Working Gal

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens


I love Christmas. I feel like it sounds so phoney to say it’s my favourite time of year, but it really kind of is. I love the cold weather, and all of the twinkle lights, and having moments that show what the season is really all about. This is the season for love, friendship, family, generosity, companionship, and care for peace on earth and goodwill towards your fellow human beings. Even if I am a bit cut off from my family and my home, I’m still bound and determined to have a nice Christmas in London.


It doesn’t hurt that I got a pretty great present to kick it off. That would be, my new job AND a job offer for when I get back to the States!!!


Here is how it all started. Last week, I was sick. Like I am every single winter, with my cold and my coughing and all that crap that tied me to a bed for 3 days straight. Because of this, I couldn’t work for Johanna, and had to cancel a few shifts with Esprit. Needless to say, I was in a pretty low place. Whatever you do in life, make sure you have plenty of money to back you up. I also had an accident with my computer and a very drunk roommate stepping on it and cracking the screen. I am literally going to owe my parents my tax refunds for the next 10-15 years.


But, in a true Christmas miracle, I got a call out of the blue from one of the 6 temp agencies I am registered with, and never heard from. They had a gig in the Accommodations Department of King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. It was good until January 31, and had a possibility of being extended further. £10 an hour, and 40 hours a week with paid lunch hours. They needed me to start the next day at 9am, and I took it! I had three days to train with the girl I was taking over for, then I’d be on my own. The job itself is easy. Now, I know I have said in the past that I’ve had easy jobs, but you haven’t heard of easy until now. I share my office with Corrine—everything you’d hope an old bitty from Cockney would be. She’s retiring in March, and doesn’t care if the place burns to the ground. The office itself is in the basement of the hospital, so it’s quiet. We are here for people to find us. We book in on call rooms for doctors, or long/short term accommodation rooms for up to 6 months. In all honesty, we just give them the application, and then fax it to the landlord. Around 2-3pm, I put together the packets that have the keys for the on call rooms, drop them off at the front desk, then am just here til 5. This has let me finish a book, update emails, do remote work for Johanna, and write blog entries like this. ; -) It’s not a matter of lazy—half the rooms we have are being torn down in February, and everywhere else is booked solid. So I’m basically paid to deal with egomaniac god complex sob story doctors who think they deserve to have luxury suite apartments and bitch if they are told there isn’t anything, or that the tiny studios that are the only things available are further then a 5 minute walk. Its working in Residence Life with bigger brats. To add insult to injury, Sodexho runs the cafeteria. But the people are nice and friendly, there are lots of tea breaks, and yesterday I got to spend my afternoon picking music for the holiday party next week and stringing twinkle lights in the hallway.


I love twinkle lights.


For the other part of it, after 2 weeks of phone tag, Johanna and I were able to finally meet up and settle up. I went to her house last night, and ended up staying for 4 hours, leaving with £100, 2 bags of leftovers from her house (she was going back to the States for the holidays today), and a promise that when I get back to the States, I can call her and she will create a job for me in her company to do research on leadership, communication, and teambuilding. She’s the creator and the CEO. She can do that. Until then, she wants me to stay on remotely, and will send me money for my work periodically. On top of that, she and her husband have a beach house in LA (technically Manhattan Beach) that they ‘are more then happy to let you stay in. We don’t use it enough anyway.’ So I may be moving to LA when I get home.


I love the beach.


So life is going pretty well right now. I move into my place on Jan. 4th, have a job that will let me save up for something really good AND pay the bills, I’m spending Christmas with my friends at the hostel (we’re doing a champagne breakfast, Christmas dinner, and a Secret Santa, so it should be fun) and on Skype with my family, and as for New Year’s Eve…guess we’ll have to wait and see!


