New Year's Party in London

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Stephanie is on a mission to collect Americans. She met a dark-haired American girl, Katherine, who works at Banana Republic, and Katherine has invited all of us to her apartment for a New Year's party.

Her apartment is cute, in a cool location near the South Bank. Katherine's energetically bouncy roommate, Caroline, grew up in Connecticut and moved here to get her MBA. "I was actually born here," Caroline quickly explains while she's cooking. "But I did all my schooling in America until I got my MBA." She sounds totally American, and she says "y'all"! I like this girl!

After we eat salmon, cheese and crackers, and drink our fill of wine, our party of ten climbs up the dark, narrow staircase to the roof. We have an amazing vew of the city from here! The fireworks are being set off from the South Bank right in front of the London Eye. Beautiful bursts of color explode into the night sky, raining down on the spectators that line the Thames River. We are far away enough to be away from the crowd, but close enough to see everything. Sometimes, my eyes wander away from the fireworks show to take the city around me. Little chimneys stick up from the buildings, charmingly reminding me of the chimney sweep scene in Mary Poppins. I love the way the buildings look and the streets between the buildings. I love the Thames River. I love this refreshing, cold air. I love the London Eye and the Waterloo Bridge. I love my new friends. I love this city.

At times like this, I think that maybe I could just stay here for the next ten years.

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Comments

[Jodi]

How do you live in London?
How are all of you able to live in London???? I recently received my Masters from Harvard, have been asking around regarding potentially obtaining a job there, and have basically been told that it's nearly impossible unless I take another degree. Can anyone provide some input? Thanks so much! [e-mail]