24 April 2016

Ha! Still alive and having a great time. It has been a little hectic since I last wrote... Along with some very late nights and early mornings. Jana and I spent Friday in Edinburgh. She wasn't the happiest because we ended up walking 10.2 miles throughout the day. But in my defense, Edinburgh is as beautiful as expected. It might rival other bigger cities I've been to in beauty. I would dare to say it is more beautiful than Copenhagen. Again, I haven't quite mastered pictures on this so bare with me if they don't come out too well..

29 April 2016

Hello! Germany has been so much fun. On Wednesday, I took Jana, her mom, and her mom's boyfriend out to dinner at a typical German schnitzel night. I got zeugeunerschnitzel mit 2 beers! It's always fun eating with many Germans because I don't speak German... So no stress on making sure the conversation doesn't get awkward.

Of course we went to the Irish pub after for karaoke. I didn't sing but I did talk to the bartender with whom I drank with a few years ago. On Thursday we went to hadamar and visited a death camp (different than a concentration camp). Then I had a German date and we got ice cream and then dinner together.

I also got my German breakfast. To remind you, I'm not sure what's so special about German breakfast.. All it is is bread, assorted meats (not sure of any of them) cheese, and Nutella! But they don't really drink tea so I am missing that. Tonight we will just stay in or maybe go for cocktails and then the weekend begins! There is a soccer game we will go to, followed by a dance party and then on Sunday it's 1 May, so just walking around and drinking - the perfect German day.

22 April 2016

Well finally I did make it to the hostel. Sadly, we did have a casualty. That happened to be my checked luggage. So for the time being its dirty shirts and no hair product for this guy.

It was a real experience getting to fly first class. I before coach even begins to board, I had my first complementary drink, some cashiews and got a back massage that was embedded in my seat. I was asked by Jerome what I wanted for dinner and chose the lamb chops. I know I've already mentioned that, but I wanted to reiterate how that half lives, since on the flight after from London to Paris, I was presented with crab salad and duck confit on a bread.

When I made it to Aberdeen, I was very nervous since my plane landed at 7:55 and my train to Edinburg departed at 9:05. Coupled with the fact that my luggage didn't show up, I was a right mess. But again, great planning by me (sic) lead to me getting to the train station at 8:50, so I didn't even need to worry. Even more so, Jana and I met up and didn't really even get lost getting to the hotel. So I got to bed around 2:00am Scottish time. So now some shopping so I can wear fresh clothes and sightseeing! I am trying to figure out how to post photos so you will have to be patient in that regard! Sorry!!

 I might have figured it out. I am on my phone so don't judge. This was the option for my transatlantic flight for just the main courses. There were 4 other courses I enjoyed. And below is the "snack" I got on my way to Paris.



Finally, I wanted to show a picture that I found to be humorous. For background, in the UK there are a ton of rules and regulations evereytwhere dictating proper behavior, especially in public. While in the US, you can pretty much do what you want, here it's more important to be polite and not stick out. Anyway, when I arrived in Aberdeen, the first thing I saw reminded me of this.



Children should never be within one meter of the moving belt!

21 April 2016

I made it! No.. Actually I have only made it to London. I am currently sitting waiting for the second leg of my trip. On the way here, I got to fly first class on the way here, my first such time flying first class on a transatlantic flight. I was pretty impressed to see how the other half lives. Not to be nitpicking but while my lamb chops were seasoned beautifully, I thought they were slightly overcooked for my liking.

Before coming back to Europe, I was talking to Chris about what I was most excited for. I was most excited to be in a group of people, such as a restaurant, an airport, etc. and for it to be nearly silent. What I mean by that is people's voices, especially in Britain, never go above a volume level of 2. I am sitting in the airport and then loudest thing in the concourse is a gentleman's cane hitting the floor.

