New Digs

Hello friends! I know some of you are shocked with my recent news, so I thought I would fill you all in. I met a boy. His name is Pawel and he is Polish. We met at a club in Camden called Proud (shockingly, not a gay bar). He has two lovely children. Angelika, 5 and Piotrek, 4. Things have been going really, really well. We had been spending a lot of time together and Pawel knew that I wasn't happy where I was living (After Macheala moved out my landlady picked the most disgusting human being to live with) So Pawel suggested we move in together. My first reaction was "Are you fucking kidding me!?" (He didn't like that very much). We talked and talked and talked about it. But then we decided that since I was here a lot anyway it just made sense. So I packed all my shit and heading to North London. It has been going pretty good, we both are able to have separate space when we need it and are able to tell each other if something is bothering us.
I've been off work this week and have really enjoyed playing house....Well, I guess it's not really playing anymore....

Dublin!

On 27 September I headed to Dublin! Birthplace of my boyfriend and some other famous people (the stalking was kept to a minimum.....He was in Spain) but had a great time without him!
I was also really disappointed that Gary and Gemma wouldn't be in town while I was there, but I did get to stay with Sarah Jane and her gorgeous family! I was a little nervous about seeing Sarah again as we hadn't seen each other in about 12 years, but my fears were unfounded (of course) and we had a great time catching up (mostly catching up on all the people that we went to high school with...I know waaay too much about these people :p)

I got in at 11am and was met at the airport by Sarah and the gorgeous Henry (Sarah's 11 month old son. It was so nice to be met at the airport. I miss that small luxury! After dropping off my things at the house and meeting the rest of the Kedian clan (husband Matt and three year old Freya) I headed out to do my FAVOURITE touristy thing.....The open top bus tour!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I took a bunch of pictures and decided what I wanted to see for the next day as the tickets are good for 24 hours. Seriously, if you are ever in a city that offers them, go. They are great!!

Spent the morning of the following day on the bus tour, had a Guiness for breakfast (I poured my own perfect pint) and went to tour Kilmainham jail, saw the hotel that Bono and the Edge own and hung out on O'Connell Street for a while too.

Wednesday I decided to take a proper holiday day and relax at the house for the day (and the fact that my bank card decided that Ireland was too foreign and wouldn't work)...And then all of a sudden my holiday was up and it was Thursday. Spent the morning with Sarah, walking Freya to school and having a coffee then back to the airport. Such a quick trip, but so glad I went. Feels like Sarah and I have really reconnected and reminded me of a great friendship!

Coming up work trips to Wales and Edinburgh and a trip to Berlin (if I can sort out accommodation) and maybe a trip to Poland.

Still not sure what is happening in the future. I do want to stay here, but we will see if I can get a job until May.....

What!? Four months!?

So last week it dawned on me that my time in London is running out. That sucked my soul for a few days and I'm still trying to come out of that! I can't believe that in four months I may be living back in Canada! But I am trying not to think of it and just live in the now.....Very difficult for over-planner Piehl!

Man, when you work at a university the summer months are soooo long and soooo very boring. For the first 3 weeks I was happy for the break. Tidying up my office, taking care of some paperwork....But now, four months in I have had enough! I am really looking forward to the students coming back! I have been...I can't say busy...but occupied? with planning the trips for this semester. All the same as before Paris, Edinburgh and Pony Trekking in Wales and looking for trips to go on before I have to move back home. I have already booked a trip to Ireland to visit some friends from high school and I have been looking at a trip to Eastern Europe in October. Will probably hit Krakow, Budapest and maybe Vienna for a week. Just trying to sort out the logistics now. We'll have to see how that goes...I will keep you updated!!

So....This is July

Things have been pretty quiet. I celebrated my year anniversary in style by going to Ascot with 15 students and then by drinking champagne on the banks of the Thames with friends.

