Not in Oil Country Anymore...

Goodbye

2011-11-04T16:52:00.001Z

For the past four years I have maintained a blog aptly titled "Not in Oil Country Anymore..." after my exit from the oil rich province of Alberta, Canada.

This title is stolen directly from an experience I had in November 2007 when Wing and myself flew to Vancouver for the opening night of the Spice Girls Reunion Tour. The main arena in Edmonton is Rexall Place, and the hockey team in Edmonton is the "Oilers" and when you go into Rexall Place you are greeted with the massive sign stating "This is Oil Country." Most of the concerts I had attended up to that point had been in Rexall, and so when we entered GM Place that November evening the design of the arena was nothing like Rexall, and we joked that we were definitely NOT in oil country anymore. It stuck.

However as a title, while I was living over here initially and when moving back to Calgary was in the immediate foreseeable future, it seemed really appropriate, and even a bit clever. However as I can now look back on three and a quarter years here in the UK, it is quickly becoming apparent that my time in Great Britain is fast approaching the time I spent in Edmonton.

I moved to Edmonton in September 2003. However, I only lived in Edmonton as a student, in eight month chunks for five years - totalling 44 months. This really only amounts to 3.7 years. Therefore it hardly seems appropriate that I maintain a blog that is based upon my temporary existence outside of Alberta, when as the years go by this seems to be more permanent situation.

As well I find myself now less than a month before my twenty-sixth birthday. Officially I will no longer be a 'young-person' I will no longer be privy to official discounts such as the Young Person's Rail Card, or be able to volunteer for things like V-inspired. If I were still a student I would no longer be covered under my Mum's extended medical. Sure, I might still be able to get away with illegitimate claims to being a student, or under 18 (thank you Whistler) due to my youthful looks, and trans-atlantic accent (Why else would I be here if I wasn't a student??), but I will no longer be able to get into the Louvre for free.

On December 16th, 2011 these events collide as I will be 3/4 of the way through my fortieth month of living continuously in the UK. Only four months short of the time that I lived in Edmonton, and I will cease to be a 'young person' as deemed by both the Louvre, and National Rail Services (and possibly STA travel, I find the phrase "under 26" very ambiguous) Therefore I will no longer be contributing to this blog, and instead you can find me on my Tumblr where I will attempt to navigate through life as an adult: http://miraclepie1.tumblr.com/

Hope to see you there!

Guess Now It's Official...

2011-11-03T16:15:00.001Z

I've gone and got myself official party membership to the UK Conservative Party.

I was told that I could do anything when I was little, and I was always encouraged to work hard, and that while school always came first, that didn't mean that I skirted my other responsibilities - like spending 19 hours a week in the pool, and making sure my goals were up to date. I grew excellent at time management, and only now really value what I learned through those four awful years at Claremont. I couldn't wait to 'grow up' and have the ability to 'foster' a child in Africa and put money towards retirement. When I moved to Edmonton for University I was just 17, and so I hadn't thought a lot about politics, but in 2004 there was a Canadian Federal election, and I was able to vote for the first time as I was 18. I did my research and read the manifestos of all the different parties: Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green... In that first election I dutifully crossed X next to the Green Party. Of course they didn't win in my riding, but it was a great feeling.

At University while I was 'technically' an Arts student (at least for the first two years), a common conversation between Gillian and I would go along the lines of ... "He's cute... but he's in poli sci." I would respond with a foreboding... "Oh, I know what you mean." How unfortunate. People in Poli Sci all seemed to be arrogant and obnoxious. However, as I gradually became more involved in the Students Union, mainly through the Centre for Student Development, volunteering with programs such as Orientation and Campus Ambassadors I began to meet people in every department of the SU. I also became much more interested in who was running the show making sure to attend at least one forum every year be it on the main SUB stage, in the Myer Horowitz, or in the Lister Cafeteria. As my involvement increased so did my interest in both student politics and politics at the provincial/federal level.

While I was increasingly involved with the Students' Union I was also increasingly involved with my friends' causes and Gillian's main cause was LGBT Rights. As I finished classes in December 2007, and found myself working as a cashier at Safeway for the next six months I also found myself attending more and more LGBT Lectures, and learning more than I could have ever wished about Foucault. These social values that I adopted as my own - ex: calling people out on the use of the word 'gay' as a derogatory term - now trumped the fiscal conservative views in which I had always believed. In addition to my new understanding of the struggles within the LGBT community, I was also very aware of the issues south of the border with the attempt to have abortion once again illegal, and the ongoing debate about universal healthcare.

Then I moved to Britain. The country where of course there is universal health care, and of course gays have the right to (at least) a civil union, and of course abortion is legal. All of those social issues that I found important had already been addressed, and there is no way that the people of the UK would allow any government to revoke any of these laws and rights. The longer I lived in this "Welfare State" though, the more it wound me up. In 2010 the UK had a National Election. Sam, my flatmate at the time came into my room and asked if I was allowed to vote... and so kicked off my interest in British Politics. After doing my research, and reading up on all the policies I attended a few hustings with Josh, and even helped push some leaflets and flyers through peoples mailboxes. However, I still wasn't completely convinced. The term conservative has such negative connotations, and while I was ready to give them my vote, I wasn't yet ready to actually say I was a conservative.

Throughout the next academic year at Swansea (10/11) I worked, and with all my friends as students, I also attended and participated in student groups. I had after all just graduated in July 2010. I became a member of Swansea Conservative Future, however I still wasn't totally convinced. I was actually quite freaked out when on a train ride from Swansea to Cardiff for some Sushi, Josh and Matt told me I had been added to the national registrar of Conservatives. I definitely wasn't ready for that... I was ready to attend 'meetings' because I liked the people, I needed the friends, and I thought it was funny because they were all so wildly into it, but that was all. I started watching Question Time, and Prime Ministers Questions weekly, and actually started having quite strong opinions about things, which included both agreeing and disagreeing with fellow members in the group.

Then I moved to London. First mission: to find friends. I took every invitation that I got from anyone that I knew in London, but I knew that if I wanted to make my own friends, I'd also need to branch out - alone, so I attended a "Back Boris Bootcamp" in April. I was disappointed when they turned out to be mostly students. I stuck it out though, and have met a few interesting people. After attending so many events I started to struggle with the fact that I wasn't actually a member of the Conservative Party. I was an imposter. I was afraid to actually join the party, because did I *really* share all their beliefs. Then I would read a headline on a newspaper article, or watch a segment on BBC Breakfast and would become angered by sentiments expressed. I found myself reading the opinion pieces in the Metro and either shaking my head or nodding in agreement. I started attending more and more of these CF events, and most recently went to an event where the Minister of Work and Pensions - Iain Duncan Smith made a speech, and although after two glasses of wine I found myself nearly unable to contain the giggles erupting with every 'hear hear' I still found myself in agreement with every word, and if I didn't think it sounded so pompous I would probably be joining in.

Most recently we've been hearing (and in the Metro, debating) David Cameron's suggestion to reduce the amount of aid that nations get if homosexuality is illegal in their country - (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15511081,) While I obviously don't know the ins and outs of the policy proposals, as I am just a newbie when it comes to this whole political ball game, to me this sounds like a great idea! It's a human rights issue right, so how can people possibly have a problem with that? The other big issue at the moment is the Pensions and the Unions, and the striking.... We are a nation in debt, we need to reduce that debt, one way is to make pension reforms. I work in the public sector, ok, I'm only 25, and have many years before I retire, I obviously contribute to my pension - remember what I said about not being able to wait to contribute to my retirement fund? The government has come up with a really reasonable pension package (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15549321). No one who's within 10 years of retiring will have to work any more than they would originally! This allows people at least ten or more years extra to contribute to your own private retirement fund, in order to prepare for the final stage in their life, as well the cost ceiling is raised so people will get more based on their final salary. How then, can the unions snuff at this and say 'no thanks?' and then still lobby their members to go on strike November 30th!?

Therefore, with these two policies which, daily have me talking to my Metro as I walk into work, it only makes sense to finally, formally affiliate myself with a party which seems to match my beliefs when it comes to fiscal policy as well as mirroring my values on social issues. So today, November 3rd, 2011, I became an official member of the UK Conservative Party.

If it's not one thing... it's another.

2011-10-28T16:25:00.004+01:00

It's hard to believe that it's almost November, I feel that my time so far in London, and especially in Clapham has flown by. I was living in Tooting Broadway from March 21st to July 24th, however I was obviously out of town from July 2nd to July 19th. I have now been living in Clapham Junction since July 24th. It is crazy to think that the time I've spent in Clapham Junction is almost equal to the time I lived in Tooting. I can't even begin to express how much happier, and more fulfilling life is since moving into the "Claphams." However, as I've described before, we have had our share of problems, and guess what - there's more.

About a week ago, a little yellow slip came through our door titled "URGENT" please call this random mobile number. It also came with a letter addressed to our landlord. I thought it might be something to do with the street. Maybe they were doing electrical work, or had to do some digging, or there was a gas leak or something, so I called the number. Everyone at work had a go at me, because if it was any of these things, then the note would have been delivered on official letter headed paper. I'm terribly sorry, but I've only been living in the "real" world for 2 years... I called at 7:30am, as I assumed if it was urgent, there should be 24 hour answering. There wasn't. I received a call back later at work and this guy was asking me all sorts of questions about who lived in the house, how many people, who I was, where I lived, and when I stated how uncomfortable I was with all these questions, and asked why he wasn't contacting the landlord directly he said that the landlord could lie to him. This sounded dodgy immediately, and so I asked who he worked for, and for a legitimate business number. He couldn't tell me, and he wouldn't give me a number. I emailed my flatmates immediately, and Katie got on the phone to him, and told him that if he didn't tell us who he was, and who he worked for she was going to call the police. He finally coughed up that he was a contractor hired by TLT Mortgages, and there was a repossession charge against our landlord. Of course there is.

The next day, through the post we received the official letter stating the Repossession Hearing was going to take place on November 23rd, 2011. We haven't been paying rent since August. We also hadn't heard anything from him in response to our initial "we're not paying" email, and so had continued to withhold rent. After three days of email threads between Katie, Caleb and I, we finally drafted a letter to Jon - our landlord, to explain that we had hoped that with-holding rent would act as a catalyst to move him to action, in order to have things in our house repaired. The bathroom and the front door are two things off the top of my head which need replacement. This time, we promised to pay full rent for November, but this is with the idea that he will fix the door and the bathroom in November, and if this isn't fixed that we will fix it ourselves, and take the cost off of December's rent. It's unlikely that we'll hear back from him in the month of November, so I think in that case we're going to wait until after the hearing on the 23rd of November and see what the situation is, and if we are going to stay in the house - for long term, we'll go ahead and replace the door, and fix the bathroom upstairs, but if we're going to be chucked out, I think we'll sit tight and look for somewhere new in Clapham Junction.

This comes only a week after we finally found and announced our Housewarming Party - November 19th. We literally have just put in on Facebook - obviously making it official - when this letter has come through. Therefore, the theme has become an Eviction and Repossession party...

Well that's all for now. This weekend is Halloween, and tomorrow night is the big party with Marlene and her flatmates. I was actually quite worried, because I'm not really a huge partier, and they like to go out quite a bit, and I often only go out to their events once in a while. It's actually not their party this time, but their neighbours, and I was so looking forward to it, because their parties are legendary. And I hate using words like legendary or epic. I was actually quite stressed out these past few weeks that I wouldn't get an invite, Marlene haven't been in touch lately, and with Johanna not in town, and living up in Durham, I don't really hang out with them as much as I did before summer. However, today Francis' texted me with the details, and I am now so excited. As usual, I don't have a great costume, but it's sort of caberet theme.

Living in the 21st Century... Finally

2011-10-02T10:19:00.000+01:00

I just re-read my last blog post, which although I wrote on September 4th, I wasn't able to 'publish' until today due to our lack of internet. However, as I am now writing another one, to catch everyone up on all the happenings in the month of September, I'm sure you can surmise that we now have internet! Success!

I am also aware that my last post finished mid sentence... which I can only guess was due to laziness because we didn't have internet, and I figured that we would have in only a few days, which would mean I'd be able to update it at that point. Now, almost a month later, I most certainly have lost my train of thought. Thus, we start anew.

What has been happening in September?! Living in London sure has its merits, on September 10th, Ross and I attended Proms in the Park, which is the final night of the BBC Proms. Last year I went with Ross and his parents to the event in Swansea's Singleton Park, but as we were in London this year, we splashed out on tickets to attend in Hyde Park. As we have been to events like this in the past, we came prepared, and spent the morning at Borough Market by London Bridge shopping for food to eat that evening. We picked up tons of fruit, and really nice bread, and an absolutely delicious Mushroom Pate. We then called in to a little cafe bistro for breakfast - without looking at the menu. This was a mistake. I was unfamiliar with almost everything on the menu, and it was all super weird. Every dish had something I fundamentally disliked - Tomatoes, Pineapple, Peaches. So I went for the green salad, and Ross got Parma Ham and pickled peaches, and actually once we put them together, it was quite a delicious lunch. So, as pros we had a delicious basked of goodies for the evening, however as newbies to the London performance we arrived just 30 minutes before show time, and were left sitting with the rif raf in the back. The people to the right of us spent all night talking, and the people to the left spent the whole night drunk & dancing. Next year, we will arrive right at opening time and sit right in the front. If we're paying 30GBP I'd like to be able to enjoy the concert.

At the end of the concert on our walk back to the tube station I realized that my BlackBerry was missing. We walked all the way back to where we were sitting, but of course we couldn't find it, so I was left using this crappy extra phone that I give to visitors when they come and visit me. I have never been a fan of contracts, the reason being is that the phones that you receive for "free" are usually not that expensive anyways - 120/180GBP, and why you get for your payment each month is actually not as good as what you would get on pay as you go. So that's why I've always bought my phone outright, and then gone on P&G. However, O2 was having a flash sale, and I was able to get a BlackBerry Bold, white, for free, but I had to sign up to a 2 year contract. It's the first thing I've really done that has sort of cemented me here in the UK, which is a bit scary. I pay 26GBP a month now, which allows me 100mb internet, unlimited UK texts, 200 UK minutes, all the blackberry services, and insurance for everything. This BB also has 3G. I would never be able to go back after having this phone.

Spontaneously in the past month I've also had the opportunity to see: Love Never Dies, and Million Dollar Quartet. Both really good, but both shows I don't think I'd see again. Love Never Dies is the sequel to the Phantom of the Opera, and what was interesting is that as soon as the show started you could tell that it was an Andrew Lloyd Weber production. None of the songs really stuck with me though, but the story itself was riveting! Literally on the edge of my seat. Million Dollar Quartet on the other hand was completely different, and focuses on the one night in 1956 when Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins were all in the same studio. I guess many people have compared it with the Jersey Boys, but it was nowhere near as good. I was familiar with the songs, and although the musicians were wonderful, and the guy who played Jerry Lee Lewis was absolutely phenomenal on the piano, we're pretty sure the guy playing Carl Perkins forgot his lines at one point. Hired for their acting skills, we suspected not.

In September we also managed to see a few museums. One rainy Saturday, after an unsuccessful visit to Borough Market we headed to the V&A museum and then did the Natural History Museum, we still need to see the Hollywood Glamour Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery before the exhibit closes October 23rd. Ross won tickets to this lecture series from BAFTA, so we got to see Moira Buffini give a lecture, and then watched a live interview with her in the BAFTA building. Unfortunately after dinner on the walk home, Ross was attacked just outside his house, and mugged. Luckily he wasn't hurt, but what a terrifying experience.

On the 17th of September I actually met up with Patrick, a friend I had known at the UofA, but we were sort of periphery friends. We ran in the same circles of the SU, and we had a number of friends in common, but we weren't really close. He moved to Birmingham in 2009 to complete his Law degree, and while I said I would go and visit, and we texted once or twice, I never ended up seeing him. Just recently he has moved to London to complete his Legal Practice Course (LPC) at the London College of Law, and so we finally arranged to meet up in September. I was a bit dubious if we'd actually have anything to talk about, and if we'd be friends, but while we met up for coffee in the morning at 11am, it wasn't until 7:30pm that we parted ways! It was great to catch up, and I'm so happy to have another friend in the city.

I haven't spoken to any of my friends on Skype from back home since I returned from Canada because we haven't had internet. That has been a bone of contention in this household, but I won't dwell. However I have been in correspondence over email, What's App and Facebook, and felt extremely substandard when Katie told me that she was going to be sitting on the Board of some Children's Festival. It also made me miss being involved in something outside of work, and I am just not sure if this Conservative Party involvement business is cutting it. Therefore, I signed up to volunteer for the Alzheimer's Society Memory Walk as a volunteer. I stood at the north end of Lambeth bridge and cheered on all the people who took part in the walk as walkers, telling them they only had 3 miles to go! It was a lot of fun, and while I didn't meet anyone particularly interesting, it felt good to have something else to do. I also signed up for volunteering for the half marathon next weekend. This is especially important because I haven't heard anything about volunteering for the Olympics next year. That could have been because I forgot to put down that I speak English...

This last week of September has been Orientation for our Study Abroad Students at work. I absolutely love my job. This week of course has been tiring, but it felt so good to be back in the swing of things, in the academic calendar. The Orientation itself, was nothing like UofA of course, but working with Harriet has been great, because she has really good ideas, and because she's only 2 years older than me and we seem to have similar personalities in terms of working etc, she will probably change a lot of it to make it better/more exciting, or something. We had three presentations to do, and then on Friday we had appointments all morning to re-arrange peoples' schedules. Everyone seemed to have legit reasons to change, and there really hasn't been any problems. Classes start on Monday. Also this week it has been absolutely boiling here in London hitting temperatures of over 28C! This will most definitely be the last weekend of Summer, but yesterday was great as I spent the day with Patrick and his friends in Hamstead Heath in the sun. I hadn't been that far north in London yet, so it was really cool to see a bit more of the city.

There's going to be a riot

2011-10-02T09:32:00.002+01:00

It's September 4th, 2011, and I'm sitting in my house still sans internet, still sans new couches, and with a second bathroom which could effectively double as a storage cupboard. We've paid three weeks rent in total, and it's been difficult trying to figure out how to deal with our landlord. He .... eventually... gets around to completing the tasks that he says he will, but it wasn't until four three weeks after we moved in that we finally received a working fridge - prior to that we were using two freezers, and quickly discovering that you can freeze just about anything... We also finally after five weeks received a working washing machine. However, as we move into September I began freaking out about what our plan of action was with rent. Were we going to pay it?! Were we going to pay a reduced amount?! After several long email threads between housemates, we decided that until the following were completed we were not going to be paying anymore rent:

1. New Couches (which was originally in agreement, as the previous tenants were disgusting.)

2. Fix the Dishwasher (You all know my feelings on dishwashers ;o)

3. Fix the Door

After that we agreed to pay 0.6x rent until the second bathroom was restored. That was sent on August 31st. Today is September 4th, and we still haven't heard anything.

What was interesting however, was the visitor I had last night to my house. I had a rough day yesterday after getting two fillings from my new dentist in Raynes Park (Confident Dental), whom I love. But because of the dentist, I was out on 2000mg of Xanax, and Ross had to escort me to and from the dentist, and then stayed with me the whole day until the drugs wore off. Now that's what I call a good friend!!! Anyways, after a lovely snooze in Clapham Common, in the unusually warm 23C heat, listening to a brass band play, I headed home stopping at Waitrose, and Asda. While eating my BBQ Chicken, Chocolate Milk, and Spinach/Avocado dinner, and watching House (now that's what I call a great Saturday night!) the door bell rings... all the self help dating books I've read have said say you shouldn't stay at home by yourself because an attractive man is not just going to show up at your door and ask you out...

With my face covered in BBQ sauce, hair up, in lulus and a DP tank top, I answered the door to a relatively attractive stranger. He was actually our neighbour, and lives in the basement of the converted house of which we rent the top two floors. He had a leak, and wanted to see if it was coming from our house at all. It was not. But then we began chatting about the landlord, and how we were finding him. I regaled him with our tales of woe, and he presented me with the great news that he had lived under landlord Jon for three and a half years, and that actually he's a really nice man but a terrible landlord - which I'm pretty sure we already knew, BUT that if we decided to get things fixed ourselves, and presented him with receipts, he would be happy to take it off rent. Of course I 'didn't hear it from him' but it's definitely something to start thinking about. I am now wondering how far we can go - can we replace the kitchen with an IKEA kitchen!? That would be amazing. Perhaps I would start to like this place... He also said we should go for drinks - of which of course he means our entire house, because it's nice to meet neighbours - but still, wouldn't it be nice if an attractive, single stranger showed up at my door and asked me out? What fairytales are made out of.

As for how everything else is going though, it's great. I am absolutely loving the location of where we live at the moment. It takes about the same amount of time as when I lived down in Tooting, but I feel that my standard of living has increased so dramatically. Living in Clapham Junction means that I'm less than 10 minutes walk to a 24 hour Asda, a Whole foods, a Lidl, and a Waitrose. I'm less than a 10 minute walk to the high street where there is a Debenhams, United Colours of Benneton, a TK Maxx, Waterstones, and all the other lovely accessories - Starbucks, and Costa. Along Northcote road, the road that connects Clapham Common to Clapham Junction there are dozens of chain and independent restaurants and pubs. Independent in the Vancouver sense of "we're too hip & cool to eat at a chain" not in the Holloway road sense of "we can't afford a $3 coffee". So of course, just beyond the stores is the gigantic Clapham Common, which includes a band stand, where we sat yesterday with a little cafe. If you head to to the west of my house about a 15 minute walk is a mall with all the chain stores that you so often need including: GAP, H&M, UniQlo, as well as another Waitrose, and a large Cineworld; where Ross and I went to see "One Day" on Tuesday. The transport links are fantastic, I live a 6 minute walk from the busiest train station in the UK, which means I can get almost anywhere I want relatively easy. I'm a 30 minute direct train ride from Gatwick Airport, I'm also 6 minutes from Victoria Station, and 10 minutes from Waterloo. It is a central hub for the entire south and all the commuting regions, so if I ever want a day out, it's just a quick train journey away. Ross and I were going to head to Brighton last Sunday as I've never been, but it started raining and didn't stop to the mid afternoon. Instead of eating ice cream on the beach in Brighton, Katie (my housemate), Ross and I managed a House marathon.

Of course I can't mention living in Clapham Junction without mentioning the London Riots which took place the second weekend in August. I believe the Sunday or Saturday was the first night of riots, but I didn't pay much attention to them. As far as I was concerned it was just gang related, and - especially after living in Edmonton - everything violent is generally gang related, and is no danger to the general public. Basically if you're not up with your current events, a man who was in a gang was shot by police for whatever reason because they had reasonable suspicion that he was armed. Did I mention he was in a gang. So family members of this man killed stark kicking off and blaming the police, and then others use the event as a catalyst to wreak havoc in the streets of London. Monday, August 8th, we started to see things happening while we were at work in Hackney. A deprived area, probably full of gangs I thought, and so I didn't pay it any credence as I headed off to my monthly Ex-Pat Wings meet up. After leaving I met up with Ross at Waterloo and I received a phone call from Toby, inviting us to join him, Caleb and some work friends in a pub in London Bridge. After probably an hour or so at the pub, I check my phone, and it's riddled with messages of "Are you ok!?" "Is everything alright?" ... well yes, of course, I'm fine... why wouldn't I be? So I text back, and find out that the looters have moved themselves to the Clapham Junction area, the train station is closed, and everyone is freaking out. Then Ross gets a phone call from his brother in Newport, at which point I started freaking out a bit, as I did not know the extent of what was happening, and to be honest, had never been in that situation before. Caleb, Ross and I headed home. Luckily, the train station was still open, but the police had basically blocked off the road, so we weren't able to go down towards the looting to see what was going on. On our way home, as well after we got home and looked out our windows, we definitely saw several people walk down our street put their hoods up, and tie bandanas around their face as they were obviously going to partake in the looting. Twitter was not working for me, and I kept thinking it was because of the location of our house, but I think now, it's because it was bombarded with messages from people that night.

The next day at around 3pm, we were told that the police were closing Archway station and Angel station, which basically hug the street Holloway Road, on which I work. The police were also going down the road telling people to close their businesses early, and we got word that Greenwich University had closed early, so we closed our doors at 4pm and headed home. It was an eerie feeling going home, as it felt like there was a sense of urgency in the air, but it wasn't a frightened feeling. Once I finally got home, there was nothing to do, as we didn't have internet, and our TV barely worked (we hadn't tuned it properly), and all the shops were closed. Even the pub at the end of the road was closed and we are a 6 minute walk from where all the action was. After tuesday, the government had increased the police presence and so the looting basically ceased in London, but then it spread to the rest of the UK. Mindless violence for no purpose except to get things to sell on ebay. It was disgusting, but no longer in my backyard. Over the next few weeks it has been interesting to see how the high street has changed. The boards went up over the windows, and people started writing messages of love on them, and within a week Debenhams had re-opened, and several other stores had re opened their doors. Several shops had "Come in we're open" on the boards, but glass had not been replaced, and TK Maxx still has the boards up with the messages of love. Directly following, the police presence remained high, and

Moving Day

2011-08-02T16:49:00.001+01:00

Tonight is Thursday, July 27th. We moved in last weekend into our brand new flat in Clapham Junction. Now I should clarify that when I say "Brand New" I obviously mean to us: Caleb, Katie and I, and not that it is brand new in reality, because that would simply be too amazing and perfect, and most likely expensive. Before I left we had seen many properties, and while some of them were lovely, and perfect in every way, there was disagreement in the ranks and I left for Canada half expecting that I would be homeless on my return. As luck would have it the first weekend that I was home, I received an email from Caleb telling me about the place that they had decided to take.

It was a three bedroom maisonette just 10 minutes walk from Clapham Junction station. So we would still be south of the river, although I hardly think that matters for me, as I work up in Islington, and I have very few friends here yet, and the ones I do have are dotted around the city. The pictures I was sent were a bit dubious, but I trusted them. The weekend following my return from Canada was our moving weekend. Saturday was "Moving Day" but I have found out that my version of "Moving Day" and other peoples' are very different. For me Moving Day is a solitary action, taken upon one day, in which everything is completed in a set period of time. I had my boxes and suitcases, and bags packed weeks before Moving Day, mostly because I was going to be in Canada for the majority of that period, but I would have probably started packing about a week in advance, to ensure everything was packed and ready the morning of the big day. When I woke up, all I had to do was quickly pack up my bedding, and the remaining toiletries and I was ready to Move.... While I fully appreciate the help that I was given in moving, I found it tedious the fact that the day seemed to be dragging on and on. The boys were not as packed as I felt they should have been, and while I've been attempting to be a 'cool, chilled out lady' this simply did not fly with me, and I found it increasingly frustrating to find myself at 3pm, not yet unpacked, and still ... STILL moving boxes in the the evening at 8pm. I had a skype date to get to!! It was a long and exhausting day, with many things not going as planned.

Of course there was the physical act of moving, and my feelings that others weren't quite taking it seriously, because packing was still going on during Moving Day, which I felt a bit precarious as we were supposed to be out the next day by 9am so that the cleaner could come in, but also there was the minor issue that the new abode has no power. No electricity, and no gas. Previous to moving in there were a few things that Caleb & Katie had asked of the landlord - 1. Replace the carpets in the bedrooms upstairs, 2. Replace the couches, and 3. Fix the TV ariel so that we are able to watch TV when we arrive. Obviously the most important things. The carpets were done, and now Katie and I have beautiful (but obviously cheap) brand new carpet in both our bedrooms. The couches are still not here, and neither is a TV antenna, not that it matters when we don't have electricity. My battery power on my computer is currently at 1hr 33 min remaining. There was also some painting to be done, and a bunch of garbage/junk that is supposed to be removed, but hasn't yet.

First things first, we need to get the electricity sorted out. This week has been ridiculous, with listening to BBC Radio 4 talk radio for entertainment, me wearing my headlamp around the house in order to see my way around stairs, and brushing my teeth, and lighting the living room with some of the 90 tea lights I purchased from the Poundland on my way to the gym (more on that later). It's been 5 nights now, and it doesn't seem as though it will be resolved when I return from Cardiff on Sunday, so it looks like another week possibly of showering at the gym, charging my phone at work, and having non toasted bread for breakfast with only water to drink, as we have no refrigerator. We are being allowed to live her rent free at the moment, which does take the sting out, and next week if this does continue I'll have to start a salad bar in the fridge at work. I barely like camping at the best of times, and this joke is beginning to wear thin fast.

The house itself is great though. It's in an absolutely fabulous location right near Clapham Junction's new entrance, which means that it takes even less time to get into work in the morning. You can hear the trains right now as I write this, but at least my house is not shaking because of them. You can hear people outside, but they are clean people, just visiting friends, not gross drunk men who legitimately sound like they are going to crawl in your window. We're also on the 3rd floor so there is no chance of anyone climbing in my window. I can leave them open all day, especially with the heat that we've been having lately, it's nice to be able to come home to a cool (non smelly) room, and sleep with both the blinds and windows open. The flat itself is two floors, the top two floors of a converted house, and the kitchen and living room are huge! They are also connected, and the kitchen has room for a small table, which is so super convenient. There are also two bathrooms. Two full bathrooms - one only has a shower, but the other has a bath/shower, but they both have sinks and toilets. We also have a mini balcony, which can fit about two chairs, and another person out there. We have to figure out how to get out, as it's just through a window at the moment, but I'm sure we'll manage to find a way. At the end of the street away from the train station is a really nice, clean pub, again, with lots of clean people in it. If you go down towards the station road, but away from the station again there are tons of really nice expensive take aways, and pubs and bars and cafes. There is a sainsbury local really close to us, and if we come out of the train station another way we walk right pass an M&S Simply Food. That's doesn't even begin to describe all the amazing shops and stuff around the train station itself. There is a Lidl, Asda, and Debenhams within a 10 minute walk, as well as the main high street. There are tons of Chains, but also independent shops - but the good kind of independent shops; the ones that are representative of the people who shun chains because that is the trendy thing to do, not independent shops like up at my work, where it's clear that people in the area just simply can't afford to pay $4 for a coffee.

Once we've sorted out our electricity situation I do believe I will love living here. My West facing bedroom has already been decorated to saturation, aside from my Wall of Motivation (again, later) I have all the pictures up from my friends, and travels, and my Spice Girls poster, New York print, and poster from Promises Promises. I can't wait until I have the opportunity to explore the area and see what kind of great cute cafes and shops there are. That however will have to wait until next weekend, for this weekend I'm heading back to Wales for Becca's Birthday in Bridgend, and will stop off in Cardiff on the way to see Josh, and hopefully pack in some free movies.

Home Sweet Home

2011-08-02T16:48:00.002+01:00

Last Wednesday I returned home from visiting my family back 'home' in Canada. I have always been very slutty when using the word home. It came to describe any place or dwelling that I was inhabiting for more than one night. All the hotels that I stayed on all the many swim trips became home, each new house I moved to while I was at university quickly became home, and each hostel that Gina and I stayed at during 2008 became home. So I don't want people to get too excited by my choice of word usage in calling London "home." I was in Canada for exactly 17 days, but I had exactly three weeks off work. I took Canada Day off - obviously, and instead of working I volunteered in Trafalgar Square at the U of A booth, where I of course scored my third free t-shirt during my time in London Alone. I can't even remember if I have mentioned this in my previous blog post - I would check, but I have no internet, or electricity at the moment (more on that in a bit), and am simply typing this for later.

I love the University of Alberta, and truly believe it was the *BEST* decision I ever made in my entire life. The experiences that I had there shaped my future, and thus I love being able to give back to the institution that graced me with so many great friends and memories. While I'm not in a position at the moment to give monetarily to the U of A, I can give my time, and because I'm so enthusiastic about being a students there, I have signed up to become an Alumni Ambassador. There's not much I can do here in London, as most of the Alumni Events happen in Alberta, but more and more I am knowing Alumni who are living in the UK, and I'm hoping that with a young and enthusiastic person organizing events, etc, more young people will come out to events and the network will grow. Once I get settled in London, I think I'll speak to the office about growing the program. Anyways, I emailed the Alumni Office a while back to offer my services for Canada Day and manning a UofA booth. I was manning it most of the day, with another Alumnus coming at 5:30pm. We were paired up with Waterloo from Ontario, which seemed to be a great fit. UBC and UofToronto were beside us, and I think they definitely matched the tables well. Waterloo had an alumnus as well manning their booth, and he was actually from Victoria, and graduated the year after me from Oak Bay - enter one more friend in London! We both agreed that Victoria is most definitely the most beautiful city in the world, but at this point in our lives it just isn't practical and wouldn't be fun to live there.

After my shift ended I met up with Charlie (from Swansea), and Johanna and Francis. Once Caleb arrived, Johanna & Francis had to leave, and so we said our goodbyes. It's really sad actually because Johanna and I have become really close friends, and she's heading back to Germany and then when she returns to London she'll be up in Durham, which means I loose a friend (2 actually, because Sina is heading up there as well). After Caleb arrived, we hung out with Marlene, Greg & James for a bit before meeting up with Vanessa & Mel. Other Canadians from Alberta, it's been quite stressful, as V is only here on a Tier 2 Working Visa and we were all afraid she'd be sent home in September. She found out actually when I was at home that she was going to be allowed to stay, so that is brilliant.

I flew out the next day, and I know that I described my Standby ordeal in my last post. Unfortunately that super cute Physics/Engineering MSc grad never added me as a friend on Facebook. Disappointing as it would have been nice to have another friend within an hour of London, but I guess he had a girlfriend anyways, so moving on. I arrived in Victoria at 1130pm at night, or something else ridiculously late, but of course because of JetLag was awake at around 5:45am. The first day, my mum and I just did errands and stuff around the house because I knew that Catherine & Andy would be arriving that night. That night, my mum wanted me to go to the gym with her, but I needed to be home if and when they arrived, so I couldn't. I felt a bit bad, but it was worth it in the end. I do believe my Mother was very surprised to see them, and very excited to show them the most beautiful part of the world: The Pacific North West & the Rocky Mountains.

