Good Bye London!

Hunter, Blaise, Oliver, Christina and I took a car hire to Heathrow Airport this morning leaving at 7:00am "just to be sure" as Oliver said. We arrived terminal 3 at 7:40am and our NY crew got their bags checked, boarding passes and headed through security all systems go at 8:20 for their 10:30 flight. Blaise and I then took the train (Heathrow Express) to terminal 5, checked his bag, got his boarding pass and he headed to security at 8:50 for his 11:15 flight.  Very sad to see everyone leave but we all are happy and excited to go home with our London memories.

Blaise's Last Entry!

      My experience in London has been truly special. i loved the international culture and integration as well as the work experience. Claranet has been more than accommodating, and gave me a great view of a successful business. I enjoyed everyone I worked with and really got a feel for how the Business world operates. This experience has been fun and will definitely push me in my last year of high school and beyond.

Christina Last Entry!

My second week of work went by quickly. On my last day, I finished up some projects I had been working on, such as typing up a cookbook and working on the Little Dish Twitter page. I had my last lunch in Hyde Park, and finished up the afternoon by boxing coffee mugs in honor of Prince George's 1st birthday coming up. I had a wonderful experience at Little Dish, and am going to miss London very much!

Oliver Last Entry!

My last day of work was the best. I had to go to a restaurant and talk to people who worked there to learn a little about how the food industry works in London. Then I was allowed to leave at 1 pm and the best part is I never had to go to the office. Overall, my experience in London was great. I learned a lot about the workplace and I am very glad I took the opportunity to travel and live in the UK. :)

Thursday July 3rd

Teresa and I visited Hunter and Stanton McLean at J.P.Morgan this morning to thank him for hosting an intern. Hunter and Stanton both looked "smart" in their business attire and we had to tear them away from the deals they were making to say hello. Hunter worked hard this internship leaving the house about two hours before anyone else each morning.


We then stopped by Little Dish and thanked Hillary for looking after Christina. Christina was hard at work as seen below.



Michel Robert is our contact at Claranet but his busy scheduled precluded us from meeting. Many thanks to him for hosting Blaise.

And lasty, Ashton Crosby (an Avon Old Farms alum) set up Oliver for his internship with CityPantry down in the Brixton Market. CityPantry is a new company not even one year old yet! Thanks to Stuart Sunderland the founder and good luck with the company!


After "work" we dined on pasta with pesto sauce, green salad, fresh fruit and bangors. We then tubed down to see the show Jersey Boys while Hunter headed to the Ambassador's house for the 4th of July Party. I have not gotten the scoop from Hunter yet but Oliver, Christina and Blaise all enjoyed the show. Here some clips of the music at this site: www.jerseyboyslondon.com/music.asp

Wimbledon!

After work today Oliver, Christina and Blaise headed southwest to Wimbledon to queue up for tickets to the Lawn and Tennis Championships. Hunter came straight home after work and then went out to South Kensington to meet up with his parents for dinner. Sure enough the Wimbledon queue proved fruitful and tickets were had by all. Oliver, Christina and Blaise walked the hallowed grounds, saw Kate Middleton and of course ate strawberries but without the cream!

Tomorrow night Hunter will accompany his parents to the US Embassy for the annual Embassy 4th of July party. The rest of us head out to the Piccadilly Theater to see "Jersey Boys."  All the way to London and that is the show we picked!

Hunter Post Three

Today, I spent the morning shadowing an analyst from a different department and learned a lot about entry level positions in finance. Then, I was taken down to the trading floor and walked around with another intern. We finished the day by attending a few business meetings and starting another financial model for a prospective investor. This work experience has been really interesting and I have enjoyed it so far.

Oliver Post Three

Today we went to Stonehenge. The three hour ride there, due to traffic, was all worth it when we arrived to the site. We walked around the ancient stones for about an hour before heading back to London. It was very cool to see such a famous and well-known historic site in person. It was a great experience that all of us enjoyed.

Christina Post Three

It was so nice to finally sleep in this weekend. Saturday was the first time in our two weeks here that it rained during the day. Our plan was to go to Wimbledon, but instead Oliver, Blaise and I went to see a movie which took up most of our day. Today, we went to see Stonehenge. It was much cooler than we all expected, and definitely worth the long bus ride out there. I am looking forward to another week of work!

