Seasons in the sun

I know it's been a while since my last post and the reason for this is that I've been to busy with enjoing my last weeks in London. But I'll try to give you a summary what's happened since Edinburgh.
First of all, I have to mention that the weather since then has been great. It's warm, the sun is shining and except for 1 or 2 days when there were short showers, it hasn't been raining.
Since the Easter weekend the time has been flying by. In the days after my trip I had two visitors. My dear friends, Judith and Nora came over and we had a great time. We did some sightseeing, went shopping on the markets and simply enjoyed the city.
Of course we also explored the nightlife. We went to a pub called O'Neills which is one of my favorite places to go out here. On Thursday and Friday night they have live music and if you arrive before 9pm you don't have to pay any cover fee. The pub is quite large and is spread over three floors. Usually there are unknown bands playing who cover popular hits ranging from indie & rock to pop tunes. This band in particular was very good. They played so many good songs and we shaked and sang along.
Though we had fun at night, we always had trouble getting back home. Seems like the night busses didn't like us. On an night my jeans which caught fire were an obstacle. Well fire is a small exageration, they were glowing a litlle bit. still didn't know how it started, but i freaked when i saw it. luckily Nora saved me :) However, we made it home alright and had a good laugh out of it.

In the following week I was busy at work with two trade fairs. There was the natural products fair which I just visited. There were quite interesting products and especially the beauty products were quite nice. And then I worked at the London book fair. Since I was at the Austrian stand which wasn't highly frequented it wasn't too exciting. But I had enough time to look around and I got two books for free.

Greenwhich - in the center of time and space

Apart from working I was busy with seeing and doing all the things I had planned to do before I have to leave London and enjoying the city.
I was quite often in the various parks, where the atmosphere is great when the weather is nice. I picknicked there or just sat in the grass and read (by the way, right now I'm reading "high fidelity" by Nick Hornby and I can highly recommend it.) I went to Greenwhich and Canary Wharf, which is the business district and financial center.

picknick in Hyde Park
Canary Wharf -where u almost "feel" the money

Puuh, what else did I do ....
I went out for drinks and to the movies. I saw "The Lives of Ohters - Das Leben der Anderen" which won the Oscar for best foreign movie and I was impressed. Like all the others who saw it, I loved it. So if you haven't done so, go to the cinema and watch it.


On Thursday we had an event in the Austrian Embassy (impressive building) an then on Friday it was already time to say goodbye to my coworkers. I really had a good time working in the Austrian Trade Commission, even tough the work wasn't always challenging, it was interesting and the people there are great.


Current music: Foy Vance - "Homebird"

Highlands

Happy belated Easter everyone! The good thing about working in London in April is that you get to enjoy two public holidays. Since the Brits don't have as many official holidays as Austrians, they move the few holidays they have to Mondays or other business days so that they have a long weekend. And for easter we didn't only get Monday off but also had a public holiday on the Friday before the weekend. Most people use this prolonged weekend to visit family in other parts of the UK or make trips somewhere or, in case they are from out of London, to visit the capital ... I wasn't an exception.
Ines and I went to Edingburgh from Friday to Monday. We wanted to see other parts of the UK and since the Scottish capital is only one flight hour away and we managed to get a pretty cheap flight with easyjet, we booked the trip.


And ex post I can truly say it was worth going there and we had a great time. Edinburgh is a nice town which has a bit of a medieval appearance. The weather was great and we spent the whole Saturday with sightseeing and walking around the city enjoying the sun.

people in kilts and sounds of bagpipes can be found all over the city
we weren't able to solve the mystery whether they wear sthg under their kilts :-)

Naturally we also went to look for the famous monster in Loch Ness and made a trip to the scottish Highlands. Unfortunately, we didn't see Nessie - who is in any case femal I'm convinced :) - but had a nice tour to the Northern part of Scotland and saw a couple of Lochs. Loch Ness does more or less look like an ordinary lake in the mountains, but it was great to see it anyway.

