My new home (again)!!

---

I don't even know where to begin, typing this on 7 March. I cannot believe it is March and I have been here for over two months now; the time is flying by.

I had a warm welcome when I first got here back in January. I stayed with Annette, my Australian friend Alf's cousin, in a suburb SW of London. She was absolutely fantastic and helped me out so much despite the fact that I was a complete stranger. She is a lovely person and we had a great time chatting the few days I was there. Luckily, the house hunt was not as stressful as it had been in Sydney. After viewing a few places over just two days, I found a nice big house in Shepherd's Bush, west of the city but at least on the same tube line I need to get to school and work. I moved in Monday 5 January, with six others (English, Australian, Kiwi, and American). I was very happy to be in a nice place and have my own room, for a fairly reasonable price (by London standards anyway). And everyone in the house is absolutely fabulous. We've had some new people move in and there are now 10 of us which can be madness when everyone is in the kitchen but for the most part the only problem is trying to get laundry done in the one washing machine. I feel very lucky to have found such a good situation in a nice house with normal and sociable people!! It is a 15 min. walk to the tube station and 13 minutes on the tube to get to work and school, so the commute could be much worse.

School is school and there is not much to report there. I have classes W, R, and F. I work on Mondays and Tuesdays and I like everyone there and it has gone quite well. Things are run quite a bit differently than in Sydney and I am glad that I am getting the experience of another office. I am really hoping to be offered a job with them, preferably here in London now, but it's a bit of a waiting game and I might not know for sure for a few months, which stresses me out at times.

I have been trying to make the most of living in London by visiting museums, going to the theater, and doing all the touristy type things, but of course, I still have loads to see as there is just so much here! And of course, I've gotten busier with work/school/trying to find a job/etc. so that has cut down on my sightseeing time. On the weekends I usually go out with my flatmates or Tom. I met Tom straight away once I got here, whilst staying with Annette. We began seeing each other and we're together now. He lives out of the city so it's a bit of a trek to see each other but he has been great in terms of putting up with me wanting to do touristy stuff (he's British so not nearly as exciting for him) when we are together! It's quite a crazy thing to do but we are leaving today for a holiday in South Africa for ten days. It's a place I have always wanted to go, as has he, and it's very last minute but we are extremely excited. Two weeks ago when he suggested we go there for my spring break I said he was crazy, but now we're going. We will be based in Cape Town and do some trips from there, so stay tuned.

---

Photos

British Museum
Right up the street from both school and work.

Piano Bar
Tom

Piano Bar 2
Jana