May 12th - 18th 2009 | Travel Blog

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May 14th 2009

Published: May 21st 2009

Tuesday 12th May 2009

So I didn’t sleep very well last night. I was getting quite stressed about the interview and couldn’t calm down. Thankfully those drinks helped me sleep a bit.

Up early to get organised for the interview. Dressed to impress, which is not easy sometimes when you live in a hostel with 7 other people in your room. I’m starting to get a little annoyed with the hostel living. I’m sick of people coming and going all the time. I stress a little thinking that they may pinch some stuff out of my suitcase but there’s nothing I can do about it. All my valuables are locked up though!!

Getting nervous now sitting on the tube getting towards my pre-interview with Poolia. Met with a girl called Tarrilyn and went through everything that I would need to know about the company and making sure I was organised and that I knew what I was talking about. Tarrilyn was really nice and easy to get along with and she was impressed with everything that I had achieved and what I wanted.

I’m not the only person up for this position through Poolia. They have another person from Manchester up for the position as well but I have the advantage of a face-to-face interview. The other person only has a phone interview. I have to phone Poolia and speak with Tarrilyn to give feedback on the interview to them. Who I met with, what they asked and how they were etc.

Another tube ride for half an hour down to Borough station (below London Bridge) to have the actual interview. I am feeling a bit more confident but at the same time, I don’t really have anything else in the pipeline and I don’t want to stuff the interview up. ARGH!!

I get to the place about ¾ of an hour prior to the interview and have lunch across the road. I can check out the other employees coming in and out and see what they are wearing. It seems to be pretty casual but I have no idea what the legal department wears.

The interview went really well. I was interviewed by Estelle and Deidre (who is in charge of the legal department), well mostly Deidre and Estelle took notes. Thank you Peter and Sylvia for the great references!!!! I answered all the questions quite well but you never know how things will pan out. I was interviewed for about half an hour. Left the interview and called Poolia back straight away. Spoke with Tarrilyn and they asked questions like;

Were u happy with the way you were interviewed?
Would there be anything that you would change?
What types of questions did they ask?

The list was endless. The post interview was quite long as well. Tarrilyn will speak with the ITF and let me know their feedback asap. I really want to know how I did. Another tube ride back to Hammersmith, I’m glad to be moving out tomorrow to BUNAC Hostel and to have a kitchen and laundry!!

Hadn’t heard anything yet and it was 5.30pm. So me being me, I rang Tarrilyn to see what was happening and their feedback. She was out of the office so I thought ‘oh great I have to wait another day to find out how I went’.

Feeling a bit down not knowing what was happening, I met Vanessa and had some really cheap dinner. Two main meals and two drinks for £6.90! Very impressed with that price! Just started eating and then my mobile rings. It was Tarrilyn! YAH!! She rang me back! The conversation started out quite formal and all I was confused as to what was happening, but I asked Tarrilyn what they thought and apparently I was the number one choice! YAH FOR ME!!! So I had edged out the competition and I have a meeting with their Human Resources Department at 9am on Friday!

Time to finish eating dinner. I couldn’t take the smile off my face, I was so excited that I have a job. Well almost after the meeting with the HR department on Friday I have to sign contracts and my references need to be checked. And now time to relax, well nearly I need to pack my bags to move tomorrow! Cheers to me!!

Wednesday 13th May 2009

Slept really well after knowing that I nearly had a job. An early morning start to move all of my belongings out of the hostel. I probably wasn’t very quite but I was really over it. Nobody else is respectful so I’m pretty much over it. Hopefully I’ll stay at this hostel for a while, I’m really not looking to move again for a while because I hate lugging my bags up and down the stairs all the time.

Vanessa is going to help me move all my stuff! We have to take the Tube and transfer twice to get to my hostel. Oh well I don’t have anything else to do today.

The funniest things happen when trying to move. Bags break, luggage is heavy and sometimes guys stop to help carry up the stairs. Not every tube station has an elevator so it can take a long time! Finally made it to the hostel. Well it’s not exactly the cleanest place at all but it’ll do. I do have a laundry and kitchen now though.

I get handed some linen by Bill (the guy who runs the hostel) and it had something in the bottom of the quilt cover. At first I thought ‘oh my someone’s left their stinking socks or jocks in the bottom of the quilt cover’. Thankfully it was just a pillow case!

Went up into the room where I would be staying for a while. Room 14!! Only sharing with one other person. Her name is Amelia and she’s from Melbourne! Another Aussie!! YAH!! The room is tiny. Actually I think it is slightly bigger than Adam’s room but I’m sharing with someone else as well!! The mattress has stains on it and the walls are dirty. I’m starting to think it’s a bad idea to live here! I need to buy sheets asap. Kitchen looks as though it’s never kept tidy despite having a cleaner twice a week. I’m guessing that it’s just like a college dorm. Lots of drunk people. At least the bathroom is reasonably new!

With all my stuff unpacked time to go to BUNAC and Primark to buy sheets! Shopping at Primark was fun! I bought the sheets (flat, fitted and pillow cases) for under £10 plus a new top and belt. I LOVE PRIMARK! It’s my new best friend!

Collected my mail from BUNAC and I finally have my bank card. I am a member of Barclays now!! Now to transfer some money over!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Went out to Mexican for dinner. Fairly cheap plus I had margaritas!! Yummy yummy margs!!

The best thing is now I can shop and store some food! I CAN COOK!!

Thursday 14th May 2009

Last night I slept in my sleeping bag!! I refused to sleep on their sheets provided and I didn’t have time to wash and dry my new sheets yesterday.

Today is now known as washing day!! Yah laundry!! I never thought doing a mundane chore could be fun. At least it gives me a reason to sit in the lounge room and do nothing for a while! LOL Like I would need a reason!

