So if you didn't already know this about me, I am a professional procrastinator. My talent started back in high school and was perfected to a fine art in college. This explains why I am just now updating this journal with pictures and stories from my last weeks in the UK... whilst I have been back in the States for over four weeks.

Again. A professional.

First up are pictures from my two jobs: at Benson Mazure Solicitors in the West End, and at Westminster Abbey. I quit the job at the law office about two weeks before I came home, but I kept working at the Abbey up until about two days before I flew home. And in my last days at each job, I took random pictures of my coworkers. Enjoy these pictures of people you don't know!

( Benson Mazure and Westminster Abbey )

After I quit Benson Mazure and had free weekdays, I took one last trip north to my beloved Scotland. I took the train from London to St. Andrews (which took about six hours... that's a lot of green countryside to fly through) and spent three days in the city I'd lived in last year.

It was really weird to be back in St. A's... sort of bittersweet. Last year, I had loads of friends and in a town this small, not a moment went by that I didn't see someone I knew. But since all of those friends have either graduated or moved back to the States, I didn't know ANYONE anymore. I kept waiting to see a familiar face, but I never did. I knew every corner of the town just as well as I always had; I knew which way to look for cars and what wynds to take for shortcuts, I knew which shops carried which products and which street lead to which pub. But I was alone. There wasn't anyone to hang out with, or to call, or to drop in with.

And this made me realize--though I had always suspected it--that my semester at the University of St. Andrews needs to stand alone as its own time. It is impossible to recreate. There is no way to have as much fun or create as many memories as I did the first time around. And because of that, there is no way I could ever go back there to live. I had dabbled with the idea, whether to go to Grad school or to buy a little house somehow, but now I know it won't happen. I will still take a chance to have a home in Scotland, but it can't be in St. Andrews.

Anyway. Let's move on.

While I was in St. Andrews, two of my Highland buddies, Shannon and Jackie, came from Glasgow to hang out for a day. We spent a lot of time walking around, taking pictures, and laughing over nothing. Later in the day, before they caught their bus back, we met up with another Highland buddy, Alison, who works for the University. The four of us met up in the local Starbucks, then Alison and I walked Shannon and Jackie to the bus stop. After giving them big hugs goodbye, Alison and I went back to her house to cook some dinner and watch "The Day After Tomorrow." The next day, Alison and I met up for one last drink before I headed back south to London. She and I talked about a lot of stuff, both during dinner and at the pub, and I was once again reminded how glad I was to have found her as a friend. :)

On my last day, I got up early and caught the bus to Edinburgh, where I killed a few hours before catching my flight back to London. As always, it was tough to leave Scotland, but I know it's not the last time I'll see the country. Somehow, someday, I'll go back.

And now, for the visuals!

( More Scotland pictures )

And, since I'm back in the States, this will be my final London Calling entry. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know how you've enjoyed it.

Kathryn, over and out!

Today, I went around town as a tourist, taking pictures of all the pretty sites of London. I figure since I'm going home in about ten days, I'd better start documenting the city!

( LONDON! )

Oh, and like the giant movie nerd that I am, I went and took pictures of some places where "Love Actually" was shot. Observe:

( LOVE ACTUALLY! )

By chance, is anyone a fan of the TV show "Stargate: Atlantis"? Because one of its stars, Rachel Luttrell, came into the Westminster Abbey Bookshop today.

I was behind the registers with my coworker Ben when she came up and started asking me about the CDs we carry. I don't have a clue who she is, and of course it didn't register she was an actor. But after she walked away, Ben was like, "She looks really familiar..." It finally occurred to him that she looked like someone on Stargate, but he couldn't remember her name. So a few minutes later when she came to pay, she used a credit card, and I, being the smart lil' college graduate that I am, looked at the name. When she left, I asked Ben, "Rachel Luttrell?" He still wasn't sure, so he texted his friend and ordered him to look up the girl on Stargate. About an hour later, when the friend responded, Ben held his phone up to me and was like, "Is that it?" Sure enough, it was. Rachel Luttrell.

Yay for D-list celebs that I don't know!

But the more exciting aspect of this was the guy she was with, who I assumed to be her boyfriend. When she was talking to me about CDs, he came up, and I actually did a double-take and lost my voice, because for one heart-stopping moment, I was sure it was Hayden Christensen. This guy was very nearly a spitting image of ol' Anakin Skywalker. I kept trying to get a closer look at him, but he wandered off and was all the way across the shop, and they left while I was distracted by other customers. My best guess is that it was Hayden's brother Tove Christensen, who is a producer and Hayden's older lookalike.

Okay, I know this isn't all that exciting news, but it made for a fun day of work, laughing over obscure TV stars and hot actor's brothers. I just wish HE'D bought something with a credit card so I could know for sure!