Tasha and Jason came to stay at the beginning and end of thier month long trip abroad, the first time they came it was pretty funny. They were VERY jetlagged and I think their trip is pretty blurry, but when they came to stay last week we had a great time....We kind of accidentally got drunk and I ended up calling half of Canada and showing up to work drunk the next morning. Good times.

We are short staffed at work right now so they have asked me to live in the halls and do some RA duties, it's pretty sweet, but I have become UBER lazy and don't really leave campus anymore. But living right in Regent's Park is gorgeous and I'm loving the commute!

There isn't too much coming up in the near future. My colleague and I have decided to make up Commonwealth Day (she was born in Australia) on 6 August. Basically it's just so we can go and get drunk on the 5th....We did google Commonwealth Day and it's TECHNICALLY the second Monday in March, but I think this one will have waaay more people celebrate it....Namely Erin and me and whoever else we can drag along!

I'll let you know how it goes!

My Londiniversary

In eight days I will have officially lived in London for a year! I can't believe it! So many ups and downs it has actually felt like it's been a lot longer. I still love it here and know that it is the best thing I have ever done. I love Calgary, but I know that this is where my happiness is. (Sorry Nana)

The last few months have been somewhat routine, work has really slowed down as most of the students are gone for the summer, but my contract has been renewed and I will be here until at least December!

In the last few months I have been back to Paris and Edinburgh for work...Still don't fancy Paris and still LOVE Edinburgh. Had a visit from my Great Aunt Anna, Great Uncle Gordon and cousin Laura from BC. We went to Oxford for the day and to be honest I was a little nervous about seeing them, I wasn't sure if we would have anything to talk about as I hadn't seen them since I lived in Medicine Hat (I hadn't seen Laura since 2002). But my worries were unfounded. We had such a nice visit! Gordon and Anna got stranded because of the volcano and I got to spend a few more evenings with them and they came to see me at work which was really nice.

My friend from Germany, Julia, now lives in London and we went out for dinner in April. It is amazing with good friends how you can see each other twice in ten years and still pick up like nothing has changed. I'm hoping to see more of Julia in the summer, but with our schedules it's difficult.

I had booked off the second week in May and was hoping to go somewhere warm, but going on my own was looking pretty expensive. Bored at work one day I looked to see how much flights were to Canada and saw that a return flight was only £300 (which is what I was looking at to spend a week in Greece), so I figured I would go home for a week. Checked with Morgan to see if he could pick me up and set a great Mother's Day surprise in motion for the family. Showed up at my Mum's house on Saturday and actually made Mama Kat SPEECHLESS! It was funny because my Nana gave me the exact same reaction. No chance those two aren't related! Aunt Deb ended up dropping an eff bomb when I rang her doorbell....Yeah, we're related! Enjoyed my week at home, didn't do too much, had a short hospital stay (I'm fine) and relaxed all week. I'm always worried about going home, just in case I like it so much and want to stay. And while I love the comforts of home (slurpees, cars, my shower, having my family on the doorstep, hanging out with friends that have known me forever) I just can't see myself working in Calgary. Whenever I think about going home next Spring I worry about what career I will end up in...Because I just don't know....So I don't think about it too much and enjoy the life that I have made here.

Sidenote* I just bought porridge from the refectory at work and it was burnt....I can't even begin to imagine how you burn porridge and it was possibly the worst thing I've put in my mouth this year* hush peanut gallery.

Last week Jason from Corus and his brother came on a stopover to a family reunion in Malta. They had never been to London before so I got to play my FAVOURITE role of tour guide! We walked, Lord did we walk, around all the sights of London and I got to depart some of my useless freaking knowledge to the Wellman boys. We also played my favourite game of Pub Crawl, we would see a sight, then hit the pub, then we would have to pee, and hit the pub. It was a blast....Except for my hangover on the way to work...But it only lasted 30 minutes. Another reason to LOVE London! Short hangovers!

