Disputes

Hi Everyone!

I guess I kind of jinxed it when I said that Tuesday was going to be the highlight of my week because it totally was. On the plus side, I feel like I'm really starting to fit in or that people are actually caring, which is bittersweet because it always happens when you're at the end of trip and just starting to get settled in.

This week I was mostly a floater because my gig with corporate got pushed to next week. Luckily disputes decided that I was useful and put me on a project! Actually, this was the first time I found that my education was remotely useful. Which is pretty alarming considering the amount of money I have put into law school and the fact that it has not really benefited me until now. Basically, they teach law in a litigation way, so I was a newbie until I actually ended up on a litigation project. Actually what was most exciting was when the trainee assigned to me came to explain most of the technical terms, I had already learned them through my previous work here. I could see her surprise as I caught on quickly and kept stopping her when she started mansplaining terms to me. I was like "yes I know what that is!" It was actually really rewarding. Too bad I'm going to come home to America and pretty much have nothing translate over. But honestly, I went dragon boat racing soooo I don't think anyone in my class can really top that in terms of life experience.

My favorite part of the rest of this week was actually when I met with a lady named Krystal. My Uncle back home had set the meeting up, and it was funny because I had no clue who she was so it was kind of like a blind date but more of a blind meeting. Also, nowadays trying to google someone is useless because their pictures are always a million years old, so they look nothing like their former selves and an old picture might even confuse you more (I'm looking at you mom and dad, those company head-shots are pre-Carolyn aka get new ones). 

Krystal is this real estate investor who has traveled the world and lived everywhere and has now moved to London for her job. Chatting with her was absolutely fabulous, not only was she energetic and excited, you could see that she loved being abroad and exploring new places just as much as I do. She's lived in Asia and now Europe, and it seems as though uprooting her life for 5-8 years at a time doesn't mean she can't have one. She still has her close US friendships, and ones she carried through her other homes, she still is close to her family, and she even has her own family. I think as someone who keeps being told by school and others that what I want can't simply be done, it is so refreshing to see that actually it can, it's just not common.

Here's to forging forward fearlessly.

Love you lots!

Carolyn

Dragon Boat Racing

Hi guys!

I've recovered from my slightly melodramatic emotional roller coaster and London flu. I took the day off work Monday just to sleep any lingering virus off. Come Tuesday morning I put my suit on, got ready for my day, and made it to work only to discover that I was going dragon boat racing for a client's charity today!

First off, I was not prepared at all, like thank god I had worn my trainers and then carried my heels. My company provided me with a team t-shirt, so that was nice. But otherwise I simply accepted that I'm dragon boat racing in slacks today (the only thing I seemed to be prepared about was that I had worn my cheapo $30 pair of trousers from Amazon because my expensive slacks were still air drying – someone needs to tell Europeans about the magic of dryers).

Of course with my luck, it was absolutely pouring down rain. Trust me, I can all hear you collectively groan about me literally just being ill for four days, but a partner invited me and how in the world was I supposed to say no to dragon boat racing! Talk about an adventure. It's kinda like rowing but there's 11 people, including the drummer who keeps us rowing in time. It was a race against different firms and companies that the client employed. I would like to point out that our firm was one of the few, aka probably the only one that was completely female dominated so I'm not sure if it really was a fair race since everyone else were hulk sized male only teams. I have a sneaking suspicion they were the engineers and builders and not the client's other lawyers.

We raced three heats, came  in last for every one but had a personal record of getting across the lake in 39.35 seconds! And we weren't the last team, that was the team in 24th place, we were simply in 21st place hehehe. Something about getting absolutely drenched together and shivering in the rain but continuing to run inside to buy tea to warm our hands or chatting about things that did not really involve work made the perfect bonding experience. I talked about horses, and running, and tv shows. Not to mention the time we spent analysing our rowing techniques and placement to gain optimal time.

As you can see I'm absolute soaked through, but so happy with my little participation medal. This day reminds me of All Schools Day, which was a secret day on the calendar of the school year where our school would set up a carnival and the student's would not know until we were about five minutes into our first class and the announcement would be blasted across the speakers. Then we would run out to the field to the bouncy houses or the cotton candy carts or whatever area was set up. Never did I imagine that would happen as an adult! But boy was it fun. I have a feeling this week is going to be pretty hard to top, especially with a start like this.