7 April 2016

Well I am back at it. I will be heading to Europe at the end of the month, first to Scotland and then to Germany. As with my previous entries, I will try my best to keep everyone up to date with my shenanigans and adventures. So far, what I have planned is driving to a few different villages in Scotland, visiting Edinburgh, reconnecting with all the Germans in Oberbrechen and getting a chance to visit Mannheim.

27 May

So yesterday I rented a car from Dublin. It is no joke about how difficult the roundabouts are when you have to drive on the left side. I drove all day and wound up at a bed and breakfast. It was very relaxing which was needed. I managed to take a few photos of the countryside:

24 May

Hello. Here in Liverpool and it has been a busy day. I woke and went to the Beatles museum first thing this morning. It was amazing. I spent 3 hours there and could have spent another. After that, I went to the Tate Liverpool, which is an art museum. It was smaller than expected but ok. It was mostly modern art, which I am not a fan of. From there to the museum of Liverpool. By then it was 3 and I needed lunch so I stopped in a pub and grabbed some fish and chips. I then found another art museum and wandered the rest of the day. Tomorrow I am off to Dublin via train and ferry, so hopefully it is a relaxing travel day. 

22 May

Hello. I'm sure my family was worried about me being I haven't written in a few days. I am surviving and having a blast. Between seeing the trading floor of Lloyds, getting back to London and meeting with the European Parliament, European Commission and the European state security agency, I haven't had time to sleep, let alone go on the Internet. 

The trip has been exciting and fun and I wish I had more time to write about it. After tomorrow all of my classmates will leave, and I will be on my own. Probably this will lead to me having more time, sleep and most importantly, a slower pace. I heave for Liverpool tomorrow and Dublin Monday. It is hard to decide what is more enviable, Dublin or Memorial Day. Well I hope everyone home is well and I miss you all. 

16 May

Today we started the day off with a tour of the Rijksmuseum. There we saw Rembrandt's Nightwatch and a few Van Goghs. It was nice and Chris and I got into a few good discussions about how Dutch painters are boring. After, we went on a bike tour of amsterdam and it was amazing. It lasted three hours and it really is the best way to see the city. Afterwards, Kyle, Cody, Chris, and I went back To Haarlem for dinner, which was one if the best dinners I've had in a while. I had French onion soup, a pepper steak and ice cream. 

3/6/13

Well as I told you, I had a good story to tell.

First, about my day. I woke up and felt better than the past day. After breakfast, I was feeling almost ambitious, so I saddled up and hit the road. Actually, I just put on pants and a sweater and left with my backpack. I walked to Reve, the supermarket on the other side of the next town. I had a list with translations into German of food I needed to make Jana and her mom chicken riggies and macaroni salad. It was really hard trying to find what food is by the picture on the box. Some things I realized:

1. Can not find brown sugar or chocolate chips. Terrible Germans. 
2. No clue how to differentiate between raw meats
1. of course I mean like the obvious differences are ok, like beef and chicken... but what I bought I was completely unsure of its actual contents besides probably chicken. 
3. The dairy aisles are quite complex
4. When asking for help... if you just point to a word on a piece of paper, you will feel stupid.
5. I spent over an hour in a supermarket around 3/4 the size of Foodking. 

Anyways, I got all the ingredients except for the two listed but who cares. I went on and made food, which took way too long. I am not a pro at cutting vegetables, so two onions, three peppers a carrot and a stalk and a half of celery took me about an hour and fifteen minutes or so.By the time food was done, it actually was good and they all liked it (Jana's mom, sister and Jana). I was happy, even if they don't eat bread with dinner.

Jana and I made cookies because Germans also don't do those (why am I here?). it was fun but we burnt the cookies because the oven is a convection oven and blows hot air instead of just heating it. Needless to say the cookies were slightly burnt... but Jana was introduced to the age old profession of eating cookie dough. She was impressed. I was disappointed because there wasn't enough chocolate in them or any brown sugar. Also, we cut up two chocolate bars to use as chips. They cost 36 cents a piece. I don't understand.

