Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas.

It's an odd thing being away from home on Christmas. There are so cues signifying the approach of the big day that I didn't have here, and that made it hard for me to realize that it is indeed Christmas. Like...:

Mom and dad getting down decorations from the attic.

The guest room being overtaken by wrapping paper.

Working at the Pig with last-minute pottery orders and a frantic Allie.

Scurrying through Target and the Mall looking for gifts.

Going to the Christmas pageant.

The advent wreath and scriptures leading up to the 25th.

Seafood gumbo on Christmas eve...

But I guess some things about the holidays never change no matter where you are for Christmas, and that's nice. For example, Christmas lights! They may not be lining my house (er, flat) but they are all over the city, they are beautiful, and they just make me so darn happy. There's also Christmas music playing in all of the stores and on the radio, non-stop Christmas movies, the overwhelming need to buy chocolate and desserts... There's plenty to get you in the mood. Plus there are attractions like ice skating and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, plus snow for crying out loud. Snow! Snow and mulled wine and minced pies and all sorts of little English cues that have helped me realize Yes, Stephanie, it's Christmas. .

This year it came and went like any other day though. Well, a few differences: none of us had to work, we ate much more cheese than can possibly be healthy, and nooothing was open. So it was like Christmas in that I spent the day relaxing, eating, and watching Christmas movies, but it was a little different being so far from my traditional surroundings... I wasn't sad persay, I don't think I've been here long enough to be properly depressed about missing Christmas at home. But it is definitely something I'll be happy to share with friends and family again once I'm back stateside.

I spent last night and today with the flatmates, minus Jess and plus a few. Loly's sister Pope (pronounced "Poppy," not like the head of the Catholic church) is in town from Chile, Jen N from Australia came over to our flat, and Benjamin and one of his friends joined us last night as well. It was kind of fun to explain our different Christmas traditions to each other. Loly and Pope made a drink for us last night that's white wine mixed with canned diced peaches - syrup and all. It was pretty sweet but delicious. I said that we usually have seafood gumbo on Christmas eve and found myself trying to explain "gumbo" - and after a story about finding a pearl in my oyster, then I had to explain an oyster!! Can you believe it? That was kind of hilarious. I was also the only person who had ever actually seen a version of the Nutcracker, let alone the real ballet. I never realized how much I loved that story until I was explaining it.

Since we spent so much time together last night and today there were plenty of other things about one another's cultures that we've been learning. For example, both Jens (from Canada and from Australia) were both raised without a religious affiliation - Jen N has never even been to a single church service. So I tried to explain the concept of the "Bible Belt" and I think she was kind of taken aback... creeped out, honestly. Like she didn't know these sorts of places exist. Veronica had a funny cultural bit - in Spain they eat a grape for every toll of the bell at midnight on New Years. She is very worried that she won't have any grapes if we're out on New Years Eve so I told her we'd pack some in our purses.

And recently I've been asked several questions along the lines of "Is it really like that in American high schools and universities - the ways it's portrayed on TV and in movies?" And I honestly don't know how to answer. I never considered myself to have had a normal high school experience what with it being a new school and so tiny. And when you think about all of the teen shows and movies and those ridiculous stereotypes - the jocks, the cheerleaders, the freaks, the geeks, the emo/goth kids... and in college - the parties, frats and sororities, football games... my initial reaction is like Of course it's not like that in real life! But then I start to think about it and, well, I don't know what it was like in high school in Australia or Chile or Spain... or Canada or England or even California for that matter. Maybe my high school and college experiences were kind of like that...? High school, at least, could have been a TV show. All those rich kids with no rules in a brand new school, that's a gold mine for hilarious plot lines, ha. And of course we had the cliques, the popular kids, the wannabes, the youth group kids... maybe it's all not so different from the movies after all.

Tonight we watched 10 Things I Hate About You - classic, came out when I was probably 10 or 12. In one of the opening scenes two kids are wondering around the quad and one is pointing out all of the groups to the other - the cliques are awesome. There's the typical jock/cheerleaders, but then apparently there's a cowboy clique, an edgy/coffee-sipping/hipster clique, white Rasta clique (really?), and the "future MBAs." So they go walking in a room and there's all these cowboys and I'm thinking, seriously, other countries think that we have cliques of cowboys running around because of movies like this?