Loch Ness ... just for the reocrd this is me and not Nessie ;-)

well it's not the real one but better than nothing

We stayed at a cheap hostel which smelled funny but was located right in the center of the city on the royal mile. I wouldn't stay there for a longer time but it was just fine for our short trip.
I could tell you now about all the buildings and sights we saw, but I rather post some pics:

the Royal Mile

the parliament, amzing architectural work

current music: Jamie Lidell - Multiply

Big Spender

Time is flying by and I've only got 3 and a half weeks left here in London. The first month really went by very quickly and the only upside of that is that it's payday at the start of each month! And the money was more then welcome. Not only is London a rather expensive place to be, it's also so easy, too easy, to spend money on different things. I was able to abstain from buying to many things at the beginning but I couldn't resist anymore :) And there are tons of stuff which I'd like to buy and tons which I already bought ;) There are so many stores here which don't exist in Vienna which makes it much more attractive to buy clothes here and there are many shops which sell nice and cheap things; and all the markets ... I think I could just go shopping every day (and I must admit I actually do so nearly every day). So I am glad that my friends are coming to visit me next week, not only since I'll see them again and we will have a blast, but also because I can give them some things to take home for me, because there is no way that I can fit everything in my suitcase :-)

what the floor of my room looks like right now -
remainders of my shopping tours of the last week

However clothes and shoes aren't the only thing I spend money on, there is so much stuff to do in London that is worth the money. Concerts, plays and so on. Last week Ines and I went to see the musical Chicago, which was great! Really good singers and dancers. We bought our tickets at the discount ticket booth, so we didn't have to pay the full amount. A couple of weeks ago we also saw the Blue Man Group because we got cheap tickets and well ... I wasn't impressed. Sure it's nice, entertaining and somewhat funny, but there is no connection between the different scenes, they are just randomly strung together. I wouldn't say at all that it's fantastic or a must- see. Or maybe I just didn't get it.

We've also been to the cinema twice. We saw "Music and Lyrics", a must-see for all Hugh Grant fans and people who liked films like "Bridge Jones" or "Love Actually", and it's so funny. I almost was rolling on the floor with laughter during the opening sequence.
The other film we saw was "Days of Glory" which was amazing. It's a movie about the way soldiers from former French colonies in Africa were treated in the French army in the second world war and it's very emotional and thought-provoking. When I walked out of the cinema after the movie I was once more amazed how much statutory injustice still exists in so-called developed countries.

Night fever

Tomorrow it will be 4 weeks since I left Vienna, time is flying. So I guess it's about time to write something about the nightlife in London and me checking it out ;)

Well, what have I been doing at night ... mainly sleeping but also partying, dancing, going out and maybe one or two drinks. Going out in a new city is always exciting since you don't know everything and you haven't been to all the good clubs many times. Sure I love going out in Vienna, but even the good places get old after a while. For some reason you tend to go to the same old places instead of trying out new things and when you've been to Chelsea, Charlie P's or Cafe Leopol three or more times in a row it bores you after some time. That can't happen in a city where you haven't been yet cause then you are eager to try out different things and rather go to a different place each night in order to get to know the nightlife. And in London there are tons of places to go to. You are spoilt for choice and there is something for every taste. No matter whether you prefer indie and alternative or house or hiphop or whatever there are so many places to go to throughout the city. And not to forget the many pubs.
The only downside is that you have to pay an entry fee for almost all places if you don't get there really early (like around 9pm). Depending on the club it's between 5 and15 pounds to get in. Especially after 12 when most pubs close you won't find anything where you can go for free (or at least I haven't found anything yet).

So in the last weeks I have been drinking cider (i looove it!) in some pubs which was quite nice since there are so many different pubs. There are traditional ones in the centre. Pubs where you can dance and those just to chill. However, most of them are pretty packed especially on Friday or Saturday. Of course I also went to a pub on St.Patricks Day which was on the 17th of March. The day is not celebrated as much in the UK as it is in Ireland of course, but there is still a lot going on especially in the Irish pubs and there was also a parade on Sunday (but unfortunately I couldn't go due to my work).

