My new found London gem and Australia day

Since the inauguration, a couple new things have happened in my life here in London. First off, no I don't have a job yet. The agency that is trying to find me work is having a hard time, because the economy here is no different than that in the US, everyone is falling on hard times. A lot of businesses have gone down here in London causing for a lot of unemployed people. So, I'm still trying. I might take a waitress job/catering job until I find something different. But, anything at this point is good because I have to pay rent in two weeks!

Last Thursday my friend Jamie asked Brendan and I to come to this pub called The Metropolitan where they were having live music. She found it on TimeOut London which is a website that reviews bars and restaurants and any other events going on in London. The pub has their "Portabello Acoustic Sessions" every Thursday where only local London acoustic artists that are hand picked by the promoters of the event play. So, every artist is a TRUE artist and not just some person playing on an open mic night. The setting made it though. The live music was playing on the top level of the pub, where it was kind of secluded from the bustle of the actual bar area. It was in a separate room with small round tables, a dim light with candles everywhere, chandeliers on the ceiling, with a modern flair that made you feel like you were sitting in a classy lounge area in some swanky coffee shop or something (except for the bar at the back of the room). The room made for more of an intimate setting so people were actually listening to the artists without all the noise of chattering bar people. There were four artists all together, a folkish type singer named Saul, a girl vocalist named Nathalie Miranda, two guys who were quite comical called the Fancy Toys, and my favorite David Liddell. All had their own unique talents that made up a really good show. I think what got me the most was the fact that we found something unique and different in the midst of all the regular pubs or club scene. In a sense, the setting was very therapeutic, a chance for anyone to come and listen to real artists (for free by the way) and sort of forget about everything else. It wasn't crowded or in a huge room full of bustle, but in a behind the scenes type of place full of people just trying to find something different or calmer outside the craziness of the city. So, we've declared these Thursday nights our new haven...our hidden jewel in London. It feels like we have a little secret that no one else knows about (except for all of you that reads this blog). I recorded a video of David Liddell..it'll be in the "my videos" section of my website, so definitely check it out so you can see what I'm talking about.

Besides Thursday, the weekend went as usual. Nothing too eventful until Sunday, which was Australia Day aka the Aussies version of the 4th of July. All of our housemates wanted to have a party for it, so we did, and the requirements were to wear green and gold, the Australian colors. It was a fun party, where for the first time we were labeled as Americans for everything we did. We did teach the Aussies some of our drinking games from back home like flip cup and beer pong, which they had never played and absolutely loved. Flip cup was hard for them to get used to, at first we played the Americans vs Aussies and just dominated so we had to mix up the teams. But, pong they got pretty quickly and they really just loved both. We all had a good time (even our fake cow in the backyard Bessie was ridden a couple of times) and I really got to know some of my housemates better which was probably best part of the whole thing. I think Australia day will have to be a new tradition I bring back to the States...

Thanks again for the emails and wall posts! Miss everyone...and my parents birthdays were this past week and half so Happy Birthday Mom and Dad!

Obama Day in London!

Yesterday, as you all know, was a very important day in America's history with inauguration of Barack Obama. Although we all know how important it is for our country to have this man as our new president, people around the world also feel the same way. British citizens absolutely love Obama, which to me seems crazy because what would the U.S. president have anything to do with them. But, in a sense, it has a lot to do with them. People in the U.K. sees him not only as a symbol of hope for America, but for the entire world since essentially he is the world leader. They also look at it like if we can have a man of color as our head of state then anywhere can. And besides that, they hated Bush and couldn't wait for him to get out of office. The papers not only have talked about how important Barack is to the world, but to Americans around the world like me. Alot of Americans who live over here have expressed their constant worry about telling others where they are from for fear it might lead to humiliation, since we are all like Bush right? But, now more and more people are talking about how they can be proud to say they are from since Obama is loved everywhere. To me, it seems silly and ignorant that other countries viewed us negatively just because our previous President couldn't do his job right, but if Obama turns that all around for Americans such as myself living on foreign soil then so be it. It'll my life a heck of a lot easier over here..Also, yesterday the pound to dollar ratio went down to an all time low of a little under $1.40 to their 1 pound which is the lowest its been since 2001. Hopefully it stays that way..

