Don't wake me i plan on sleeping in

Boredom makes me homesick. It's Saturday night, and I was in bed before midnight. London is almost too big - there's so much to do, I don't know where to start. Stephanie and I found the SuperTesco today. That was exciting. I was planning on going to a show, but found out to late, that it was a day show. oh well.

Last night we went to a DC shoes / PK Ripper bmx launch party. The highlights were:
1. free beer
2. a cute boy that i've apparently met before kissed me hello on the cheek - i however, do not recall meeting him
3. another boy mistook for for a sports television presenter - i must have been looking good last night.
4. Stephanie and I did a lot of people watching, and I introduced her to mine and sarah's "yes or no" game. We played it for a long time.

The lowlight was:
not remembering having previously met a rider, who knew my name, knew Sarah's name, and has our CD. i hate staring blankly at someone when they come up and talk to me - I know how much it sucks.

After the party we went to "Witness the Fitness." An anglo-ized 80's american aerobics themed dance party. It was pretty fun. The MCs had edited together an exercise video montage, and led the dance floor in jazzersize. One of the guys I was with told me that I "must feel at home." WHAT?!?!

My temp agency threw a party for everyone last week. Several glasses of wine later and heading back to the tube, Stephanie I came across a plaza with giant litup grid - Tron style. So we sat down in the middle of it, a took alot of really bad pictures. Last week I also went to see David Cross, an american comedian - he was in arrested development. He was pretty funny. The best part was, while we were waiting outside to get in, he walked by so Stephanie stopped him, took pictures, and he told us a really bad joke. When he told the joke during his set, Stephanie yelled out the punchline before he said it. I was embarressed, but it was really funny anyway. The joke itself was so bad, I almost think we might have been set up - he def. got more laughs than he would have, if he had just told the joke.

Here's me with my housemates - Stephanie and Kara.

the bachelor-ette pad

here's pics of the place. my room is the the one with the double bed.

Home Sweet Home Sweet Home

Sorry about my lack of contact as of late – it’s been a busy week. Stephanie and I were starting to feel a little discouraged by the housing situation. She was getting tired of living in the hostel, and I was worried I might be moving from one couch to another. I was beginning to think we were going to have to pay an exorbant amount of rent, or end up having to go our separate ways, and get single rooms in house-shares.

Short story:
Wednesday – make an appt for a couple house viewings
Thursday - view house 1 – awesome. View house 2 – awful. Call house 1, leave message that we want it.
Friday – get confirmation that we’ve got it. MOVE IN Friday evening.

Long story:
On Wednesdays the BUNAC office is open late, so I decided I go after work to get my mail and to see if there were any new house/room postings on the board. (The nice thing about houses found thru BUNAC is that the landlords know that most of us are here for a short amount of time and give us short leases, or month to month). There happened to be a posting for a house with 2 rooms, in a decent area and minutes from the tube stop, so I got up the nerve, called the number, and set up an appt. to view the house for Thursday at 5:30. I also set up an appt. to view a couple of studios that were right next to the each other for later Thursday evening.

On Thursday, Stephanie and I met after work and took the tube out to the house. The landlord Robert, a middle-aged English guy, who lives in the add-on apartment next door, met us at the door. He’s apparently out of town a lot but when in town, shares the kitchen with the house. He gave us the grand tour – 3 empty bedrooms (we got Kara, another BUNACer that we’ve hung out with some to take the 3rd so it really is our house, and not a house-share full of strangers), a kitchen, a bathroom, and sunroom and a huge garden with a deck. We were very impressed, especially when he told us the price. I had really been expecting a shit-hole, but all the walls are recently painted, he’s replacing the carpet and bathroom floor, and the kitchen could almost be mistaken for American! The only downfall is no sitting room, but once we feel things out, we’re going to ask if we can rearrange the junk in the sunroom and make space for sitting room.

I think that Stephanie and I both knew we wanted it, but felt like we needed to go see the studios, which ended up really being bedsits, not to mention, they were far away, and smelled bad, As soon we left the real estate agent I was on the phone calling Robert to say we wanted the place. I had to leave a message and was so anxious for the rest of the night, afraid someone else and gotten to it before us.