Oh, and I’m going to Bruges this weekend to the Christmas markets! I need to get out of London for a while, and remember all the wonderful reasons I came here in the first place. Like travel! Here is a website for the markets. They have an entire Snow and Ice Sculpture Garden based on Harry Potter. Can't seem to get away from it here, can I? ;-)

More to come soon,
xo
Em

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

I was talking to my mom last week about going places and doing things on my own. I was talking about how I want to go on the Bunac Christmas trip to Bruges, but how I was a little bummed about going alone. (Now I'm bummed because I don't know if I can go--this cold has held me back from work for a few days, and it's really taking it's toll. But this is a happy blog :)) She said,"Em, I stopped being worried about you being on your own when you went to the Pirates 2 midnight screening in LA alone, and came out of there having made friends with an indie band. (True story: they sat outside in line and played guitar until they let us in. Great guys. We're MySpace friends ;-))

Anywho, in that true spirit, I was looking through some podcasts to load on my iPod, and I came across my MuggleCast one. This is the #1 podcast made about Harry Potter--the best show was when they had JK Rowling herself on for an interview. The great part it, it's all done by 6 fans who are my age, and they started it a few years ago. I went on to their site, and saw that they were going to be at the release party for The Tales of Beedle The Bard. This is JK's latest book having to do with Harry Potter. These are the tales written for wizard and witch children the way Grimm's fairy tales were written for us (Muggles). In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore leaves the original copy of these stories to Hermione to decode, and she is able to use the tales to help Harry find the different Hallows. JK hand wrote and illustrated 7 copies: six were given to the people she felt had been the most involved with the HP series, and a 7th copy was made to sell at auction for her charity The Children's Voice. This last copy was bought by Amazon for $3.98 million dollars. For serious. It is 157 pages, all hand written and illustrated by the author, and has inserted notes from Albus Dumbledore.

Now that you have the backstory, here is where I fit in. On MuggleCast's homepage, they mentioned they would be flying over from the US to host the midnight release party for the book (the first one in the world, due to the time differences) at Waterstones Piccadilly. Waterstones is a chain bookstore out here, but this particular one is the largest bookstore in Europe. It is built in an old department store building, and is 6 stories tall, with a cafe and bar. Their fiction section alone was about the size of the Borders by the mall in South Portland. I was thinking about getting a ticket (5 pounds, which covered the podcast, refreshments, and a copy of the book.) But they were only selling 450, and I was worried it was sold out. But I called anyway. Luckily, they had 10 tickets left, and I was able to snag one.

Then this whole cold thing hit--hard. I get this every year, but I was to the point of being dizzy and coughing so hard I woke up my roommates. I decided to take the day, spend it in bed, then go to the release. I slept some, but not much, and made my way into the City around 7pm. I got there, got my entry bracelet, and wandered around in bliss. I ended up in the cafe around 9:30 with a large tea, and waited til they opened the doors at 10. I got to the top, and got in line for another cup of tea. It was crowded, but it was pretty evenly split in ages, origins (they did a poll during the podcast, and about 1/3 were American) and fan worship--there were a lot of people in great costumes--one came as Luna with the Gryffindor lion on her head--she won. I was getting my tea when I started chatting to this really nice woman behind me, and we decided to sit together for the podcast. She's here studying from the US, and was so great. She had come to this Waterstones to get her copy of Deathly Hallows last summer when there were over 2,000 people waiting.

We wandered over to the seating area for the show, and it was a pretty decent show. The store had been decorated in one section to look like the Forbidden Forest, and they had people dressed up like Dumbledore and Hagrid. These characters warmed up the crowd before the cast of MuggleCast came on to do the podcast. They had a quiz where they gave out prizes, discussed the book and the new international movie trailer, and then took questions to discuss from the crowd. If you listen to MuggleCast #164, you can hear me asking how they feel about the theme park that is opening at Universal in Florida in 2010.

After the podcast, they had a costume contest, and while Dumbledore was a bit bias towards some Americans who dressed up like the Harpies (there were others who were more dressed up, even the Harpies said this). The winner got the first copy. That was something else I liked: when you paid to get it, you also had the price of the book included, so you just got handed your copy. Here is the video of the release:

After you received your copy, you got a stamp saying it was one of the first released. I took my copy over and got it signed by the cast of MuggleCast. They were the nicest people. Elysa, the only girl, is from Baltimore, and knows people at McDaniel!! Small world. Then Matt and I totally bonded over Wicked, and Andrew and I talked about TV Production classes and blogging. It was exactly the kind of experience I love having, where I can meet people who I just click with because we love the same things.