I'm off to an early bed, don't worry I've dried my hair and sat in a steaming shower for hours just to warm myself up and make the chills go away after being rained on all day. I'm am practically willing myself not to relapse into that flu (because that's totally how being sick works hehe). Update you later!

Love you,

Carolyn

Just Me

Hi Everybody!

This weekend was the worst. Being in a foreign country is amazing, until you get sick. And then you're sick alone.

Don't get me wrong, I love my own company, if I didn't I don’t think I could enjoy traveling so much. I am a good explorer, If you don't want to do something with me it that's fine, I'll just go on my own. I've never once gotten homesick on any of my travels, now before you go there, I miss you all terribly, but that's not being homesick.

There's just something extra suckish about staying in bed all day, and then realising that you have to make your own chicken noodle soup or run to the pharmacy to get medicine or make your own cup of lemon honey tea. And for the first time since being gone, I felt well and truly alone in my one bedroom apartment simply wishing  I had a roommate (for those of you that know what went down, you know that I was really feeling it to be wishing for a roommate). But you know what? In the end it was fine. Simply because all of you were there, without physically being there. 

Gardenia called and found out I was sick and basically was ready in that instant to amazon prime me anything I needed. Obviously my parents were good company, constantly checking in as Doctor Mom. Kelly listened to me whine and Tanja sent me pictures of her German sibling adventures even though she hates taking pictures. Kathleen facetimed me, and I know she prayed for me to get better soon. And before I knew it, the day wasn't so long, I had a good list of Netflix shows to get me through, and the best constant stream of company.

So when Sunday rolled around and I had to make a very long journey from my apartment to Balham to pick up my suit that Jes had borrowed and left with her aunt for me to collect. I turned that four hour journey into a mini adventure. Loaded up on lemsip and cough drops. Stopped halfway on my hour and a half tube ride for the best pancakes ever in Borough. 

And when the hostess asked me how many people were coming, I simply smiled and said "Just me." Because even though we're in different time zones and countries, even though we're millions of miles away, you're there right with me. The hostess can't see you, but I know that with a phone call or a text message, I have a whole tribe at my ready. With love like that, I simply can't feel alone.

Thank you all for being you.

Love you lots,

Carolyn

Sitting At A Giant's Desk

Hi Family!

So if you come to London to work at a law firm and say you're from America, anything you say about your work experience at US law firms will inevitably be followed up with this phrase "so like in Suits?" or "Oh just like in How to Get Away With Murder." At first I kind of balked at this, and was like no of course not like a totally fantasy tv show. However, as I continue to work here I'm start to realize that maybe, just maybe there's a little bit too much truth in either of those fantasy shows as the American lawyers have a bit too much character compared to these UK ones. 

First off, you can throw away any sense of hierarchy when you enter a UK firm. I mean obviously by title you've got your secretaries, your junior or senior associates, your partners, and let's not forget the trainees. But Imagine this, you can walk into any office, sit at any desk and go your merry own way without someone feeling insulted. That's right people, partners here SHARE offices. Not only do they share offices, but they share offices with an attorney of any rank. And if that partner or senior associate is out on holiday, they will happily have you plug in your laptop into that desk and work in their space. Which is how this girl here ended up sitting at a giant's desk.

Now I'm sure that this guy wasn't a giant, but he was definitely larger than me. Just picture me, in this seat set as low as it can go, with the arms moved way and wide out, massive leather shoes under the desk, and the monitors set to the highest height. I looked positively ridiculous sitting there,  but was too afraid to change anything, as it didn't seem right since it wasn't my seat at all. (In hindsight, I could have changed all the settings to match a person of my size and have been perfectly okay, but I didn't figure that out until the end of the week, when I had been sent back to real estate.)

Since I was working in tax this week, I was sent down to floor two and plopped into a partner's desk while he was away on holiday. Even more crazy, this partner was in a cubicle space. Maybe you guys think I'm crazy to be in such awe with such a simple thing. Let me explain to you how it went at my last firm...

Bottom rung you sit in a cubicle. A little up there and you get an inside office. Partner and you got an outer office WITH windows. Everyone wanted that window space. Your office was your own space, each one with rather pricey furniture and full of expensive flotsam and jetsam: I-don't-know-who-that-is signed baseballs, imported rugs, bottles of alcohol I don't even want to know the cost of. If I ever had to go to a partner's office to grab something, I made sure not to breathe, for fear that I would mess something up and the partner would notice, and depending on the partner, throw a rather public hissy fit about. Now not all law firms are like this I'm sure, and I will give you that I was on a very weird floor with quite a few characters. But that sense of hierarchy is and will probably always be there.

