lunch then started wandering! It was great. We walked through China Town and ended up at Trafalgar Square. I’m still not quite used to the rain…one minute it’s sunny and beautiful and then a split second later it’s a heavy drizzle. And sometimes it’s sunny and raining! Oh, London.

Most of the museums are free so we went into the National Gallery just for an hour or so and got a great little taste of the incredible art London has to offer. Van Gogh, Monet, Manet…all in 1 hour! We—my five flat mates and some of the guys on the trip—checked into seeing some shows and it seems like they’re going to be fairly cheap. Billy Elliot is a popular one according the suggestions I’ve gotten via Facebook, so I’m going to make sure I see that one if possible.

After Trafalgar we headed toward Parliament Square and walked past Gordon Brown’s residence again…and before we could cross the road we were stopped by the guards and because he happened to be leaving! So I saw him…I think. Star sighting number 1, check. Once we got to Parliament Adrienne and I took a picture to send to our Poli-Sci professor (yes, the one I have a little crush on). We hoped that maybe he would love it and boost our grade, which might have happened because I was very pleasantly surprised when I checked my grade a few hours ago! Lucky day for us.

After the walking tour we went underground for our first adventure on the Tube! We all got Oyster cards and I think I’ll have the system mastered pretty quickly. On the way home we stopped at Primark…it reminded me of an H&M times 10. People everywhere and great bargains! I got a duvet cover for the questionable comforter that was provided in the flat. I’ll feel much better about sleeping in a clean bed tonight. We also went to Sainsbury’s (the grocery store) and I realized again that I have absolutely no idea how to shop for food. My roommate was probably the only reason I survived last semester—without our teamwork Wal-Mart trips I would have been wondering around feeling out of place just like I did today…and not even because I’m in a foreign country! So I had Ritz crackers for dinner and relaxed for a bit. Then a few of us went out for a little walk around and found a great little pub right around the corner of Hogarth. The strawberry beer I had was just like candy and I have a feeling I’ll be back there quick a few times before summer is over. : )  I love the culture and energy and history of this place (the pub and the city)…

Ok, so I’m going to bed. We’ve got orientation all morning tomorrow and I’m really tired. Loving it here. I got to Skype for the first time tonight and I think that will alleviate any homesickness I might have had. I was practically in the KOMU newsroom via video chat…which proves my theory that no matter how many miles away I get that place will somehow have a hold on me.

Pictures coming soon…

emily

First day in London!! Right now it’s 9:36 am in Missouri and 3:36 pm here. I’ve been up since 6am yesterday morning. Little sleepy. The last week has been absolutely crazy. This time yesterday I was sitting at Chicago O’Hare Airport looking out the window, watching the hum of activity that reminded me of a Lemmings colony. This time last week I was cramming for my American Constitution final which I didn’t do all that well on, but I’m okay with because the professor was the cutest old man alive and I won’t let anything tarnish my memory of the class. I actually wrote in my notebook “I <3 Dr. Casey.”

The last week has been a great one, but not without bittersweet moments. Saying ‘so long’ to the seniors I have long admired is tough—especially when goodbyes are just not my thing. I think I’ve finally just accepted that I am not only bad at them, but the concept kinda makes me sick to my stomach. There just never seems to be the right thing to say to convey what I want and then it ends up a mediocre last memory. I much prefer holding on to the last chance-meeting (hopefully it was a good one) I had with someone and leaving the tearful goodbyes to someone who is better at them.

Anyway, I guess it’s a good thing that I escaped Missouri and all the goodbyes that would have gone with it. Now I’m in my new home (flat) on 40 Hogarth Road. As Adrienne says, it looks like it's straight out of Polly Pocket…and I love it. We are flat 3, which is cramped but cute, even though hauling the too-big bags up 3 flights of stairs was rough to say the least. The plane ride this morning—no wait, last night—was around 8 hours, and it wasn’t too bad. I had some wine with my dinner and slept for a few hours. The study abroad people don’t want us to sleep until tonight so we went over to Imperial College for lunch and a safety orientation. Of course, about 8 of us went out to explore in between lunch and the info session and then got lost. But it was still fun. I’m just trying to fight my eyelids right now. We have a fire drill at 4 and then a pub crawl at 6 (if I have beer right now I think I would pass out almost instantly, but hey I’m still going to try it!). That’s all for now, I’ll post again as soon as possible!