That week was fairly laid back, we went to the beach at Whitty's Lagoon for the day, and then drove up island, and did the boat trip from Port Alberni to Ucuelet and back. Last time I did the trip, it was with my ex-friend, and we managed to see a Humpback Whale Breech, so it was super exciting. I can't say that this trip was as exciting although we did see . All of us got majorly burned though, and I do believe I am still peeling from it. I did manage to have the most delicious salad at a place called the Crab Shack though, and before heading back to Victoria we went and saw some early salmon spawning. Friday was the day of the party, and so C & A took mum up to Buchart Gardens, and everyone was supposed to arrive and set up between 5:30 - 6:15, but Mum managed to arrive early. The surprise wasn't spoiled though, although I don't think it was quite as dramatic as it could have been. There were friends in from Calgary, Kelowna, and Vancouver. It wasn't the most exciting party because everyone just hung around talking, but I think everyone had fun, and it was a nice laid back BBQ.

Unfortunately Andy got sick the next day, I'm convinced it was food poisoning from a badly cooked burger or something, and so instead of leaving that night for the mainland we left Sunday morning. This allowed us to stay and have lunch with Sandi & Gary from Calgary, who have been family friends since I was born. We went to a delicious eatery right on the ocean where the harbour planes land and take off, and I had the most delicious paprika calamari with tzatziki. When we did get in the car however, we made it all the way to Revelstoke from Victoria in one day. The following day we drove to Banff, and stayed in Banff for the night as my Mum got sick. I think it's funny when people don't believe you about a particular thing you tell them about Canada, and they seem to think that you're joking like when I say I live in an igloo and I go to school on a husky sleigh. We don't have service stations like they do here, because there is nothing around, and you're *lucky* if you get a rest stop that has an outhouse. It was great to hear Catherine say that she saw now why I loved the UK service stations, and why they were always so exciting to go into. Literally there is no where to stop for food sometimes for hundreds of kilometres. Luckily the longest we had to go was 93km without any services. But the other thing many people don't realize is that if you're driving in Canada and want to get to restaurants and stuff, you have to get off the main road and sometimes drive quite a ways in order to get to a town, which often adds a lot of time to an already super long trip.

In Banff we had a chance to walk around so we went up the Gondola to the top of the mountain, looked at a few of the shops and went out for dinner, and then it was onwards to Calgary the next day. I had lunch with Gillian, and then me up with my Dad for coffee/drinks before being dropped off at the stampede grounds where I met my Mum, Catherine and Andy. I have never been to the Calgary Stampede and it was so much fun. I didn't get to see any rodeo unfortunately but going out to lunch with Gillian was amazing, because we went downtown, and everyone was dressed up in full western regalia, and they had a western band playing in our restaurant, and it as all so festive. The stampede grounds themselves were obviously filled with people dressed Stampede appropriate, and we visited all the agriculture stands, and then had dinner on the grounds.

It was on to Lake Louise the following day, before driving to Edmonton via Rocky Mountain house. Lake Louise was absolutely breathtaking. I had never actually seen it in the summer, and would love to go back and hike some of the trails around there, and take a canoe out on the lake. Like I said to Meaghan the other day in our 3 hour and 52 minute long conversation: "When did I get so outdoorsy?" She doesn't know either. We walked about 5km and then had to get back into the car because I had drinks with Penguins when I got to Edmonton. I didn't actually realize how long the drive was from Rocky Mountain House to Edmonton, and we just made it into Edmonton with an hour for me to get ready before my Mum dropped me off at O'Byrnes where I was set to meet up with some of the people I swam with during my time at the UofA. I was there all by myself initially, and I think the bartender felt sorry for me, because he let me have my diet coke for free, which naturally made me happy. Brittney was the first to show up, followed by Carly, and then Hoos & Petra, Richard, Jeff, and Colin & Amanda. It was so nice to see everyone. I even had a surprise visit from Ross who is doing his PhD in something crazy Physics. He had been sitting at the table beside us, and couldn't believe that I was in town! I of course invited everyone to London, but I do really think that Brittney might come, given that she was kicked out of New York because of an expiring visa. Fingers crossed for another UofA Alumnus and friend to come to London!

After a late night, I gave a tour of the UofA to Catherine and Andy in the morning, and then we dropped them off at the LRT so that they could explore a bit of Edmonton on their own because we were heading to West Edmonton Mall. Normally I hate WEM. It's overcrowded and too big, but when you need to do a one stop power shop, there really isn't anywhere better. They have a brand new Victoria Secret in there as well, which was great, except they don't have the exact same stock as the USA, and every single bra seemed to be padded; even the bathing suits! That was a bit frustrating, but the shopping was great, and then I was off for ice cream with Katie. After Marble Slab and a little bit of shopping on Whyte before I met up at the Keg with some/most of the Splenda Shack. Lindsay was the first to arrive, followed by Monique, Marsali and Charissa. It was so good to see them all again, and I forgot how much I actually liked everyone. You stop talking to only your best friends, and you forget the friends you were close with at the time, and why you were friends. Or sometimes it can be awkward meeting up with old friends, but this wasn't and it was great catching up with them.

The next day it was back to BC to overnight in Kamloops before heading on to Vancouver. We dropped Catherine & Andy off at the Travelodge and headed off to the ferry. I'll probably see them soon enough, and it'll only be December before my mum is back in the UK. I had wanted to stay in Vancouver until my flight on the Tuesday, but Mum was dead against it, and so we headed back to Victoria. I'm actually quite glad we did, because we got a bit of time to relax and re pack and sort some things out. Mum also gave me her macbook pro, so that was an added bonus. My mac has been dying slowly recently, and I have to take it in to get serviced. Not bad since I haven' thad to do anything to it for over four years. I'm really going to take care of this one. I've already got it a sleeve to sleep in, and a key cover. I'm going to purchase Lion which Meaghan has told me is AMAZING, and really keep him updated with all the new software.

My flight out of Vancouver was Tuesday at 1pm, meaning I had to be at the airport at 10am. I get quite anxious when I'm late, and even more so if I'm travelling and late, and so I thought it would be a great idea to spend the night in Vancouver before I had to fly out the next day. Fortunately I knew from my panic at Gatwick two weeks prior, my friend Ross from the UofA was still living in Vancouver; working for some exploration mining company, but was always out of the city on these work trips. Luckily he was in town, and offered me to stay at his place. When I looked up his address I was shocked to see he lived in the heart of Vancouver in Yaletown. As I approached his apartment I was even more floored as it was an absolutely gorgeous sky rise, and he lived on the 24th floor in a super cute one bedroom flat. Again, I was worried about an awkward catch up, but conversation flowed, and we went out for sushi before heading home and looking through his Peru/Galapagos pictures. He was also a gentleman and let me have his bed for the night. It was definitely a great end to a fabulous trip, and who knows I might have just found another adventure buddy.

Standby

2011-07-05T03:00:00.000+01:00

It feels so good to be home. I finally made it to Victoria on Saturday night at around 11:30pm local time. I had left my house in London, just after 5:00am on Saturday morning, local time in order to catch the bus to get to Balham station, where I was planning on catching the 5:33am South West Train service to Clapham Junction, where I was going to hop the 5:38am train service to Gatwick Airport, to arrive at 6:21am.

My flight left at 9:55am, but check in opened at 5:55am, and because I was flying Canadian Affair, which is by far the cheapest way to travel to/from Canada, I certainly didn't have a seat booked, and if I wanted a good one I had to arrive early. Except, when I arrived at the bus stop, there were no busses, and according to the time information on the bus stop pole, there weren't going to be any bussed until about 6am. That didn't make any sense, but I thought I'd try the tube, even though I didn't think that that was opening until 5:30am. It was open, which was also confusing, and so I did manage to get to Balham in time for my train; except my train wasn't leaving until 5:45am! I was sure that it was supposed to go at 5:33am, and there was an actor beside me who corroborated my thoughts. Not the end of the world, because I'd still make it in plenty of time.

Arriving at Gatwick early, I got into line, where I was approached by a woman asking if I would be interested in going standby. I would receive 400GPB in Canadian Air vouchers, 10GBP for lunch, and be put on the next flight, which would land in Calgary, but I would be switched to a West Jet flight for the remainder of my journey. The flight to Calgary was only leaving 20 minutes after my flight to Vancouver. In the very unlikely event that I didn't get on to the Calgary flight, I'd be but on the flight to Toronto and then fly Toronto to Vancouver with West Jet, absolutely confirmed to be flying, and arriving that day. The flight to Toronto was a bit dubious because it didn't arrive in Vancouver until 7:30pm, which I thought was a bit late, but didn't give it much thought because - hey! I was getting 400GBP in vouchers! Also, she made it seem so unlikely that I would be on the Toronto flight. ...

Of course I was on the flight to Toronto, and of course, there were these two people who were also going standby who wouldn't stop taking, and basically it sounded like they were simply blowing their own trumpets about themselves... ahh Vancouverites. Oh well, they actually turned out to be quite nice. The fourth person who would be my travelling companion was a super cute physics grad from UBC who was now living in Oxford. Success. Once we found out we were all on the Toronto flight, we went over to Air Transat's booth, and had to get our reservation for West Jet from YYZ to YVR. Because I'm super efficient at packing, I somehow got roped into helping this duo with their luggage allowance, and they booked us all on the same ticket. Thankfully I was not sitting with them. I was sitting with the 27 year old nanotech engineer. Success. We chatted for a little bit; and then I found out he had a girlfriend. Fail and major disappointment, but still potential friend, so we swapped names.

The flight from London to Toronto was 7 hours and I was sat beside two people who didn't know each other. It was at this point that the difference in Canadians from the British was absolutely clear. They chatted for the entire flight. They had never met, and they weren't 'interested' in each other, but they still talked for the entire flight. When the flight was over, two or three rows of people all started talking about the movies that we had just seen, and where they were off to next etc. It was just so friendly and open. I just couldn't see a group of British passengers getting into a conversation like that.

We had to get our bags when we reached Toronto, and check into West Jet. If we were all going to get on the same plane, then we could have made an earlier flight to Vancouver, but I broke rank and asked about a direct flight to Victoria. There was one, at 8:30pm that night, and it would only cost me $56, after taxes. Yes please! I wouldn't have to endure the ferry, and the busses, and getting home at 11pm after four hours of travelling in the same province. All I needed to do was hang out in YYZ for 7 hours and then I'd be flown directly home after a 5 hour flight. If looks could kill. The lady companion I had been travelling looked like she wanted to stab me. Sorry, but I'm not going to go out of my way to Vancouver when there is an easier option. I think we all got over it though, and the four of us went for dinner. It was actually really nice, even if it did cost me $17 for a burger and fries. I got to know the people I was travelling with, and I actually liked them. I waited with my new crush and our other new friends until their flight left at 5:30, then I did a quick walk around the inside of the terminal to see if there was anything else to do. There wasn't. I did manage to get into quite a long in depth conversation with a man who was originally from Toronto, but he was on his way to Deer Lake. This is in Newfoundland, which I know because I asked. I found out all about his family, and why he was going. This is what I miss most about Canada.

After I left my new friend Joe, I sat watching CNN before boarding my flight. They showed footage of Canada Day - Trafalgar Square, which made me insanely proud to have been a part of it. A few months ago, I emailed the Alumni Association for the University of Alberta and asked if I could represent them at a booth in the Canada Day festivities. I was signed up, and represented all day in my booth. I was sharing a table with Waterloo University from Ontario. Their materials far out-shined ours in terms of size and eye-catchyness, so hopefully next year will be better. I met a few other alumni though, and met a fellow Victoria Graduate. He was from Oak Bay and we had a handful of friends in common. It was great to meet someone else from my hometown, especially one who shared my view exactly. Victoria is the most beautiful city in the world, and one of the best places to grow up, but to live at our current age, it's a bit of a snooze fest. I ended the day meeting up with Marlene, Francis, Johanna and some of their friends, and then Caleb joined me and we went and visited with Mel and Vanessa and Co. for a bit. It was a fabulous day, followed by a rather tiresome 30 hours.

Being back in Victoria is awesome, and it's great to see my Mum, especially how happy and surprised she was when Catherine & Andy (her cousins) showed up. It's nice to see all the greenery, and most of all at the moment, the water pressure, and the electrical plugs in the bathrooms are amazingly convenient. I can't help being overly excited for next week though, when we head into Alberta, a place I haven't set foot in for over three years. Wild Rose Country ... here I come.

The Month of June.

2011-06-25T08:09:00.000+01:00

After Gina left I tried to start my 'real' life here in London by going Kayaking and joining a Swim Team. I went to my first Kayaking session on May 19th, and I met some great people. They suggested that I take some extra stroke lessons though, which occur on Sunday evenings. The first Sunday I was going to the Rugby Sevens, then it was the long weekend in May, and then the following two weekends I had visitors, then it was a wedding in Suffolk last weekend, with this weekend being the last weekend in London before I head home to Canada for three weeks. Therefore, I'll give it another attempt when I return in August.

Swimming fell into a very similar situation. I found a perfect group that swam four times a week for an hour in a pool right by my house. They were friendly, and I swam regularly for two weeks, before I got the bomb dropped on me that I would be moving again... which meant that not being homeless when I returned from Canada in August became a priority and instead of swimming I attended events like Speed Flatmating and house/flat viewings.

It was the Rugby Sevens on May 22nd, with Caleb and all his friends whom I had met at the BBQ a couple weeks previous. It was a lot of fun. Essentially the games are made up of seven-a-side teams, from countries around the world, we were there for finals. I got to see Canada play England, it was great to be in the atmosphere of everyone singing English Team Songs, and I met a few other random Canadians as well (which always seems to inevitably happen). I attended a UofA Alumni night with a girl from work, which was alright. I'm trying to keep up appearances at the various UofA events so that I can become involved with a greater capacity later in the Alumni Association. I spent the long weekend in Gloucester with my Mum's cousin Catherine and her husband. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend out of the city, with nothing much to do but watch TV and catch up on all the family gossip, and tell them everything I'd been getting up to. Then of course all the random brunches, and birthday parties that have been happening.

Last month I attended a speed dating event with Mel & Vanessa, which one of their friends was organizing for charity. I mentioned this at work, and we got onto the topic of dating, and various forms thereof. Someone brought up internet dating and two girls at work started talking about how they had met their boyfriend and fiance online, on this site called "Guardian Soulmates"... I was dubious, but then when I mentioned this to Mel, and we went to Paul's birthday, he mentioned that his flatmate is getting married next month to a girl that he met on GS, and then all these people I was talking to had met their partners so I decided to look into it and sign up. Only for three months. The only downside seemed to be if you did meet someone you'd have a poor 'how did you meet' story... which at the end of the day, isn't really that much different than 'friend of a friend at a party'...

I went on eight dates within two weeks of joining. I thought that at least at the end of it, I would have some interesting stories to tell if nothing else. However, I found that when my friends quizzed me the next morning, there wasn't anything to tell. The thing was, there weren't any defining characteristics about anyone. They all liked to travel, and had traveled, everyone was well read, and enjoyed a variety of films, and TV shows. I was able to have conversations with everyone that lasted several hours. I definitely figured out more what I was looking for, as at first I started off not being picky at all. I only had two criteria (1) undergraduate degree/post secondary qualification, and (2) non smoker. The smoking screener was permeated once when I went out with one guy who made my nose itch all evening, making me suspect as we were in the basement of a bar and not in a pollen field that he was a smoker... and sure enough he lit up when we got outside! Toby suggested I become more picky (or switch websites). I was on Guardian Soulmates, as the name suggests - readers of the guardian, which I soon came to discover meant every artist/musician/creative type in London. Needless to say I won't be signing up again in the future to this particular site ... with all the negatives however, I did have a great time, meeting new people, and learning new things, and having the most random arguments (Nationalism: Is it a good or bad thing?), and with this I also met someone who actually got to attend Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity. This was very cool, and I'll be seeing him again in a few days.

Monday, June 13th, was Boris Johnson's Summer Garden Party. Since graduating university my interest in politics has increased, even working for elections Canada before leaving AB in 2008. Living in Britain though, I have become friends with many Politics students, and although I think arrogance is a bit of a transatlantic trait in all politics students, I think I'm more mature now, and able to appreciate what their talking about, and actually find it interesting. So on this particular Monday, I rushed home from work, and went off to the Garden Party in Pimlico with Matt, Stuart, Claire and Toby. Wine was flowing all night, and it was massive amounts of fun. We met so many people, and I was especially looking to meet more conservatives who might be attending future events in and around London so that I wouldn't have to go alone (especially after my friend who did seem to be the person I would go to these things with has been in his final medical exams for the last few weeks). It was great to see some people from Swansea as well, I hadn't seen Claire since I left in February, and I hadn't seen Stuart since 2009 when I met him in Belfast!

The day that the boys flew up to Edinburgh, I got an email from Brynn mentioning that she was going to be flying into London the next day for a few days, and so for three weekends in a row I had people staying with me. It was nice to see her again, even if there was an incident Thursday night where I was out with Toby at a club that was much too loud, and wasn't able to get hold of Brynn who had my keys because she was in a show. Totally legitimate excuse, and in reality I shouldn't have given my keys to anyone. Note to self: When we move, get extra keys for guests. That Thursday night in particular Toby had invited me to his Alumni Party at the Houses of Parliament. He has a pass, and got to give me a little tour of the inside where normally tourists aren't allowed to go. Well we got lost, and ended up walking through the halls of MP offices, and when we left we actually got to exit through the private Houses of Parliament entrance to the tube station Westminister. While the evening started out as fun, it quickly spiraled downwards as I found myself crying outside a club at Embankment trying to figure out a way to get home.

Today is the last Saturday before I leave for Canada. It hasn't totally sunk in yet, but I get bursts of excitement at work sometimes. These last two weeks have been dominated by either physical house viewings themselves or the arrangement and sorting of house viewings. When it became clear that I wasn't going to be around to find a place to live, I decided it would be a good idea to pair with someone I trusted, and possibly find another person to join our house share. Thus the development of Caleb and I looking for a property together. Then I went to a birthday party of a girl from work, who's friend has been commuting from Reading and wants to move closer to her work. We all met at a pub, and since then have been looking at places together: Caleb, me and Katie. I am so happy that we've all decided to move together. I think Katie and I have the same tastes (somewhat), but I'm not so sure about Calebs. It sounds like we do... but we saw a place yesterday that I loved, but his reaction was somewhat less than positive. It was an ex-council, but it opened on to the street, so good exit and escape route, as you didn't have to walk through the estate. It was only 30 min walk to High Street Kensington (favourite part of London), and just SO nice inside. It however, wasn't close to a tube line or a supermarket, and the tube line it was close to was the District Line which is awful. The communte is so bad to that location that all three of us were late, and Katie didn't manage to make it at all. The search continues and we have three property viewings today....

A Complete Collection

2011-05-07T09:43:00.000+01:00

As Gina was visiting this past weekend as well, I decided not to take the three days off in the middle of the extremely long weekend, but I took the four days following the second long weekend - (the first week of May), and I will be returning to work on Monday, May 9th.

Saturday, April 22nd was Gina & Her Mum's arrival, so I left the house at 4 am in order to get to Heathrow on time and I had to wait for over an hour before they exited the gates. It was a long wait, but it was so worth it. She even brought my mmmarvelous mmmuffins, which I love but which unfortunately after being on a plane, and in a hotel room for a week have not managed to last. That's the last time I ask for baked goods from Canada.

I was a little worried that things might be different between us because I haven't seen Gina in almost three years when we parted ways in Berlin (Aug 2008), but it was absolutely amazing to see her, and nothing was different between us. I felt we fell into our old comfort zone almost immediately, and had equitable periods of extremely comfortable silence, with fast talking gossip. After escorting her and her Mum to their hotel in Earl's Court, they went off to do the Free Walking tour of London. Because I really wanted to talk to these people, as I really want to be a tour guide I went along, and went on what I think is my fourth London Free Tour. After the tour was finished we were trying to find a place to eat, and we walked all the way to Southwark tube station before finally finding a Turkish restaurant. We walked over 7 miles that day, and I was exhausted, and I'm assuming they were as well so we parted ways and I was going to see them probably after the wedding when they returned from Edinburgh at then end of that week.

While emotions got a bit heightened mid week when I was just having a bad day hearing back from friends in general, everything else about the visit was awesome. Gina's Mum left on Sunday, May 1st, and Gina came to stay with me. I had my gym induction - weights, that day, which I think was a big mistake. After being out of the gym for a few months I knew I was going to be sore after that workout. It didn't help that I was clearly coming down with a cold/flu. I definitely seem to get much sicker here in the UK than I ever did in Edmonton - I can't seem to recall how sick I got in BC, but I feel it was a lot, as I always remember having to hop up onto the bulkhead to cough up a lung... it's this damp weather.

Monday night we got the coach at 1900 to Swansea, set to arrive at 2320. The idea behind visiting Swansea was this: (1) I still have plenty of friends in the city, so I'd have a chance to visit them all, (2) Swansea is a great place to explore the Gower and surrounding countryside including Cardiff, and as I have friends in the city we can kill two birds with one stone and (3) while Gina is likely to return to London, with or without me living here, one can definitely presume that she will never have an opportunity to visit Swansea, Wales again. Well as I had friends in the city, I didn't really want to be staying at a hotel, but then my friends are all students and live in student housing, so the only student house fit enough for us to stay in would be Matt's. We were planning on staying at Matt's for two nights, before staying at the Travelodge in town for the last two. This is because I didn't really feel comfortable rocking up to a house at 3am after a night out where everyone is sleeping when our guest wasn't going out either to pass out on the couches of the living room. Matt then goes and fractures both his wrists... he's no longer coming back to Swansea for the first week of Term III. Luckily I'm also friends with Helen who lives in the house, and she says we can still stay, and bonus - Matt says we can use his room!

The first full day that we were in Swansea - Tuesday, I took Gina to Cardiff & Caerphilly to visit the castle. After looking around the massive St. David's Centre, we did the National Museum of Cardiff, including the history of Cardiff in the visitors centre. We walked around the castle in Caerphilly and had dinner down at Cardiff Bay. That night we went and visited Sam and Ben in their new house in the uplands. It actually wasn't as bad as I feared for them, and I am guessing they can turn it into something quite nice when all the renovation work is done.

The Wednesday I had a dentist appointment, and had a full cleaning etc, when my dentist told me that the filling I had in January has come out partially. Got to say Barrie, really not impressed with your track record of fillings. Must find a dentist here in London pronto. We stopped in and said hello to everyone at the Student Recruitment Office, however Judith was away in Spain, and Becs was in a meeting and Heidi is on her honeymoon... so pretty much not a great day for talking to people in the office. Headed off to Gower and Rhossili after that. It was quite windy so we didn't manage to walk around much once we got there. Had cream tea though, which I always like to give people the opportunity to have when they come and visit the UK. Wednesday night we came back to the house, and relaxed before going out with people 'pub golfing' for Ceri Parker's birthday. I didn't even know Ceri, and when we got to JCs I have to be honest, I didn't really feel welcomed... so we stayed for one drink with Helen, before the three of us headed into town to the Pizza Express for dinner.

Thursday was our last full day in Swansea, and I hadn't really planned much for us to do, except go to Mumbles have ice cream, eat at the Westborne, and then go out to Sin City that night. We met up with Becca, Charlie, and Cat to go to the Dance Society's end of year performance, which was actually a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. This was before heading home, pre drinking to the Warblers and heading out to Sin City that night. We walked to Sin City, and met up with Charlie M & J'Aime in the queue, which was great, because it did look quite long. Sin was a good night, spent most of it with Drama people and Helen. We shut the club down and grabbed a taxi with Helen. Friday we had an 11am bus to Cardiff.

With Gina's visit to Swansea, it marks my final best friend to visit me in Swansea, and see me there. I now have a complete collection of everyone to have visited Swansea. It's crazy really that this should be the case, that four random Canadians have all visited Swansea because of me, but it's true, and really makes me realize how lucky I am to have such fantastic people in my life.

As we left Swansea and indeed throughout our whole visit there I really realized how much my life has improved since leaving, and how must I definitely don't miss Swansea. Usually when you leave a city you're going to miss small things about it, even if you weren't a huge overall fan. I still miss walking down Whyte Ave on a Sunny Day, having breakfast at the Sugar Bowl, before some ice cream at marble Slab. I miss biking through the river valley in the summer, and attending Heritage Days in Hawrelak Park. I miss the old brick buildings of the U of A, and biking all over the flat city from the north to Southgate Mall.... I miss everything about Victoria every day, Mayfair Mall, the Galloping Goose Trail, Eaton's (oops, sorry, The Bay Centre), Government Street, Johnson Street, Langford and Thetis Lake, going to Nanaimo for the random day shopping, being so close to the USA, going to Port Angeles, the mountains, shrimp & avocado sandwiches from Sam's Deli. I even miss Native art! It could perhaps be that I have already fallen in love with a city, and it's just that unfortunateness that it happens to be the city where I grew up. Anyways... I can't be there now because there just isn't any opportunity; but back to my original point... there is usually something to miss about a city, but I find myself missing absolutely nothing about Swansea.

I don't miss the student lifestyle of partying all the time... I don't miss the ugly buildings, or how there is absolutely nothing to do ever. I don't miss the drunkenness on the streets, or my old job where I had nothing to do. I don't miss my old apartment, or the area that I used to live. I don't miss any of the buildings on campus, or the campus itself. I don't miss the rain, or the wind or the cold. I don't miss the hills, or the beach. I miss nothing, absolutely nothing of Swansea. This of course doesn't count the people, or some of the activities I used to do while I was there. I do miss the activity of 'being welsh' and 'not living in England' - that idea about being different, and having pride in one's country, the welsh language and I even miss the Welsh accent. Of course I miss seeing all the movies that are at the Cinema, being able to walk everywhere and I miss Thursday night Question Time with Matt & Josh, but those were simply a by product of being in a tiny city. The friends I made in Swansea will not be there in a few years, bar one - Sam, and I will have no reason ever to go back to Swansea until my children are in their late teens and I want to show them this random city where I lived for nearly three years of my life.

Two years ago when we landed in Philadelphia to change planes to get to Seattle, I had the most immense feeling of relief wash over me that I was back in North America. While this wasn't quite the feeling I had when returning to London there was definitely a smidge of that feeling as we boarded the bus out of Swansea back to London yesterday morning.

Gina left two hours ago, and surprisingly I didn't start to cry. I think this is half to do with the fact I am so sick and weak at the moment I don't have the strength to, but also because (1) I might see her this summer in AB, and (2) going home is not as far away as it was when Gillian came to visit me at Christmas, and (3) I don't live in Swansea anymore. I used to love my life in Swansea, but now I know what loving your life really means. Although one of my best friends has just left me to return to her real life in Toronto, I had such a great time with her, I know that I'll obviously be visiting as soon as I get the chance and in the interim before I see all my amazing Canadian friends again, I have made some fantastic ones here in London that I am going bowling with on Tuesday and to see the latest romantic comedy with on Wednesday.

The Longest Weekend

2011-05-07T08:36:00.000+01:00

This year there was a late Easter, with Good Friday falling on Friday, April 22nd, and Easter Sunday on April 24th. As I work in a University, and it was Queen Elizabeth's Birthday on Thursday, April 21st, we also got that day off work. That's already a five day weekend. The following weekend is the first weekend in May, which here in the UK is usually marked by the Monday off, but since our lovely Prince William decided to get married, they set the date for Friday, April 29th, and a Public Holiday ensued. Thus, across the UK work essentially came to a halt as people took three days of vacation time - in the middle of the two long weekends in order to get over 11 or 12 days holiday.

The first weekend saw record temperatures, and as people got out their summer wardrobes many people also left the city. I spent the first Thursday doing errands, and trying to establish a dentist and doctor here in London. I wasn't able to get registered with a doctor, because I misunderstood and thought legislation had already been brought in to change the rule that you have to live close to your doctor and attempted to register with a doctor in Kensington. Friday I spent with Marlene & Co up at Clapham Common, and took my housemate Caleb along with me to meet 1/2 my friends, and on Sunday he took me to his friend Maerii's BBQ, where I was subsequently invited to Rugby Sevens on May 22nd. That first weekend also saw the arrival of Gina and her Mum as first time visitors to the UK.

Back in November I booked two tickets for Prime Ministers Questions for April 27th. It's pretty difficult to get tickets unless you do it several months in advance, and I wasn't sure how far in advance you needed to book. I originally booked them for two of my friends, however as the date loomed nearer, it became increasingly obvious that they weren't able to partake and I was actually extremely excited to go myself. Since moving to London I have taken part in a few Conservative events and have made one new friend, so when Josh wasn't able to come up from Swansea, I asked Alex if he'd like to go. It was every bit exciting as I thought it would be as we sat up and watched David Cameron versus Ed Milliband. I think it was a nice break for Alex as well who is finishing up his final exams for Med School.

Friday was the big day though. The Royal Wedding. People had been camped out for days along the Mall in hopes to catch a glimpse of Wills or Kate post ceremony. While I wanted to be involved, I wasn't that crazy, and so I was planning on going and seeing it with Mel & Vanessa. But Vanessa's Mum was in town, and I was under the impression that she didn't want to face the crowds, so when Toby - my other flatmate said he was going with some friends I asked to tag along.

We left the house at 7am purchased some Union Flags on the way, and went to find his friends along the Mall. It was far too crowed to park ourselves there so we went to Trafalgar Square where Caleb, Harry and Becca all met up with us. After watching the ceremony, we were going to try to find a spot to watch the procession but it was packed with people, so instead of heading to Green Park - which was now closed, we went to Hyde Park to join in with the over 120 000 people to cheer on the royal couple as they kissed famously on the Buckingham Palace balcony. After this Toby & Harry were off to a party in Pimlico, which they invited us to, so after some Pimms at Harry's in Knightsbridge, we took Boris Bikes for the first time through London to get to Pimlico where I rocked up to this party severely underdressed.

Everyone was lovely, but the first person I spoke to had an absolutely amazingly stereotypical upper class british accent, and specifically used the phrase "Oh yes! Splendid!" several times. I know my uncontrollable facial expressions must have given away my amazement. Earlier that day Toby and I were speaking about past relationships etc, and I asked what had happened with his ex. Something about him putting in a lot of hours at work, at which point I asked what she did, "well she came from a lot of money, so she didn't really have to work" - Oh my God! My flatmate's ex-girlfriend was a proper socialite! This ties in directly with my Royal Wedding Day. That night everyone was heading out to this club - Bungalow 8. Sounds like I've heard of it before... oh right because the American version has been mentioned both in Sex and the City and in the book Everyone Worth Knowing. I was definitely in for coming to this club tonight. I was going to make sure that I dressed the part as well.

As Harry & Toby had been invited to some swank dinner affair, Caleb and I headed home to rest and get ready for the party that night. I wore my new heels from Debenhams, my dress from Esprit, and then some GAP purple tights.... I was worried I was overdressed, but when we arrived at Bungalow 8 I realized I needn't be. Of course these clubs were Guest List only, so we needed to make sure we were on the list. Caleb wasn't... but as we knew (the name) of the Party organizer they let us in. Success. The club felt as I imagined, exclusive, small and full of beautiful people. I met Caleb and Toby's friend Lizzie, who although completely hammered, was also super nice. She was there with her friend and her brother, before they randomly decided to leave. They didn't tell us where they were going but through texting Toby we were told that they had gone to this club called Mahiki and we were to go there.... it was the same guest list. We were a bit concerned because Caleb wasn't actually on the guest list... so he went to talk to Henry - the guy who organized the whole party - an actual socialite... and was told that I was on the guest list, but Caleb wasn't. On our way out we checked with the bouncer, and sure enough there was my name!! Off to Mahiki we went!

I liked Mahiki much better, they played better music, and had proper dancing, and although the drinks were more expensive - £12 for a cocktail, they seemed to have three shots in them, so much more worth it. We stayed there for a little over an hour, danced a bit, and then when we couldn't get in touch with Toby any longer we took the night bus home. I was exhausted, it had been a long day, and I had felt my excitement levels to have risen to heights most often unreachable with the thought that I could be meeting proper socialites in the future. Things didn't go exactly to plan, but I had an absolutely fabulous night, preceded by an awesome day.

Young Urban Professional

2011-04-17T20:50:00.000+01:00

I love being a ‘yuppie’ I love having almost all of my income (after taxes and student loans & rent) go towards stuff I like. I love not having the stress of thinking I have exams or assignments weighing down on me. I love that I can spend the evenings doing anything I want, whether that means heading to drinks with friends at London Bridge, going to the gym behind my house, or just chilling out at home with some F.R.I.E.N.D.S or some Jason Mraz and some Facebook stalking. The thing I like most about getting older though is realizing in an instant when I don’t like people, and/or recognizing when people don’t like me, and being mature enough to not care and smart enough to understand that I never have to speak to them/deal with them again.

On March 17^th, it was St. Patrick’s Day, and I invited Mel & Vanessa to come out and watch the parade, and attend the festival. Their friend Patricia was also going to be at the festival and we were all going to meet up. Patricia was great; she was also from Calgary and super fun. Some of the people whom she came with were not however. We all met in Trafalgar Square and then headed for lunch in a near by pub. After lunch, exactly ½ the group, who were at the other end of the table got up and left. They didn’t tell anyone where they were going. Patricia’s flatmate, really wanted to hang out with them, so we started to head back to Trafalgar square… it was at this point that I told Mel, I have no interest in hanging out with people who clearly have no interest in hanging out with me. So we both left.

Similarly today I just returned home from a kayaking outing with some people whom I met online through Meet Up Groups. I thought it seemed like a fun idea. I love kayaking, and like I have said previously I can’t wait to join the Chelsea & Kensington Kayaking Club. Whille I’m waiting until I have enough money to pay for that, I thought it would be a lot of fun to go Kayaking with some people who sounded like we had some shared interests. £16.50 and a lunch later, man I hate some people. I just spent my afternoon with people who didn’t know the difference between a kayak and a canoe, and instead of accepting the fact that he didn’t know, and listening to the people who did know, he proceeded to argue with us. Instead of respecting my dislike of all things old – such as buildings for inhabiting, or my preference with furnishing them with IKEA style furniture, he berated me for my choices, and preference. You know the type of person who sounds like they are trying to disagree with everything you say. I was so irritated at the end of the afternoon, I told them I needed to go to London Bridge so that I didn’t have to stay on the train with him until Balham. Needless to say, I won’t be attending any more “social adventurers” meet up groups anymore.