Apart form that I partied at various clubs. I've been at Metro which was really good. Nice music (alternative, indie and 60's) and rather cheap drinks (beer about 2,5 pounds). We stayed till the end and then I took the night bus home, which is quite convenient. The line I have to take leaves from Trafalgar Square (right in the centre of the city) and goes directly to my place and then I have only to walk about 1 minute and then I am home. The ride takes abotu 45 minutes and I tend to fall asleep most of the times (but only for a couple of minutes). Yes I know, big suprise for all those who have seen me falling asleep on many different occasions ... in class or in clubs or on the couch while watching a movie ;-) But in my defense I must say most people do sleep on the night bus.
Last weekend on Saturday I was at a club called Wax which was also fun. They played random music, pop and house and charts, we had fun. On Friday I was at a students party at King's college which wasn't worth the trip and in a club called metra which definetely wasn't worth the money. But no regrets, since at least now I can speak from my own experience and know where I won't go again.

London is also a fantastic place to be when it comes to live music. There are so many good concerts each day. I have been to the Jet (Are you gonna be my girl...) concert in Hammersmith Apollo, they rocked. It was a great venue, not to big, not to small and the atmosphere was great. There are also many pubs where there is live music and where they have open mic nights. I'll probably go to one of them tomorrow night. I've been to some places where they played good blues and jazz.

Of course I haven't been partying alone. I went out with Sophie and Kathi, met an old friend (Gabriel, a French guy whom I got to know in Aarhus and who is know working here), Ines, Phillip (who interned at the trade commission in February) some ohter interns I met and Aiesecers from all over the world who either study or work here.

A great thing about going out in London is that when you get home you don't necessarily smell like an ashtray. In some pubs smoking is already prohibited (and it will be in all starting next June) and even if it's allowed, there are considerably fewer smokers than in Austria ;-)

... and neither am I :-)

The ride on the tube on my way to downtown London on the weekends is always quite interesting. I enjoy watching people when they are about to go out. Compared to some people I really feel underdressed. And this is not only due to my natural tendency for casual and comfortable clothes but to the way some English girls dress. It's amazing, even when it's freezing outside they were almost nothing or skirts without jackets (not that I find it worth imitating, it's just interesting). Compared to some people I feel old, like when I was watching some teenagers last week on the train who were desperately trying to appear cool by smoking on the train, continuously talking bullshit and showing their naked butts through the glass windows. Hope we weren't the same back then...



current music: The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger

Down by the river

Hi, sorry for the lack of updates. I have been quite busy the last couple of days, busy and lazy.
And just to let you know: Comments are highly appreciated! So just leave a note and write some words, there is a link at the end of each post.
The weather is bad again. Well it's not raining but it got really cold. At the beginning of the week it was snowing a little bit and it was very windy, so I haven't spend too much time outside.
But here are still some pics from the beginning of the month when I went down to the river where the atmosphere is really nice when the weather is good. The pictures are from the weekend when Kathi and Sophie were here to visit. On Saturday before we went to the Camden market we took a walk along the Thames, had some coffee in the sun and listened to the many street musicians.
I think we listened to the strings for half an hour or even longer, but they did play very nice classical music. They even played my favorite, Pachelbel's Canon in D.
The south bank of the river used to be a rather dodgy area. But the city did a great job in it and it is now a great place to spend the afternoon or the evening.


The reason why I have been busy the last couple of days is a trade fair where I have been working since Sunday. Yes, I had to work on Sunday but I get extra money for it (for all the 4 days of the fair) which is without doubt much needed here in London! Right now there is the IFE (International Food Exhibition) in London. It is a large fair about food from the UK and all over the world. I was working at the Austrian stand which was located in the "walk the world" section. It kind of looked like a huuuuge "Global Village" (for all those who know these) . I represented an Austrian winery which couldn't send someone there ("Kaisergarten" in case you might know them). So I was offering different wines for tasting and pretended I actually knew anything about them. I totally acted like a wine expert, when all wines I usually drink don't cost more then 2 euros a bottle. But I don't think people really bought it.
Though it was exhausting to stand there the whole day and it took me 1h30min to get there, since the fair was located at the other end of London, it was a nice exprience. I had a nice diversion from the usual office work, met some people from other stands and other parts of the world and of course ate lots and lots of food. For lunch I and Ines (the other intern) used to walk through the exhibition and tried some samples from everywhere. We tasted sushi, Swiss cheese, bread, American cookies and doughnuts, bagels, ice-cream, Greek olives and antipasti and much much more.
Oh and in case you might think that now ... no, I wasn't drunk each day from drinking loads of wine. Just on the first evening, since I had to try everything ;-) . I had to know what I should tell the people about the wines and which ones I can recommend.
I brought two bags with food home, so I guess I won't have to go shopping for some time. However, this is nothing compared to what other people took home today. There were so many people who took everything they could get from every stand. Especially in the last hours the visitors went crazy. Everything which was left unattended was gone in a few seconds. Some couldn't even carry their bags anymore but it didn't keep them from taking more and more. Sure, I like to take some goodies from fairs back home and I always stuff my bags with nice things before I leave ... but this was a completely different level.