On Saturday night, I hosted a lil' "Love Actually" party for some of my girlfriends, complete with homemade sugar cookies and Christmas-color-food-coloring frosting. I had invited about ten people, but only half of them could make it. But to be honest, that turned out for the best. :)

The first ones to arrive were Shannon and Jackie, two of my friends that I met on the Highland tour a few weeks ago. With them was Jessa; I hadn't met her before but she turned out to be a total sweetheart. They're all studying abroad at the University of Glasgow but were in London for the weekend. After a bit of squealing and giggling, we started baking the cookies. We'd just mixed the ingredients when my door buzzed again, and there were Meredith and Candy, two more of the Highland Crew. (The only girl missing from our Scotland trip is Alison, but she was visiting family this weekend and couldn't make it... we totally missed her!)

The cookies were a delicious success, thanks to Jessa's incredible timing. The frosting, however.. not so much. I had two tubs of vanilla frosting, one of which Jessa turned green with food coloring, and the other Shannon turned red.. but something was rank in the red frosting and it didn't taste right at all. It wasn't Shannon's fault, though. My guess is that the red food coloring had been sitting on the Sainsbury's shelf for roughly 26 years and had gone grody. Doesn't matter if food coloring doesn't go grody. Sometimes you can't trust Sainsbury's.

We started the movie and dove headfirst into the cookies, which turned out to be a dangerous combination. The sugar high hit hard and fast, and we were left giggling hysterically at a movie we'd all seen before. We even rewound Hugh Grant's dancing-through-10-Downing-Street scene and tried to recreate it, standing up and flailing about like morons. Rumor has it that Meredith took a video of this on her digital camera, but I have yet to see it!

After the movie, Meredith and Candy headed back to their London flat while Jessa, Jackie, and Shannon crashed at my place. We awoke early the next morning, since I had work and the three of them wanted to hit the British Museum before going home, but we'd barely gotten enough sleep and took much longer than planned to get our lazy selves going.

In all, it was a terrific night. It was so exciting to see my friends from the Haggis tour again. They're all such amazing girls, and we always have so much fun whenever we get together. We even had a mini rock reunion, gathering the rocks that Tony the Tour Guide forced us to adopt. I was sad to see the girls go, but at least we had another night of laughter, jokes, and memories. And even if we don't get together again in the UK, we don't live THAT far apart back in the States! :)

( Witness the madness! )

Warning: This is going to be a huge entry, since so much happened this weekend during my trip to the Scottish Highlands. I’ve got a lot to write and a billion pictures to share. Therefore, I’m going to put it all behind a cut. I suggest clicking the link and reading the novel while the pictures load. But I admit that some of this is just for me, some jokes and stories I want to remember, so if you skip the reading and just look at the pretty pictures, I won’t blame you. That being said...

( Let us begin… )

And I'm spent.

Another busy weekend in the English capital!

On Saturday, my friend Kate and I went to see the matinee showing of Billy Elliot, the musical stage version of the popular 2000 film. I had to stand in line for about an hour, and tickets were 25 quid, but it was worth it, I think. The show was fabulous. There were some REALLY amazing dance numbers. My favorite was probably the one near the end, during Billy's audition, where the music just went BAM and Billy threw his arms out and did this shoulder roll thing and then just went NUTS, flipping and running and spinning around the stage, the lights and the music just pounding. And I knew the show would make me miss tap dancing, and it did. My feet were literally bouncing as I watched Billy's feet. I knew all the steps he was doing, the falaps and shuffles and pullbacks and wings and cramprolls, and MAN did my feet want to join in.

Then, tonight I went to Leicester Square to join in the madness that was the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I got there around 4pm, and found roughly 2.3 billion people crowded around. The barriers went ALL the way around the square (which is huge, by the way), and in the center of this was the press/red carpet area, which was unfortunately screened off from the crowd. I could kinda see the stars as they were being interviewed, but the screen prevented any good pictures from being taken. There were also big replicas of film sets in there, including a fire-breathing dragon and a giant water tank, but I only heard about these things, I couldn't see them.

I found a semi-not-so-crowded spot, and decided to take a picture of the front of the theatre, which included a sign that said "Harry Potter World Premiere" and a giant blue replica of the Triwizard Cup. But as I took these pictures, my camera battery died. Fantastic timing! So after a quick run to a store to buy another battery, I came back to my spot and found another row of people had accumulated, including this girl who had to be 6'2" and her equally large father. I somehow squeezed in between them, but it didn't help that everytime someone famous walked by, the girl stuck her big ol' elbow in my face.

