HOME SWEET HOME!

The weather has been very nice here. It is so funny how many people claimed how gross it would be yet we've been here for five days and so far today was the first day that we have had questionable weather. It was really really cold today and rainy and windy to the point where i thought our umbrellas would blow in and of course on the day that we had to scuttle around town looking for flats, but the nasty weather only lasted about 20 mins or so which was good.




The last couple of days we have been getting around town everywhere looking for a place to live. We have been in a gazillion neighborhoods and to so many tube stops trying to find places. We have been dealing with a lot of agents that are not very helpful and just want their huge commission. They keep telling us that we can't get a place because they can't get references since we are international and many of them want us to pay a huge fee and also won't give us a flat since we don't have a job yet.

Regardless of how fast we look in the paper, someone has already moved into it and given the deposit within the hour. It was a really frustrating day to the point where we were near tears in the gigantic four story Whole Foods grocery store here as we sat over our tiny tiny ten dollar burrito that we were sharing.

THE GOOD NEWS THOUGH: We randomly called this guy tonight on Craigslist who needed a flatmate and his flat was right near our hostel so we walked down the road and met up with him. He showed us the flat and we decided to go for it. It's the cheapest thing we've come across and in the best area right across from the tube station and in Camden which is one of our favourite neighborhoods. We have a loft bed with a really really tall ladder so if i drink too many pints at the pub i might die, but I'm hoping that's the worst case scenario. The guy's name is George and he has a really annoying jack russell terrier named Cornelius. George is sort of a brooding artist type. He is very quiet but seems nice enough. The apartment has a full kitchen and bathroom that we'll share with george but it seems perfect for the price we're paying. Plus we'll have internet and wireless at that!

He was very relaxed unlike the agents and basically did not make us sign a contract of any kind and told us we can move in tomorrow which is wonderful.

The other day we took a bit of a tourist day and walked along the london bridge and walked along the Thames river. We stopped at a greek restaurant and ate hummus and vegetarian souvlaki that was so so good and we continued walking along the Thames. We got to see the london eye which is the large ferris wheel that was constructed for the millennium. We didn't ride it yet because we don't have a job and it is 30 us dollars but maybe once we find a good job we can celebrate by taking a ride on it. We also went to the Tate Modern museum which has really good modern art and is free to the public. After that museum we kept walking along the river and everything was lit up for christmas and was so gorgeous. Since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving everything is already lit up here for Christmas. We came along to big ben and the parliament building which is just gorgeous against the night sky. We then decided that we might as well walk by Buckingham Palace so we got on the tube and got off at that stop. We walked a long ways and finally came to the palace. It was really pretty. We didn't see the queen but there were some lights on so maybe she was watching TV or maybe she was getting frisky with one of the guards, who knows? The weird thing is there wasn't a guard in sight at night but they have that whole big deal celebration of the changing of the guards during the day. Wouldn't we need guards at night mostly? Then we went over to Lauren's and checked out her flat in kensington and drank really watery hot chocolate which seems to be the trend so far.

We are out of the hostel thursday morning and we are official Camden residents, now all we need is a job. We found a bulletin board at the BUNAC office that has all the jobs that they have been informed of and there was plenty of secretary work for about 10 pounds an hour equivalent to 20 us dollars. I think we'll do that so that we can travel on the weekends. We might go to Brighton this weekend. We've made really good friends with a french girl named Gaelle and we are teaching her english a little bit. She just moved here too and is in the same boat. A lot of people here are in the same boat who are staying at our hostel so we're hoping maybe we can all hang out more once we get settled into our lives.

WE MISS YOU and i miss lettuce wraps at carolines and iced tea and walking on the right side of the stairwell and opening doors inwards rather than outwards, but i wouldn't trade london for anything because we are meeting so many people and learning about so many countries and besides the beer is way better here.