Last Friday there was a leaving do for one of the managers at the college and the after party was at a place called the Tatershall Castle. It's a boat on the Thames right across from the London Eye. At one point I was talking to a co-worker and Big Ben was right over he left shoulder. It still makes me stop and think "How did this become my life!!?" I had a great time getting sloppy with co-workers. At one point we were playing tourist and were taking pictures with the London Eye in the backround. Glad to see I am not the only one who is still a tourist, even people that have lived in London their whole life feel the same.

Saturday.....WAS EPIC!!!!!! I hopped on a bus to Cardiff to see the STEREOPHONICS...One of my favourite bands of all time! When the bus pulled up to Millenium Stadium to let us off it was pretty cool. There was a rugby match between Wales and South Africa that afternoon and there was a 50? (I'm bad with measurements) foot poster of a rugby player on the side of the stadium and it gave me chills.

I wasn't even going to the match and it was cool. Sat by the river to wait for my friend Charlotte who was coming on a different bus and got to listen to the crowd, pretty cool. Tried to ring Lloyd, but he screens calls at 9am so couldn't share the moment with him :(

Saw the band, and was sooo tired from the night before but really enjoyed the show. I do love them and it was really good. So cool to travel around for opportunities that I wouldn't get in Canada.

Now looking forward to seeing Tasha and her husband Jason on Friday. They are spending the day in London with me before heading off to sunny Spain. I am so excited to see her (them). Am in desperate need of some best friend time as I haven't seen either of mine since Devon was here before Christmas.

Building up to the London summer....And I thought I was broke before! I know you will all scoff that this might sound like a complaint (it's not...and I don't mean to gloat either) but there are so many once in a lifetime opportunities here in the summer and I want to try them all! Gets pretty expensive! The free event I'm looking forward to is Canada Day in Trafalgar Square again. Hawksley Workman is playing a free show and I'm ready to rock out Canadian style!

Hopefully will have more visitors over the summer....Let me know if anyone needs a place to stay!

Ooops, Belgium Part III

Soooooo, totally got bored with the long story that was Belgium. Basically got to Dover and drove on the donut to the car rental place that I had seen on our way out (thankfully) to see if I could switch cars. The place was "open" 24 hours, but only by appointment and you were supposed to call the number on the door, but it was an 0800 number (which are usually based anywhere but England).
Peeked in the door and saw that there was actually someone in there! What luck!...Or so we thought.....
I will condense this into a short version as I have lots of other stuff to write about.
British customer service SUCKS. I blame the brainwashing that Slaveway put me (and most of you) through for my apparently ridiculous high standards. After about 8 phone calls...okay, I'm exaggerating....6 phone calls between the car rental place, the tire (or tyre, in England) place and the road recovery I was basically told...Meh, you should be fine....Drive on the donut...Sorry, what!? When I asked one of the people at the car rental call centre, if I was your relative, sister, daughter, whatever, would you tell them the same thing? The woman on the phone finally saw it from my point of view and said we'll sort something out for you. Yay! Replacement car! Jim (guy in the shop) got really stressed and tried to figure out what car to give finally found one and I thanked him profusely and was ready to be on our way...oh...what? You don't have an automatic? Back to square one.....sigh.

LOOOOOONG story and THREE HOURS LATER we were safely on the back of a flatbed (well, the car was anyway) and we were on our way back to Gatwick with...Matt? I can't remember now, the flatbed driver. Pulled into Gatwick at about 1.30am and checked the car back in and then remembered that we hadn't filled the tank.....And he made us fill it up! Back in the car, found a petrol station and FINALLY was shut of the place. Get into the terminal and see that we had missed the train by THREE minutes and now had to wait 56 for the next one. I think that's where Katherine and I lost it a little. The wait is blurry, but I remember a lot of tired shennanigans and A LOT of whining (not just by me!). Got on the train where the conductor came by (we thought to ask for our tickets, but no, it was to ask if we could see anything on the side of his face because someone had just spit, that's right, SPIT at him. Gotta love drunk Brits at 3am.
All in all, would do it again. It was a blast, and Katherine and I still talk about the things we did that day....Maybe with less hitting of passport offices though....

