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I had just finished my A-Levels (exams taken at the end of high school), when I got an internship for Reuters to go to Tokyo to do some marketing for a month. That was such an excellent month. I was living in Roppongi which is in central Tokyo, and very lively (though, as I later found out, not that Japanese.) Before going the group of interns had a few days training in London. There I met Barbie, Zeina and Yvo. Yvo, who lives is Switzerland came to Tokyo with me, whilst Barbie and Zeina went to New York. Apparently I came across as really quiet during the training in London, but that was because I had been partying so much after the end of school, that I was absolutely exhausted. Barbie and Zeina suspected something was up, and that I couldn't be the quiet guy I seemed to be, and referred to me as a "Dark horse"...The four of us were in constant touch during the month using Reuters email to gossip to each other, rather than do any work.
When we got back to London, Barbie, Zeina, Yvo, Alisa (another New York intern) and I all met up. I have the fondest memories from that summer.  |
Yvo
and I met an American intern called Laca. For one petty reason
or another we decided to call her Laca-Bitch, and the name just
seem to stick. Despite the nickname, the three of us did get on,
and we had a lot of fun. The first time I'd gone to Japan, I'd
only spent 3 days in Tokyo, so I still had a whole city to discover.
Nearly every night after work we'd go out to a new district and
try find out what it was like. Neither Yvo nor Laca could speak
any Japanese, and I'd not spoken any for 2 years, so trying to
do anything was never easy. But we managed. We ate, we partied
we got from A to B. And that's all we wanted to do. It was the
first time I'd had to fend for myself, and I was having to do
it in a country where I could hardly speak the language. It was
so much fun. I'd not even thought of taking a cooking book with
me, and other than knowing the basics, I didn't have a clue about
what or how to cook. Laca was the leader when it came to food.
I took control if we needed to ask anyone anything, although invariably
I didn't understand the answer. And Yvo? Yvo was the babe. I had
such a crush on him from the moment I met him. To make things
worse, he has a gorgeous personality.