So the point is - if there even is a point - I'm still trying to figure out what to tell these people. Here I am, a representative of the US, and very likely the only person from Arkansas that they will ever meet, and I'm supposed to confirm or negate what American life is like according to teen movies.

I'm not sure what any of that had to do with Christmas aside from the fact that I just got done watching 10 Things I Hate About You and explaining "prom" and "fraternities."

I got to video-skype with the family for the first time tonight and that was absolutely delightful :) :) Made my day! I finished the book The Help, which Mary Rogers sent me, last night and now I'm on to Scar Tissue, an autobiography by Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers. To be honest I don't know if I can stomach all 400-odd pages of this, I wish that someone else had written it... just cause you can write rad lyrics doesn't necessarily mean you should write your own memoir I guess? haha. But it was loaned to me as well and I've got nothing else so I think I'll go for it.

Tomorrow is "Boxing Day." I've had three or four explanations of this but I still don't know what it means, all I can figure is that it's become somewhat equal to Black Friday in America. These are different explanations I've heard:

1. Has to do with the homeless going door to door the day after Christmas asking for boxes and leftovers (depressing or what?)

2. Has to do with boxing kangaroos (the Australian told me that, go figure)

3. Has to do with the aftermath of Christmas and cleaning up, boxing everything away for next year (call me crazy but this definitely sounds the most legit)

4. And then there's my own pre-conceived notion that it has to do with actual boxing, Jermaine Taylor style.

I'm off to H&M and some other stores on High Street Kensington tomorrow to get some black ankle boots I've been eyeing (thanks Allie!) and see if there are any other bargains calling my name.

Larnie comes Monday and I couldn't be more excited! I feel just like a child looking forward to Christmas! Wait.. that just happened...

Tata now and hope everyone had a lovely holiday,

Steph xoxo

More photos.

With Jess and Veronica, our little tree in the background!

Same night - in the snow with Veronica, Jess, Dom, & Loly.

Holiday photos.

On the last day of class/ first day of snow!

With the Ice Bear in Trafalgar Square, haha - His skeleton is made of bronze and the ice has been carved around him. He's already lost his head :( It's a global-warming-awareness thing.

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park!

With Valentina (a Chilean friend of Loly's) and then with Santa.

Out with the girls in Camden at a club called Koko - looks like an old theatre inside, very cool. From left to right: me, Valentina, Veronica, Jessica, and Loly.

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Honestly it's been looking like Christmas ever since I got here around Halloween. They have no Thanksgiving to slow down the autumn-holiday-anticipation fever so there have been Christmas lights up since early November.

I got out of class last week on Wednesday and was greeted with my first English snowfall. Elvin and I gave a presentation on Reality TV (cause that's normal) and then walked outside together on our 15 minute break from class - the doors opened to the courtyard and I saw gigantic flakes falling and couldn't help it, I let out a huge gasp of glee!! Elvin was so tickled by my reaction that she took a picture of me. A couple of girls across the courtyard shouted "We just did the same thing!"

On Monday I got back my first paper with an A on it and the comment "Utterly perfect in both style and content." Pretty pleasing response Olaf, thank you thank you! I guess I can call up the Millsaps English department and tell them thanks for the preparation. I don't know my grade on the paper I turned in Wednesday yet, but I'm so delighted by the first grade that I hardly even care!

Since Wednesday I've seen quite a bit of snow. On Thursday we decorated our sweet little tree in the flat. I made some mulled wine and as we were decorating it started snowing again - have I mentioned the snow yet? And last weekend the girls and I went to this Winter Wonderland that is set up in Hyde Park - it was like a state fair dedicated solely to Christmas. It was awesome. There were rides, games, delicious foods like Belgium waffles and German sausages, and an ice skating rink. We walked around and enjoyed the environment, drank mulled wine and ate and ate. We also visited the markets at Brick Lane and Spitalfields where I can tell I'm going to have a fashion field day once I get some money.