Sometimes I chuckle to myself and wonder if my reaction to London's takedown of the legal hierarchy  is maybe how soviet countries felt with the implementation of communism. It's like I've walked in an alternate universe from what I have seen before, and I gotta say, I kind of like this system here. I mean don't get me wrong, the food chain still exists here, it's not like trainees are barging into a partner's office going "yo broski" and I don't think that will ever happen. However the relationships here seem to be better and more teamwork oriented. In some weird way, within a strongly individualist society, you've managed to get a totally collectivist legal work culture.

I see this over and over again, where I'm not expected to staple 100 copies of something just because I'm an intern. Or fetch the coffee because I'm an intern. Trust me, I offer to do these simple tasks to anyone and everyone when I don't have work to do and the answer is always the same, I can do the task and simply you're not here to do x,y, or z. Shocking I know.

If you've made it this far in the post and are wondering why the heck I haven't talked about tax law, it's because it was capital B-O-R-I-N-G. I mean I can probably quote you the latest British Government opinion and actions on offshore accounts or legislature to crack down on tax evasion. I can chart you the percentages and stamp duty taxes for various sundry things. But it all boils down to tax lawyers being the middle man between a corporation/billionaire who doesn't want to pay taxes and the government trying to force them to pay taxes. And since they're lawyers, they will probably find a loop hole and be the good guy, or not find a loop hole and have to tell their client, nope that's fraud, either change it or go to jail. So probably not going to make a career of this field, but I did get some really great insights into what type of a firm I want to work for and made a really great friend, Frankie, the trainee who sat next to me and gave me some great legal exercises when my to-do lists were severely lacking. 

But beyond that, the week was quiet, with lots of down time, reading, and observing. All I can say is I can't wait to go back to real estate next week!

Love you guys lots,

Carolyn

Who Needs Prince Eric When You Have Sebastian?

Hi guys!

If you thought yesterday was good, just wait until I tell you all about how today went! Okay first off I'm old, and staying out until 3 am just is not the same as it used to be when I was 19. YIKES. Anyways that 9 am alarm was brutal, but we did it. Jes is part of this program where you can walk people's dogs for free, aka a cool way to kind of have pet time when you're not stable enough to actually own a pet. (I wonder if they have this back at home because if so I'm signing up asap). So today we went to pick up Sebastian, and it was true love. Sebastian is the cutest, most energetic dog ever. If you kneel down he'll cuddle right up to you. So needless to say walking him on the beach (another one of my favorite things in life) was simply a dream come true! I had so much fun playing around that I never wanted to leave Brighton. Alas, Jes did have to house-sit for her Aunt and Sebastian's owner came home so we had to take him back. But what an awesome way to start our day!

Traffic is never bad when you have a friend to karaoke in the car with! Even if that means that she unintentionally stalled the car at a green light because we were singing along a little too hard to ABBA's "Dancing Queen." Oopsies. The pedestrians were totally amused, the cars behind us that kind of missed the light, not so much. What can I say? Life's to short to get angry about silly things, and if you thought that a little honking and car stalling would stop our dancing queen extravaganza, nope, we continued on at the top of our lungs like the loonies we are.

Perks of going to a friend's family's house is baby photos! Here is a great photo of baby Jes. 

After checking on her two teenage boy cousins, and seeing that the house hadn't been burned down or turned into a total mess after a day of no parents, we adventured out to Brixton to meet Chinello, another one of Jes' friends. If you think lawyers can do anything, the answer is they can. Which is how Chinello literally owns her own cake shop  making this amazing fancy pants cakes as a side hustle while working  a full time job kinda related to law. Don't worry, I'm not crazy enough to open a bakery after three years of slaving away for a JD, but it's nice to see that you don't have to practice law for forever. And I'm sure the cake contracts she has are iron clad with those unsuspecting customers hehehe. After a couple of hours chatting, I was dead on my feet and took the tube home for a nice bath and an early bed time so that I could be fresh and ready for my second week of work.

Stay tuned!

Xx,

Carolyn

Brighton By The Sea

Hi Fam!