Anyways, the story. On Friday I went to Limburg alone. Jana told me to get home, I need to take the train at the hour from platform one. So after shopping, which I got a nice rain jacket, I got on the train. I also had two ice creams because... Yea. So the train stops at Neiderbrechen, the town before mine and then it speeds past Oberbrechen. I am sitting there thinking, "hmm.. ahh." So I get off at the next stop which is Bad Camberg... 5 towns on the other side of Oberbrechen. But luckily Jana worked in Bad Camberg Friday so I could just hitch a ride home with her. The time was 16.35... Jana left at 16.00.

So with that option out, I called her and she said to get on the next train. So I walk back to the train station and watch the train I need to be on drive away. Cool. Then my phone dies. Great. So I do what had to be done... and start walking. There is a bike road that runs all the way to Limburg through each small village on the way, just like the train. After a solid 2 hours walking, I make it the 10 Kilometers/ 6.2 miles home, bags and all. I was treated with spaghetti and solid hugs because they were worried. Luckily I just figure things out sometimes. 

Ok

30/5/13

So all of my traveling is done (for the time being).

The reason why I haven't been able to write is because I spent the last week touring northern Europe with nothing but a backpack full of things I needed. I wouldn't say I was struggling, but it was definitely and adventure. 

I left two Saturdays ago with one of Jana's mom's friends. It was very weird, but I didn't have to get a train from Oberbrechen to Cologne. I spent about 5 hours in Cologne doing what I normally do in a strange city-- walk aimlessly. Surprisingly, Cologne was a really nice place, with some of the best shopping I have found in a smaller city. I had a McFlurry, something that was a reoccurring thing throughout my week (I will get into that soon).

I took the train to Brussels and told Jen that I would meet her at around 9.15 pm. I got lost because Brussels makes no sense and my map was horrible. I made it to the hotel at around 9.35 and realized I had no way of telling anyone from school that I had arrived. So I did the most logical thing I could think of: go get wifi at McDonald's. Of course, it had non (honestly, the only McDonald's ever not to have it). I then did the second most intelligent thing I could think of: walk around the block about fifteen times. That made me feel suspicious though, so I just stood at the corner and hoped that I would run into someone from Fisher. No longer than two hours later (around 11) I ran into my professor and the look of fright, surprise, and confusion in his face is one I won't soon forget. 

The next day, I bummed along with them to the towns of Brugge and Ghent. Both of the towns were in Belgium and they honestly looked like the villages out of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

I started talking to the representative of the tour company, who I think she was only like 26-28. Her name was Merika and she was from Amsterdam. We developed a decent friendship and the Dutch are a completely different type of people than anyone I have ever met. They have such a "whatever approach" to life and she couldn't understand a lot of the rules that we have in America. 

Anyways, I left Brussels a few days later, not too disappointed though. I don't really like Brussels I have decided. The train to Amsterdam was fun though because I had to change trains in Rotterdam, which there were 0 signs in English and I have no knowledge of the Dutch language. I headed off to Amsterdam for about 50 hours or so. 

Amsterdam was amazing. I spent the day walking around exploring, waiting until my friends from Fisher arrived. I had dinner with them, where I spent most of it talking to Merika about Amsterdam and the Dutch in general. She offered to take me on a bike tour because the group was doing it and everyone in Amsterdam has bikes. No jokes, it is like there is the same number of bikes as there is people. 

It did rain though. A lot

I felt bad during the bike tour though because I sat on the back of her bike. I was basically dead weight but she was a pro bike rider. Oh, I had a beer in Brussels though that was voted the best beer in the world. It is called Delirium (you can click that). I wanted to get some in London because I liked the logo (an elephant) but it cost 9 quid for a pint. I got it for 3.20 Euro for a half liter (almost a pint) so I was happy with that. 