Speaking of fashion field days - I've been wearing shorts with tights - talk about fashion risk! (Larnie.) I love it though. It's very comfy. Of course, that was before it became absolutely FREEZING... I've been layering leggings and "trousers" for the past few days because of the cold. (Trousers = pants, pants = panties. Some things you learn the hard way.)

I can't believe Christmas is this weekend. For one thing, I've been here 2 months?? It feels like I haven't been here anytime at all. I'm surprised that I'm not exactly homesick with the holidays and everything. I think I would be if I'd been away from home longer before these holidays started rolling around.

Funny little things will make me a little homesick though. A mom left the shop the other day with her two daughters simultaneously bickering and playing. They looked about 3 years apart in age, just like me and Allie. They reminded me of us the way they were picking on each other but just get the other's attention, not to be mean. Or I'll see a dad with his little girl or a mom and her teenage daughter and start to miss the 'rents. On the tube the other day I had a strange sensation: you know how certain smells can really trigger memories? Well I smelled something that reminded me so much of Grandma Claire's house. I figured that someone must be wearing a lot of Mary Kay, haha. But it definitely made me long for home a bit.

Larnie comes to visit in ONE WEEK which is very, very exciting! I have pleeeenty of ideas to keep us busy but I really just can't wait to catch up with a best friend face-to-face. I'm also excited about introducing her to the friends I've made here.

I will post some pictures from the past couple of weeks in a bit.

Much love from London,

Steph

I'm back!

These past couple of weeks have been so busy, sorry I haven't kept up with the blog! I got out of class this week so I've been writing papers, working, and enjoying an increasing social life (thank goodness). It snowed for the first time this week - on both Wednesday and Thursday! We decorated our flat Christmas tree (not like Flat Stanley - haha) this week and it started snowing while we were doing it - so perfect!

It's getting late now so I'd better hit the hay but I'll write some updates later on. Just wanted to let you know that I am in fact alive and well :).

London Lights.

View from atop the hill in Hampstead Heath.

Just happened to be around Harrod's last night. I love that window display above... the dress, the tree, the lamp, with the dining room chairs in the foreground and make-up counters behind... Ahhh that dress is to die for. Did I already mention the dress?

Then of course I had to get someone to take a solo pic of me in front of the photo booths and Harrod's lit up for Christmas!

B.E.D.B.U.G.S.

At first I didn't really know how I've failed to tell anyone about this yet, and then I realized it's because it sounds so disgusting and weird that I was embarrassed.

I didn't even know that bed bugs were still around/ even real. Previous to living in this flat I've only heard of actual bed bugs once: when I was about 10 I did a week-long summer day camp in Baton Rouge at a restored plantation called Magnolia Mound where my grandmother was a docent. We did all sorts of old-timey things like churn butter and see how sugar was processed from the cane, but that's beside the point. I remember being on a tour of the plantation and in one of the bedrooms she said something about bed bugs. Later, at home, I looked them up in the gigantic dictionary in our living room and was horrified to find a very gruesome drawing of this creature - That thing could be found crawling around in people's beds?? Ew!

So for the first 10 years of my life I didn't know they were real things, and then for the next 12 I didn't know they were still around, threatening to bite while you sleep tight.

Apparently around the time I moved into this flat Loly had realized she was getting bitten by something in her sleep. I'm not sure what research led her to discover they were bed bugs, but I noticed she had stripped her bed of the duvet cover and sheets. The next thing I knew she was throwing out the entire mattress as well as her chest of drawers and shelving. Then Veronica, my roommate, started to get odd bites - she compared them to Loly's but they were different so we all thought that Veronica's must not be bugs of the bed.

But the bug people were coming the next day to spray Loly's room and walls, so they decided they should spray our room, as well. Well I'll just say I was not entirely excited because this required us to strip our beds and remove everthything - EVERYTHING - from our closet, shelves, drawers... everything. Basically we would have to move out. I was like Ok, so I don't have any bites and I'm fairly certain this isn't necessary, but I kept my mouth closed.