The cars carrying the stars pulled up somewhere to my right, and the entrance into the red carpet was kitty-corner to my right, so I could see most of the stars that appeared, even though there were a whole lot of hands, arms, elbows, cameras, and autograph books in my way, thus preventing me from taking any good pictures. Four of the stars actually came right in front of me, so I got good pictures of them: Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), James & Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy). However, although I didn't get pictures of them, I also saw Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione), Rupert Grint (Ron), Mark Phillips (Mr. Weasley), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Robert Pattison (Cedric Diggory), Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), and Miranda Richardson (Rita Skeeter). No sign of Voldemort, Snape, Dumbledore, McGonagall, or Lucius. But, I did also see Madonna! That was one kinda funny, actually. Since I couldn't actually see the arrivals, I had to count on the people in front of me to tell me who was coming. We heard screaming, which indicated someone was on their way, and the conversation went something like:

"Who is it?"
"I can't tell. Some blonde woman."
"Is it Rowling?"
"No, I don't think so. Oh, it's Madonna!"
"MADONNA?!?"

And then all hell erupted. She had her daughter with her, but I only got a quick glance as she walked by, and a crappy picture of the back of her.

Somewhere in the square, there was a woman doing interviews with all the big stars. I couldn't see her, but the voices were broadcast throughout the whole square, so I heard interviews with most of the cast. Emma Watson was giddy, Daniel Radcliffe was really loud, and Rupert Grint seemed kinda bored, lol.

After a couple hours, I figured most people had already gone by, so I left. It was raining anyway, and my body was actually sore from standing on tiptoe, straining to see, and getting absolutely crushed by fellow fans. So I finally snuck out and headed home. And in case you're wondering, tickets to the actual movie were invite only from the production, so obviously I didn't go in to see it. But it opens in a couple weeks, and I am SO THERE! Now I'm so much more excited to see the movie.

( Piiiiiictures! )

This weekend was the London Film Festival.

On Sunday afternoon, my flatmate Jane and I went to see "Walk the Line," the Johnny Cash biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. I'd been wanting to see this movie, and it was excellent. I like both lead actors, and they each did a great job. Joaquin, in particular, was amazingly convincing as Johnny. He did all his own singing, and there were moments when I was sure he had to be dubbing, that's how much he sounded like Johnny. Even his "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" sounded authentic. Now, granted, I'm admittedly not a huge Johnny Cash fan (although I do like him) so maybe to a die-hard Cash-head (I just made that up), Joaquin doesn't sound anything like the Man in Black. But I think he did a good job, considering whose shoes he was trying to fill. I most definitely recommend this movie!

Then, on Monday, I once again headed to the theater in Leicester Square to see "The Brothers Grimm." Now, THIS screening turned out to be quite an awesome night.

I went there straight after work, since I wouldn't've had time to go all the way back home, so after a quick bite to eat, I went to queue up for standby tickets. I was nearly two hours early, but I had my iPod and the LFF brochure to keep me company. Then, about an hour before showtime, the security guards start setting up metal barriers.... and then I notice a pack of paparazzi starting to gather. Uhh.... So I ask the short lil' Austrailian fella ahead of me whether the cast and crew were coming, since I'd heard that other casts and crews had come for other showings. He told me yeah, theoretically, they were.

Cue me, freaking out. Shall I remind you: THIS MOVIE STARS MATT DAMON. And if you know me, you know my obsession admiration for one Mr. Damon. But, I won't keep you in suspense: Matt Damon did not show up. Although I did spend about forty-five minutes bouncing on my toes and wondering why I had to look so scruffy and tired and why didn't I wear my hair down and should I ask for a hug and why don't I have anything for him to sign?!

But a couple fancy-lookin' Mercedes pulled up, and I did not recognize about 95% of the people who piled out. I did know Jonathan Pryce, even if only from his role in Pirates of the Caribbean. And, of course, there was Terry Gilliam, the director. But everyone else... not a clue.

So after Matt Damon doesn't show up, I finally got inside to buy a ticket. I was handed free Häagen-Dazs, then headed into the theater to find my assigned seat, noting that all the seats were draped with free T-shirts (I like premieres so far!). As I approached my row, I saw three people settling into the end three seats. Since I knew my seat was further in, I asked them if I could sneak past before they sat down. They said of course, and it was then that I realized the guy who was sitting on the last seat of the row was Darren Hayes, aka the singing half of Savage Garden.

I decide to be friendly, so I tell him it's cool to see him there, and as I am (very awkwardly) stumbling over his knees, I stick out my hand and introduce myself (great timing on that one, Kat). He was very nice, and we chatted for a moment. He asked if I was Canadian or American, and I said American, and he said something about San Francisco (I forget what, either he likes it or he lives there or something) and I was like, "Well, I'm from Michigan, which is about as far away as you can get." And he was like, "Yeah, I know Michigan. I love it there." The traveling-singer's motto: Yeah, I love it there! So as random as it was to meet him, he was a really nice guy. So yay for that.