When I got back I wrote a scathing email to the customer service department and ended up getting £30 back for the ordeal, even that took three phone calls and six emails. The moral of the story is don't rent from EuropCar and ALWAYS get insurance.

Belgium Part II

The train ride was pretty quiet and we thought that we may have gotten away with our wrong tickets, but just as the train pulled into Gatwick the conductor came into the car and asked us for tickets. Damn! So close! We had to pay £6 extra each so it wasn't too bad, but we did have to put up with him calling us "Baby". We get to the rental counter (sooner than if we had caught our original train) and I confidently hand over my debit card (knowing that the small print said no debit cards would be accepted) and was totally prepared to play dumb. The woman, luckily, loved Canadians (who doesn't!?) and was very chatty and not really focused on the rules of the rental. My card got declined (shocking) but she took Katherine's debit with no problems. Katherine was a little worried about the £250 just spent on her card, but she handled it with grace.
I was trying to keep quiet like we were just getting away with the con of the century and then all of a sudden we were outside....with KEYS IN HAND! Take that Surly James!
We get to the car, take some touristy pictures, get in. Then it hits me. Shit. I have to drive this thing, on the wrong side of the road...with ROUNDABOUTS! So I was a little nervous, and I was worried that I would kill Katherine. A fact I think I hid with grace. We started going and it was very easy. We had rented a GPS and that saved us I think. I didn't have to think about reading roadsigns and figuring out which exit to take, good old Jane GPS handled all that for me. One major annoyance was that the radio wouldn't work. It would say wait and count down 30:00 minutes, then when it got to zero nothing would turn on. So no roadtunes for the journey. But it wasn't too bad. Got to Dover without incident...Well maybe one....I may or may not have gotten a little too close to the passport window with the passenger side of the car and got a little yellow paint on the the mirror and door handle. The passport officer looked at the window and said "You almost took off the side of your car!"...Oops, Katherine is on line duty from now on.....
Got to the ferry with plenty of time and enjoyed just walking around the boat and looking in the duty free shop, there weren't any good deals on champagne though, which was a bit disappointing!
Arrived in France at noon and hit the road to Belgium. The GPS would only work in Ireland or the UK, so it was just us and our google map in the wrong side of the car on the right side of the road (a fact that was screamed constantly for the rest of our time in France in Belgium). Getting on to the motorway was easy, but it took me a bit to figure out the speed limit. I kept seeing signs that said 50, but that seemed really slow to me for a highway, so I thought maybe, for some really strange reason they were in miles instead of KM....about 30 minutes later we finally saw a sign that said 130 so I finally knew what I was dealing with!....But that means that I was speeding for the first part! :p
Drove into Brugge around 1pm. We had been in three countries in just over three hours! Gotta love Europe!
We drove and I tried to remember where we parked when Mama Kat and I came in September. We found a parking lot that looked like somewhere, sort of familiar with signs in Flemish. Couldn't even piece together what in said in bad French....But there were no words that looked like maximum time to stay or parking rates so we pulled in and went to wander the town. We quickly found a map and took pictures of the things around the parking lot just in case we couldn't find our way back...A modern day Hansel and Gretel!
Our first task was to have lunch, I really wanted to find mussels and french fries, Katherine wasn't too keen on the mussels, but she was a trooper and said she would give it a go. We walked around for a few minutes, but we were both so hungry that we decided to stop and hae lunch at a little cafe that served the french fries in paper cones with globs of mayo on top. We both just ended up ordering burgers (lame, I know) but it was great to have a burger that didn't taste like sawdust (90% of British beed does). After lunch we wandered in and out of chocolate shops and all of a sudden it was 4pm! We decided to stop and have a Belgian waffle and hot chocolate before heading back to the car and getting on the road to Dunkirk. As we were sitting there, it occured to us that if Paris is one hour ahead, Brugge probably is too! So we double checked the time with our waitress and it was 5pm! Not that big of deal as we had to be back at the ferry by 7.15pm and it was only an hour drive, but I was worried about finding the car so I thought we should head back pretty soon. We walked back and found the car without any problems (except for the flash rain storm that hit). No parking tickets and the car was where we left it! Result!
We got back to the ferry with plenty of time, but as Katherine rolled down her window at the passport window I could hear a loud ppppssssssttttttt noise and I said to Katherine that sounds like a flat tire. FUCK
I slowly drive to the queue for the ferry and we get out, sure enough the front passenger tire (or tyre in England) was flat. We got the spare tire out hoping that some kind person would see us and change it and just as we pulled the tire out of the boot it started chucking down rain again! Got back into the car and talked about how we were sure someone would help, and sure enough the guy right behind us knocked on my window and said let's get this tire changed before the rain starts again. In 5 minutes we had the donut on and we were set. Lifesaver!!
On the ferry home we talked about what we should do. I was worried about driving on the motorway, in the dark with a donut. I was sure that the truckers would squish a little Ford Focus going 50 mph. I had seen a branch of the rental agency in Dover so we decided that we would stop there and see what they could do for us.....