Cassandra (the woman I'd been hanging with) and I walked back to Leicester Square to the bus stop. Since the Tube stopped running at midnight, and this was now 1:30am, I had to take one of the many night buses that run from midnight to 6am. Luckily, the N5 lets off right in front of my hostel. I got on the double decker, and sat upstairs to try and avoid the drunks. I called my folks to stay awake, and chatted until I lost my voice, and the drunks stumbled upstairs. I got back to the hostel around 2am, and went to bed.

I've been reading one Tale a day (there are 5) and they are each wonderful and something that I will read to my kids the same way I'll read them Grimm's fairy tales, Greek myths, and The Hobbit, just like my parents did for me. I think these are stories that have the potential to really stick with kids--even before they are introduced to Harry Potter.

Love,
Emica

Getting Colder, but Brighter too

Ah, the first few days of December. The air is crisp and cool, there are twinkle lights everywhere, and if you try really hard (and grew up in Maine) you can smell the snow before it even hits the ground. You start doing holiday stuff-Hannah and I spent last night building her little paper tree her mom sent her, had pizza and mini-pies her roommate brought home, and watched a bootleg copy of The Santa Clause online. Good times...it actually really was :)

For me, it means my inevitable holiday cold. I use to think that this only had to do with the stress that comes from finals, moving from school to home, that sort of thing. But apparently, you can still get the plague away from all that kind of stuff. Although I am living in a room with 15 other people…and its still cold season…and I’m kinda stressed…guess all the factors are still there.

Things have been ok. Not fantastic, but not horrible. Courtney’s visit, as I’m sure you saw from the last entry, has been a big highlight of my time here. We had so much fun, and it really showed me how far I’ve come. I know my way around, I budgeted, and I enjoyed a lot of the things offered here that I don’t have at home. I was really sad to see her go, but it also gave me hope. Courtney and I are very (VERY) similar people, but we never got as much time to figure that out when we were at school. We had other sisters, friends, work, etc., but I feel like we really came out of this week with a much stronger bond. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve spent every day with someone in a week, and had no fights, no bad feelings, no frustrations or complications. It was refreshing.

After she left, I started my two new jobs. Now, before we get into that, if I’m not bouncing off the walls, its only because I am fond of security and steady work. These have neither, but I’m ok with it…kind of.

First of all, I started working with the lovely Johanna—this may be the best job I’ve ever had, and the shortest. She has her own company, and lives mostly in the states. Her husband is from Chicago, while she is British, so they also have a beautiful flat in Maida Vale here. Her company—which I may very well apply to full time when I get back—is based out of LA, and designs training programs for different companies. For example, Jo’s latest program is Positive Under Pressure; a professional development training program that she did for Boeing that helps their employees learn how to stay positive under pressure, and manage stress in constructive way. She is currently working on a bigger program for them, and the two areas that I am assisting her on are Gender Roles and the 4 Generations At Work. Here is my favorite part: she is a total movie buff, and was a theatre major at university. I told her about my senior seminar on gender and culture in Disney films, and after looking it over, she is now having me re-write it as a 4 hour seminar!!!!! Its geared to influences and representation of gender roles, and how cultural icons such as the roles in Disney films imprint on us from the very beginning. She wants be to write the entire thing. Ahh!!! My only concern is Disney throwing a hissy fit, but worst comes to worst, she can deal with that in LA (as horrible as that sounds). The other section is on what it is like in the current workplace now that there are 4 generations working in it: The Silent Era, the Baby Boomers, Generation X and the Millenials. The economy is dropping, so all these generations are working at the same time with different ideals and goals. Our program is designed to pinpoint these goals and show how they can be achieved without leaving anyone out. Again, writing the whole thing myself. She is also having me redesign the website, and she says I get her style better then people she’s been working with for 5 years. Here are the main highlights of the gig: I work in her home office from about 11am-anywhere from 4-7pm. She hates mornings. I usually get there, we go over stuff, I work for a few hours, we take a tea break, talk, work a bit more. She knows I have a cold, so she brings me tea in the office, usually with a scone or chocolate biscuit. I think she is happy to have the company more then anything else. At the end of each afternoon, we walk down to the Tube station together, and she pops to the ATM next to it, and hands me cash for the day. That’s right—tax free, paid daily, cold hard in my pocket cash. Its glorious. The downsides are that she can be kind of sporadic in her timing: when I was there yesterday, she told me she was going to Oxford for a few days, and not to come in til Friday. Good, because I really REALLY need to get over this cold, and bad because its two days I’m not working. Tho I did work all weekend….ca va. She also has a hard time focusing. She repeats herself a lot, and totally pulled a Devil Wears Prada the day before last when she actually said, ‘now, where is that piece of paper I had in my hand yesterday that had the thing on it?’. Being brilliantly in sync, I knew exactly what she was talking about ;-) Overall, its fantastic, but it ends when she goes back to the States a week from Monday. And she has family stuff to do this week, which means I can’t work for her every day. The real reason I’m antsy about this is that I can’t tell my other job how available I am.