Before the movie began, the director and the cast members who were there got up and said a few words of hello. I don't remember what they said. It wasn't all that important, clearly. Then came the movie, which was really good. It was also really freaky.. not in a jump-out-and-scare-you kind of freaky, but a what-the-HELL? kind of freaky. Like, horses swallowing little girls whole kind of freaky. Definitely not one for the kids, but a good movie nonetheless. Matt Damon was good, because really, he can do no wrong in my eyes, and I even liked Heath Ledger. I'm not wild about him, but I loved his character in this. Maybe because he was kinda dorky, and not all arrogant. And there was a Q&A after the screening, but I left before that started, mostly because it was late and was gonna take an hour to get home, and because, let's be honest, Matt Damon wasn't there. So I took my free t-shirt and my Häagen-Dazs wrapper and I skedattled, musing at the really random trail of events of the night.

( A couple not-so-exciting pictures )

And there ya go. :)

The fruit in this city sucks. I haven't been able to find a decent apple in months! The oranges are okay, but the bananas are crap, and grapes are no good, and the peaches are just laughable. Can't tell ya how much I miss Red Delicious apples.

Just a few moments ago, my boss actually used the word "smashing." He also says "jolly" a lot. It takes quite a bit of self-control not to giggle when he does that. Now, my boss himself is the walking, talking epitome of a posh British man. He's about 5'6" and all of 95 pounds, with a bald head and too-big glasses. Actually, take away the glasses and the accent, and he quite reminds me of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. Well, without the ruthless attitude and the gay assistant, anyway.

I have been working for the past 16 days straight. I finally have a day off on Saturday, and I very much intend to sleep in until at least noon.

On Sunday, while working at Westminster Abbey, something was going on but I don't know what it was. While I was heading back to the bookshop after lunch, I noticed a line of fancy-lookin' black cars in front of the entrance, surrounded by curious onlookers. About an hour or two later, after the cars were long-gone, the bells of the Abbey went berserk and started chiming maniacally for about a half-hour. First my coworkers and I laughed that someone had probably hit the wrong bells button and couldn't figure out how to turn it off. But then someone suggested they were wedding bells. I went to the window to look, but all I could see were some curious tourists lining the large black gates. And it was about this time that I noticed a large black car with the official Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II emblem on it.

Our boss had no idea what was going on, and we never did figure it out. I don't think it was a wedding, because I didn't see a party anywhere, only the regular Sunday congregation crowd. And I don't think the Queen was actually there, because it would have been a bigger fuss. But maybe I should pick up a local newspaper and make sure Her Majesty didn't have some sort of function in the Abbey that day!

Today was my first day working at Westminster Abbey. All in all, it was quite fun. I worked with three other people who are about my age, which was a very pleasant change from the everyone-here-could-be-my-parent age group at the solicitor's office. The tourists that come in are nice enough, although a lot of them felt the need to tell me I'm American. Like they've just solved the world's biggest mystery or something. Although at least some of them are creative about it (see: "Hey, your British accent sounds a lot like mine!"). Hardy har har, fella.

I work again tomorrow, and I work both days next weekend, but after that, I'm only a Sunday worker. But I like it there, and I'm glad I got the job. Oh, and I get into the Abbey for free! Normally it's eight pounds to get in, but I can take free tours since I'm an employee. I've been in there once before, but it'd be nice to go back again. And for free? Yes please!

Although now I'm really friggen' tired, because I had to be at work at 9:00, and since I wasn't sure how long the bus ride would take, I woke up super early and left the house super early. And by super, I mean, I got to the Abbey 45 minutes early. Whoops. Next time, I'm sleepin' in!

Oh, and remember how a couple weeks ago, I attempted to make my mom's stroganoff, but I couldn't find cream of celery soup or measuring cups and the end result wasn't all that good? Well...

( Reason #7536 why my mom is cooler than yours. )

You know you've lived in London too long when:

- You're an expert at packing your groceries into your backpack for the long trek home.
- You shoulder-clobber someone on Oxford Street, and you don't even feel guilty.
- You're asked directions, and you know the answer.
- You automatically look right when crossing the street.
- You hear about a section of the tube being closed down, broken down, or delayed, and you're not at all surprised.
- You've been evacuated from the tube more than once on the same day.
- You've given up trying to find something good on TV, and stick with "Friends."
- You've seen more women wearing burkas and pushing strollers than you can count.
- You start using words like chappy, mobile, bloody, trousers, and reckon.
- It's normal to walk down the street and not understand a single word being spoken around you.
- You know exactly what bus to take to get to Oxford Street, Picadilly Circus, London Bridge, and Big Ben.
- You never leave home without an umbrella.
- You've stopped converting pounds to dollars.
- You trip over a loose sidewalk brick at least once a day.
- You get huffy when a flight to "the continent" is more than fifteen pounds.
- You stop missing microwaves.
- You walk across zebra crossings without bothering to look for cars.
- You have to avoid someone handing out flyers at least once a day.
- You say "Cheers" for everything.

On Saturday, I took a daytrip to Brighton, England, which is a popular town on the southeast coast of England. I went with my friend Kate and two of her coworkers, Roxanne (from Portland, Oregon) and Aisling (from Northern Ireland).