Roadtrip to Belgium! Part One

I need to set a bit of backround for this first.... I had been on a couple dates with a guy who was pretty nice, but I we weren't really clicking so on Thursday afternoon I came up with the brilliant idea to go somewhere on a roadtrip I thought it would be great way to get to know each other....And I could buy chocolate and beer. He has a car, but I didn't want to insinuate that he should drive (and I wanted to anyway) so I suggested (via text) that we should rent a car and get out of London on Saturday. He made non-committal noises, so I suggested that we go for drink that night so I could persuade him with my charm.... We met at a great pub in London Bridge (the neighbourhood, not the bridge)and I said "So......Roadtrip to Belgium!!?" He looked at me and said with absolutely no emotion "No, that is crazy." WHAT!!? That sounds AWESOME!! (Side note, NEVER call the girl you are just starting to see crazy, although he's right, it was way too soon for him to know that) I spent about an hour trying to convince him, it would be fun, such an adventure, what else are you doing? etc. To absolutely not avail. He wouldn't budge. I left there knowing that this wouldn't work and desperately wanting to make my plan happen....I think I have been reading too much lately, I feel like this isn't my usual style of writing....So I apologise....
Friday morning at work I mentioned it off hand to one of the RA's, Katherine, about how disappointed I was in his sense of adventure etc. and she said she couldn't believe that he wouldn't want to go (as did everyone else I've told this story to). And I looked at her and said "Soooo, Roadtrip to Belgium!!?" And she laughed and said that would be awesome. We talked a bit more and I said something about "...on Saturday" and we looked at each other....aka tomorrow! We had a lot of planning to do! I looked at cars, trains to get there and the ferry and everything was relatively cheap if you pre-book. So we booked everything and got 18-year-old-girl excited (which was fine for Katherine, she's 18....it was a bit too much on me, but I didn't care! We were roadtripping to Belgium!
After I booked and was reading all the small print (yeah, AFTER I booked...but seriously...are any of you surprised?) I saw that the rental car required a £550 deposit on a credit card, in the principle driver's name. I was freaking out a bit, if I had £550 on my credit card I would be spending a week in Spain! So I called the company and they said, no, no you don't need that it's only £250 (please refer to previous comments about Spain). But the car was already booked and paid for so I figured I would just charm them when we got there....And make a back up plan to go to Brighton, just in case. We were telling my co-worker, Surly James (who I adore), about the deposit and he mocked us all afternoon saying that they'll never give us a car, you're not that charming (clearly wrong), yada yada yada.
Since our train to Gatwick was leaving at 6.30pm we decided that I would stay on campus and sleep in Katherine's room, then we could just catch a bus to Victoria in the morning. So after work we had dinner, Katherine was working the reception desk at the halls until 9pm and we just hung out and watched Modern Family and Cougartown (sidenote...LOVE it!). At 9pm we went up and figured we should turn in, Katherine was thinking out loud about getting her documents ready for the border and I said that's a good idea, and went into my handbag to check that I had my passport (it's always in there).....Except for the time that I changed purses when I was in Edinburgh and left it in my Coach bag in my closet....Fuck. So after killing 3.5 hours at work, I now have to head home at 9.30pm to get my passport. Fuck. Back home to Canada Water I go. By 10.15pm I am still waiting for the bus and absolutely exhausted, so I text Katherine to see if she's cool getting to Victoria on her own in the morning and we can just meet there at 6.15am. No problem. Finally got home, found my passport and remembered to pack CDs for the event that the car doesn't have an input for an iPod.