I’m not so worried though, because literally last week I was busy every single night of the week. Monday I went Speedating with Mel and her friends, for a charity event, Tuesday I met up for drinks with Paul, Mel & V after work, Wednesday, Joanna & Sina came over and we made Mexican and watched an awful movie; Thursday Becca C was in town so I met up with Swansea people and we went out for Sushi in Chinatown, walked down and saw 10 Downing Street, and did a night time tour of the regions around Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben and the Thames & London Eye, all capped off by drinks in Covent Garden. Friday I went out with people from work for Emma’s leaving do. This weekend as well has been busy; yesterday I went out campaigning for the ‘No to AV’ and met two cool people – whom I’m hoping will be at more events. A couple weeks ago I attempted to go to an evening with Conservative MP Justine Greening, however when I arrived at the pub I didn’t know anyone, and even after I asked the pub manager and bartender I couldn’t find anyone who was there for the event. Embarrassed and ashamed of my lack of friends, I headed home. I hope that in the future I will see either of the guys I now know, or meet more people I like.

The week before Katie was in town and it was great to see her! She was in town because she had a conference in Dublin and so spent a few days in London before we both flew to Dublin and rented a car for three days. We drove from Dublin to Galway the first day and managed to visit the Cliffs of Moher as well. We stayed in a hostel, while it was only 12.50 Euros, it was also full of older men. Poor guys, probably all looking for jobs in the ‘big city.’ The next day we drove north through the country roads to Londonderry stopping at Slieve League. We saw two of the most beautiful sites I’ve ever seen. A mountain/hill reflected exactly in the water; and some of the most amazing cliffs. We were so spoiled for visuals that day when we drove into Londonderry we thought we were in for a small walled town, similar to York. Unfortunately this was not the case, and we only left our hotel room to go to dinner. The final day we drove back to Dublin via Giant’s Causeway and Belfast. We had hoped to lunch with Matt, but because of a mix-up with times, we ended up at Pizza Hut instead of Boojum

Next up is the Easter Weekend, the Royal Wedding, and visits from Josh , and of course the big one – GINA!!!

Month Number One

2011-03-31T12:56:00.000+01:00

The past month has been incredibly hectic, and it seems like a million years ago since my life in Swansea, however, while I'm adjusting well to living in the city, I'm definitely still adjusting. I moved in with Marlene, Francis, Chris, and Johanna for the first month as their housemate was moving out the same time I was moving up to London, and it made it an incredibly convenient stop-gap before finding something a little more permanent.

Some people will be confused as to why I didn't just stay with them. Initially I didn't want to because I have this incredibly irrational fear that I'll have no friends (stemming from my awful experience in High School), and so I thought as I already have them as friends, it would make more sense to branch out and meet more people. However, the more houses and rooms I saw the more depressing it got, the more desperate I became, and I started to wonder if it wouldn't just be easier for me to stay with them. Well my horror of the places that I had seen, as well as my laziness drove me to ask Marlene if she wouldn't mind if I stayed. She made a good point when she said she didn't want to live with a friend because it might ruin the friendship. She was right. We run on completely different schedules, and I hate it when people are not awake and talkative when I am (which is most of the time), I also despise smoking. So while at first I was hurt that she didn't want me to live with them, I realize that she was 110% right.

I went to over fifteen house viewings, which was absolutely exhausting. If I love it, then it was way too expensive. Or if I liked the people the house was disgusting. There was only one place that I loved. It was a three bedroom newly refurbished upstairs flat sharing with two girls. All for just £500/month. I was rejected from that house. Depressed and rejected I headed for Clapham Speed Flatmating at Gigalum one random Wednesday.

I had to register online, and when I arrived I put on my pink sticker stating the amount I was willing to pay, and what area I was looking for. I wanted something under £550 (before bills), something with a ratio of 2:1 for people to bathrooms, new kitchen with a dishwasher, and north of Balham. I wanted to stay in the SW area because of Marlene & Co. I met some Australian girls who were also looking for a room, but thought I best branch out and speak to some people with white stickers.

Most of the people there were looking for a room like me, in a similar price range. Most of the people who were offering rooms were offering them way above budget. I finally walked over to this table of these two guys who were pretty much the only two in the room within budget, and actually we hit it off. The more I spoke to them, the more I really just wanted to be their friend, because the place didn't sound amazing. It didn't tick any of my boxes.... but, from past experience (personal & through friends), I've seen that it's better to live in a gross house with people you love (ie: Splenda Shack, Swansea...), than to live in a house which is beautiful, but you hate being at home because of the people there.

So even though it's the most poorly laid out apartment in the history of mankind, I need to wear earplugs to sleep because of the high street noise and I can literally feel my bed shake every time the underground goes by I don't think it'll be so bad. I can feel the underground because I'm literally on top of it, and can roll out of bed and on to the tube for work in the morning. I have to sleep with ear plugs, but that means that I don't ever have a creepy walk home through alleys or back roads because I'm right on the high street, and it's always busy. And finally, it might be a poor layout, but it is massive, and I only pay £522 all in, for rent and bills. I have enough space in my room for at least a blow up double mattress; as well as my double bed. I may not have a dishwasher, but so far I haven't needed one, because I'm rarely at home!

As I said the first two weeks in London was spent searching for a room. Once I had one, I finally had a chance to relax. I went shopping, stopping at Moorgate on my way home and consequently dropped £100 on clothes at Next! I met up with Mel & Vanessa for drinks at Angel, met up with Marlene & Co at this random German Pub off the back streets of Vauxhall. I've had brunch and dinner at Clapham Common with Kris, and Caroline. I went down to Kingston with Johanna and Sina for dinner, and so many other random dinners/drinks invitations. I even went to a "Back Boris Bootcamp" one Saturday through Conservative Futures. That was an interesting experience. I went mainly to meet new people - my age, maybe learn some things, and generally - sure I support Boris. These people were all still students! Again with the students! The morning was fabulously interesting. They had guest speakers from all over the world who made up his campaign team, and it was literally sit on the edge of your seat interesting. Then after lunch it became more Boris focused... I met one or two interesting people, so we'll see if I continue with this CF business.

The Final Days

2011-03-12T11:41:00.000Z

Since finding out that I got the job in London, I've barely had time to think let alone update this. I was offered the job on January 28th, and I promptly handed in my notice to Swansea. Since that point it was all parties and packing. I had only 23 days until my final day at work, and in that time I had a hen party in Liverpool, a week long holiday in the Canary Islands, and had to pack up my life, and sort out a place to live.

My mum's cousin Catherine lives in Gloucester with her family, and since moving to the UK 2.5 years ago, I've really relied on them as my primary family members. They are my permanent address on my drivers license, and it's nice to visit, because it's a proper family home, and it's nice to 'go home' for a weekend at times. Her daughter Beth, got married up in Leeds on March 5th, so the month before, all the girls attending the wedding headed up to Liverpool for the Bachelorette Party. It was a really fun weekend; aside from the rain. I'd never been to Liverpool before and we got to do a Beatles tour, which included seeing the original: Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, and of course the houses of all the Beatles. The Saturday night we stayed in the Holiday Inn Express (thank you!) and partied at the Cavern Club, until the morning. I would definitely go back to Liverpool, but I think I'd like to be with a hard core Beatles fan, whose enthusiasm would make the trip that much more meaningful. It was also that weekend that I got a text from Ross telling me I have to check out the comments on my blog because a world famous author had commented! Amazing!

The wedding itself was exactly one month later, up in Bradford & Halifax. I barely made it to the church on time after my taxi never showed up to my hotel, but the service was almost a full catholic mass. It was interesting and to be honest a bit funny because our side of the family isn't that religious, and Chris' side is much more so; his side knew exactly when to respond, and what to say, and when to shake hands, yet our side had no clue most of the time, and generally just looked at each other lost. The reception was absolutely beautiful, in a really nice venue in the middle of nowhere in the countryside. The dress was beautiful, from Monsoon, but really simple, and the bridesmaids all had cute baby green dresses. The food was great - a traditional roast dinner, complete with the yorkshire pudding. It was nice to recognize some of the faces from the Hen Party the month before, because obviously the family members were all busy with wedding stuff. It was a good weekend, and it was nice to stay with family and visit again; but it was exhausting because I still hadn't had the chance to sit down and catch my breath.

Ten days after handing in my notice to Swansea, I went on holiday. It seems a bit strange, but I had booked my trip to Gran Canaria to visit Ross back in November, because I needed some sun then, and it just happened that I got a job in the meantime. I had six days scheduled in the southern islands, and it was such a good break! It was great to see Ross as well, and he was an excellent host, showing me essentially the entire island. The first I was super tired because I only had 3 hours sleep the night before, and didn't realize the flight was 4 hours long. We did an open top bus tour of the city, and I only fell asleep once. It was a lot colder than I thought that first day, but I think that was because I was tired. The first night we went out with some of his friends for Spanish Tapas for Lucy's 21st Birthday, and I ended up hanging out with six people from Wales, down in Gran Canaria. The second day I got to sleep in as Ross had to work in the morning. He lives in this incredibly large apartment complex, with a pool in the middle. It takes up almost an entire city block. The apartment itself was large with four bedrooms, brand new kitchen, and massive living room. Two blocks away there was a mall, which I visited - of course, and hit up the sales, and managed to score two sweaters under 6 Euros each, as well as some t-shirts. We headed south that afternoon, and visited the sand dunes, happened upon a nude beach, and ended the evening with ice cream in Mogan. We had to make it back that night to Lucy's 2nd part of her birthday - going out. We went to some club, full of 18 year olds, and for 4 Euros we managed to get two drinks each as well as entry! The songs were heavy hip hop, and after I get a few drinks in me, I can't help but make fun of the ludacris (no pun intended) dancing of some of the people in the club. It was great fun.

The weekend started of with a circumnavigation of the entire island, where we ate some of the most interesting meals. I tried octopus, sardines, chickpeas, goat, and a number of different pastries. I love Spanish food. At one point we even tried this dodgy man's almond cake - offered to us as we were taking pictures at a view point up in the islands, he gave us each a toothpick with a piece on, which we naturally popped into our mouths and swallowed before getting back in the car... we were definitely going to die in about 30 minutes. Sunday was saved for Market day, and we drove up into the mountains and visited the markets, where I bought the cutest pick wood earrings for 2 Euros - of which one was promptly lost a week later during an evening at Tooters in Swansea. We visited some large churches and Cathedrals, and ate some of the most delicious meat I've ever had. Sorry Dallas.

Ross is an English language assistant on the Bilingual project, and the people he worked with invited me in to see how things worked, so on Monday I attended all his classes with him, and got to meet all the kids. Because it's a curriculum project, rather than just immersion, or just the English classes, we went to Technology, English, History, and Geography... so in Canadian terms: Mechanics, English, and Social Studies (x2). In the English class I got to talk about Canada, so I was really in my element. I drew my map of Western Canada on the board (naturally, because it's the best part); and labeled all the cities, and talked about temperatures. ... I got asked some pretty interesting questions, which were rather difficult to answer... like traditional food - do you say Pemmican? I had a lot of fun though, and I think in another parallel life, where I volunteer around the world with VSO, I would have really enjoyed teaching english as well.

My final day, we went into town one final time, had lunch - where we tried the goat, which was rather disappointing; and then walked along the main beach. I got splashed all down my back as I wasn't watching what was going on, and with a mouth full of ice cream Ross just started backing away from the sea... luckily I dried off before I got on the plane. It was a fantastic break in the middle of a very stressful time. I arrived back in Swansea late Wednesday, February 16th afternoon, and only had a week and a half left before I had the big move.

That Friday I headed out on a big night out, which is where I'm sure I picked up the flu... because the last week at work in Swansea was awful. I woke up Monday morning, and felt like death. I'm not one normally to skip out on work, but I didn't feel sick enough to call in, so I went in... I shouldn't have. Tuesday was even worse. I couldn't get out of bed, and my skin hurt. It was awful, but it was also my goodbye lunch that day - and so I didn't want to miss Wasabi with all the people I work with.... so I dragged myself in, and then after work, went home and fell asleep. I had to rest, my goodbye party was Thursday night.

I headed out to Sin City, and everyone was invited. I wasn't feeling great, but I was hopped up on all sorts of pharmaceuticals: Day Quil, Paracetamol, Ibuprofin, Tylenol Cold & Flu,... if only I had Diamatapp I would have been fine. This combined with alcohol, lack of sleep and the fact that I was leaving meant that 1/2 way through the night I started crying, and didn't stop....

While certainly at times I've hated Swansea, and I don't regret leaving in the slightest, I also don't regret the time I spent there. I did meet some amazing people - through each year I was there, and I hope that I stay in contact with some of them. I'm not so foolish though, to believe that I will stay in contact with most. I've done the leaving thing, and it's become all too familiar, and so had the loss of touch with friends who you thought were your closest. Leaving Swansea obviously wasn't as heart wrenching as leaving AB, as I know it's only a 3 hour train journey away, I'm going back in May, and I can still call and text at the same rate! Oh yeah, it's also in the same time zone! So with that I say goodbye to Swansea, and a very multi-cultural hello to my new home of London!

Ambition is not a dirty word.

2011-02-04T13:30:00.000Z

Two and a half weeks ago I was doing little else than applying for jobs. I was constantly on the search, and it was paying off; between January 20th and January 24th I had six interviews scheduled in London. Not all of them were exactly what I wanted to do, but when I decided that I wanted to leave Swansea I had that goal up on my wall and there wasn’t much that was going to distract me. I was interviewing for three positions with Universities; two with tour companies, and one with a recruitment firm for an Events Coordinator.

The first interview I had was with Bloomsbury International, it was a Sales & Marketing Assistant position, at around £18k. I really hope that was before London weighting allowance. I applied because all you had to do was send in your CV, so imagine my surprise when I actually got called for an interview. The interview itself was fairly laid back, one guy, some pretty informal questions, and an invitation to come back the next day for a second interview, sounds promising right? He told me to read up a bit more on the website, which I did, concentrating mostly on their marketing devices. I didn’t really concentrate on their product – selling EFL courses. Needless to say, the second interview didn’t go quite as well as the first, and I felt I was drowning in a role-playing exercise where I was trying to sell the school to a prospective agent. I did not get the job.

The second interview I went to was with the University of London, Institute of Education (IOE). It was for an Alumni & Development Assistant position, fixed term for six months. I had met with two of my supervisors to go through my ‘interview technique’ and met with the Alumni Officer here at Swansea to talk about issues. I did my research and read up on issues and trends in Alumni & Development on the Times Higher Education (THE) website, and went into the interview prepared. I arrived the standard 15 minutes early... ok, 20. They seemed surprised that I was early, and asked me to do my test first, which was supposed to take 30 minutes, but only took about five. This meant that I was sat waiting for over 45 minutes before interview. I wasn’t very impressed. The interview seemed to go well, and they asked me a million questions, of which, none I felt I answered poorly. It was still a shock however the following day – Friday, when they called to tell me I had been successful in securing the position.

The final interview I had for a university position was with London Metropolitan University. There were two positions up for grabs, and again I had done as much to prepare as I felt was possible. One of the positions was in the International Office, as a general clerical assistant (to be honest, it sounded quite drab), and one was with the International Programmes Office, working with their Exchange & Study Abroad programmes (the position I wanted the most out of all six interviews that weekend). As there were the two positions available I met with both an International Officer and a Study Abroad Officer here at Swansea to talk about trends and issues. I read up a lot on the programs that London Met offered, and again read up on the THE website. This time though, it felt like they only asked three questions, and then posed the hardest of them all – “Tell us why you would be a good fit for the position?” ... um... well I could go on for a million years about how awesome I am, but where to start?! Where to finish?! I felt like I did alright, but I left out my amazing data entry ability. Near the end of the interview, they asked if I wanted to add anything else... I was getting panicky, so I blurted out: “I can speak beginners Japanese!! Which... um... would be helpful to those Japanese students, and making them feel more at home...”

I had to give the IOE an answer, and so on the same day as my London Met interview I accepted the job from the IOE. By Thursday the following week I was going through the motions for the Alumni & Development position, but was still dying to hear from London Met. Friday, I emailed them asking for feedback. I was blown away when I received a response within an hour saying they were working on an acceptance offer letter for me at the moment – for the position I wanted in the Study Abroad/Exchange Offices. I can’t even begin to describe how happy I was.

With my formal offer letter sent through, I put in my notice to Swansea, and my last day will be on February 28th – or 23rd of February, after accounting for vacation & annual leave. While I definitely fear that I jumped the gun putting in my notice too early, I am too excited to care. I’ve already transferred responsibility of my Virgin Media Account to Sam, cancelled my LC2 membership and I’ve given notice to my landlord of my intention to move out February 26th. I’ve booked the biggest automatic hire car that Swansea Enterprise has, and have sorted out accommodation for the first month.

Marlene – whom I visit frequently in London, has a housemate moving out, and she is taking his room, thus making her room available. Some people have asked why we don’t make it a permanent thing. I don’t think either of us wants that. I want to meet new people around London, and that won’t necessarily happen if I move in with people I already know. I also know that sometimes living with friends isn’t the best option. It’s great for a month though, and will give me the opportunity to be in the city, look at houses after work, and find a house that really shares my interests which I can move in with in April.

There are so many things I can’t wait to get involved in when I finally make the move. There is a number of mentoring and literacy programs I want to volunteer with, including joining walking/rambling clubs, and the Chelsea Sea Kayaking and Touring Club. I have already looked into joining a gym, and taking cooking classes at Whole Foods (naturally), and of course joining a few ex-pat Canadians once a month for wings ... but I’ll try not to get ahead of myself and instead bask in the smugness of how important goals are, and how they actually work!

In this economy...

2011-01-16T22:33:00.000Z

Back in the fall of 2009, I was working at Virgin Media, in their customer services department. I was desperate to get out of medial work that required no qualifications and enter into the real workforce in what I would call a 'real job.' I was applying everywhere and to anything. When I finally secured a lease on an apartment, I had to limit my search to Swansea, and since I was SURE I wanted to work in Student Recruitment (International) I was applying to everything at the University, just to get my foot in the door. I went for an interview in their Residential Services department, which I was sure couldn't have gone any better, and was absolutely crushed when I was phoned with the bad news, and had a small breakdown in the bathroom of Virgin, when I was flooded with the realization that I would have to continue working at Virgin for the time being. That same day an advertisement came up for the job post that I currently hold: Clerical Assistant in the UK Student Recruitment Office. About a week later the post of "Student Recruitment Officer" was also posted. I applied for them both.

After the debacle with the Residential Services position, I was absolutely ecstatic to be offered the Clerical Assistant position, and when I was told that I had been unsuccessful (following an interview) for the other position in the office, I wasn't too broken up about it, because the main thing was that I was getting to leave Virgin and enter the real workforce, it was just a bonus that I was getting to work in a field that I wanted to move into. It was obvious from the beginning that the guy who got the Officer position was way better suited to the role, and we became really good friends. When he was offered a position in Spain, he left in August. This meant that the position became vacant once again, just seven months after he started. Throughout the year we had worked fairly closely and I had attended a few of his talks that he gave to schools and had the opportunity to attend a few HE fairs, so I was excited to have the opportunity to apply again for the position. Especially now equipped with the experience and a greater vat of knowledge regarding the UK Higher Education System.

Months went by, and still no advertisement was posted. On a side note I do find it strange that they don't have an internal hiring system at the University. They have a redeployment stage, but they do not have the opportunity for just internal applicants to apply for posted jobs - not that it would have mattered - but I do find it interesting. As the months drew closer to Christmas, I was starting to realize that even if I applied I didn't want to stay in Swansea longer than July... and even that was pushing it. I wanted to be out of Swansea ... well ideally it would have been June 2008, but here I am still.

The advertisement went up the first or second week of November, but similar to the year prior the closing date was drawing on Christmas, and it looked as though even if I was selected for interview I would be out of the country the dates they were holding them. Luckily they extended the interviews into January, and my interview was scheduled for 10 January 2011. I concentrated a lot more on the presentation than the interview itself, which was my downfall. The interview itself was one of the most difficult I have ever experienced. There was a panel of four, and I felt like most of the questions I wasn't even prepared for and nor would I have expected to have prepared for them even if I had more time, or worked harder on the questions.

I was greeted with questions "Do you think that Swansea should accept alternate qualifications to the traditional A-Levels?" Of course I was thinking along the lines of BTechs and NVQs, and of course I don't think those should be accepted alongside such academic qualifications as A Levels, but I didn't even address IB, or the Welsh/European Bac. The toughest question was when the Head of the Economics department asked me how I thought that the University should address the Browne Review. What does that even mean? I could hear, even as I was talking me blabbering on about stationary and then when I asked him to repeat the question, he started waving his hands around and I felt like he was really raising his voice about £9,000!! "£9k, £9k, you're just saying what the government is saying! You don't have to pay back until you earn over £21k!! What if they raise it to £30k a year!?" I just sat there thinking this guy is a total psycho, and yes, that is what the government thinks.

Following the nightmare that was that interview, I wasn't surprised when Steve came down the next day to tell me that I had been unsuccessful. While I didn't have a breakdown and run to the bathroom crying a la Virgin, I am in a similar place mentally, as my desire to work at Swansea drops to an all time low, and my caring quotient plunges. I feel trapped in a dead end job, with zero job prospects. My job used to be my favourite thing about Swansea, and with each day I remain in this job, in this city, my enjoyment decreases exponentially. The silver lining in all this though, is that I can now be open about my disappointment in Swansea, and my real feelings towards this city. I can be honest that I want to get out, and I never had any intention of staying. I can be honest, and ask for references, and click the 'yes' box when the applications ask if they can contact my referees prior to contacting me. The biggest bonus from me not getting this job is that hopefully it will get me out of Swansea earlier than June, earlier than May, and out of Swansea ASAP.

Swansea is a great place to be if you are my flatmate. Her and her boyfriend love cycling, and surfing and are down at the beach almost every day. It's great for doing outdoors activity, but that's where it stops. The shopping is alright but there are almost no activities to get involved in if you are not a student, and if you are between the ages of 25 and 40 you should be having babies don't you know? I want to have the opportunity to live in a city that has over a million people. I want to have friends that can go out in the evening time and get a drink in the pub, or go and see a movie, or anything, because they don't still have school work to do.

With my job status staying at it's current status quo, I have increased my application turnout rate and have applied to over forty positions in the past 10 days. I've become pretty adept at writing job applications, and this has meant that I have now over four interviews this weekend in London. I head to London on Wednesday night, and I'm staying until Monday night. I'm so lucky I have a friend in London whom I can stay with!

I'm still waiting on the job I really want to come in and I'm hoping I get called for interview for that, but I went for an interview before Christmas, with Richmond - the American University in London, and I absolutely nailed the interview - as far as I can tell. I didn't flake on any questions, I had strong solid, concise answers to every question... but then I was obviously unsuccessful. I had to badger them before they gave me an answer either way, and then I still didn't get any feedback. Let's hope it was just because the successful candidate had experience and I didn't have enough. I'm working with one of my supervisors tomorrow to work on my interviewing skills, and... hopefully something pans out soon, because I'm about a month away from couch-surfing my way around London working as a tour guide and moonlighting as a bar tender.

God Jul.

2011-01-09T11:50:00.000Z

I guess I should start by wishing you a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years! I'm finally back in Swansea after almost three weeks of holiday visiting friends in different countries, and having friends from Edmonton visit me in Swansea. I had a fabulous time... but I should start with my birthday.

For my birthday this year I had booked flights to Norway. I wanted to celebrate somewhere cool, so I decided to go and visit my friend Heidi, whom I met while we were both studying for our Masters at Swansea University. Just before leaving to visit her, however; I obviously wanted to celebrate with my friends here in Swansea. I am not one for partying hard on my birthday because I feel that's a bit cliche and I definitely get more enjoyment out of doing less 'alcohol based' activities. So I decided to go skating, out to dinner, and then to a movie. I initially booked my birthday 'party' or on Monday, December 13th, but then when a few people couldn't come because of the Snow Ball/RAG Christmas Do, someone suggested I switch my party date to Saturday. I thought this sounded like a great idea. Because I didn't have enough money to attend the Swansea CF Christmas Party, and I couldn't get to London to celebrate the London CF Party, I hadn't actually attended any parties so it would be a great way for me to get everything I wanted.

I attempted switching my party to Saturday, but the restaurant that I wanted to go to - Grape & Olive up the Meridian Tower (which has finally been finished Mike), was completely full so I reserved us a table on Sunday night instead. I recognize that all this faffing about with switching dates was bound to cause some people not to be able to come, but I was a bit miffed that both my best friends in Swansea weren't able to make it because of school work. (I'm definitely ready to not have friends who are still in school). Needless to say, I was upset and angry. One of them pulled through and managed to get everyone (7 of us) tickets to see the new Narnia film. My other friend who was unable to make it arranged to have lunch with me on the Monday, yet come Monday, I was stood up, without any contact; which of course caused me to spiral out of control in anger. It also sparked me to write a extremely angry blog post - using names etc, making my friend who I wasn't really mad at in the first place, upset... needless to say, I deleted it.

I definitely don't think I was right to post something so pointedly directed at someone in such a public place, and for that I feel bad; but I also don't think that my feelings were unwarranted. While I know I hold high expectations of people, I also have reasons for holding such high expectations - I am used to having incredible friends who do go out of their way to always be there for me; so it's always a shock to to be let down by someone until I finally understand and accept that they might not be a friend I'll have for life, but a friend for the time being. This happened to me when I left Victoria, and it's happened to me a few times in Swansea already. I don't know why I'm not hardened to the effects yet.

My birthday party was very nice, there were seven people altogether, Nick even came over from Cardiff; and we started off with outside ice skating at Winter Wonderland. We couldn't have asked for a nicer night. The sky was fairly clear, and it was warm outside. We then headed up the tower for dinner and it was delicious. Everyone had appetizers and entrees, I had parmesan wrapped in prosciutto with balsamic drizzle, and a Welsh steak as a main. After that, we all went to see Narnia, and had dessert at the theater; Ben & Jerry's.

The next day was the RAG/Waterfront Christmas party at Oceana followed by the Snow Ball. I went with my friend Caroline from Ottawa and we sat at the RAG Executive table, beside the dance floor in the Disco Lounge which was a bit surreal. The food was mediocre, but the wine flowed, and the company was super fun. We danced, and did karaoke, and they had a chocolate fondue fountain. They did prizes, and, Charlie a girl at our table won VIP status, which meant we all got to hang out in the VIP rooms!

I flew to Rygge (Oslo) with Ryan Air from Gatwick the day after our work Christmas Do, on 15 December 2010. Heidi was there to pick me up at the airport. I was staying in her apartment which she just bought in October, and it was beautiful. Everything was brand new, and it was loaded with Ikea/scandinavian design furniture. Obviously. We visited a Christmas market and went out for sushi on my birthday, and then some of the people that had met us for dinner came back to Heidi's and we made waffles, with all different toppings! We visited Oslo for a day, and did the typical tourist thing of visiting the Christmas market, National Gallery, Nobel Peace Centre, Royal Palace, the Harbour, and the Castle. We went cross country skiing, had a dinner party with a traditional Norwegian Christmas dish of salted lamb one night with some of her girlfriends, and on the Saturday we attended her friends' annual Christmas Party - or Jule Ball.

I was extremely impressed. Apparently four girls had organized this event, which they had rented out this beautiful hall, and had a catered evening. There were over 50 people in attendance, all local people about my age, and they were all professionals - Engineers, Chiropractors, Bankers, Lawyers. My kind of people! The food was delicious and the people were incredibly friendly. I felt like almost everyone came up and talked to me at some point, and the people made me feel so welcome that when Monday rolled around I didn't want to leave.

I left Drammen at 7am on Monday, 21 December, but didn't arrive in Limoges until 8:30pm on December 22nd. I was exhausted. Because of snow in London, and Paris, my flight to Gatwick was delayed 5 hours, and then my bus from London to Paris took four hours longer than expected, causing me to miss my train to Limoges. I met a wonderful guy named Guillaume on the bus, who helped me at the train station get everything sorted, and I was able to switch my ticket without any problems to a train at 5pm that night. When Meaghan and Roland took me back to their place I decided to make some tea - I had brought my own tea bags with me, in case they didn't have any, which people generally don't seem to, as was the case in Norway. However when I pulled out my tea bags, Meaghan pulled out the box that she had already bought because she knew I liked them... I started to cry. I was so completely exhausted, and so happy to be spending Christmas with her, and then for her to do something so thoughtful, I was just so happy at the moment to have her as my best friend.

The rest of the time in Limoges didn't quite operate on such heightened emotions. I was sick when arriving, and was so happy I got my own room and got to sleep in everyday. It was such a relaxing holiday. We did some shopping, and then after three nights we headed to the French countryside about 45 minutes away, on Christmas Eve, to spend Christmas with Roland's father and his partner. It was a full house with 11 of us in total, which was awesome. Everyone spoke only French, and so I was constantly concentrating on following what was being said. By the time I left, I was ready to get back to the UK, ready to have my own space and my own room.

I rocked up to the ticket booth in Paris over 1.5 hours earlier than check in to make sure I got a ticket on the bus - because I had an open return. I was only second in line but she informed me that all the seats were already booked and I hadn't got a ticket. I was extremely lucky and did manage to get on a bus getting me into London at 5:45am. I wasn't set to meet Gillian and her dad until 9 so I headed to their hotel and used the hotel's public downstairs bathroom to get cleaned up before breakfast. We met up with Brynn and her brother Chael at Heathrow where we were picking up the car and we were on our way to Wales.

We were supposed to meet up with my family in Gloucester that night, and so weren't on the motor way to Swansea - also I didn't really like driving on motor ways. However, after circling the same place in Oxfordshire three times I yelled at the members of my vehicle to get me on the M4 because I was going home. The next three days we spent exploring South Wales. We visited; Cardiff, Hay-on-Wye, Gloucester (which I know is in England), Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, and of course did a bit of sightseeing in Swansea. I drove us all back to London via the M4 the entire way, and so think I have pretty much overcome my aversion to Motorways, except I still prefer A roads because they are more interesting.

Our last night all together was spent in London, it was also Brynn's birthday, and so Gillian's Dad took us out to this super fancy restaurant in Soho. It may not have been the swanky-est restaurant I'd ever been in, but the menu was certainly the fanciest. Chael, a chef walked us through the menu - and as I chose the least adventurous things on the Menu; aside from Chael (who chose most adventurously) I feel like I had the most satisfying meal that night. When Gillian and her Dad headed back to their hotel, I started crying. I hadn't seen her for 2.5 years, since graduation. I said goodbye to Brynn & Chael, who I'm hoping to meet up with sometime in the next few months, as Brynn is living in Berlin at the moment; and headed 'home' to Marlene's place.

I arrived back in Swansea at 8pm on 3 January 2011; thus bringing to a close my Christmas holidays. I had an absolutely fabulous time, but I think that 2011 and being 25 will be an awesome adventure in the months to come. xx

My idea of Heaven.

2010-12-04T15:18:00.000Z

Tonight is the Conservative Futures Christmas Party in London. I was totally stoked for a night of snobbery meeting people from all over the country, while at the same time enjoying a traditional English Christmas dinner. Well the Christmas dinner was up in the air anyway as Helen told me that dinner was not actually included in the ticket that I bought for £10! Was not impressed by that morsel of information that was fed to me last week, but nonetheless I was excited to dress up and meet some new people. Then the UK had some of the worst winter weather that they have experienced. There is snow everywhere. ... except Swansea. Naturally. I was supposed to be driving up with Helen from the Conservative Futures Swansea, and we were going to be staying with her parents in Surrey, as the party was supposed to be in Islington. However, with the M4 having accidents everyday, and basically everything south of London including Surrey is at a stand still. People are literally ditching their cars to walk 3 miles home.

So, as it goes, instead of spending my day enjoying Whole Foods before getting ready for a swanky due; I am in Swansea, catching up on Christmas Cards, cleaning, possibly some baking, and getting up to date with Misfits. Misfits, is a British drama that I just discovered thanks to Sam, it is brilliant, and I highly recommend it to anyone. It is centered around five twenty-somethings, who have been given community service for various things, and after a freak storm everyone has random powers. Not just the five main characters but everyone they run into. The second series has just started, and I think I'm on episode five of the first. Definitely check it out.

Last week I got the opportunity to represent Swansea in an international capacity again (similar to Cambridge), but this time I was sent to London. It was set to take place in the SOAS Brunai Gallery, but that same week there was a sit-in by students as a protest towards the Tuition Fees legislation proposed by the government. Instead it was across the street and split into two rooms. It was a good event though, with delicious food. They had the freshest pastries I think I've ever had. At the end of the evening, the organizer came up to me, and asked me how the day went and I just started chatting with her about the day, when she told me she had a present for me. "Ooh! Mug? Keychain? Chocolate? USB Drive?" Then she pulled out this little box, and it looked like a little ipod, so my immediate thought was "ooh! Fake ipod - I need a new mp3 player, so this is perfect."

"What is it?"

"It's a ipod nano"

I was now holding in my hand - a brand new, pink, multi touch, 8GB, ipod nano; and I was the owner of that beautiful piece of technology. I couldn't hook it up immediately because I had decided that weekend to leave my macbook at home in Swansea, and instead just take the work laptop that I had been given to collect data. When I returned home, and finally got to plug it in, I was dissapointed to say the least because the software on my computer does not compute with the latest edition of itunes, and thus I was not able to synch my new ipod. I bought my computer in 2007, and it came with Tiger operating system. Since then Apple has released both Leopard, and Snow Leopard, and I haven't bothered to update for either of them.. I also wasn't willing to pay the over £130 that I would have to in order to upgrade my system to compatibility. Instead I downloaded itunes to my work computer, and then transferred my itunes library to my external hard drive and boom - brand new synched complete ipod for me to listen to on my walk to work in the mornings.

From that moment the weekend just continued to improve. I went up to London on the Friday, and was coming back on the Monday. I had booked a hotel for the Saturday night, and the other two nights I was staying with Marlene in Clapham South. Well my hotel was right by Paddington, the conference I was going to was in Russell Square, and the job interview I had on the Monday was in High Street Kensington. The Friday I arrived, I found it to be such a complete pain in the ass to carry all my gear - suitcase, purse, and pop up stand for work all the way to Clapham, that I decided to leave it in the hotel over night from the Sunday to the Monday. You know when you do something you know you shouldn't but you also know that it's really not that bad, you're just elongating a service that you have already paid for? I felt so worried Sunday night as I sat on Marlene's couch, that something would happen to the suitcase, and pop up stand... but it was fine, and the hotel didn't seem to notice, and it was super convenient for when I was heading home on Monday to just head straight to Paddington from Kensington and pick up my stuff from the hotel before heading home.

