The Office, a tryptic
1. Literally, my officeA colleague and super awesome guy, Simon Berry, offered up his desk (and accompanying wifi router, comfy chair and tall tea cup) for me to use as often as I like in the 1 London Bridge CAN center. This is super cool. CAN is a company that builds awesome office buildings in very accessible/popular areas and then nonprofits get to fill up the open plan space on the cheap. They get communal board and meeting rooms, kitchens on every floor, and all that kind of stuff. It's great. Simon runs RuralNet and is only in his desk in London maybe once a week or once every two weeks and that is just for meetings in meeting rooms anyway. So, I've taken him up on his offer, at least while we don't have internet at home, and have been commuting from Camden down to the south waterfront. It is about 30-40 min commute depending on traffic, and it makes me feel very at home coming down hill, hitting the bridge and riding along the water to work, just like back in Portland; this time though, the bridge is huge, the river is huge, and it feels even more important and connecting to be aware of the city from the bridge. Pictures of 1 London Bridge below...
2. Figuratively, Max's school
On our second day in London, when all of the letting agencies were closed and we couldn't work on finding an apartment, we biked to Max's school to check it out, prove it exists and all the loan money was really going to a legitimate place, and figure out how to get there for once he was in session. It is all very compact, the buildings made into each other, more or less, and pretty old - all as we expected. We took a couple pictures of the school, the famous graduates' names carved into the steps, and Max standing out front. He just finished his week of orientation and tomorrow will begin for real! Whatever that means. He doesn't have classes so it is hard to know what to expect. He has three other people (all girls) in his program. There are also four students in lighting design, sound design, and directing (and most all are girls, in the school at large, and graduate degrees at large). He has projects with all of the students in Advanced Theatre Practice and then individual projects, as well as paired work with members of other strands. It is broken into four terms with each one building on the previous. We'll keep you posted on his projects and the school!
3. Comedically, the tv show
We still don't have internet in our place so haven't been able to watch much online, like the Daily Show or the debates, etc. Max was able to download The Office (US version, already watched UK) season 1 over the course of the week by connecting to the wifi on his campus and any rogue signals at home. So, we have been able to have one bit of sit-back-and-relax viewing thanks to Michael and the gang :) We are about to jump in to season 2, now, so more updates later!
:)
