Ryan J. Allen » katyeurope2009

Ryan Allen Endorses: Starbucks Corporation

Ryan J. Allen — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 19:26:55 +0000

When I was with Katy in London I would point out the Starbucks that was visible from every entrance to the Tube. When Evan, Matt, Kevin, and I are in Prague we would “Czech In” every morning to Starbucks in Wenceslas Square. Last winter Adam, Eric, and I would enjoy the occasional 7 a.m. Starbucks trip before work. I visited Jill many times at Starbucks, even sharing her excitement in having some of her photos on display there. A photo of Tiffany is on display in the very Starbucks that she so happily works at. Muis, Foran, Gilles, Misha, Gervais, Joel, and I will relieve our minds from the grip of work with the occasional trip to the Starbucks a mere 300 metres walk from the office. My first apartment was right over a Starbucks in Kingston.

Without argument, Starbucks has played a supporting role in my life. It is a place of warmth–literally and figuratively–warmed by coffee, friends, and love. The experience is nearly perfected, and is consistent across cities, countries, and continents. In those areas where Starbucks can improve they welcome ideas from customers and staff from around the world via mystarbucksidea.com.

The moment you walk into a Starbucks the contemporary music fills the air mixed with various conversations and the occasional sound of spray from the milk steamer. The cashiers are consistently welcoming and happy to take your order. Even when your drink has four modifiers the cashiers or expediters are happy to record and call-out your order.

This is the first step to your own hand-crafted beverage, made just the way you want. Behind the bar the magic happens as the barista mixes tea, syrup, espresso, milk, and/or spices to make exactly what you are waiting for. As the time passes you can find a seat, chat with a friend or fellow customer, or catch up on emails via your BlackBerry.

Is there a better moment then the one when the barista calls your drink to announce that it is ready at the bar? In the summer the cool feeling of a frappuccino or iced latte is refreshing; and in the winter, the warmth from a latte is overwhelmingly appreciated. A visit to the condiment station to dress up your drink a little more, or just cap it with a travel lid is the last step before you partake in the exact thing that you crave.

If you are enjoying your beverage “for here” the Starbucks experience continues, with comfortable seating and intimate table settings. You can sit alone and read the daily news, or sit comfortable as a group from 2 to 10. This is universally true, whether you’re in Ottawa, Kingston, Vancouver, Frankfurt, London, Karlsruhe, Munich, Prague, Madrid, or Zurich. Anywhere in the world you are welcome, and feel welcome.

The wonder of Starbucks doesn’t stop at the experience–just ask anyone who works there. Starbucks provides benefits to more of their employees, as well as higher wages when compared to others in the food service industry. The Corporation encourages employees to contribute to the long-term success of the company, and offers a stock purchasing program to provide extra incentive. I have heard people describe working at Starbucks as working with friends, even if you have gone into a store knowing nobody on staff.

And perhaps it is that work atmosphere that creates the welcoming atmosphere for customers. I have no doubt that every little thing contributes to the Starbucks experience which leads me to endorse Starbucks Corporation in its entirety.

The Challenge: A Year in 100 Photographs

Ryan J. Allen — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:59:47 +0000

I am faced with a difficult challenge: a year in 100 photographs.

Before I left Ms. Kirkey was kind enough to prepare for me a photo album with a collection of photos of friends and family. I kept this photo album on my coffee table the entire time I was in Germany. It was a great reminder of the people who help to make my life what it is.

The album also happened to be half-empty, allowing the perfect opportunity to fill the album with photos from my year abroad. I just counted the pages and there is space for about 100 photos. I wasn’t photo crazy most of the time I was there, but I have lots of photos among:

in and around my flat
the chicken castle
Built to Spill in Stutgart
a sloppy joes party
a pigeon festival
my Kinder Surprise advent calendar
a 1FCK match
the Karlsruhe Christmas market
the XXL restaurant
Skiing at Mehliskopf
London, Paris, and Germany with Katy
visiting at mine and castle at Neuenbürg
Munich, Prague, Strasbourg, Blackforest, and Zurich photos with Evan, MK, and Zout
Canada Day and barbecuing in Germany
the Alpencross
my trip to Madrid to see NIN
the Porsche museum
the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge
road trip to Brussels, and
my trip to Berlin

I don’t know how I can condense this to 100 photographs. So far my best idea is to do so using people–minimize the inclusion of photos don’t don’t include people I’d like to remember–but I still think I’ll be left with too many photos to fit in the album.

It’s too bad I wasn’t married to a photo-crazy woman who would just take care of this for me. This would make my life ten times easier in this respect.

Eurotrip Photos

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:40:13 +0000

A couple of months ago I wrote to you about my reaching the mid-point of my year here in Germany; now, I have but four months left. Time is going by rather quickly.