Weekend

Hunter left work early Friday afternoon to fly from London Southend Airport to Rennes France to be with his parents this weekend. We look forward to hearing his stories upon his return.  Blaise, Oliver and Christina ventured out on their own Friday night to Leicester Square where they had a lovely Chinese dinner and then walked around returning home at around 11pm. It was a good night out.

Our weekend plan consisted of... well the first order of priority was the sleep in for the teenagers!!! then breakfast out and proceed to the queue at Wimbledon for the five o'clock entry. Sure enough after sunny weather all week this was the first day of rain, yes we have been very fortunate, so plans were modified. The students went out to breakfast along and then to a movie (22 Jump Street) at the O2 center on Finchley Road. Teresa and Ed bused and tubed down to Oxford Circus for some shopping at Libertys (clearly not Ed's idea). As we came out of the tube station we were immediately delighted to see a parade passing down Oxford Street and turning down Regent Street so stopped to enjoy the show. This was our first Gay Pride parade.

Today, Sunday we are meeting a tour bus near Victoria station to go to Stonehenge. This was very high on our list of items of interest so we are all glad the sun is again shining for this adventure. More when we return.

Blaise Post Three

       After a week of work at Claranet I have learned so much. I have been given the privilege to see all the different departments throughout the two weeks. This week I have been shadowing people in human resources, products department, solution architects, and marketing. I have learned a lot about the interaction between different departments and the way business is conducted. I am very tired but excited for the remaining week at work.

Christina Post Two

I spent the entire day today outside of the office, travelling to five different grocery stores around London. At each store, I checked to see which Little Dish meals they had in stock, and handed out coupons to customers purchasing Little Dish products. The whole trip took around five hours, and I got lost at least three times throughout the day. Luckily, I was with another intern, and once we got back to the office at around 4, we were allowed to leave. It was great being able to explore London a little more today rather than sit at a desk, and I am looking forward to starting a new project next week.

Hunter Post Two.

I started my day this morning at 6:00 a.m. and made my way to the office. Once I arrived, I continued working on the model with excel and then sat in on two business meetings. Following the meetings, I took the tube with some other coworkers to a banker's meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel by Hyde Park. There, I listened to a CEO's sales pitch to a room full of potential investors. Finally, I headed back to the office and finished the day by reading about bond and loan trading.

Oliver Post Two.

Today I arrived at the office at 10 am. I began to reorganize a list of 800 prospective vendors which took a few hours to complete. After lunch I was tasked with finding the e-mail addresses for a few vendors which City Pantry did not have in their database. The end of the day was capped off with a quick meeting in which everyone tossed in a few ideas for the future of the company and ideas they have for additions to the new website.

Blaise Post Two.

My second day of work was long but enjoyable. Today I got the pleasure to work with the product team. The product department is the creative and brainstorming section of Claranet. They come up with ideas and send it through the different departments to have the idea become a reality. I worked on researching their newest product and finding persuasive statistics and graphs to add strength to the idea's importance.

Oliver Day One!

Today I started my first day at City Pantry, a unique catering business located south of the center of London. The office itself is located in Brixton Market, a diverse collection of international cuisines and vendors that has a rather distinct smell due to the hundreds of dead fish for sale on the street. The company is located above one of these fish markets allowing the pungent odor of rotting fish carcasses to waft throughout the one room-office throughout the day. However, once I started working the smell disappeared as I was caught up in the busy life of entrepreneurial workplace. All 8 people at the company (yes, this is the entire workforce, including myself), are located around one wooden table. At first, I was given readings to learn about the company and familiarize myself with the art of street vendor catering. Through these readings I learned that the goal of the company is to serve as a platform for food vendors in London. City Pantry provides customers for the vendors, as well as organizing food service for events in the London area. The company seeks to diversify lunch options for workplaces by organizing menus designed by the vendors themselves. After lunch, I was given an excel sheet that listed all of their vendors that work with City Pantry and had to organize the 800 vendor list into interested, not interested, or not contacted. The task was rather mundane, but it was rewarding to finish my first real job in a workplace. I am looking forward to continue working with City Pantry for the next two weeks while in London and hope to learn the many skills necessary for success in the workplace.

