Stockholm Continued

The Stockholm Crew: Nadine, Ginnie, Me, Anna, & Sean

Sorry, the last blog got cut short because Anna came over to put our pics from Stockholm online. I should have them all edited and stuff later this week

So where was I?!! oh yeah, watching hockey. it was great!

Saturday morning we woke up around 10am and then headed to the sushi place for breakfast. The weird thing about the area where our hotel was, was that there was an asian resturaunt on almost ever corner and on the other corners there was a 7 eleven. It was a bit strange! the sushi was great. i had been craving sushi for a while, so it was good to finally get to eat some. we spent the rest of the day wandering around Stockholm. we stopped at the royal palace and saw the changing of the guards. found a beer garden that overlooked the city and had some pear cider. Apparently sweden is known for it's cider. i also had a strawberry, cherry, and blue berry one later that day. saturday evening we met up with some other mountbattens who were in stockholm and went to the ice bar. it is a bar made completely of ice and the glasses you get are also all ice. one of the mountbattens said that he wanted to steal the glass. yeah he was serious! i told him that the ice bar people probably won't care if he took the glass, because it would turn back into water shortly! i proceeded to make fun of the kid for the rest of the trip! rightly so! from the ice bar we headed out for the night. we ended up finding a really posh bar, but Anna, Sean, and I only stayed for about 10 minutes. felt a little out of place. we had all planned for a low maintenance weekend so didn't have any "going out" clothes. I also only had my tennis shoes. the three of us then headed to a bar where we fit in a little more, K15. It was a pretty nice bar. we had a few beers and did a little dancing. couldn't get too crazy because stockholm is WAY expensive. a beer is about $12. not good :( K15 was also a little unusual. it was 75% male, which meant that the girls didn't have to stand in line for the bathroom. i have never experienced this. the guys line was long but the girls could walk right in. there were also times during the night when guys who really had to pee would jump into the girls bathroom real quick. it is the complete opposite of the normal bar scene. crazy swedish!

sunday morning we checked out of the hotel at noon and then headed next door for some tacos! we really hit up the swedish food! we tried finding an authentic swedish resturaunt, but were told that they were VERY expensive and hard to find. all we were looking for were some swedish meatballs. after breakfast we hiked over to the Vasa Museum. it is a museum about the Vasa ship that sunk in the stockholm harbor on it's maiden voyage in 1628. They brought the orignal ship up from the bottom of the baltic sea in the 1960's and put it in the center of this museum. it was really cool! after the museum we wandered around some more and then caught our bus back to the airport at 6:30pm. our flight took off at 9:15pm and i got back to my apartment around 12:45am. needless to say, i was a little tired at work on monday!!

i don't have anything planned for this week. kind of nice! this weekend we have class on saturday and sunday. i may try and get some shopping in. i want to buy a couple skirts to wear at work. that way the tube ride to and from work this summer won't be quite as hot and miserable. max (the mountbatten i work with) did buy a scooter that he plans on driving to and from work. i'm not sure if i'm going to hop on with him though. i have now started to work later than him (leaving at 5:30 is now an early night), which would mean that i would have to pay for my trip back. probably wouldn't be worth it. but we'll see.

on sunday a few of us are having a mexican potluck. I am in charge of bringing the chopped lettuce, tomatos, and onions. i think i can handle it!

Stockholm, Sweden

This last weekend I went to Stockholm, Sweden. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!

We started out the trip on Friday evening. We left London at 5:30pm and finally arrived at our hotel around 10:30pm. From the hotel we found a kebab place to eat (we were all hunger and a little cranky! You all know how I get when I'm hungry!) From the kebab place we looked for a bar to hang out at; however, all of them had a cover of 120-150 SEK ($24-30). So I decided to head back to the hotel and rest. When I got back to the hotel around 1am, I turned on the TV and saw a Stanley Cup hockey game!!! I was WAY excited, until the station turned off and it said that I needed to pay 95 SEK ($20) a day to watch the station; however, I out smarted the tv!! I found out that if you turned the tv to the "hockey" station and put it on mute, then it wouldn't cut you off. It was awesome!

Abigail Sara(H) Lindrud

Welcome to the world Abigail
Sara(H) Lindrud!!!!

She's soooo cute!!!

I can't wait to see her at Christmas (I'll be home Dec. 20th - Jan 2nd!)