The past two months have been incredible. I have been blessed with visits from some of my dearest friends. First, I met Katy in London just before Easter. We spent about 5 days in London. It was my first time in England and hopefully not my last. The weather was as-expected, but it was still glorious to be there.

We left London after the Easter long-weekend taking the Eurostar to Paris. That’s where we got lost in the Louvre and didn’t find our way out for 3 days. (I kid; but it is a big museum.) Katy successfully made some purchases on Champs-Élysées–an arguable must for any woman.

Early on a Friday morning we took the high-speed TGV train from Paris to Karlsruhe, Germany–in only 3 hours.
After more than a week of straight touring I think we were both pleased to settle down at my home. We managed to grab an A6 from my work for the weekend and took a day-trip to Stuttgart. The next day we went with a slower mode of transport, using bicycles to get into Karlsruhe.

Katy and I went to Frankfurt to drop her off at the airport and to pick up Evan and his colleague Steve. Unfortunately Evan and I aren’t the photo types so there aren’t any photos of that. Nor of Evan, Steve, and I’s trip to Munich that following weekend. But soon enough Matt and Kevin came with their cameras blazing.

I, unfortunately, had to work for a few days so I sent Matt and Kevin to Munich from Ulm (most of these photos are not of Munich, because I wasn’t there). When we re-united in Ulm we toured around a bit before heading back to Karlsruhe for the night.

The next day Matt, Kevin, and I drove to Frankfurt Hahn where we met with Evan and we all boarded a flight to Prague, Czech Republic. In Prague we had a giant apartment to ourselves in the centre of the old town. We did a bike tour, drank lots of Starbucks coffee, found a lot of washrooms, ate some goulash, and saw some strange works of art. We got back to Germany late on a Monday night and quickly drove back to my home.

The next day we did a quick day-trip to Strasbourg, France. This was also the day that we introduced Matt and Kevin to flammkuchen. We ate six flammkuchens between the four of us, and stocked up on snacks for our trip to the black forest the next day.

The black forest was quite nice. We drove through the black forest on the “black forest high road”, the B500. We stopped about half-way through and hiked up to a ski-jump platform for lunch. We ended the day with a trip to Gockelburg–the famous chicken castle–and a trip to P10–a beach bar atop a parking garage in Karlsruhe.

We said goodbye to Evan after we drove him to the airport and prepared for our final big trip: Zurich. In Zurich we stumbled upon the grand opening of the Hauptbahnhofstraße Apple Store. I, of course, insisted that we go in and claim our free t-shirts. We were drawn the water and spent a lot of time just enjoying it, day and night. The next day the weather more-or-less forced us to hike up a huge hill to the south-west of the city-centre. We walked around until we got lost, then returned downtown for a final Starbucks beverage before leaving the city. Because it was so nice out we took the long-way home, taking a ferry across Lake Costance (or Bodensee).

Matt, Kevin, and I went to Frankfurt the next day where they finally tried currywurst just hours before getting on their return flight. We got our final Starbucks beverages and then I saw them off at the airport.

Like I said, it has been an incredible couple of months. And this leaves me with only four months left here, and still plenty to look forward to: the Alpencross in July, Spain at the end of July, and a marathon in September. I hope there are enough photos here to hold everyone over until I make my trek back to Canada, though I would be surprised if a few photos don’t come out of my trip across the Alps at least.

I hope everyone’s summer starts off nicely. See you soon.

Lots of Driving, and the Petrol Bills to Prove It

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:17:31 +0000

I am currently feeling the sting of the post-vacation credit card bill. Aside from cash-advances in four different currencies in the past two months, in the past one month I have spent a lot of money on petrol. And in fact, I just returned the other night from another business trip that I really didn’t want to go on, in part because of the driving. In the past 5 weeks I have driven:
– to and from Stuttgart
– to and from Frankfurt
– to and from Munich
– to and from Frankfurt
– to and from Ulm
– to and from Frankfurt Hahn
– to and from Strasbourg
– through the Black Forest
– to and from Frankfurt
– to and from Zurich
– to and from Frankfurt
– to and from Ulm

That’s a lot of driving. Definitely approaching 4000 km. I would argue that this amount of driving is virtually unheard of in Europe.

England to France

Ryan J. Allen — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:58:32 +0000

Katy and I are sitting in St. Pancras international rail station awaiting our high-speed train to France. I am writing this on my iPhone whilst enjoying a coffee from Caffé Nero and wearing a linen blazer over my Built to Spill “Perfect From Now On” t-shirt. I am quite excited to go through the Chunnel.

London Proper

Ryan J. Allen — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:42:34 +0000

I’m in London England, wearing a suit, typing on my MacBook, and drinking a white mocha from Starbucks; the rub is, I’m doing this in the lobby of a hostel. I never thought that would happen.