15 things that will happen to you when you move to London.

1. Your bus will be on diversion.
2. You'll be standing at a bus stop for half an hour because some of the passengers have crossed the yellow line next to the driver's cabin and even though there is still plenty of space inside the bus, the driver will not let you in.
3. Getting to convince you to travel outisde of Zone 3 will be extremely difficult.
4. You'll eventually have to go outside of Zone 3 to get a cheap pint.

5. What is personal space in tube during rush hour?

6. You'll get stuck in a mile long queue for literally everything: coffee, pub, restaurant, cinema, galeries.
7. You'll get sick of tourists taking pictures of themselves standing next to red phone boxes when in fact...

8. Everything will be sooo far from your house.
9. You'll stop wearing Primark and start wearing Primarni.
10. You'll become obsessed with detailed travel planning.
11. You'll become a fan of the Queen and the way she doesn't give a fuck.

12. Your bike will be stolen because everyone needs one in London, not only you!
13. You'll get excited with One Direction's new album.
14. You'll mind the gap between the train and the platform and remember to take all your belongings with you (oh, and report anything suspicious to a member of staff).
15. You'll always be tired and in a hurry.

BUT, at the end of the day... nope, it still sucks.

EVENT | London Fashion Week AW14

Now that London Fashion Week AW14 has officially closed, I would like to share a few views of mine, especially given the fact that I attended one of the shows myself. There is no doubt that LFW is one of the most prestigious events in the industry, it definitely is a 'must attend' for people with any kind of connection to the fashion industry.

Luckily, I won an invitation to PREEN by Thornton Bregazzi show on Sunday 16th in National Theatre. I had two days until the show to collect the invitation from the other side of the city and most importantly decide what to wear! I finally decided not to overdress and chose a comfortable set. Having arrived to the venue, everything was so mind blowing to me. Guests arriving by luxurious limos or London Fashion Week vans, dozens of paparazzi looking for some luck and taking pictures of celebs, even the look of the runway. This was my first experience with such a high profile fashion event (actually with any fashion event cause I can't recall attending any) and I must admit that's even though it was pretty shocking to me, I still enjoyed it a lot. The most exciting moment of the event was probably meeting Olivia Palermo whom I didn't recognize at first which is such a shame especially that I knew her before. She looked absolutely stunning as she always does.

(source: gettyimages.com)

The actual show was quite short, it took up to twenty minutes which is usually the time that fashion shows last. The main theme of the show was Star Wars and it's a good thing that the organisers made sure that all the elements of it create a complete experience. The collection, the music, and the space's design, all stuck to the same theme. The team also took care about the WOW factor which was very simple and obvious but also entertaining and unexpected. When the show was over and everyone headed to the exit, a group of star troopers showed up and everyone started taking pictures with them which was very funny to look at. What a good idea to complete the show and make it memorable! I'm not going to evaluate the collection as I don't feel I am the right person to do it, however I must say that I loved the tangerine coat and the metallic green parka. I wouldn't wear a blouse with Darth Vader printed on it and I don't like the idea of it. I think the overall show was very successful and well planned. The only thing that needs improvements is lack of directions to the entrance of the show which was necessary as many guests got confused.

(source: elle.pl)

Living in the UK, I had unexpectedly imbued with its culture so I was very much looking forward to see the Burberry Prorsum show and of course the AW collection. It's THE show that everyone is looking forward to and creates the most buzz in the media because of all the attending celebs. First of all, only very few people (out of all the rest who wishes to be) are lucky enough to be invited to attend Burberry's show so it's a brilliant idea that London Fashion Week is live-streaming majority of its shows so that everyone can see them. Secondly, I must mention how much I worship Christopher Bailey, the Chief Creative (and possibly the next CEO) of Burberry. I love the way he combines tradition and innovation. Every single collection captures what's so characteristic for Burberry but also adds a hint of novelty by creating new patterns, cuts and colours. Pure perfection! Judging by the clues, I knew I would love this season's collection, I am just still not over the fact how amazing it was. What I most long for from this collection is definitely the new model of bag - Bloomsbury which will be available in 40 different colours and it's one of the most beautiful bag I've ever seen.

(source: spottedfashion.com)

I totally loved both PREEN and Burberry Prorsum shows. Hopefully, this September I'll have a chance to see London Fashion Week from the production side. I'm very much looking forward to it.