Anyways, to celebrate the inauguration Madame Tussauds let any American in for free yesterday. So, of course I jumped on that. I mean why not? They unveiled their Obama figure with a huge oval office set up right in the middle of the museum. It was actually fun just running around in there looking at all the wax figures, I'm sure as some of you may have experienced in the U.S. museums. Then afterwards, Jamie, Ellen, and I headed to the Hard Rock Cafe where they were holding a large inauguration party. For some reason, I thought there would be a lot of Americans there, but actually that wasn't the case. It was probably about 80% British people, with one lady who actually dyed her hair red, wore a blue cap, and was decked out in stars and stripes, which was a little comical I have to say. There was also an Obama lookalike that I guess has made appearances on the MTV here, which was funny, especially when he talked and had a British accent. Also, for some reason we were at the hotspot where news stations (including CBS) and newspaper people were sent to take pictures and video, so it seemed like there was always a camera in my face. So, I'm probably in some London newspaper somewhere waving an American flag. When the inauguration actually began, I was surprised at how quiet the room got. When he was sworn in, the cheering was almost a little crazy and some people even had tears in their eyes. His speech made the same impression on the crowd and it was kind of touching to see how people around the world had come together for this American occasion. I made a video of Obamas speech and how people reacted. It was definitly an experience I'm glad I was a part of, even it was far from home.

O I forgot...

I forgot to mention...when I was at Dover castle, I happened to see a man with a red jacket on. When he turned the corner in front of me, the red jacket had the block O on the front! I immediately said Go Bucks, and he turned around at me and said it back. I told him I grew up in Columbus and he said he was from Cleveland....go figure buckeye fans everywhere in the world. :)

Crazy weekend in the U.K.

Hello all! A lot has happened since the last time I wrote on this. Well, I had two interviews on Friday, one with an agency who picks people who they think they can place in temp jobs, and one for a receptionist job at a gym. Both went well, the woman at the agency who called me for the interview told me she thinks she can get me a job by this week sometime, which is fantastic. The other interview went good, but the hours and pay are not as good as what the agency can offer me, so I'll probably go with whatever the agency gets me. So, everything is starting to look up and hopefully I'll have some cash flow coming in so I can plan some trips!

After all the running around on Friday with the two interviews, it was nice to hear that my friend Jamie got us half priced tickets to the show Wicked. I've been wanting to see it for years now at home, so when I got the chance to see it here I was ecstatic. It was even better than I thought and Kerry Ellis played the wicked witch, who is also the voice on the Wicked CD (which my mom has and I recognized immediately) and played the role on Broadway. The story and music were beautiful...and I have to admit, I liked it better than the Wizard of Oz.

On Saturday I woke up early to take a day trip with BUNAC to Dover and Canterbury. Our first stop was to Dover, which is about an hour and half away from London, where I saw Dover Castle and the White Cliffs. Dover Castle sits at the top of a large cliff in the middle of Dover, where on a clear day you can supposedly see France. It actually turned out to be a really nice day...but although I tried, I couldn't see France. :( We got a chance when we got there to explore the castle, which is like any other castle with a moat and stone walls, except for the fact that you could look out onto the English Channel which was nice. We also got a tour underneath the castle of secret WWII tunnels used by the British forces. The tour actually became quite amusing after we found out how much our tour guide Colin loved dramatic pauses between every sentence... "And here we are at the switch board rooms where women worked...(pause)...and it was cold...(pause)....and damp...(dramatic pause)...and the mold would sometimes make conditions unbearable...(even more dramatic pause as he looked around the room)...and the women would sometimes faint at the lack of ventilation" And imagine it all in a British accent. Sometimes I couldn't help but giggle a little. But, the tunnels were actually pretty interesting. They consisted of command rooms, barracks, a whole hospital, cinema, and anything else needed for all three forces to plan attacks. We even were shown the tunnel Churchill would come in and out of when he was there. I guess the main battle planned there was the excavation of Dunkirk. After Hitler had taken over parts of France the Allied forces were split, part were in Britain and the other in Dunkirk, France. So, British Admiral Ramsay ordered the excavation of Dunkirk to hopefully save 50,000 British troops and it ended up saving 350,000 troops which was a huge success. After the tour, we climbed a little higher to see the white cliffs that they are so famous for, and since it was such a beautiful day my pictures turned out great. (And I made a little video for you to enjoy!)
From there we made our way to Canterbury. Its a really nice town with a mix of medieval times and modern architecture. When we got there, we had lunch at a nice cafe (where I had fish and chips) and then explored the town. We saw the Canterbury Cathedral where Archbishop Thomas Becket was beheaded by the king's guards and now stands a statue of him where its said that some who have stood next to it have had miracles happen to them. I'm not sure why though..The town also has a lot of nice little shops that we went in and out of, one coffee and tea shop we went in was going out of business and I got about four tall things of English tea for a pound. We also found ourselves in a fudge shop, for those of you who know me know it wasn't me pushing to go in there, but my friend Ellen persisted. They actually make the fudge in front of you and let us try some, and for someone like me who doesn't like fudge this was probably the best I've ever tasted. We actually hung around and talked to the workers there who had an uncanny fascination with the fact that we were Americans. The one girl kept telling us how much she wanted to go to America and asked if we had Lucky Charms there because supposedly they took them off the shelves in the U.K. a long time ago and they were her favorite. Another one of them asked us what a Twinkie was, which was funny to describe. But, then it was time to head back and by then we were exhausted.