Hunter Day One!

The first day of my internship at JP Morgan was an eventful one as I began my commute at 6:00 this morning. I took the tube to Canary Wharf and met up with Stanton McLean who led me through a couple of business meetings. Throughout the rest of the day I was given packets of information that covered the basics of their sales and trading team. While reading I was able to shadow an analyst who taught me how to create a simple cash flow analysis model using excel. He then began to teach me how to evaluate a company using financial reports, which I will continue working on tomorrow. Today was a great experience and I am very happy with how it turned out.

Blaise Day One!

       Today was my first day working at Claranet. I was first introduced to the HR department where I was given a power point about the company. The presentation was about all the different departments within the company. Later in the day I met Chris Parker who specializes in the technology aspect of the company. He gave me a brief description of the product that the company sells. I am not great with technology and this description was mind blowing; the technology involved is very advanced and confusing. Finally I met with the HR department again to be part of a conference call. Overall it was an exciting first day of work.

Christina Day One!

My first day at Little Dish started off slow in the morning, as I was given tasks such as finding new office chairs and checking prices for their products. After a relaxing lunch in Hyde Park, I made it back just in time for the weekly test tasting of the baby foods. Four other workers and I tasted the Fruity Lamb Tagine, Fish Pie, Lamb Hotpot and Pork and Apple bites (not as bad as they sound, but still pretty bad). After the tasting, I was given the lovely task of washing all the plates of baby food. Later, I worked on several other projects until my work day ended at 5. Overall a good first day and very nice people at Little Dish.

Gutted!

USA 2 Portugal 2

We celebrated when Jermaine Jones tied the game in the 64th minute and were ecstatic in the 81st minute when Clint Dempsey put USA ahead. Put with 25 seconds, yes second left in the five minutes of extra time, we were "gutted" when Portugal tied the game!

Sunday June 22, 2014

Tomorrow the internships begin so the students asked to "please can we sleep in?!!" So Teresa and Ed went to 9:00 mass at Sacred Heart Church Kilburn alone. The Newsletter says there are 58 countries and 38 languages represented in the parish, pretty international place.

At 11 am we sounded reveille and quickly headed to St. John's Wood for the Classic and Supercar Pageant. The high street was blocked and over 50 amazing cars: Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Jaguar, Maserati, Bentley, RR, Ford GT40, Shelby GT 500, Mercedes, etc etc were on display. Blaise, Oliver, Christina and Hunter enjoyed a breakfast at a small cafe, Maison Blanc, while Teresa shopped at Boots and Ed was too excited with the cars to eat.

After breakfast and the pageant we headed north toward the Chilterns part of the "green belt" just outside of the M25 ring road. We arrived at Chorleywood (metropolitan tube line) walked down Shire Lane to the bridle path through an ancient woods, and then the footpath that leads to Roughwood Farm. Janice and Martin Hext met us with their dog Archie in the forest before we could get totally lost. We then walked through a field of hay, cut that morning, through a field with the bull, cows and calves, another field this one with sheep and lambs, and then into the new barns area. We then proceeded through the 400 year old barn into the old paddock area.

At the Hext's we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with conversation, snacks, burgers, sausage and entertained ourselves with a bit of table tennis, tadpole catching in the pond, but undoubtedly the highlight was chasing the pigeons out of the rafters of the barn. Martin had a fish net attached to a very long pole and we scared the pigeons into flight and tried to catch then in the net if they would not leave the barn. We only caught one (well done Blaise) but made a sufficient amount of noise and chaos that the rest flew out on their own accord. After that a a proper pudding of strawberries, lemon cake and cream was served we departed for home arriving at 8:30pm.

Tonight some clothes ironing  (Christina), suit preparation (Hunter), USA soccer anticipation ( Oliver, Blaise, Ed).

Cheers for now.

Saturday June 21, 2014

The weekend is a day of rest so we all slept in, after breakfast we finally left the house at 11:30 am. We Jubilee tube lined down to Baker Street, then Bakerloo line to Paddington Station (above). From Paddington we took the Rail line to Windsor. A stroll through Windsor and a "lovely" lunch at Mediterranean restaurant named Castello. The restaurant, on a quaint cobbled street, is believed to be the second oldest building in Windsor dating back to 1423!!!