Woke up for the roadtrip sooooo excited, but nervous because I didn't want to be disappointed with just going to Brighton, I was very certain they weren't going to give me a car. Just as I was brushing my teeth I heard the bus go by, but I wasn't too concerned, I had plenty of time, but still rushed out the door just in case there was another right behind it. Got outside and saw the bus sitting at the lights with it's four-way flashers on. A bit strange, I thought about it for a second, then decided to walk up to another stop about 10 minutes away because more buses leave from that stop. As I'm walking I peer into the stopped bus and see the driver in a heated discussion with a couple of the passengers and figure that she must be waiting for the police to kick him off (it was a night bus...happens a lot). So I hurried thinking that I could meet this bus at the next stop, but as I walked I saw that the road was blocked off by police tape and no one could get through, not even pedestrians. I asked the police officer how long he thought it would be and if he knew of another way to get to Victoria other than the N1 bus and he seemed to think it would clear up soon and had no idea about the buses, so I leaned against the wall to wait. 5 minutes, 10 minutes...Nothing. By this time it is about 5.45am. Very slim chance of catching the train. So I text Katherine to let her know and told her not to worry I had a charming back-up plan in mind. By this time one of the day buses that runs straight from my house to Victoria is running (the Jubilee line was down, as per, so the tube was never an option), but last time I took it (because the tube shut down in rush hour...grrr....) it took 2 hours, but I thought that maybe I could catch another bus to a tube station that is open and get there that way. So I walked the 15 minutes from where I was to Canada Water tube station. When I get there I discover that I don't have my oyster card (bus/tube pass) and will have to pay full fare (£2 per bus, more for the tube)...It has already gotten to the point that all I do is roll my eyes at this day, but I think that with all the hassle so far we must be getting a car, this day couldn't hate me THAT much! So the first bus that comes goes to Waterloo or London Bridge, so I get on and ask the driver how much the bus is...sometimes they take pity on the foreign girl and wave you through...and he starts driving and asks where I'm going. He said, y'know the C10 takes you straight to Victoria I said I know, but it's slow and I need to get there as soon as possible. Just as we say that the C10 drives by in the opposite direction. He says that I should take that bus, and waved me through without paying. I got off at the next stop (after shouting my thanks to him)to wait for the C10 that will come soon as all it has to do is turn around and as I walk by the front doors of the bus the driver shouts at me... That's it!? You're getting off!? I said, yeah, I'll just wait for the C10 here. He said, No, just back on and when the bus catches up just hop on there, don't wait in the dark by yourself. (Which is totally safe to do where I was) So I hop back on, get the C10 and get to Victoria, relatively quickly due to the lack of Saturday morning traffic, at 6.35am....Our train left at 6.32am. After a sigh and another eye roll at the day, we head over to the boards to see when our next train leaves.....7.20am. Eff that, we have a 10am ferry to catch. I tell Katherine of my cunning plan. We will get on the Gatwick Express train and use our foreign-ness as a way to (hopefully) not pay the extra. We head over to the platform and jump on the fast train.

