Blog Blitz

Studying in London feels like a really great dream I can't remember actually happening.  I've settled into life as a west coaster.  The only problem is I still don't have a job and I am STILL living out of suitcases.  Just living the dream: jobless, homeless, and living with my parents.  I'm exactly where I thought I'd be at this point in my life...I guess there are worse things like getting a root canal or going blind.  But I'm trying to focus on the positive like spending abnormal amounts of time with my favorite little people.



I love being able to do regular, everyday things with my family with no pressure to fit things in between when my plane lands and when I have to return to real life.

Here's what I've been doing when I'm not filling out applications and writing cover letters:

-I have NOT been blogging.  There are a million reasons but I'm going to do a week long blitz and try and catch up

-Working for my dad part time.  He has had several trials of late and I have been helping him prepare.  The first one was a jury trial and I was able to help select the jury members.  I basically felt like I was in a John Gresham book.  The best part is we won the case and when I say "we" I mean my dad but as it felt like a win to me.  I kept telling my dad how great it felt to win my first and only case; never mind that the only words I spoke during the case were to the client to interpret the proceedings into Spanish for him.  A couple weeks later, "we" won another case I helped on.  If I knew practicing law was this easy, I would have gone to law school:)

-Babysitting. I spent a long weekend watching five kids between the ages of 3-9.  They are good family friends of ours and while they are seriously the best behaved kids ever I had to call in reinforcements...Darel.  We make a good team--she plays with the kids and I make sure they are fed and dressed and alive.  Then I spent a week watching my cousins' two girls while their parents went on holiday.  It was so fun and a lot more calm then my earlier experience.  Moral of the story: parenthood is hard.

-I've been visited old friends and family I haven't seen in forever.  When I lived in DC and London I'd only come home for a short period of time and only really wanted to see my family.  But now that I'm back, I'v wanted to see some people I haven't seen in years.  So I've been doing lunch, starbucks runs, dinner, hangouts, etc with friends I've known since I was a kid and some of them I haven't seen in 10 years.

-I've made trips to UT (twice), AZ, ID, and HI (more on these to come later)

-Helping my Grandpa with his personal history.  I've also taught him how to use google reader and what a flash drive is--I love that he wants to learn about technology.  

-Planning my graduation trip THIS month--it will be epic and my favorite brother, who was recently diagnosed with mono, will be coming with me. Looks like I may not be able to do it Chelsea style but it will still be amazing.

Well that is about it.  I really am loving time with the family.  I still can't get over that I get to see them whenever I want.  I don't have to spend a fortune on a plane ticket and plan it months in advanced.  I am really ready to have some permanence in my life but until then I'm living up the flexibility that I have.

Get ready for a bloggity blitz of the last few months!

Ticket to Ride with the Kevins

I have these two friends that are constantly giving me travel envy.  They are always planning the coolest holidays to places I often have to look up on a map.  While most of us plan trips to the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum,  these friends are planning trips to Kosovo and Serbia.  It has always been my dream to get a travel invite mostly to visit cool places but also to prove I'm hard core enough to travel with them.  Plus they are really cheap and have been known to sleep on park benches in order to avoid getting a hotel for a few hours.  I guess I have to live in Europe in order to get an invite and when they told me the itinerary I was pretty excited.  I'm obsessed with the game, Ticket to Ride (TTR--yes we have an abrev for it), and force my family to play for hours anytime we are together.  This itinerary was basically a version of a mission from TTR which pushed my excitement over the top. 

They flew from the states and I met them in Poland where our trip began.  We started in Krakow and worked our way east via trains.  Krakow is a beautiful place with a European feel but an eastern European influence.  We spent the day walking around exploring the city and finding cheap Polish food. 

The official trip photographer fulfilling his  heritage  stereotype

I tried to talk the boys into going to Auschwitz and got vetoed which we spent the rest of the trip regretting.  Next we headed to Lviv, Ukraine.  The churches in Lviv were my favorite.  

 It was also the first place we tried Borche, an amazing beet soup, that I ate most days.

 Next,we headed to Kiev via an over night train where I was trapped in a small sleeper train with four men only one of which I could communicate with--it was interesting.  I was not expecting much in Kiev and was really surprised--I loved Kiev.  It was easy to get around and had so much to see and do.  We had major problems with the language barrier--NO one spoke English but other than that it was great.

Photo bombing Tiger, I hate you.

 
We went to an opera, ballet and classical music concert--I know we're so cultured:).  The opera house is beautiful.

