Christmas Eve

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!

I really hope it snows tomorrow in London for Christmas! Alas, tomorrow is supposed to be a pleasant day with sunshine. Then again, any time there is sunshine in London you can't complain!

Anywho, last night Kara, Lana and I went to Covent Garden to look at the Christmas lights in the market. The display included hundreds of full colored LED Tubes and three chandeliers, creating differnt colors and patterns. To be honest, it was a bit overrated.

After the lights, we crossed the River Thames to walk through the Christmas market. The coolest item I saw was a wooden tie. It was only £10, but I thought I would wear it once and then toss it so I decided against buying it!

In 21 minutes, my holiday vacation will officially begin! I am meeting friends for a pint here in a bit. Then we are going to St. Paul's for a Christmas Carroling Service. I can't wait, it's going to be beautiful.

Merry Christmas to all!

Peripatetic

Now that I know the way to walk home from work, I can resume one of my favorite activities in London: getting lost!

This hobby is not for the faint of heart or for people with a really bad sense of direction. After I cross the River Thames over the Waterloo Bridge, I take a different way home everyday. As I walk, I write down the name of the street I'm on and I'll google it later to figure out which way I went home.

It's really fun because I learn a lot about the city. For example, my friend Amber is coming to visit and we are going to see a show. I've heard really good reviews about one in particular, Avenue Q, and on my way home yesterday I ran right into it! So I popped my head in and found out more information about it!

One of my favorite things about being in a city is the fact you can walk anywhere and everywhere. It's quite the healthy habit!

Farewell

Yesterday was my friend Matt’s last day at London South Bank University. Matt is the friend who helped me find the job. It was bittersweet for him. Carole, an older lady who worked with Matt, organized a farewell party for him.

She had biscuits and cakes for all the well-wishers and she bought a plain blue t-shirt that everyone signed for Matt. Let me tell you, there were a few racy comments not intended for the faint-of-heart.

For the four weeks Matt and I worked together, we rode the Tube to work. I rode the Tube out of respect for Matt because it was his ritual and without him I would not have the job at LSBU.

But now that Matt is finished at LSBU, I plan to walk to and from work. Last night, we walked home to experiment with the route and we found out it is LITERALLY a straight shot!

For those of you who have not been to London, there is no such thing as a straight shot in London. The roads twist and turn and muck about changing names and directions every five meters!

Thus, it is hard to verbalize the magnitude of my shock when I found out that it’s only a 3-mile walk in a straight line from the hostel to LSBU! I mean, I don’t think I’ve walked in a straight line since I’ve been here for longer than a half of a mile!

The first reason to walk to work is it saves a lot of money. Second, you don’t save much time by taking the Tube. Lastly, and arguably most importantly, you miss all the sights and sounds of London when you travel underground.

My walk includes a trip over the Waterloo Bridge which gives me a beautiful panoramic view of the London skyline with Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the London eye, just to name a few.

This morning, I couldn’t imagine a prettier view. The sun was rising over downtown London over blue skies and crisp air. For those of you who know my mother, you know the emphasis she instilled in her kids, including me, in getting your 15-minutes of uninhibited sunlight everyday.
Today I got more than enough vitamin D!

Also, this week I booked my ticket for St. Patty’s Day in Ireland. Me and some mates will fly into Belfast and 15 March and end up in Dublin for St. Patty’s Day. I’m stoked!

Westminster Abbey

The cost-effective way to see historic cathedrals and churches in London and Europe is to go to a service, rather than pay for a tour. So Sunday night, me and some mates went to a prayer service at Westminster Abbey.

For those of you who haven’t been to Westminster Abbey, it is a historic gothic cathedral in London.

So we arrived at 18:00 hours for the service only to be told the service doesn’t start until 18:30. The gentleman guarding the entrance told us there would only be music playing until the service started. We all looked at each other and said ‘OK, we will sit through the music.’

And the guard said, ‘If I was you, I’d go to the pub right around the corner, grab a pint and come back in 30 minutes.’

Not expecting his response, we decided to take his advice and went to the pub around the corner from the Abbey for a pint. We caught the last minute of the Chelsea match and enjoyed a refreshing pint.

After the pint, we returned to Westminster Abbey for the prayer service. I was in awe at the beauty and history of the cathedral. We found out Sir Isaac Newton and Shakespeare are two the many famous people buried there. Outside of the Vatican, Westminster Abbey is my favorite church I’ve seen.