Anyways, for an example of the Dutch school of though, I asked her if helmets are required for bike riders. She was dumbfounded by the question and said that a law requiring people to wear helmets would be useless in the Netherlands. She said the Dutch do not want to be told what to do and if a law is passed and it doesn't make sense to them, they just won't follow that law. A solid response. 

I took an overnight train the following day to Copenhagen. It was a decent ride but I couldn't sleep at all. Copenhagen is beautiful.

See.

In Copenhagen, I just walked around. I honestly walked so much, that the last few days, I was dragging. I would set out to walk and then four or five hours later I would get a coffee or a pastry and walk another three hours or so. In my hostel I did make some friends one night though. They were from America, but a lot of fun. They asked if I wanted to go on a pub crawl with them, and I said sure. So we figured out a way to the pub where it started and the bartender told us that there was no pub crawl here... ever. So we went across the street and found that they also have never heard of a "viking pub crawl." So we decided just to make up our own.

It doesn't get dark in Copenhagen in the summer until late. So the sun went down and it was dark at around 11.30. We went to 5 different bars and it was quite a lot of fun. The Danish people are also extremely nice and friendly. All northern Europeans are (aka, people from Amsterdam). We started walking home at 3.00 in the morning, and the sun was coming up. It was such a weird thing. 

Also, the money makes no sense there. I paid 22 Kroners for a McFlurry and 50 for a sandwich. My room cost 315, which was only $50. No clue. Why I mentioned McFlurries was because I ate about 7 of them during my time there (not to mention about 5 other ice creams because it is absolutely delicious here). The reason for this is that they have different flavors in every country you go to. In London, they had Cadbury chocolate and chocolate caramel. In France and Germany, they had Kit Kat, along with Oreo in Germany... but the Oreo they put in Oreos and chocolate syrup. In Belguim, they had a thing called Smarties (not like the ones in America)... which I am not sure what they are but they were ok. Amsterdam had Snickers (again with extra chocolate syrup) and Copenhagen had Twix. 

Copenhagen

Now I am spending the next two weeks here in Germany and I will be home on the 10th of June late. I am excited to come home and see everyone and to tell and hear stories! Also, I applied for graduation today, so that is also something I figured I should tell you guys about haha. 

Oh yea... there is also a type of chip here flavored American Cream. I have never had American
cream before and it tasted like nothing we have in America. 

19/5/13

So last night Jana brought me to a club with some of her friends and we met some others there. I must have made a good impression because for some reason they asked to hang out again. It was fun but the way you ordered drinks was very strange. You buy a card for 10 euros from one place and then go to the bar to get the drink, where they just cross off a certain number of squares. I was surprised that no one in the whole club knew the song ******* in Paris by Jay-Z and Kanye West but whatever. 

This morning we had a great breakfast again because that is all we do in the morning and I love it. I had to go to köln to take the train to Brussels. Luckily, Jana's mom had a friend over who lives there, so I just rode with her back at noon. She dropped me off and I wandered around from about 1 until 6. I am writing this on the train. 

Köln was fun though. The shopping is amazing, even though I bought nothing. A little pricey but there were stores on stores on stores. I sat in a park for about and hour and around 5 I sat on a wall by the river with about 300 other people. There are no open container laws in Germany and everyone was just sitting drinking beer and talking. It was quite nice.

My usual self opened my bottle of water with bubbles and, being it was on my backpack for about two hours, and it sprayed all over the place, including myself. It was a right scene and these two girls next to me laughed, as did I. 

Of course, I can't forget that I found a festival in köln because Germany.

Now a few nights in Brussels should be fun and I will try to write tomorrow to tell all about it cheers. 