Last night when I got off work Jes and I adventured to her friend Hasmita's house. After good Indian food, fun chats, and a chick flick, we car-eoked our way to Brighton at 11 pm and reached our destination half past midnight. Jes lives in a tiny apartment that is so cute and literally a five minute walk to the beach. Weirdest thing in the morning was waking up to seagulls. I don't think I've ever woken up to seagulls. Also so weird, because in my head I know I'm in England, and it's an island, and I was right by the beach. But 11 am, foggy brained Carolyn was so confused! I have heard that you can get confused when you travel a lot and think you're waking up in one country when you're really in the next. That's never happened to me, before today. When I first woke up I thought I was in Long Beach! It was so funny and weird. If you caught that I woke up at 11, it's true. Jes and I were so tired from staying up late last night (I'm old I know) that we needed a good Saturday sleep in.

Once we were up and dressed, I met her other friends Samantha, who lives 511 steps away from Jes (she counted, not me). We went to the cutest café which served ginormous portions, like American worthy sizes. It was called Treacle and Ginger. The food was out of this world, I got a fried egg sandwich with veggies and chili jam. Who knew that chili and jam went so well together?! We must have sat there for two hours talking about everything under the sun. Actually, the topic that most came up was how Jes and Samantha lived a pretty nomadic life jumping around countries. It was really helpful to hear their advice and perspectives about moving from country to country. I don’t know guys, me moving abroad is probably going to happen and I feel like it's now a matter of where rather than if. But I've got another two years to make that decision, so we shall see.

Pro of coming to the beach is that I love the beach and the ocean is always my happy place. Con of coming to the beach is that this is an English beach and instead of sunny and 75, I got cold and windy to the tune of 40-50 mph winds. If you're wondering why I look like the Michelin man in most photos it's because getting my hair knotted for the next week was not at the top of my to do list and my ears were so cold it hurt. I'd rather look dumb and be warm. It's not as if I've got anyone to impress, sorry Jes.

We walked along most of the stretch of the beach, past the broken pier which is apparently Brighton's claim to fame. So of course I had to take an iconic picture in front of it. I think it's weird they don't just take it apart, they have a fresh pier that didn't burn down and won't pollute the ocean. But beauty or importance is in the eye of the beholder I guess. Also if you're wondering why I lost my hoodie, the answer is pure vanity. I figured I should look good for at least the 2 seconds it took to take the actual picture.

Then we went more inland to the shopping centers and I just had a really good shopping day! I got the cutest dress that I can't wait to wear to high tea with my mom and a nice little ring (I know I'm obsessed but I had to leave all my nice rings at home because I'm travelling). While I didn't take any pictures of the things I bought, I did get some good photos of the city! Isn't it just the cutest?

Apparently Kind George IV liked oriental exoticism enough to make his beachside getaway in the same fashion as the taj mahal. Now, this does not really hold a candle to the actual taj mahal, but it was nice to have a bit of familiarity in a foreign place.

After a full day of just leisurely strolling, we made it to this tiny hole in the wall Italian place. Initially we were just going to get gelato for dinner because #adulting. However the lure of true Italian in this family run restaurant was too good, and we split a pizza before indulging in ice cream. All I can say was that was the best salted caramel gelato I've had since Italy. I'm in love with this place so hope that I can come back!

Side note: I'm laughing because Jes called me a fatty when taking this picture, but I responded that actually I was an evil genius who now stole her ice cream. Don't worry, I gave it back, after I took proper ransom with three big bites. Karma Jes, karma. 

Apparently Jes and I weren't done adventuring and didn't have a late enough night last night because we then went to a bar with a live Brazilian band. We met up with Samantha and another friend Dan and literally danced and hung out. You guys know how much I love dancing, so you can imagine that I was on the floor for most of the time even though I knew none of the samba or forro steps. Literally I've been in London three weeks now and this is the second time I've shut down a bar. It's so crazy how time flies when you're dancing or just having really good chats with new friends. I can't wait for tomorrow!

Love you lots,

Carolyn

Ten Things I Learned Working In London

1. Always be aware of who is walking in front of or behind you when trying to enter a building with revolving doors. If it's a man you better watch out because there's a 99% chance they'll push the door way harder than you because they just aren't paying attention to your 5'5'' frame in the next slot and then you'll be smacked with a revolving glass door either in the face or the bum.
   
