First Impressions of Jolly Old England

So we have somehow been in London for a month already. I'm not sure how that happened but I know it did because my pay-as-you-go cellphone ran out today. I have to say, the transition has been sooo much smoother than I was expecting. We've had a few hiccups here and there but they were mainly due to me being disorganized, not London being difficult. Mind you I still haven't dealt with a few things (um still unemployed and haven't paid property taxes on our flat that I probably should have taken care of when we moved in haha.) but really it's been pretty easy. I think it helped that school started up right away and we were forced into a routine so that made everything seem so normal so quickly.

 

Paddy playing it cool meeting Vance Joy

Let me be clear though, there have been a few surprises.

- THE COST OF LIVING!!!! Holy shit this place is expensive. Like I knew going in it was going to be "expensive" but I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal or we wouldn't notice after a while... but no it's EXPEN$$$$$IVE. Part of the problem is that I spend most of my time in South Kensington (the borough that campus is in) and it's one of the most expensive in London, so that probably doesn't help. The other issue is that we still haven't gotten into a good routine with cooking and groceries so all of the meals out are really adding up (in our defense our kitchen is a hot plate, microwave & mini-fridge.) For example, $80 for 2 small pizzas and a bowl of soup. No jokes. We celebrated last night that we got 2 burgers & 2 half-pints of beer for less than 20 pounds. Which is almost $40. At the campus pub. Don't even get me started on how much public transit costs.

It's expensive but it's delicious (the Pig's Ear - Chelsea)

- The weather - in a good way! London has such a terrible reputation when it comes to the weather but it has been AWESOME. Every weekend we've had at least 1 good day for exploring, and it usually never rains more than 1 or 2 days in a row max. I'm especially looking forward to no polar vortexes this winter - fingers' crossed!!!

Beautiful day along the Thames.

- How much more work the whole "school" thing is turning out to be LOL. I was told going in that this semester was going to be the easy one, and relative to engineering it's not THAT bad, but it's not THAT easy either. We have to take a "Philosophy of Science" course and philosophy is just a whole other ball game. It takes me forever to do the readings and I usually have to google every other word. It's been a very humbling experience to say the least. And making me worried about all these grand plans we had for travelling next year (when the course is supposed to become a 24/7 nightmare!!) But I do love it and am really glad I ended up here :)

Read the first full paragraph. WTF.

- How much there is to do in London and how I feel like we will never even scratch the surface. Every Sunday we usually go out exploring a different area by taking the tube there and then wandering, and every single time we find something that's like WOW THIS IS THE COOLEST THING IN LONDON. But then the next Sunday we find ANOTHER COOLEST THING IN LONDON. And it's awesome. Last Sunday was spent in the Brick Lane area going from market to market. Then we wanted to find a sushi restaurant and found ANOTHER huge indoor market. It's neverending and makes me anxious that we will leave London without having seen everything there is to see. Or buy everything there is to buy ;)

Stumbled upon a delicious Turkish restaurant while wandering around Southwark. Constantly checking out flights to Turkey now.

All in all, so far so good! I will take some pictures of our apartment (after I clean it) and post a little tour. We definitely lucked out there as we almost ended up in an 8'x10' apartment. Including the kitchen. I have nightmares just thinking about it. Pat starts work (HALLELUJAH!!) on Monday so that will be a nice change for him as he's been sucked into the vortex that is London recruitment agencies for the last few weeks. They deserve their own post. One woman called and asked if he would mind commuting to Wales. WALES. So glad that's over.

Anyway, we are hoping to head to Brighton for the day tomorrow to take advantage of our last week before Pat starts the 9-to-5 grind again. We have also booked a trip to Lisbon in mid-November for 2 nights so will definitely recap that (Ryanair Round 2!!!!!). Oh and my friend Jill is coming to visit this weekend! She's at grad school in Switzerland and is flying in for the weekend so we have lots of touristy things planned. That all made me realize I better get crackin' on the job hunt & pile of readings & water my money tree...

Cheers!

ps - apologies for the terrible pictures. my new phone's camera & I just don't get along.