Like I said, the Saturday night I spent at a Best Western right beside Paddington Station. It was supposedly four stars, but at best it was 2.5. Although, I suppose for London, and considering location it was considered four. I had a delicious spinach pesto salad from M&S for dinner, with a strawberry tart for desert! The Sunday, I ditched my jacket and the majority of my belongings in the hotels "checked baggage room" and went out to explore High Street Kensington.

On the Monday I was set to have an interview with Richmond University - The American University in London as their Residence Life Coordinator. I was totally pumped for the interview, as I hadn't done this much preparation for a role since I applied for the job that I have now. It sounded perfect, I would have housing provided for me in London - in Kensington, and I would be supervising the Resident Directors, and Assistants to deliver programming to the residents in the city centre campus. There also happened to be a tube strike on that weekend, so I thought I would head up the day before the interview, to get my bearings and find out where exactly I needed to be for the next day.

I wasn't expecting much out of the area, even though I knew it was wealthy, but as I emerged from the tube station on to the High Street Kensington I was astounded by the diversity of shops. They had all the shops that you would want: H&M, Gap, Topshop, Zara, Starbucks, Tesco Express, my new favourite UniQlo, and finally as I turned the corner - there it was. The most beautiful site I have ever laid eyes on. Whole Foods.

I'd never been in a Whole Foods before, but I had read a lot about them during my dissertation on environmental marketing. They're niche is that they provide basically a whole grocery store but specialize in 'natural' and 'organic' foods, but on a grander scale than just the local Roots a la Edmonton. I couldn't wait to explore the world inside! It was an assault on every sense - in the most amazing way. There were three levels; the top had their restaurant, and coffee shop, the main level carried most of their dry goods, bakery, cheese, wine, and two of the most amazing salad/buffet tables I'd ever seen. Everything just looked so fresh and delicious. The bottom level was the fruits and vegetables; and they were laid out in pure american style like Morristons, in big 'farmer market' style bins.

As I made my way around the store I was just amazed by everything they had, and was definitely thinking that the store had lived up to my expectations. That's when I saw that they sold whole Pecan Pies! I started to think for a second, and then I turned around and I saw an entire display devoted purely to pumpkin pie! They had homemade pumpkin pies, and mounds of canned pumpkin puree. I should remind you that in no other store in the entire UK can you find canned pumpkin puree. They also sold pumpkin pie spice mix. My head was exploding. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better I went to explore their dried goods racks. There are two things that you simply can't get here that I miss all the time. Okay, that's a lie, there are lots of things that you can't get here - but most of the time they are unimportant, and just junk food really - KD and the like. One of the two things was canned pumpkin puree, and the other is kettle corn.

Now you may ask why canned pumpkin puree is one of the most important things that I miss. It's not just about making pumpkin pie. My mum makes these delicious pumpkin muffins, and the main ingredient in that is canned pumpkin puree. Starbucks at home makes Pumpkin loaf (which is essentially my mum's muffins but in loaf form, and probably with many more preservatives), and pumpkin scones, which you can't find here. So it's not just about the pumpkin pie, but every other pumpkin flavoured dish and snack. I had attempted a few times to make pumpkin pie from scratch; boiling and pealing both a pumpkin and a butternut squash. Not sure what happened, but it wasn't quite the same.

The second thing that I miss is Kettle Corn. The delicious mix of sweet and salty covered popcorn, traditionally sold at farmers markets all over the sub-urban USA and Canada. I had looked up a recipe myself last year, and had been making Kettle Corn here, and it was great! However now that I live in an apartment with a gas stove, I'm not sure if the pot gets too hot, but the oil that I use always inevitably burns the bottom of the pot, the kernels go black, and no one is happy. ... Therefore, when I turned around and saw ORIGINAL Kettle Corn being sold at Whole Foods in High Street Kensington I freaked out. It officially has become my favourite place in the UK - High Street Kensington I mean.

It combines everything I love about both the UK and the USA - a High Street lined with shops selling with well made, inexpensive clothing, and a absolutely gorgeous American Style grocery store! This is definitely my idea of heaven.

After I felt I had sufficiently explored the area I headed back to Marlenes, empty handed. I know, looking back now, I should have stocked my Matt & Nat full of canned pumpkin, 2007 Californian Zinfindel and Kettle Corn, but I thought I would be going back there this weekend! So alas it was, I headed back to Marlene's and failed to pick up any food for me to take back with me to Swansea.

The next morning was the morning of my interview, and the tube strike. I was taking the bus from Clapham South, and I left her house at 7am. I didn't arrive at the interview location until just gone 9:45am. Okay, yes I stopped at Whole Foods after I got off the bus and treated myself to a delicious Caramel Pumpkin Spiced Latte, and used their brand new facilities to change and get cleaned up into 'interview mode'.

The interview itself went really well. I couldn't have answered the questions any better. I have the experience and the passion for the position, and I had done a ton of research about the position and the university. However, as is always the case it seems I was unsuccessful in the role. I don't know the reasons behind yet, but I'll find out next week I'm sure that there was just someone with a little bit more experience than me, with just a little bit more... well experience. That's literally the only thing that I don't have when it came to this position. Well, I applied for Ross' job at Swansea University as well, and I haven't heard if I will be interviewed for that position yet, but I really hope I am, or else I'd be quite upset. That should be a week Monday, if I am selected for interview.

Until then, I have one more week of work left before I leave for my Christmas Holidays; Norway, France, UK here I come!

Idle Hands...

2010-11-24T16:21:00.003Z

It is only 3pm, which means that I have exactly one more hour before I can leave work... but at that point I’m stuck on campus anyway because I have my Russian class tonight from 7-9pm; thus resulting in too much time on my hands. That’s definitely what I’m dealing with at the moment.

In High School I was swimming 9 times a week often the sessions lasted over 2 hours as we had one hour of dry land and then two of swimming. That doesn’t include the natural 15 minutes prior to practice that my family was always inevitably there for or the obligatory Hot Tub/Shower and change session afterwards.... on top of spending every waking moment at the pool I also had school work to contend with. Yes, since I moved from St. Margaret’s to Claremont I found my grades shoot up dramatically and my work decrease exponentially (making a very strong case for private education), at least until grade 11.

Grade 11 was a tough year, I was swimming the usual amount; Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday Morning, and then every weekday (Monday through Friday) in the evening. I was also carrying a full academic schedule. That basically meant that along with my Grade 11 courses, in the two ‘spares’ I should have been allocated I jumped ahead and knocked off Math 12, English 12, and English AP. Thus, in my grade 11 year I managed to take three provincially examinable subjects (also Literature 12 in first semester), one AP class, along with all my grade 11 subjects: Principles of Math 11e, Chemistry 11e, Physics 11e, French 11, Social Studies 11e, and well something else, and of course Choir twice a week in the mornings.

Grade 12 was slightly more relaxed because I was only taking three classes a semester because I had a spare every afternoon, which I managed to get all my homework done thus providing me with free evenings following swimming for television watching. However being used to a fully packed schedule I went into University the following year and followed suit.

In my first year, I was just getting my bearings being in a new city, so instead of joining the swim team I joined penguins’ masters which meant I was only swimming five times a week for one hour each. I also spent a lot of time in the hallway with the Splenda Girls discussing very important topics like Noam Chomsky, and Religion. In my second year however I was a bit lost, and well... I got a boyfriend, so that took up a fair bit of time. My grades dropped, and it wasn’t until I was sans boyfriend that I was finally able to be productive again. In my 4th year of University I began working part time with Varsity Athletics. This meant that every weekend you could find me at the Gym or Arena bossing around mascots, and holding hula hoops in preparation for some sort of promotion. I also got more involved in the Orientation program and became a Team Facilitator for the Computer System Presentation. It was also the first summer that I found myself in Edmonton. I worked three jobs – Server at Old Spaghetti Factory, Sports Centre Receptionist at Saville Sports Centre, and at Foote Field. I was also taking three summer courses: Psych 381 (Behaviour), EAS 202 (Disasters), and EAS 208 (dinosaurs). It was an excellent summer, and I still felt I had extra time on my hands.

In my final year in Edmonton I kicked it up a notch and really got stuck in with the SU. I sat on the Student Life Programming Committee, worked part time with Athletics doing the same promotions thing, volunteered as a Campus Ambassador, and finished my final four courses by December. From January to June, I was working as a cashier, but found myself attending every public lecture that I could be dragged to by Gillian – if it was about Feminism, Gay Rights, or Human Rights, it was in my calendar. I went to every speaker series on Human Sexuality and learned as much that is possible through accidental learning on sexuality identification. I also found myself attending all the LGBTQ – SIDERITE meetings as Gillian was president; soon I found myself as appointed Vice President, and as such Logistics Coordinator of the Day of Silence 2008. I was also helping my friend Alena with her campaign as VP Student Life. This meant that on top of my swimming five times a week, working full time as a cashier at Safeway, all my human rights/sexuality meetings, and organization of Day of Silence I was also attending every debate, organizing table sitting, and punching buttons, and making bright yellow bag tags in my spare time.

Let’s not forget my time as MPGC Chair. As it was my final year, Gina, me and Dominique had decided we were going to establish a graduation committee for a final banquet in celebration of all the Math and Physics Graduating Students. This meant organizing several fundraisers, social events, and the final banquet including all the marketing material for that event. Gina and I were also planning a 9 week backpacking trip through Europe, which was meticulously planned. This was all happening simultaneously.

Thus, with little more than my work, and the gym to occupy my time at the moment, you can understand how I am a bit restless. I try to go to the gym as much as possible, and I started taking Russian simply to be busy. Similarly with joining and attending all the Conservative Future meetings, I enjoy the people, but it’s such a small part of my life, and I find myself with increasing amounts of time to fill with nothing to fill them with. Thus I’ve begun to think a lot about the future, and where I want to be and what I want to do.

I love my job, I really do, I know that I am exceedingly lucky to have got a job in the field that I’m hoping to go into; even though it’s the lowest on the totem pole you can be. I love that I work with people I like, and that I have been given the freedom to pursue what I like about the role, and really make it my own. I meet new people, and I’m working with students, and I am learning more about what I want to do and what I don’t want to do every day.

Exactly a year ago when I went for this job, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life – I wanted to work in International Recruitment. I wanted to fly around the world on business trips, promoting a university to different markets. Now I know that I definitely do NOT want to do that. In fact it sounds quite dreadful. It sounds exhausting and lonely to be honest. I want to keep travelling in the domain of pleasure so that my body and life don’t get confused with whether or not I’m working, and to ensure that a flight always remains exciting. I like being around people as well, and the prospect of spending several nights along in a hotel sounds excruciatingly lonely.

Thus, with my development of the Student Ambassador Program here – which I’m going to be honest, I’m taking almost full responsibility for; I have decided I really love post-application student facing programming development. With the Student Ambassador Program, I have really learned a lot about bureaucracy and the inability to get things done even though you really want them to be completed. I came in with my idea, and naturally it had to be tweaked to fit with what other people wanted to establish and develop, but the meat of the operation remained the same. I am now working on developing the program further, to include a website; audio and video tours, podcasts, linked to flickr and facebook pages, twitter and youtube channels. Although I can visualize what I want my website to look like, I have to go through the web development team, and figure out how and where to put the information that I want to display, and how to make sure that people know to find it.

I was speaking to my friend Brynn the other day - who in one of the bravest acts I've heard of moved not knowing anyone to Berlin ... I commend her for that, as I could never do something so ballsy. She asked me if I liked my job so much why I was hoping to move on in the 'near' future. Well with my current position I only make £2 more an hour than minimum wage. Really! I have managed to live a full year on paupers wages... well almost; thanks Mum for that recent credit card payment. :D The low salary and the fact that the highest qualifications that one needs for this position is GCSE - or the equivalent of Grade 11 has made me yearn for something where I am challenged to a higher degree and am able to earn more along the lines of what I hoped to earn at this stage in my life. I'm ready for a job at a higher level, and on a higher pay grade.

Well it’s now 4:30pm, so I’m off to grab a Caramel Latte from Costa and head to study some Russian/read over various career opportunities I can pursue in the Library....

Adjustment Phase

2010-11-20T22:39:00.000Z

About a year before moving to the UK, I was all about the ex-pat forums. Attempting to find out what people were 'shocked' about when moving abroad; what did they miss, what did they love? I had learned about 'culture shock' and I wasn't sure if I was going to experience it - especially moving to a country that - let's face it, in reality isn't *that* much different than my own.

I was prepared though. Prepared to go through the different stages: Honeymoon, Distress, Adjustment, Acceptance. I was always under the impression that this cycle would take about a year - that's what they always seem to teach anyway. It doesn't. I don't care what you might think, there is NO way that you can really experience culture shock if you (a) know when you're going home, and (b) know it's only going to be in a few months time. Obviously I'm no expert, but if you know you're going home, aren't you automatically going to make the most out of living somewhere new? I feel I would, and in doing so, I wouldn't necessarily go through a "this sucks so bad, everything sucks why would anyone live in a place that sucks so much" phase... but I definitely did go through this - all last year as a matter of fact.

Maybe it was because I was only hanging out with one person who was sucking the life right out of me because every relationship I had she would always sh*t upon. Maybe it was because I only had one friend, and I was so used to having this amazing array of friends, and non-internet social networks to pull social interaction from. Maybe it was because for part of the year I was stuck in a completely dead end job, with nothing to look forward to except the pressing horror that I might have to pack in my adventure and go home.... or maybe it was simply because I was going through my "distress" phase, and in reality it lasts a lot longer than just a few months.

Do I miss Vancouver? Well no - because I never lived there, even though I've said it's where I'm from so much that I'm even starting to believe it; but yes, I miss Canada and I miss Victoria. I miss certain foods, and the way people get excited about hockey. (I sometimes watch hockey here on ESPN just for the familiar goal-buzzing sounds), I also miss american TV scheduling. However, I'm also starting to really accept the UK into my life. I like certain foods they have here - Quorn - and I enjoy watching a rugby game at the pub with a bunch of friends; even if I'm laughing at the way someone is cheering rather than actually watching the game itself. I love watching X Factor on Saturday night, and having a chat about it on Monday morning in the office.... in reality I never watched American TV on the actual TV anyway for the past 4 years. I didn't have cable, and so was streaming/downloading anyway. Instead of watching junk on TV late Sunday Afternoon, I pop on the Question Time Catch up, or watch BBC's "Tropic of Cancer" ... waiting on "The American Dream."

I've really tried to immerse myself in British Culture, and along with watching X Factor, and the Inbetweeners, it has also included educating myself on British Politics.... which I'm not entirely sure, but they definitely *seem* more interesting than Canadian Politics. At the University of Alberta I was not interested in politics. I made sure I voted, as it was such an important right that I would never have forfeited; but beyond that, I used to make fun of the people who were in political science. Gillian and I would have a field day and when we were talking about different guys, and trying to describe them a common expression would be "oh... you know, he's in poly sci." Now those political junkies are my best friends, and not only that; I find myself interested in what they are saying!

When I left Alberta, I was starting to become involved in increasing my knowledge in Canadian politics - I read all the websites of all the parties, so that I would know who I supported and why I supported them. I was always caught as well because I couldn't follow the social conservatism that the Canadian Conservatives hawked, even though I found myself agreeing with their financial policies. So it became that provincially in BC, I would vote Green, and at the federal level I would vote Liberal. In 2008 I also worked as a Deputy Returning Officer for the federal election... this in combination with my involvement in student politics - helping run Alena's campaign for VP Student Life, with the posters, and the bag tags, and the table sitting, and the accompanying her to every debate and the subsequent crying and puking in the bathroom when she lost on election night in the Power Plant. These were the limits of my political knowledge, and to be honest, I wasn't interested in taking it any further.

Fast forward to 2010. Not only do I find "The End of the Party - The Rise and Fall of New Labour" by Andrew Rawnsley on my bedside table, but I also find myself knowing the names of key people in Government! I watch shows like Question Time, and Prime Ministers Questions and am enjoying it! I hang out with people who eat politics for breakfast, and I'm enjoying myself. Sometimes it goes into overkill and I find myself rolling my eyes and saying "who cares about torture" but most of the time, I'm enjoying it. It might be because they are so passionate about the subject, and not at all condescending that I feel that I can have an opinion - which is educated (mostly). I find myself now a member of a political party - the Conservatives, and I'm actually going to the meetings! I'm emailing in with my ideas of stuff, and I'm even attending the Conservative Futures Christmas Party!? Who *am* I?!

With my immersion into British life and culture, I've become addicted to X Factor, I find myself strictly adhering to the uniform of boots and leggings and somehow now I've become more knowledgeable on British Politics than my own! I enjoy a scone from M&S, I regularly use British words and phrases, and have even on occasion thought that it wouldn't be the *worst* thing in the world if I HAD to raise my kids here ... after all; my friends ended up alright?

C'est l'Halloween!

2010-11-14T11:20:00.000Z

The last week of October Meaghan and her friend from France - Justine came and visited me in Swansea. It has been over a year since I last saw Meaghan, and it was absolutely amazing to get to see her again, and hang out with her. Each time we talk/meet up it feels like we're just picking up where we left off. I had tried to go and visit her in April, but was foiled when the Volcano blew up grounding much of the world for weeks. I then booked tickets to visit her again in September but then the French kicked off and the flight something-or-other went on strike and once again I was kept from seeing my best friend. That's why when riots and strikes broke out across France with regards to Sarkozy wanting to raise the retirement age just two years from 60 to 62; I believed that once again our plans would be foiled.

However, on Tuesday, October 26th I met the both in Bristol after their flight actually landed! We stopped in Cardiff for some lunch and shopping before continuing on to Swansea for the night. Justine is studying English in Limoges, and I thought that going out for dinner with a bunch of English-speaking people would be a great time for everyone. It didn't quite go as planned, and instead of it being fun it was just overwhelming and instead of joining the CF Swansea for dinner at Pizza Express the three of us headed to Wasabi for some sushi. The next day was our only day in Swansea, so we tried to hit up everything, but in doing so we ended up missing our train to London.

The week previously I had gone out to coffee with Josh when I asked to view a muffin before purchase, and he quipped "chalk up another reason as to why Bronwyn is single"... well this lead to a large discussion of my singularity, and a lot of self help/inner exploration and I recognized that I might need to "chill out" a little bit... however, when it became obvious that we were not going to make our train I broke down crying in the bathroom of the fish & chip shop, and Meaghan had to come and get me as I was having a mini panic attack.

"I am not a chilled out lady!"

"That's why I love you!"

Our solution to the train problem was to get on the 1830 train Swansea - London and pretend that we didn't know that we couldn't do it. It somewhat worked, as all we had to pay was £10 extra each.

We stayed at the Easy Hotel, Earls Court. I will say it again, I love the Easy brand. It was a compact hotel room, with only a double bed for three of us. We had to sleep head-to-feet, for two nights. The location was great; we did all the regular things in London, as well as my favourite - American Breakfast! The last night was Bristol, unfortunately Meaghan lost her wellies on the train, and even after several phone calls to both Arriva Trains Wales, and First Great Western they have not been turned in. When we got to Bristol, it was pouring with rain and the taxies were charging more than double the usual rate for a lift into the city. We then waited for over an hour for the bus, before finally collapsing in the Holiday Inn Express where we waited for another hour for a cab to take us to our Travelodge.

The language difficulty between Justine and I wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be following the first day. We sorted out a system, and even when Meaghan wasn't around we were able to communicate. It was sad to see them leave but I'm spending over seven days with Meaghan and her adopted French family just outside of Limoges for Christmas, and I'm very looking forward to it.

Meaghan and Justine left on October 30th from Bristol, so I headed back up to London to spend Halloween with Marlene and her friends for their Halloween Party. Every time I go to visit I feel so welcome by all her friends. However, the party was not as great as I thought it was going to be. I think I was over tired, and because there were so many competitions for where people would go on Saturday night, that there just didn't seem to be an awesome array of people at the party. The next night when I got back to Swansea - actual Halloween I was invited out with Drama students to celebrate at their Halloween Social at Peppermint on Wind St. I got to Pitcher & Piano, and wasn't feeling it, but as more people showed up, I headed to Peppermint with them, which turned into Reflex, and a fabulous evening.

I didn't get to be what I wanted to be - which was a baseball player, because I didn't get the costume together in time, so next year, hopefully I'll get it together in time...

I am thankful for...

2010-10-24T10:57:00.001+01:00

Last time I logged in I was gearing up for a great year, and I'm really happy to say that October has been exactly what I hoped it would be. It didn't start out that way though...

On Sunday, October 10th, for whatever reason I was completely unable to fall asleep. I think what might have happened is that I caught a mild form of 'Fresher's Flu', and was on NyQuil tablets for the week prior. (Of course it wasn't really NyQuil, but Equate - Wal-Mart brand; who can afford the real stuff?). When I wasn't sick anymore, I stopped taking it, and so I think my body was too awake and instead of sleeping that night I watched the entire second season of Mad Men. Consequently I had the biggest day of highs and lows on Monday, October 11th. I started off overly giggly, and then rapidly slid downwards into a state of depression... leading to an emergency skype session with Meaghan, and several depressing texts to Josh and Matt about our state of friendship. I am going to blame my lack of friendship confidence on the events that rocked this summer...

However, with that low beginning the month, the constantly began to climb. That Monday night I attended a comedy night at Monkey Bar, and then Tuesday, October 12th, I attended the first Conservative Futures meeting in JC's at Swansea University. I was under the impression that I had simply joined a student group... alas, I was to find out later that month, that I have in fact become a member of the Conservative Party. I was in shock for a bit too.

That week was extremely busy as I attended a Careers Fair in Haverfordwest - which is just west of Swansea, by about 1.5 hours. I got pulled over for speeding! What a absolutely terrifying experience. My license says that I live in Gloucester, and I was shaking when he was talking to me... luckily he didn't ask to see my license, and just told me to slow down. Whew - you can bet I stuck 10 below the speed limit at all times from then on! I got back in time for my Russian class which I LOVE! We have learned the alphabet, and some key phrases, and I would definitely be interested in taking my learning farther. My experience with Welsh on the other hand has not been as great. After starting my class with everyone who already has a GCSE in Welsh, and having her ask us to say things in welsh when everyone else knows what's going on - it's just not conducive to learning. I hate my welsh classes, and I actually dread going. ... anyways, I was treated to some delicious M&S Mushroom Risotto and my first experience of Prime Ministers Questions after Russian that night. I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed it. (So much so that I actually put aside time to watch PMQs the following Wednesday on BBC iplayer).

That same week I traveled to London to visit Marlene to celebrate both her Birthday and Thanksgiving. I had such a great time. I made my standard - Banana Cream Pie, and everyone brought other stuff including: Turkey, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Apple Pie... but where is the pumpkin pie?! Well I was supposed to bring that, but last month I made Butternut Squash pie, and it wasn't sweet enough, and I just couldn't bring myself to subject my *hopefully* new friends and friends when I move to London to such a disgusting pie project. The food was amazing and so was the company. I love visiting Marlene for this reason - all her friends are so wonderful. They are all older than me, in their late 20s, which is somewhat nice, because I usually feel like I'm acting like I'm 20 while I live in Swansea. They are so inclusive though, and I think that is the key difference. Although I say that, the group of people that I've managed to hang out with so far this year in Swansea has been incredible.

The drama people have been very nice and inclusive, and hopefully the conservatives will prove that as well. There is another Conservative event happening on Tuesday - which I might be attending depending on the Meaghan situation - but it better not end up like last time. The night started out great! I made a few new friends, and got into this great conversation with this guy who had actually lived in Whistler during the Olympics. This other guy came over and just sat down almost pushing his way into our conversation. "George lived in Whistler during the Olympics! How cool is that!"
- Blank stare...
Oh dear, this will be a long evening. and it was. Eventually I was left with no one around talking to this awkward guy. It was like scraping the bottom of a barrel to get conversation going. Eventually I texted both Matt and Josh "HELP!" and neither of them responded for what seemed like ages. Finally Josh came and rescued me, but it was severely painful. I won't let that happen again at this weeks event.

That is if I even get there. Meaghan is supposed to arrive on Tuesday into Bristol - and I think that if she does end up getting on that flight that I will go all the way to Bristol just to meet her. However, with France in the state of disarray that it's in, my levels of worry are increasing daily. I have all but given up hope that she's going to be able to make it. The country is striking because of the retirement age - that was just raised from 60 to 62. Don't even get me started on how stupid this is.

We had our final Open Day of the year yesterday, and it went well, but what I'm most excited about is the Student Ambassador program that I developed and am basically driving and how successful it's been. We had our training on Saturday, October 16th, and it went really well. Although we only had 1/2 the number of people show up that were scheduled, we had 50, and it was a lot more manageable. Almost all of the feedback was positive, and when I get back into the office in November I'll have to go through and review everything that has happened. There had been several comments though on how good all the ambassadors were in their roles on the Open Day yesterday, and how you could really tell that the training had done them well.

Other then all that though, it's been a pretty standard month. My social invitations are increasing. I've had people around two weeks in a row to watch X-Factor, I went and saw The Social Network - which I can't rave about enough! Simply amazing, I can't wait for it to win a bunch of Oscars. I also was duped into seeing Buried. Thank you Matt & James. I actually liked the movie... hmm; and went out for the first time since I didn't manage to make it out in NYC. RAG had an event at Sin City on Thursday, October 21st, and I had an absolutely fabulous time.

I had planned on going out since receiving the invitation from Becca Taylor on FB. When it came to the day however, I was tired, and wasn't in the mood. I met up with Josh for coffee after work, and we had a fantastic 3 hour conversation about life philosophy, which made me change my mind. Heading over to his house hanging out with his housemates - who I had already met for the most part, was awesome. I was called 'slim' and now I love this girl Cat. We then headed to Matt's house and Josh and I partied in his room sans Matt until he got home, when we then got on Skype and started talking to Ethan. It was great to talk to him, and although I don't remember much from the conversation, something to do with him moving to the UK or getting his visa on my Birthday! The event itself was great, I ran into so many people I knew, I can't remember if they played good songs or not, but I bet they did as it was Thursday night at Sin City. I'm not sure why I smelled of smoke when I got home... but it was a great night and I was able to get to work for 8:05am on Friday. I look forward to partying with these people again.

As October comes to a close I'm looking forward to Meaghan's potential visit; Hallowe'en in London, then I'm off to Gregynog with the Business School again this year. I've still got to sort out a Christmas invitation but barring nothing I can always go to Gloucester.

Until November...

I Gotta Feeling

2010-10-02T20:37:00.002+01:00

As you know, if you've been following; this summer has been a difficult one. Even though it was filled with travels and visits, either through the USA as a visitor, or here in the UK receiving visitors. I have been on an intense emotional roller coaster. This past week though has been incredible and has really filled me with hope that this year won't be a massive pain, void of any fun or joy; rather it will be filled with exciting social outings, increased involvements in sports, an accumulation of knowledge in two more languages, absolutely fabulous trips, all combined with a job that I enjoy.

Last week kicked off with the Student Ambassador Team Leader Training. Naturally Judith was majorly stressed about the same thing, and I'm not going to lie my stress levels were increased as well. I developed the program back in February when I presented it to Barrie and Judith, then with Ross on board he developed an awesome brand for it, and I'm super excited about it launching this year. With the help of the International Office at the University of Alberta, and my amazingly awesome friend Katie I was able to put together the training, which has abundantly positive feedback. Eight out of the nine people that attended gave resoundingly positive responses, which was awesome! We ran way ahead of schedule, which makes me really positive about the Volunteer Training on October 16th.

Judith is off on holiday now until just before VA Training, but we've already prepared, and so I'm fairly positive about the whole thing. We have over 70 people registered so far for the scheme, and at Freshers' Fayre on Wednesday we collected over 50 new people who were interested. I'll be sifting through them next week, emailing out more comprehensive application forms and seeing which ones we'll choose!

I was sent to Cambridge to represent the University at an HE type event for international students who already live in the UK. I was obviously excited at the prospect because it gave me more opportunities outside of the office, a night at a hotel, and a nice drive to and from a city I'd never been to before. I was slightly disappointed with the event itself, mainly because the room was so incredibly unbearably hot, that at one point I actually had to leave the hotel to get some fresh air. I had heard people use that phrase before, but had never actually experienced it myself. Also there weren't very many students to speak to, or if they did come and talk to me or Tom from ICWS, they had specific courses they were looking for like - Architecture, Sports Journalism, or Aviation Management; whatever that is? It was interesting to talk to Tom though, and find out more about Navitas, and what exactly their jobs entail. It sounds like exactly the opposite to what I would want to do. When Tom said that he was a salesman, it gave me the shivers; I must not be the only one who thinks slimy grease-ball when I hear that term, especially combined with "Sales & Marketing." It brings up images of Vector Marketing, or Pyramid Schemes - that aren't technically pyramid schemes because they do have some sort of product. Apparently the walls at icws are lined with targets the agents have to meet, it sounds absolutely dreadful to me. On the plus side, I know now never to apply to them :)

As I mentioned, I attended the Freshers Fayre representing the Student Ambassador Scheme, recruiting for new students. We got a fair number, only one asked if it paid, and one of them actually asked if he had to pay to join! That made my day. It was an amazing day of seeing people I hadn't seen in a while. I saw Jasmine and Angus from the Hitch, and went over to see their booth, which was covered in pictures of Danny & Nick, which made me miss them so much more. I caught up with Lizzie as well from the Hitch, but who was there representing Rowing, Sam who I met in first year from the swim team, who isn't swimming this year but invited me to swim with him in a non-organized group, and of course, Matt was representing the Future Conservatives at their booth. It's weird to think that we've hung out in essentially three different countries - or at least cities, but it was great to see him. That night, because I had a car, I took him grocery shopping at M&S, and all I could think, would it would be sweet sweet irony to bump into Haylea as we were walking back to the car with our bags full of M&S - the epitomy of Upper Middle Class - shopping, and I was with the one person she seems to be able to stand the least. Instead of having a delicious but albeit childish serving of "in your face" I was served my first ever Tuna Steak, with lemon and a mixture of other seasonings. Thanks for dinner, excellent to have you back Matt.

Also back of course, is this years line up of television shows. With Gossip Girl back strong as ever with their season opener set in Paris, they have definitely maintained the top spot in my books, with Glee coming in a strong second. I haven't seen the second week of Glee yet, but with Britney Spears on the agenda it's sure to be a good one. The old standbys of the Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother have also returned, and hopefully soon we'll see Brothers & Sisters back on the air. Some new shows to watch out for are: Hellcats, where a poor pre-law student looses her scholarship and has to join the cheerleaders, who go against everything she stands for in order to stay in school; Lone Star - an ex-con man attempts to turn good by trying to pay back everyone he's wronged; The Deep End, although not new this year, as it premiered in January it is shaping up to be an excellent show about young lawyers in LA. We haven't had a good show about Lawyers and their social lives since Ally McBeal. There do seem to be a few straglers, that haven't gotten the idea that their runs should be over. The Office is no longer funny, having lost it's edge of will they/won't they Jim & Pam, and for the umpteenth time can I ask WHY and HOW is One Tree Hill still on the air? I officially have stopped tracking it, 8 seasons... really?

The reason that I am most excited about this new year however is due to last night. I was invited out to Bierkeller by Becca and some of her friends, which was fabulous. They are all drama students who love musicals, and are overly friendly. I scored several more invitations to attend social outings with them, and am looking forward to both Comedy Night through the Velvet Goldfish on Sunday, and their friend's Hypnotist show on Tuesday! I also bumped into some members of the Swim Team who I know through various channels, and they actively inquired into my status of AU Membership, and would I be swimming - Why yes, I most definitely will be if there are friendly people there!

So next week sees my return to swimming, my second welsh class, and extra welsh private tutoring session, my second Russian class, and my third outing with a new group of friends! Bring on October - one can only hope it will be as good as September has been.

Moving Forwards

2010-09-21T17:15:00.009+01:00

I should be eating petite dejuner, surrounded by baguettes, pain au chocolat and cafe noisette. I should be awaking in Limoges, France, where I should be spending the weekend with Meaghan, in order to celebrate her 25th birthday. Where am I instead? In Swansea. It was this weekend that the French Air Traffic Controllers decided to have a strike. I won't get started on how unfair the universe is, due to the fact that the first time I was supposed to visit her in Limoges, an Icelandic Volcano decided to errupt. If something happens that her flight is cancelled at the end of October, I will seriously rent a car, and DRIVE to Limoges at Christmas.

Aside from the immense let down of what should have been an excellent finale to the month of September, it's been an awesome three weeks so far. I've been going to the gym regularily, and have reduced my eating, so I have lost 2lbs. Not much, but if it stays steady, then I'll be able to keep it off. I've also lost an inch around my waist. I've decided I'm not going to attend any muscle building classes for the month of October, and only attend high imapact cardio classes. I've started doing Zumba, and it's fantastic! It really is as fun as it looks on TV.

Work is going well also. We had our September Open Day, and it was probably about 20 degrees and sunny all day. This didn't help that I was in a sweater, because the forecast called for grey cloud, but it was a good day all in all. It was also Ross' last day, which was more than dissapointing. I really like everyone in my office, but it's definitely not going to be the same without him to have lunch with everyday to gossip about the going-ons. He's moving to the Canary Islands to teach english, which is something new and exciting for him, at least he's moving away from home etc, so it's a great opportunity - as well gives me another friend abroad to visit. With him leaving, it also leaves his position open, and it's somewhat unclear what's going to happen. I know that a few people are interested in it internally, but it will definitly be interesting to see if they open it up to external candidates and how fast the turn-around is, seeing as it took them about 3 to 4 months to hire Me, Ross or Heidi. I do feel like I might get more opportunities at recruitment activities now that he's gone. I was asked by Steve to attend an event with ICWS (International College Wales Swansea) in Cardiff on September 30th, and even though I can't go, I was also asked to do a small fair on October 5th. However, I already have plans to go and see a hypnotist.