Then over the next week or so Veronica got more and more bites and she was itchy and yada yada... It was such a mystery because her bites didn't look like Loly's, she couldn't actually SEE anything in her bed, and - this is the weirdest/most fortunate part - I was showing no symptoms of bed bugs! My bed is literally less than a foot from hers. She was waking up every morning with more and more itchy spots (maybe it was measles?) and I was waking up... with... nothing.

Ha so it was really hard for me to share in her frustration with this situation. I tried to be sympathetic, but everyone kept being like "I think they just like some people more than others" and honestly I was starting to get my feelings hurt by these little buggers (get it? buggers? bugs?).

Anyways, Veronica's battle with the bugs (which I'm still not convinced we had) got so intense that she decided to throw out her mattress as well. So she and Loly have been sleeping on the couches in the main room for the past, like, week, and I've had a half empty room all to myself.

This Monday the bug dudes came by for the 2nd part of the treatment and we had to go through the whole thing again - move our crap out of the rooms, re-wash the duvet and covers, wait for the treatment to dry for hours before going back in the room... and now Loly and Veronica are downstairs huffing and puffing and heave-ho-ing putting beds and shelving together. (I helped Veronica, don't worry - but then Loly entered the scene with Benjamin to help and I excused myself to Jenn and Jess's sanctuary upstairs to "write my paper" aka write my blog).

So there you have it, the saga of the bed bugs that may or may not have actually existed. Although I'm pretty sure that Loly did have them in her room, but I think that Veronica just had a weird allergic reaction and might be a tad paranoid.

This is Monday in my room with my bed still flipped over from where the bug guys were spraying everywhere. Notice the empty closet.

PS, we don't have a hammer so you should have seen Ben and Loly putting together Ikea shelves and drawers using the handles of carving knives to tap the nails in. They were like deranging Christmas elves.

Thanksgiving.

Well well, this was a Thanksgiving to remember. 

Instead of family there were flatmates;

instead of turkey there was pizza;

instead of pumpkin and pecan pies there were brownies and ice cream and cheap cheesecake.

Instead of wine there was - just kidding, there was still wine.

But surprisingly I didn't find myself weepy-eyed about missing our traditional Thanksgiving. My fellow American in the flat (Jess) and I had been talking up the holiday for weeks and our roommates were pretty excited about experiencing their very first Thanksgiving with us.

I headed home after work giddy about our mini-feast. There were seven of us celebrating: Spanish Veronica, Chilean Loly, Californian Jess, and Canadian Jen from the flat, plus Polish Dom and a Floridian friend of Jess's named Marley. And get this – we found a pizza place offering a pie topped with turkey and cranberry. How perfect. 

Now that I've given you a jolly enough description that you'll know I wasn't too upset on this great American holiday, I'll let you in on a few little things that I did miss...

The Maxwells. This is the one standing obligation for my father’s side of the family to get together every year. Whether it's at Canebrake or in Tulsa or Little Rock or Hot Springs, I always look forward to seeing my aunts, uncles, cousins… random foreign exchange students…  I missed our rowdy gift exchange and game of Pass-the-Trash. Ahh, there’s nothing quite like gambling with the family.

Black Friday. Allie and I, without fail, every year, wake up around 6 am and go shopping together. It’s never worth the crowds, long lines, prices, and tantrums but we still do it annually as an undying sisterly tradition.

The Football. Some of my fondest Thanksgiving memories are of everyone laid out liked beached whales all over the house, bursting from turkey and sweet potatoes, just barely managing to keep one eye open on the football. And this isn’t just any old football game. If you know anything about the Maxwells, you know that both sides of my family hail from Louisiana. Somehow the Hogs have managed to turn my father, and I’m a Razorback fan as well, but that leaves the two of us struggling against up to 30 kindred LSU fans in The Battle of the Boot.

Fall Foliage. Mmmm the weather in the south is always so crisp around Thanksgiving. And those leaves.

Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows. This is so my favorite.

