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Friday, March 31, 2006

Stuff

I did a bunch of stuff today. First I started with some shoe shopping on Oxford because I've been wearing the same shoes for the past few days and my feet are starting to hurt (I'm walking way too much in them!) Perfect excuse for a new pair or two! It ended up being two because I found a ''buy 2 for 40£'' sale, that is very cheap! They are cute little shoes that are kinda metallic goldy with beading. Different than what I usually wear but they are popular here and I think they're cute! Anyways....

Then I met up with a Norwegian girl named Helle. She's very nice! We went for lunch and I went to her place after for a quick visit! She showed me the ropes for riding the bus, which I want to get more into since the Tube is expensive and you can see more of the layout of the city on a bus.

Then I headed to the Natural History Museum. It was interesting a quite large! For some reason I was feeling nauseous most of the day, so I had to leave early and head back to the hostel. I had time to see the Dinosaur and Human Biology exhibits though.

After I was feeling a bit better I was craving some tea! I headed to Starbucks; yes I know, I should be boycotting it since it's soooooo North American! But it was the closest place to get a cuppa! So I curled up in a comfy chair and studied some Greek.

Now I'm back at the hostel and I'm going to get my things together and organized since I'm moving into my flat tomorrow! That'll be nice! I think I'm going to check out Camden Market too since it's right down the road from my place.

M

Thursday, March 30, 2006

In the Parks

Today I walked all over the place again! I took off to Regent's Park which is beautiful! There are rows of mansions lining the park on the right side and the park is full of beautiful trees and english gardens with fountains and statues. It was very windy today but nice because it wasn't cold at all. I headed up to Primrose Hill and had a great view of London from the top! There was this cute little kid (about 2 yrs) at the top named Thomas who tried to climb onto my bench (his mom was there, don't worry!)

I decided to check out my new neighborhood (Belsize Park); I'll be moving to a flat there in a few days. The area is very cute and hilly. There are some really beautiful old houses with strange looking trees in front. There is also a very village feel to the area with little shops and restaurants.

I eventually made my way back to the hostel, had a quick nap and then set off to Holborn for a bank meeting. I had an appointment at 2:00 to set up an account. I now have a UK bank account and I get my debit card sent to me in the mail in a week or so. Yay! Now I can find a job! Well, maybe not quite yet!

I also met up with Gareth, my soon to be roomie. We met at our flat and it's very cute! I have my own little room and I'll get a hub, so I can use the internet from my laptop. We went out to a local pub and had a drink. I think we'll get along fine, he's very nice and easy going. So on Sat I'll move my stuff over there and buy some food and settle in!

Now I'm back at the hostel and will have a shower and fall asleep! Tomorrow I think I'll hit up the Natural History Museum and Holland Park.

M

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Shopping

Today was a more relaxing day (sort of). I had to go to a SWAP orientation at 10:30. They gave me a bunch of info on job searching, traveling, finding accommodation, and I set up an appointment at a bank tomorrow so I'll soon have a UK bank account!

I was still quite jet lagged so I went back ''home'' and slept for a bit and met another roomie from NY. I decided that I wanted to do a little shopping so I headed to Oxford Street and shopped my little butt off! There are so many cool stores! I bought some black dress pants (for job interviews) at Top Shop and a beige leather bag at H&M. It was hard to control myself! These stores are huge and have so many floors full of fun things to look at and try on!

Oh! I also bought a cell phone today! Let me know if you want the number; any incoming calls I receive are free including international calls.

I think that's it for now! Tomorrow I have the bank appointment and I'm going to meet my future roomie and flat to check it out and see what I'm in for.

M

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

walking walking walking

Today all I did was walk. My body wanted to just sleep all day but I forced it to go for the longest walk possible! In the morning I took off outside and had no map, since my luggage was still gone, so I just left and picked a road (I was also a dork and thought ''I'm practically a local now, I have no need of touristy maps!'').

I ended up hitting Oxford Street and was overloaded with clothing stores! I wanted to buy everything, but ended up with nothing (usually the case because I'm cheap and like to save). I got approached by a model and talent scout who wanted me to do some modeling and extra work (something I'd be interested in anyways) so that could be fun. Don't worry, if I do, I'll make sure they're the real deal. Then I ended up at Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. Had a snack and headed to Harrods and Hyde Park and some how ended up back at the hostel 5 hours later where I collapsed for the second time and made sure I still had feet instead of worn stumps.

The weather was nice today too. I was never cold (which says a lot!) partly sunny and cloudy. It was windy though and near the end I got drenched, but it wasn't cold, that's the main thing.

I think tomorrow I'll walk around my new future neighborhood and Regent's park. I also have to go to a SWAP orientation. Oh, and my luggage was waiting there quietly for me. I'm going to loose it more often! You don't have to lug it around, it just shows up for you. Convenient!

M

FINALLY!!!

Well I'm finally here in London! It was an interesting trip over and I'm glad it's done!

I had 3 flights and the second one (Seattle to Copenhagen) was delayed over 2 hours, which caused me to miss my third flight to London. So I had to get a different flight booked and that one was also delayed! So by the time I got to London I wasn't suprized when my luggage was lost too (what else annoying could happen?) It was actually a blessing in disguise because it took me 2 hours to get to the hostel from Heathrow and I didn't have to lug my backpack with me. It should get delivered to the hostel today (I hope!)

It's 9:30am on Tues now and I'm dead tired! I got to the hostel at 10 last night and crawled into bed and collapsed! I didn't sleep on the plane at all. I still had a cough and hoped I didn't wake the poor girl up that I was sharing the room with. This morning I found out that she is an Australian named Amanda and she didn't hear my coughing at all. Good! She's moving out today so I'm the only one in my room at the moment (it holds 4 people).

I think today I'm going to just wander around and get used to my new home. Although, as I'm writing this, I think I want to have another nap before I head out! I won't be able to post pics till I get my laptop hooked up (beginning of April).

I guess that's it for now! So it's all good, my luggage should arrive today and I'm fine and in one piece!

M

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Welcome!

I'm finally starting to send this address out to people. So feel free to see what I'm up to when I leave. I have a little over one week left so it's pretty crazy! Lots to do still! I've been very busy with work (3 jobs at the moment and one of them is full-time!) but by the end of next week I should be finished at all three; then I take off on Sunday, March 26th.

Feel free to leave comments or email once in a while. I'll try to email as much as I can but this will be the main source of info for my shenanigans in the UK.

M