EVENT | Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

I was very lucky to get VIP tickets to this year's edition of Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London. This event is called 'unofficial championships' so only the best eight single players and double teams can qualify. I had a chance to see two matches - one double (Stepanek/Paes playing Lopez/Granollers) and one single (Ferrer playing Wawrinka).

The very first thing that came to my mind after finding my seat was 'Did we actually get a separate room with sofas, tv, bar and our own waiter?!' That was something unexpected even though I knew we got those 'special' tickets. So I want to give a massive THANK YOU to the VIP clubs manager of The O2, thank you Natalia so much!

When I finally settled in, I started looking around the venue. WOW, The O2 is so big! What I loved about it, was obviously the capacity and view from the box, you could easily see everything from that place.

Especially interesting for me was to see how media operate on events like this one. On the TV, you can only see the final effect but when you actually have a chance to see it live and how do they work, you realize how many people is involved and how important for the success in teamwork.

After leaving the main arena, I headed to the fan zone to see the live studio, training courts and sponsors stools. It was really close to be able to say that what I noticed is a great crowd management, thousands of people, heading to different sites of the venue and you can still easily explore it, with no interruptions. I even started putting thoughts into sentences and how am I going to describe that and then BOOM - a huge jam, no move for 15 minutes, 'How am I going to get out of here?', 'It's getting hot'... I got out of there after 20 minutes when someone finally took care of managing the situation. There are kids there, people disabled, elderly or like me, suffering from vasovagal response. This is not only about moving quickly, it's also about health and safety, people get irritated, start pushing each other. Improving crowd management is something that The O2 should definitely put more emphasis on. Maybe engage more staff or put barriers dividing the path?

I absolutely love the initiative of Barclays Ball Kids School, it's a very smart idea for promotion, not only tennis but generally sport among school age kids especially in the age of technology and tennis (according to the statistics) being chosen by less and less young people. The kids get special training, theoretical and practical, preparing them for the tournament. Thanks to this, they get a chance to participate in something very exciting and also challenging for them.

For more info go to http://www.barclaysballkids.com/

A couple of more pictures that I took during and between matches:

In summary - good venue management, organisation and service, poor crowd management. And finally, fantastic VIP lounges! :)

JOURNALS | I love you... England? (Kocham Cię jak... Anglię?)

*** Jeśli chcesz przeczytać polską wersję tego tekstu, kliknij VIEW MORE poniżej.

Before I first came here, I felt like Big Ben, red telephone boxes and disgusting English breakfast were all the UK was about. I had no clue how the city looked like, I guess I was expecting to see New York more than London. On top of that, Stansted Airport that I've been landing at was 25 km outside the city and 50 km from the actual City. As you can assume, my 'great expectations' and visions have been blown away with no mercy. The area I lived in, which was Whitechapel, was not helping either. The Bangladeshi borough known for 'Jack the Ripper' murders in the 19th century wasn't too friendly. On the other hand, the best thing to happen to me at that time was working at the Olympics. I met fantastic people from all over the world, had a small talk with Polish volleyball team, said hello to Aga Radwanska. Also, meeting such people as Serena Williams and Usain Bolt was nothing unusual. This experience which taught me how to be self-reliant and independent, in the foreign country, with no family and no friends was undoubtedly worth being up at 5am and going back home at 5pm. Had someone asked me to do it again, I wouldn't be wondering - absolutely yes.

From the perspective of time that I've spent here and what I've learnt I see a couple of things differently now when thinking of the UK and London. I see a city that gives you plenty of opportunities, confidence and self-awareness. You suddenly become overwhelmed by dozens of ideas and plans for your future, not necessarily just bound with this place. Living far from home not only lets you find where you want to be but also where you don't. I see a city so big and diverse that it is nearly impossible to explore everything and get everywhere and it may sometimes take a couple of hours to get to work or school. I see a city where people are smiling and being friendly at all times, an old man passing you by will politely ask how was your day and the lady at the shop will be dying to know where did you get that beautiful purse - people are just nice to each other, without a reason. But London is also a city of individualists, people are not likely to make friends, keep focusing on their careers instead, taking care of their own business. If you just get used to it and start doing the same, you'll be fine (unless you won't :)).

If I had to express how does 'my London' look and feel like, I'd say that it's crowded, fast and sometimes too gloomy but it leaves you with unlimited possibilities on creating yourself and the world around you exactly the way you want it to be. And if I had to choose my favourite place to spent time in London I'd pick Notting Hill, borough of coloured houses, beautiful closed gardens and Portobello Road, the famous street market in London. It's the most powerful place to make dreams and plans, even in heavy rain.