Great Success!!

No worries everybody, I can drive on the other side of the road!! Probably better than I drive regularly, actually. The biggest issue is when I'm turning on my turn signal: I always turn my wipers on!

So I woke up even earlier than usual today, just in case I had any issues with driving. I had to be at a meeting with one of our clients at 9 AM. No biggie. Except I got lost. I magically somehow managed to find my way and get there at 8:55 (I left at 8 AM and mapquest says it's only 11 min away). It's so crazy though, even though I admit I have a horrible sense of direction, this city doesn't help!! There are barely any street signs and when there are you only see them after you pass them!

Everything turned out ok though, I got to the meeting and everyone was chill. The meeting was awesome, it was a communication strategy/competitor analysis/positioning & differentiation meeting. I was amazed at how different the market and trends are here compared to abroad. I know it's expected, but for example: "Green" is insignificant here. Nobody cares about products/brands that are environmentally conscious, and no one is willing to pay more for one that is. It's kind of beginning to become something, but as our Strat person put it "We have so many bigger issues to take care of in this country that the environment is not the priority". I was a little surprised considering all of the natural wonders they have here...

Anyways, both the client and my supervisor were really impressed by my input and thanked me for my insights, and assigned me to a major part of our campaign!!

Agency life has been amazing, I only have one issue with it: there's a meeting scheduled tomorrow during the Brasil v. Portugal game. Since we're already qualified, I guess I'll survive, but... oh well everyone has to make sacrifices right?!

Besides that: I found a Brasil vuvuzela!! FINALLY! So now I guess I HAVE to go to the next round games, hahaha. I decided to save all my money and try to get more money to do these things (not necessarily in this order)

- World Cup Final Match

- Kruger Park Safari to see the Big 5 (5 most dangerous animals to hunt)

- Victoria Falls

- Cape Town: Cage diving with great white sharks & possibly Skydiving

I know, I know. Not really realistic. But hey, after making it here, I am a firm believer of the "it could happen" mentality.

Check off the Bucket List

Yup. I did it. I can tell my kids I went to a World Cup game. AMAZING! Brazil 3 v. Ivory Coast 1. I can't even begin to explain how surreal it was. We had sick seats (well we didn't really have them, we kind of just stole them lol, but they were sick regardless), and the stadium was sold out. By we I mean me and a group of 8 other Brazilians that I met while waiting for the bus to go to the stadium downtown. Supposedly the bus was supposed to get there at 4:00 PM, and by 4:30 a couple of jam-packed busses had passed by. Even though the game was only at 8:30, we got kind of worried about traffic and whatever, especially since this bus was going to take us to another bus, yada yada yada. So we decided to take a van, but as we were walking to the van a taxi stopped and negotiated a really good price to take us straight to the stadium. Can you take 9? He said yes, so we squeezed in! PRICELESS! Probably one of the funniest half hours of my life! Then we got to the stadium which is gorgeous, especially on the inside! There were Brasil fans from everywhere around the world - the seats we were taking initially belonged to a group of people from Yemen, who loved Kaka apparently (Check them out below- the picture sucks but you get it). Anyways, after pre-gaming a little, the game started. And the rest is history!

I'm going to try to go to the next round game at Ellis Park. Cross your fingers!!

Speaking of games, apparently one of the AEs (Caro, just because you asked: Account Executive) found out that I live in the US today, called american football a pansy sport, and is going to take me to watch the Springboks! He knows someone that does their marketing so he can get free tickets! I'm so psyched!

The agency is amazing, the Client Services Director decided not to assign me to a specific account since everything is so hectic with the World Cup, so I'm going to be working on all accounts! I went to a commercial shoot yesterday, which was really cool! And the commercial is going to be mostly animated so it was funny watching the actors against a blue screen and trying to imagine the finished product. I'm getting briefed tomorrow on a new pitch we're going to work on as well: very exciting!

Tomorrow I get my rental car... pray for me!

Excitement > Jet-Lagged-ness

Finally my first day at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, aka Hunts! It's official, I got my own @tbwa.co.za email and everything! Although I'm still extremely jet-lagged and hadn't slept at all the night before, it was amazing! I filled out all the paperwork & got the full blown tour of the entire agency (which is Huuuuuge! There's 9 other group companies, including TEQUILA\, integer, and Room 13). I learned more about the agency's history and philosophy, which is "Life's too short to be mediocre". Hell yeah!