I will try to get better at posting more regularly!

££

Today is a wonderful day: I received my first paycheck in pounds! Plus, my bank account is finally fully functioning, which means I will no longer need to convert my dollars into pounds! What a glorious day!

My apologies for not posting this week, but I have been busy with work. I am the Course Administrator for the Masters in International Marketing and Masters in International Business and dissertations are due Monday, which means I have to sort incoming dissertations and distribute them to the correct markers. On top of that, I have the usual paperwork to file and meetings to attend.

Don’t be fooled, though. I enjoy being busy because it keeps me engaged, which makes my day go by quickly.

Last night, me and some mates went to a bar called The Social for hip-hop karaoke and let me tell you, it was everything you are thinking and more! It was hilarious watching British white people rap. What’s more, they didn’t have a karaoke machine so the participants had to read the lyrics off a piece of paper. As you can imagine, this made for an interesting night.

Before The Social, I went to the lighting of the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree. For over 60 years, Trafalgar Square has been presented with a large Norwegian tree each winter as a token of friendship and gratitude for Britain’s assistance during World War II.

Recap of First Week At Work

It’s hard to believe but I have finished my first week of work at London South Bank University. As I reflect on the week past, I can honestly say this job is going to work out nicely. The people are warm and friendly and most importantly, they are eager to answer any query I might have.

In addition, I was able to gain valuable insight into my job duties and responsibilities. As a Course Administrator for two courses (MSc International Marketing and MSc International Business), I will be busy organizing meetings, submitting documents and dealing with student queries. Yet, I will be able to enjoy my nights and weekends, which will allow me to travel and sightsee (the whole reason I came abroad).

Apparently, they have had a difficult with former employees who worked my position and similar positions in the office. The rules governing LSBU and the UK are different from the States, which makes it harder to fire bad employees.

Alas, the course directors are excited to have me and I’m excited at the opportunity!

Thanksgiving

Happy belated Turkeyday to everyone! Yesterday I celebrated my first Thanksgiving away from home and apart from not seeing any family, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

At the hostel, we pooled our money together and bought the ingredients for a full Thanksgiving meal. A few of my mates, who had the day off, labored in the kitchen to prepare an extravagant meal. We had the works – turkey, stuffing with gravy, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, salad, crescent rolls, squash and a couple other dishes which I was not familiar with. And to top off the meal, we had homemade apple and pumpkin pie. Yum! We have enough leftovers to have the Thanksgiving part two.

In keeping with Thanksgiving tradition, we watched football while we ate. However, we added a little twist – we watched “regular” football. We couldn’t find a channel that had the NFL games on, so we settled for the UEFA Cup Match between Portsmouth and AC Milan. But as with every Thanksgiving, most of the people slept during the match!

Tomorrow, I am setting off on my first adventure outside of London. Me and a couple mates are headed to Winsor Castle. But, before we head to the Queen’s weekend getaway, we are going to Abbey Road (I hope all of you are familiar with it) to take pictures and hopefully avoid being hit by oncoming traffic.

Cheers!

Weekend Trips

Today at work I began performing actual work, not just filling out paperwork and such. It was exciting because I found out I will be helping run a Residential workshop at Horsley Park in Surrey, which is about an hour and a half outside of London in the English countryside.

Part of the Masters program at LSBU includes this weekend Residential workshop. It is designed to help students prepare for their dissertations by offering them advice and ideas. I'm not exactly sure what I will be doing, but I do know I will get an all expense paid weekend in a Victorian castle!

I will help organize this Residential plus one more and both are in February. I hope the second one is at another location so I can experience different places. The way I see this it, the workshops will be two free weekend trips to different places around the UK!

First Day of Work

One day down. 104 left! I'm only kidding.

I had my first day of work today and I can report back that I thoroughly enjoyed it. My official title is Faculty Course Administrator, and I will be working in the Student Faculty Office in the Business, Computing and Information Management Department. Click here to see my profile on the LSBU Web site.

As a Faculty Course Administrator, I will be working with post-graduates earning a Masters degree in International Marketing and International Business. All their queries will go through me and I will either resolve the issue or direct them to someone who can. For example, if a student wants to file for an extension for their dissertation, then I will handle the necessary paperwork (by the way, it is a 100 pound for an extension).

