Flashback - February - Man City football match

I swung up through Manchester in February to visit a buddy of mine, Sunil, with a couple of classmates. We took the opportunity to go to a football match and see Manchester City. This is one of the top teams in football - definitely in the top 4-5 in England. They played Arsenal, which is another top-10 team. And we had front-row seats. We didn't even pay that much - just got lucky. The experience was great (in spite of the constant rain/sleet/snow), but the match wasn't very good. It ended in a 0-0 ("nil-nil") tie, with Arsenal back on its heels trying to play for a draw from the very beginning. I gave it a shot, and I did enjoy the World Cup, but the average football match is just going to put me to sleep.

Flashback - February - West End nightclub

This is a friend of a friend who flew in from California to celebrate his birthday. And also a 2,000 GBP order of champagne with firecrackers stuck in the top. It's obscene! But not entirely untypical for the kind of thing you see in West End nightclubs. There is a lot of wealth in London due to all the finance that's based here, and people like to party hard.

Clubs are "the thing to do" on a Friday or Saturday night, if you can afford it. This one is Jalouse, I believe. If you look at the ceiling in the video, you'll see that it's covered with lights that normally light up and change with the music.

Flashback - January - MBAT

In January I traveled to HSBC (just outside of Paris) for MBAT. This is an annual tournament for all the MBA schools in Europe. LBS, naturally being one of the largest schools, was a perennial winner and 5-time-running champion.

Well, until we broke the streak. But who can blame us? HSBC has started recruiting athletes, and gives academic class credit for exercise (effectively like taking a PE class in high school). I don't disagree with the idea, though - it seems to have created a shared bond within the school, a commonality for everyone to rally around. LBS is probably 4x larger but we were beaten in most of the sports we competed head-to-head in. Basketball was no exception, but it was a thriller - it came down to literally the last shot / possession.

Marrakesh - final pictures

I wanted to share two final pictures from Marrakesh. The first one has a story. I passed a small arcade in a shop while I was walking around the city. Some boys were playing foosball, so we joined in. They were pretty good! One kid (probably sensing opportunity) took us under his wing and led us to the city sites. We had been lost, and in all honesty, his guidance was immensely helpful. Afterward he led us through some winding streets that functioned as a metal-working district for the city and eventually to his family's shop. They dye scarves in beautifully rich colors and then the women embroider thread into them. The kid led us to the rooftop of his house where we hung out for a bit to watch the sun set. Scarves were hung to dry on everything - even the TV antennae. This pic reminds me of that whole experience, but has beautiful colors in its own right - the rich, deep blue against the skyline and the sunset.

The final picture is of graffiti, which I love to photograph and I find to be radically different from culture to culture. The wear-and-tear on this picture just adds to its character, and the lighting is perfect. The swan-like figure is dressed, has teeth, wears a comically small hat, and shields its eyes from something - in this picture, it seems to be hiding from the light. The childish figure seems very emotive, and a bit ominous.

Marrakesh - street scenes

The streets of Marrakesh have a very distinctively look to them. The colors are all muted reds and beiges, with red dust hanging in the air. The architecture recalls better times, when kings ruled and had built up palaces and giant walls in their capital city. It is slowly crumbling today and lacks the funding to be maintained.

Children are ubiquitously running about and playing games. People wear muted colors that match the buildings around them, with bright flashes of color in the occasional scarf or shoe. Women are all covered from head to toe, though a full muslim burka is a rare sight. People here are used to tourists and are very friendly, but are shrewd negotiators.

I love both of these pictures - they capture the people, and the action, that you see in every Marrakesh street. The top picture is especially beautiful, with the rays of light shining through into the alley, and vitality of the alley.

Marrakesh - Jardin Majorelle

I went to Marrakesh for a weekend in January with three classmates. It was a great trip - very relaxing, warm weather, great meals, and all the prices were at a steep discount to London.

We didn't spend much time in the Jardin ("Garden") Majorelle, but the color in these pictures came out stunningly well, so I wanted to share them. It was a beautiful place - I've been to dozens of gardens, but never a tropical garden that had figured out a way to showcase bamboos and palm trees so uniquely. Interestingly it's owned/maintained by Yves Saint-Laurent (the company), and Yves Saint-Laurent (the person) chose to be buried here when he died in 2008.

