What a Week!

So much has been going on since my last update!

I saw the Olympic Torch at North Greenwich Park. Only people with Olympic Accredidations were allowed to be inside the park for this event. After seeing the lighting, we jumped in a buggy and drove around for a tour of the park. It's so big and pretty. Equestrian events will be held there, but in order to preserve the site false grounds were put in, irrigation system and all.

I went on a tour of Winsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge.

I went on a private tour of the O2 Arena and got to see some male gymnasts practicing.

I went to the final dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony. Watched the actual one on tv at Camp.

I've been working nonstop since the Games began, but finally having the Park open and operational is so exhillarating. I finally feel like I'm at the Olympics and this is what I've been working towards for the past 6 months!

It's not all been work, though. I conveniently worked a turnover in basketball right before Team USA Men's played. I was able to find a seat and ended up watching the whole game. The night before I was going to the mall and walked past Kobe Bryant. I wished him luck and he said thanks! Then last night I went to the Aquatics Centre to watch some swimming competitions. Overall, I watched the US win 2 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and Michael Phelps win his race.

What is my life?!

I AM SUCH A BAD BLOGGER!

Sorry for the major lack in updating. My computer time is extremely limited since my laptop died and I've been working like crazy.

We've been inducting all of our new employees over the last few weeks and ramping up our numbers as the Games are creeping closer and closer. We're trying to fill in the gaps where we need people to work, so that means lots of phone calls! One of my main responsibilities over the last two weeks is actually working on employee rosters: fixing hours, rostering people to shifts, creating and deleting shifts. It's been pretty cool to have such an influence in that way.

Last week my friend, Kallie, and I went to see Chicago down in Leicester Square. The show was phenomenal and so funny! Way better than the movie. I'd been talking for weeks about seeing it for two reasons: 1) I really wanted to see Chicago and 2) Raza Jaffrey (Dev from Smash) was playing Billy Flynn. He was exceptional. After the show, we went to the stage door and he was there signing playbills. We got him to sign ours and got our photos with him. While we were talking with him, he asked where we were from since we're obviously not English. I told him that we go to university in South Carolina. He says that he used to spend his summers in South Carolina. On Lake Wylie. I told him that I live on Lake Wylie and when I told him which town, he knew exactly where I was talking about. Small world!

I'll try to update again at least before the Games begin. Hopefully I'll start seeing some athletes!

Cheers!
Megan

Sorry for the lack of posts!

My computer is really messed up and is no longer useful unless I pay £400 to get it fixed, so I'm on one of the available computers here at camp.

The last week and a half have been quite fun. I went to a club in Camden called Jazz Cafe with a few of the English interns and a handful of Americans. It was a good time in Central London. The rest of that weekend was pretty laid back. Work last week kept me relatively busy. One day I had to go through all of the binders that hold timesheets for all of the venues in Olympic Park and put them in chronological order. I was also trained on inputting timesheets into the system to ensure that our employees actually get paid. All of the venues have done their preliminary scheduling for the month of July through the Games. My boss asked me to go through the roster lists for the individual venues, create a master list of employees who have already been scheduled and to which venue, and then cross-reference that list with the entite employee pool of roughly 1,300 to see who still needed to be scheduled. My boss, Kiri, and I get along very well. She's a tiny Australian, but she's basically running the show. Right now, we're in tiny storage units on site, but we'll be moving into offices in the next week or so. I'll be working not only for her, but the manager that runs all of the Park and the co-founder of the company.

This past weekend was extremely exciting. For £200 I went to Amsterdam and Brugge, which included travel by coach, a hotel for 2 nights, 2 breakfasts, 2 dinners, and an open bar after dinner. It was so much fun! I walked through downtown Amsterdam: Red Light District, CoffeeShops, and all. We went to a Cheese and Clog factory, a tour around the city, and the Heineken Experience where I got my Draugh Master certificate. The next morning we were back on the coach to Brugge, where we walked around and went to a chocolate factory! We got back to camp around 11:30 Sunday night exhausted, but having had a great time!

The last couple of days have been a bit stressful, with my computer bascially dead and camp doubling in population. It kind of feels like everything is coming at me at once, so I'm trying to stay afloat.

The English Have Arrived!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but the Leeds students arrived on Monday so we've all been getting to know each other. We've gone out to a couple of pubs for football games, but I was more interested in socializing than in the games themselves. All of the new interns seem really cool. My roommate, Sara, and I had to switch cabins and move in with 4 other USC on Monday before the others arrived. Then we got 4 Leeds girls who are pretty awesome. On the first night, they all went to the Tesco down the road and came back with a 12 pack of beer, each. If I've learned one thing from them so far, the English can drink. Of course, I joined them with my bottle of wine and made a few friends.