Thanksgiving Leftovers. Good cold or warmed up.

But here is one redeeming aspect about being in London for an exclusively American holiday: It was my own to share.  The rest of the world already knows so much about American culture through TV, popular music, and movies, which can leave me feeling that I don’t have very much to share about “life back home” that my new friends don’t already know.  But for once, Thanksgiving is something that I felt was my own to share. Of course they've seen the Thanksgiving episodes of  Friends in Chile and Poland and everywhere else, but Jess and Marley and I had authentic stories to tell about family traditions and favorite dishes, and they were unique from each of our experiences in California, Arkansas, and Florida. So even though the pizza was tasty and I devoured a month's worth of brownie and ice cream, I’d say that was the sweet potato casserole of my English Thanksgiving.

New Camera!

'Ello! I got a camera, finally ~ yee haw! Here are some pictures.

This is a pic of Regents College when you walk in the gate.

London at night!

Marley & Jess on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dessert... yummmy.

Me & Loly! It was her first Thanksgiving.

More tid bits.

Funny things that I'm picking up here:

Listening to the iPod while walking or on the tube. I felt sort of like a tool at first when doing this but you know what, sometimes it's just nicer to have background music while you're walking to work or waiting for a ride. So sue me.

Signing texts and messages with "x." Isn't that funny? It's like xoxo, hugs and kisses, but people just do one or two x's and their name. Even boys do it, it's so cute! [See below for example.]

Leggings as pants? As much as I've made fun of it in the past - I did it yesterday! Haha. I see some girls trying to pull this off very inappropriately with shirts that don't cover their bums, but I wouldn't dare.

TEA!! It's so yummy! I still like coffee but... tea is nice because I like it plain OR with sweetener OR with sweetener and milk... where as with coffee, if it's not just right then it's just not the same. But tea can fit my mood anytime and it's so scrumptious.

So last night I went to see the band Gov't Mule up in Kentish Town. It was 20 quid to get in so I didn't try to get any of my friends to come with me because I would have felt bad if they paid for the ticket and didn't enjoy it. But then I got a cheaper ticket outside the doors for only 13.50, holla! At first I kind of hovered in the back and was entertained by the people I was surrounded by - ALL British grey-haired old hippies in tie dyed Tshirts. Kind of hilarious. But I made my way up to the front and found a younger crowd. I could tell who was American because they actually knew the songs they were playing, ha. Except at one point they went into an instrumental of St Stephen and the 2 blonde guys next to me started going mad and I couldn't figure out what on earth was up - then they pulled up their sleeves to reveal gianttt Grateful Dead tats and I was like Oh, makes so much sense now - Swedish Dead Heads. Cause that seems normal.

Anyways, it was a fun night! A bunch of people with their heads bobbin around to legit American jam band made me feel quite at home :)

x Stephanie

A quick catch-up. Ketchup?

Sorry I haven't updated much this week, I've been feeling a little under the weather. It started on Tuesday which was my first day of work at Graham& green. So I'll write more about that later.

Then Wednesday was class, with more embarrassing airhead remarks from half of the American girls and a couple of redeeming ones from the other half. I contributed a little (pointed out that Scar& the hyenas in the Disney Lion King are a representation of Hitler and the Nazis in Triumph of the Will, duh) but the sore throat was a tad constricting.

I'm really enjoying my classes. Monday we talked about "Gatekeeping" and the "News Factor Theory" - ooh la la, new vocab words - the latter of which will be the topic of our main paper. There are 12 factors that affect whether or not an event will be considered "news" and published in the paper or covered by the news... kind of interesting to think that out of alllllll the things that happen in the world, someone has to shuffle through stacks and stacks of reports and decide what the public needs to read/ hear about THE MOST.

Wednesday was all about documentary film... so we discussed the German lass who directed Triumph of the Will (can't spell her crazy name) and Michael Moore and some others. It made me want to watch a lot more documentaries, that's for sure. Next week in Media& Culture is violence in the media... should be interesting! I'm still working on a topic for the main paper for that class, it's a lot more open to our interests.