We'd planned to catch the 9:56 train from the London Bridge station, but due to delays and suspensions on the (STUPID OBNOXIOUS ANNOYING) tube system, three of us were late. Aisling made it on time, don't know how she managed that. But it was fine, because trains run to Brighton every ten minutes or so, so we instead caught the 10:11 train and headed south.

Brighton was much bigger than I expected, a bustling city full of a wide variety of people. Upon leaving the train station, our first stop was Primark, which is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It's a clothing store that is notorious for its ridiculously inexpensive clothes (and for its ridiculously crowded stores; doesn't matter when you go, there will always be ten million people around). But their prices are worth it: I got a sweater there for £6 once. And their sales are fabulous: £4 for a pair of jeans! However, I didn't buy anything on this particular spree.

Next, we made our way towards the water, stopping at an information center for maps and such, since none of us had thought to read up on Brighton before actually going there. We decided a Mexican lunch sounded good, so we picked out a restaurant and headed over. It was pretty good, even though my food came about five minutes after everyone else's... what's that about?!

After stuffing ourselves full of rice and tortillas, we headed back towards the famous pier by walking along the boardwalk. We stopped at a few random stalls, bought a few random things, and mostly just enjoyed the view. Being a gorgeous day, the place looked like someone'd kicked an ant hill: people EVERYWHERE.

One of the little attractions we visited was an old-fashioned penny arcade, complete with dozens of games from years ago. There was a slightly demonic-looking fortune teller (a la "Big") that gave us our fortunes on little cards for 20p; really old "motion picture viewers" that had pictures that came to life when you cranked the handle; and a TERRIFYING "laughing sailor" thing, which was basically a scary-lookin' doll in a glass box that would laugh maniacally when you put money in. I don't know WHY that thing was supposed to be entertainment. I high-tailed it out of there when it started leering at me.

We also took a stroll out to the end of the Brighton Pier and back. We didn't partake in any of the attractions (which included random video cames and a "Love Forecast" booth, which we noted had a laptop instead of a glass ball), but Aisling and I did get an ice cream cone!

After the pier, we decided to visit the Royal Pavilion, which was built by King George IV as a summer home. It is one of Brighton's most popular attractions, so we figured we should visit it, but we weren't all that impressed. We wandered around the Pavilion's museum for about a half-hour, got bored, and left without actually visiting the Pavilion itself. Ah, well.

We stopped at a local pub for one last drink before catching our train back. I stuck to water, as I'd been battling a small cold all weekend. After sitting and chatting for a bit, we headed back to the station and caught our train back to London sweet London.

( What else? Pictures! )

What is it with me and changing my appearance every time I come to the UK? When I was in Scotland, I got a tattoo. And now, here in London...

( I do this )

Good news: I got a second job! I will be working weekends at the Westminster Abbey Bookshop, which is essentially the little gift shop stuck on the side of the Abbey. They needed someone on an ad-hoc basis, which means my schedule is already set through December and really random. But it works, because now I have certain weekends free to travel, which makes planning ahead much easier. I'm already toying with the idea of going to the Scottish Highlands (<3) during the first week of November.

I only have three more months here. How is it I've been here for three months?!

Tonight I am going to attempt (key word there) to make some of my mother's famous beef stroganoff for dinner. But since A) her recipe is in cups and ounces and they don't USE cups and ounces over here, I'm gonna have to fake it, and B) I couldn't find any friggen cream of celery soup, I'm going to have to improvise. Thus, it could turn into a giant disaster. We'll have to wait and see.

EDIT: It's official. No one cooks as well as my mom. My stroganoff looked about the same, and smelled about the same, but it didn't taste the same. Alas, I tried!

I also bought a large-barrel curling iron from Argos today. Sounds strange, but I actually use curling irons to straighten my hair, so now I have the option of doing that. No more frizzy humid curls! (That's the thing with London weather, I've noticed. It's always humid. Doesn't matter if it's sunny, rainy, cloudy.... it's always sticky. Guh.)

My flatmate Jane and I watched "Down To You" last night, the really wretched movie with Freddie Prinz, Jr and Julia Stiles. Don't know if you were planning on it, but don't watch it. It's terrible. And it's funny, because we both recognized it was terrible within about fifteen minutes, and yet we still sat there and watched the whole thing. We're sad.

And, I'm out. :)

I went grocery shopping last night, and as I was pushing my little cart down an aisle, two guys with really thick Irish accents stopped me to ask me where the bakery section was. I directed them to it (having been in this grocery store about a billion times now), and after I was done speaking, one guy said to me, "What part of Ireland are you from, if you don't mind my asking?" I blinked, and said, "Actually, I'm American." The guy looked genuinely surprised. He motioned to my face and said, "You just look like you have Irish to ya." I explained that yes, I was of Irish heritage, but definitely American. He found that weird.