7/5/13

Another German day finished. Today, I woke up early (6.45) to go with Jana to school. For the first two hours, she had religion class, and I sat there contemplating all the hard questions in life. After that came banking, where the teacher was very relaxed, so I got to talk to Jana and some of the other students a little more. It was nice not staring into the wall for two hours. The teacher was younger, so when I tried to talk to her, her face got all red and it was quite funny. Finally, her last class was English. There, basically the professor asked me questions and I answered them. A few of the other students did as well, but the professor led the discussion. Some of the questions included "do the parties in college look like they do in the movies?" and "what is the best part about being in Germany?" That part was a lot of fun, but I didn't like all the attention on me.

Then Jana and I went to Limburg. We found a place to park and walked around. The flowers were beautiful here, so that was quite nice to see. Then we had some currywurst and to top it all off... ICE CREAM! Really, German ice cream is that good.

On the way home, I fell asleep hard, which is normal because I was in a car. We took a break once we got home; Jana slept and I looked outside. Jana's mom and I went to Aldi's when Jana showered. It was fun being with her because I get to act so confused and she can practice her English. I act confused though because normally I am quite confused. I still don't know all German... only little bits and pieces.

At 8.00, we left with some of Jana's friends back to Limburg to get some drinks. One of her friends was studying English and Sports, so we had plenty to talk about. We got home at about 10.45, to end up where I am sitting now. I wanted to shave tonight.... but I realized I did not pack my shaving cream because it was too heavy. Therefore, no shaving. I was honestly quite disappointed in that, but what can you do?

I am off to Lourdes tomorrow and I will be back in Germany on 14/5. I should write before that, but if I don't that is why.

6/5/13

Another wonderful day in Germany. I realized that I struggle to actually sit down and relax, but I think with practice, I could master it.

I woke up at 8.15 to an empty house. After putting some clothes in the laundry, I slowly meandered up the stairs to the kitchen, where I dined on bread, meat, cheese, and jelly with chocolate milk for breakfast. I ate that while watching music videos because in Germany, they still show them on the television. It was quite nice.

I felt like I was wasting the day just sitting there, so I got up and hopped on Jana's elliptical. I ran as far as my battery would last, which was only 15 minutes worth of exercise, or 3.25 kilometres. Once my phone died, I felt no longer a need to run, so I went, did some push-ups and sat down to watch the sky. That only lasted for about 15 minutes, where then I went and found a book to read. I read about 100 pages before the doorbell rang. I went and answered to find a post man delivering a package. He started speaking and I answered in my politest, "I don't speak German." I signed for the package and away he went.

When Jana came home, we had soup and salad for lunch, then talked for a while. We scooted down to the store to get some water, then headed back to study. She studied and I worked on my trip to Lourdes which starts Wednesday.

At 6.30, Elena came and we went to a birthday party for their dad's brother. It was a fun party and the food was excellent. I got to eat german potato salad. It was good and it had bacon in it! Everyone was shy but after a while, they warmed up and we had a good time. But now it is time for sleep! Goodnight!

5/5/13

Ok I am back to blogging as regularly as I can.

So, I am in Germany, in case anyone was unsure. I am back in Oberbrechen, with Jana and her mom. I arrived here around 2.00 this morning because after we got to Germany, we of course had to stop and see friends. After a short night of sleeping, I got what I came for: German Breakfast!

After a half of a small fresh baked bread loaf that was still steaming as I tore out the inside of it, I sipped on some grape juice. To finish the other half, I had two different slices of mystery meat. The first seemed like a... I have no idea. One was more red than the other. They were delicious. I complemented the meat and bread with a small hunk of brie cheese. Jana and I split a second loaf, which I added copious amounts of jelly to. I coated everything in my stomach with a glass of fizzy water, and away we went.

We went off to Limburg to go to a flee market/market/garage sale. It was over three roads, people selling stuff not uncommon to that they sell at the Madison County Fair. We walked around that for about and hour and a half. I ended up getting something though! I found a glass vial with a cork for my adventure to Lourdes this week. I will use it to collect the holy water from there. I will have to test to make sure it withstands being filled with liquid, but as for right now, I am set.