Yesterday was a free day - woo! So I chilled and tried to make my throat feel better but to no avail. It's like all this tea is having the opposite effect than it's supposed to.

I have a couple new pals... Jen used to live in this flat and just moved back from Australia. She stayed very close with Dom during the months she was gone so she's been coming over to see us some. Also, she was working at G&g my first day there. But now she's quit for a nanny job :(. She's 24 which is kind of nice because sometimes I feel so young in my little group of pals... they are all 25, 26, 27... usually I feel like we're all the same age though, but there are times when I realize they've had like FIVE more years of experience in the world than I have.

So I like Jen and we're going to start hanging out. Also worked with 2 new girls today, Tasha and Laura. I think Tasha is possible pal... she cracked me up because she wanted to hear all about the differences between the US and the Uk and especially about Thanksgiving -

"So is it strange to have one gigantic meal in November, and then another in December at Christmas?"

"Well, I guess so, yes, but the meal's not really as big at Christmas..."

"So in the US Thanksgiving is, like, bigger than Christmas?!" (she seemed to get particular joy out of this)

"No no, not really at all... it's more like once Halloween passes and November starts, you can call the next 3 months "the holidays" - because it's Tgiving then Christmas then New Years all at once!"

So that's how I tried to explain it. I think I'll invite her to our makeshift Thanksgiving take-out and wine dinner next week :)

More about the job... well, my manager is this lovely lady named Barbara. She's a short, shaved-headed black woman and she's really business-minded but also very nice. The 2nd-in-command also used to live in my flat and that's Pieta - Dom got me, Pieta, and Jen all jobs there. Shank you, Dom.

So far both mornings that I've worked have been delivery times. There's been a lot of unboxing, pricing, storing in the basement, setting out displays... if you haven't been to the website yet then go, here is the link. [Shout out to Joey Q for the linkage idea. Shout again to Joey Q for specifically asking for a shout out.]

Almost half of the store is showroom though so there is a lot of taking people's "details" (aka information) and making orders for furniture and mirrors and the like.

Speaking of "details" - here are some other funny language barriers:

Bauble = Christmas ornament

Rubbish = trash

Hoover = vacuum cleaner

Cash machine = ATM

Till = cashier stand

Nib = I think this is any kind of tip to something? still working on that one...

Alright I'm tired, I just can't be asked to write anymore. Everyone cross your fingers/ pray (depending on your religious beliefs) for my sore throat to go awaaaayyyy! I want to buy a camera tomorrow.

If I feel better tomorrow night then after work I'm going to see a band called Gov't Mule, a side project of the Allman Bros. I'm kind of stoked. Anywho I wanted a camera to take with me.

Peace out, much love from the motherland,

Steph

Tid-bits about life now.

I do grown up things.

Well, not many, but I do have to buy my own groceries and prepare my meals, which is new to me. Don't laugh. My agenda walking into the grocery store used to be What snacks will last longest in my dorm room? and now I'm buying things like olive oil and butter which stick around and remind you that you better start planning what you're eating for every meal this week.

I also have to hand-wash dishes and dry my clothes on a line. It's kind of fun, though, in a retro kind of way.

I'm sure there are more grown up things... But I can't think of them right now...

Friends. Oh, did you think I meant like "pals," or "chums"? No, the show - you know, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Monica. Ok I know this seems stupid since it's an American show that's been on as long as I can remember, but I don't think I have ever seen so much of this silly sitcom until I moved here. We get maybe 25 channels on the TV at our flat and Friends is always on, like, 4 of them. Everyone who is home for dinner ends up eating in the den and watching Friends together. It's become a little bonding ritual. I guess whether you're from Chile, Poland, California, Spain, Canada, Australia, or Arkansas, you can appreciate how ridiculous the situations are that those hooligans get themselves into. That leads me to my next tid bit:

Loly. This chick is one of my flatmates. Although she's Chilean she has an incredible command of the English language and she's also got infinite knowledge about popular world culture. She loves Friends and is often explaining to me jokes that have gone right over my head. She's also a fan of day glo Nike high tops, photography, Bollywood, good music, and Pride and Prejudice. We actually watched Bride and Prejudice the other night together and that was hilarious. She has the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice and we've been watching a couple of episodes at a time since Jess has never seen it (criminal, I know).