The Tube

The London tube. I think it's fair that this picture (dead of morning - first run of the tube) is the only time you'll ever see it this empty. During rush hour it's packed like a sardine can - and some people have body odor, let me tell you.

I used to ride the tube on occasion - maybe the weekends - but now I'm a regular commuter. I travel to work twice a week. The tube is a wonderful source of transportation; I would never own a car in the UK. But the tube lines are often delayed ("person under a train" means suicide, FYI) or shut down completely. If the tube was more reliable, and/or ran 24 hours per day (it stops at 12:30am), it would be perfect. I find that riding the tube is a good way to become proficient at iPhone games.

Europe's finest nightlife

Only in Europe...




And no, I do NOT know him.

Santa pub crawl - December

I realize that it's March - but! - it has been a very busy semester for me. Next semester may be even more so. Classwork has proved to be easily manageable, but my internship is a big drain on my time. I really enjoy the work so I'm not complaining. But I am a busy, busy bee.

These pictures are obviously a bit dated. But I wanted to share them anyway, because this was a blast. One of my school's biggest social traditions is the Santa pub crawl that we do right before our December exams. Hundreds of people dress up in Santa suits and walk around London - from the tube, to an amusement park, to bars and eventually a nightclub. It's chaotic! It pretty much stops traffic / pedestrians / everything as people stop and gawk at us going by. Oh, and naturally, we're singing carols.

"The Local"

A common expression in England is, "my local," or "the local." It is inevitably a reference to the pub that is closest to you, generally within just a few streets, and that you patronize on a regular basis. It's cultural here that you go to the pub regularly - and almost expected that you'll support your local business.

For me it's almost too easy. The Hobgoblin is just 100 yards away. I can always find a free seat (sometimes it's downstairs) and the beer prices are fair. But the big thing - and the real reason I go so often - is the Thai food. A Thai family has set up shop downstairs and cooks fantastic food at super-cheap prices. They can bring your food upstairs to the pub or you can get it as take-away, which me and my roommate often do. At 6-7 pounds per entree, it's a price and convenience that can't be beat in my neighborhood.

Culture! Class!

This is just a quick post to say, yes, I am getting my share of proper London culture in. This is a pic from a trip I made to watch the Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra play in the Chelsea old town hall. My friend Genevieve is both a Masters in Finance student at school and a musician in the orchestra, so she got a bunch of us some discounted tickets.

Even more impressive was my more recent trip to the Royal Opera House for a performance of La Boheme. I had awesome seats on the left hand side in the lowest balcony. Ok, so this is obviously a stock photo - but you get the idea. It wasn't really a "take lots of flash photography" kind of event - in fact, no pictures are allowed during the performance.

La Boheme is the most popular opera of all time. I think this is largely attributable to the fact that it is truly funny. I laughed out loud on a regular basis. And it's a little ribald, which reminded me of Shakespeare. I guess if you want to stand the test of time, you have to appeal to the masses, and to our lewdest sense of humor.

The opera was wonderful - it ran three and a half hours but felt like it ended too early. The actors/singers were amazingly talented - what else could you expect from a ROYAL opera house? I can't wait until I can go again.

The Christmas Spirit in London

London gets REALLY dressed up for Christmas! Far more than Atlanta ever did. This holiday season saw a remake of Disney's A Christmas Carol, an animated movie voiced by Jim Carey. Which also happens to be modeled after a British book by Charles Dickens. So there was a natural tie-in for them to sponsor Christmas decorations all over Oxford Street, a major shopping and nightlife area in London. It was great!

But it was Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park that really put me in the Christmas spirit. It was a HUGE winter carnival. I had never heard of a winter carnival before, but it's very much like a normal carnival, except there are more bratwursts and hot chocolates and mulled wines. I had a thick hot chocolate with a shot of Bailey's in it, and enjoyed it next to a fireplace; absolute perfection on a cold day.