My day today included a morning with Cris in HR, followed by a run through Payroll, finished up with Security to get my badge.

My friend Matt, who helped me find the job, and I went to a local pub for chili chips and a pint. One difference between working here versus working in the States is the attitude toward alcohol. I won't go as far as to say drinking is encouraged during lunch, but having a pint over lunch is almost customary.

So, before I could get access to the LSBU network, I had to get a staff number from security. After I obtained one, I sent the number off to get my password. About an hour later, my account had been set up, but under the surname "Trifune." My boss Fatmatta and I were both a little irritated with the error and she quickly called to get it fixed in the system.

Over lunch I was telling Matt how ridiculous it was that they messed up my name in the system because the woman helping me looked at my badge to verify the spelling. At that very moment it dawned on both of us to check the spelling of my name on the badge. Sure enough, it said "Trifune."

Now I know what you're thinking, "Nathan, why didn't you check the spelling before you left with your ID card?" Well, first, I just assumed they got my name right. Second, my boss grabbed my card first and I figured she looked it over to verify the content. Either way, the error made it passed my peripheral.

Overall, my first day was enjoyable. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading material. It was a bit overwhelming with all of the information they threw at me. Names of people, offices, locations, etc. Tomorrow is another day and I'm excited to get settled!

And I almost forgot to mention that I get a week and a half off for Christmas, AND it's paid vacation!

Regent's Park

Today was my last free day before I start work on Monday at South Bank University, so I decided to make use of it. I packed a picnic lunch and headed for Regent's Park.

Originally, Regent's Park was designed for the palace of Prince Regent. However, the palace was never built. Now it's apart of the Royal Parks of London.

Today was quite chilly, especially with the high winds that pierced through my jacket. I walked around the Outer Circle, through Queen Mary's Garden, over to the sport fields and finally out. I found a nice bench near Queen Mary's Garden that blocked the wind. After I ate, I read for awhile trying to soak up all the sun I possibly could.

I was impressed with all the activities going on in the park. There were people running, walking, eating lunch and practicing rugby and football.

By the time I finished wandering around Regent's Park, I was fairly cold. So to warm up, I went to Cafe Nero to enjoy a warm cafe latte.

Tonight, we will be going out to celebrate a fellow hostel-mates birthday. I suggested we eat at a Mexican restaurant. I miss me some queso!

Becoming A Londoner

London not only provides me the experience of living in a different culture, but it also provides me the experience of living in a big city. At over 7.5 million people, London is a huge city.

One of the biggest adjustments I've made to living in London is the pace. Everything is fast-paced here. The people walk fast. Drive fast. Talk fast. Eat fast. Drink fast. If you're walking down the street and stop to check the time, you better hope you don't get trampled.

I will admit, though, I enjoy the energetic pulse. For those of you who know me well, I am accustomed to the "Mississippi Mosey." But that pace doesn't cut it over here.

However, I do find one aspect of the pace frustrating at times. No matter what direction or which side of the street I am walking, I always feel like I'm swimming upstream. I attribute this to the lack of accepted walking behavior (for as proper as England is supposed to be, I'm a little surprised). Let me explain.

It doesn't matter if you're walking on the left or right side of a street, the best way to avoid traffic jams is for people to informally agree to sidewalk etiquette. In America, we drive on the right side of the road. And in practice, when we are walking in public, we gravitate to the right.

To clarify again, I don't mean we only walk on the right side of a street. I mean, wherever we are, albeit a shopping mall or hallway, in the face of oncoming traffic, we move to our right to avoid a collision.

But here in London, people walk in the middle of the sidewalk, on the left side and the right side. Inevitably, people are going to run into each other. My point here is simple: If cars are going to drive on the left side on the road here, than people should move to their left when walking. This would provide traffic control and some organization to the masses of people.

Although, last night I was told by some natives that pedestrian traffic is a mess no matter where you go, especially in big cities. I agreed that there will always been congestion in big cities, but interjected that I think it's worse here in London because there seems to be no organization.

Sensing my new friend was not going to accept my point, I shied away from further discussion.

Nevertheless, my new favorite thing to do when walking in the London rush hour is drafting. Yes, it's the same idea cyclists like Lance Armstrong use when racing. I simply find an overambitious individual and stay close while he battles the elements. It provides me an enjoyable walk.