Dom's English. Dom's from Poland and just moved out of our flat. She set me up with my job at Graham & Green. She also is really good at English, but I don't know if it's the combination of English with her accent or it's just the words she chooses but I LOVE to hear her speak because it always cracks me up. For example - her favorite English words are "although," "however," and "consequentially." You can tell she's learned her English from the English because she uses words like "dodgy," "posh," and "cheeky" in all seriousness. We've also caught her using this phrase a lot: "I can't be asked to __________." It's like, I clearly can't be bothered by such a task, and I won't stand to be asked to do it. Haha. I'm loving that one.

Reading time. Ahhhh it's so nice to have so much time to read! It takes about 45 minutes to get to school and almost an hour to get to either job and as long as I have a book in my bag I'm as cool as a cucumber. I felt a little self-conscious last week when I was re-reading the first Harry Potter on the tube, but it was worth it :). Don't get me wrong, public transportation can be a bi-ya even if you think you've planned it all out just right, but for the most part I love having the travel time to just sit and read.

Super tired now from my first day at work, i'll write more lata. Class in the AM.

I just can't be asked to write more right now.

Jobless no more??

After having two jobs this summer/ early fall it's been kind of weird not working at all. It's also a bummer not having any income of course.

Before I headed over here I started emailing with someone at one of the paint-your-own-pottery studios in London (stick with what you're good at, right?). It seems that most of these are pretty suburban and far outside the city, but this one's only a few stops north of Regents. It's also affiliated with CCSA, as is The Painted Pig, so that's how I found out about it. The manager has been in and out town recently so I only was able to call him this week, and he sounded really excited about the prospect of hiring someone who had worked with pottery before and might not require much training.

So when I walked in yesterday I was a little surprised to find a dashing young man introduce himself as the manager. He was very friendly and super enthusiastic about paint-your-own-pottery... odd. I know it's very sexist of us but Allie and I always crack up when any males walk into The Pig - they always seem so lost and confused! So it was funny to me that this 20-something, normal-seeming guy is managing this place. He was upfront with me about not necessarily being able to offer me many hours and also not having the best hourly wage either, but I assured him that is alright by me! I'll just be happy to be earning anything at this point.

Warning: I'm aware that the next few paragraphs will only be of interest to my sister.

Anywho, there are of course many similarities between Art4Fun (cool name) and Allie's studio: the glazing and firing process, the numbered colors, etc. But I can tell it'll be interesting to work there and have to conform to some of the ways that they go about things. For example, I noticed that they don't "scratch" when items come out of the kiln. Besides being dangerous, that makes the piece just seem unfinished to me! And since weekends get pretty busy they take appointments on Saturdays and Sundays. They also have all these techniques like adding sand to the paint for texture or soap to create a bubbled appearance.

It's neat to see some of the same items that we have at The Pig also for sale over here: the monkey and guitar pencil holders, the 3-in-1 tea set, heart-shaped picture frame... What's funnier is that they have a lot of the items we've seen in catalogs but never ordered. They have the smiling flower with feet (haha!) and the little tiny Christmas tree that Mary Kate said would be perfect for someone's desk; they have so many Disney princesses and Christmas Tiggers and even a Wallace and Grommet figurine. What a funny place.

So I go in tomorrow afternoon for a trial run. There are several birthday parties and an afternoon full of appointments... update to follow!

As for the 2nd job ~ my friend Dom works at a rather POSH store called Graham & Green. She mentioned that not only have they opened a new location, but they are also looking for temporary holiday help, so she took her boss my CV this week. A woman named Barbara called me yesterday and I go in Saturday morning for an interview. Yippee! I hope I am fashionable enough to work there. Like I said, posh. :)

I'll let you know after Saturday how my chances of being employed are looking.

Clueless on campus.