  

Windsor Castle is amazing, the State Apartments are quite grand. The main table in the dining room  is 55.5 meters long and 9 meters wide seating up to 160 people (below). The receiving rooms, St. George's Chapel, the grounds it is all amazing. Need I say more?

After the castle we strolled over to Great Windsor park and sat under a tree next to the Long Walk. The walk is a "dead-straight" 2.64 miles long path lined with chestnut trees. Blaise and Hunter juggled their soccer ball that they got at Piccadilly Circus. As we rested a group of horse drawn carriages processed up the walk. It was typical Royal Windsor!

We trained back to Paddington Station and the Students headed "home" while Teresa and Ed went for a walk around Regents park. Blaise, Hunter, Oliver and Christina shower and then headed out alone for dinner. They ended up at Leicester Square (with thousand of others as well) and found a nice restaurant for dinner. They then enjoyed the buzz of the big city before returning home at 11 pm.

Friday June 20, 2014

Hunter, Teresa and I took Hunter's work journey this morning to Canary Wharf, it was pretty easy, the Jubilee line goes all the way there, travel time about 43 minutes door to door. That is good because Hunter starts Monday in his suit and tie at 7:15 am in the lobby of the JP Morgan building.

We then traveled to South Kensington and spent some time with the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum. Mean while back at the house the others slept through their alarm but did show up very timely at The Kensington Creperie for our 1 pm lunch with Julie Cornell. Julie was delightful, sharing many comparisons and differences between US and UK culture and giving us good advice on museum and shows in town. The food was, well look below, we had them all.

After lunch we went to The Little Dish at Notting Hill Gate were Christina will intern. From there a short commute down the central tube line to Holborn and we found Claranet where Blaise starts Monday. Just a few short blocks away is the British Museum (below) a "must see" that holds treasure and artifacts from all over the world.

We then slow marched to Covent Gardens (above) were the street entertainers were out in force, hoping to purchase a soccer ball. We relaxed in the eating area and Oliver had a double burger while some of the rest of us had shakes at the ShakeShack. We then walked the teeming streets to Leicester Square. Christina and Oliver left from there and Hunter, Blaise, Teresa and I soldiered on to Piccadilly Circus to find the elusive soccer ball. Sure enough Lillywhites had a Brazilian 2014 World Cup edition right out front on display.

Satisfied with the day's work we also journeyed home for a relaxing night.

Thursday June 19, 2014

It was a grand day for the students as I went to meet Teresa at the airport. The students slept in and then went to Harrods, one of the world's most famous department stores, for breakfast. After breakfast the students went to Hyde Park, rented a paddle boat and amused themselves on the Serpentine. It sounded like a very relaxing time after our see everything two day outing.

We then met SG Alum James Brown, grandson of John Nicolas brown, benefactor of the SG chapel, at Fortnum and Mason (since 1707)  on Piccadilly Street for afternoon tea. It was a quintessentially British outing and we are grateful to James for sharing his time with us. The students then ventured home while Teresa and I walked Green Park and St. James's Park. Once sufficiently exercised we too proceeded home.

The North London Tavern had a table with our name on it reserved at 7:45pm. Coincidentally, England was playing Uruguay that night at 8pm. We enjoyed the ohs and aughs of the game with a room full of Brits and after a very exciting Wayne Rooney goal that tied the game Luis Suarez broke the English hearts with a late winner.

Wednesday June 18, 2014

The whirlwind continues.

We tubed it to London Bridge and our first stop was Southwark Cathedral, the oldest cathedral building in London and the church where John Harvard was baptized. After a quick look around it we continued west passing the Golden Hinde II, a full size reproduction of Sir Francis Drake's ship used to circumnavigate the globe from 1577-1580.

Our trek took us to Shakespeare's Globe Theater and a wonderful tour that included watching part of the dress rehearsal for the next play, Julius Caesar.

We then cut through the very colorful Borough Market where we purchased our lunch and proceeded to the London Bridge Experience and London Tombs. Terrible stories are too scary for retelling so I will just give you the link:  www.thelondonbridgeexperience.com.

Continuing down the south bank we stopped at the HMS Belfast, commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1939 she was the largest and most powerful cruiser of her time. With the most advanced radar she was a WWII convoy protector and participated in the D-Day landings.