Once we got home, I got to eat a slice of apple cake. I love cake. I have learned that I have an incredible sweet tooth and should really check myself on that. Later, because for now I can eat cake and it is delicious and I see no reason to turn down German cake, so don't judge.

Tamara showed up sometime, and we headed to Vogelpark, which was a bird sanctuary. Here is the address if you wish to see - http://www.weltvogelpark.de/ It was a lot of fun because Jana and Tamara are fun, and I got to feed birds like a parrot and a cockatoo our of my hand. We headed home around 4, and at 5.30 we ate dinner. It was a typical German meal (I miss saying English, to be fair) of schnitzel! I mean make me want to stay forever, get fat and have a heart attack. But it was so incredibly delicious I hadn't a care in the world. After writing to mom, Jana and I watched most of a movie, but we had to cut it short because she has school... or work in the morning. For a first day in Germany, not too shabby!

1/5/13

Hi guys, I know I have been really bad about my blog lately but I have been swamped with work, travel, school, and getting to see as much of London as I can before I leave. I head to Germany Saturday, so I should be able to go back to every day writing then. In the mean time, I will post this video which my friends made talking about London. They really hit the nail on the head when they mentioned it is rainy. Ok

Sorry I cannot embed the video, but just click the link and watch it. It is quite good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WarTbQkZoNM

BES Assignment #9: VLOG

Internship VLOG

Internship Assignment C

 What are you observing about your work environment? If you could, what are two things you would keep and two things you would change?

Keep: The Atmosphere is very open at work. It is acceptable to talk to people and have conversations with them. Both people keep in mind that they have work to do and allow enough time to do it. I would like to keep the ability to talk to and get to know your co-workers more.

Keep: Tea. It is amazing what a nice cuppa will do for the work ethic. I would make the tea for my boss and I, along with whoever was around when I asked. I was just a time for me to relax and reorganize what is going on in my head. Also, since you have to boil water, you don’t get to drink it immediately. That little victory and satisfaction when you do get to drink it boosted my moral throughout the day.

Change: I would have liked to be better integrated into the Trust quicker. I felt that I didn’t really get introduced to everyone properly and I was still meeting people a month after I started. At the end I felt a part of the Trust, but it took honestly a few months.

Change: I had extremely sporadic hours. I would go in anywhere from 9.00 until 11.30 and then leave anywhere from 16.30 to 20.00. I would have tried to be a little more consistent with leaving. That being said, sometimes I left late because of my own doings just to make sure that I finished the work that I was assigned.

2. How does your supervisor’s style work for you? What would you want to be like as a supervisor in the future?

My supervisor had a decent approach to being the boss. I respected the fact that she knew her place and dedicated so much time to the Trust. She also attended conferences, meetings, and seminars to learn about external factors that would be affecting the Trust in the coming years. She was a good multi-tasker and could be stern when needed. She also took a genuine interest in my life. I felt very open with her and she gave me not only sound advice, but advice that could influence my managerial style.

I did not think that she could manage her time effectively. She would often stay quite later than I at work, which she told me to make sure that I don‘t do when I am working. She also doodled quite a bit when people were talking to her, either on the phone or during meetings. I found that slightly rude. There were times when I couldn’t read her emotions either, whether she was happy or unsatisfied with my work.

We talked a lot about me being a supervisor in the future. One thing that we discussed was worker relationships. I want to have a relationship with my workers that borders on friendship. I want them to feel comfortable coming to me with issues and telling me about their lives. I do need them to know that I am the boss, and even though I seem to be their friend, it is because they do quality work. I want to lead by example, so I want to make sure that they understand that my decisions are for the best of the company and nothing is personal. Finally, I want to be able to have the delegating skills so I do not overload myself. I need to make sure I am surrounded by people whom I can trust do work, so I only have to review it and add my own spin. That will save my time so I can do more important things like strategic planning and attending meetings dealing with the big picture of the firm.