With Haylea out of the picture, I've been hanging out with a new group of friends, and I know I b*tch a a lot about how unfriendly people are here. How people are all exceedingly nice, but not overtly friendly. Well I think I have found a group of people that I really enjoy hanging out with, and they are super friendly. Some of them are Student Ambassadors, but I've also met them through Josh and his Tory friends. I've been invited out a few times, and I'm looking forward to the events at Freshers' Fayre and meeting some new people.

As for Haylea, after not hearing from her in over two and a half months, she deleted me as a friend on Facebook. I know this might sound naieve, but I honestly thought that it was just some sort of phase and she would eventually get over herself, and contact me again. So when I was suddenly deleted - and I'm fairly certain I was on her profile when it happened; one minute I had full access, and the next she didn't have a wall and it was asking me to put in a friend request. I naturally started to rage, and I started to ask mutual friends what her problem was, since clearly she wasn't talking to me. Finally it got through to her that she needed to give me some sort of reason, especially since she had blatently lied to me months earlier when I asked if she was upset with me.

Basically it boils down to the fact that we have entirely different outlooks on life. I believe in the value of education and that goals/hopes/dreams are essential to a fulfilling life. She doesn't believe in either. We were obviously aware of these different opinions prior to going on the trip, and I was under the impression that we had come to a mutual understanding not to worry about them. However, when I made a comment - completely in jest - about us being white middle class females, she decided that she wanted to end the friendship there and proceeded to ruin the rest of the trip. Sure it completely sucks that I don't have one super close amazing friend in Swansea - but those last two words are operative: in Swansea. I have four super amazing friends in; Limoges, Halifax, Edmonton, and Toronto, as well as a myriad all over the world, and now I'm building new friends here that share my views and *some* of my opinions.

With October just around the corner there are so many activities and events happenening that I am barely even thinking about this whole Haylea fiasco anymore. All the students get back sometime this week, and Freshers' Fayre begins on Monday, Sept. 27th. Also on Monday, is our Team Leader Training, that I'm exceptionally excited about, and *fingers crossed* it all goes well, because it's the first official launch of the new Student Ambassador Scheme that I developed and that Ross branded. I head to Cambridge next week with ICWS, and then I start my Russian classes.

I started my Welsh Classes yesterday, and I really have to stomp my feet and scream at this point that having a GCSE in anything does not make you a beginner! I would never go into a purely beginners French class, because the fact that I can answer Comment appelles tu? without thinking means that I'm not a beginner. I am at most a beginner two. I shouldn't have to learn the alphabet, or how to say "hello, my name is Bronwyn, what's yours?" Not only would I find that incredibly boring, but I would feel stupid being in a class when I would know all the answers. You're not really learning a lanugage then are you... however, with everyone but myself and a lady from Belfast having a GCSE in Welsh I am slightly worried that this same thing will happen in Russian, and everyone will have Russian parents or something. For now I will leave you: Da boch chi!

Bring On September!

2010-09-03T09:00:00.006+01:00

"Don't you love New York in the Fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." - Joe Fox, You've Got Mail

I absolutely love Autumn. I love the colours of burnt orange, navy blue, and forest green in nature, and in the clothes that begin to show up in stores. I love the weather, with just a slight drop in the temperature, so it's still warm enough to just wear a sweater, but cold enough that you have to wear that sweater. There's also the newness that's always been associated with the month of September. It's a new school year, a new season of swimming... an opportunity to improve upon last year, and start some good habits with the new academic calendar.

This year I'm particularily excited because it's been the first year that I've been out of school and in a job that I actually really like. Essentially, aside from the abhorrantly low salary that I'm making, I really love my job. (I'm actually subsisting well below what I would be making in Canada, which is interesting, but fair considering all the paid leave I get. I make £15,202 which according to the Bank of Canada is equal to $24,615, but the average salary of an "Administrative Assistant" in Canada is $34,921, which equals £21, 567, but again, I'd only be getting two weeks holiday, so I guess it evens out. Anyways, enough about how I'm subsisting only $3000 above the poverty line.)

As I said, this year I'm particularily excited because it's the first time I've been in a job I actually enjoy, which cycle basically coincides with the acadmic year. I look forward to going to work everyday, and I've been here 8 months! This is glorious. I was beginning to become afraid that I would never find a job that I actually liked. I also like that this position has taught me so much to do with UK Universities, and just the office environment in general. I have a great set-up here, where I actually like the people I work with, and like the job I do, I like the person I'm living with, and I don't hate the flat I live in. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just wrap up your entire life and move it to a better, cleaner, more vibrant city? If only.

While I'm in Swansea though, I plan to make the most out of it. I am going to suck it up and join the Student Swim Team this year - even though I'm not a student, there isn't really any other outlet to swim if you're over the age of 20 - and I'm beginning to really miss it. I'm actually going to volunteer with Swim Wales. I might join a young ramblers association - hopefully they're not as weird as the Hiking Club at University. I'm back at the gym for September, and have done a Cardio Kick, and Keiser Spin class, and am so far in absolute agony, but it'll be worth it. I'm trying out this 3D Crest Whitening toothpaste, so I'll let you know how that goes. As the sun slowly disappears and get's replaced with grey rain clouds I'm going to try tanning to see if it keeps my skin clear, because last year I had a bunch of problems with breakouts, which I'm putting down to lack of Vitamin D and sunlight. Also for the month of September, I'm attempting to follow the Skinny Bitch diet as much as I can; which is essentially becoming a vegan. I will let you all know how this goes.

With Haylea not in my life anymore I'm actually not as bored and lonely as I feared. I am trying to keep busy with the gym, and my new friends that I'm trying to make. It's weird, when you come to a new city, you reach out and make new friends really easily, not worrying what people think about you, but having been here for two years already I feel strange about asking new people to hang out. I guess I'm worried what they will think, and if they will wonder what happened to the people I used to hang out with... but I guess people don't really think like that, do they? (It's like Grade 10 all over again). But things are going alright, I went to see SALT last night, which was excellent! It really reminded me of the Spy Museum that Ethan and I went to in DC. I'm looking forward to taking Russian even more now. It also was competely unpredictable, and kept you on the edge of your seat, cliffhanger ending, but could have been a bit better - Josh thinks that they are going to try to make the movie into a Bourne-esque series.

This weekend I'm off to Cardiff to support Zahid (someone I just met), for the leader of Conservative Futures... I'm actually getting really interested in all the politics stuff. Not as crazy as some people though. This month is shaping up to be a good one though, with; Open Days, Fresher's Fayre, Team Leader Training, visiting Cardiff, Gloucester and Limoges, hosting a few couch-surfers, learning a new language and hopefully getting whiter teeth and a slimmer waistline!

Prinesite na September!

Canadian Visitors

2010-08-25T17:07:00.007+01:00

It's been a fantastic month and a half of visitors!

My mum landed in Heathrow just prior to me, and it was great to see her after over a year of absence on both our parts visiting the other country. On July 19th, it was finally my graduation; after handing in my dissertation in October and receiving my results in January. She had come for a 5 week visit (which she later admits might have been just a bit too long). Not to worry, the entire time wasn't spent in Swansea.

My graduation ceremony was a bit of an anticlimax. We were at Brangwyn Hall, and I guess I felt cheated a bit, because I didn't spend hours and hours bent over a desk reading, and crying because I didn't have a clue what was going on (thank you math degree). On the contrary I felt like my modules were super easy; sans finance, and it was my dissertation that kicked my ass. Anyway, it was great to see Louise, and Dan again, and very unfortunate that Heidi could not, or decided not to make it. Becky was back from South Dakota, and Jutta and Claudia were here from Germany, but aside from the ceremony itself I didn't get to see them much. With my mum in town, she was the priority.

As I was back at work my mum had the days to herself, allowing her to visit Swansea City Centre, Carmarthen, Tenby, Merthyr Tydfil, Leeds, and of course spend a few days cleaning the flat. We went to the cinema in the evening, and saw: Inception and The Rebound. Anja and I took her down Wind Street one night, starting in No Sign Bar, moving to Retro and finishing at Reflex, finally catching a taxi around 2am to head home. We caught a lift to Cardiff with Ross one day and spent our evening exploring the new St. Davids centre, before returning home to a night of the Uplands Tavern and Noah's Yard. We also managed to make it to Porthcawl, and the national Eisteddfod, soaking up some Welsh culture.

As my mum had rented a car, we attempted to drive out to Rhossilli one afternoon, but freaked out on the roads, due to how small they are, (and yet still expect two cars to fit down them) ... so we got about half way before turning around, and then took the bus the next day. When we finally did get to Rhossilli; it was a beautiful night, and we had an absolutely delicious meal at the pub at the top of the cliff, and subsequently ended up missing the bus home. It wasn't a problem though, because we did manage to hitch a ride all the way back to the uplands.

The Weekends were spent at various spots around the country, starting with Gloucester; visiting Catherine and Andy. I always enjoy visiting them, because it feels like a real family home; opposed to the student-eque flat I live in. The following weekend we headed south to Cornwall to meet up with some other cousins, whom I had never met. I left work early, and drove us over the Severn Bridge, and we were on a roll until we got stuck in holiday traffic in Western Super Mare. We stopped by my mum's Aunt and Uncle in north Devon, before spending the rest of the weekend in Newquay with Catherine and Andy again, and of course our 'new' relatives Daniel & Sarah.

The final leg of her trip was spent at the Bristol Balloon Festival, and then in London. Neither of us had been to Bristol before, and I was really impressed. It was such a beautiful city, with such good shopping. Even though we had spent a lot of time shopping in Bristol, it still managed to make up a lot of our time in London as well. We'd been to London several times, and so didn't so much do the touristy thing (that I later did with Shereen), but instead spent our days in Leister Square, where we shook Angelina Jolie's Hand at the premiere of SALT, ate Chou Sou from Chinatown, went shopping on Oxford and Regent Street, had two american breakfasts, one with Marlene at the Breakfast Club Soho, and one at The Diner. I took the bus home on Wednesday, August 18, as I had to be back in Swansea for the Clearing Afternoons that were taking place starting on Friday, but my mum stayed in London until the Saturday when she was finally flying home.

It was an excellent visit, and what was great was less than two weeks after she left, Shereen arrived in London from Calgary. Currently studying in Portland for her chiropractic medicine degree (or whatever its formal title is), we met in Edmonton on Penguins Swimming, and I hadn't seen her for ages, but was super excited when she told me that she was coming to the UK. I met her in London on Friday, 27 August, which was the beginning of the long weekend, and stayed with another fellow Penguin - Marlene, for three days and did the tourist thing. We visited Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, went on the free walking tour, visited the Notting Hill Carnival, took double decker busses, ate fish and chips, and walked from Tower Bridge to Shakespeare's Globe taking pictures of Red Telephone Boxes, Busses, and formatting pictures on our camera accordingly. It a moment of excitement, we even booked two standing tickets for Henry IV, Part II in the Globe, where we proceeded to get exceedingly cold due to wearing sandles, before dashing out, running accross millenium bridge, snapping a few pictures of St. Pauls and heading back to Clapham.

She managed to spend one full day in Swansea, after arriving back into Wales on Monday night. I also took Tuesday off work, and we took the bus to Rhossilli, walked around there for a bit, before catching the bus to Port Eynon for lunch. It was then a quick jaunt to Mumbles and back for a bit of Joe's Ice Cream, before we finally collapsed at the Westborne for a delicious meal of roast beef and yorkshire pudding - wrapped together. yum.

It's upsetting that both her and my mum are gone, and for the time being, and it looks like the forseeable future I won't be having any visitors (sans couchsurfing), but work is picking up, and this weekend I'm off to Cardiff for some conservative event, and then hopefully Gloucester in the next few weeks to get some pants hemmed before I head to France for Meaghan's 25th birthday!

I've Heard it Said...

2010-08-19T15:41:00.004+01:00

On Wednesday I said goodbye to my Mum in London, and headed home on what would become a 7 hour journey back to Swansea (thank you car crash on the M4). Her departure marked exactly one month since my return from the USA, one month since she arrived here in the UK, and exactly one month since one of my best friends ceased all contact with me; except to notify me of what I owed her. Granted it was a substantial amount built up over three weeks of hotel rooms and lobster dinners, so this I understand, however what throws me for a loop is the fact that this is the *only* reason that there as been any contact. Oh, that and asking for me to leave her bike outside my front door so that she could collect it...

Now I am not suggesting by any means that after returning from a three week holiday where you've spent 24/7 with a person that you immediately want to hang with them again on a daily basis; but I wouldn't expect the relationship you had prior to the trip to suddenly change so abruptly with absolutely no catalyst. Where I used to receive emails and texts daily about incompetence in people or ideas for the next big holiday, I now receive nothing. Thus, there must be some sort of catalyst in order for this dramatic change to occur. After a week or so of no emails or texts, an empty seat next to my mum at my graduation, a lack of graduation photos, an extra bed in Cornwall, and no offers to show my Mum around Gower, I finally asked if there was a problem.

"Why would I be upset?"

Well I have no idea, this is why I'm asking! If I knew, I would apologize and hopefully we would all move on. The only thing that I can think of is that on the last night, due to an absence of dinner and excess of wine, I got too excited, and threw up out the window of a cab in NYC. Truly not my finest hour(s); but certainly not something you would end a friendship over... I wouldn't think? And if it was, certainly you would say something; wouldn't you?

Thinking about it logically it can't all be based on that one night. Truth be told, we were fighting by day 4. I put that down to the awfulness that was July 4th in Forth Worth Texas and the reminder that we were supposed to be in DC for the celebration. Perhaps she blames me for the fact that we weren't there. Although, there was little more I could do, and in reality nothing really changed from our 2nd "original plans."

I run through things in my head constantly about what changed. I know that I became slightly resentful of how much we were spending... on hotels, on food... this was supposed to be a cheap trip, where we were staying with friends everywhere, sharing meals, and generally only paying for gas and attractions. With the removal of a week all inclusive in Oklahoma our external cash flow sky rocketed and with it my anxiety levels. Neither of us were prepared for the extreme heat that greeted us, but it didn't affect me as badly, and I didn't understand why she was being affected so bad - she'd camped in Greece after all... to me, Greece in August was way hotter than DC in July.

Which brings me to the largest elephant in the room. Saying her and our host in DC didn't quite see eye to eye would be a gross understatement... but I guess I didn't think that her expressions of dislike were quite so serious prior to the trip, because ultimately they hadn't actually met each other yet. Perhaps I should have been proactive and suggested we stay elsewhere, that maybe us staying in the Washington Center wasn't the best idea. But they hadn't actually met yet, and neither her nor our host in DC made any mention of wanting us to stay elsewhere. Either I didn't pick up the signals (in which case, people need to be more direct), or neither wanted to upset me (which I guess, is really nice in hindsight). Immediately after leaving DC things perked up, and we had a fabulous time in Mass.

Thus the only part that is laden with confusion and frustration on my part is the time in New York City. We had both been vocal about what we wanted to see, and for the most part we were successful in ticking all the boxes. I had really wanted to see a taping of Jon Stewart or Regis & Kelly, and see some other famous stores (Bergdorfs, Barneys & Tiffanys); and she had really wanted to go on a helicopter ride around Manhattan. These things just didn't end up happening due to various reasons. By the time we reached NYC we were both exhausted from lots of driving around the USA, sleeping on floors, random couches, and in scummy hotels. Although for the most part we saw what we wanted, I still can't figure out why I was forced to go on my own to watch the taping of the Today Show, or what suddenly changed at Promises Promises to elicit the outburst by both of us on the street walking back to Brittney's, but there were definitely cracks forming prior to going out that last night in NYC.

I kept putting it down to stress, or being tired, and that when we returned to Swansea things would be normal again...

Sadly they have not, and instead have turned into a series of one line text messages akin to a weird break up to get stuff back from each other without having the burden of actually seeing the other person. I even considered leaving her DVDs out with her bike for 2 minutes, however couldn't do that do 24 and LOST. Perhaps they will find their way to her work sometime in the near future.

With the departure of my mum less than two days ago, I am finally feeling the shock of loosing a best friend. Meaghan, Gillian, Gina and Katie all live too far away to fill any gaping hole and boys aren't quite the same. The shock of cutting Matt out of my life back in March was like a paper cut, which sears with pain for a few minutes. Haylea's subsequent removal of herself from my life with no accompanying explanation is like a horrible bruise that you forget about until you hit it, and realize it is still there and the pain hasn't dissipated yet. I've never lost a friend before, and I'm at a loss of what to do. I feel I've done my bit, by the contacting as per normal following the trip, and asking if she was upset with me. We will see what happens, but as it stands now, I simply have one less reason to stay in Swansea, and I am getting itchy feet...

Abundantly Small

2010-08-06T07:36:00.006+01:00

I have a feeling that my last post was somewhat of a moan fest and for that I have to apologize. Living here in Swansea I think paints an unfair light on the rest of the UK, and as everything you shouldn't judge an entire country by one small town. That's like judging Canada on Snow Lake. I have visited many cities now in the UK and have stayed in several houses including: Norwich, and Gloucester where the houses have been great, even though they are old, they have been superbly kept up, and actually when I was at Sam's house in Norwich it was so nice that I felt like I was in holiday in Spain.

I have consistently maintained that as a young single person, the UK is a great place to live. In my opinion it's much easier to maintian a healthy lifestyle here. Because the whole country is so small and compact everything is smaller and made up of shorter distances thus, allowing for the possibility of hopping on your bike and biking to work which is only 3 miles away. Swansea itself is so small that you can walk from one end of the city centre to mumbles in only 1.5 hours, meaning you can basically walk everywhere; for shopping etc, and if you buy too much home is just a cheap (cheaper than the bus) cap ride away. Because the city is smaller as well the gym is closer, and that means less distance to get to in the morning or after work.

The food available - aside from the cheese which is just so tempting all the time; is in healthy sized portions and as a single person I don't want tons of vegetables going bad in my fridge. I can buy 1/2 a cucumber, or 2 servings of fresh green beans already pre-packaged into proper serving size for me. Also, because the fridges and freezers are so small you can't have tons of junk taking up space, you can only keep what you are going to eat for that month.

A Buck or Two or the Dollar Store has nothing on PoundLand or the 99p Shop where you can find name brand toiletries - Arm & Hammer Toothpaste, Jergins Lotion, Palmolive Soap, for only one pound, whereas in Boots it would cost over £5. I can pick up Oxy clean for only £1, whereas I'm sure at home it's close to $5 if not more. If you're willing to look you can find cheap products that are still the same quality as what you would buy in the big shopping markets. This might be the case in Canada as well but because everything here is in such close proximity it's much easier to bargain shop and look for deals.

Perhaps it is just because there is nothing to do in Swansea, but also life is much slower paced here. I have time to do cleaning, and to cook a meal that takes more than 15 minutes. I think this is not only linked to the fact that there's literally no way to get involved locally outside of work hours if you're inbetween the ages of 25 -40 (I think I'm supposed to be at home having babies) but also because of the proximity of things, and how it only takes five minutes to get anywhere. I hope that the more things I get involved with in the fall the less free time I will have.

As well, while I don't enjoy the age of the houses around here, the amount of history that is at your doorstep is immense; and again because of how tiny this country is you can literally get to any festival/castle/historic site in under a day! While we were in Cornwall we visited Tintagel Castle, which, as legend goes is the birthplace of King Arthur, but even if it wasn't it was still built by the brother of King Henry III. On our drive back from Gloucester the weekend previous Mum and I were going to stop at Raglan Castle, but missed the exit and ended up at the Big Cheese Festival in Caerphilly instead; built in the 11th century, it is the second biggest castle in Britain.

The plans for the upcoming weeks are plentiful as well, stopping in at festivals all over the country including; Ebbw Vale, Bristol and London. I'm excited for the rest of this summer, and for the new academic year. While I miss the weather and the friendliness of the N. American people, I do cherish what I am getting to experience living here in Britain, and how I am able to see new things constantly without having to go 12 hours away.

Swansea's Calling

2010-08-05T12:17:00.006+01:00

I've been back in Swansea now coming on three weeks and to be fair, it hasn't been nearly as bad as I feared. The flight from JKF to Heathrow was somewhat of a feat as I battled between tears due to leaving North America, and the gentleman's elbow who was sat beside me. We were in an exit row and so our televisions were located in the arm of the seat beside you... but he was asleep. Well I'm sorry, but I'm not going 7 hours without watching a movie just to be polite.

The three weeks I spent in the USA reminded me what I love so much about the continent that I grew up on. While Canada and the USA have distinctly different cultures, there is much that is shared, and I think while we try to assert our differences we forget how similar we are on many levels. The amount of pride that both Canadians and Americans have for their country should be applauded and supported as a little bit of pride changes the attitude of an entire nation. While I didn't have the exact same reaction landing in Chicago as I did landing in Philadelphia last year, I did feel the longer I was in the USA the less I wanted to return to my life in the UK.

There are a lot of things I love about my life here - Scones and Cream Teas, O2 and Pay as you Go, Question Time, Who Do You Think You Are, and of course Extra Mature Cheddar. However, all these things I feel don't make up for the quality of life I sometimes feel I'm missing out on. I love history (I did a minor in it, after all), but I don't want to live in history. I hate old houses, and all the houses here are old, perhaps it's because I live in rented accommodation and the inside of my flat hasn't seen a coat of new paint or new flooring since 1962, and one of my friends is currently in negotiation with his letting agency about the damp in his house - but I miss brand new houses, and new buildings on the outside as well as inside.

Being in Texas especially reminded me of Alberta - naturally; but as much as I enjoy people I really notice how crowded it is here. Don't get me wrong, go to West Edmonton Mall on the wrong day or time, and it's absolutely sick the amount of people you'll bump into, but here no matter where you go it's always so busy, there are always other people or other cars even if you think you're on the most remote road.

The one thing though that this country has, that Canada can't even compete with - the reason that I continue to live here is: the amount of travel opportunities. Cheap travel opportunities. Even though I've been here for almost two years I can't get over how increadibly awesome it is to travel from the UK. Everyday I plan different trips, and they are all possible! Being only three hours from London opens the door to not only all of Europe, but flights to Los Angeles for under £300, and flights to Hong Kong for under £400. Even within the country itself travel is stupidly cheap. My mum and I have return tickets to London on the bus for under £10, and I'm able to nip up to London when my friend Shereen arrives for under a fiver.

My mum arrived into Heathrow about an hour before we flew in on July 18th and it's been awesome having her here. We spent the first week in Swansea, and since I did have to work during the day, she got to explore Swansea on her own before spending the evenings with me. Everyone asks me why I didn't take more time off to spend more time with her, and I must say that I am taking 6 days off during her stay in the UK, but although I love my mother very much, the fact that I am in work every day is better for everyone involved.

Thus, the first week we went to the cinema a few times - Inception and The Rebound. We had dinner at my favourite restaurant - Papa Sanchos, attempted to attend a pub quiz, went down Wind Street for a night out, and visited Gower Peninsula, missed the bus and had to hitch hike home. The weekends have been good as well, we went up to Gloucester to visit my Mum's cousin Catherine, and her husband Andy and last weekend we went down to Cornwall to visit with other family. It was great to meet new people you're related to, and have more contacts here in Britain. Cornwall was beautiful even though it rained for most of the weekend. Let's hope we have better luck this weekend at the Eisteddfod.

It helps that my mum is in town and that is keeping me busy until September. There is a lack of extracurricular activities in Swansea; I tried volunteering and joining a masters swim team, and nothing has worked out, so maybe my views would be completely different if I was living somewhere bigger like London. We'll see how things go in the fall. I'm scheduled to take "conversational russian" and I'm signing up for the Student Swim Team...

New York, New York!

2010-07-18T20:49:00.007+01:00

After booking our flights and finding out that our last flight was out of JFK airport in New York City, Haylea and I decided to finish our 3 week tour of the USA with a bang in New York City. We were going to stay with my friend Brittney, whom I met through Penguins' Swimming at the UofA. She has been living in Manhattan for the last few years, after finishing a program at design school. It's very cool, and I often joke that she's living a parallel life to Whitney Port.

It was touch and go for a while because our plans fell through in Texas, with the accommodation, and the flights, and the car rental... when we got word that Brittney's old flatmate was trying to evict her early, not only would we have to find somewhere to stay, but Brittney would be homeless!! The day before we were set to arrive though, we got word that she had a new apartment, and we had a futon to sleep on when we arrived! She was located in an area of Manhattan known as "Hell's Kitchen," which I had never heard of, but Haylea told me that apparently it's quite famous. Either way, it was an excellent location, just two blocks from Broadway, and only a 10 minute walk from Times Square.

We arrived in NYC at around 7pm, Monday 12 July. Haylea was particularily excited to be car free. Brittney's apartment was quaint, aka - small, but not too small. It was all fairly new as well, and as anyone should now know; I would prefer new and small to anything old but big. She lived right above a bike shop, on 9th Avenue, which was lined with all sorts of restaurants, cafes and bars. That night we grabbed sushi from a place nearby and Brittney informed us it was basically the "McDonald's of Sushi" - evenso, it was delicious.

The week we spent in NYC, was incredible. We bought a 7 day metro card for $29, and then proceeded to be completely confused by everything and anything to do with the New York Subway system. We have both travelled quite extensively throughout Europe, and all the cities with metro systems are pretty self explanatory; even the week before in DC the metro system was easy to understand and navigate. The NYC system however, was unlike anything we had ever seen. It had letters, and numbers, and colours... some would come, and some wouldn't, if they did come, it would often be the right colour, but wrong letter/number... or some equivalent.

We had to get to Battery Park (at the very south of Manhattan) to catch our 9am reserved ferry for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on our second day in the city. Not only were we thouroughly confused by the metro, but we were also tired, as it was about 8am in the morning. We had to take three different lines because each time we thought we had it figured out, we ended up on a train that terminated randomly in the middle of a line.... we made it though, 8:50am. Although it rained almost 90% of the time we were on the two islands, it was absolutely fascinating. We first stopped at Liberty Island, where we got to visit the Statue of Liberty, and had tickets to go up to the pedestal. We also got a 30 minute tour of the island from a park ranger who clearly loved his job so much - a welcome change from our lousy tour guide in Salem. We learned all about the symbols of the statue, the artist who made it, and the structural materials as well.

The ferry then took us over to Ellis Island, where all the immigrants came through from 1896 - 1924. It was open a while after that, but those are the important years with the most number of immigrants. The museum was fantastic, it was extremely interactive, with tons of pictures, and stories from individual people coming from Europe. We went on two tours, one of the old ferry building, which described the health check everyone had to go to, and the hospital care that the immigrants were given, and then we went on another 45-min tour depicting a typical landing for a new immigrant to the USA. At this point Haylea went back to Liberty Island to get lunch, but I hung around and watched a 30 minute documentary on the Immigrant experience, and toured through the rest of the facility.

As I have family on both sides who came through Ellis Island it is particularliy interesting. My Mum's grandparents on her dad's side (Jacob Bitzer), came through NYC together crossing into Canada via Winnipeg in 1906; and my Dad's grandparents on his mum's side (Anne Winiewski, nee Stefanik), came through separately around 1910-1912. The information that they provide explaining the immigrant experience is fascinating, and since the rest of my ancestors are all immigrants arriving in Canada prior to 1947, they all had similar experiences, whether they were arriving in NYC, Halifax or Quebec ports.

Reading through all the documentation really made me feel like I understood where a lot of the values that seem inherent to North Americans come from - perserverance, and the ability to move around easily, leaving homes, and families behind, and fending for oneself. At least that's where I feel that I received these qualities from - my grandparents who all emigrated from Europe to Canada in search of a better, richer life. Perhaps, as well this is one of the main reasons that there is such passionate nationalism in both the USA and Canada. People have moved across vast distances to escape their lives, and persecution, and have been received with open arms into a new country which they have adopted as their own with love, passing that love of one's nation down to their children. It certainly would explain the severe lack of nationalism in the UK.

By our third day in NYC we had seen: The United Nations, M&M World, the Met, the Guggenheim, Times Square, The Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station, the Waldorf-Astoria, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and had gotten stuck in a massive rain shower where we definitely utilized our ponchos - twice. We had also gone to see a Broadway Show (Promises, Promises), starring Sean Hayes (Jack from Will & Grace), and Kristen Chenowith. It was no Phantom of the Opera, but it was a great night out.

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

I woke up especially early to try to watch a taping of the Today Show, with Meredith Viera, Matt Lauer, and Al Roper. I would have loved to see Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert or Regis & Kelly, but unfortunately you have to book months in advance for tickets for them; which I didn't know in advance - or I would have! The Today show was fun though, and I did manage to get a picture of Al Roper, I could have shaken his hand if I wanted to - but I felt bad as others seemed more excited than me.

I met up with Haylea after and we visited; Rockerfeller Center, and went up to the Top of the Rock, went in the NBC store, saw the Atlas Statue before heading down to the Financial District where we say the New York Stock Exchange, visited the McDonalds on Broadway with a baby grand in it (not as impressive as it sounds, or I thought), saw Wall St., and continued on to the Staten Island Ferry. The Staten Island Ferry is free to use, and if you get a seat outside on a nice day it's a lovely cruise through New York Harbour which gave us sunny views of the Statue of Liberty. After we got back from Staten Island (you have to get off the ferry and walk through the barrier), we took the Subway to Brooklyn and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge which was the second most awe-inspiring moment in NYC (the first being my visit to Ellis Island). The day was rounded out by a quick visit to Chinatown, Little Italy, NYU and the Tisch School for the Arts, the Flat Iron building and Saks Fifth Avenue before finally collapsing at home for a few hours before visiting the Empire State Building that night.

We took the subway down from Brittney's to the Empire State Building, taking in: Pennsylvania Station, Madison Square Gardens, and the third most exciting thing we saw, it actually made my breath catch - Macy's department store. The biggest store in the world, sitting on West 34th Street. It was absolutely incredible.

Friday, July 16th, 2010

As we planned to go out Friday night, the day on Friday, our second last day in NYC was supposed to be one of leisure. On my insistance we travelled uptown to the North-West corner of Central Park to have breakfast in Tom's Restaurant (the restaurant from Seinfeld). I was sure that it would be a tourist laden, crap excuse for a restaurant, but instead it was cute and quaint, with local people eating some of the most delicious breakfast food beside us. We snapped a few pictures and then visited the final major site we needed to see before leaving NYC: Central Park.

We visited the Boathouse, and the fountain, and walked from West 81st to the South East corner of the Park where The Plaza was there to revive us with clean bathrooms and cold water. We saw the Boathouse from 27 Dresses, and the main walkway from so many movies including When Harry met Sally, and the location where Charlotte and Harry had their engagement photos taken in SATC, and finally visited The Plaza, setting for Home Alone 2, and Bride Wars. We also managed to see Enrique Iglesias. He was our fifth celebrity sighting after: Sean Hayes & Kristin Chenoweth, Al Roper, and we had actually seen Joseph Gorden Levitt earlier in the week on the Late Show with David Letterman, in the street when he rolled in one of those big human-hamster plastic balls to promote his new movie Inception.

Our final day in NYC was spent pampering ourselves. We went out for brunch at a place near Brittney's old apartment in the Lower East Side, and by accident I ordered $6 orange juice! It was more than my omlette! We got mani-pedi's for $28, and then helped Brittney cart home a large air conditioner from K-Mart. We took it on the Subway to Times Square and then grabbed a cab home from there. What a feat. The rest of the day we basked in the temperatures which were slowly reaching 30C again, after sleeping in 33C all week. It was comforting as well as terrifying to think we would be home in less than 24 hours with the 15C greeting us off the plane in London. I was just getting used to being coated in a thin film of sweat. Just before we left we stopped for some traditional NYC pizza, and cupcakes. It was a delicious end to a fantastic holiday.

Salem

2010-07-12T12:11:00.003+01:00

After successfully completing most of Boston in one day, we were headed up to Salem. We left Lexington, MA and took the secondary highways along the coast of Massachusetts stopping along the way in some of the small towns like Marblehead. It really reminded me of the coast of BC, and Vancouver Island, but with towns closer together, and more of a focus on all kinds of seafood rather than just salmon.

We got into Salem just after 10am, on Sunday, July 11th, and met up with Sarah, who we would be couch surfing with. It was both Haylea's and mine first time couch surfing, and we weren't entirely sure what to expect, however; it was a wonderful experience. Sarah was really nice, and we had similar interests, and she told us all about Salem, and where we should go to eat, and what route to take around the city, and even what Witch store was better. She had a great apartment, just on the outskirts of Salem, so it was an easy walk into and out of town. We got an air mattress and a couch to sleep on, and both were super comfy. It turns out that Salem is only 30 minutes from Boston by the commuter rail, so had we known it was so easy to get into and out of Boston by public transport we definitely would have rather stayed with her for the full three nights we were in the area.

Salem itself was great. Really cute quaint little town. Like Forks, WA (but in a richer context), Salem, MA has really embraced the idea of witches and fantasy and has become somewhat of a haven for Halloween lovers. Similar to Boston, Salem has a red line painted on the floor of the town, for you to follow to see all the major sites. Unlike Boston, however this line starts and stops randomly and takes you off the track leaving you out in the middle of rural Salem. It's not the greatest, so it's best to take a map with you and just follow the middle main circle line, minus the ventures down the random offshoots.

We had delicious steak in Dallas, and wanted to have a similar experience with Seafood up in New England, so Sarah pointed us in the direction of this restaurant, which had much more reasonable prices than the $51 lobster in the Barking Crab in Boston. $30 for a 1.25lb lobster which we would share, and that would come with fries, and Haylea ordered a salad as well. It was delicious but most definitely an interesting experience, as the only Lobster I had even eaten before was a tail from Red Lobster. This was the full lobster on our plate, in shell which we had to crack and break to get all the meat out. The best part was the claws.

After lunch, we had planned to follow the red line around town, and right when we were visiting this old ship in the middle of the town harbour, we asked some fellow tourists to take our picture. We got talking... and two hours later we had lost most of our day to this discussion. They were very interesting people, a family from Texas, they seemed reasonably well read and knowledgeable about the world - at least comparative to what you might expect. It was a very interesting conversation, where we discussed politics and health care, and current events, but just very unfortunate that we lost 2 hours of time, from 3-5pm, and so by the time we started looking at shops again, a lot of them were closed.

