I just love flashmobs, and this is a true beauty! Wish I had a commute like this 
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Loving flashmobs!
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Category Archives: fun
Good intern memories
Since last Monday we have a new intern at our office, Marcus from Bornholm, which is a Danish island near the Swedish coast. He arrived last Friday morning, and after he had left his stuff at his room, he dropped by at the office. Still a bit tired from the early morning flight, he met all of us and joined us for a drink that afternoon.
It was funny that his arrival brought back a lot of good memories of my own period of being an intern at Novedge in San Francisco, already 2,5 years ago. My flight left around 11 AM from Amsterdam, and after a 9-hour flight and several hours in time difference, I arrived on SFO at 2 PM. My new boss, Franco, picked me up and drove me to the office (I’ll leave out the part where we found out that I got scammed for $ 1000 by paying rent for a room that didn’t exist, these are not good memories :-p). There I met my new colleagues, Cris and Carolyn. Everybody was excited that I arrived, while I could only think of a nice bed to sleep in. So Carolyn went to Google Maps, printed a map of downtown San Francisco and started to explain very enthusiastically what to do in the city. ‘If you walk that way, all down Market Street, you’ll end up at the Ferry Building. If you go left, and follow the street car, you’ll pass Pier 39 with lots of nice shops and of course the sea lions! You’ll also see Coit Tower, which is a perfect spot for a panoramic view on the city.’ My head started to spin a bit harder, but I tried to stay focused and process all this new information. She continued, pinpointing at the map: ‘Here you have Lombard Street, there is the Pyramid, Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate park, …’ It was so sweet to see Carolyn explaining all the best spots in town, but as it was already very difficult to keep my eyes open, it was a bit too much at the moment. Luckily there was plenty time during the next 6 months for Carolyn and me to explore the city (and more of California) together .
Ahh… those were the times! Although I’m starting to fall in love more and more with Denmark at the moment, there are still pieces of my heart which I left in San Francisco…
Saying goodbye to London
After 5,5 months in London, it became clear last week that this week will be our final. Sad to leave the fun people I’ve met here, but glad to be going home. It’s been quite a trip: lots of fun, sight seeing and musicals, but also lots of snow, several delayed or cancelled flights and long working weeks. But in the end, the client is very happy with our performance and the job we’ve done, and that’s what counts.
To get the most out of my last weekend I’ve planned lots of things to do and see. So I was pretty sad when it turned out to be raining all weekend (how appropriate…), but luckily that didn’t spoil all the fun. I started with the changing of the horse guards on Saturday morning. Unfortunately that wasn’t exciting as I hoped it would be, but it’s great to see all the tradition and customs the English have. After that, I did some shopping and went to Leicester Square where I met Hieke. I know Hieke from my time at university (many years ago 
), and she’s currently in London doing research for her PhD thesis.
At my favourite shop in London (the TKTS discount ticket booth ) we bought 2 tickets for Blood Brothers. No problem at all I’d seen this musical already last November; I was really excited to see it again! After that we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral to experience the beauty of this cathedral and the crypt, one of Sir Christopher Wren’s master pieces. Actually I like St. Paul’s cathedral better than Westminster Abbey, the latter is more like a huge burial ground while the first is a beautiful organized, structured cathedral without statues and coffins everywhere .
At 5 PM the evensong started at St. Paul’s, so we stayed to listen to the wonderful singing of the cathedral’s choir. After some dinner we took the tube to the Phoenix Theatre at Charring Cross Road where, for the second time, I cried out loud at the finale of Blood Brothers. Such an amazing story, with the first party being hilarious most of the time (when everybody is still young and reckless) and the second part being more serious when life as a grown up can be tough. Highly recommend everybody to see this musical! Thinking about writing a blog post about all the musicals and shows I’ve seen here, just as a recap of the cultural blast of the previous months.
This week we’re wrapping up our work, getting rid of the last to-do’s on our list. Friday morning I’m flying back home, with lots of good memories of these months in London. After a (hopefully) quiet weekend I’ll be back in business next week Monday, starting a new assignment in The Hague.
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!
Exploring London
Although this is my 4th month in London, there’s still loads left to explore. Luckily there’s also much time, since I’m not going home as much as I did last year. This morning I first had a 40 minute swim at the Tiller Leisure Center, which is actually very close by my apartment. So that’s not an excuse anymore. Let’s just hope I can continue this behavior :-p.
The Lonely Planet with all the earmarked todo’s got stolen last year after I left it in my mailbox for a colleague, so after my swim I worked my way through my newly bought Rough Guide of London. Earmarked everything again, and realized I have to spend my spare time more efficiently if I want to tick-mark all earmarks :-p. So I walked to the tube at Canary Wharf to get to Leicester Square for my first goal of the afternoon: musical ticket. And yes, they had a perfect seat available at Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ at the enormous Dominion Theater at Tottenham Court Road.
After this victory I went to St. Martin’s in the Field, a little church next to Trafalgar Square. When my mom was in London last November, she told me about the world famous orchestra of this church (which I’d never heard of), and almost made me promise I’d go to a concert at this church one day. So I went inside to get the program for the next few months, and lucky as I was, a little orchestra was rehearsing for tonight’s concert! So I took a seat in the benches and enjoyed the beautiful music for some time. But it already started to get dark (at 3.30 PM, I’m ready for Spring to come again!) and I still wanted to take a walk outside, so I took off to Temple and Holborn, where I wandered around for some time. Later that afternoon, my colleague Dominic texted me if I was in for some drinks, so we met at the tube station and found a beautiful old pub, called the White Hart.
(7 PM)
And now I’m at the theater, waiting for the show to begin and using the time to pre-type this blog post, so I can directly upload it when I’m back home. And of course I’ll add a little review about the musical .
(9 PM)
Okay, it’s break now, and this musical is just mind-blowing, freaking AWESOME!! All the elements of a fantastic musical are there: beautiful, rocking music, a big cast with fantastic dancing, a great story and a beautiful stage. It’s awesome to hear all these familiar songs and lyrics, and the writers made an amazing (and hilarious) story out of it where all the songs fit in perfectly! Thank God there’s a second part, can’t wait until the break is over!
(10.45 PM, in the tube back home)
*speechless*
*flabbergasted*
Well, let me give it a try… The second part was as extraordinary as the first part, and the grand finale was just…. I don’t know the perfect word for it. Loud rocking music and lights flashing everywhere! Adrenaline raging through every body in the theater, including the actors. And that voice of the main character (who isn’t really playing Freddy Mercury, but he could be)!!! All the big hits passed by, ending with Bohemian Rhapsody, with a brilliant guitar solo. It still gives me goose bumps thinking about it.
I can only recommend to everyone to go and see this musical and experience yourself how this musical affects you. With having seen more than 20 musicals in my life, I rate We Will Rock as the most awesome so far!
(thanks to wewillrockyou.co.uk for the pictures )
Don’t miss…
…this awesome video! I love flash mobs (remember the one at Antwerp Central Station?), but this one is just amazing! It gave me lots of goosebumps, so I don’t want you to miss out on this video!
This song is from Handel’s Messiah, which I’m going to see on December 12 in the Royal Albert Hall, here in London, which makes me love this video even more!
Carolyn, what’s the link to your flash mob at Union Square in San Francisco?!