Hey everyone I am Fiona Macintyre, I’m currently living and working in Los Angeles where I am interning with MediaXchange, doing a Marketing placement with them for the next 2 months. I have been here for 10 days now and already I feel at home….I have my wedding dress waiting now all I need is a willing man…. Fast track to a Green Card!! Ha Ha of course I am only kidding! So anyway a little bit about MediaXchange as they are the sole reason I am out here living my summer in LA. MediaXchange are a relatively small company who deal with big clients to bring together media executives, writers and producers who and looking to grow their knowledge of international media markets and expand their creative vision. MediaXchange are a specialized company who deal globally but provided a highly personalized service to their partners and clients. I have come out here to help them build their client communications both online and offline and develop new was of keeping in touch with their current and potential clients. So that’s the basis to why I am here now on to how I am getting on at work and out and about in LA…. So my first day was Sunday the 12th of July… I had an interesting morning trying to sort my rental car out for my time here, as LA is such a huge city it is literally impossible to get about without a car and believe me everyone drives here so it was a nessesity, however it wasn’t quite as simple as turning up getting some keys and driving away so it took a few days but we got it sorted. Once I was back at my apartment I got an email from Alison Simmons (my colleague at MediaXchange) inviting me to spend the afternoon in Santa Monica with her and her family so off I went in hunt for the Big Blue Bus …. I got to Alison in time for us to catch a couple of hours of sun by her pool and have an informal introduction to both each other and to what MX had in store for me. We walked the 4 blocks down to Santa Monica beach before I headed back up to my apartment for the night. Wide awake at 5am Monday morning from my jet lag and the time difference being 8 hours behind was hard to get my head around but having shorter days for my first week made it easier to settle in. Alison picked me up for work at 10.30am and off we went. My journey to work starts just before Bel Air and Westwood and I drive through Beverly Hills along Sunset Blvd then up through the Hollywood Hills to Wonderland Avenue…..it is pretty wonderful! Being my first day we just got me settled into at my desk and sorted me with any work items I would need, then Alison asked me to jot some ideas and notes of what I thought of MX workings as a company and a bit about myself and the placement. Once I had compiled some thoughts we got some lunch and took our conversation outside to the decking where we sat in the sun swapping thoughts and information on MX. By 3pm I was exhausted from jet lag so we headed home and I wrote a review of my day for Katrina Wood, CEO of MX as she was busy in the London offices. Tuesday was pretty much the same as Monday but I hada chance to do some more research into MX and their clients finding out who they worked with, on what ideas and how it all comes together, we started working on my project ideas for the 7 weeks I have to put the project together and achieve our goals which we would set by the end of the week. On our way home we made another unsuccessful trip to Enterprise Car rental but we were getting there and things were falling into place. Tuesday night I had another early quiet night, however it was to be the last….. After work on Wednesday Alison dropped me off to get my car, now that I had some transport I thought I would visit my friend from home who was on holiday at the Beverly Hills Hotel, it was exactly how I remembered it, old school 90210 style and the pool waiters looked like they were straight off the TV. They asked me to join them for dinner then off to a club so with no hesitation I obliged! After a few drinks at dinner we went off to a club called My House, defiantly a Hollywood hot spot this summer! We met Katy Perry (who asked to buy my friends dress off of her) and Ryan Sheckler for any of you who aren’t as obsessed as me and my friends he is a pro skateboarder and is the start of his own reality TV show Life of Ryan, he was impressed his show was shown in Scotland! Back to work Thursday we focused on online social networking, taking a look at more online professional and social networks, how we can bridge online with offline media and marketing and took a look at what has been done in the London office on online marketing. After work I joined Alison to a BAFTA event in Santa Monica where we met with actors, writers, producers and media involved individuals. We mingled our way through the crowd and met some really nice people many of who had come here from the UK and had never left!! One thing that I noticed that night and most nights since is that everyone in LA has a business card, random I know but I don’t think I have ever collected so many business cards in my life as I have in the last week! Instead of meeting Alison at the office on Friday we went to Santa Monica Library to get some work done and have a change of scenery, we worked on my discussion review I had produced for meeting Katrina Wood on Monday 20th. Saturday started at the Beverly Hills Hotel for breakfast before me and the 7 other Scottish girls I know from home went to the Mondrian Hotel to the SkyBar pool party, it was amazing I can not even describe! We met so many people including the celebrity of the day Mel B (Scary Spice), drank champagne all day and ate sushi by the pool for dinner. That night we went the club Guys and Dolls where we had the most outrageous night of drinking more champagne, dancing on the tables and ended up at a house party with the owner of the club until 6am. Sunday was the day of rest! We had breakfast at the hotel to help cure our hangovers (Celebrity of the morning Ellen Pompeo aka Meredith from Greys Anatomy) and spent the day by the pool before dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant. My friend Nicole and I decided to head out for one drink to Hyde Lounge before bed however once we arrived there was a problem getting in….unknown to us at the time it was because the LA Galaxy football team were in after the game as well as Victoria and David Beckham and Tom Cruise…not only did we manage to get in but we met the Beckhams and Tom Cruise then spent the night with the very attractive Galaxy guys before home to bed to start my 2nd week at MediaXchange. To be continued ..........................