That evening we went on a Ghost Tour for $10 each for 1.5 hours. It was the cheapest one we could find, and lasted longer than all the others which were only one hour long but cost $13. Well, once again we learned that you get what you pay for because our guide - while a good public speaker - was an absolutely horrendous story teller. I am long winded when I tell stories, but this was ridiculous. No wonder the tour lasted so long. It did start to get creepy once the sun had set, but not something I would recommend to people.

We went home and hung out with Sarah - who works nights as a nurse, and left early in the morning, before she got home in order to not disturb her after she'd just returned from a night shift. We drove that day down to New York City where we were finally able to rid ourselves of the car and meet up with Brittney, where we would be stationary for the next 5 nights. We did stop on the way in Plymouth though, where the Mayflower came ashore in 1620. We saw Plymouth rock, and it was fabulously interesting. They had a park ranger giving a mini talk by the rock itself, and it's definitely worth a trip. I loved Boston, and I loved the rest of Massachusetts. I would move there in a second - but I can't because I'm Canadian; however, I'll definitely make a point of going back there one day soon.

Boston

2010-07-10T03:31:00.005+01:00

Yesterday we left Ethan's house in Princeton just after 9am, in an attempt to skip the rush hour traffic to work. I'm not sure what traffic we got caught in, but we were in it all the way to Boston. We left at 9am, and about 11 hours later we finally rolled into the Quality Inn & Suites, Lexington, MA. We stopped several times on the way, and switched between the I-95N and the Rt. 1 N, but both were moving at somewhat of a snail's pace. When we finally arrived in the Boston area, we stopped at several hotels, trying to find something that was decently priced in the vicinity of Boston. There was absolutely nothing, not even a hotel in the city to ask - I couldn't even see a Hilton.

We had grabbed some coupons from the McDonald's on our way, and so we did get $30 off the place we are staying in currently, so that is beyond exciting; especially since the lady at the front desk last night said that we wouldn't get the coupon deal for a second night. The room is clean, we each get our own bed, and we have a hair dryer - and since I left my towel at Matt's I can now snag one from this hotel as it has a pool as well. Thus no questions asked when a towel goes missing.

Today we spent the day in Boston. We had breakfast at the hotel - which was a hot breakfast including make your own waffles, and packed some bagels/fruit for lunch. We started on the Freedom Trail, which begins at Boston Common, and leads you around the city to over 16 historical sites mostly all with reference to the Revolution; finally ending with the USS Constitution - a navy battle ship accompanied by a museum. We got into town at 8:30am, and were finished the Freedom Trail by 11am - 4km walk. We attempted to get on to one of the famous Duck tours but missed it just by two minutes. On to Fenway.

Similar to what we did in Vancouver, we picked up a Gray Line Tours Hop on-hop off map, and simply visited all the sites that they had listed by metro. We had already seen a lot due to the Freedom Trail, so we jumped on the metro and headed for the famous Fenway Park. There were massive amounts of people on the subway wearing Red Sox gear, and just swarms of people in the area when we got off the train, so we figured there must be a game on. There was, but it wasn't a Red Sox game - just a farm team. The fact that it was a farm team though meant that we were able to get tickets for only $5! We scored some and got to go inside Fenway Park. We bought Fenway Franks for lunch and headed to our seats in Right Field. Just as we were about to sit down, a gentleman came up to us and asked if it was just the two of us, because he had one pair of upgraded tickets left - Box 24, 2nd row, right along the first base line. Score!

Neither of us are massive baseball fans, so we sat through 3 or 4 innings before exploring the stadium a bit more. It is massive, and encompasses the streets around it as well, so everything is closed in, allowing people who are there to go shopping in the several stores they have available full of Red Sox wear. Throughout our whole time at Fenway Park it was absolutely gorgeous weather outside, it was so hot and sunny I had to re-apply sunscreen just before we headed to the public library.

Just as we got to the library it started to sprinkle with rain. There was a large protest out front, protesting the Arizona's new immigration law. We pulled out our ponchos and were off to grab a coke in the Cheers bar. Just as we arrived at the pub, it started pouring with rain - but we were about to see that Boston hadn't even begun to rain.

The Cheers bar was cute, and it wasn't outrageously expensive for our two pops that we bought. They have recreated the set upstairs and still have the original bar in the basement. We sat at the original bar, and naturally grabbed some pictures before donning our ponchos again for our walk around Beacon Hill and the Boston Harbor.

We got caught in a major thunderstorm while we were downtown Boston, so much so that it actually looked like the streets were about to flood. We were both wearing sandals which was a good thing, because aside from wellies it would have been an absolute nightmare to walk in. The weather certainly cooled down though, from about 88F today to 73F on the way home. That is 30F cooler than it was in DC.

We wanted to eat seafood tonight, and as we've attempted to eat at about 3-5pm everyday, we were starting to get pretty hungry. We came upon a pretty cool place right on the Harbor called the Barking Crab. It looked really good, and so we sat down, and then the waitress told us that what we wanted to order was at least $51... right, moving on. The next restaurant we stopped at was in the main square in downtown Boston, and seemed more reasonable - two lobster tails for $30, and then if we could just get some crab on the side. We asked our waiter, who seemed nice, and reasonable enough about our plan, and he refused to serve us. He told us that we weren't allowed to share a dish... so we headed to Harvard.

We actually found a really good restaurant just around the corner from Harvard called Uno, that served a delicious Lobster Mac & Cheese, with a starter of Mashed Potatoes, cheese & bacon, for only $25 for both of is. That's more like it. After dinner, we walked around Harvard, and found the book store, where I almost bought a t-shirt; but decided I'd wait until either I work there, or I marry someone who went there.

After one of the longest days on the trip so far, we didn't return to our hotel until around 7:30. It was a long day of 11 hours, and we're hoping to go out tonight. We probably wont return to the city, but maybe Lexington has something cool for us to do. Tomorrow we're on to Salem, where we are having our first couch surfing experience. But I'd like to thank Boston for living up to everything I could have hoped, and wished for the past 10 years or so that I have dreamed of visiting. It has made it to my favorite cities list, and I would love to move here one day.

Don't Forget Your Passport

2010-07-08T03:47:00.004+01:00

I am sitting here in one of the most beautiful apartments, here on my last night in Washington DC. After probably the most boring July 4th in the history of all Independence Day celebrations we were antsy to get moving to somewhere more interesting. Thus, at 3am on July 5th, we left our wonderful Motel 6 and headed to the airport. We flew from DFW to Newark, NJ at 7am arriving at 11:20am.

We picked up our car - a major improvement upon the car we had in Texas, and followed Ethan's instructions to where we would be picking him up. We actually drove along the New Jersey Turnpike. It was all very exciting, however I had a severe lack of sleep and as the day wore on in the extreme heat I got more tired. We decided to drive through Philadelphia on the way down and after looking for parking for about 20 minutes, we finally parked and had to wait in line for 45 minutes to have a Philly Cheese Steak, we didn't have time to see much else before continuing on to DC to meet up with Matt.

We arrived in Washington DC around 9pm, and since it was a bit earlier than we had thought we had some time to tour the National Mall and get some great night shots of the White House, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, and the WWII Memorial. We finally met up with Matt and then took a very long, leisurely walk through several parks - all of which Haylea and I would never walk down by ourselves. We actually ended up staying up until 2am that night because the air mattress that we had bought that day needed batteries, so Ethan, Matt and I went on a mini adventure trying to find some. We soon realized that because it was a holiday even the 24 hour shops - like Safeway - were closed, so Ethan and me were relegated to the floor, with Haylea on the couch.

Tuesday, July 6

We had our White House tour scheduled for 10:30am, and we dutifully arrived at 10:00am, with our drivers licenses in hand as per the British Embassy's request. There was no mention of needing our passports; however, when we arrived at the front of the line, we were turned away because our lack of passports. After I stopped crying, we asked where the British Embassy was - someone was going to get shouted at - but one of the guards pointed out that we weren't too far from The Washington Center, where we were staying with Matt, and that we could easily get a cab and be back in 45 minutes in time for the last call for our tour. We went for it, and started running in the blistering sun. We made it and $20 later, it was definitely worth it. Not because the White House was awesome - because it kind of wasn't, but because now I can say I've been in the White House.

The White House itself was slightly boring. It reminded me of Versailles a bit, mainly because that's the only palace that I have the most remembrance of. Decadence flowing every way it can. We had a self guided tour that flowed through several rooms, all of which had been furnished just after the War of 1812. It really is like the White House is the great palace of America, and the First Family are their Royal Family.

Although the White House was Air Conditioned, the 2 minutes of running really seemed to get to Haylea. I thought she was just hamming it up at first, but as soon as we got back to the Apartment, it was clear she was suffering from Heat Exhaustion and needed to rest, so Ethan and I set off to explore DC on our own.

We had breakfast at this little american diner called "Pete's" which Matt had recommended to us on Capitol Hill. I had the French Toast, and it was awesome. Right across the street, we visited the Library of Congress, which was absolutely fabulous. It was free, and very interactive, showing the history of the USA, and really reminded me of the Louvre with all the marble and how it was decorated inside. We weren't allowed in to see the books, but the main lobby was very decadent. We walked a lot in the sun, and got pictures with the Capitol Building, and the Supreme Court. We went inside the Smithsonian information centre, and that was really just a smelly old building, but the Smithsonians that we went to the following day were amazing. At around 4:30 we headed home with a stop at Safeway to pick up some food for Haylea.

Matt finished class at 8:30pm, and Haylea, Ethan, Me, and Matt's Roommate - Will and Matt all went out for a pizza dinner followed by ice cream. Haylea and Will headed home shortly after dinner, and I stayed out with Ethan and Matt for a bit for some drinks. It was very nice to hang out with them both again, as I hadn't seen either of them for close to a year. It will be nice to have another friend in Swansea next year.

Wednesday, July 7

There were severe heat and weather warnings all across the North East today, and so Haylea decided that she would just stay in the apartment, allowing me and Ethan to explore once more. It was really good that Ethan was here actually, because it allowed Haylea to rest, and me to see the things I wanted. We went for breakfast on Capitol Hill again, and then visited the Capitol building, and were going to go on a tour, but they didn't allow liquids and I had a big bottle of sunscreen that I was hesitant to throw away.

We moved on to the Spy Museum, and although it was $18 it was really fun. We went through the history of Spying since the time of the Bible through to the present Day, and it was filled with interactive displays and videos. This city really has the best museums I've ever seen. We stopped at Ford's Theatre, and moved on to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, before heading on to the National Archives. I finally got to see all the Charters of Freedom, made up of: The Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.

Before meeting up with everyone for Happy Hour drinks, Ethan and I spent some time in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and grabbed a snack at McDonald's - the only food place in the museum.

As Matt is working this summer at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, we met up with with in Federal Triangle, and all went out for drinks at a local bar/cafe. We went to a delicious restaurant up in Dupont Circle, called Tomate. While we were waiting for a table, Haylea and I stopped in Loft - as in Ann Taylor Loft; and picked up some great deals. I got two tank tops and a t-shirt for under $20, and Haylea got a really nice sweater - which isn't going to be usable until we get back to Britain.

Now we are off to Princeton to spend a night in Ethan's hometown before heading on to Boston for three days....

Don't Mess with Texas

2010-07-04T13:26:00.003+01:00

We arrived into DFW (Dallas Fort Worth) Airport on June 29th, at 2:30pm. We tried everything, including several attempts to bond with American Airline employees - to try to cancel our internal flight. Nothing could be changed. It was time to face reality, and do something about our car rental.

We rented our car through CarHire3000, who have been amazing. Some of the best customer service that I have experienced living in the UK. However, even though we had printed off our voucher, it did not tell us where or what hire car company that we were utilizing, best guess - National. The people at the Alamo/National desk were amazing, particularly Kumar; who, allowed us to use his computer and internet after seeing us close to tears due to failed attempts to use the airport wifi with Haylea's iPhone. We were then able to call CarHire3000 and change our car rental to two one week rentals, rather than one two week rental. We were sorted by 5:30 and on our way.

June 29

After the flight, and all the stress we didn't quite feel tired enough, so it wasn't until Lancaster, just south of Dallas when we finally decided to stop and find a hotel and dinner. We had El Chico for dinner, and stayed at Spanish Trails Inn.The dinner was interesting, we shared Fajita Nachos, which were unlike any Nachos either of us had before. They were arranged in a circular pattern, layered with chicken, refried beans, and cheese. Yes, I ate refried beans. The hotel, was exactly what you'd expect for less than $40/night. We had one medium double bed, and warm water, and a television bolted to the ceiling. It could have been a lot worse.

June 30

We headed south on the I-35 towards San Antonio with a quick stop off in Austin, the state Capital. We visited the Capitol building and had a mini tour. It was great to finally learn a bit of history behind the USA's second largest state. We learned the history behind "Remember the Alamo" which I found really interesting, as we were headed to the Alamo that afternoon.

Although we didn't want to use Interstates originally, it seemed in our best interests to stay on the I-35 South, until we reached where we were headed, and got used to driving in Texas. The heat was close to unbearable that second day, with temperatures averaging 32. There was also some extreme humidity...although I hear it's worse in the north.

Austin was a pretty city, with a gorgeously manicured lawn occupying the lands of the Capitol Building. We had parked a couple blocks away in order to try to get in some exercise. We purchased a ticket from the Parking Meter, and put it face up on our dashboard - as per normal. However, as we were heading to the Capitol, I noticed that many of the other cars had their stickers taped to their front windshields face up... well, we didn't do that and although Haylea assured me it was fine, we stopped and asked the Ticket Man. I'm glad we did, because he was about as thick as they come, and told us that it states that we have to paste it to the front windscreen, and if we don't - even if we have time left, we will be fined. Needless to say, we raced back and dutifully pasted our ticket to our windscreen.

We arrived in San Antonio in the early afternoon, and decided we wouldn't find a hotel first, rather we would just find one on our way out of the city. We visited the famous Alamo - the site of one of the greatest battles in Texas history; the Tower of the Americas; a real Mexican Market, and wondered along the Riverwalk.. It was beautiful, and we decided to have some Texas steak in the Lone Star Cafe. We shared a 6oz, with fries. It was good... but it wasn't great. I was looking forward to some good Texas steak.

We had bought tickets to go and see Eclipse that night, but as it didn't start until 8:30pm, and the crowd was more than an abnormal mix of people; we refunded our tickets and opted to find a hotel instead. We managed to exit the city faster than we entered, and found ourselves outside of city limits rather quickly, with a severe lack of accommodation for the night. It also became apparent that we were not on the I-35N anymore and rather on the 281N. Stopping to refuel at an Exon, we asked if there were any hotels in the town that we were currently in; although there weren't, she advised us that Blanco might have some about 25 minutes up the road. It was about 10pm at night, and absolutely pitch black. The cloud cover was so thick, there was no sign of the moon or stars. The cicadas were getting louder. It was the things that horror movies are made from.

Luckily we came upon the Blanco Country Inn and we snagged their last room at $60/night. Although it was $20 more than what we had planned on spending, it was absolutely brilliant. It was comfy, and had air conditioning, wifi, and a beautiful shower and flat screen TV. Most importantly, it had a hairdryer.

July 1 - Canada Day

We were going to be in Texas until Monday, July 5, so we had a few days to kill, and so we took the scenic route to Caddo Lake. We also wanted to get off the Interstate, so we ended up on highway 79 heading North East. For the most part the drive was good, however the outskirts of Hurricane Alex seemed to be following us, and we were getting hit with some pretty torrential downpours quite often. So thick and heavy was the rain that twice we had to pull over as we couldn't see anything. That night we found ourselves in Palestine, TX. We stayed at one of the most disgusting hotels in the world. Although it had a massive king sized bed, fridge and microwave, the bathroom certainly hadn't been cleaned and looked as though someone had thrown up in it.

The town itself was deserted. We arrived at 5:45pm, and everything was shut, and all the people had disappeared. We walked around the historic old town, and ended up in an authentic Mexican restaurant where Haylea got her fix with Enchiladas, and I naturally had a quesadilla - cheese only.

July 2

We started early waking up at 6:30am, obviously we wanted to get out of that hotel ASAP. We drove to Marshall, TX where we were going to partake in a private Caddo Lake Swamp Tour. Our tour was scheduled from 7:30pm - 10:30pm. It was $60 each, for a three hour tour, and worth every penny. It was just Haylea, me and the guide John. Half of the tour was in the daylight and the other half was at night, and it was absolutely amazing. Our guide was fantastic, and it wasn't a company tour. He had grown up on the lake, and told us all about all the different animals, insects and plants that lived in the swamp. We saw beavers, raccoons, several different kinds of birds, and three alligators.

Lunch that day was an interesting affair as well, we stopped at the Uncertain General Store/Grill, and shared a bucket of "Sweep the Swamp" which consisted of deep fried; soft shell crab, crawfish, alligator, frogs legs, and the most delicious shrimp that I've ever had in my life. We spoke to the local people in Uncertain, and I bought some Mayhaw jam and overall had a very enjoyable day in Caddo Lake.

That night we stayed in Texas Inn, which was beautiful. We each had our own bed, a large flat screen TV, and a shower that worked, and was clean. However, our hosts seemed surprised that we were traveling alone, and her exact words were "just you two? no man?" ... This would become somewhat of a mini theme.

July 3

We drove west back to the DFW area in the morning, and stopped in what we thought would be some interesting scenery, however we were proved wrong and made it to Dallas quicker than we thought. We visited Dealy Plaza, where JFK was shot in 1963, and toured downtown Dallas for a bit, before we stopped in at YO Steakhouse for some of the most delicious meat I've ever had.

That night we went to the world famous Mesquite Rodeo just west of Dallas. Only $11, we saw all the major rodeo sports, and got to hear some very patriotic speeches. There were fireworks to follow. It was a great way to complete a very western/cowboy day.

July 4

We woke up, excited to visit Forth Worth - one of the centers of Cowboy Country, with a cattle drive twice daily, an old historic downtown center, and of course some authentic American pride for July 4th celebrations. I don't think anything has been more disappointing. There was absolutely nothing open, and no people about. We walked around a bit before deciding to spend our day shopping. Shopping on July 4th - absolutely an abomination.

I expected it to be like Canada Day. Pancake breakfasts, parades, and cake; I expected people to be dressed in American gear, with tatoos, and stickers. Instead we found closed up stores, and deserted city centers. We spent our July 4th looking for hotels and shopping, and although it was enjoyable, it wasn't quite the July 4th that I had in mind, when staying in the USA, let alone Texas - one of the most patriotic states.

Tomorrow we leave Motel 6 for our flight out of DFW at 7am, arriving into Newark at 11:40. We've enjoyed Texas, but we're ready for something different.

HUGE Mess resulting in Stress

2010-06-28T15:21:00.002+01:00

Today has been one of the most stressful days of my life.

A while back, when we decided to drive the coast of the USA instead of fly up from Dallas to NYC, we spoke with the airlines about what our options were. Basically our flights were this:

London - Dallas
Dallas - Newark
NYC - London

All we wanted to do was cancel the internal flight. We were told that if we wanted to make any amendments we would have to pay 145GBP. 100 for the American Airlines Charge, and 45 for the Travelocity charge. BUT, if we just told them that we weren't coming, and didn't actually cancel, we wouldn't get our money back, but we wouldn't necessarily incur any charges. Stupidly I thought this was a policy, so I told Haylea and that's what we did.

Today, when I called to confirm our flights for tomorrow morning from London, I double checked with them about this "policy" again, and all hell broke loose. We were told that we absolutely had to get on the flight from Dallas to NYC, or else our flight from NYC to London would be canceled and we would be stuck in the USA. (Apparently it costs to be deported as well). I then told them that I would incur the charges then - smack me with the 145, and I'd pay it... throwing money at a situation usually works. Not this time. They were saying that it was not possible, we absolutely had no other option than flying from Dallas on July 5, unless we paid to change the flight, which we'd also incur difference fees. This was turning into an absolute nightmare.

I texted Matt and Ethan in a panic, because it's mainly there plans that this messes up, because we were supposed to be in DC for the July 4 weekend, and that is when Matt is off work, and Ethan had bought train tickets to meet us down there. Matt called me back, and I practically started crying I was at a complete loss of what to do. He suggested I threaten legal action, that I had just spoken to my lawyer and that it was a verbal agreement, and that if they didn't stick to it, there would be trouble. Haylea and I decided that it would be best to wait on the woman from AA who was trying to get back to us by the end of the day, about our internal flight problem, before threatening anything.

When I got home, I used Skype to call the actual Americans at American Airlines - they have better customer service you see. Well they were a lot nicer, and were actually American, so they were able to help us. Basically we got the same schtick over again, that we had to speak to Travelocity first blah blah blah, because AA was not able to help us until travel commenced. ... was that a clue? When I worked at Virgin Media, there were just certain things that you were not allowed to say to people or else you would be fired, including how to get them better deals etc, but you sometimes really wanted to help them, so you would tone your voice just so... Haylea also mentioned that the AA representative that she spoke to mentioned something similar about how they would try to sort something out for us by next Monday - which wasn't soon enough ideally, but maybe she was trying to say the same thing??

Who knows, but what we've decided to do is to fly to Dallas, with our original Car Hire booking (Car Hire 3000 incidentally has been absolutely phenomenal in regards to customer service), and then if we are absolutely unable to get out of our internal flight, to change our car hire back to two separate bookings rather than one large two week one with a one way fee attached.

About to leave for London now... curious how this will turn out.

America F* Yeah! Freedom is the only way!

2010-06-27T09:51:00.005+01:00

Tomorrow afternoon Haylea and I finally head to London to spend the last night before heading out to the USA on Tuesday morning.

The planning started at the end of last year when Haylea and I were trying to decide where to go for holiday. It only made sense to go where we knew people, and we knew the most people in California. We actually got as far as looking flights, before I put my foot down about not going. I've been to California - 4 times. If I was going to go to the USA this summer, it would be to New York City.

After University most of my friends scattered worldwide, and a number of them ended up on the East Coast. In particular - Brittney, whom I met through Penguins' Swimming just finished at Parsons' School of Design in NYC, and is still living in Manhattan, and my friend Ethan - whom I met here in Swansea last year while he was completing his Masters in International Relations; lives just outside New York City in New Jersey. Then we met a girl from Oklahoma who invited us to spend a week with her during her annual family reunion over the July 4th long weekend. The way she described it, it sounded like a summer camp for adults. So we booked our flights from London Heathrow to Dallas, Texas for Tuesday 29 June, and then back to London from New York on Saturday 17 July.

As soon as we booked our flights however, the problems seemed to arise. Ethan, was set to move to California for a job. As well, we were notified that the family reunion we were so excited for wouldn't start until the Friday, and Dare, also got a job outside the city, so she wouldn't be around all week; thus resulting in some tough decision making.

We had originally booked two hire cars, one in Texas and one in the North, so we looked into renting one car for the entire two weeks, and it only cost us 40GBP more, and we would get the experience of driving across the USA. So we booked our one hire car, and are set to pick it up in Dallas TX, and drop it off in NYC two weeks later. Our approximate route is: Dallas, TX - Shreveport, LA - Montgomery, AL - Savannah, GA - Greenville, NC - Washington DC - Princeton, NJ - Providence, RI, - Boston, MA - NYC.

These final days prior to heading to America have been overwhelmingly exciting. I am super stoked to drive through Mississippi, and see Savannah. I've cleaned the house, washed my towels and sheet, and have completely packed both my carry-on, and checked luggage. I'm ready to go. All I have to do now is watch a few more movies - Gone with the Wind and Malcolm X, I hear you calling...

First Solo Road Trip

2010-06-24T16:00:00.003+01:00

About three weeks ago, Chris from publications came into the office and mentioned that he wasn't able to go to the Leeds and North Yorkshire event, and was curious if anyone else was able to go. I spoke up right away saying that I was very available, and very interested in going. "It's a very long way away" and "it's a two day event" were among the excuses given as to why I shouldn't go. Once again, I felt like I had hit a brick wall. I only hope that they were still concerned about my driving ability rather than my ability to properly represent Swansea.

It was my second drive solo, as I went up to Worcester on June 16th, but that time I wasn't really alone because I brought Haylea with me. Leeds however was a two day event, and I was staying in a single room at a b&b. I decided after my drive up to Worcester that I would prefer not to drive on the Motorways, and looked into the time delay that it would cause if I chose to "avoid motorways" on AA route planner. Searching "Swansea" to "Leeds" with the use of motorways results in a time of 4 hours and 40 minutes; while ticking "avoid motorways" results in: 5 hours and 49 minutes. I was absolutely shocked that the difference in time was so minimal, especially when people seem to have such an issue with avoiding the motorways. Every person I mentioned it to, made it seem like what I was doing was crazy - it would take forever - how would I ever get there/home?

The way up was absolutely breathtaking. The drive took me through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. It was right out of a fairytale book. Sparkling rivers, and random lakes, hills covered in green grass - rather than trees. It was incredible, and really made me appreciate how beautiful the UK really is. The drive also made me appreciate how small the UK is. It sounds like a really long drive - 6 hours; however, I kept passing through town after town after town, and I never felt far away from anything. The only time I sort of felt out of the way was when I hit the Yorkshire farmland, when I was down to 1/8th tank of gas, so I thought I better start looking for a place to fill up. I realized at that point that I hadn't seen a town/gas station for probably about 15 minutes, and I had 1.5hours left on my trip. I knew logically that there would be another town just down the road, but of course I panicked when I thought about getting stranded - not because I'd be out in the middle of nowhere (because I wouldn't be...) but because then I'd have to admit that I'd let the car go without gas, and how embarrassing would that be?

I made it in about 8 hours, which included my detour initially off the M4 just passed Newport, when I was getting used to the SatNav, my lunch stop at 1pm, my Starbucks stop at 3pm, and then my gas stop at around 5. It didn't even feel that long, and I was actually looking forward to the drive back.

I was staying in Abbey Guest House a B&B in Headingly Leeds, which is about 3 miles north of the city centre. It was very nice, and only 45GBP for one night, which included breakfast, and wireless internet. It was very lovely, however definitely made me realize what I love about massive, chain hotels - the anonymity. I like arriving when I want, leaving when I please, wandering around, and not having to worry about someone asking where I am or what I'm doing every minute I leave my room. I arrived just after 7pm, and wanted to find a Tesco/Asda or something to get some food at - I like that better than restaurant food most of the time anyway. I asked where the closest one was and instead she pointed me in the direction of a Co-op... which is much smaller (like a corner store). So I used the SatNav to find the closest Tesco which was about 15 minutes away. When I got back - 45 minutes later. Hazel commented on how she was worried cause I was gone so long... At that point I realized I'd left my phone in my car, but was too afraid to go out and get it, if they thought that perhaps I was going out again. I found out later, via the girl from Sussex (who was also staying at the B&B) that Hazel had told her about my trip to Tesco as well...

The Event itself was fine, each time I go away, I feel like I learn more stuff, because I get more informed as people ask me more questions which is basically the only way to learn all the stuff about the courses anyway. I have been told that at some events representatives from other universities go around and say where everyone is going out for dinner etc, but that did not happen here... so I accosted the Queen's University Belfast booth and started telling her how much I enjoyed myself in Belfast last year, and how beautiful the University was. I asked if she was doing anything for dinner, and although she already had plans, she invited me along to dinner with her, and the representative from Portsmouth.

The drive back was not as pleasurable or leisurely as the drive up. The event itself ended at 1:30, Friday afternoon so by the time I had found a place to get changed into my driving clothes it was almost 2pm. I also wanted to get petrol before I was on my way, and so again it pushed the clock back. I stopped in Wakefield to visit Alys and it was great to catch up with her. By the time I was leaving the Leeds area it was around 4pm, and I was facing a 6 hour drive home. I decided to stop in Gloucester, as I wouldn't even get there until 9pm, and then drive back for 9am Saturday morning.

I arrived in Gloucester right on time, even after a little detour via the exit to Cirencester. It wasn't nearly as beautiful as the drive up, but the A roads here reminded me of all the major highways in Canada... do we have motorways in Canada? I either don't know or can't remember. It was so nice to stop and sleep in a nice bed, in a cool place, and see Catherine, Andy and Grace again. I haven't seen them in forever, so it was good to catch up.

This morning's drive back was stunning also, I opted for the motorway-less route again, and it only took me 2 hours and 15 minutes... who needs motorways? It was again, beautiful, but reminded me a lot of the BC drive from Vancouver to the Okanagan Valley, just tons and tons of trees. It was altogether definitely a lesson on not judging a country too harshly before properly exploring it, because although it's minute, Britain has some stunning scenery.

Happily Single

2010-06-18T10:03:00.006+01:00

I am overwhelmingly, unabashedly, happy being single.

Last night I went out on the date I had been dreading all week. He just seemed so keen, was so respectful, and pleasent. However; he was 30, and the more we exchanged texts the more clear it became that he had a severe lack of any post-secondary qualifications.

He was fairly attractive, and dressed nicely. He paid for the bowling and drinks. He was polite, and didn't use inappropriate language. He was where you should be when you're 30. He had a steady job, he seemed to enjoy. He had just sold his first house, and was buying his second. He was settled in Swansea. If I was a 26 year old, hairdresser or retail manager, hoping to stay in Swansea, looking settle down and start a family it would have been great.

When I told him I was from Vancouver he didn't know where that was, and when I mentioned they had hosted the olympics he responded with: "Summer?"... So I went to my goto - "It's just north of LA." Unfortunately there was a lack of knowledge of where LA or California were as well... Since we had seemingly bonded over our enjoyment of the show "The Inbetweeners" that's all he talked about. I asked if he watched any other shows - "Gavin and Stacy". I love TV and can name off the top of my head at least three other amazing shows all within that genre of comedy; allowing for what could have been a plethora of conversation topics. Unfortuantely he was unfamiliar with any of the following: Arrested Development, Flight of the Conchords, or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

He named Conair, and The Rock as favourite movies. Unfortuantely these were both released circa mid-90s. Although classics, is there nothing more recent that deserved mention?

Favourite Author? "I don't really read.... well except for sports books." Which would be fine if I was interested in sports at all. Unfortunately I am not, and thus the conversation seemed to come to a complete halt.

He mentioned that he worked in the accounts office for a company, so I followed with the obvious asking if he was an Accountant. Well, he wasn't, and aside from his sister pushing him to qualify to be a CA, he didn't seem to have any drive to accomplish that for himself. Stagnant and happy in Mediocreville.

However, I feel that the worst bit of the entire evening and the solid reason behind me calling Haylea to pick me up half and hour early was the fact that he was a soft talker. It was so difficult to understand him that I found myself shouting at him most of the night in order to encourage him to speak up. So much so that I could hear myself getting louder and louder, and then I would have to suppress laughter in order to avoid explaining why I was laughing. It was exhausting, and I was not only tired from the drive to Worcester the day before, I was shattered from concentrating so hard on what he was saying all night.

Now I can explain why I am not interested in 30 year olds, definitively. He was settled, as he should be - in a good job, with a house. However, at this point in my life, I'm not looking for that. I don't want to stay in one place, I want to live in London, Melbourne, Vancouver and Calgary before settling in one place. I want someone who enjoys their job but is looking for more; likes where they live, but longs for the adventure to try somewhere new; someone with straight teeth (natural or cosmetic); and most of all someone with clearly defined goals and aspirations. I want someone on their way to where they're going, not someone who is already there.

I enjoy having my weekend free from a constant parade of Weddings, Engagement Parties, and meeting the parents. I enjoy being able to crawl into bed whenever I feel like it, and have a night of romantic comedies and the best crisps on the planet. I don't want to have long conversations about my feelings, and worry about where he is on a night out, or worry about him worrying about where I am. I know exactly what I do want both in the future and right now. Currently, I want the attention. I want guys to be interested, to pursue etc, to show interest, but as far as a relationship goes, I really don't want one right now. I want the attention, not the complications. And because of this eventual realization I feel I am finally able to be truely happy for all my friends in relationships.

You Only Want What You Can't Have.

2010-06-15T20:48:00.002+01:00

I have recently re-arranged my room, and the wall across from my bed, is now fixed with a giant collage of pictures of me and my friends spanning the last seven years. Every time I look at it I am reminded of the abundance of love I have in my life. Not just from my family, but from the amazing friends I've made throughout my time in Edmonton, Swansea - and of course those few people from Victoria who have remained close. I have some of the best memories, and I know that those people will remain by my side forever, even if we are oceans apart.

I have at least two people who I adore travelling with; a handful of people to the go cinema with; and more than a few to have a night in of watching movies/TV. I have friends I can go hiking and swimming with, and I have friends who know me through and through - every embarrassing thing you can think of...I just happen to be in the unfortunate situation that most of these people don't seem to live in my vicinity.

So when I was asked recently by a close friend - *why* do you want a boyfriend? - It took us a few minutes to come up with the answer "well everyone else seems to have one, and I don't want to be left out."

Last year I was in Toledo, with Danny. We had hitchhiked through UK, France and Spain to Morocco, where we spent 9 days, and were seeing Madrid before heading to Munich. Yet, when I saw photos of Katie in Disneyland, I lamented "Oh, Disneyland! I'm so jealous!" At which point Danny had to respond with "Um...Bronwyn...You're in Madrid!"

When I was in grade 6 everyone had these plastic purses. I was so upset I didn't have one, that my Mum eventually bought me one. It was super cute, and had red ladybugs all over it. It was different to everyone's, but it was still plastic - which was the important thing. As soon as I got it, I couldn't really be bothered anymore. It was completely impractical, and shortly after they fell out of fashion.

In both situations, I simply wanted what I didn't or couldn't have.

I used to think two things would be incredibly sweet and romantic. (1) Someone would write love songs/poetry for me. Every time it happens in the movies it is so romantic, so how awesome would it be if someone did it for me in real life right? Not. It is not romantic. Unfortunately it is uncomfortable and makes me feel anxious. Like I am now suddenly under the same amount of pressure to be spontaneously romantic. No thank you.

How about this: (2) Someone comes up to you completely at random, and tells you how gorgeous you are, and asks you out. I've dreamed that would happen ever since the Canada Day Rodeo in Prince George in 2004. Well... this actually happened to me. Saturday, June 12th, 2010. I was in Monkey with a few friends - (I feel the need to note I was the only single person out that night), when half way through the night a gentleman came up and started dancing with us. I must stress how friendly and non-invasive the guys seem to be here. They are all very respectful of personal space. He told me about a bazillion times how gorgeous and beautiful I was, and then very respectfully asked me to dance. Then at the end of the night, when I left, he asked for my number, texted me the next day and asked me if I'd like to go bowling with him.