Today, Jamie and I headed to the Camden markets. Pretty much they are just a line of stands with anything from clothes, shoes, bags, sport gear, etc. along the length of a street in Camden in London. I ended up getting a purse and hat for cheap...since I couldn't fit a purse in my suitcase on the way here and desperately needed. But, once I get a job I might go back and buy myself a pair of cheap shoes or clothes...but not until I get a job.

Anyways, tomorrow hopefully I'll hear from the agency or other jobs. Tuesday, as you know is inauguration day for Obama and London is actually having a lot of parties for it. Madame Tussauds, the wax museum, is unveiling their Barak Obama figure and any American who can prove it gets in free..so we might do it for the heck of it. Besides that, no plans for the rest of the week. I'll keep you updated! Keep the emails coming!

Learning, Traveling, and Job prospects

This has been quite an interesting week and it isn't even over yet. Many things have happened and are going to happen in the coming and last couple of days. I guess everything began on Tuesday when I went to the BUNAC offices to print off my resume and look for more job postings. I met my friend Ellen there and we began talking about traveling, our semi crazy lives, and the courage to move to a whole other country on our own at the age of 22. With both of us, we are the only people out of any of our friends to ever do anything like this, which I thought was interesting. But, the next night I ended up sitting down with my housemate Blake who is from Australian and talked for a couple of hours, comparing our different lives in each country. He also told me of all of his travels all over the world and showed me pictures of the places he's been. It's amazing how at the age of 26 how much of the world he's actually seen and still plans on seeing. Its funny though, we went into topics like college and home and each other's cultures expectations, and everything is just so different from each other. I guess when I found out that I was living with Aussies I really didn't think their lives were much different than ours. But, they are actually much different in alot of ways. For example, college in Australia is nothing like it is in the U.S. First off, you don't live on campus unless you're from "the country" (more like the desert) as he puts it or a foreigner. So, every college is a commute school and you just live at home or on your own somewhere..there is no campus life, no frat parties (he didn't even know anything about fraternities/sororities except for what he's seen in movies...that took awhile to explain), no going away for four years. Its just school, not really the experience like most of had when we went away to college, which for me I appreciate a little more now. He showed me pictures of his friends from home (I did the same for him, so he saw some of you) and where he lives in Sydney which is right next to the beach. Its actually quite beautiful. He told me of a trip he took once to go to a friend's wedding at a beach near the great barrier reef where he sailed a couple days before it on the ocean. I guess you just sleep on top of the boat every night under the stars where the only thing you hear is the sound of the ocean, which sounds like heaven. I think I've mentioned this in a previous blog, but the main difference I think between us is the normalness of leaving home after college and just traveling for a couple of years in Australia. For me, leaving home to move here, was an emotional decision due to it nonacceptance in the States. I mean how many of you actually know someone who did what I'm doing right now..just picking up after college and moving to a whole other country to work and essentially play. Honestly, I was terrified of it all because it was as if I was doing something so absurd and that putting my life on hold may have consequences to my future. Its just not normal. But, in Australia and many other places in the world, its highly accepted and encouraged, which in my mind should be changed in the states. In just living here with these Australians and talking with them, I have learned so much about the world already and its something I think everyone should experience. I'm excited to meet more people and take all of this in everyday, and frankly I'm glad I decided to go against the norm.