3. What are you learning about yourself through this internship? What is one thing about yourself that you would like to improve for your next job?

Something that was pointed out to me was that I am perpetually positive at work. This is not the first time I have been accused of this, but now I know it is a trait that I have. I disliked working (I mean, honestly who likes waking up early, and commuting?) but that is no reason for me to be miserable or distant at work. Something that I want to improve which I had noticed and was pointed out to me was how I became familiar with the Trust. It took me quite a while to really get a feel for the Trust. I would read memos and business plans and things but not retain anything. Once I was there for a while, I understood what I was getting into more, but it just took a long time. This is something I experienced at my last job too, so I need to be aware and really try hard next time.  

4. What are two things you have learned how to do or improved upon during this internship? These are skills and they might belong on your resume.

Networking/Communication- I have participated in a few networking events, where the goal was just to meet as many people as possible. I was forced to talk to random people and it was good practice for when I go home and have to do it nearly every week during recruitment.

Representing the Trust- My boss was proud at how I represented the Trust at the events. She said that I would focus the conversation on the Trust rather than on myself, which most people asked about. This will be useful in the future when I have to go and represent the company I work for and have to project their views, opinions, values and goals.

5. After college, will you look for a company that is similar to the one that you have interned with? Why?

I don’t think I would look for a job in the not-for-profit field directly right out of school. I would much rather go to a big firm then in my free time help a charity. I have gotten a much better idea of how much one person’s help is to a charity. I will also try and get work groups together to help charities, like groups have done at the Trust. Again, that help is vital to the longevity of the Trust. Eventually, I would like to become a trustee of a trust.

BES Assignment #7: Wimbledon

My trip to Wimbledon was amazing. First, I enjoy tennis, so it was a no-brainer that I was going to visit, but also I really enjoy getting out of the metropolitan part of the city. I took the Tube there because I was on a semi-short time frame. I made it there around 9:45. The first thing that I noticed was how bustling the area around the train station was. It wasn’t a bustling like found near the corner of Russell Square, but the bustle of people running errands and working.

I noticed that all of the stores on the high street were smaller. Of course, there were tons of coffee shops, but the clothes stores were more boutiques than labels. I really appreciate seeing that. I headed towards the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The walk there was beautiful. First, you walk up a great hill, which really disappointed me because I got sweaty. The anticipation of this my destination was killing me, and I thought when I reached the top that I would be at my destination.

I was wrong. At the top of a hill was a more commercial area again. I stopped in a coffee shot to grab a cup of tea, which I drank a little too quickly. I don’t like rushing when I go to places because it seems that the Europeans don’t, so I want to fit in, also I am usually never in a hurry. It was about a 15 minute walk to the tennis club, and most of that walk was in residential areas. Two things I noticed were that 1) it was quite a posh area and 2) people really are nicer outside of central London. I passed probably ten people on the street and I got about 5 half-smiles and even a hello from one of them.

The atmosphere at the club was everything I hoped for. There was an electricity in the air when I walked in (I may have made that up myself) and the security guard at the door was quite friendly. After visiting the museum, I went to the café at the club and had another cuppa and some scones. They actually had a good deal, 2 scones, jam and clotted cream for 3.30. I was easily the youngest person in the café, which I will attribute to the fact that it was early and a club. I also felt inadequately dressed. I looked fine, but there was something more about the people there. Upon leaving, the guard and I chatted a bit and he asked where I what I was doing the rest of the day (going to Kew Gardens). What really took my breath away was the fact that he seemed interested in talking to me.

I walked back to the train station but stopped at a pub for a proper lunch (around 1.30) and a pint. Again, everyone was surprisingly friendly there. Even though I ate alone, I didn’t feel awkward or anything. I would have liked to spend more time in Wimbledon. Hopefully I will be back one day to actually visit the championship, because I could easily see that semi-sleepy village turning into something special over that fortnight.