9 Months!!? How did that happen!!?

I will have officially been in London for 9 months next week. I can't believe it's been that long! I'm feeling pretty settled and still love being here. Work has been so busy. This semester the different schools are staggered in coming back so we've had students arriving since 21 January, but now they are all here and have been buying trips like mad! I have had to add an extra Edinburgh trip so I am going twice in March now!

I have finally moved into a flat and am no longer homeless. I live in a place called Canada Water and it's only 40 minutes door-to-door to work. I share a house with the owner and another girl who is quickly becoming a good friend. Her name is Machaela and she is studying to become a teacher. We bonded over our love of cider and Coronation Street!

My thoughts feel really disjointed because I am trying to think of what all has happened since January!

I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon on a daytrip with work on the 6th February and seem to have lost my camera on the trip. I am devastated. Not only losing the pictures from that day, including an almost exact replica of one of me in Stratford from when Tony and Mo took me in 1997, but I loved that camera and have no funds at all to replace it. I have a small one that I brought over with me, but it's not as good as my SLR. Sigh, 9 months and this is the first major thing I've lost...That is pretty impressive.....for me :p

My first trip to Edinburgh was last weekend. I had a great time. I really do love that city! It was a really small group of students, only 16 of us went and I ended up hanging out with three boys from the dorms that I sort of knew (one - Nick - I knew fairly well, the other - John- I had spent a daytrip with and the other one -Patrick-I had only met when he signed up). Oh, and when John and Patrick poked their heads in my office a few days before the trip to say that they were looking forward to bringing flasks on the trip to which I replied.....Have you met my boss Frank, sitting right here!!?.....So Friday night we decided to go on the pub crawl, Pat and I decided that the best way to do this was a drinking competition....Oh God, what have I done?. The pub crawl was a blast...very fuzzy, but great fun. At one point in the night I had two pint glasses in my hand filled with clear liquid and Pat comes up to me to see what I was drinking. I tried to convince him that it was vodka water. He tasted it was certain it was water, I told him "No, no, I swear it's vodka water". I am a liar. It was just water. Next time I see him he's got three shots looks at me says something about how this is for you Piehl (Which I think means he bought me a shot......no) He then shoots all three and slams the glasses on the floor and crosses his arms (not really effective. They were plastic). So I guess I lose.

Saturday we wandered around town, as we were up at the castle I looked at the boys and realized that they are the 20 year old versions of Johnny (Pat), Kyle (Nick) and Gary (John). So I've told them that I'm only referring to their Rowdie names. They're okay with that.

On Sunday I started feeling really ill and woke up Monday feeling complete rubbish. I went into work for about an hour and decided not to put myself through this anymore and came home. Didn't go in yesterday either and missed Phantom of the Opera. Really upset about that, but couldn't really breathe when I woke up. Tried to go to the doctor, but that was an epic fail, everything here is so difficult to get sorted, I JUST WANT DRUGS didn't really seem to go over well with the nurse. Bitch. :P

Don't have too much going on these next two weeks, but at the end of March I am going back to Edinburgh with 50 students this time, so it should be interesting! Two of the students that have become really good friends with (Christina and Ali) are going and I'm looking forward to spending time in Edinburgh with them.

So, all in all, things are pretty good. I wish I knew what my future holds after 30 June, but stressing about it won't change anything and I try really hard to remember that. I would love to stay on at Regent's and if I don't I think I might move up to Edinburgh for the summer, but the idea of starting all over again in a new city is a bit daunting....Not like I haven't done it before, just moving my stuff would suck!

