Just touched down in Londontown...

London, England

St. Paul's & a yellow flower art exhibit

So I'll give some background information. About this blog. My life in general.

Why & How I ended up in London:

• So I wanted to travel, or work abroad after graduating.. so after some extensive googling (not all of us are lucky enough to have our moms find this for us! seano!! hahahahaha), I found Mountbatten and decided, what the hey, I'll apply.
• So after writing an essay, going to a sketchy interview in a hotel room (I legit thought it was a scam at this point - the website is okay now, but back then......it looked like my 7th grade HTML project), doing a bunch of phone interviews with UBS, DB and Cantor Fitzgerald in London, waiting for my work permit, waiting for the mail strike in London to be over... I was finally on my way!
• Goals for the trip: Meet people, do a relatively legit job at my job (aka don't get fired from a one year paid internship), eat good food, don't gain weight, travel travel travel, and be amazing obviously

So I'd have to say it was absolutely nuts coming to a whole other country, not just to visit and explore, but to live, to work and to fully experience! I went into work the day after I landed, with NO idea what my job title meant, or how to GET to my job (directions are not my forte...) - but I guess that ended up not really mattering because my boss had no clue she was getting another Mountbatten. What a great start to a year!

I'd have to say it was really awkward for me to come in - not have a clue of what's going on and have everyone ELSE running around like chickens without their heads. And the lady training me thought I had some sort of weird magnetism that caused the fire alarm to go off the first TWO days I was there! (I won't lie.. that's pretty weird). Also her computer always seemed to freeze whenever I was sitting with her - she claims it doesn't happen normally... but if you know me, I break anything and everything I touch that is electronic (ie: the washing mashing, the dishwasher, my camera, and my computer).

So 3 days in work, I still have no idea what I'm doing - I've been assigned and reassigned to teams 3 different times, but at least now I have a desk. The lady sitting across from me asks if I'm American. "Umm yeah I am.

"Where are you from in the states?"

"Like California....Bay Area..."

"Yeah, well I'm from Berkeley...but I went to school in Davis.."

"WHAT?! You went to school in davis?!?! SO DID I!!"

"Yeah it was a long time ago.. I was a Man econ major."

"YOU WERE?!? SO WAS I!!! thats crazy!! We probably had the same professors"

"oh no, i went way before you. I had like.. Bay Butler.. and Constantine.."

"WHAT!! CONSTANTINE IS LIKE MY FAVORITE!!"

If you looked up "small world" in a dictionary, you'd find that exact conversation you just read.

Oh yeah, so the guy next to me starts talking about some guy named Ryan and told him I had no idea who he was talking about.... so he pointed to a guy in corner who I had been calling JOSH for the past 2 weeks (not to his face, luckily). I mean... WHO DOES THAT?! Seriously, who is THAT bad with names???!!!! Then... of COURSE, that afternoon I find out I'm going to be working with "Josh." Karma's a bitch man.

So here's some interesting things:

• We have a washer/dryer combo in our flat's kitchen. It doesn't dry. But it does a damn good job at wrinkling and spitting out damp clothes. It's also probably not a good idea to stand anywhere near the washer/dryer while its working cuz it sounds like a war zone (we couldn't hear the tv when it was turned on full volume which is in the same room) or a possessed demon that's going to spit clothes of fire out at any minute. 1 MORE reason to dislike doing laundry!
  
• New vocab: Cheers, Can do, ashume, somefing, i fink, You alright, Bloody hell, queue
  
• The closest tube stop (Angel - Northern Line) is a 5 minute walk away. I loves it.
• Work in the City is about a 25 minute walk away. So after a year of this, in order to get to work at 9am... I have to wake up by 7:55 (5 minute shower, 5 minutes to get dressed, 5 minutes to pack my stuff/put on makeup, 8 minutes to be ridiculous and go on the COMPUTER, 24 minutes to walk to work with NO coffee, an extra 4 minutes if I stop for coffee before I get to work, 3 minutes to wait in the queue for the lift, and a 6 minute buffer just in case the line at Starbucks is really long or Sean is taking his sweet ass time).
• The only thing worth watching on TV is Mean Girls, Friends and Scrubs. Hollyoaks make me want to gauge my eyes out for alternate entertainment.
• I'm really liking the "Look Left" "Look Right" signs on the ground at crosswalks. Somehow it doesn't help me much. I guess I don't know my right and left.
• COULD THEY LOVE THEIR BACON ANYMORE?! Maybe I'm just bitter because I am not a fan of eating pork - because I think pigs are cute. EVEN if I didn't, I absolutely hate bacon. I probably shouldn't have chosen England to live in.
• People don't walk to talk to you. They just mind their own business and do their own thing. One of these days I should walk to work naked and see how long it takes before someone notices.
• London Lite, London Paper, and The Metro. I love FREE papers that come out everday.
• I'm pretty sure kebabs rule the city.