After one too many sea stories the students high tailed it to Tower Bridge (commonly miss-known as London Bridge) where we bypassed the lift for the stairs to see the exhibits high above the river Thames, the views were spectacular.

All of us where ready for a little less history so we went for a stroll through Regent's Park and spent some time looking at the animals in London Zoo. With Christina egging us on we strolled up Primrose Hill for the famous view of central London. Pretty fatigued a nap was had laying on top of the hill. We then strolled through posh St John's Woods and found a Cafe Rouge restaurant on the High Street.

We were happy to make it back to our humble abode in Kilburn were we finally took our shoes off and rubbed our feet!

EKM

Tuesday June 17, 2014

After a delightful sleep in until 9:30 am the students were awaken, fed and off on the Jubilee Line to Westminster were we changed to the Circle line for Tower Hill. Another beautiful weather day as we toured the Tower of London including the Crown Jewels, the Ravens, the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters), White Tower, the Bloody tower, etc. etc.

At Oliver's suggestion we then boarded the Thames City Cruise boats and had a narrated ride back to Westminster pier. We got off adjacent to the London Eye (been there done that!), glanced up at the Elizabeth Tower (renamed 2012) where Big Ben the great bell of the clock resides. And then headed over to Westminster Abbey.

After a self guided tour of the Abbey, an ice cream break lying in the sun in St. James Park was just what was needed so we could finish up by visiting Churchill's War Rooms. We had a fascinating tour of the original Cabinet War Rooms, the wartime bunker that sheltered Churchill and his government during the blitz in WWII.

Tired from the many miles and many sites we headed home with a quick stop in the local Sainsbury's for replenishment and supplies. Nothing like some oven cooked pizza with a World Cup game playing on the TV!

Monday June 16, 2014

Blaise and I left at 9:15am and tubed it to London Heathrow (LHR) to meet the New York trio of Hunter Westerberg, Oliver Green and Christina Malin. They were delayed at Immigration for about an hour. The officer said they needed a visa if they were working an internship. After speaking with a supervisor we explained it was a student two week, unpaid "work experience" and that seemed to satisfy them that we had no evil intentions. We proceeded back to Kilburn and as the newly arrived napped Blaise and I had a meal at Woody' Grill a Turkish cabob place on the High Street and then shopped at Sainsburys.

After a little soccer (Germany 4 Portugal 0) We Jubilee lined it to Westminster. First stop the London Eye. After the "lovely" ride and view we set off along the south bank to Charing Cross Bridge. We stopped by the Sherlock Holmes Pub, Trafalgar Square, and dinner on Haymarket at Assaggetti. Refreshed from the pizza we walked the Mall to Buckingham Palace, through Green Park to Piccadilly Street, up Old Bond Street (very impressed by the quality and quantity of the stores!) and then ice cream at Wafflemeister on Oxford Street. We jumped on the tube at Bond Street and got home at 9:45pm. We all watched the first half of the USA v. Ghana soccer game enjoying Clint Dempsey's first minute goal. Blaise and I stayed up for the second half biting our nails until the 82nd minute when Ghana tied the game. Screams of pure joy reined out in the 86th minute when John Brooks headed home the winner.

What a happy way to finish a good day!

EKM

Welcome to Jolly Old England!

Sunday June 15, 2014

Blaise and I arrived London Heathrow on Sunday morning June 15th. We took a cab (90 pounds!) to 55a Cavendish Road, London and arrived around noon. After settling in for a short nap we went out for a five hour walk around Mayfair, St. James, and SOHO. We stopped by the Rathayatra in Trafalgar Square to enjoy the "spiritual bliss" provided by the Hare Khristna Festival.

After our enlightenment we were famished so we search for a pub with World Cup soccer on the tele, it was difficult because either they were full or not serving food. Finally we found the Crown Pub on Brewer Street. The Crown's historical distinction comes from the fact it stands on the site of the Hickford Rooms, once the main concert halls of London. Mozart gave a recital here in 1765, aged just nine. Satiated, satisfied, and tired we jumped back on the Underground's Jubilee Line (the gray one) and proceeded back to Kilburn. A little more soccer and than off to bed.

EKM