By the way, I haven't mentioned that I've never felt more at home at an agency. They were completely decorated with flags, soccer balls and vuvuzelas hanging from the ceiling, world cup paintings on the way, besides all the TVs showing the games all over the place. It was love at first sight!

I also got to sit into a pre-prod meeting with the agency and then with the client, and Monday I get to go to the shoot! Sweet! I'll only know who I'm assigned to tomorrow though, at the Client Services meeting. Get exciiiited!

I still haven't told you guys about the atmosphere though. Some of you may have seen/heard of the Zimbabwean Trillion Dollar Campaign. If not, just click on the thumbnail above. Anyways, they are officially the most awarded campaign of the year, bringing 63 awards and counting. And I was there - I saw them: Black Pencil, Black Cube, Yellow Pencils, Lions, Clios... right in front of me. And all of it for this one campaign. Everyone is ecstatic all around, it's an awesome vibe!

So yeah, all in all, besides being exhausted, work was a great success. I'm going to try to work on my accent so I don't stand out so much. Now GO LAKERS and then maybe an hour of sleep before my second day at work!!

Ayoba yo!

I'm sitting in bed at my apartment, and yet somehow it has yet to hit me that I'm in South Africa for 2 months. Everyone here is extremely friendly and always smiling, and there are vuvuzelas EVERYWHERE! I still haven't bought mine but don't worry, before Sunday's game I'll be better equipped!

As for the game, a win is a win. I'll take it. Maicon's goal was siiick though.

This picture is actually my first picture in South Africa - don't worry I'll have maaaany many more, my internet is just slow here so it's kind of a hassle to upload pictures, but they'll be on Facebook. The sunrise was gorgeous! As for the rest of the trip... well here goes: I started at the Orlando International Airport around 3 PM on Sunday. I waited in line for about 2 hours, got yelled at by a crazy Argentinian lady who then started talking about me in Spanish thinking that I wouldn't understand... Needless to say I was pretty stressed by the time I finally checked in. Dallas was chill, and I got to London at 12:45 PM English time. I was exhausted, so I went to go look for a hotel at the airport.

I get to this cafe place and ask the dude "Do you know where the Yotel is?" He started laughing... "Yotel?" "Yup." "Do you mean hotel?" and he starts laughing, probably at me, my accent, and what I was saying. "No, it's a hotel called Yotel. Do you know where it is?" At this point he was dying of laughter and just directed me to the information desk. It exists I promise!! And it's really funky: check out the room I stayed at, it was like a space ship! It was really comfy though, and then I went to a pub to watch Italy v. Paraguay and have some brewskis, and met some cool people.

The flight to Jo'burg was really chill, because there was a TV in front of each seat and you could pick what movies to watch and they had all the new releases! Then once I got here I figured everything out: groceries, phone, internet, etc. Now I'm officially pooped out and extremely jet lagged, I need sleep!

I start working on Thursday, because tomorrow is a holiday here: Youth Day, where a bunch of people protested against the poor Bantu Education system and the segregation in schools.

Anyways, see ya later!

Home is...

I had been telling friends and family that I would start a blog to keep everyone updated with my summer adventures, and here it is. Hours before I get back to the US after spending two weeks in Brazil, and a week before I arrive in Johannesburg to start my summer internship.

This is going to be the summer of a lifetime! I spent a week in Brasilia with my family, who I hadn't seen in about 6 months, a week in Rio de Janeiro, and now I'm headed off to Orlando to compete in the NSAC Nationals with the rest of the Arrowhead Team, aka Team Bad-ass. Anyone who knows me, or is in one of Barry Solomon's Principles of Advertising classes also knows that after that I'm going to spend 2 months in South Africa interning at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris... and maybe watching a little bit of THE WORLD CUP!!!

All this traveling has got me thinking: where the heck am I going to go after I graduate? Is home where my parents are? where I was born? wherever I get the best job opportunity? When I was in Rio everyone kept asking me if I was going to come "home" after graduation, and I have no clue what to tell them. Either way, I miss my friends and family here, but when I'm here I miss everyone in the States. I'll keep you posted on what I decide, but I still have some time. May 2011 to be precise!

Anyways - peace out Brazil! See you for Christmas!!