Work has been minimal. Monday-Wednesday I was "Camp Intern" where I basically just stayed at Camp and did whatever was asked of me. So I took inventory of fleece jackets and track pants and laminated signs for common areas. I finally got to go back to the Park yesterday and was assigned to work in the Velodrome, where the cycling events will take place. I met Allan, the Venue Cleaning Manager, and he showed Katherine (his intern) and I around and down to the floor and the track. The incline on the track is intense! I tried walking up one of the steeper areas and only made it halfway before I decided that I would fall over if I kept going. Katherine and I did a little bit of research on the facility to be included in a newsletter for the income staff. There was an issue with my biometrics card, which gets me into the Park, in the morning so after work I had to go back to that office to reactivate it. The rest of the night was pretty laid back at Camp.

This morning, I had to collect some new arrivals and bring them to get their visitor passes and then bring them into the Park. They were very nice, 3 Irish and 1 Australian. Once we got into the Park, I was asked to go back to the Velodrome where I will be helping with preparing the rosters to go out to the staff. But I've been here for an hour and a half and Allan hasn't been in the office, so Katherine and I are just hanging out.

Apparently, people are going out tonight and I'm pumped! So ready to party with my new English friends!

Cheers!
-Megan

Is this real life?

That question was asked may times today. THE WEATHER WAS GORGEOUS TODAY!! It was sunny and cool and not rainy!! I slept in until about 10. After a shower, I got myself ready for the day and headed out with a group that was looking to get tickets for a show tonight. We headed up to Westfield where they have a discounted ticket seller. She offered us tickets for WICKED for £18! We jumped on that deal and took the tube down to Westminster. We got off near Parliament and began walking up to Trafalgar Square and then up to Leicester Square and around Piccadilly Circus. On the way, we stopped at the 4 story M&M store where I discovered CRISPY M&MS!! Why they aren't still available in the States, I have no idea. But I bought half a bag of crispy M&Ms. There is a photo of me enjoying them on Facebook. While we were walking around, a NAKED BIKE RALLY rode by us. That's right. Naked people riding bikes down the street. And not attractive naked people.

Since our show was at 7:30, we stopped for dinner around 5 at this pub called The Brewmaster in Leicester Square. I got a Rump Steak Sandwich and it was awesome. We walked by this pastry shop after dinner and everything looked amazing and sweet. I may need to go back. On our way to the theater, we walked through St. James Park and we witnessed an ATTEMPTED ROBBERY outside a restaurant. We heard a waiter yelling and running after these two guys who were running with a Louis Vuitton purse. They dropped the purse and kept running. We're not sure if they got anything, but the waiter picked up the purse and brought it back to the owner. We got to the Apollo Victoria just as doors were opening and found our seats. We sat in literally the second to last row in the upper level. We were on level with the Time Dragon. The actors were very small, but we had speakers right near us so we could hear everything well. Once the show started, I didn't care where we were sitting because I was seeing Wicked in West End. Our cast was amazing. I think this guy was the best Fiyero I've seen. Our Wizard wasn't very good at singing, but he's a relatively minor singing role. After the show, we got right on the tube and headed home. Our car was packed, so when this really attractive guy got on his only standing option was right behind me. I was more than okay with this situation. Too bad he wasn't talkative.

Now I'm back at Camp chilling in the Rec Tent and updating my social media life.
Cheers!
-Megan

Nothing amazing to report at this point.

Went to a meeting at BUNAC yesterday where they told us things that we already know. They did inform us that they have travel opportunities with the organization, so that is extremely wonderful information. Once we got back to Camp, we laid low for the rest of the day.

Today we all had to be up and ready to work at 8am. I met up with my group and we went into the Park for some training. They showed us how to go through the various programs for recording clean-up calls, scheduling, and timesheets. Those of us working Help Desk will be using these programs the most. We got out around 11 and a couple of us ran some errands at Westfield. Now I'm back at Camp just hanging out and trying to figure out what to do this weekend. Blink 182 is playing at the O2 Arena tonight for £16. Some people are heading to Dublin tonight. I want to do some traveling, but it's a bit expensive so I'll have to plan for that.

Cheers!
-Megan

So I walked the Olympic Park today...

Today, the interns went out to our various precincts and did different tasks. I will be working in the Olympic Park for the summer. Those of us in the Park walked around and toured some of the venues. I'm not assigned to any specific venue, but to the general CleanEvent staff in the Park. This leads me to believe that I'll be all over the place. We saw the Stadium, the Velodrome, the Aquatics Center, the Handball Arena, and the Water polo Arena. I took pictures, but I'm not allowed to post them until after the Games. We walked the Park for 8 hours, nonstop. On the way back from the Park, I picked up a couple of bottles of wine (they were 3 for 12) and made my way back to Camp for dinner. Now we're just hanging out in the Rec Tent (because it finally has internet). Sounds like tonight is going to be a laid back night!