I have to do 3 loads today! ARGH this will take longer than expected. I did my first two loads and put them through the dryer as well. I started to do my last wash, I bought new jeans and because they’re really dark and new I washed them separately as you do. I went to check on them and somebody had stopped my wash mid-cycle and removed my jeans and put their stuff in there. I was a little annoyed so I asked the people in the lounge what the deal was. They said that’s not normal, so if it happens again, I won’t be very forgiving!

Made my bed with fresh sheets!! YAH!! I love fresh sheets! I did nothing else at all. Just settling in and relaxing! I actually cooked something for dinner tonight!! Packet pasta and baby spinach! YUMMY!!

Friday 15th May 2009

Today is the day to see the Human Resources department and to sign contracts!! Went down early because I still have no gage on how long it takes on the tube to get to different places! I had to wait for half an hour but I could warm up at least. I can still be fairly cold here in the mornings. Although I do tend to sleep in quite a bit at the minute.

The meeting with David from the HR department went well. He has the final say so we just went through the contracts and what is expected of me. I get paid fairly well which is great and good hours. 9-5 Monday to Friday, the first day I start at 9.30am and finish at 5.30pm. Hopefully I will able to do a flexi and work 8 to 4. That would be great but I’ll see how it goes.

Within my 3 month contract I have 5.5 days of holiday leave that I must take. If I don’t take the time off then I won’t get holiday pay. That’s fine by me so I’ll only technically work 11 weeks!! I also get a bonus payment of another weeks’ pay! And there is a gym downstairs that I can use during my lunch break!

I must have an hour break every day and if overtime is required I will be advised as soon as possible. But I don’t think that will happen very often at all.

So I left there and forgot to call Tarrilyn at Poolia! Oops!! Got back to the hostel with a lot of reading to do! The Contracts are fairly standard, it’s good to see what is expected of me and what they provide. For instance, in the first month, if they want to get rid of me then they need to provide a weeks’ notice and same goes for me. However after the first month, they need to give me a months’ notice if they want to terminate me but I only need to give one weeks’ notice still.

I received a call from Vinesh at Poolia as well. He congratulated me on the job and said the feedback was fantastic and they were really impressed. That’s really nice to know!

Spend the rest of the day reading through the contracts and doing nothing.

Saturday 16th May 2009

Another day, another holiday!! Once again didn’t do much today at all. Went shopping for some food. Some of the people in the hostel have decided to go out tonight.

We are going to Walkabout for a few drinks. Started pre-drinking a little early and the tunes started flowing...a lot of karaoke and music clips. Funny, funny stuff an entire lounge room of people singing tunes!

Maybe the pre-drinking started a little too early...one of the girls drank an entire bottle of vodka before we went out. She only made it halfway to the pub and then passed out in the street. Amelia (my roommate) and I were way ahead and didn’t realise what was happening until much later.

A couple of the guys managed to get the girl back near to our hostel where she started to throw up everywhere on the street, and even on some people. She ended up going to hospital for quite a while. She wasn’t kept overnight though.

We finally made it into the Walkabout pub. We could buy vodka and redbull for £4.10 in a little glass otherwise we could become members for £3 and buy the same drink for £1.50. Basically within one round we paid for the membership and get 25%!o(MISSING)ff food as well. Not bad money spent.

We went upstairs and downstairs, stayed and danced and chatted up some random guys. They were pretty boring people out so we ended up leaving and meeting up with everyone else who were still outside.

We all walked back to the hostel and detoured via subway - thankfully fast food places are still open in London. I had no idea what the time was!

Watched TV for a long time and ended up with Nutella in my hair and all over my face. I had an argument with someone (not an actual argument but a funny one)! Ended up going to bed at 3am!

Sunday 17th May 2009

Had a really lazy day and didn’t get out of bed for ages! Watched some Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill for a long time.

Didn’t do much else at all. I love lazy days in bed.

Monday 18th May 2009

Another lazy day. Watched more Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.

I know it sounds lazy but I’m just relaxing and really enjoying being on my own.

Vanessa has found a house to look at near London Bridge station and they have another room to rent as well.

So I’ve decided to check it out. Rent is only £75 a week, which is great considering the area and I could walk to work. I don’t have my heart set on it or anything! LOL!!

I met Vanessa at the station and evidently it’s not at London Bridge station, it’s two train stops south of London Bridge. When we got off the train, the area seems nice...but there are a lot of people there that make me feel uncomfortable. We walk to the house and check it out.

At the minute there is no TV licence or Internet. There is no lounge room, the washer is in the hall way and the kitchen is really, really tiny. The kitchen doesn’t worry me at all but the house isn’t very social at all. I’ll have a think about it and let the girl know as soon as possible.

We leave the place and I decided to walk to where I will be working to time how long it will take me every day. Vanessa took the train back. On the way, I find some English people to talk to. I don’t mean to be racist but these are the first two white people I have seen and I was walking along the main street for 10 minutes. The people informed me that you need to have your wits about you if living in that area but they haven’t had many break-ins themselves.

I asked how long it would take to walk and they said at least an hour and a half. Wow!! I decided to take the bus instead. I didn’t see a Tesco, Marks & Spencers or Sainsburys (big chain supermarkets) or any bank for at least 20 minutes on the bus ride home.
The bus ride was at least ¾ of an hour and I felt really uncomfortable still. I didn’t get back to the hostel for ages - I had KFC for dinner to calm my nerves. I was really stressed.

Once I got back to the hostel, I googled the place and found this... http://farm1.static.flickr.com/80/242489213_8ad542c2d9.jpg?v=0

Have a look and a laugh!!

May 12th - 18th 2009