   
2. The Oxford Comma originated in Oxford. However, Brits seem to have forgotten how to use them, or just commas in general. So when in doubt, leave the comma out.
   
   
3. Start every conversation with "sorry". And if someone starts a conversation with you with "sorry" don't ask them what they are sorry about. Because they won't know and then will get thrown off their track for their actual purpose of conversing with you. It seems that everyone is "sorry" but no one is really quite sure why, so odd. My theory is these last few generations have been socially conditioned to apologize not genuinely  for all the wrongs  their empire had done in the past millennium?
   
   
4. When your supervisor tells  you to "contemplate life" while you wait for another assignment to come by, don't day dream too hard, as your big boss will definitely walk in that exact moment you've stopped paying attention and ask you what you are working on…to which your lame response will be "life?"
   
   
5. If someone says they're going to "chase you" don't worry they won't actually chase you, it's just a weird phrase they use to say that they are going to follow up with someone. Good thing I didn't start running…before you judge me too hard, remember that I worked with children and old habits die hard. The last time I heard "I'll chase you" I had 20 tiny humans coming after me and trying to take me down. Alone a tiny human isn't a threat, but in a pack they are quite a force to be reckoned with.
   
   
6. Never go grocery shopping Sunday – Tuesday. Restocking doesn't happen until Wednesday and the markets are the size of 7/11 so you are forced to go multiple times a week, including after work (Oh the horror! Buying constantly fresh food that doesn't last unnaturally long like ours does in the US. Poor me, but also poor me, because we all know how much I hate my bi-weekly grocery run). But if you forgot to go or plan wrong, you're better off ordering takeout for the next few days because Thanksgiving Day Vons has more options than these tiny shops with only the weird stuff left.
   
   
7. "Cheers!" is used to mean "thank you" or "bye". My best tip is to leave an awkward pause after the other person says "cheers" because that is way less embarrassing than walking off before your supervisor is done talking to you. Like really, the English language has how many words, and yet you use the same one word for two totally different things.
   
   
8. If you want to get to work on time during rush hour, say a hail mary, hold your breath, and cross the street quickly. You will never make it on time if you wait for a light, especially since one USA street crossing is actually three roundabout crossings with three separate pedestrian lights in the UK. Not that I would ever condone j-walking in any form, obviously I learned this all from watching others cross while I waited patiently for the light 😉.
   
   
9. If you have an "o" there's most likely a weird "u" after it. Also, if you used a "z" it's probably an "s." Remind me again how we speak the same language? Because I'm starting to feel like I learned a very different one. Oh and always google a word that looks funny before actually asking someone, google is your friend who will never judge you. Hence, how I learned that "expiry" and "courgette" were actually English words.
   
   
10. Don’t be stubborn or fashionable. Wear the stupid tennis shoes to work and then switch your shoes at your desk. I promise you walking a mile each way in you work heels isn't worth the pain, and more people will look at you funny if you do because wearing trainers and your suit on the street is normal. Let's just say I only had to make this mistake once before I carried my dress shoes in a bag.

Carolyn Can't Speak English

Hello Everyone!

I actually had a really after-work life this week, which by the way is this what it feels like to be working? I had forgotten how nice it was to "clock off" and just be able to enjoy myself once I left the office. While I know that this won't actually be the case when I start working as a real lawyer, I'm going to enjoy my time as a trainee where my biggest worries are editing and deed ticking.

After work I caught the tube to Bond Street to meet up with Jes and Carlos (Jes' friend from Spain). We had the best time chatting, so much so that the Londoners next to us huffily left their dinner table because they were so upset we were laughing. Like I'm sorry we like our lives? Sorry mate, I'm not about to be a Debbie downer just because you decided you were having a bad day in an overly crowded, too loud restaurant. Them leaving actually gave us more breathing room anyways, but I digress. It was during this dinner with too many belly laughs that I learned something rather critical. I don’t think I can speak English.

Picture this. You've got an American, a Brit, and a Spaniard. We are all speaking English, except when I speak, Jes has to translate for Carlos. That's right, Jes had to TRANSLATE between me and Carlos. So much so that sometimes I would just start speaking in Spanish because I found it easier. And I'm telling you, I can honestly sympathize with Carlos.