 My favorite part was visiting a Pechersk Lavra.  It is a site for the Orthodox Christian pilgrimage   The whole complex is considered sacred and I had to cover my head.  We loved it so much we ended up going back twice.  The best part was these underground catacombs that are only lit by candles.  There are hundreds of saints buried and people come from all around the world to pay their respects by kissing the clear coffins.  It was by far one of the coolest culture experiences I've ever done.

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We ended the trip in Kiev, mostly because of poor planning and inability to make decisions but no one was complaining about more time in Kiev.  Traveling with the boys was fun and fulfilled my desire to experience traveling with them.  I have to give myself a shout out for being an amazing packer.  I knew it would be nuts and we'd need to pack light.  I managed to pack an ENTIRE weeks worth of stuff in my college backpack.  I might have had to attache my makeup, blow dryer, and coat on the outside but still amazing right?  If you knew how I used to pack you'd be even more amazed.  Let me also add that I had the smallest backpack of the three of us and I changed my underwear everyday. Kudos to me!

Traveling with these boys was so entertaining, I have to share some direct quotes from them:

"Maybe you should wear more eyeliner--you'd blend in more and not get as many stares."

"Don't smile so much, this is a holy place and you're a woman"

 Me: "Why is everyone staring?"
K2: "You ARE wearing a purple scarf and have a red backpack"

"Don't wear any of your bright colors. I know you and you always look like a rich American shopper.  That yellow jacket you have--don't wear that.  You have to look like a Russian communist."

Except for the disastrous trip back to London, when I arrived 30 hours later then I was supposed, the trip was a success.  I hope I get an invite from these boys again as there are many more TTR cities I still need to visit. 

Leaving London

It's officially, I no longer live in London. So sad.  I really miss it.  Darcee came to help me move home and after a week galavanting around Europe, we arrived home jet lagged and exhausted. 

Getting all my stuff home deserves a post of its own--it was quite the ordeal.  Thanks to the best Sherpa ever!

It still hasn't set in that I no longer live in London.  I kind of feel like I'm on an extended trip home and I will be returning to my flat, my friends, and my life. In an effort to soak up as much London as possible, I spent the last few weeks checking off my London bucket list, which included:

Visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

 

Destruction from WWII

Learn to make real Indian food 

 

One last shopping trip on Oxford Street--they were already geared up for Christmas.

 Celebrating Halloween with friends.

 Hanging out in my neighborhood.

 See a famous person--I saw Anthony Hopkins filming a movie last week. 

Take a final pic of the pizza boxes.  As you can see there is literally no more room.  I threw a pizza box away thinking that since there is no room now, we could start throwing them away.  I got in trouble--apparently there is room on the sides to stack.  I wonder why I didn't think of that.

 One last stop at school. 

Say goodbye to my favorite people. 

Dinner with the boys at the OXO Tower.

In no particular order, here is a list of what I will miss the most about London:
-Getting blitzed with the boys
-Accents...they're hot
-Shopping especially on Oxford Street and in Camden
-Using words like 'trousers' and 'rubbish'
-Dinners with my school girlfriends
-Jogging in Primrose Hill
-Being a quick and cheap plane/train ride away from the rest of Europe

It also makes me sad that I am no longer living the real live version of 'New Girl'.  I love this show mostly because I watch it and feel like it is my life. I literally cried during the first episode of the second season because it felt a little too real.  This is not the forum to express how I really feel about leaving my flatmates, mostly because they read this and I don't want them to get fuller of themselves than they already are.  However, I will really miss late night chats, watching football matches, making cookies, the bees, and learning more about men than I ever wanted too. 

What I won't miss about London:
-My UK cell phone

Bet no one has used a phone like this in 10 years. 

-Unpredictable shower temperatures and no water pressure
-Calculating the time difference of someone from home I'm trying to get a hold of
-The inability to get a summer tan
-Calculating the exchange rate
-Mice in the winter
-Not having a clothes dryer


Ironically, the night before leaving the UK, I found out officially I had passed my degree.  To make a really long story short, there was a time when I realistically did not think this would happen.  I was more than thrilled as you can tell by the pic of my finding out I passed below.  It felt great to leave London knowing I had accomplished what I came to do.  And knowing I get to come back in March for graduation made leaving a little easier. All are invited for a trip back across the pond in March for the big celebration!

For the time being, I am going to spend my time enjoying the holidays with my family and apply for jobs on the west coast (and maybe a few in London...don't tell my mom).  I'm excited for another extended time period with the fam and hope they won't get too sick of me before I can find a job.

The welcome home party.