Pinch Me, Please

Is London too good to be true?

This is the question I have been asking myself the past few days. I spent Tuesday wandering around some touristy sites (my first real foray into tourist London) with another girl on my program, Kristin. That was a ton of fun and actually quite inspiring. We don't have anything even close to the history like this in Canada - buildings that are hundreds, even thousands of years old...it's nuts, really. But a really great reminder of the once in a lifetime things I'm going to be able to do and see while I'm here.

Also, the big news is that I got a job! Starting on Monday. In an office. 9-5. With Bank holidays and weekends off. Guess how many interviews I went to.....one. That's right, one. Maybe London is a little crazy for me right now, but I am just trying to pinch myself as I can't believe my luck. My previous job searches in Canada have been lengthy affairs, lasting several weeks and usually involving me doing some kind of crap-job that I don't really want in order to pay my bills and wait until something better comes along. So I'm actually a little suspicious of how well things  are going for me so far...not that I'm complaining! After a really long interview (3 hours...) I got offered a position as an Accounts Assistant with a cell phone/communications company. I have no experience doing this kind of work at all, but I did do quite a few aptitude/math tests during my interview so hopefully they hired me for a reason and I'll be able to pick it up quickly. Plus, after the past little while of finding a home and getting settled in London, I honestly feel like learning some new computer skills is just going to be the icing on the cake...

It's quite a quick turn around. I honestly couldn't have expected things to turn out this well so quickly, but I'm grateful that they have. I guess it's a sign that I'm on the right path and maybe all the struggles back in Vancouver and Canada were worth it to get here. Not that I'll be conducting any life saving research or changing the world by any means.  But I will be closer to having the kind of experience I set out to have when I started this journey, and that's exciting news for me! Stay tuned for any adventures that follow as I attempt to begin this new "career" path...

The Red Lion & Pineapple

This is the pub by my new house. It is called The Red Lion & Pineapple. I just thought I would share as it's such an amazingly random name. I've only gone once so far but maybe there is some sort of story behind this, I don't know...

I applied for what seems like a billion jobs online today. It's tough because I want my schedule to be flexible enough to allow for travelling and I definitely don't want to miss out on opportunities because of being too tied down to a job, but I also don't want a job that's too crappy so it's a tough balance to strike. We'll see how the hunt goes as time goes on, it's still very early in the game.

Tomorrow I am going to visit Westminster Abbey which is exciting as I haven't really seen too many of the sights yet and I should be taking advantage of all this time on my hands!

I also joined the gym right by my house tonight (it's literally a 2 minute walk which is so convenient). I am doing a one month trial and then we'll see how it goes from there.

Off to bed for me for now - I seem to be constantly exhausted in London and am hoping that sooner or later my sleep schedule will even itself out.

Loving London (at least a little)

I have a home!

 Things have been developing fairly quickly over the past few days, especially when I realize that it's already Sunday! Yesterday I moved into a cute, clean bedroom in a flat that I'm sharing with Attila and Nataliya (a couple). We share a teeny tiny London-sized kitchen and a bathroom and so far they have been very kind and accomodating to me. Attila has a car and he drove me to my hostel to pick up my suitcase which was very considerate seeing as otherwise I would have had to haul all of my stuff over the tube. And he took me to get some groceries from this huge 24 hour supermarket called ASDA here (apparently it is owned by Walmart, so you get the idea). I am excited to have a space to call my own and to begin feeling actually at home here. I am a fairly adaptable person but I am also anxious to get things done right away (as any one who has ever met me can attest to), so I feel that I will adjust quickly.

Now that the period of being in transit is essentially over I can get down to the business of being present here in London, which is as much about being comfortable with myself as it is about seeing the great sights and attractions of this city. No matter what I must remember that I am here for me, to have an experience and to become better able to know myself in this world whether that is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan/ London, England or anywhere else in the world. A lofty task, I know, but it has been hard for me in the midst of the past few days to remember the reasons why I actually wanted this experience - to shake up my life and decide what I wanted it to be like in the future.

Tonight I feel very blessed just to be able to access this kind of life - to pick myself up and transport the few things that are truly neccessary in life to another country where I will make a beginning for myself. And I also feel hopeful - tomorrow is the start of a new week and my first one with a home in London. So I am pleased to report the first flickers of real happiness in London, loving life just a little bit...

London So Far

Well. The past two days have been kind of a blur. More than a blur, really more like one really really long day. I managed to find the BUNAC Office ok and it seems like it's going to be a really helpful resource for me - a place to use the internet and print things off, etc. I got a mobile phone right away from the helpful ladies at the desk so I took that as a pretty large victory in my corner. I've been spending the rest of my time looking for flats and jobs. I've already been to see 3 different flats but so far no luck, a couple of maybes. The most exhausting thing is finding my way around - London is not like lots of the streets in Canada, which are built in, say, grids, for say, finding your way around. Lots of times my sense of direction has gotten totally mixed up and I end up walking in the completely wrong direction. I think that the day I do not get lost in London will be a great day. But the tube is pretty simple to get around on - it's just a long day sometimes (today I spent 7 hours riding back and forth to see flats, including a quaint 40 minute bus ride in East Delwich that was a complete detour). I am pretty anxious to have a home, as carting everything I might possibly need or is valuable around with me is a burden. And I'm just a home-type person - I like having my things in their space and knowing I have somewhere to come home too. So even more than finding a job my goal is to find a flat by 1st April. Till then I'll keep searching and trying to adjust to London life.

Safe and Sound

I have arrived in London safe and sound, after taking a few hours to get through customs and find my way to my hostel on the tube, I am all checked in and VERY tired. I only managed to get a couple of hours of sleep on the plane ride and then it was afternoon when I arrived here in London. I went for a little walk which was refreshing and made me feel semi-human, now my task is to stay awake for a bit so I'm not too thrown off for orientation tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes...

Farewell Canada

Hard to believe that a few months ago this plan was a vague idea in my head, a rough draft of shapes and feeling. Now here I am in Vancouver Airport awaiting my flight to the UK. I just paid 7 dollars for a bag of gummy candy.

In a way I feel as though the most difficult part is over: the planning and anticipation of such a huge change. I've undergone some pretty big changes in my life before and I know from experience that everytime something scares the crap out of you it also usually helps you to grow and become a better person. That's what I'm hoping this adventure will achieve. I'm hoping that it will be the jump start I need to get out of the funk I seem to have found myself in the past little while. That it will be a chance for me to recalibrate myself in an entirely new setting (London, England) so that I may return to my homeland a little fuller, a little more confident and much more settled in my own skin.

Needless to say most of today was spent resisting the urge to throw up/pee my pants. But now that I'm actually through security and in the airport I am floating on a strange Zen-like cloud of calm that I hope to carry with me all the way to Heathrow Airport, off the plane and onto the tube to my hostel.

Here's hoping!