Since my first post last week, I've noticed how my blog's existence seems to creep into my thoughts and conversations, which is very unexpected. It's funny to see the different reactions to my new endeavor...especially how j.school kids react vs. everyone else. My older sister, for example gave a very interesting perspective. She's in her first year of grad school (studying day and night topics that are as far from journalism as you could possibly get) and she's dying to blog, but her worst nightmare would be anyone knowing that she blogs. Make sense? I didn't think so either. I asked her and she gave me this explanation, which had me rolling on the floor laughing...

Meg: I want to have a blog but I don't want you to be able to read it.
Me: Why not?
Meg: Because I want to be brutally honest.

It took me a few seconds to realize that she didn't literally mean me (I hope), but she just wants to be able to anonymously comment without fear of retaliation down the road. Which is valid, but funny because it's highly unlikely that my classmates would ever consider this an issue.

We also chatted about personal websites and how I just bought a domain name, which I can't actually take credit for because CK did everything but supply the credit card. EmilyRau.com now belongs to me for five years for the bargain price of $35. I had no idea that was even possible! Good thing my roommate is a social media queen. :) It won't be published until this fall when I take a class on it, but look forward to seeing all my reporting/anchoring stuff on display...hopefully it will do the trick to find me a job!

I also plan on (if I can figure it out) having a London page, where I can upload all my travel pics and maybe even have another blog that is strictly about London. Who knows...depends on how much time I have. Since the day I signed up for Twitter, it's been a big concern of mine to make sure I am living life, not just dictating it. I doubt that I will ever be a fanatic blogger, but I did take a big step to encourage--for the sake of my family and friends--regular updates. I bought a cute little red notebook that I plan on jotting little notes in during my travels that I can refer back to when I get a minute to blog. So exciting. :)

Okay, I'm off to study. I finished Something Blue yesterday so I don't have that distraction to worry about. I guess I liked the book, but it was a little too perfect for me. Darcy didn't deserve Ethan, or happily-ever-after but she got both. Good for her, I guess but I couldn't stop thinking about how stories like that are the reason so many girls my age are kinda diluted about reality...whoa pessimism. I laughed out loud when my eyes filled with tears, and then frowned with semi-disgust on the same page when the cheese factor went throught the roof. Doesn't happen very often. Anyway, I liked Something Borrowed muuch better.

This is my first official blog posting! Yay! I created this account in October of 2006...my freshman year of college, and here I am a junior--for a few more days. Wow, how time flies.

I've been thinking about reviving my blog efforts for awhile and I'm so excited to actually do it. I have to give credit to Ashley Reynolds, my roommate Cate and my team-coverage friend Christy for the motivation. Ashley made some great points about the importance of online media in her farewell note to KOMU...after 6 years she's moving on to what I'm confident will be great things. Cate (AKA Jen Reeves Junior) has been great the past few months, encouraging my less than tech-savy self to tweet and blog like it's my job...because it could very well be my job someday! Or at least part of it... And finally Christy, because somehow we both decided to do this on the same day so we can track each other's summer adventures in NYC and London.

Anyway, I need to go to sleep pretty soon so I can get to KOMU early tomorrow to work on my grain fraud HFR. It's going to be a great story for BusinessWeek.com and hopefully a nice little series for KOMU-8 News. :) Today I had a revelation that I know I'm in the right field because while on Facebook I was 10 times more interested in Scott Schaefer's Honor Flight pics than I was in someone's status about hypothetical bangs...random, I know.

I'm thinking this blog will focus on my experiences in journalism and how they impact my life and the lives of others. Yesterday I two of my stories aired- the dayturn about a Missouri Senator who crossed the border to Iowa to marry her partner-and then a longer story I've been working on since Easter about Randy Prywitch. He's a 20 year-old filmmaker who is definitely going places! I actually liked both the stories a lot..even though I have a mental list running of all the things I should have done differently. I'm going to try to post a link to both of them.

This one is the story about Senator Jolie Justus (D)
http://www.komu.com/satellite/SatelliteRender/KOMU.com/ba8a4513-c0a8-2f11-0063-9bd94c70b769/1289adf8-80ce-0971-0117-3852f19a9a93

Here's the one about the filmmaker..
http://www.komu.com/satellite/SatelliteRender/KOMU.com/ba8a4513-c0a8-2f11-0063-9bd94c70b769/1403c145-80ce-0971-0089-f33165929ed7

Okay, I'm off to bed! Debating whether it's too late to call my Grandpa and wish him Happy Birthday before he's asleep!