Yet, drafting is more challenging then you would think. First, you have to stay close because the openings that the individuals make don't stay open for long. However, you can't get too close because if they stop or slow down for any reason, you have to allow enough space so you don't barrel into them and so they don't think you are stalking them.

Alas, I am making the adjustment despite my plea for order! Hopefully I can sit down with Gordon Brown next week to discuss this issue during our weekly briefing.

I Found A New Job

First things first, I found another job!

If you are scratching your head saying, "Wait, I thought you already had a job?" Well, sir, you'd be right. However, I found a job at London South Bank University working as a coordinator for student services. I'm really excited about the position because the work will be steady and the hours will be consistent. I bought a Coke to celebrate the job and it was delicious!

London Eye

Here is a picture from the weekend with Elizabeth. We're in one of the capsules of the London Eye overlooking St. James Park, which is near Buckingham Palace.

Another Day In London

Today was an enjoyable day. I met one of my dad's colleagues for lunch and Joe Shirley's parents for dinner. Eric Storey and I went to the Spaghetti House for lunch. It was a quaint Italian restaurant. For dinner, Joe's parents treated me and a couple of Joe's friends at Elena L'etoile, a nice French restaurant. The conversation was great! We laughed over a few bottles of wine and glasses of beer.

Afterwards, Joe and his friends Maggie and Patrick and I went out for a pint at a local pub near my hostel. London has an amazing nightlife, however, the pubs close at an absurd hour. We were forced out after only one pint!

Anywho, my day today consisted of job hunting and scouting out London. My friend Elizabeth is arriving tonight and I've been busy planning an itinerary for her visit. I plan to show her all the sights London has to offer. Hopefully on Saturday we can make a day trip to a nearby city. I will let her decide because there are numerous destinations worth going to see. I imagine it will be somewhere like Oxford or Cambridge.

Even though I found a job with the catering firm, I am still looking for a job that pays more and has steady hours. In other words, I am looking for an office job that will consist primarily of administrative work. I hope I am able to find this type of work! Cheers.

J-O-B

So I began my job search Monday and I can successfully report back today that I have found a job! After only three days, I was offered a job with a catering company called The Esprit Group, which is a staffing company in the catering business.

I found out about Esprit through BUNAC and sent my CV yesterday. They called back the same say and asked me to attend an assessment/training session today. At first, I was hesitant because I wasn't sure if this company was legit or not. Alas, I attended the session and was delighted to find out the company is reputable in London. They cater for the Queen and royal weddings, movie premiers (they just catered for the London premeire of "Body of Lies" with Russel Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio) and other notable functions in the area.

The job itself seems to be easy enough. But the stress involved is apparently daunting because of the clientel we cater to (pun intended). We'll see how it goes. I will still be looking for work in my free time, though, because the hours will be scattered and the work infrequent until it picks up for the Christmas season. Cheers!

Ahoy From The UK

Welcome to the first post of my new blog that is dedicated to share my experiences with interested readers while I’m living in London. It is my goal to post here at least every other day to not only share my thoughts but also to chronicle my trip. Ideally, I would like this blog to be an interactive forum. So please leave comments and questions for me to respond to.

I have a Facebook group and an email list I will send out a weekly update that will highlight my trip. However, if you want a more detailed narrative of my experiences, check here at least once a day. This will allow those interested to keep up without spamming everyone else.

To start, let me fully explain the program I am participating in. It is called BUNAC. The program is designed to allow college students and recent graduates the opportunity to work and live abroad. BUNAC offers programs in a variety of country (for a complete list visit bunac.org) and I chose Britain. In effect, BUNAC is my sponsor and they granted me a work visa that will allow me to work anywhere in the United Kingdom for a maximum of six months.

Typically, the process of obtaining a work visa can be expensive and quite time consuming. First, a person would have to find a job and then that company would have to sponsor that person and grant them a work visa. BUNAC cuts out all the expense and red tape. Now that I am here in London, I have the opportunity to find employment to fund my stay and future travels around the UK and Europe.

Starting tomorrow, I will begin my search for a job. My goal is to find employment by Friday. I have a meeting with a temporary agency tomorrow morning and then after that I will begin in earnest to find work. Stay tuned . . .