Wouldn't you recognize your own accent? I mean, I often ask Irish-accented people where abouts in Michigan they're from, but that's just me.

So this past weekend was PARIS!

The trip started early Saturday morning, when I caught the coach at 6:15 am. I met Kate, my travel buddy, on the bus, and after a few more stops, we were off to Dover, England, on the coast of the English Channel. We took a ferry across the water, then drove the four hours into Paris. We didn't get to our hotel until around 5:00pm (taking a coach the whole way takes FOREVER) and when Kate and I got to our room, we realized we couldn't figure out how to open the door. The key would turn and the lock would click, but the handle didn't turn and the door didn't open. But our problem was solved when we realized our window was open. :)

After dropping off our stuff, Kate and I headed out to take a walk around Paris. We took the Metro to near the Eiffel Tower, walked to the Arc de Triomphe, strolled down the Champs-Elysees, through the Place de Concorde, through the Jardin de Tuileries, around the Louvre, and down the Rue Rivoli. We stopped at a tiny cafe for some crepes (Nutella and bananas for me, ham & cheese for Kate), then continued our walk back down the river towards our Metro stop, taking in all the gorgeous sights along the way.

The next day, Sunday, was a big day! The morning started with a guided tour of Paris on our coach, as driven by Mitch (the young, bald-headed Englishman) and narrated by Patrick (the grandpa-like Paris expert with the cockney English accent). We drove past most of the main attractions, but we didn't stop often because, since the London bombings, Paris officials have prohibited coaches from stopping outside any historical or tourist attraction. It was nice, though, because Patrick seemed to know what he was talking about.

After the guided tour, Kate and I headed to the Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart), a huge, beautiful cathedral built on a hill overlooking Paris. There, we met Kate's friend and have lunch. We stopped in a little cafe, where I had some very tasty roasted chicken and chips (aka, French fries, but I don't think they call them that in France), and, in true Parisian fashion, our lunch lasted well over an hour and a half.

Next came the Louvre, where Kate and I took in the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and Cupid & Psyche, amongst other things. We weren't in there very long, but we took in a lot of stuff. The huge hallway of Italian paintings is still my favorite part!

Kate and I split up after the Louvre. She wanted to go back to the hotel and rest, so I continued on to the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower. I wanted to go to the top of the Tower, but it was overcrowded and thus not letting anyone else up. So I settled for the second floor. Not as nice a view, but gorgeous nonetheless. After that, I headed over to the Alma-Marceau Metro stop to meet up with Kate again. And right across from the Metro stop is a full-size replica of the Statue of Liberty's torch (which was a gift to the US from France, for those who don't know!), which has become a makeshift memorial for Princess Diana, since it sits atop the tunnel in which Diana lost her life. There are pictures, roses, signs, and handwritten notes all along the cement, commemorating and immortalizing the Princess.

Once Kate showed up, we headed down to the river to take a nighttime cruise of the Seine, past all the beautiful, lit-up sights of Paris. It was really fun and really gorgeous, and after we docked again, Kate and I headed back to the Eiffel Tower to scrounge up some snacks. We got crepes again (ham & cheese for me this time, Nutella and banana for her), then set on a short cement wall to enjoy our food. As we sat there, we were approached by a man hawking cheap plastic replicas of the Eiffel Tower. We haggled (successfully!) and each got a toy for one two euro. I even got a free Eiffel Tower keychain in the proccess! But after our food and new toys, it was back to the hotel to crash. It'd been a really long day and we were exhausted.

The next morning, Kate headed off to visit Jim Morrison's grave while I made a trip to the Church of St. Sulpice, which features in "The Da Vinci Code" (it's the first church at which the monk thinks he's found the Holy Grail and where he murders a nun). It really was a gorgeous church, if a little dark. The brass line mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code" did indeed run across the floor, but it was accompanied by a sign debunking everything Dan Brown claims it to be: it's not called a "Rose-Line," there was never a pagan temple on the site, the P and S in the stained glass windows do not stand for "Priory of Sion," etc etc etc. Well, someone's gotta be lying, because Dan Brown claims his facts to be truth! ;)

After St. Sulpice, I headed back to the hotel to meet up with the tour group again for our noon departure, and once again, we started our too-long journey back to London. We did have a minor delay when, after the ferry docked back in England, our bus driver was nowhere to be seen. As all the surrounded tour coaches pulled out, we were stranded, along with the poor coaches parked behind us. But Mitch finally arrived, and we were off. We watched "The Terminal" and "Hitch" on DVD while driving, and it wasn't until about 11:00pm that I got back to my flat. I was tired, but it was fun, and I took LOTS of pictures!