Coming to England I was under the gross misconception that it would be easier because I would actually be travelling to and living in a country whose language was the same as mine. WRONG. Every day I have to work so hard to understand what the people are saying around me. Sometimes I think it was actually easier in Spain. It got so embarrassing that I finally had to confess to Emma that I was not actually hard of hearing but that frankly for some reason I just could not understand her accent. I know, I know. It sounds ridiculous to me and even more so typing it out. Ironically the person I can understand best out of the whole firm is Scottish, I joke that it's because we are of the same people (which was a joke totally lost on everyone here). But honest to goodness, it took Jes translating from American English to British English for me to actually realize that there could very well be this sneaky language barrier here in London. How crazy is that!

So if you're ever having a bad day, just picture me, dressed in a suit, sitting in a partner meeting, giving 100% of my attention just to understand the meeting going on in ENGLISH and still having to politely laugh when jokes are made (usually about Americans) because I have no clue what was actually said. These pour souls have no clue how sassy I can actually be, but it's kind of hard to think of a witty retort when all you heard was the Charlie Brown "wah wah wah wah wah." Lord help them when I finally understand English! Anyways, hope I made you all laugh.

Lots of Love,

Carolyn

While You Were Sleeping

Hello everyone!

Okay I know you all are dying to know how work went…so I’m going to do something a little different and update you on the whole week. My Sunday before work was mostly being sad and crying after saying bye to Tanja and then being a whole mess of nerves for my job the next day. I knew how to get to my office (for the most part) so it was mostly me trying to tell myself I was prepared for whatever was to come. And you know what? I was. Next time I will not underestimate myself so.

I’ve changed the names of people so this blog never becomes a liability. I walk into the office all suited up (see picture above, plus shoes of course) and meet my supervisor Emma. My first rotation was in Real Estate Law and I was shocked by how much I loved it! Okay, I’m getting a little ahead of myself so I’ll backtrack. My head boss Molly was feeling a bit under the weather after returning from a polo trip in Spain (someone please sign me up for this lifestyle! That’s it, Europe here I come). However, Emma was deemed my handler for the time so she was the one who took me around the floor and introduced me to all the other associates. She’s 28 and literally has already been working in the field for five years, has a trainee, and an intern (aka me). I’ll be 28 and only a year into my legal career. Can someone please tell the US to get on this system! Man I feel so behind.

Essentially in the UK if you decide you want to be a lawyer, you go to school for a year. Then you do two years at a firm and rotate every 6 months into a different field. Like how practical is that? Suddenly I am regretting all my decisions to do an American JD over doing an English barristers. I digress.

Being a work experience intern means that you do basic work, so my days have been spent ticking deeds. So when you buy a property the other side (either the owner or solicitor) has to give you all the deeds to that land. Since England is old, I was literally working with vellum deeds from 1902. How friggen cool is that? That is, until I learned that vellum paper isn’t paper, it’s sheep skin. Bleh. Yup friends, your girl here was handling hundred year old sheep skin. Let’s just say I pretended I never heard that little tidbit after Emma so kindly mentioned it to me while making a face.

It’s funny because it was like going through history, even though my job was to just make sure that everything in the packet they said was there was actually there. I got the black carbon paper that my grandpa and my mom always talk about when they say how lucky we are to have photocopy machines these days not on this inky paper. I looked through some beautiful calligraphy from the 1910s and then saw it slowly transition to typewriting to our modern day computer fonts. Also, who knew keeping the lines straight with a typewriter was so hard? Some typewriters were definitely superior to others…or the models just got better.

Other jobs I was assigned to do were things like researching Japanese outbound real estate investments in the UK. Fascinating! I mean seriously, I honestly did not know I could be so interested in economics and land. Like I’m the girl that cried all the way through microeconomics and barely passed her macroeconomics class. And yet here I was, researching the economy and forecasts and looking at investment numbers like a walk in the park. Take that old professors!

The absolute best part of my job though, is being able to sit into Partner meetings. Molly has been so kind to arrange for all these people to take me into their meetings with the other side’s attorneys. When I walk into that room, I try to imagine myself in that position ten to fifteen years from now. These attorneys are brilliant. Everyone at work thinks that I am bored, but I’m serious. The other side proposes a change from “and” to “or” and then the attorney sits there and you can see her brain going a million miles a minute trying to guess 10 years into the contract and how that could affect any of the related clauses long term. I imagine it’s like playing chess, but with 6 chess boards and 12 players all trying to win. I can’t wait to be that good one day. Transactional work definitely seems to be where I am leaning most towards. And after sitting in on these huge project meetings for things like railways and residential buildings, I think that this could be a serious contender as an avenue of my future career. Plus, the way the world works now, real estate is international, even if it’s on your home land, I guarantee there’s at least one foreign fund or investor at stake.