I just got back from class. It's a beautiful day out and we had to go to class. BOOO! class wasn't too bad though. Team Building, and it got out early. 7:45 rather than 8. exciting! I am now watching Blades of Glory with Pat, Tanya, and Candace.

Saturday's class was really lame. i was really excited about it because it was British History and i love history; however, it was really boring. it was just a guy rambling on and on about who knows what. Saturday was not all boring though. That night we went ice skating!!! soooo much fun!! it was great to be back on the ice, even if i could only skate in a circle! the british were very impressed with my skills! as were my fellow interns! After skating we went to Emily's to watch a movie (13 going on 30, very cute!). We got home around 2:15am. my roommate went to bed while i stayed up to watch the wild game online. losers! it didn't start until 3am! i didn't actually make it through the whole game, i went to bed at 4:30am, only watched the first two periods. which didn't really matter because they ended up losing.

Sunday Anna made Tanya and me lunch. She always stops by to use my computer and sit around with us, so she felt as if she owed us something. i didn't feel that way, but wasn't going to say no to free food! she made some thai curry and chicken wings. very good! after lunch we went to the london aquarium. we got a 2 for 1 deal with our oyster cards (transportation passes). they had sharks, bright fish, sea horses, and jellyfish. apparently jellyfish don't have brains, blood, bones, or a heart, but they can smell and taste. i don't get it, but there was a sign at the aquarium that said it, so it must be true! after the aquarium we went and got some ice cream. mmmm mmmm good!

work has finally started to get more interesting. i am actually doing things now. i also have a different supervisor. rather than working for the one who ignores me, i am now working for my old supervisor's boss. the big boss man! i am manipulating data and making reports for him. yeah for pivot tables! eventually we are going to work on getting the reports automated. it's keeping me busy, so i'm happy!

so i've been listen to harry potter before bed. yesterday i finished the 7th book (i listened to that one first cause it's one of my favorites). brought a tear to my eye! you other harry potter fans will understand. i still have to go to kings cross station and get a picture at platform 9 3/4. they have a cart going through the barrier! i am also planning on being a crazy screaming fan at the premier of the 6th movie this summer/fall. i'm know some of you are jealous!

Wow! Liz is in labor right now!!!

I came home from work today and had an email from Shadders. Liz's water broke this morning around 6:45am. She is now in the hospital pushing and screaming at Shad!! Good luck Liz! I'm excited to see what your little demon child looks like!

This work week actually went by pretty fast. Probably because I was busy in the evenings. I woke up happy Monday morning because I didn't have to cook that night. Teresa cooked dinner for us. She made Mac & Cheese. Not the kraft kind but real stuff! It was great!

Tuesday we went to see the show Avenue Q. It is an adult version of Seasame Street. It was ok. I was expecting more. Thought it was going to be less PC (politically correct). It had it's funny moments but wasn't as extreme as it could have been.

Wednesday I stayed in. Looked up some traveling stuff. Tanya and I are trying to buy tickets for Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. We are planning on leaving July 10th and getting back to London July 13th. I also talked to Becker for about an hour and a half. He is going to be here in less than four weeks!

Yesterday night the Canary Wharf people (Canary Wharf is where I work) went out for drinks after work. We found a bar right next to the water. It was nice. A little cold though! The weather had started to get warmer but then the last few days were cold. Right now its only about 50 degrees and rainy. Not the greatest.

This weekend we have a British history class on Saturday, 10:30-5. Then I am planning on going ice skating!!! I'm WAY excited!! Then on Sunday Tanya and I are planning on going to the London Aquarium. We get a two for one deal with our Oyster transportation card. It's nice.

Right now, Chu (my roommate) and I are watching South Park. Not really sure what else I'm going to do tonight. Probably nothing too interesting!

Pictures

I finally have some pictures online.

www.geocities.com/sarah_rennweg/LondonPics

Almost Friday!

CONGRATULATIONS Justin and Bonnie for the birth of your beautiful baby girl Adelyn!!!

I love coming home to a clean apartment!!! We have a cleaning lady! It's awesome!!!

Anyways. Last Sunday the Olympic torch came through London. I thought about going to see it, but it was cold and snowy so I stayed at home. I was out for part of the day and saw a bunch of "Free Tibet" signs, so I feel as if I was part of it anyways! Some of the other interns went and said that they couldn't really even see the torch and that the torch wasn't lit. Apparently someone put it out with a fire extinguisher. So I don't feel like I really missed anything.

Tuesday night I went to the show Wicked. It was WONDERFUL!!! It's the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz's story. It was great. I would go and see it again if I wasn't on an intern's salary!!