Things I Learned This Weekend in Paris:
-- Napoleon is buried in seven tombs, one inside the other, so the little rascal can't get out and cause any more trouble.
-- The McDonald's on the Champs-Elysees has a white "M", since the normal "golden" arches were seen as too bright and crass.
-- You can avoid the queues at the Louvre if you cheat and go through the gift shop!
-- Jules Verne hated the Eiffel Tower with a passion, yet always went to its restaurant to eat dinner. When asked why, he replied, "It's the only place in the city where I can't see the ugly thing." Thus, in his honor, they renamed the restaurant as the Jules Verne Restaurant.
-- The old military barracks in the center of te city still bear bullet holes in its facade from the time of WW2, to remember the way the city fought against the Nazis.
-- French ketchup is disgusting.

And now...

( LOTS of pictures! Let them all load before scrolling through them! )

If there's one thing I've learned since moving to London, it's that I like my American personal space. People here seem to have a problem with that. I can't stand it when a stranger's arm rests against mine on the bus. I don't like when someone in the grocery line stands so close to me I can hear them breathe (and don't bother scootching forward: they will only follow suit). And I don't appreciate being knocked over and run into just while walking down the street. I know it's really hard to accomodate others, but really, people. Give it a go.

I've also decided that I'm not fashionable enough for in this city. For the first part, I don't own a skirt. That seems to be the going uniform here. The more flow-y and bohemian-lookin', the better. Pair it with a tank top and add some flip-flops, and brownie points if you tack on a ginormous belt that sits low on your hips and doesn't perform any function that would qualify it being deemed a belt.

I haven't really ridden the tube in a few weeks, since I favor the bus. It's cheaper, plus it's always more fun to look out the window and see where you're going, versus flying blindly down a dark tunnel. Although, I will say, both the bus and the tube have an equal amount of human stink-bombs. Stanksters. Pig-Pens. Just the other day one of these shower-shunners came on the bus and sat in the row behind me. It wasn't 15 seconds until the tiny little Asian woman he sat next to got up, literally waved her hand in front of her nose, and found another seat. If that ain't a hint, I don't know what is.

Last weekend, I visited the Portobello Street Market with my friends Hope and Eve. It is, more or less, the longest street in the world. It took us a couple hours to see everything, and "everything" is exactly what was offered. There were tourist souveniers, clothes, bags, antiques, sports equipment, and even an entire table full of old-fashioned cameras. I shelled out five pounds for a gorgeous silver-colored pashmina scarf. After the Market, we hit up Oxford Street and wandered in and out of some random stores. We stopped in Topshop and got free makeovers, and the woman doing mine seemed to attack my face with about twelve different shades of green eyeshadow. I suppose she thought it a good idea, since I have green eyes, but with the green shirt I was wearing, I think I looked more Jolly Giant than anything.

I don't have any pictures with this update, but I am going to Paris next weekend for the Bank Holiday weekend, so I'll have some then. So, as my dad would say, just hold your horses.

And, perhaps the most important thing of all, I leave you with this: Brad Paisley's new album came out this week!! Go buy it!! :-D

P.S. Feel free to comment, folks! :-P You don't have to have a livejournal account to do so. Just click on "leave a comment" and choose the anonymous option, then just leave your name in your comment so I know who you are. It's nice to know who's reading this thing. :-)

This weekend was pretty calm for me. Last week, I ended up going out and doing something almost every night, despite working all day and being pretty tired. Monday was my friend Lauren's birthday, so it was some pool at the hostel bar, then out for dinner in Chinatown. Tuesday... okay, Tuesday, I stayed in. Wednesday was a BUNAC pub meet, so I went with my friends Anna, Lauren, Kristel and Gina. Thursday night was karaoke in the hostel bar, so NATURALLY I had to go to that! And Friday was our farewell evening to Gina, since she flew back to the States on Saturday. :( We went to a pub, then a pub, then a club. Haha!

On Friday, I moved into my flat. It was quite the adventure, trying to find and then flag down a stinkin' taxi during Friday rush hour. The first cabbie whose window I approached complained that he was "facing the wrong direction" and proceeded to drive away from me. How RUDE. For the record, he was NOT facing the wrong direction. I lack in common sense sometimes, but I was ON the right side of the street! The second available taxi just drove right by me and my extended arm. Finally, finally, after about a half-hour of standing on the side of the street like a loser with a lot of luggage, some nice cabbie stopped and took me to my flat.

Saturday I planned to sleep in, but those plans were thwarted by the neighbors who decided loud Spanish music at 9:00 was a good idea. But I pretty much spent Saturday and Sunday indoors, just chilling and relaxing. It was nice to be able to do that, since, for once, I didn't need to worry about a flat or a job. :) Oh, and Saturday night, my roommate Jane and I ended up watching like 3 1/2 episodes of "House" in a row. Haha! There was a marathon or something on, and we got sucked it. LOVE that show. And on Sunday I woke up feeling a little sick. I'm still a bit under the weather, but I guess it's to be expected, since Anna, Lauren, and Kristel were ALL sick, and they were my roommates all last week. And this darn London rain ain't helpin' the situation.

