London: Surveying and skating in Jolly Old! Summer 2014: Day 47 6/25/14 (Presenting, finishing the report, packing, celebrating, trampolining)

We all wanted to get to the office around 10 AM to practice our final presentation since the first one was at 12 PM. I was up around 9 AM and had my French toast (2 slices) for breakfast. It was one of the better breakfasts I have had here as the toast was utterly delicious. At the office we worked on the report and then practiced our presentation. We also stepped through the slides in outline form to get comfortable with the different slides. At around 11:50 AM we walked over to the conference room with our advisors (Shockey and Ruiz), Katy and several other staff members. There were about 12 people watching our presentation including: Katy, Peng, Paul, Shockey, Ruiz, the Pro Vice Chancellor of the University, a City Council member and several other people involved in sustainability. Our presentation went really well and was around 23 minutes. The group even laughed at several of our jokes and asked some great questions. We really nailed it on this presentation though. After this we chatted for around 30 minutes before heading to the cafeteria for some food. I had literally no money on me so I had to borrow £2.50 from Shoop to buy some yogurt, Doritos and a banana (lunch of champions there). After lunch we derped around and were nearly late for our 2 PM presentation at the housing forum inside of Guild Hall. We grabbed the mini-bus there from the university and made it there right about 2 PM. Once there we were rushed into the big council chamber. We walked into a room where the curtains were drawn and it looked a bit like the war room from the Pentagon. Once in there we had to assist the IT guy to get the PowerPoint loaded onto the computer. At first the meeting started while Shoop and I were trying to get things up and running. At one point the whole surge strip even flipped the fuse for the outlet we were using (and all the power died)! After we changed outlets and finally got all the PowerPoints up we realized that another “10 minute” presentation had to go before ours. This “10 minute” one turned into half an hour and was absolutely horrid. It was a mixture between spoken pre-recorded narration and awkward music cuts including a cut to “Our House” by Madness (to be fair the presentation was on providing good housing for the homeless). The part that made the PowerPoint terrible was the fact they tried to squeeze a novel on each slide. The graphics were almost impossible to read as well. There were hard copies of the slides available, but apparently even those were not readable either. Either way it finally ended and we had the chance to present after Katy and Peng gave us a “30 second” intro. It was context about the Energize Worcester program. Then it was our time and I started off with an enthusiastic “hello!” and then started our presentation. I think everyone was shocked a bit to have the energy level suddenly raised. We then proceeded to crush our presentation (aka nailed it!) despite me derping and skipping one slide ahead by accidently clicking the mouse. We even opened the room up a bit and got a few chuckles and laughs and smiles. There was a sense of tension in the room as the political environment had just changed with the elections and everyone was nervous. After the presentation we received a few questions and the group seemed to be generally pretty enthusiastic about our work. We then explored Guild Hall with Stefan, Nick, Ruiz, Shockey and Peng. After a number of photos of us in our suits, we left for the cathedral and got some photos in there as well (As Ruiz had purchased a photo pass). After the cathedral we headed toward the train station again and dropped off both professors. At his point we were basically done with the day and walked back to the university in our suits. We changed and then I packed a little in the afternoon. It wasn’t too long before we had to go meet Katy and Shania in town at the Diglis hotel (one of the pricier pub/hotel places right along the river. At the Diglis we drank one pitcher of Pimms (lemonade and vodka or some other alcohol) before Nick and Stefan showed up and then we finished another with them there. The mixture was 3 parts lemonade to 1 part alcohol so it was really diluted. The top of the mixture also had a number of different cut up fruits. We kept waiting for Peng to join us, but we later learned from him that a bird had nailed him on his shirt and pants and thus was just going home for the day. So we never got to say goodbye to Peng and thank him one last time. After a couple hours at the Diglis, we traveled to Katy’s house and had a vegetarian BBQ there with lots of veggie chicken and meat-free foods. We also had a good amount of cider there. The best part had to be the trampoline that had been set into the ground. So I practiced my jumps and learned a few moves from Shania (Katy’s daughter). The first time I went to do a front flip I landed directly on my face. I did improve and eventually nail it though. We chilled at Katy’s house until around 11 PM and then decided to go to Bushwackers to get some dancing in. Once at Bushwackers, Nick and I had two tequila shots (where you have to lick salt off of your hand after the shot and then eat a lemon). It wasn’t that great of a time there so I left around 1 AM and walked back alone. Back at the flat I just packed the rest of my clothes and then Nick showed up around 2 ish and he was really gone. Eventually we did end up watching last night’s John Stewart and Stephan Colbert. About halfway through the Colbert episode, Shoop and Stefan showed up and we all chatted for a bit before going to be around 330 AM.