I think the funniest thing about being in England is that the culture here is so different. Where I’m sure the American teams would have been shouting across the table, the Brits sit across from each other, clearly frustrated but delivering their lack of compromise with a rather neutral sentence. I was told that not all legal teams are like this, but I seem hard pressed to find a more excitable British lawyer. I’ll let you know if I ever do during my time here. It’s funny, the best I got were very high raised brows and pure stubbornness and unwillingness to budge on changes. Oooo, there was this one time where the lawyer delivered a perfectly passive aggressive statement about how if the other side were more experienced they would understand that this was a natural liability to take on in this type of transaction work. It took everything I had not to bust up laughing. I feel like if there were a dancing pink elephant in the room, these lawyers could keep their poker face on and never once crack to address the elephant. Looks like I better start working on that, my personality is to mention the elephant immediately and then move on….I might be getting tired so maybe this no longer makes sense. I’ll stop off here, but I do have further flotsam and jetsam of my working days that I’ll get to sharing with you soon! All I know is I’m loving it here and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my time will be like.

Sending you all love,

Carolyn

That Time I Walked a Marathon in 3 Days

Hi family,

Funny story I had the whole four days planned out with Tanja perfectly not realizing that my California stroll just can’t compare with the Munich march. So after three days of walking around 9 to 11 miles, we finished everything on my list. So today was a day of improvisation!

Being the best friend that I am, I waited for the coffee shops to open and brought Princess Tanja coffee in bed. Did you know that taking a boat counts as public transportation in England?! Like what the heck. It costs $50 to get to Catalina island, but today Tanja and I took a boat to Greenwich Village for 7.50 and Tanja thought that was expensive!!!

Back to blogging, today was so sunny and nice. We started off with the markets, and I’ve grown to love them. They’ve got so much character and each stall is so different. Especially near the docks, however the further we got into the city we came across “vintage markets” which literally looked like garage sales inside white booths. Just junk, and there were even CDs. When did I become old enough to have CD-ROMs become “vintage” market finds….yikes! Mostly we just strolled around taking in the English cottages growing roses in their front lawns. I swear it was the suburbia of England there.

What was actually really amazing was the fact that I stood on Earth’s zero degree line of longitude. Ever wonder what GMT means? Greenwich Mean Time. Don’t worry I was totally clueless, until Jes sassily informed me. There’s an Old Royal Observatory which is on this line and that’s where we went!

Jes told us to go to Camden next, but Tanja and I were not prepared for that town. Leave it to Jes to suggest an “alternative” market and conveniently be busy that day hehehe. Just kidding Jes, love you. But seriously, weirdest part of town. One moment we are in super cute suburbia, and the next moment we are in punksville. It’s like when Disneyland does their goth day, but this was a town with permanent punk, rock, goth day. And obviously this became insta famous or super popular, so now you have the people of Camden and then all these tourists and the area was over inundated. So Tanja and I got off the train, and then bounced real fast. I’m not claustrophobic but this was Japan or Bangladesh street traffic worthy. That’s saying something.

Tanja and I decided to walk (and by Tanja and I, I mean Tanja 😉 ) to the next subway station through the gardens to catch the tube to Notting Hill. They were having more weekend markets. We found the cutest Italian restaurant with the worst service, so we were probably there over an hour just to eat bruschetta appetizers as an afternoon snack. Overall Notting Hill was cute, there were little shops and pastel houses, but it still did not seem to hold a candle to the charm of Kensington. It was nice to walk around, but at this point Tanja and I were a bit tired of walking through more weekend markets haha. We called it a day, took the tube home and rounded the evening out with a personal record of 12 miles for the day! Honestly, our feet hurt so badly once we hopped into bed to watch How I Met Your Mother there was no going back. I am really sad for Tanja to leave, tomorrow, but she keeps telling me I’m not allowed to be sad the night before she actually leaves because we still have the morning to enjoy before her flight. Having international friends is hard, but who knows, maybe work will send me to Germany during fall semester and our reunion can be sooner than a year away! At least I know I always have a great crash pad in Germany.

Update you more later!

Lots of love,

Carolyn