Now to the other job. I got hired with Esprit, the number one event waiting company in Britain. They work for a million different companies and events, and Christmas is crazy for them. They do holiday parties almost every day, and work everywhere from Wimbledon (did you know you can do parties there?? Like the sky box at Fenway) to private country homes to the Palace (they did the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday party. Apparently Prince Harry is a douche). The funniest story we heard was when they were telling us about their apparel requirements. Its not too bad—I have to go buy a black shirt with ¾ length sleeves and some ‘shiny polishable shoes’—but Sir Elton John hires them a lot to do his private parties, and he’ll only hire the boys. When he does, if you are assigned to serve him at the head table, they are required to wear pink hot pants, a sparkly vest, and a pink boa. No lie. We saw pictures. One of the guys at the training session almost peed himself. Anywho, we had a 5 hour long training on how to set the tables, what to do at the bar, how to serve champagne and what not to say (you can’t say ‘would you like some more?’ because that implies the person is an alcoholic. I’m totally going to screw that up), and how to set and serve at the table. These are high power hard core Brits here: we can only serve over the person’s left shoulder, then pour wine, clear, and refill water on the right hand side; we learned how to properly set the table and how to line things up evenly; and then how to serve and clear in formation and in sync. Like I said, hardcore. But the people seemed really fun and nice, and I loved everyone at the training. I’m working my first gig for them on Saturday, as long as the plague has subsided. After that, they said they have work for me every day—I just have to figure out a clear schedule with Johanna first. If not, I’ll still have almost 2 weeks before Christmas to work for them.

In other news, I am getting a room! Let's call it my Happy New Year's present. I finally found a place that works. It’s more then I wanted to pay, but the deal can’t be beat. I’m going to be living in South Kensington, off of Glouster Road. For those of you who don’t know, this is the upper crust area. There is a hotel 2 buildings down from mine that goes for ₤2,000 a night. My room is in the basement of a building with 6 other girls. We are all Bunac-ers, and all American (kinda bummed about that, but what are ya going to do). The guy who rents the rooms out is Scottish, and has a deal with Bunac. We have access to a private garden (like the one Julia and Hugh climb into in Notting Hill. It’s amazing—think Eden) and are 5 minutes walk from the Tube station, laundry mat, 24 hour Sainsbury’s aka grocery store, plus little shops and cafes. Its 10-15 minutes walk to Hyde Park, my FAVORITE part of London, and is in Zone 1 so very central. As for the money, no deposit and 28 day contracts. I can stay for a month, and if it’s too much, move out. It comes with all bills included, free wi-fi, tv, vcr, linens, utensils, pots, pans, microwave, my own mini fridge/freezer, 2 burner hot plate, kettle, and a lot of storage space. Now, ignoring the mess of the chick who lives there now, for a mere ₤440 a month in a ₤2,000 a night neighborhood, starting Jan. 5th, 2009, here is my room:



Ok, so the shower (in the back right corner, where the bathrobe is) and kitchen (bottom left corner, with the sink under the mirror) are in the room with me, and it’s about the same size as the room I had in college. The closets are on either side of where I'm standing, so it has more storage then it looks...even if it's kind of tight. Who cares? It’s a place to rest my head, store all my stuff, has a window, lets me live in a great area, and is all mine. I’d never be able to get a place without a deposit, and especially now since I’d only be able to sign a lease for a few months. I’m relatively happy about it.

As for everything else, my plan to sublet from my friend for Christmas fell through, so it looks like I’m going to be staying at the hostel. Other then the cost thing, that’s ok. I told my friends here I was moving out next month and they were all really sad. Even AJ the manager was bummed-‘I need someone to keep these yabos in line’ I think was his wording. So here I’ll stay. I’ve been paying on a weekly basis, but I need to figure out my plans soon. Christmas isn’t too bad, but if I’m here for New Years, I need to book asap. I may talk to AJ tomorrow and see if I can pay for New Year’s Eve and Day now, but the rest on a weekly basis. That’s where all my Jo money is going. I did get to set up and decorate the Christmas tree here. I’ll post a picture soon. I was pretty proud of it—for a fake tree, it looks pretty sweet.

I’m going to go take a nap and try not to hack up a lung, but I’ll write more soon. As a treat, since I don’t have to work tomorrow, I’m taking myself out tonight. In true geekdom, but at the same time for the love of, I’m going to the Waterstone Piccadilly bookstore, the largest bookstore in Europe, for the release party of JK Rowling’s Tales of the Beedle Bard. For those out of the loop, this is the book of wizarding myths left to Hermione by Dumbledore in the last Harry Potter book. JK decided to write out the whole book, and have it published. It even includes hand drawings by the author. MuggleCast, the #1 Harry Potter podcast, is hosting the party, so it should be good. I gotta figure out the buses to get back tho.

More to come, I’m sure. I miss you all, and wish I could be with you for one of my favorite times of year.

Love,
Emica

Phi Mu Sisters Take London By Storm

This has been a busy week, but I want to start off with talking about last weekend, and amazing time I had when my sorority sister came from Budapest for a few days. Courtney brings Phi Mu lovin', the sunshine, adventures...and apparently she is my good luck charm. We have had a crazy weekend, and it all started as soon as she stepped off the plane.

I went into Heathrow to pick Courtney up on Weds. afternoon. On the way back, I had to stop at the Bunac office to pick some mail, so we took the double decker bus from King's Cross. After Bunac, we went up to the Sainsbury's in Isling, and got groceries for the next few days. We came back to the hostel, made dinner, and made plans for the next few days. We decided that Thursday would be a tourist day, and it was exactly what I needed. I've been here long enough to know my away around, but hadn't been around places to appreciate them as much as I wanted. Here is a picture catalog of our first day:


We went down to Trafalgar Square, and walked by the fountains. This was Courtney's first exposure to the more well known London.


Being true Phi Mus, we had to have our pictures taken in front of the lions.


We walked down to Big Ben....


And Westminster Abbey.


Then we crossed the bridge to the Queen's Path on the South Bank. We had lunch under one of the bridges and walked back to Charring Cross.




We went back to the hostel to grab some food and decide what to do that night. A few guys were going to see Spamalot, so we decided that sounded cool. But before we went there, I had read that Bond Street was doing it's Christmas lighting. Bond Street is the most expensive street in London, with shops like Cartier, Tiffany's, and Gucci, and is located across from the Ritz. They had the lighting of the Christmas decorations, and we went down.

They were so beautiful. They even had 'snow' : really, it was about a dozen bubble machines, but it looked like the real thing. Every few feet there was a dancing elf, or a string quartet, or carolers. Plus, a lot of shops were giving out free samples, so we each got a chocolate and some marshmallows.