Besides, my little life lessons I'm learning, today was Chris' last day in London before he heads back to Chicago so Brendan, Ellen, Jamie, and I all had lunch with him before he left. It was kind of bittersweet because he's been such a huge part of me getting acquainted with this city, so its sad to see him go. But, today was also an exciting day because I got calls for two interviews tomorrow! One is for a receptionist position at a gym and the other is for an agency that places selected people for temporary office work. So, hopefully I'll get one or both and have some options.

Tomorrow I am going to go see Wicked with Ellen and Jamie which I can't wait for. At home I was dying to see it so I am excited to see it here. I plan on going to a couple different shows here, especially We Will Rock You and Sister Act the Musical which only play in London. Saturday I am taking a day trip with BUNAC to see Dover and Canterbury. We get a tour of Dover Castle and the medieval town of Canterbury where the setting of Canterbury Tales takes place. I guess on a clear day you can see France from the Dover cliffs, so that'll be nice. Besides that I am not sure! I'll keep you all updated....

Still job searching...

My job search is still ongoing unfortunately. Tomorrow I am going back into the BUNAC offices to see if there are anymore listings. I hope that I'm just being impatient and that I will get some responses to my applications soon. Most jobs I have applied for our receptionist or secretarial positions and couple catering type jobs. I'm going to put my resume/CV into some agencies (which are free if your wondering) as well tomorrow, which will hopefully speed up the job search. At this point it doesn't really matter what job I get, as long as I have some cash flow in so I can start traveling.
This weekend was a good time. On friday we met Chris in Notting Hill again and had a couple of drinks at Prince Albert's pub, which is an old style English pub. It has a sort of dark atmosphere to it with wood lining the walls and floors..kind of what you picture an English pub in your mind. But, it was too cold that night to stay out too late because London has had freezing temperatures the past week. Actually, the lowest they've had in 10 years (of course I get here when London of all places has its worst weather). The next night though was our house's going away party for my Aussie roommate Dan. We started out a local Fulham pub called Picture and Piano where my American friends Chris, Ellen, and Jamie met up with us. Then after a little while we headed back to my house for the party. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, at one point I decided I couldn't stand techo or Kings of Leon (which is an American band that the English are obsessed with) anymore so I got my IPod out and an American dance party erupted in my kitchen, with everyone joining in. Oh and for all of my bonefish grill karaokers..Wannabe definitly came out and everyone heard my skills. Anyways, the night was really fun and no one ended up riding Daisy the cow outside...which is probably a good thing.
I guess I don't really have much news today, sorry about that. But, thank you to all of you who have sent me e-mails, keep them up! Its always nice to hear from everyone. Updates coming soon.

1st week of job searching

Monday was my first official day on the job search. I had my BUNAC orientation on Monday morning, which I was late to because of how long it took to get there and since I don't have the tube down yet I'm off on the timing. So, it took me close to 45 min to get there from where I live. The orientation actually was quite helpful and they went through everything we need to know about getting a job and actually working in England. A lot of companies put their vacancies up at BUNAC for temporary workers like us, so it makes it easier to find a job. So, for the rest of the day I was working on my CV (which is the English resume, just slightly different than ours) and planning out everything else I had to do for the week.
That night, as most of you sadly know, was the OSU game which I was able to watch over here. The worst part, besides losing, was that it didn't start here until 1:30 in the morning and didn't end until 5:30. So, it was a long night and unfortuanately wasn't even worth it.
The rest of the week was pretty much running errands and trying to get my CV into places. I had to open a bank account completely across town which took me 3 hours total the other day, because BUNAC is only affiliated with that branch. Then I finally got a phone so I don't feel so disconnected with the world. So, if anything good came out of all that hassle, it was probably that I'm finally getting to know the tube better and not feeling so nervous to ride it by myself.
Last night was a good night though. BUNAC held a pub meet for all of its participants at the Anchor which is located right on the river near the Globe Theater. I guess I would call that area of London the kind of "old London", because the streets look like their from the 16th century and the walkways are these high brick archways. Its kind of what I picture it looked like during the Christmas Carol time period or something. But, anyways, I was slightly anxious going to the pub meet because I really wanted to meet people. I also didn't want to go by myself so I dragged Brendan with me, even though hes not in BUNAC. It was actually the first time for both of us since either of us have been in London that we've been around a lot of Americans..because there really isn't that many here. And it was funny, because on the tube on the way to the pub, a group of American college students, which we never see, sat in front of us. Once we realized they were Americans we started up a conversation with them and they told us they were taking a class over there that travels through London and Paris. At the time, they were on their way to do a pub crawl which they saw advertised in a Frommer's book which we thought was quite funny, especially since it was about 9 o'clock at night when we met and them and most pubs close at 11.
So, anyways, we got to the pub meet and while getting a drink at the bar, we met two girls from the University of Colorado named Ellen and Jamie. Jamie was actually a Theta at Colorado which was a weird coincidence. They actually turned out to be really cool and we hung out with them for the rest of the night, even when our friend Chris and his English buddy Stuart met up with us. After the meet we went to another pub called O'Neals that played live music and was a lot of fun. So, I finally have made my first set of friends! And no offense to Brendan and Chris, but I need some girl friends here. They were actually planning on taking a trip to Barcelona in a couple weeks that I might tag along on, so that should be good.
The job search continues...Ill let you know how thats going. This weekend should be fun, my house is throwing a party for the one of the guys who lives here who is leaving next week to go back to Australia. I'll take pics so you can all see my roomates!