This will be a reference that only the Chi Omegas get but it's worth it:
You know that part of the skit that's like,
"I'm still getting the hang of everything -I'm always late and I can't seem to find my way around. The other day I sat down in class and it was - PHYSICS 2. My name wasn't even on the roll. How embarassing..."
That's how I feel walking around Regents, and then a little voice inside my head is like "Stephanie, isn't that, like, the 3rd time you've done that... THIS WEEK?"

Even though this was my second week of class I've only been on campus 4 or 5 times because class is only twice a week. I figure out where I'm going one day and can't remember it the next time I'm on campus. And I guess no one else really starts class during the Fall 2 session like I did. So I feel like I'm the onnnly person who doesn't know where she's going.

This morning I came to campus to meet Prof Olaf at his office to talk about some possible paper topics. His office is is Herringham and my classes have been either in Darwin or Tuke so I didn't really know where to find the building. I followed all the signs and arrows... they seemed to lead me in circles. Finally I asked a guy in the reception area, "Where can I find Herringham building?" The reply was, "Um, you're IN Herringham building." Oh...

After meeting with Olaf I wanted to find the main computer lab so that I could check email and such. In the first one that I walked into I started looking for a seat when a woman came up to me and said, "Excuse me, I'm having a class right now." Eek! How was I supposed to know? The door was wide open. Oof.

No worries, I don't have to spend much time on campus anyways so I don't mind being That Clueless Girl for now. I'm happy as a clam doing my reading on a park bench and hanging out with my flatmates. But if I find myself really desperate for some comrades on campus then all I have to do is take up smoking by the cafe in between classes and I think I'm in.

London fashion.

One thing I like about London is you can wear WHATEVER you want. No kidding. Either everyone's a fashionista or they're all terribly unconcerned with whether or not their clothing coordinates. I don't think anyone has decided. But either way, however you want to adorn your body or color your hair or accessorise is totally acceptable, as long as you look like you didn't try too hard.

So needless to say I've been having a little fun with that :)

Squaw boots with floral peasant dress and baby blue tights? Yes, please.

November 11.

I made half of this entry a hyperlink and I can't figure out how to fix it - ahhh possessed blog.

This is the sweet little garden across from out flat!

Can't wait for springtime to spend time here.

I've gotten pretty settled into my room at the flat now and had time to acclimate myself to the area - found the closest atm, post office, Tesco (grocery store), tube stations, bus stops, la dee dah. There's also a little bitty library around the corner - presh.

Last Saturday I met my flatmate Jessica at a pub in Covent Garden to watch the end of the England/ Australia rugby match - intense. I don't know the first thing about rugby, I just know "we" lost. But I did get to meet her friend Terri - yay, new friend!

Later on the three of us journeyed over to this bar under the London Bridge called SHUNT. I'm not too fond of the name, but it was a realllllly cool time because the space is so unique. It was like wandering around in Mary King's Close under Edinburgh / going to a Girl Talk concert in a cave / being at a modern art showcase underground... because I'm not kidding, there were elements of all of those there. There are also sometimes trapeze artists like a circus or something. Conrad, I don't think I'm in Arkansas anymore (too corny? or just right?).

Jessica and me at Shunt.

Yesterday I met up with a girl from Millsaps named Claire. She's currently studying in Scotland so she and a friend had a few days off to come visit London. It was nice to see a familiar face. We went to some places that I've already been but didn't mind going back to - Shakespeare's Globe, Tate Modern, and St. Paul's. Then we went to Soho for this funky little Christmas celebration they were having on Carnaby Street. London is in full-Christmas-preparation mode so they keep having Christmas light parties around town - odd, but fun.

Carnaby Street was apparently a hot spot during the 60s so they are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the area. They decorated appropriately with huge balloons saying Peace and Love and all that, along with pink reindeer, of course. There was a DJ playing 60s music and go go dancers and people dancing in the street... I felt like they were trying to recreate a scene from Austin Powers. It was kind of hilarious.

All the way down the street you see a little blue square - that's where the stage was for all of the music and dancing. What a hoot. I also discovered that this is a prime spot for vintage shopping.