So we hiked back down to the discount booths in Leicester Square. At this point, Courtney was feeling a little shaky about money, and I had already seen the show,so we opted for the ₤15 seats in the Upper Balcony aka the nosebleed section. We got slices of pizza off a vendor, and ate them as we walked down to the theatre. We got there really early, and went in, thinking we would have to camp out somewhere in the top and rent binoculars or something. The woman looks at our tickets, and says 'The balcony is closed this evening. Head over to the booth, and they will adjust your seating.' We're like crap, where else can they put us. The woman looks at our tickets, checks off a list, and says with a smile 'Just down the stairs, to your left.' Down the stairs? Like to the stalls? Like on the floor?? We go sit in the bar to wait, where we met these two nice guys (our parents' age) who are American, but have been working on planes for the state department in Japan for a few months. One of them goes to church with one of the girls I know from Vagina Monologues!! Small world. Anywho, they open the doors, and we go to find our seats. We are in *Drumroll* 5th row, center. Thats right. 15 quid, and we're in (normally) 75-100 pound seats. GO US!! The show was fantastic, we got sprayed with confetti at the end, and we loved every minute of it. It was nice to see what some of the actors looked like up close, tho I did have 'We're Not Dead Yet' stuck in my head for 3 days.

The next few days were great. We went to the National Portrait Gallery, walked around Oxford Circus, went to Portebella Road Market (got Christmas presents)
and Borough Food Market (amazing samples), met up with Hannah (the sister I met from Virginia) and went to the Mudlark pub (famous bangers and mash and being the location for the Three Broomsticks in the Harry Potter movies), went out for Sunday roast, walked in Kensington Park and found the Peter Pan statue, and ended the whole thing with a little trip to Platform 9 and 3/4.

The nicest parts were that we had a good time no matter what we were doing, we got along the whole time, and we got to Skype with a bunch of sisters at home. It was glorious.

Next entry, job updates!! And possibly flat updates...I'll tell you when I get back...


Love,
Emica

Work News

So I have updates for this week, and the biggest being, I got job(s)! Kind of...I start one on Thursday as a research assistant for an unmarked period of time, but will probably only be for a few weeks. The other I have a training session/interview for, which is with an event company that sends wait staff, hostesses, etc. to events. Here are the details.

Monday: I have been talking to different sorority sisters online for a few weeks now, and Monday I finally met one! Hannah from Virginia, who come over to the UK for grad school and is doing everything not to leave. She is the cutest thing, and so down to earth. She was wearing sparkles, everywhere, and had this confidence about her I hope for. I met her in her neighborhood, and we walked around for a bit before going to see a movie. We sat and talked about our chapters, international experiences, family. This is why I love Phi Mu-we connected right away. She mentioned that she was also looking for work, but for spare money, she contacted Esprit. They are an event firm that provides hostesses, waitresses, etc. for different parties, events, etc. I had heard of them before, but wasn't sure about hours. Hannah sent me an email address, and I sent in a resume.

Tuesday: So I got up for another day of searching, and I get a call from Suzi at Esprit. We chat for a bit, and she asks me if I can come in next week for a interview/training session. Woohoo-I'm going to be a waitress! It pays 6 pounds an hour, and she said that the hours are up to me--its my availability that determines how much I'm working. With the holiday season coming up, and the fact that I'm in town for the holidays, I could work up to 60 hours a week. That would kill me, but I knew I was going to be working my butt off after being unemployed for almost a month and a half. Besides, it'll be good to be busy.

Weds: I get up, thrilled because Courtney is coming to visit for 6 days! For those of you who don't know, she is one of my sorority sisters from home who is studying at McDaniel's sister campus in Budapest, Hungry. Courtney was one of my Phis when I was Provisional Membership director, and I've always felt like we could be a lot closer if we could just have more time together. We are very similar in our likes, our temperaments, and what we want to experience in life. I was really excited.