Cheers!
-Megan

Holiday Weekend

Around here, it's a 4 day Holiday weekend for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Yesterday, a couple of us went to explore Westfield, the huuuuge shopping mall here in Stratford (where The Avengers London premiere was). When we got there, a 3 person band called Ollie & Sam was playing and they were very good (and very attractive). We talked to them after to see about music venues around here, but they aren't familiar with the area either so they weren't very helpful. I got a couple of necessities: fleece jacket, London 2012 sweatpants, raincoat, blanket, etc. After we returned from shopping, we had some dinner before heading out to Hyde Park to watch the Jubilee concert. The concert itself was at Buckingham Palace, but there were giant screens set up in the various parks nearby for people to watch. The concert featured loads of English performers, like Tom Jones, Jessie J, Kylie Minogue, Elton John, and Paul McCartney. At the end of the concert, The Queen and Prince Charles went onstage to light the beacon with a giant crystal diamond. By the time we walked all the way back to the Underground station and then back to Camp, it was midnight and I thought that my legs were going to fall off.

This morning I slept in, until 11, with every intention of doing absolutely nothing. A couple of people said that they were going back to Westfield, and I had to exchange the adapter I had bought when I first arrived, so I joined them. Now my legs really feel like they're going to fall off. I think the plan is to just lay low tonight and prepare for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we're all going to our precincts for venue tours and hopefully will find out where we'll be placed.

So busy!

Cheers!
--Megan

I promise I'm still alive!!

Sorry I haven’t updated in a couple of days. We have extremely limited Internet access at Camp right now and I had a minor adapter issue, but I’m back up and running!! Let’s do a recap of the last few days:

Wednesday: The Uxbridge Group (that’s where we were staying) decided to go into Central London and sightsee a bit. Fortunately, Ethan and Brooke had a good idea of where they were going so they could lead us pretty well. We saw the majority of the things to see in Central London and walked very, very far. It was also a bit warm and I got a little sunburnt in my tank top. After we got back from the city, we got cleaned up and met up with Steve for dinner and drinks.

Thursday: A van picked us up from our hotel to bring us to Camp. Unfortunately, the hotel was in North West London and Camp is in East London with the most direct route cutting straight through the city. A 30-mile distance took us 2 hours! When we finally got to Stratford, our driver had no idea where Camp was and neither did we. The address we had was for a drama academy, which turned out to be right next door to our Camp. As soon as we arrived to Camp, we were shown our way put the main road to the bus stop and the main area of Stratford, including Westfield (the four story mall) and the Underground Station. The four of us who had been in the hotel had to come back early and were put to work while everyone else was allowed to go explore Stratford. Our task was to set up the Recreation Tent, which has couches, tables, chairs, a pool table, a ping-pong table, and a foosball table. Later, we hung around with some of our other interns and made friends. After everyone had dinner, we walked about halfway up toward main Stratford to go to this pub we’d passed earlier called The Builder’s Arms (or the BA) for some pints. The bartenders got a kick out of us and tried to teach us some fun Cogney phrases (Skin and Blister means Sister, Apples and Pears means Stairs).

Friday: We had about a 3-hour long training session this morning going over some general knowledge about the company and some of the operations aspects of what our responsibilities might be. After, we were led about a mile and a half out of Camp to pick up our Olympic Accreditations. This place was in the middle of nowhere and why it was so inconvenient is beyond me. On our way back to Camp, I caught up with Kallie, one of my CP people, and we discussed finding a Café for coffee and Wi-Fi/excursion planning. I was almost out of cash, so we walked all the way up to main Stratford to get to Barclay’s, and then stopped at about 5 different cafes looking for Wi-Fi until we found Moka Mia Café (www.mokamia.co.uk) and its owner, David. This tiny little place was just what we were looking for. We ordered some coffees and talked with him for a few minutes, telling him that we were just down the road and would be here all summer. We picked up his frequent-buyer card and he gave us 4 punches instead of just 2, since we were first timers. We’ll definitely be going back there. When David closed up, Kallie and I headed back to Camp for dinner. As it got later in the day, the temperature went down and it got a bit chilly. Some other interns found a pub in Central London that would play the Carolina Baseball game, so everyone made their way there for a bit. A small group of us decided to head out early before the Tubes stopped running, but after a couple of stops on the line that would get us home, they had a communication issue and had to stop running. We had to leave the station and find a bus, which was extremely confusing and took about an hour. When we finally got on the right bus, it took another hour for us to make it back to Camp. The group that left the pub after us had already been back for a while. At this point it was 1am and I just went to bed.