On the outside the situation is perfect. I get a date, which is what I want, and to be fair, this guy seems really into me. So why am I not excited about it, and not only that - why am I upset about it? I should be squealing when I get a text from him, not rolling my eyes.

When I finally emerged from the rubble of my breakup with Jon, and started to notice guys again, it seemed as if all the ones I was even remotely interested in had serious long term girlfriends. However it was one crush in particular that made me forget all about Jon, but of course he was absolutely off limits. Not only was he completely in love with Tania, but Adam was Jon's best friend, and he was moving to Australia for Medical School. So while I traipsed around Europe, and moved to Swansea, convinced I would never like anyone as much as I liked Adam, I met Matt. Oh so obviously in love with Janne, 3 years younger than me, and wait for it - moving to the other side of the globe as well. If you look closely you'll notice a pattern.

The other guys that I went out with, I just wasn't interested in the same way. That's how I feel currently. I know how I'm supposed to feel when I like someone, and when I'm getting ready to go out with them. When Sean asked me out on my first date ever I was actually bouncing off the walls I was so excited. When Jon asked me out, again, I was absolutely floating. That's the way it should be, and that's what I want. I want someone who makes me sigh and glide to work on cloud 9 as I replay the conversation from the night before in my head. So is it a case of wanting what you can't have, or is it actually just a case of knowing exactly what you want, and realizing at this point in time that you simply don't have it yet.

Letters to Juliet [Review]

2010-06-09T21:50:00.003+01:00

Letters to Juliet stars Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave, and Christopher Egan. Seyfried plays Sophie, a "fact-checker" for the New Yorker, desperately trying to get her boss to see her as a writer. She is engaged to Victor - an Italian living in NYC, who's opening his own restaurant soon. They head to Verona for a "pre-honeymoon" before he opens his restaurant and life gets hectic. You soon find out that Victor is more interested in talking to his suppliers than spending time with Sophie, and she heads out on her own adventure following a meeting of "Juliet's Secretaries."

While Victor goes to visit suppliers she joins Juliet's Secretaries in answering all the letters that are posted on the wall in Verona. While collecting the letters she finds one from 50 years ago hiding behind a loose stone in the wall. It's written by Claire, a lovestruck teenager who has left her lover stranded when she returns to her real life in London. Sophie decides to write to Claire, and of course the next thing you know Claire and her grandson Charlie are in Verona. Thus, allowing the three of them to embark on a trip through Tuscany looking for Claire's beloved Lorenzo.

On the surface it sounds like the perfect recipe for a Romantic Comedy. It is set in a beautiful romantic city, stars two attractive leads, and has an incredible back story spanning 50 years. What seems to have happened is the writers knew the regular RomCom formula, and decided because it was too cliche, they were going to discard the formula and make it boring instead.

Right from the beginning the movie feels wrong. Victor and Sophie have no chemistry, and it is clear from the first scene that Victor is more interested in his Restaurant than her. He has zero attention span, and immediately you question why these two are together, and why they are going to Italy.

Claire begins working with the Secretaries of Juliet, thus initiating the meeting of Charlie. This scene looks forced and is poorly done. The characters should have the chemistry of Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler a la The Ugly Truth but instead it just feels stiff and unrealistic. Egan is an Australian playing a Brit with a pompous accent. The jokes about Sophie being an American fall flat, and there is not enough character development between the two leads to make love feel plausible at the end of the movie.

If I were to re-write this film, I would first ditch the entire Victor storyline. He's completely unnecessary. Instead, I would have the beginning similar to What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz's character. Sophie would be engaged, and her fiance and her would break up just before their wedding leaving her to clean up the mess, with two tickets to Verona for their pre-planned honeymoon. Or he could die like in PS: I Love You. She would be convinced to go by a girlfriend, and the two would head off for a girls trip to Verona. Her friend would soon become sidetracked (most likely by a Vespa toting Italian) leaving Sophie to become involved with the Secretaries of Juliet.

Charlie would remain pompous and unsympathetic towards the notion of love, insisting that his grandmother doesn't go through with this farce. As soon as he walks in the door, he accuses Sophie of being a lonely girl living vicariously through Juliet - this should hurt her, as she's just been left at the alter. Sophie and Charlie would clash as they do, culminating in an argument where she would inadvertently find out that he was hurt in more ways than one when his fiance left him, as in Bridget Jones' Diary.

The next night they would be at dinner, and a few drinks would lead to dancing, where they each steal glances at one another now knowing their back stories. This is the classic moment in the RomCom where the audience feels the characters fall in love, and it is severely lacking in this film.

The ending of the movie would result in her flying back to NYC, becoming a huge success with this romantic story involving Claire and Lorenzo (which does happen), only for Charlie to read her story in a magazine in London, realize how much he loves and misses her, and fly to New York to profess his love.

The two female leads in this film were fantastic. Claire's storyline with Lorenzo felt believable and Sophie's struggle to be a writer was well acted. The loss of the two male leads in this movie would only have garnered more credibility for the film.

There's a formula for Romantic Comedies for a reason. Stick to it, or make it better. but please don't assault my senses by producing movies such as these. Made of Honour, is the worst RomCom I've ever seen, but this movie ties with Leap Year for second worst.

Lost in Translation

2010-06-03T09:41:00.004+01:00

"The Americans are identical to the British in all respects, except of course language." ~ Oscar Wilde

I have been a resident of the UK for almost two years. I know who Charlotte, Gav, Jordan and Pete are. I understand the usage of "chav" and "VAT ." I top up my mobile, eat spring onions, and have occasionally put on a jumper or cycled on the pavement.

It seems just when I think there's nothing else to learn, something else comes up reminding me that I am in a different country, with a completely different language.

When my throat became swollen two weeks ago, I went into the doctor, and she prescribed me penicillin, because it was most likely Strep Throat. Two weeks later, however; it's back. I thought it could be because I didn't take my medication *exactly* how it was prescribed, so I headed to the doctor's "surgery" again this morning.

I told her that I came in with Strep Throat previously; at which point she halted me, saying that they didn't do a swab, so it's not for sure that it's Strep.

"Ok, that's fine, but I have had it a lot... and it has been swabbed before..."

"Well that doesn't mean it is this time! In *this* Country we don't have Strep very often. I think you might have Glandular Fever, so I'd like you to get tested"

"What kind of test is that?"
"A Glandular Fever Test"
"um... right, what is that, what does it involve?"

When she finally informed me it was a blood test, I told her that I don't really do blood tests. I find them painful and traumatic. If it was very serious, then obviously I have no choice, but I'd like to have my skin numbed and be put out on something (Xanax anyone?). She said that I was being completely unreasonable, it doesn't hurt, and that in *this* country they don't have anything to numb the pain/skin, and at the end of the day it's my choice - but basically she can't diagnose it without a blood test.

Glandular Fever! Sounds serious, and since I've never heard of it before; I asked what the treatment was. Apparently there is none! It's a viral infection that your body has to rectify itself, and basically means 3 months of no contact sports and no drinking alcohol. Sorry? So if *that* is the treatment - why do I have to have a blood test? My rugby team will be upset, but I guess I'll have to tell them that I can't go out drinking with them after the scrimmage....

As soon as I returned to the office, I typed "Glandular Fever" into Google... "Infectious Mononucleosis"... commonly referred to as "Mono" in North America.

*RELIEF!*

This is definitely not the first time that medical jargon has caught me off guard. Through my first year everyone kept talking about "Paracetamol" to help with pain and fever. Now I know that "Paracetamol" is also known as "Acetaminophen" or commonly referred to as "Tylenol.

I knew before I came to the UK that things would be different, and I tried to prepare myself by reading the forums. I wanted to avoid a scene where I was feeling particularly homesick and whereby finding out there is no KD, or Eggos here to head home, turn on the tap, and have it turn the wrong way and bursting out in tears. For the most part I have not had this problem. Almost everything that is available at home is available here, it's just called something different, and thus involves a bit of sleuthing to find it. (Today Haylea and I even found fruit snacks).

Interesting facts include:

- Gingerbread Houses = Christmas Houses
- Shake & Bake = Coat & Cook
- you don't 'bike;' you cycle
- pedestrians do NOT have the right of way
- No Honey Nut Cheerios - only Honey
- No bulk goods
- Hot Dogs are only sold at: Cinemas, Ikeas, and German Sausage stands
- No Graham Crackers - Cheesecake is made with digestive biscuits.
- Painkillers are only sold in packs of 16
- Granola = Museli
- Felts = Markers
- No Duotangs
- Mono = Glandular Fever

Slowly the things I miss from Canada diminish, leaving me with a very short list every time my Mum offers to send me a care-package. There just isn't much (anything?) that can be packed up in a box and sent over. It's the space to lie in your back garden and not being able to hear the people next door turn their book pages, it's the all day Breakfast diners - where they actually serve breakfast - with 6 ways to have my eggs, and 4 different types of bread available. But in less than four weeks I will have access to that breakfast and the space to drive for hours without seeing another car on the road. However, on my return I will look forward to: cheese and onion chips - I don't think I'll ever call them crisps - scones, jam and cream, and the best cheddar in the world.

London

2010-05-23T08:21:00.003+01:00

It's 25 Degrees outside, with the sun shining down on the green rolling hills, and the people are out at the beach. Where am I? Sick, in bed. Well I'm not that sick anymore, but this past week I was hit with a particularly bad case of Strep Throat. I went into work on Wednesday commenting on how my throat hurt a little bit, and everyone told me "oh go home if you don't feel up to working" ... c'mon! I'm not *that* sick. As far as I'm concerned you have to be lying in your bed next to death, with an actual inability to move or function to skip out on work. Maybe that's because until now I've been trapped in soulless menial minimum wage jobs, and now I have a "real" job, which actually doesn't pay me much more than minimum wage.

Thursday however, it was starting to concern me. My driving instructor had mentioned that she had "tonsillitis" on the Monday, and even though that is completely different to Strep Throat - which I am prone to, that's what they seem to call anything involving the throat area here in the UK. My throat was still hurting, and it was getting to the point where I could only consume hot liquids... so because they don't have doctors/clinics here that open on the weekends I thought I better go to the doctor and get it checked out before Friday rolled around, and the queue got stupidly long. Sure enough - Strep Throat. Returning to my office with my prescription, I was promptly sent home, and told not to return until Monday.

Last weekend I went up to London to visit Marlene. She was having a house party, and I hadn't seen her since Christmas (Je pense) when we went to Paris. I scored a sweet deal on tickets through National Express (coach), and it cost me less than £7 return. I managed to get a funfare for £2 on the way there and £4 on the way back, and then completely by accident bought an extra £1 for insurance. Pretty good deal for an 11 hour journey all together.

I caught the bus at 6:10am on Saturday morning, and arrived at 10:50am into Victoria Station. I don't enjoy the bus at all. I'm not sure why exactly, because the train isn't that much more comfortable, but being on a bus for any length of time sucks, however for the right price I will endure it. We drove for 2.5 horus, and then had a 20 minute break at one of the fantastic UK service stations, and then continued for the remaining time. I'm not sure what people expect out of service stations because two ladies in my office were complaining about them once - but I can honestly say that I LOVE stopping at the roadside in this country.

When you pull into a service station you are greeted with a large building housing several stores, and restaurants for your convenience. There is a large selection of public washrooms - they are all clean, and have toilet paper, and flushing capabilities! There is a WH Smith, M&S Food Mart, Burger King, and usually not only a Costa Coffee, but a little sandwich shop as well as a massive amount of comfortable seating all inside. Now these all look like they were built in the last 10 years, because they all look relatively new. I have to say that, to be fair it's been a while since I've driven in Canada any distance - 2 years in fact, since my Dad and I ventured the 6/7 hours from Edmonton to Grande Prairie to drop off my stuff at my grandma's house - but from what I remember (and after quizzing my Mum) the most that any of us would expect out of a "truck stop" would be a Husky "greasy spoon" diner, a convenience store, a gas pump, and one washroom in the back that might have 2 stalls. However, what you'll mostly come across is a picnic table, and a "beach bathroom." What's interesting is that they don't have a gas station at the ones in the UK... interesting.

It was great to see Marlene again, and the party was fantastic. Their living room opens onto a conservatory which in turn opens on to a patio. The set up was fantastic. They had moved all the couches and chairs to the sides, and had a table for beer pong, and then two picnic tables in the back, with a plastic "outdoors" table on it with all the food. They had a BBQ starting at around 5 and the food was amazing. They had chicken, and burgers and really large sausages, since you can't find hot dogs here in the UK. Everyone was super friendly - that my have had something to do with the fact that almost none of the people I met were from Britain. One of her housemates was from Ireland, so a large proportion of the people there were also from Ireland. I met a few New Zealanders, an American, a South African, a few other Canadians and a number of Australians. I think I only spoke to two people from Britain that night. Marlene's other housemate from Portsmouth - who was very nice, and this other random guy from London, who came with the American.

We stayed up until 3:30am the Sunday morning and slept until about 11am. With my bus home at 2pm there wasn't a lot of time to do much, so Marlene, Francis (Irish housemate), and his friend who has stayed over as well all went out for breakfast. We went to this place just down the street from them in Clapham South area, and of course I made the classic mistake of ordering pancakes, which I forgot would be British pancakes and not American. Still delicious, just not what I needed. That's the one thing I miss more than anything else. Breakfast. I miss French Toast, Waffles, Pancakes, syrup, bacon, and sausages! Just writing about it makes my mouth water.

The weekend in London however has given me pause to think where I want to move following my final year in Swansea. I was so set on Australia, I had signed up to Twitter updates on Aussie Uni jobs, and was getting regular emails from University of Melbourne, and Sydney to my in-box with new vacancies. Riding the Coach into the city, and spending time with Marlene and her friends, seeing the sights, listening to the radio, and reading the advertisements on the underground, just makes it seem like such an exciting and vibrant place to live. I wouldn't mind spending 12-18 months post Swansea in London... get a better job and build my CV a bit more before heading down under. I would have the opportunity to live in one of the big cities, rivaling my friend who has lived in NYC (Brittney, very jealous), and maybe work for a great University, while getting more out of my Ancestry Visa. Most importantly I would have access to American Breakfast on a regular basis.

On the Campaign Trail

2010-05-16T19:02:00.002+01:00

"Can you vote?"

When Sam asked me this question after receiving her voter registration information a few months ago, I never would have believed that (a) the answer was "yes" I can vote in the British General Election, or (b) that that answer would lead to so much excitement and social activity in the following month.

Since I am a Canadian Citizen (or citizen from a Commonwealth Country), with the right to live and work (abode) in the UK I have the right to cast my ballot at each election, General or Local while I live and work here in Britain. That's pretty exciting stuff, and a right that I don't take too lightly.

I turned 18 at the end of 2003, and in June 2004 I was allowed to vote in my first election. It was the Federal Election of Canada, and pitted the Liberals lead by Paul Martin against the Conservatives lead by Stephan Harper. I made sure to read all the policies of all the parties, and finally made my decision to vote Green for my riding or constituency. My MP - Keith Martin got into the House of Commons (Liberal), but unfortunately the Conservatives got into power and have been a Minority ever since. We had another Federal Election in 2008, which I voted for my fantastic MP - Keith Martin, however the Federal political scene did not change. In 2005 I got the opportunity to vote again when BC went to the polls for our Premier. I dutifully did my research with every election I faced and in 2008, as a resident of Alberta I was able to vote in their Provincial Election. I got more involved in the '08 election than others before in that I worked as a Returning Officer, counting votes, and registering people etc.

2008 was also my final year of University at the U of A. I had completed all my classes in December 2007, and from January to June in 2008 I worked a series of non-committal plebeian jobs like cashier in Safeway. As I had shift work, I was able to stay involved on campus and still chaired a committee here and there, and sat on several others. So when my friend Alena said that she was running for VP (Vice President) Student Life, I jumped on board to help her out. I became her "Volunteer Coordinator" and worked with her Campaign Manager Patrick to organize all the people that were going to work on her campaign. It was immense amounts of fun. We had bag tags, and posters, and buttons, and flyers, we spoke to people regarding the election, and attended all the debates; SUB forum, Lister, Faculte St. Jean, and Myer Horowitz Theatre. The final election count would have been a party to remember, unfortunately I ended up in the bathroom in the basement having to be practically carried home... oops; over excitement I suppose.

So when Britain started getting ready to gear up for their General Election 2010, and I found out I could vote I decided I had to do my research. I read up on the three main political parties: The Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and the Labour Party. After assessing my options I decided that my vote would be supportive of the Conservatives, and thus ensuing a few minor debates with my super socialist flatmate Sam. It also so happened that my friend Josh, and our friend Matt are hard core Conservatives, and they are both take Politics at school etc, and thus know far more than me when it comes to anything Political. There were three televised leader debates which I watched at Josh's house, and then the final actual Ballot count. Between this time, Josh invited me out to "campaign" or something else, and so one random Saturday I found myself stuffing Tory Political Doctrine into mail slots before attending the local Hustings for Swansea West Constituency. I spent the day with political students, and by the end of the night I was politico-ed out. I had a lot of fun, and learned a lot of really interesting things, but was a bit sick of political talk by the close of the evening.

The final General Election Ballot Count was beyond fun though. I met up at Josh's with some of his classmates - Hannah, Lloyd, and Caz, and didn't think I could have so much fun watching the news. (I did have a lot of fun watching the Obama Election, but this was better). We had snacks, and excitement, and honestly anything where you stay up all night is usually going to be a good time. So May 6th found us welcoming in a new Conservative Minority - with David Cameron being sworn in a few days later after forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

I've learned a lot this month, most important being that Politics is interesting, and guess what - not all political science students are douche bags. I've had tons of interesting conversations with people, and I'm understanding a lot more when politics comes up in conversation. I'm excited to see how Britain copes under this new government, and I'm excited to have new friends in this political world that has just been opened for me.

What do you expect?

2010-05-03T10:43:00.001+01:00

It's been a running theme in the past 3 years or so that I expect too much out of people: people I don't know, fellow students, team 'mates', homeless people, friends and family. It all kicked off in 2007.

Facebook had just become super popular and people were adding all sorts of "applications" etc. One of these was an honesty box. The idea was that people could write what they thought of you, and you would never know, and never find out who it was. Obviously, because not all 'friends' you had on FB had an honesty box, the chances were that the only people writing in your honesty box were those friends that had one as well... making it a lot less anonymous.

Parallel to this, I was also super involved in the Orientation program at the UofA. Thus, I convinced my friends to get involved, and they did! Well my friend Gillian became an Orientation Leader for Transfer students. We are told as Student Leaders to not, under any circumstances give out our phone numbers or personal contact details. Well there was this guy in Gillian's group, who she developed a soft spot for - not because she "liked" him, but because he was absolutely pathetic and clearly needed someone to help him function. He had no spine, and was actually an annoying sad individual who had absolutely zero self confidence. Anyway, she ended up giving him her phone number and then what happened - oh right he ended up calling her in tears several times a day, and then subsequently hanging out with us. He was the type of person that would greet you and you would say "Hey! How's it going?" and the reply would always be *sad face*... "oh, well, it's alright..." in a really depressing tone... with obvious intent to get you to probe more to their pathetic existence. I refused to be sucked in, and instead would reply with a cheery "That's great! Talk to you later! :o)"

One day I was over at my future flat-mate Adam's house, and we were discussing said individual, and Adam was chiming in with my views on his personality, or lack thereof. One girl thought we were being too harsh, and called us on it, and when I returned home I opened an honesty box with a drilling of some of the harshest criticism around towards my expectations of people.

It really enraged me, and thus seems to have become a running theme throughout my life. I expect that people should look after themselves, and work hard to achieve what they want in life. I expect people to be friendly and welcoming to newcomers, and I expect and deserve to be treated with respect. What I don't expect is to not hear from people who were supposed to be my "best friends" after I leave the city. People that I spent every day with, every Saturday evening with. So when I settled in Edmonton, I was shocked to find that who I thought were my closest friends had decided to let me fall by the wayside. I think this is the reason why I was able to leave Edmonton with no false expectations of people.

Recently it's come up again that I expect too much out of people, and someone has mentioned when I move from Swansea (hopefully down to Australia), I should possibly lower my expectations on people... on keeping in touch, and just generally. The idea behind it was that just because you don't hear from that person, that doesn't mean they aren't your friend...

That's an interesting take on it, but I completely disagree. First of all I'll start with how incredibly easy it is to stay in touch these days. We aren't relegated anymore to the archaic devices of hand written letters and rotary dial telephones. Almost everyone I know has a laptop - with internet. So already you're equipped to type letters. With the use of the internet, you can now email people - wow! What a concept?! We also have Facebook, Twitter, MSN, iChat, and Skype. With a click of the button I can see what my friends are doing all over the world, and actually talk to them face-to-face if they are in Alberta, Halifax, California, Montreal, Toronto or Victoria.

With the advent of computer technology I do believe there is almost no excuse for not keeping in touch with people. It takes legitimately two to five minutes to type out a Facebook message or email. I'm sorry, but if you don't have two to five minutes to spare in the span of three to six months; that does not a friend make.

People are busy, I get that. There are shows to see, papers/exams to write, places to visit, and waves to surf, but if through all that you're not thinking about someone who was supposed to be your friend for 5 minutes - then they can't have been all that important to you.

Obviously there are exceptions, and allowances to be made for people who have been through their their share of experiences with you, and every friendship is different. I have been friends with Alexa for (come September) 20 years. The relationship I have with her is going to be different than with someone I met a year or two ago. We don't hear from each other all that often, but when we do, it's honest, and usually a bit longer. Due to our history, I know that we'll always be in each others lives. It just is. That being said, I still talk to her every 3 months.

So when people say that I expect too much out of people, I'm flabbergasted, because I don't feel that I do. I expect new people you meet to be friendly and open, to ask you questions, and be interested. I expect people to be on time (at least most of the time), and I expect people to put in the effort to maintain a relationship with the people that they would consider friends. If you expect less than this, what *do* you expect? Why would you want someone to have low to no expectations of you?

Talking face to face with someone is difficult. Especially when you're in different time zones. It's been ages since I've spoken to a few of my closest friends, and I think it usually takes Katie and I a month if not more to pin down a time to chat that works for both of us. But through these gaps there's so many other forms of communication available (I forgot to mention texting) that there's really no reason behind falling out of touch with someone except for the lack of interest.

Flight of the Conchords (Friend Graph)

Scorchio!

2010-04-24T17:42:00.003+01:00

The temperature has been reaching 17C most days this week, which has led to sandals, skirts sans tights, and yesterday even saw me wearing shorts! I pulled out all my summer clothes this week and put together a few new outfits. Last night we had our first BBQ. We didn't cook any meat, as it was too late, but we did cook up some S'mores, in our firepit in the backyard. Dare had a care package sent to her from Oklahoma, including a package of Graham Crackers. It feels like everyone is getting care packages! Josh recently got a care package from Matt in California with Reeses' Penut Butter Cup Cereal, Lucky Charms, Mac & Cheese, and Pop Tarts. Not saying I'm jealous, but where's my care package?

Work is still plodding along, and I'm still enjoying it. On Monday, Judith and I finally sent out the Job Descriptions, and Applications for the Team Leader positions to the current Student Ambassadors, it's actually been quite successful as we've already received six or seven applications, which makes me think that this new program(mme) might be a success. Apparently they spell program different here... memories of SMS. Nightmares really. Spelling programme with two m's and an 'e' just looks wrong. Anyways, it's been successful. I'm actually really looking forward to the coming months and the changes that will happen. We're also having another Postgraduate Open Day, which Caroline is encouraging me to get involved in, so that's cool. It's something to do, and it's a lot better than database entry - of which I've deemed myself "Queen" on Facebook.

The Volcanic Eruptions last week have been most frustrating. Planes have been grounded not only in Europe but all over the world. My friend Marlene was stranded in Thailand, and I know at least one person stranded in California. The people in Europe however has been the most obnoxious annoying travellers in the world. I kept up on the news, and so many people were complaining that the government should have done more to help, and collect travellers and refund trips! Excuse me?! On what planet is it the government's responsibility to refund travel expenses? Hopefully though my money will come through from Ryan Air, and I'll sort out another time to visit Meaghan. It's almost getting too close to June though now to make a trip to Limoges.

Next week is the first long weekend of May, I don't have any concrete plans yet, but I'm hoping to go somewhere. I thought about going to Birmingham, but I don't think that'll happen. If I don't get there, I might try to make it to Gloucester for a weekend. I haven't been there since last summer, as I felt like I wasn't really wanted, since I wasn't invited. I feel like people should invite you to do stuff, if they don't invite you, they don't want to see you. But since it's been so long I think I might try to see them, and I could do with a weekend away from Swansea.

On May 15th I'm heading to London to visit Marlene, it's her housewarming party. I didn't realize that she moved, but I got an amazing deal from National Express on the bus. I got a fun fare each way ... and only paid 7GBP for a return trip from Swansea to London. Bargain.

Last night was Dare's birthday and so we headed to the Student Village and partied with a bunch of Americans playing Beer Pong, Flip Cup, and danced to some country classics. I made a new friend, and we discussed breakfast and other things we missed and it made me even more excited to go back to North America. I have to say though I'm not sure what the hype is all about with Beer Pong. It's fun, but I much preferred flip cup! We hopefully made some tentative "nights out" plans in the coming weeks.

Complications of Volcanic Proportions

2010-04-17T10:36:00.002+01:00

The top news story this week that is affecting the entire world is the news of the Volcanic Eruption in Iceland.

This unexpected eruption is causing havoc around the world. As I mentioned in my last post I was supposed to visit Meaghan in Limoges this weekend. I had booked off two days following the weekend, using a flexi-day and then one day annual leave. On Thursday, April 15th the volcano in Iceland erupted putting ash into the atmosphere, which grounded all the flights into and out of the UK. As the announcements came from NATS (National Air Traffic Services), it became clear by Friday evening that it would be incredibly unlikely that I would be going anywhere. I called Bristol Airport, and found that Ryan Air had cancelled all the flights until Monday morning. Thanks for telling me.

The weather however has been fantastic. We've had sun for almost two weeks, which is practically unheard of here. Last weekend it got to a high of 17C, which saw people outside in flip flops, and tank tops. Haylea and I rode 17 miles (27Kms) from the Uplands, to Llansamlet, to Mumbles and back to the Uplands on Saturday, and on the Sunday we went for a mini hike. Sunday was definitely chilly, but there were still people out in Caswell Bay in runners, and jeans. It's weird seeing a crowded beach in fully clothed people.

Work is finally moving forward. I requested that I attend more HE fairs through my boss, and although I didn't get to go ahead with the ones that I wanted to go to, I did get to go to Cardiff yesterday (Friday, April 16th). Apparently it was one of the busiest HE Fairs, and it was definitely fun to get more experience at those types of events. There were a few questions that were flung at me, which is great actually because it makes me learn more. One girl asked me if the Business program offers a "Sandwich Year"... and another girl asked if we accepted some other form of qualification...

The Student Ambassador program is moving forward as well. We are sending out an email on Monday to the current Student Ambassadors to ask them to apply to be next year's Team Leaders. There were a few hiccups in terms of what to use as incentives. If this is going to be my program, I want it to be eco-friendly. We already use a Eco-Fair Trade company for our t-shirts, and hoodies, I would also like to give them water-bottles, so that they can re-fill them, instead of us filling land-mines in recycle-less Swansea with little plastic water-bottles. Environmental responsibility is trendy right now and with visitors coming to Swansea, showing them that we are taking the initiative will hopefully entice them even more. There were concerns brought up that the water from the taps was not suitable for drinking. Luckily the other day I was in Fulton House, and used the bathrooms to the right of the entrance, and saw not only a big "drinking water" sign, but a specific tap for filling water-bottles with. Problem Solved.

The other big issue was getting volunteers for the September Open day, especially because we planned on not paying them. I suggested we just give it a go, although I don't specifically care if they pay or don't pay the Student Ambassadors. (It's not my budget). I think we decided on the fact that September - because it was out of term time, it would count as a separate event. Now we're looking at making the Open Days separate from the UCAS visit days... which is what I thought we should do all along, however reasoned that it would be too complicated to pitch in the proposal. The other great idea that has finally been broached was having students who are in their final year of school in to shadow current undergrad students. This scheme is exactly what the U of A does with First Year Initiative, although I'm glad I wasn't the one to "come up with the idea."

The reason I'm glad I didn't "come up with it" is because it's getting a little repetitive hearing that I'm from a different country and that we have different cultures. Sure, maybe 30 years ago. However, the TV is now crossing borders, and people are working and travelling abroad en masse. I would like to make the argument that; sure people are different, but the underlying culture isn't *that* different, and at the end of the day I think that a lot of people aren't giving students the credit they deserve. I have seen students do amazing things, and get involved in a crazy amount of activities, dedicating their time on a voluntary basis to something that is dear to their heart. I'm sure that british students do this with just as much fervor that their cousins in North America do, and assuming the opposite I think is judging them rather unfairly.

I know this sounds like hypocrisy from me considering I called all british people unfriendly. I think the issue is that people in Alberta are just extremely friendly, and awesome... and the people here in Wales, if I actually think about it remind me exactly of people in Victoria. People in Claremont. Nice, but when it comes to actually making real friendships with new people the effort is severely lacking.

Well now that I'm home this weekend, I might as well make the most of it. I've cleaned my room, my computer (inside & out), will probably head out to get groceries fairly shortly, and will hopefully head out on the town tonight seeing as it's "Marvel" night at Monkey... which basically is the only day when they play danceable music in that place.

Cheers.

Norwich - urban hipster haven?

2010-04-06T21:39:00.002+01:00

Last Wednesday, March 31st, Sam and I left for Norwich - her hometown. Located just north-west of London, it takes about 6-7 hours on the train from Swansea. We left after work at 5:30pm, and arrived in at just after midnight; giving us five full days to explore Norwich and the surrounding areas of Norfolk and Suffolk.

Her parents live in a beautiful terraced house, which has had several extensions. It was decorated in what seemed to be an almost Spanish Mediterranean feel. They had an open plan kitchen - which I love with heated tile (always a novelty). During my rain-styled shower the next morning I felt like I was truly on holiday from my life in Swansea. The first day we had beautiful sunny weather, and we visited the oldest pub in England, The Adam and Eve, as well as taking in about 30 minutes of a Manslaughter Case at the Crown Courts across the street. After lunch we did a bit of shopping in one of the two massive malls that are home to Norwich. I managed to snag some pretty sweet deals at ESPRIT where I got a LBD (Little Black Dress) and a grey jumper dress both 50% off.

Before I left for Norwich I was warned about the farmers, the flatness and the funny accents. What I was greeted with couldn't have been further from that. Everyone was extremely well put together, and dressed up. More so even than both Cardiff and Swansea, both of which I feel people dress up far more than necessary. We walked down one area of the city that had a very bohemian chic feeling - much the same feeling when walking through Old Strathcona in Edmonton. I felt as though it was home to many artsy-urban hipsters who were always dressed 'just-so.' I only heard a handful of people with interesting accents, for the most part I dealt with what can only be described as 'standard english.'

The second day I would experience the 'flatness' that I was told about on the drive to Great Yarmouth. It was flat, that was definitely fair. I didn't really notice a huge difference though, to be honest. Maybe that's just because I'm used to the extreme and startling differences that are Saskatchewan versus British Columbia, but it was flat for a good few hundred meters for sure. Great Yarmouth was great. Typical slightly hokey sea-side resort, it had an amusement park, and plenty of penny machines for playing anything from bingo, to slots.

Sam's whole family came out, including a friend of her brother's and it was tons of fun. We had another gorgeous day in the morning. We went on a few rides, including an old roller coaster; played a few games of Bingo, and penny machines. Both Sam and her brother played the "grab 'em" games - which I have never seen anyone win - and they BOTH WON! Her Brother won a proper Disney Tigger and Eeyore (yes, two on separate occasions), and Sam won some British children's character named "sooty." It was fantastic. We walked down the promenade and got doughnuts and put on about 10 lbs. Right as we were walking back it started pouring down with rain, but it was nice, as I was in the back of the van I slept the whole way back to the house (about a 30 - 45 minute drive away).

Saturday we met up with Sam's friend from swimming, and had lunch at Pizza Express in the Forum, this massive glass building, which looks onto a square. The Forum itself houses a library, the BBC Norwich offices, and then the Pizza Express that we ate at, and a cafe downstairs. (I will have to update my account so that I can load pictures again). Following a quick jaunt around the shops Sam and I headed to Norwich Castle and got a tour of the dungeons. That night we went out with her family to a local pub, and had a great meal deal followed by more than a few glasses of wine. The plan was to head to the "Wind Street" of Norwich, but we didn't quite get that far.

After a Sunday of relaxing and catching up with the grandparents, we had a Sunday Roast/Dinner, which I haven't had in ages. Certainly beat my Christmas Dinner, which consisted of a dry bread roll, ham and cheese... it didn't beat the view however ;o) Sam's mum cooked up chicken, with broccoli, Brussels sprouts (no thanks), potatoes, stuffing, and finished off the meal with a home cooked apple/rhubarb crumble, made with oats instead of ... well whatever crumble is normally made out of. We combined it with greek no-fat yogurt, which had the same consistency as double cream, and it was delicious. Too bad I was so full, or I would have had more.

Monday was our final day in Norwich, and since we hadn't actually visited a beach or the Broads yet, we headed further east. We spent the day in Southwold walking along the pier, and spending some time in the shops to get out of the wind. We also visted the mini arcade which had some ridiculous games, all designed by one man. One of the games you had to stick your hand inside this cage with a (fake) dog's head, and then it would randomly move, and it would 'test' to see how afraid you were by how fast you removed your hand. The one that we all did was an underwater adventure, which saw: Sam's Mum, Sam, Me, and her Dad, all crammed into a tiny space, clearly meant for two children and watched the most ridiculous short film ever. It was clearly a joke, but what made it even funnier was the subject matter. Basically the fish had taken over Southwold, and they made fun of real estate agents, and illigal immigrants!

The journey home today was long, but not as bad as I thought. Since we weren't leaving at 5 in the afternoon, I think it was a little bit more bearable. We left at 11:30am, and arrived back in Swansea, stepping into our front door at around 7pm.