The exciting part of my week happened today. I got all the information about the Africa Safari that I am going to go on between London and Thailand. The tour I'm taking is from March 26 - March 31,2009 and the description is here: http://www.acacia-africa.com/HolidayDetails.aspx?tc=SAI6&ProductID=7 I contacted the tourist agency about group discounts and they'll give us 10% off for booking 6 months in advance if we have 9 or below, 15% off if we can get 10-19 people and 25% off if we get 20 or more people. I have sent the info out to all the March Mountbatten interns. I haven't gotten too many responses yet; however, I know that lots of people are interested. So far we have 5 who have committed. I plan on calling airlines next to see if we can get discounted group tickets. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!! Anyone want to join?!

Other than that, not too much has happened. Right now I'm sitting in my apartment watching Harry Potter 5 and cooking dinner. This weekend we have class. Unit Two - Team Building. Should be a breeze. Have lots of experience with team building from playing hockey!!

The building where I work is in Harry Potter 5!!!!! Awesome! It's when they're flying to London to "save" Sirius.

It's Snowing!!!

It's not suppose to snow in London!! But it is! However, it is warm enough, so it's not going to stick.

Yesterday was my Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral and Dover Cliffs tour. Teresa and I met at 7:30am outside of our apartment building. We walked down to the angel stop to catch the tube only to realize that the northern line was closed for repair for the weekend. we were able to find a bus to another stop where we could take the victoria line to get to where we had to be.

It took about an hour and a half to get to our first stop, Leeds Castle. It was a very pretty castle. The first picture is Teresa and me in front of the castle. At the castle we got to play and get lost in the maze. it was lots of fun!!

After the castle we went to Canterbury Cathedral. It was a nice cathedral. We had about two hours in Canterbury and really didn't need that much time. So Teresa and I decided to do a little shopping! I ended up buying some cute tennis shoes! From Canterbury we headed for a photo stop at the white cliffs of Dover. They were pretty, but what was really cool was that we could look across the channel and see France. I waved!

We got home around 6pm, ate dinner and sat around watching planet earth and then Chappell's Show. At around 10:30pm the neighbors came over to borrow our table for beer pong. We decided to join them for a game. But lost :(

The Africa Travel Centre I was planning on heading to today isn't open on Sundays, so Tanya and I are just going to head to an STA travel center to ask them if they have any deals on safaris and flights. They open at 12 so we are just sitting around now (9:50am) watching some more Chappelle's Show.

Hopefully I'll get around to editing my photos from Edinburgh and the tour yesterday so that I can post them all for ya.

Sick :(

So I'm getting sick :( I have a sore throat and am starting to get a stuffy nose and such. It's no fun.

So work was pretty lame this week. I spent two days doing absolutely NOTHING. I changed from the control team to the projects team thinking that I would be busier, but actually doing work only lasted about a day. Then I started to get ignored again. Today was a little better. I was given some stuff to do and one of the members of my team actually took the time to explain, BR, the system that our area uses. Hopefully it gets better. If not, I might move companies. Candace works at Deutsche Bank and apparently her boss is looking for another Mountbatten Intern to help them out. So if it still stays unbelievable slow for me at Cantor Fitzgerald then I'm going to talk to Mountbatten to see if I could move to Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank would be nice to work at because then I could walk to work. It's about a 20 minute walk, but then I could return my year tube pass and get lots of money back!

Well anyways. Enough complaining. This weekend I am going on a day trip to Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, and the Dover Cliffs. They all look really pretty.

I'm also going to Stockholm, Sweden the last weekend of April. I am going with two other interns, Nadine and Anna. We are probably going to stay at a hostel that use to be a prison and then there is an ice bar there. apparently its completely made of ice. It would be extra cool if you could also skate while there, but I don't think you can.

This weekend I am also planning on talking to travel agencies on Sunday to look into going on an Africa Safari. I was thinking about going on one for the two weeks that I have off between London and Thailand. I have mentioned it to a few other interns and they agreed that it would be awesome!!! Hopefully I can find one that is not too crazy expensive and one that allows us to fly from London -> Africa and then from Africa -> Bangkok. I'll let you know on Sunday what I find.

I bought tickets for the Lion King for when Becker is here. Hope he wants to go!!! I've always wanted to see it, so I guess if he doesn't want to go I'll just go on my own!!

Anyways, thats about it. Hope everyone is doing well!