And, just so I can brag: every day, during my bus ride to and from work, I pass the Beatles' Abbey Road zebra crossing. Matt, I know you're jealous!

And now for some ( pictures! )

And now I have a flat. :)

I called and visited a couple places this weekend, and I really liked one in particular. It's in Kilburn, which is northwest London, about a 15 tube ride from the West End (and my job). I was hoping they'd offer me the room (since there were other people coming to look at it) and they did this morning! :)

I have my own room (and my own DOUBLE bed!), and I will be living with one guy and one girl, both Australian. And there's a living room (which is notable; not all London flats have them!), wireless internet, SkyTV (fancy cable, basically), a DVD player, a kitchen (fully equipped) and even a little backyard. I don't move in until next weekend, but if you would like my new address, post a comment with your email address and I will send it to you. :) Snail mail is always welcomed.

It's actually a little serendipitous... when I started working this week, I asked Krissy, the girl I'm replacing, if her room was up for grabs. She told me that no, it'd been rented a couple weeks earlier. But when I went to my new flat yesterday to see the room and chat with the flatmates, it turns out... this flat is where Krissy used to live! The girl I'm living with is the one who took her room! It was such a strange coincidence. We all had a big "OH MY GOSH!" moment when we realized it, that I'm Krissy's work replacement and that this was her old flat. Out of all the flats in all of London...

So now I can start to really relax and find my niche. And I can FINALLY unpack my suitcase, after four weeks! I'm still gonna have to play with bus routes and figure out the best way to get to work (busses are cheaper than the tube), but I'm excited.

Yeehaw. :)

This weekend was pretty eventful.

On Friday, around 8:30pm, I went with my friend Kristel to stand in line for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which went on sale one minute after midnight. We had reserved our books a couple days before at the Waterstone's on Oxford Street. I thought that there would be a party of sorts, but instead we spent four hours standing in a line that wrapped down the block and around the corner. There were lots of people dressed up and even some hired actors to play some of the more famous characters.

After we finally got inside and got our books, we made a quick stop to McDonald's before heading home. I got back to the hostel around 2am and quickly fell asleep. Although most people started reading the book that night, I was too exhausted and started it Saturday evening after I got back from my trip to Wales. (And I'm still not done with the book... NO SPOILERS!!)

As previously mentioned, I had won a pair of day-passes for any trip of my choice, and I decided to go to Wales because I'd never been. The trip was on Saturday, and I invited my friend Kate to go with me. The tour took a lovely (air-conditioned!) coach and traveled through some of the prettiest English and Welsh countryside. We made a couple stops during the day, including Gloucester, England, whose abbey was apparently used, in part, to film some of the Harry Potter films.

It was a long, hot day, but it was fun, and now I can add Wales to my list of visited counties, bringing to total to nine. :)

Work starts tomorrow morning, and I'm excited. I just wish my flat hunt was going a little better. I know I shouldn't worry, since all I did was worry about a job for two weeks and that worked out, but I don't want to have to wait another two weeks for a flat. I'm going on my fourth week in this hostel, and I need to get my own room! Too many darn people around.

( Click here for pictures of Harry Potter-ness and Wales )

And today as I was riding the tube, this song came on my iPod. I hadn't noticed before, but I think the lyrics are quite fitting for me right now.

( Why Georgia )

I have a job!

Today was quite an experience. I had two interviews. The first one went really well, and I really wanted the job, working as a receptionist in this small company. They seemed really relaxed and friendly. The lady told me that she had another person coming in to interview that afternoon, and she knew that I had another interview at another company, but that she would let me know her decision tonight.

The second interview went even better. They too had another interview after me. But when I was done, I wasn't ten paces out the door before the interviewer called me back, brought me back into the office, and offered me the job on the spot. She asked if I wanted to think about it, and I said yes.

Basically, all along, I was hoping for the first job, despite the second job's interest in me. Most aspects of the two positions were the same: pay, hours, duties, etc. But the first office seemed a little more relaxed and fun, PLUS they were willing to keep me for the full six months, while the second job was only for about three months. So I called the first office back, told them that I was definitely interested, and they promised to get back with me before the end of the day.

For a few hours, I waited on edge for the first office to call me back, to see if they'd offer me the position. Just a few moments ago, I knew their office was about to close but I hadn't heard from them. I called my dad in a panic, like, "Can I call them? Is that rude?" He told me to call, so I was halfway through dialing their number when my phone rang.... it was the first office, offering me the job! I took it gleefully.

Then I had to call back the second office and decline their offer. The lady sounded sad that I wasn't going to take it, and she asked me why, and I explained that I liked being able to keep the other job for the full six months. I felt bad turning her down -- they really WERE into me! -- but I am so excited now. I have a job and I start on Monday!

Now.... to find a flat.