It's crazy because I'll have a three day week this week, then a five day week, and then I'm off to Limoges to visit Meaghan!

Happy Travels!

I Just Want My Friend Back.

2010-03-31T12:08:00.010+01:00

These past 11 days can now rank themselves as in some of the worst days of my life. I've had worse, don't get me wrong. There have been times where I have been unable to stop crying, or actually felt like there was no hope or purpose in anything. These days haven't been like that. Rather, I have emotionally roller coastered all over the place. One day I feel great, absolutely on top of the world, acting silly and laughing uncontrollably; but then, two days later I absolutely feel awful. I just want my friend back. I feel naseous about the situation. I don't apologize and am not embarrassed, I don't think I made a mistake, nor do I regret my actions, but I do hope that we can get over the situation and move on. I acctually think that this has the potential to improve the friendship.

Half the people in my office were on holiday last week, and this week, with Easter coming up, the other half is taking extra days surrounding the four day long weekend. Last week I did mainly data entry, and now have the unfortunate knowledge of how many Libraries, JobCentres, and Citizen's Advice Bureaus there are in Wales.

This week I started to look at different activities to be used for the Training Sessions for the Student Ambassadors. I emailed the Campus Ambassador Coordinator at the U of A, as well as the current Orientation Managers, asking if I could get any training tips, or activities from them, to use in my training session. Considering the U of A used to have one of the best Orientation programs in Canada, it only made sense to make use of any connections that I had to create a great program for Swansea. I have also asked a number of my friends who used to be Volunteer Extrordinaires back in Edmonton.

As I've probably stated before, I've come upon somewhat of a brick wall in terms of cultural differences when it comes to being enthusiastic and participative. I spoke with my old Campus Ambassador TF - Matt Long about this and he put me into concant with former CA Coordinator, who is also living in the UK at the moment. I emailed her, and asked for some feedback with how she's dealt with the different ideologies in terms of volunteering. I have yet to receive a response, but the feedback from the Orientation Managers has been good. I have received replies but they haven't really said much. Katie has been absolutely amazing. I went to her to ask if she had any outlines of activities for: Team Building, Leadership, Diversity Training, and/or Communication, and she really came through for me. Presumably, most activities that organizations have are kept in files on word or pdf documents - which was exactly what Katie had, however the Orientation Office at the University seemed to need a greater clairification on what was needed....

When we all return back to the office after the Easter weekend, I'm hoping that we'll sit down and start discussing moving the Student Ambassador Program forward. I'm really excited about it to be honest, it feels like my own project, that I can almost own.

Today is my last day in the office for almost 7 days. I'm taking the long weekend and extending it as I'm heading to Norwich with my flatmate Sam. We leave tonight on the train, and are connecting in London. We managed to get return tickets for under £30, so that's quite amazing, considering if you do a search online for Swansea - Norwich (return), it is more than £70. Norwich is located about two hours north-east of London, and I believe it's the capital of Norfolk. I've never been to that area of the country before so I'm very much looking forward to that.

Last night marked my first Pub Quiz ever. Haylea and I went out with some new friends, which was a nice change. Especially since most of our other friends have either left the country, or have headed out of town for the break. It was also the subject of much debate as one of our mutual friends chose to call it a "date" for Haylea and one of the guys. I laughed in his face when he told me, as what we went to last night could only be described as "group gathering."

Also this past week, Haylea got a job at the University! She's working in the Computer Science Department for IT Wales. Some software development program. It sounds really cool, because apparently she gets to go to all these invester encouragment luncheons and evening meetings. I'm a little jealous! What's cool is that she's now on Campus, which allows us to meet for lunch, hence where I'm heading today.

Today should be one of the best days of my life. I get to meet one of my best friends for lunch, where we both love our jobs, we get to discuss this summer's activites in more detail, as we've just BOOKED tickets to Oklahoma and New York City for this summer's holiday. Today should be one of the best days of my life, but it's unfortunately marred by the inability to share the excitement of one of my best friends because I royally messed that up.

New Friends and New Beginnings.

2010-03-21T19:53:00.007Z

While last week was exciting, and busy, this week has been exhausting, mentally and emotionally.

A number of weeks ago I went with someone from my office to Cardiff. She asked me if I wanted to drive the car back from her house to Swansea. I took the train. I got my drivers license in 2006, following that I have basically had 1 month of driving in four years. I got it so that I wouldn't have to worry ever. Haylea suggested that we rent a car, so that I get some practice, I off-handedly mentioned this to the Office, and they offered to rent a car for me so that I could practice, and get familiar with the road. So on Tuesday, March 16th, I set off for the day to practice in an Enterprise hire car.

Naturally the first two hours were shaky, and there were two incidences that occurred. (1) I shoulder checked, and while I was looking backwards I went across the line into the shoulder of the road, and (2) just after I entered the first round-about that I've ever been on in the world, I stopped when trying to exit left. So it was a little daunting. I was told to practice round-abouts and generally concentrate on getting more experience driving. I then went out to the Gower to pick up Haylea, we drove back to Neath/Pt. Talbot College in Neath, and then headed to Llansamlet to practice round-abouts. It was at this point that I was told by the office to return the car immediately. I was in trouble, and I couldn't figure out why, and naturally it was a shock to discover when I returned that they felt that I was a danger to myself and others on the road. Why was I allowed to continue with my friend if I was a danger on the road? I was told that I should re-take my test, and that I needed loads more practice, and until I had some sort of "official" letter/certification, that I wouldn't be allowed to drive - hence, go anywhere.

I feel like I'm in a really tights spot because on the one hand, I really am not a fan of driving anyway. It's more of a means to an end, and it looks like this end is taking me to the end of my career if I don't get some lessons. So, I booked a lesson with Tanya, from Roadsense driving school on Saturday. I was adamant that I was not going to re-take my test. After all, I did it once, I shouldn't have to do it again. That's like repeating High School or Grade 10, even though you don't really remember Grade 10 Math. Definitely take a few refresher lessons in the subject, but you shouldn't have to do the entire course again! My lesson with Tanya went really well, she echoed the sentiments of my friend, when she said that I "definitely don't need to redo [my] test" what I do need to do is just practice more and get more confidence, and read the Highway Code, and do a practice Theory Test. I have another lesson booked for next week, where we're going to go over the theory, and practice motor-way driving. Then I'm thinking, in order for me to have access to a car, I'll book 1 or 2 lessons with her on manual, so that I can practice with Haylea, that way, I'm not off the road for long periods of time. Do I intend on getting my Manual license - not likely. But the practice of being on the road will be good, I think. Again - a lousy means, to a good end.

Last weekend, after being in Portsmouth for two days, I was thouroughly exhausted. I did manage to make it to a house-warming party with Sam though, Saturday night. It was one of her friends' from uni, and another friend of her's came down from London for the weekend. We went out for American Style French Toast at Eddy Rockets (which was delicious), and then did some shopping for the party that night. The party itself was fun. Sam's friends were very welcoming, and friendly. They had brand new laminant flooring, that looked exactly like real hardwood, so Sam and I had a good chat about asking our landloard to replace our flooring with something. I also noticed all the couples that fail to unlink from each other after leaving their house. I find it extremely frustrating, because what's the point of leaving your house if you're just going to walk around like one entity the entire night? I would like to think that if I ever end up in a relationship again, I'd be able to do it properly. I am extremely ashamed and embarrassed about how I acted with my first boyfriend, and would like to hope that I can attribute that to being young, and disrespectful of other people. If I end up in a relationship again, I'd like to think that I'd be able to leave the house on my own, head to a house warming party, a night on the town, or a lunch with friends sans parter. Then when we both returned home, we could discuss each party, and then be smug in our private happiness without broadcasting it around the world. I spoke to Meaghan this weekend as well, which was fantastic to catch up, and it was nice to have someone in an established relationship agree with me - that it's pointless to head out to a party with your significant other when you're not going to separate all night.

Friday night Haylea and I headed out to Tooters with some new friends, which was excellent. Since working at the University, I have met some really great people through the UCAS Visit Days. We all met up for drinks in JCs and then moved over to Tooters in Divas. We were there for 930pm -ish, and it was already quite busy. When we left at 130am, it seemed reasonable, but at the same time, not too late because we had started so early. On the whole a fantastic evening. The next day was a rough one though. Not because I was hungover (I don't get hungover), but because I had my first Driving Lesson, (which is mentally exhausting), trying to concentrate on everything at once, I also made the decision to end a friendship that was causing me nothing but emotional distress.

I've never actually ended a friendship before, so this was definitely a new experience. I have never even fallen out with a friend. I have fallen out of touch with people, many of whom just are not worth the effort of keeping in touch. I have also lost touch with those people that I felt WERE worth the effort, but clearly they thought differently about me. Of course I found the later infinitely distressing. This was a different situation entirely. I really enjoyed the persons company, and they seemed to want to make the effort to keep in touch with me, it did however, have the unfortunate effect of causing me to develop feelings - never a good thing (especially when they are not reciprocated). Thus, in order to protect myself from any future pain, I pre-emptively removed myself from the friendship.

This week is looking to be a good one; Haylea just got word that she has a job at the University as well. As Ashley said at work "now you two will be working together as well!?" - Yes Ashley, and it will be fantastic. I have dinner and a movie tomorrow night - probably going to see Alice in Wonderland, and then this is the last weekend I have free before heading to Norwich. I might be picking up Squash again, we shall see... and if I can manage it, a speed walk in during the mornings. Unlikely.

Business Trip

2010-03-13T23:23:00.002Z

This past week was a busy one.

A couple weeks ago when Sam's parents were in town, I ate an almond cookie and instantly had immense tooth pain. I scheduled an appointment with the dentist the following Wednesday and he informed me that I needed a filling. Thus, this was scheduled for the following Monday (March 9). I staunchly told him that what was going to happen was that I get a Xanax, then numbing gel, then a needle. I don't want to know what's going on, I just want to fall asleep, he does his work, and then I go to sleep and sleep it off. Well turns out that they don't have Xanax, so instead I got a Valium. I was told that it would be the same thing, and everything would be fine. I was quite looking forward to being off my face sleepy because the night before was the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, and I was planning on staying up all night to see them.

I'll first state that in no world are Valium and Xanax similar. I've taken Xanax twice now, and do not remember my time under the influence, it was extreme relaxation and bliss. Valium however turned me into the most depressing version of myself. I was just sad. About everything. The dental work itself went fine. I was able to have proper conversations with the dental nurse about Rascal Flatts, which I should not be able to do under the circumstance. The remainder of the day I was extremely depressed. I texted depressing messages to my friends, and I questioned what they thought of me. That night I had a dinner with people from work. Because it was Valium that I had taken, I was able to function enough to head to dinner, however when the subject turned to the tastiest mix, I mentioned that my particular favourite was Green Apple Rum, and diet Coke, it tastes like Jolly Rancher. When no one knew what a Jolly Rancher was I got extremely upset and homesick. It was pretty much one of the lowest days ever.

The night before I will give mixed reviews. It was the Oscars, and I had invited around a number of people to come and watch. I had a bit of apprehension in the morning when I found out that Sky 1 was only showing the Red Carpet pre-show, not the actual event. How does that make any sense? I found that the Associated Press was live streaming the event though, which calmed me down a little bit, and we watched the entire Red Carpet event on the actual TV. When I went to set up the live streaming though (which I had previously tested), it wasn't working anymore. Evidently, the AP and ABC had decided they were only going to live stream the pre-show, not the actual awards. SO frustrating. After about 15 minutes of searching for a live stream feed I had to send everyone home. It was about 30 minutes later, after talking to my Mum, that I finally found one, and got to watch the show in its entirety. I was up until 5am in the morning. I did get the chance to Skype with Gillian for a bit though, so that was great. The movie that picked up the most was The Hurt Locker, so that was great, James Cameron's ex wife sticking it to him.

The rest of the week was made up of a mish-mash of work related events. Tuesday was kept busy with envelope stuffing for the Post Graduate Open Day on Wednesday, which seemed to go well. Wednesday evening I was off to Portsmouth with Gareth from Biological Sciences for two days.

When Barrie first asked me to go I was overly excited, I was getting to go away for business! A Business Trip! The closer it came to the day of departure the more worried I became. I spoke with Andy about what to expect at the fairs, and where to go and see in Portsmouth. I also told him I was staying at the Ibis Central. He assured me that everyone was extremely friendly and would often come around and introduce themselves and then tell you where they were going for dinner. Unfortunately he also told me that the Ibis that I would be staying in, was a complete dump, and that it was "pretty much the worst hotel [he] stayed in" ... great.

I looked up the hotel on TripAdvisor, and although 51% of people did not recommend this hotel, that meant that 49% did! I like Ibis, they are usually a clean, and modern hotel chain for a reasonable price. I arrived that night with the taxi driver echoing Andy's sentiments, fearing the worst. The lobby itself was beautiful, as a hotel lobby should be. It was clean, the reception friendly. When I got into the elevator, and saw the walls that lined my hallway, I was a bit concerned. I'd stepped back into the 1970s, and people know how I hate old things. My room though, was great. It was clean, modern, and small. I've never seen a room that small on land. It was a weird set up as well because instead of having a double bed and a desk, there was a double bed, and a single bed, which didn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. The bathroom itself was fantastic. The shower was nice and hot. Too many times hotels don't allow the shower to get scalding for fear of their guests hurting themselves.

I had arranged to have internet and movie package, and the internet didn't work my first night. Luckily I had my Connect 3 flash-drive, which allowed me to connect with the outside world. I also took it upon myself to watch "The Invention of Lying" which wasn't as funny as it looks. The bed was fine, it was a perfect temperature, and they provided you with coffee or tea. There was no hairdryer, but I wasn't really expecting one. The breakfast was a bit naff as they didn't even check to see if I had purchased it. Any hobo could have walked in and ate. They provided the regular stuff though: Cereal, Toast, Croissants, Fruit, Yogurt, Ham, Sausage, Eggs and Beans.

Travelling with Gareth was a treat. He was absolutely one of the nicest people I've ever met. He was also really interesting, so for the full 5 hour journey down to Portsmouth we didn't stop chatting. He'd also done loads of these before, and he said the same as Andy about people being super friendly etc. I should have known it was all too good to be true. Don't get me wrong, I had a fabulous time, but there certainly wasn't the welcome wagon that I was expecting. No one came over to introduce themselves, and there certainly weren't any invitations for dinner. I can't say I was overly surprised though.

After the first day, Gareth walked me over to Gunwarf Quay which is the brand new shopping district. It was phenomenal. It was all brand new with some of the best stores. It reminded me a bit of the outdoor malls you get in the USA sometimes. It was completely outside, and had an outdoors feel, but had a roof, so if it rained you didn't get wet. I visited the Holiday Inn Express and got a map, snapped a few pictures and found my way back to the hotel when it was still light out. After getting changed I headed in search of the first meal I've ever eaten in a restaurant by myself. I found a great little Argentinean Steak House, and it was delicious. I had the equivalent of Prime Rib, with cheesy garlic bread and salad. I took a walk along the sea front back to the shopping district, where was was also going to engage in my first movie I've ever seen alone. When I finally arrived, since the times didn't match up I decided to go back to the hotel and catch up on some of the TV that I'd missed - LOST, Gossip Girl, being the most important.

The rest of the fair went fine, I felt I learned a lot, and got into the flow of things. I really enjoyed myself, and on the way back I started reading Unchained America by Dave Gorman. Finally got in at 8:30pm Friday night, which made for a long week, and I slept in until 10:30am this morning. This weekend will be a great rest, nothing but leisure activities. I look forward to the next fair I'm allowed to do

Cheers

xoxo

Proud to be Canadian.

2010-03-06T18:14:00.004Z

The Olympics closed with a bang last week with the Gold Medal game between the USA and Canada. Canada claimed our 14th Gold medal of the games, and proved that we are the best nation in Hockey, and were able to maintain the overcrazed fandom and overstated identity that has been tied to the game.

Throughout the games I had been watching highlights on BBC after work until Alex showed me how to watch them live on the website. This allowed me to watch the Curling and Hockey live ensuring that I stayed up until 1am each night. It was an amazing games, and Canada got the record for the most golds won at any games. It made me miss my country more than ever, which was very depressing. It also made me fall for Vancouver in a way I never imagined. I spoke with Katie this morning after weeks of skype attempts, and I admitted that I could see myself living in Vancouver. Something I never thought I would utter. So Calgary watch out, Vancouver is tugging at my heartstrings.

We watched the final game, and it was a heart-stopper. I've never been one for sports, especially hockey; however, this being the final game with our entire national identity resting on it, the tension was extremely high. The score was 2-1 for Canada by the third period with 30 seconds on the clock, and in the final 30 seconds the USA scored the point that would tie the game pushing it into sudden death overtime. It was the most exciting game I have ever seen played, and when Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal I have never felt further from home, or further from the celebration that rocked Vancouver that night.

With the Olympics over, I'm hoping that I won't have to describe myself as living "just north of LA" anymore, and instead can say, "just outside of Vancouver" which is still a bit of a stretch. Going into work the next day I painted my nails red, wore red shoes, and made sure to wear my maple leaf pendant.

Work is still going well. I got to present my idea about the Student Ambassador Program the other day. Currently, there isn't any delegation. After witnessing the stress levels rise I have suggested that we create two positions. 1. Student Ambassador Team Leader, and 2. Student Ambassador. The Team Leader would be in charge of several of the regular ambassadors, thus delegating the responsibility and tasks, allowing the main person to only worry about 5-7 people. I have also suggested that we only pay the Team Leaders; thus, beginning the start of the cultural differences that I have faced recently.

I was a Campus Ambassador at the U of A, and I did Orientation for 4 years. No one - except for staff were paid, and the volunteers - including the TFs were lucky to get a shirt, and maybe an appreciation gift. I'm suggesting that we lavish our Student Ambassadors with water-bottles, food at every event, t-shirts and hoodies! I also suggested that a Team-Building Retreat as an incentive. Oh the Horror! I was really surprised. This was not the reaction that I was expecting. I received the same reaction from almost everyone I suggested it to. It was described as "organized fun" which apparently people don't like. Haylea said that it probably goes along with my idea that British people aren't friendly, and don't like meeting new people.

Although I've been quite lucky with my British friends, it's not been easy. I feel that some of them really took a while to open up and accept me as a friend, and others are un-characteristically friendly for being British, and have gone entirely against the norm of what I have previously experienced here. So my retreat idea was nixed, but get this: they also don't do icebreakers at training. If I get any say in training there will most definitely be icebreakers suggested.

Last week at work I also met Andy. He basically travels from now until July to all the different fairs around the country. I guess that he did the same position last year, and has been working for the Recruitment Office forever. He's travelled loads, around Europe and America, so it does seem that he knows what I'm talking about most of the time, which is nice. It'll be great when I start to take over the Student Ambassadors to be working with them more. I do get the feeling that Judith feels as though students aren't very responsible, which is weird, seeing as the entire SU at the U of A run by students. I'm quite excited about the opportunity to run this project as my own. I told Barrie that the only thing I'm worried about is the bureaucracy behind the establishment of the positions. I don't feel that the recruitment and retention of the volunteers will be a problem, as I have done that tons before. Although - with this new culture, it could be much more challenging, which is good also.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but Angela, from the Study Abroad office sent me a job description about a month ago for a position at Newcastle University in Australia. It's for an International Partnerships Officer position, and it basically is my dream job. I don't have the qualifications and experience yet, but I'm hoping that over the next year or two I can build and gain the skills to get that job. It would be perfect, because it was fixed term for one year as well. I emailed the contact and voiced my interest even though I wasn't applying as I felt that if I can get my name in the mix, and make it familiar maybe it would help me in the future. Also, if I manage to reorganize and redevelop the Student Ambassador program, it will be a great asset to show off on my CV.

Next week I'm going to Portsmouth for an HE fair. I'm going with this guy from Biological Sciences who I guess goes to these things all the time. He's a PhD student studying Eurasian Otters. Everyone raves about him in the office, so hopefully he's not a huge douche. I doubt he will be. He's from the Isle of Wight, so I will be in the Ibis downtown all by myself, which is a bit unnerving. I've never stayed in a hotel by myself, and I've never eaten at a restaurant by myself. I've been asking Andy some questions about HE fairs because he's done so many of them, and his answers are a bit contradicting. On the one hand he has said that others who go to the fairs, are super nice, and everyone meets up for drinks and stuff at the end of the day etc, but then he has said that he'd never eaten by himself until going on these mini-trips. Should be interesting. I can go to a movie by myself, but I honestly can't see myself eating at a restaurant by myself. Unless it is prime rib.

I haven't driven yet in the UK, which is why they are sending me on the train. I was supposed to have a practice drive on Tuesday with Judith. Then I was going to drive Ross to Pembrokeshire to present on Student Life with him, but there is a Postgraduate Open Day on the Wednesday, we are just going to be too busy. I hope I get a chance to practice before March 18th though, because I'm driving to Neath/Port Talbot for another HE Fair.

This Monday I'm taking my first Flexi-Day. It's the Oscars on Sunday night, and so I'm having a few people over to watch the show, which will last all night. In preparation Haylea and I have seen almost all of the movies that have been nominated. It's nice that this weekend is a long one because so much is happening in the upcoming weeks. Tonight Jasmin's having a house party for her birthday, so we're heading out for that shortly - finally going to make it to Noah's Yard as well.

Looking forward to the upcoming months. Heading to Norwich for the Easter Weekend, then heading to Limoges to visit Meaghan. Marlene is coming to visit after she gets back from Thailand, and then Sam and I are going to try to get in a trip before June. Then it's off to the USA for Oklahoma/NYC adventure!

GO CANADA!

2010-02-19T18:19:00.008Z

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games have begun, and Canada is performing! In both the Calgary (1988) and Montreal (1976) games, Canada failed to win a single Gold medal. However, now after only one week, Canada is fourth in the medal count, with 3 golds, 3 silvers, and 1 bronze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5hTjx2GTg

Last week was the opening ceremonies of the games, and since they are in Vancouver, they were broadcast live on BBC 2 at 1:45am in the morning. I'm not that much of a fan that I was going to stay up and watch the entire thing, so instead another Canadian - Alex, who I met when I accompanied the Business School up to Gregynog in October and I decided to host an "Olympics Evening" where people brought food, and we watched the Opening Ceremonies on BBC iplayer. We had a great turnout with: 3 Canadians, 1 Norwegian, 1 American, 2 Welsh, and 2 British.

The opening ceremonies was a fantastic display, and I'm actually quite annoyed with people who say it didn't compare to Beijing; especially Canadians, because it's quite obvious that we don't have the capacity starting with population size to compete with the Chinese. Also, I felt that everything was done spectacularly well. There was an even combination of BC versus the rest of Canada culture and symbolism represented. I thought that the Native American was classy and well done; the display of Whales with the water on the floor was an amazing; and the beautiful colours of a Canadian Fall, with the dancers, and fiddlers of the Maritimes. The only element that I didn't particularly like was when this boy in a harness runs through fields of prairie grass, depicting the central provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I liked it, but it's a bit boring - much like the provinces themselves. I liked the colour, but I didn't like how there were patches of prairie grass on the floor, and they would randomly appear. Overall though, the 3 hours went by quickly, and the representation of Canada through dance and pictures was interspersed with Canadian artists such as: Bryan Adams & Nelly Furtado, KD Lang, and Sarah MacLauchlan.

(I tried to find a short video recap of the highlights of the Opening Ceremonies but the IOC is making it impossible.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lIIahj-2j4&feature=related

Most people know my previous thoughts on Vancouver - A city full of people who believe that they are arrogant and better than everyone. I’ve always explained it akin to that episode on SATC (Sex and the City), where Carrie dates that guy from Manhattan, and he wonders why anyone would ever leave. They have an awful transportation system, and everything is so spread out, and there are too many people.

After living abroad for a year, doing a project last year on Lululemon, and this year watching as the world descends upon Vancouver for the Olympics, and following Mayor Gregor Robertson on Twitter has made me come very close to having a love affair with the city. Vancouver has always been a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains, and the ocean, with the skyscrapers rising up from the city making a beautiful cityscape in the process. This along with the laid back attitude of work hard, but balance it properly with an active lifestyle combined with the goal of being the Greenest City by 2020 has made it impossible for me to hate it, and thus Vancouver has moved significantly up the list as possible locations to move when I decide to head back to Canada.

Canada has snatched gold so far in: Women’s Snowboarding Cross (Maelle Ricker), Men’s Moguls (Alexandre Bilodeau), and Women’s 1000m Speed Skating (Christine Nesbitt). We also have hope for Kevin Martin’s Curling team, which has managed to beat Norway and France, and Men’s Hockey which has so far beat every team they have played. Up next is Canada versus the USA on Sunday night - debating whether to stay up to watch.

Needless to say, that this week has been taken up mostly by the Olympic celebrations, and watching the Olympics every evening. However, that being said, the 82^nd Academy Awards is coming up on March 7^th, and in order to prepare Haylea and I are attempting to watch as many of the nominated films as possible. Over the past two weeks we’ve seen Brothers and The Messenger. Both were immensely depressing; but, you don’t get nominated for an Oscar telling a happy story usually.

Last Sunday was also Valentine’s Day, and I got to see the new film Valentine’s Day with Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, and the rest of the ensemble cast. It was a fantastic movie, and ended as all movies do when they are in the Romantic Comedy genre, but I’ll have to add it to my collection when I get to North America again

This weekend is the British versus German Dual Swim Meet at the Wales National Pool. I had volunteered to help Swim Wales with the Marketing of their events, and I first met with them almost 5 weeks ago. The first meeting went great, they seemed very excited about my involvement, and started spouting about press releases, and media interviews etc, and it all sounded thrilling – a way to actually use the MSc – Management (Marketing) that I received in the post yesterday. They drew up several plans, and projects for me to work on, and then I failed to hear from them for three weeks. It was beyond frustrating. How am I supposed to help when they aren’t going to help me? So when I was under the impression that I was going to have tons of people to contact and all they gave me was a few posters to put up I have to say I was less than impressed.

I’m also heading to Stonehenge tomorrow with the Study Abroad office. Since I did three weeks of volunteer work for them in January I have been allowed to go on all the day trips that they do. This week is Stonehenge, and in two weeks I get to go to Chepstow Castle. I’ve never been to Stonehenge before and getting to go for free is fantastic. My friend from Oklahoma, Dare is going, and actually the American that was at our Olympics Opening Ceremony party is going as well, so I won’t be totally alone.

TGIF & Good Luck Canada with the next week and a half.

LOST!

2010-02-05T16:45:00.007Z

Lost Fan Here:

I love working. The work that I have been given so far has been diverse; thus, has remained interesting. The first week was a bit chaotic as I pushed my way into a start date. There wasn’t a desk, computer, phone, or email login available. This week however, Julie, Judith and I were able to move downstairs to the new office. They’ve boxed up all the wires and pipes, and it’s been painted a sort of egg-shell, baby yellow, with navy blue carpet. There are brand new desks, and I have a new computer, with a wide screen monitor, and new phone.

There is quite a bit of wall space around my desk that I can decorate, so I’m going to put up one of Haylea’s pictures. We’re trying to promote her as a photographer. Last week she contacted a few photographers around Swansea and is looking for some work experience. This weekend, we are going to go through her photos, and hopefully pick out 20 or so to start developing a portfolio. We’d like to create a website for her as well, and speak to some local coffee shops to get her work displayed, but I’m having an extreme amount of difficulty publishing a web page.

I have web space available, as a student at the University of Alberta for nearly 5 years, I still have my CCID, and password, and amazingly even after 2 years, it still works. I still have full access to my ualberta.ca email, and my library account. The library account came in handy last year when looking for journal articles for papers and projects. Now I’m attempting to utilize the 1GB web space that I am allocated. As I have a Mac, I am also able to use iweb, which looks like it will be a fantastic tool to assist in the development of a website. However, once you have developed the website you need to publish it, and to do that you need an FTP Client. FTP stands for: File Transfer Protocol. It allows you to transfer one type of file to another type, such as transferring the non-html website that you have designed using a program like iweb to a website, and allows it to look the same. I followed the instructions on the AICT website, but however am having problems connecting to the server. I contacted the AICT helpdesk, and they requested that I come into their office. Obviously, this is impossible. I also don’t want them restricting my ualberta.ca access! So for now I will leave it, and instead enlist my friend Tom, who is studying “internet technology” to help me figure out how this all works.

This week I worked my second UCAS Open Day. The UCAS Days (every Wednesday, for the next 6 weeks) are a much smaller version of the UofA’s big Open House. In the morning the prospective students come and take tours of the Campus, accommodation, and Sports facilities; then there is an introductory talk in the afternoon, followed by departmental visits. Judith has run the UCAS days for the past few years, and so I get to help her, organizing the students who are working the event, and packing up at the end of the day. It's what I did in Orientation, and with Campus Ambassadors, but now I'm paid to do what I've volunteered at for 5 years. The only thing is that the reception desk, which is where I am all day is located in the main hall at Fulton House, which is basically a wind tunnel. So although I’ll wear appropriate clothes to wear to work, standing in the freezing cold all day gets old, fast.

On Thursday I also got to attend my first HE Fair. I went with Caroline, the Post Graduate Recruitment Officer, and although I wouldn’t describe it as FUN! it was, in a sense. We set up the booth, and sat at the table, had lunch provided, and got to speak to prospective students all day, as well as meeting some of the recruitment staff from other Universities. I definitely felt after that experience, recruitment is exactly what I want to do. I didn’t really talk much, but once I become more familiar with the University, and the programs available I think I'll have more confidence to discuss programs offered.

This week LOST returned to television. Haylea and I prepared for the event by re-watching the fifth season a few weeks ago. Although, we soon realized that it would have been a better idea to watch season four as well. It premiered on February 2^nd, (Groundhog Day), so we got to watch it on February 3rd, with the UK premiere set for tonight, Friday, February 5th. As I now have a TV, with Sky 1, some people are coming over to re-watch the first episode, and analyze it some more.

Here is a re-cap of the first 5 seasons of LOST if you aren't a follower.

Human Resources Frustrations

2010-01-25T21:57:00.001Z

It’s finally finished. My 6 weeks of unemployment. Today is my last day before I finally start my new job. It’s been an exhausting process. Back in June when I finally finished classes I began to look for work. When it became apparent that I wasn’t going to find any I settled on signing up to every temp agency in the city. I started work at the NHS Pandemic Flu Service for two months before moving to Virgin Media for a little over three – although it felt like a lot longer. All the while I had been applying to jobs with universities around the country. I was applying to absolutely everything. Just to get my foot in the door.

I finally got an interview, and although I was unsuccessful for the Residence Coordinator position, I knew now how to secure an interview, and actually it might have been fate, because that same day that I was rejected I saw that the Recruitment Office was hiring for a clerical assistant. I jumped on the opportunity and sent my application in as soon as possible. There was also two other positions that I applied for in the Recruitment Office; Recruitment Officer, and Post-Grad Recruitment Officer. For the first I was successful in gaining an interview, but unsuccessful past that, and the second one I didn’t even get an interview. But – no matter, because I WAS successful in the Clerical Assistant Position.

I was told that they wanted me to start ASAP, so I thought after Christmas, but alas I was not to start until they had the office refurbished, which would be closer to the middle of January. So, as my funds began to run thin I became desperate to secure a start date. When I finally went in to visit the HR people, they said that my references hadn’t gone through, and although they had received Gillian’s reference, but needed one from my most recent employer. That meant that I needed to get Nick (my team manager at Virgin Media) to give them a response.

Except; get this – He’s not allowed to give a reference. He has to forward my request up to the HR department of Manpower/Virgin Media so that they can send a letter in the post. When I found this out, I freaked out. Although the post system here in the UK is absolutely phenomenal, I’m still not used to things being done by the regular mail, because at home the post is so bad it takes at least 7-10 working days to get a letter in the same city.

I spoke with my future boss last week, and we sorted out a start date – Tuesday, January 25, 2010. Then I got a message from the Swansea HR people saying that I needed my final reference before I could start. So that’s what I spent today doing. I called and found out that they had received the Manpower/VM reference last week but all that was included was the title that I had, and the dates that I worked there. This was not sufficient information for the Swansea HR people. I called VM again, and then Barbara picked up. I begged her to just call up the HR people at Swansea and verbally tell them that I worked well and showed up on time etc. Well SHE wouldn’t do it either!! I then called Blue Arrow, and although they remembered me, they also said that all they could provide me with reference wise was the job title and the dates I worked for them. No one will provide me with a real reference.

It was at this point that I collapsed on the kitchen floor in a flood of tears. What was I going to do? I have no idea why my Alberta Reference from the University of Alberta in the Athletics department didn’t come through, but other then them, and the two jobs that I’ve worked here in the UK, I couldn’t think of any other references. I then begged Gina, to write a reference. I texted Mike and Alena from the SU, and made several trans-Atlantic phone calls in order to get me some sort of reference so that I could start tomorrow.

Finally, at my wit’s end I named Angela from the Study Abroad office as a reference. I have been volunteering at the Study Abroad office for the past three weeks, and didn’t have any other ideas on who I could use. Luckily she cmae through, and I got my second reference, and I guess Rose, from Swansea HR called VM as well, and got a VERY hesitant Barbara to at least verbally say that she thought I was a good employee.

I was supposed to be “interning” with the Study Abroad office, but when I found out that I got a full time position in the Recruitment Office, I wasn’t able to do both. However, due to my delayed start date I told Angela and Catherine that I’d be able to help out as long as I was unemployed. I initially helped at the Orientation, and I was allowed to accompany the American Students to the Gower the first weekend.

The following weekend I got to go to “Big Pit” and I got to bring Haylea with me. It was a lot of fun, and I wouldn’t be doing something like it lately. After getting a tour we got to shop in Cardiff, so we got to go to the new St. David’s Shopping Centre. Last weekend we all went to Bath for the day, and I brought Sam with me. We did a tour of the Roman Baths and then got lunch at a local pub and walked around the city for a bit. It’s been a really good three weeks, and I’ve really enjoyed my time with the Study Abroad office. I got a free lunch on Friday and got to meet a couple of very cute German Erasmus students. I’ve also met a few really nice Americans, so it’s looking up to be a great few months.

I’m exhausted now being at the gym for two hours, so I’ll sign off and make sure that I update on the job.