I also got an email from Bunac that morning saying there was a woman looking for someone to do research for them. I called her, and about 20 minutes into the conversation, I found myself writing down directions to her house for my first day! To backtrack: I called Bunac and told them I still hadn't found anything. I then sent them a list of all the places I had applied, and what I had been sending them. I got a call later that day from Louise, one of the staff members. She said that for a few days, she was going to email me jobs directly at the same time she posted them as available on the Bunac boards. She was a little worried because people who had weaker resumes then me were getting hired for posts. So she sent me a few emails, and I called this woman because it was the first one I got. Her name is Johanna, and she is the managing director for a company called Potencium. They design team building, training, development, and mentoring programs for companies. She does a lot of these programs in the States, and is based out of UCLA. She lives most of the time in LA, and is only here for a few weeks, but needs someone to do research for a program for Women in the Workplace. She was talking very quickly, but from what she said, I can work from her home, pretty easy hours (11am-6pm) at 8 pounds an hour, 5 days a week. I start work with her on Thursday, so I'll let you know how it goes.

The only reason I'm not jumping out of my skin about these jobs are a)I still haven't started them yet, so I'm still a little up in the air to what I'm doing; b) the research job at least is temporary, but that might be different once I start and know what the hell I'm doing; and c) I'm just frustrated that it has taken me this long, and still all I could get was a 2 week gig, and waitressing. The waitress thing is a side job, so I'm still open to other stuff once I know about the research job, but I dunno...I just want to work, I don't care at what now. I just wish I knew when!!

A job is a job is a job. And it would be really great to be out of the hostel for Christmas. I'll let you know by the end of this week what I've gotten myself into :)

-E

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming...

Hi all-

After freaking out about no job, no flat and all that, I kind of had a 'pop!' moment. I was walking down to the tube, and I realized that if I was at home, I'd be doing this same thing. But I'd be home, in this little safety net, doing the same thing and not experiencing anything. And the truth is, despite how stressful the last few weeks have been, I wouldn't given them up for the world. I've proven to myself that I can interact on an international level, and come away pretty strong. I can learn my way around a new city (one of the most confusing cities EVER!!! so many roads lead to no where, and nothing intersects the way you think it will). Despite having to get more money from home, I've handled budgeting pretty well, being aware of living costs. I feel that confidence everone always seemed to see in me. Its because of all this crap that I feel that. I talked to Mom last night, and she had a similar kind of moment where she realized as much as she wants to help me, I'm still doing pretty good all things considered. We both kept cracking up because our mic connection on Skype was bad and all I could hear was 'So I think *Static*' or 'This is a good idea *silence*'

Overall, I'm loosening up. This doesn't mean I'm giving up or anything, but I've resolved to be here, keep looking for a job, all that, but I'm going to stay at the hostel for a bit. At least until I find a job. As much as the bed sucks, the rent isn't bad, I have a kitchen and unlimited movies and wi-fi, and I've made friends here. I've re-packed my bags and done laundry to get organized, and am making plans. Courtney is coming on Weds., so I'm going to take the week off from all the stress and enjoy. I've been sending out CVs all morning, and will check in, and I'll set a general spending limit for the weekend, but I'm going to have some fun.

In general news, after my night of 'pop!', I decided to do a London-y thing--I took myself to a musical. Spamalot to be exact (the one based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail) There are all these stalls around Leister Square that sell cheap tickets. I got front row center balcony (normally a 75-105 pound ticket) for 25. Thats right, 25 quid. I went alone, and had the best time. I laughed so hard (I love the Knights that Say Niet!--if you haven't seen the movie, you totally should. It's excellent) and left in a really good mood. I kind of like doing stuff like that on my own. I can just enjoy it for myself, and not worry about what the person I'm with thinks or if they are bored. For some reason, I do that a lot when I go out. But this was just for me.