Have you ever seen the rain

... well I haven't for the last week. Despite London's reputation as a rainy city, the weather has been great since last Monday. The last week and especially the weekend were nice and sunny. Seems like it's springtime in London and the city is even more beuatiful then usual when the sun is shining.

drinking coffee, enjoying the sun & listening to music
at Covent Garden with Kathi & Sophie (taking the photo)

The beginning of spring, the first warm and sunny days are the best time to explore a city since everyone is in a good mood and the atmosphere is amazing. Throughout the city people are enjoying the nice weather outside and take a walk or sit in the sun.

The interesting thing is though that you couldn't tell the weather or temperature from looking at people's clothes. In the past days I have seen all kinds of outfits on each day; people in shorts, skirts, without jackets, with warm winter jacktets, in tops without sweater, despite varying temperatures. Seems like they have a different temperature sensitivity. But then again there are also people in Vienna who were their jeans jackets in the winter ;)

i just love taking pictures of myself :)

current music: Urban Love - Out of time

Saturday morning

Since I have to work during the week there isn't much time left for sightseeing or exploring the city then. However I try make up for it on the weekends. Therefore I happily agreed when one of my coworkers invited me to accompany her to the Borough market one week ago. (Just one proof of the fact that my coworkers are truly very nice and welcoming.) So we travelled to London's larges food market on Saturday morning and I was amazed by the wide range of offered products. All sorts of foods form various countries. What's great is taht you can try everything. The vendors offer sample of theif food and drinks, so when we where read to leave 2 hours later I was stuffed without paying a single pence.

fruits and nuts covered in joghurt and choclate (the only thing I bought)

This weekend I had tow visitors, Kathi and Sophie from Paris. (more about the weekend later on) They are Austrian but live in Paris right now and from there it is only 3 hours by train. On Saturday morning (or rather around lunchtime, cause we got up at 12) we decided to take a trip to Camden market. A famous huge market in the north of London where you can get anything from clothes, bags, pictures to jewellry, things for your home and so on. The atmosphere around Camden is really nice and kind of shows a different aspect of the city. I guess the people who gather there are a mixture of young hip people, artists, tourists, alternatives or just random visitors. Camden is definetly worth a visit. The great thing about the market is not only that you can get all sort of cool stuff but also that there is a food court with food from all over the world and around 6pm when the market is closing down everything is sold for 1 to 2 pounds. Unfortunately we were to hungry to wait that long.
I bought a scarf and a necklace, I was tempted to buy some pictures for my room back in Vienna, but I couldn't decide so I guess I have to come back.

the scarf is new, the smile is the same old, slightly daffy one

My friends bought new shoes and when they asked the vendor of the stand wether they accept credit cards, the vendor replied: "Anything, cash, cards, sexual favors, countries or the ring from lord or the rings... "
Just for the record: they went for the second alternative.



current music: Tegan and Sara - Where does the good go

9 to 5

After two days of work I am already ready for holidays :) just kidding. On my first day of work I wasn't sure what to expect. I am actually not a big fan of first days at a new job. All the introduction, the new stuff, you don't know anything and always have to ask, you don't know any of the coworkers and how the things run and so on. So I am glad the first day at my new job was fine. As I know so far all the coworkers (even the boss) are really nice and approchable. I got introduced to everything and had to work on my first assignment.