Okay, so have totally slacked on the blogging thing.... I apologise! I did go to Milan, well actually Bergamo for my birthday. I was kind of depressed...okay, really depressed about spending my 30th birthday alone but I couldn't waste the ticket that my Mom bought me for my birthday. I got into to Bergamo on 28 November and decided that I would spoil myself and rent a car. So I went to the counter and attempted to get one...But Aunt Deb made me renew my licence when I was in Canada and I hadn't got it in the post yet, sooooo had to figure out the bus system. Thanks to a lovely British Mother/Daughter team bought bus tickets (well, after back and forth into the airport because the ticket machine didn't work). Rode the bus all the way to the end ( I was meant to get off in the middle. Oops). "Spoke" to the bus driver, or pointed to my paper with the address of the hostel and he helped me to get off at the proper stop on our way back. Found the hostel with no problems and checked into my room. I think I got in around noon or so. I went and walked around, the language barrier was completely intimidating but I found a cafe where the waitress spoke english and had the best cappuccino of my life. Tried to wander around as much as I could, but ended up back at the hostel around 6 because I didn't really want to be out on the street alone. Talked to some creepy old guy in my room at the hostel....story of my hostelling life and least he didn't sexually harass me..... But I do need to mention the fact that he was eating SMELLY cheese. Who brings pungent cheese back to a shared room!!? Thankfully I booked myself a private room for the next night. Anyway, went to bed to sleep my depression away and woke up 30 years old. Decided to ignore the fact that I don't speak Italian and go into Milan. Got my tickets after more grunting and pointing and was on my way. When the conductor came through he looked at my ticket and starting shouting at me in Italian, all I understood was "In Italia......" and kept pointing to my ticket. I still don't know what I did wrong. Got off in Milan, found my way out of the maze of the train station and out into the POURING rain. It was like movie rain, drenched in 3.2 seconds. And since I was still protesting the rain at this point I did not own an umbrella. Walked across to the metro/underground/subway whatever they call it....to get into central Milan, because Centrale train station....not central (for tourists anyway). The only maps in the metro/underground/subway were for the trains that I just came off of. No one around to ask/point and grunt to and coupled with the rain and sadness of being alone I gave up, shopped at the train station for chocolates (an entire Lindt chocolate store was HEAVEN!) and lunch at a grocery store in the station and headed back to Bergamo. I was officially in Milan for 35 minutes. Went back to the hostel, checked into my new room and felt sorry for myself for a good hour and had a nap. Woke up, decided life is what you make it and treated myself to a very expensive birthday dinner (AKA ate my feelings) at a hotel where English was spoken fairly well....when pertaining to the menu :) Wandered around a bit more, checked out the Christmas market and the streets, but it was pouring and cold so I was pretty miserable. Monday woke up bought an umbrella and went into the old town (up the hill). It's amazing how an umbrella can improve conditions! Wandered through the cobbled streets and took a few pictures and retail therapied the shit outta 30.

Work wasn't too busy the first two weeks of December, but the social life was. Devon made two trips to London for auditions and it was so nice to hang out with her. We wandered around Covent Garden and bought gluten-free muffins. It was great to spend so much time together!

The Jillians left to go back to America and that was REALLY hard. Jill stopped talking to me the week before she left....She avoids her feelings :) We would sit at her flat and stare at the TV, look at each other, start to cry and go back to silence. It was a BRUTAL week. On her last day I made her get dressed and go on an open bus tour. My favourite thing to do! It was FREEZING, but we had a great time being tourists around sites that we'd been around for months.

My Mom bought me a plane ticket home for Christmas and we surprised the family on the 23rd. We went to Aunt Deb's work and made her cry because she was so surprised to see me. It was great! Was supposed to fly back on the 30th, but I was really sick and had to move my flight to today. And now there is a huge snowstorm in London and Gatwick is closed....Not sure if I will make it back today, but I hope so!

Looking forward to a new semester, my contract got extended to 30 June so I am still at the College. New batch of students and trips to plan! All of the trips are the same but I am looking forward to going back to explore more!

I will try to blog more, but once work starts going it falls into the routine and not that entertaining....But I'll try!