JGH's blog

Packing is a nightmare. I wouldn’t fancy myself a fashionisto, but my clothes are important to me. So are my accessories. And shoes. Particularly my shoes. The problem with shoes is that they are heavy and when strict weight restrictions are being imposed upon me by airline staff clearly not acquainted with fashion and style, I am forced to edit my perhaps a little larger than average shoe collection. Let’s just say, Sophie’s Choice. After a massive struggle, and maybe a few tears, I managed to squeeze nine of my favorite pairs into my luggage. Looking at my bulging suitcase I worried that it might be over my 50 pound limit, but all of my nail-biting turned out to be wasted when the man checking my bags did not even glance at the scale. I did. The suitcase with the shoes was 75 pounds. Whoopsie. Let’s just say a little prayer for negligent airline workers. The flight was relatively uneventful. I picked at some low quality airplane food, and watched 10 minutes of the Nia Vardolos’ bomb My Life In Ruins, before turning to my Ipod and headphones. We actually arrived early which would have been wonderful, had we not arrived so early that the shuttle waiting to take us to our dorms would not be arriving for another hour and a half. Bummer. I hate the feeling of being mid-trip. I am not one who luxuriates in the charm of the journey. I like to be one place and then, suddenly, another. The in-between is almost unbearable, and sort of causes me anxiety. So, having to pause when I was so close to finally settling into my new home country was positively enraging. Eventually the shuttle did show up and I somehow managed to maneuver my many bags on to the bus with no injuries. The ride began, and, although I was exhausted, I was desperate for my first peek at London, and decided to skip the nap and, instead, gaze wide-eyed out of the window. The whole driving on the other side of the road thing was more difficult than I thought to get used to. Every 20 seconds or so I would gasp, thinking we were about to be hit head-on. Still adjusting to that. Anyway, after a few minutes of highway, we were suddenly in the metropolis. That’s when the oohing and ahhing began. I couldn’t help myself. Every road, every shop had a European charm that was irresistible. I swooned at the romantic vision of myself traipsing through these streets in the various outfit/shoe combinations I had pre-planned. Preferably on the arm of a rich and handsome Londoner. A boy can dream, right?Anyway, we eventually arrived at the dorm, and after two very kind staffers helped me with my bags, I found myself alone in my new room/closet. It’s tiny. After mildly panicking at the lack of closet space I began to unpack. Last was the shoes. I carefully arranged them as best I could at the bottom of closet. I looked at my favorite penny loafers, falling apart at the hell, my new Calvin Klein lace ups, my favorite black Frye boots, and smiled thinking of all the places they would soon be taking me.

xoxo

JGH

Um, so apparently I fail at properly using this website/attending this course/reading emails. This, my introductory blog post, should have been completed and posted some time ago, however, better late than never so here I go. I am Jacob.I am a 20 year old junior in the Gallatin school studying entertainment journalism and creative writing. I drink excessive amounts of Diet Coke. I expect this to one day result in some rare disease and/or disorder. I fix my hair approximately 10,000 times a day. I like things that sparkle and shineI sometimes forget which events have happened in my real life and which have happened on TV. I am living the next few months of my life in London. Whenever people ask me the inevitable question of “what’s your major?” I always have the choice of awkwardly fumbling through my little shpiel about Gallatin, and individualized study and blah blah blah or sort of fibbing and saying that I’m majoring in either writing or journalism. Wanting to be accurate/honest, I tend to go for the first option which is kind of a conversation killer a lot of the time. The explanation is confusing and weird and I only pray that somehow I can clearly convey what I have been doing with the past four years of my life once I am faced with the unenviable task of impressing potential employers. NYC partygoers tend to perk up, though, when I tell that, right now, I am focusing on tabloid/celebrity journalism. In New York, I interned at OK! Magazine, which was one of the most truly amazing experiences of my life. I had heard so many horror stories about interns tasked with slave labor and hellish Miranda Priestley-style bosses, that I was nervous about my fate at OK!, but I ended up not only vibing with my co-workers but getting to do genuincly fun and interesting work, even (gasp) getting to write, and rub elbows with big name celebs at movie premieres and red carpets. Basically my dream come true. I only focus so much on this internship because it is a huge focus of where I am right now in my mid-academic life. I hope to continue to grow in this field when I intern for the Daily Express in London. So that is where I am at right now in a nutshell. Dreaming of red carpets, and one day maybe actually making some money doing something I like.  Stay tuned for post #2.

xoxo

JGH