The first three days

Wednesday September 22, 2010

So I am sitting on the bunk beds of our itsy-bitsy Leicester hotel writing this in word, due to the lack on internet. This might be a common thing until we are all set up in out flat. So the journey- are you ready for this? It was a bit of a whirlwind. So I flew from Kelowna quickly to Calgary. Then I ran through the airport in time to board my plane to London. Expecting to sit next to someone obnoxious and/or smelly, I found my seat- the middle of the middle section. The surprise- I was seated with a small quiet man to my left and a cute, chatty British boy to my right. Turns out he is in the British army and was just in medicine hat training. After some friendly banter and a gross airline meal, I popped a gravol, wrapped my pillow around my neck, and passed out. I woke up just 40 minutes before landing- which went smoothly- and then I met my dear Amy. We got ripped off on a taxi downtown (of course) but it was worth it if you saw the amount of goddamn bags we had. Once we were in the train station (towing more bags then our little bodies could handle) we were sweating up a storm and trying to find where to go. Thankfully our obvious distress brought on friendliness more often then rude stares. Once we dragged everything on to the train and took up the entire luggage area for our cabin, we collapsed and ate snacks mom insisted I pack. Then off the train, into another cab, and we arrived at the hotel. Now this place is extremely cheap and we expected it to be small- but it is even smaller. Also, the shower in right next to the bed. So if we can handle this box for a few days, living together should be a breeze!

We got a quick glimpse of downtown on the way here, and I think it will be easier to love this place. Tomorrow we go to look for a flat- and we hope it’s successful so we can get out of here and all moved in. The journey here was only the beginning.

More to come tomorrow I hope :)

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Thursday September 23, 2010

Bonjour! Today was a bit a stressful day- but it ended well. Lets start with last night. So I drift off to bed after typing up my blog for the day, thinking I was so great for adapting so quickly to the time change. Then I woke up at 2am. I laid in bed and tried every trick to get back to sleep- but my body was certain I had just had a nice nap and it was time for moving. So after doing this for an hour I gave in and popped a gravol. It still took about an hour to finally slip off to sleep- so when our alarm went off at 8am I was not a happy camper. So down for breakfast we went (£3.25) and then off to the viewings we setup with letting agents. Instead of taking a taxi we decided to take a chance on the transit system. Now our hotel-although it’s cheap- is in the middle of no where so it was about a 20 minute bus ride. And of course because we don’t know Leicester at all, we got off and had to take a taxi after all so we didn’t miss the meeting.

Now the first place was a real let down. They were supposed to show us one place in our price range- btu then told us they couldn’t do it until 1:00- but if we waited 10 mins they’d show us two other properties. We initially thought this was great- but they were both way out of our price range and really not that wonderful. So feeling discouraged, we walked to the next place. During this walk, we located the school and we realized this was the area we wanted to be in. Walking distance to the university, lots of students around, safe and close to Queens Street- which is this adorable road I hope to spend lots of time on. So off we go to Fleetwood Street (great name) and we found our place. Two double bedrooms, living room, kitchen, garden, big bathroom. It was a little cluttered due to the previous tenants moving out, but it has a lot of potential. We were quite happy with the place but still had two more appointments. And they both no-showed. So we walked over and but money down to hold the place, and after credit checks and such we should be able to move in Monday!

I don’t know if this link will work, and its not exactly how the place is (no single bed downstairs- that’s a tv room) but to give you an idea: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-21420641.html

So after that we walked through the Highcross area- which is where all the shops and the big mall is- and its really nice, but I was losing steam fast. We found our way to the buses and got back alright. I had a little snooze and then we did some emailing and chatted to the parentals. Since we wanted to stay up later tonight, we went out for a nice late dinner. We went to this cute Spanish place that had tapas and sangria. Now amy is falling asleep watching the Matrix on tv and I am going to wrap this long-winded post up. So all in all it was a successful day and hopefully tomorrow we will get to explore some more. I have been bad at emailing everyone, but I promise once we are settled it will be much easier.

Missing you all so much!

Cheers (because that’s what all the Brits say)

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Friday September 24, 2010

Phew what a day! So we had nothing that was time sensitive today so we slept in- which was glorious (especially because I was smart last night and took some gravol- so no middle of the night panic attacks about what the hell I am doing here). So I woke to pouring rain- and realized Amy was missing- which freaked me out a bit but I eventually got out of my gravol glaze to realize she went for a run. In the pouring rain. Make that sideways rain. What a dedicated little runner! I on the other hand snuggled deeper under the covers and grabbed my book. If I haven’t mentioned it yet, I’m reading Saturday by Ian McEwen and after I got through the part where a plane crashes(while I was flying in a plane), I have a feeling I will enjoy it.

So Amy returned and we got moving, grabbed a sandwich(since it was almost 12) and taxied downtown. The taxi thing is getting better- we found that a certain company has a deal with the hotel so they charge a flat rate every time for us- unlike the other asses that hear ETAP hotel(aka in the middle of no where) and think money money money. We dropped off more paper work at the letting agency and exchanged some money at the bank. Then it was time to shop!

I have decided Leicester mall is an instant mood lifter. Not only does it have H&M (which is just as good a deal as in North America) but it has a massive Aldo, Top Shop, Zara, Guess..okay the list goes on, but get the point: my sadness for leaving half my clothing behind has completely disappeared. Oh and I felt like a total grub wearing a big sweater, leggings and flats- everyone was decked out in amazing outfits. Yesterday we were starting to doubt the fashion in England- today we changed our mind. So after hitting up H&M for some great cheap tops, Amy and I both purchased fab boots at Aldo (p.s the aldo here is wayyyyyy better than at home- hope that got your attention mom!) Oh and Chlo- high pants everywhere – you’d be in heaven.

So with new outfits in hand, we found a great place to eat. It was called something weird but it’s my favorite so far. Mostly vegan- but had some plates with meat. It was delicious- I had these sort of yam cake things with curry and rice and Amy had a Chinese noodle soup with chicken. We shared this dessert which was a strange apple and yam crumble- but it really was nothing like a crumble. It was this sort of oat base and then apples and yams- with flax seed on top. Amy was disappointed but I really liked it.

So now we are back at the hotel, getting all our interneting done while it’s daytime at home. Since we have the 8 hour time difference it’s a bit difficult to communicate and I have to remember to turn my phone off at night to prevent getting 1 am texts (like I got last night Annette!). So if you want to talk, it’s best to read this and email me, so I can keep my texts to a minimum. It is good to hear from you though- I’m missing everyone a lot.

Well I’m off to fight with my frizzy hair- we are going to go out on the town tonight. Since we don’t really know which clubs to hit up yet, we are going to a pub. Maybe I will even drink some beer- Cheers!