Summing up the week

So after new years things seemed to calm down a little bit around here. I've gotten to know most of the flatmates in the house (which are all from Australia) which has been nice. As of now there is 10 of us living here, but in the next two weeks it will be down to eight because two of them are moving to other countries. They are all quite interesting actually. We live in a house where it is a mix of guys and girls all around my age or older and their ways of life are slightly different than ours. Like for example, in Australia it is very common for people my age to go off into the world and travel for a couple of years. Most of the people living here have been to more places in the world than we would ever dream to go and have lived in several of them. Its fun to also compare lingo or slang words with each other, the hardest for me is them saying "are you doing OK?'', which in their terms is saying whats up or hello...but I always want to answer with fine or something like that which is hard to shake.
In the past couple of days we've walked by Buckingham palace, ate Thai food (which is popular here), went out in Notting Hill (again), and ventured to IKEA so that I could get a decent comforter to stay warm in my freezing cold room at night. At Buckingham palace Brendan, Christin, and I attempted to do the O-H-I-O using a column in front of it as the "I". A british man took the picture and told us we looked like idiots, which we probably did, but you'd understand if you were from Columbus.
So far I've made a little list of things I've learned about London/being new to the area that may be helpful to the rest of you if you ever visit here:
1. Take a walk along the river - you see about every major monument and encounter VERY interesting people.
2. ALWAYS stand on the right on an escalator unless your actually physically walking up it - I learned that the hard way.
3. You bump into someone every 5 seconds here, so theres no use in saying excuse me.
4. Yes, they know your American.
5. It gets dark here at 4:30, so you are forced to wake up early and do things. (Which if you all know me, thats a very difficult thing)
6. Those red guards that everyone messes with are NOT at Buckingham Palace, they are at the Tower of London which I have yet to see.
7. The only American pop music they play is the classic songs that everyone knows like "Sweet Home Alabama" - except for in the CD store near my house where for some reason they play Soulja Boy.
8. You learn new things everyday, and you just have to embrace them.

Tomorrow is my BUNAC orientation and then the job search begins!

Bringing in the New Year!

2009 has already had a great start. Yesterday for new years eve Brendan, our friend Chris, a couple other American friends, and I of Brendan's headed out to Camden, which is one of London's party scenes, and arrived at a pub/club called 55. It was a two story pub with ALOT going on. It was very upscale and trendy and we ended up talking and meeting a lot of people there, including other Americans. The night turned out to be alot of fun, including free champagne, mingling with the Brits, and a very cool and different way to bring in the new year.
New years day ended up starting a little later than usual, with a late wake up. :) We actually all decided to go to a local McDonalds and grab food. Although I was not exactly up for the idea, it turned out to be quite different than I expected. The McDonald's was very trendy with cushioned seats and somewhat healthy menu (for example I ordered a deli sandwhich with wheat bread). That night I met up with Chris again and we walked through Oxford street which is like the times square of London. We actually ended up watching the Penn St vs USC game at a Sports cafe and then headed home.
All in all, new years eve and day were quite adventurous. Miss you all and hope to talk to some of you soon!