Oh and I completely forgot: For all those of you who don't know yet: I'm working at the Londoner office of the Austrian Trade Commission (auf deutsch: Außenhandelsstelle der Wirtschaftskammer Österreich in London). Actually it is called Austrian Embassy - Commercial Section. However, we are not actually part of the embassy.
Including the two interns (there is another girl from Innsbruck who will arrive next week) there are 14 people working in the office. The "Handelsdeligierte", his proxy and 10 other employees, and 2 interns. The office is located in Kensington, which is a very posh area in the western part of central London. In this part of town there are many embassies located. The office is near the Royal Albert Music Hall. The employees are located on 3 floors and mezzanins in a nice townhouse.

pic: I work in one of the nice houses on the right side


My work will mainly consist of answering enquiries about Austrian or British companies and industry sectors. But I will also assisst in organizing fairs and other events (which will hopefully be exciting). I already heard from other students who did a similar internship somewhere in the world, that the work won't be too exciting, so I am prepared for everything and I will see what is in store for me in the next two months.


current music: Billy Taylor - I wish I knew how it would feel to be free

Let's get it started

On Tuesday, Feb 27th I finally arrived in London. Fortunately I didnt't have to organize many things; just a place to live and a flight. I arrived in Stansted Airport and it took me almost 3 hours including the waiting time to get to my future home. But when I finally made it i must say I was glad to come into a nice house with nice roomies. I kind of gambled when I was looking for a room. When I first contacted the WKÖ (the place where I'll work) in December they sent me a list with some suggestions for rooms. But since they were all either in families or dorms (some of them religiously affiliated) they didn't quite meet my desires. That's why I decided to look for a room online and found one on gumtree.com.
Now I will live in a nice double room (I'd guess around 12 to 14 square metres, which is quite big for Londoner standards) and share a two-storeid house with 3 Kiwis (New Zealanders). The place is located in Ealing (The queen of suburbs), a pretty suburb in the west of London.

pic 1: my room (just one side, it's bigger)

pic 2: living room (the tv has sky ... so many good films every day!)

pic 3: our house, in the middle of the street :) - it has a little backyard, too bad it's too cold to sit outside


One of the first things I realized in London is that the distance differ from those in Vienna. The terms "close" and "far away" have a different dimension here. It takes me now around 30 min to get to work from home (which is ok, its 15 min on the tube and walking to and from the station).
I guess it will take some time until I get used to the fact that it takes from 30 min to one hour to get somewhere since I am used to short distances in Vienna, where I hardly ever travel longer than 30 min somewhere ... except to some friends' places who live far out - yes you know who you are :-)
And of course I miss my beloved bike :( I was thinking of looking out for a cheap bike in London, but once I got here I realized that this idea was pretty crappy because: it would take me too long to get somehere, it rains much too often (and although I don't mind the cold, I very much dislike biking in the rain) and it would take too long to get used to traffic in London, so it would be to dangerous ... I can already see myself driving on the right side of the street.

current music: Oasis - Whatever

One in a million ...

Ok, ich habe mich also auch letztendlich dazu entschlossen mich der Blogger-Community anzuschliessen und einen der vielen vielen vielen vielen Blogs ins Leben zu rufen. Hier können die dies interessiert über meine Erlebnisse, Gedanken und sonstigen Senf-den-ich-wo-dazugebe lesen.

Wieso ein Blog? Hmm, gute Frage. Ich wollte mich irgendwie dem Rest der Welt mitteilen und erzählen was sich bei mir so tut bzw. etwaigen man-hört-gar-nix-von-dir-Vorwürfen vorbeugen. Außerdem ist ein Blog eine gute Möglichkeit auch meine vielen Fotos, die ich machen werde, einzubauen und auf neue Fotoserien hinzuweisen. Mir ist klar, das ein Blog etwas unpersönlicher ist, aber so können alle dies interessiert immer nachlesen und schauen was sich so tut. Und außerdem hab ich so auch ein Stück Erinnerung für später. Und sowieso haben fast alle einen, also will ich auch!

Coming soon: meine Abenteur in der großen weiten Welt oder einfach nur irgendwas erzählenswertes.
Next stop: London, wo ich den März und April verbringen werde und ein Praktikum bei der WKÖ absolviere.

Wegen der Sprache bin ich mir noch nicht sicher, wird vermutlich irgendwie ein Gemisch zwischen Englisch und Deutsch werden. Deutsch ist halt schon Muttersprache und so, aber Englisch ist irgendwie cooler, also mal sehen.

Stay tuned...
Soraya

Ps: Wer Rechtschreib- oder Grammatikfehler findet ... kann sie behalten ;-)


current music: Jamie Lidell - Music Will not Last