On Friday night, I shared a few drinks with some of the girls at the hostel and we all sat around in the kitchen with the guys and talked about life, travel, culture, everything, until 4am. It was so awesome--exactly the kind of experience I was looking for. Saturday night, I went out with Jac, her friend from home Erica, and her boyfriend Chris. We went to this intimate club called Juno in Old Street, and had a really great time. Sunday was kind of a re-coop/laundry/bumming around day.

In Thanksgiving news, I talked to the manager here, and he said if I wanted, I could collect money from people here and make it here. Its doable, but I'd have to get a pre-cooked bird. The mini-stoves aren't big enough. People here got ubber hyped about it, and it might be cool--bringing all nations together to gorge on food. Could be a really nice way to spend the holiday. Tho I proved I was a sucky American: I totally thought it was this week, not next. Its like summer here: time has no meaning since I don't have anything to mark it by. Good and bad thing. Plus, the manager loves to tease. I went down this morning to book in another week, and he said his bet is I'll be here until January 3rd--apparently I'm already down to do vegetables for Christmas. Boob.

I'm going to go plan some activities for Courtney and I. Maybe we'll get out of the city for a day and go to Oxford or something. Check in for Adventures of Phi Mu's Abroad soon!

Love,
Emica

Hard but Not Beaten

Dr. Phil says that if you don't have a job, you should make looking for one your job. This means 8 hours a day, 5 days (or more) a week, you should be doing everything possible to find a job. So thats what I've been doing.

I'm still at London Backpackers. Surprisingly, the longer I've been here, the more settled I've been. I like having the longer tube ride back, so I have some time to just be with my thoughts. They moved me into the 'long term' room--means discounts as you book in weeks instead of nights, only 15 beds, and I get to know people better. There are a lot of Aussies staying here, and now we're friends. I know names, we smile more and move over when someone wants to sit on the couch to watch whatever movie is on, and we keep an eye out for each other. Its been nice. They are all in the same boat as me--job hunting, job having but in retail or service, or just bumming around. The free wi-fi is a lifesaver, and I found a grocery store and got things to save money. The really stinky french guy left. And I've kind of become a pet--I'm the only American in the hostel, and they all get a kick out of that. I think they also see how bummed out I get after looking at an apartment and not finding it, or when I don't hear back from jobs.

I think the reason I haven't been updating is because I don't want to disappoint anyone, even myself. Nicole, Nathalie, Jac and I decided to look on our own for places, and more importantly, look in different areas. Its hard, but it should be easier to find places when we all have different goals in mind. I honestly think I'd be ok staying here for a few more weeks and saving up more money to find a better place/room. The only thing I'm worried about is Courtney is coming to visit next week, and I don't have a place for her right now. I suppose I can ask her to book into the hostel, but it would be better to have some space. I've been writing down a lot of numbers and looking for a lot of different types of rooms, studios, or houses. I looked at 2 on my own, but the guy who showed me the first was kind of creepy, and the 2nd guy was going to let me have my room, the bathroom, and the kitchen, but I wasn't allowed access to the living room or dining area until he felt he could trust me. Go figure.

The job thing is back and forth. One of the temp agencies sent in my stuff for a great job at Regents College. Its in their Humanities and Arts department as an admin assistant. The department is in charge of arranging trustees meetings, school activities, graduation, etc., and is right in Regent's Park. It pays 9.50 an hour, and is a temp to rolling position. I really really really want it, but they have been dragging their feet for 3 days now, and the temp agency called to tell me that they had someone apply for it that use to have that job, so now they are taking the weekend to consider everyone and everything. Originally I felt really good about it--my resume has a lot of that type of stuff--but if someone who already had the position before me applied, then I'm not sure how I can compete with that. I've sent out 45 resumes since I've been here, and tried following up on most of them. Some have had the positions filled, some have said no thanks, some have just ignored me. I don't know what to do at this point, but keep plugging away. I think I'm going to look at hotel and live in jobs for a while. Something will come. It has to.

Other then that, things have been ok. I went out to an Indian place the other night with the girls. I walked around Oxford Street in the rain and looked at the shops. I bought postcards that I just have to get stamps for. I walked around Westminster. I'm still here.

Emica