On Friday morning he called and said we could move in that night, so we did. Kara, the 3rd girl had already paid for where she was staying, so she doesn't move in until Thursday. It's so nice to have a place. I'll post pictures soon.

oh and in case you're wondering, which I'm sure you are - I'm paying £85 per week - which equals out to about $680 a month - and that is a steal! (i think we're going to get internet - so the price will go up a bit).

Don't let me sleep tonight , And get in your way tonight

aaagh, i can not wait
to get me own room. Quiet,
soft bed, pillow, sleep

who knew these things were so important?

London, where do i start?

I keep meaning to write something about being here, but just haven’t had the time – which is a good thing I suppose.

I’m staying at my normal 4star London penthouse - Ross’ floor – but hopefully for not much longer. A girl from Louisiana that I’ve met thru the BUNAC program, and I, are trying to find a place to share – it’s a little disheartening, because it’s soooo expensive here – but I’m sure we’ll find something – it just might not be in the part of town that we want to live in.

I started work last Monday. I’m working for the London branch of IDA Ireland, the same Irish gov’t agency that I was working for in Dublin. I’m basically the office manager – I don’t think it will be too difficult – only 4 people in the office, and we have a fancy espresso machine. It’s certainly not my life’s calling, but I think it will be fine for now…

Let’s see, fun stuff that I’ve done. Last night Ross had a BBQ – it was good. Lots of nice food, and when it started raining we all moved inside and played SingStar for a couple hours. I am officially the SingStar champion – so far I’m unbeatable. (SingStar is a karaoke game on Playstation – it scores you on how accurate your tempo and pitch are – I may have been winning because I was the only sober person in the room – but I’d like to believe that I’ve just got skills.)

Last Wed. my friend Stephanie and I went to a free movie at an ampitheater on South Bank. I know I’ve been to London many times, but it was still a little surreal sitting there on the Thames River, London Bridge on one side, Tower Bridge on the other, watching “In the Heat of the Night”. The best part was when it started raining – instead of scrambling for safety, everyone just calming pulled out their umbrellas and continued watching the film. On Friday, we went back to the same ampitheater and watched a documentary on Glastonbury. After seeing it, I’m not too bothered the by fact that I didn’t go to the festival. On Saturday, Stephanie and I packed up our laptops and went to this cool bowling alley we’ve discovered that has free wi-fi. We spent about 5 hours looking for places to live – but didn’t actually get anything accomplished – oh well, it was a start.

We’ve been bowling a couple times. On Monday nights, they have £3 games, cheap drinks and a band plays. They also have a restaurant modeled after a retro American diner, and a theater that plays random films. It’s a good place just to hang out. A little scenester studenty – but there’s really nothing wrong with that.

Vacation...all i ever wanted...

Amity came to visit over Memorial Day weekend. She was only in Dublin for a few days, but we managed to cram quite a bit into her vacation.

We walked for miles all over Dublin – it was cool, we found a few places that I hadn’t seen yet, got caught in a hailstorm & visited the Kilmainham Gaol, which was built in 1796 and is an important part of Irish history. Many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the jail. The Gaol hasn’t been used since 1924 but has been restored and has a museum inside, and tours. It was cool to see, and would have been incredibly creepy if we hadn’t of been surrounded by the other 30 people on the tour.

We also took a trip to the west coast of Ireland. We stayed in a cute little B&B in Galway and took a coach tour to The Burren and The Cliffs of Moher. The Burren is a region of County Clare, and is unique because the landscape is made of limestone. It’s about 250 square km of rock – it’s well know for the flora & fauna that grows in the cracks of the limestone, as well has the mega-lithic tombs, portal dolmens, and ring forts. Our tour guide was an odd, ancient, little man named Declan – full of knowledge and very flirty. He loved stopping the bus so we could get out and take photos.

After driving thru the Burren we went to The Cliffs of Moher. It was beautiful, although incredibly windy and lots of tourists.

Galway was a cool city, kind of a bohemian feel to it…although we were unable to find the night life that everyone raves about. Honestly I was pretty content to lie on my bed and watch telly. After sleeping on the floor in Dublin for 4 months, it was luxury.

LONDON

I made it. It's good. I hope it stays good.