Saturday: I met up with some of the interns at breakfast and they were talking about heading into Central London/Westminster for sightseeing and Jubilee festivities, so I joined them. I was very happy that I decided to wear a scarf and bring my jacket because the majority of the day was overcast and a bit cold. We saw some of the same sights from Wednesday and some new ones. At this point, I think I have around 170 pictures just from the last 5 days. I’ll try to upload most of them. I had a traditional English dish at the pub we stopped at for lunch: Bangers and Mash. It was wonderful! After a bit more sightseeing we headed back to Camp. We are definitely experiencing “London Weather” now: it’s raining, cold, and windy. I definitely plan on investing in a London 2012 hoodie in the next couple of days. One of the guys here at Camp was able to get ESPN 3 on his iPad, so we were able to watch Carolina beat Clemson!

Today is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. A group of us got up and left Camp around 10am to head into the city. We made our way through the crowds of people and through the various parks and streets. We grabbed some lunch near Waterloo and walked a bit more. After lunch, we found a park where one of the many screens had been set up for people to watch for the Queen. We got to watch her arrive to her boat, then go from her boat to her ship for the parade down the River Temps. We knew that there was no way that we would be able to actually get close enough to the river to watch the Royal Family go by, so a few of us decided to head back to Stratford before all of the crowds tried to leave the city. 

Camp is… limited. We like to call our sleeping areas storage units, because that’s basically what they are. Currently, my space has two bunk beds and one roommate, Sarah. Over the next couple of days, they will bring in three more bunk beds and when the Leeds students arrive on the 11^th we’ll get more roommates. There is about a 10 foot radius up near the front of Camp at the main office where we can get Wi-Fi and this is usually where you can find 5-10 people huddled on their phones and computers—apparently the whole Camp will have Wi-Fi. The Rec Tent will also have a bar, but Camp doesn’t have its liquor license yet. We also have a small kitchen that was very limited at first, but they’ve gotten it set up and the food is actually pretty good. Our bathroom situation is probably the roughest part of Camp. Currently, we only have two showers and about four bathrooms. They keep telling us that they’ll be bringing more. So far, only our interns are here so the numbers are pretty low with around 40 people. Come Games time, there will be roughly 1100 people living in this compound. At this point, it seems extremely far-fetched. We are the first group here, but I don’t think many of us were expecting to live quite so primitively. I think it will be better once more amenities are up and running.

Many things around here are very up-in-the-air. Communication is definitely not up to my standard, but there are a few variables that are still being figured out from all sides. Everyone here is really nice and inclusive, but there are definitely a few cliques. I’m the only Grad student, so everyone else has had classes together and has an idea of who people are. I do not have the title of oldest intern, however, as I discovered that one of the guys is 26 who started college a few years out of high school. It’s pretty easy to find groups to do things with, all you have to do is ask. It’s definitely an adjustment, but it’s been pretty fun exploring and getting to know the area and the people. I can’t wait to really get things rolling!

So I've been up for 29 hours...

Flew out of Philadelphia at around 10pm last night. The flight was pretty smooth and easy. I finally got to see "The Artist," which I highly recommend, and "Sideways," which was alright. Once I landed in London I hiked 20 minutes to immigration, which took an additional 30 minutes. I went to pick up my checked bags and only one was there to be picked up (my duffel had to be checked at the gate in Charlotte because there was no room left in the overhead compartments). So I had to go talk to someone with the airline, who found out that my bag is still in Philly. He said that they would request that my bag be on the next flight, so I had to give them the Camp's address and it should be here in the next day or two.
After all that was figured out, I went through to the main area where I met up with my professor and ride (aka the personal car and driver for the owner of the company I'll be working for) who took me to the hotel that a couple of us will be staying at until Camp is ready on Thursday. I met up with Brooke, another intern who has been here for a bit visiting family. We went out and got me a phone and an adapter so I can have technology here! Then we grabbed some lunch and walked around the nearby mall. When we got back to the hotel, I finally got a shower and hung out in my room for a bit before we met up again for dinner with my professor and another intern. We went to this little Italian place around the corner which was wonderful! Now I'm sitting in the little bar/cafe in the hotel enjoying a glass of wine and finally accessing Internet!
The plan for tomorrow is to be touristy and I'm quite excited! I'm sure tomorrow's post will be full of photos!!

-Megan

Greetings from Philadelphia!

So I landed in Philadelphia about an hour ago. As soon as I got off the plane, I found my connecting flight to London--easily a 20-25 minute walk (yay for unexpected exercise). Grabbed a slice of pizza to hold me for a little bit and exchanged my US dollars into UK pounds, $225 to 120. I'm about to get my ticket validated for international travel. We should be boarding in about a half hour and in the air in just over an hour! I'm set to arrive in London at 10am local time, about 4am home time. Not sure when I'll get my first bit of internet access, but I'll update when I can!

-Megan

First Post

Just setting up my blog for my trip. In 24 hours, I'll be on my trans-Atlantic flight from Philadelphia to London! I'll report back soon.

-Megan