Uh Oh

Just a heads up, apparently my internet is geting disconnected at my house for the next couple of days/possibly weeks due to overwhelming amount of downloading and skyping nine foreigners living in one house do. Therefore, the blog is going to be on a temporary break and if it will be unlikely that I will be able to recieve or answer to vibers/facebook messages seeing as going to Starbucks on my break at work to scab their Wifi gets really awkward if I don't buy something and quite frankly they just don't do a soy chai latte like they do back home.
xox

Baby, you're a firework.

Getting back into the swing of full time work and fulfilling the days of a typical Londoner, pretty much sums up my week.

As the weather seems to be getting colder by the minute (this week is actually considered a 'warm' week at a toasty 8 degrees this morning when I woke) Red Mel and I were in dire need of buying some attire more suited to the Antarctic-like temperatures, rather than the shorts and skirts we've been wearing for the past four months. Therefore, on our lazy Sunday off from work, we decided to hit up Oxford Street.

I can't even begin to explain to you how close this massive street is to a shopaholics heaven. It is pretty much like Bourke Street on steroids with every single store you could possibly imagine in at least a double storey building. Everytime I had to take an escalator up to yet another floor in these incredible shops my eyes nearly popped out of my head as every time I turned a corner all I could see was more, more and more clothes.

Our first destination was Primark, which is quite possibly one of the greatest stores in all the land.

Three hours, four jumpers, two scarfs, 6 pairs of socks, a beanie, a pair of pyjamas and a hot water bottle later I left the store with a seriously drained bank account but enough woolen items to start my own knitting club.




This week there has been quite a few celebrations and local festivals around in the lead up to Guy Fawkes Day. Now, I'm not quite sure why the British are celebrating the suicide of a man who was guarding gunpowder to be used for an attempted asassination on the King - but it does mean that there is lots of music, alcohol and fireworks around which makes me happy no matter what we are celebrating.


Last night was the actual day known as 'Guy Fawkes Day' so in true London style we went to a 'Bonfire Night' celebration at the Roundwood Park near our house. There was a laser and fireworks show as well as a fair with lots of different carnival-ly sort of foods like fairy loss and toffee apples. After watching the show, I'm pretty sure I have decided that fireworks are in my top five favourite things in the world. They are so spectacular to watch and all the different sorts and colours are so hypnotizing!

Also, for some reason the idea of shooting up into the sky at 100km an hour as a fiery cardboard tube and then exploding into a million different shiny sparks sounds really fun to me and I kind of wish that somehow I was a firework at a Guy Fawkes night celebration !









On a final note, this week  I just found out that the four French girls I live with seem to have trouble wrapping their heads around the names 'Jenna and Mel' and therefore have decided that calling us 'ze kangaroos' is much easier to remember. Oh mon dieu. 

Kings, Queens and Halloween

This week I decided to head to Kensington Palace as the special exhibition on Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was about to close and I was desperate to see it before it finished !

Kensington Palace is most famously known as the last place of residence of Princess Diana after she seperated from Charles and also for being the place where the incredible Queen Victoria was born and spent her childhood.

Kensington Palace and the Golden Gates

Before going to the exhibit I was never really a mass fan of Queen Vicky, I mean I was kind of indifferent - I just knew she ruled for a really long time and always wore black. However, after stepping back in time and seeing the astounding job she did as a ruler for England at such a young age, I can definitely say that she gets a tick of approval in my book for being a totally badass Queen and a remarkable woman.

a beautiful legacy

The whole palace was set out really beautifully and whilst being a historic building, many parts of the interior had been refurbished to their original glory and made it a very interesting museum to visit.








 My favourite thing about the palace were the rooms dedicated to the relationship between Victoria and Andrew. Despite being her cousin (oh lord) Victoria really loved Andrew and their love took precedenc in her life. Extracts from the diaries she kept often showed the deep affection and romance that laced the private life of the King and Queen of England. Of their marriage Victoria was so unbelieveably happy that she wrote "how is it that I have deserved so much love, so much affection? I can not get used the reality of all that I know see and hear"

 Sadly, when Albert died, this is when Queen Victoria started wearing clothes in shades that are only meant for emos and withdrew from the public eye. The shawl of lace that she is frequently shown wearing was a removed from the bottom of her wedding gown and worn to events at which if he were still alive, Albert would have been by her side.




Also, this week I celebrated Halloween for the very first time ! Just like in America, Halloween is quite big here in England and not like back home where you only get the two or three kids walking around the street at 5 oclock in the afternoon trick or treating their school uniform and a pair of devil ears.

day of the dead

Seeing as I was working till midnight, I didn't get a chance to buy a costume so I just wore what I wore to work and said my outfit was a waitress. We went clubbing in Leicester Sqaure and it was so cool to see everyone with blood dripping off their faces in their freaky outfits.




 Okay, so when we are out, Mel and I have a pechant for getting ourselves into situations which require our overwhleming supply of sarcasm and hilarious dry wit to get us out of awkward scenarios. Australian humour is quite "unique and charming" we've been told frequently. 

we ♥ free souvenirs

Therefore, I am not denying that in the past I may have shown pictures of me wearing a gold medal whilst saying I'm a winning Olympic athlete in rowing/swimming/running  or complained to the guillable English about the inefficiancy of the tube system and wished I had bought my pet kangaroo Skippy with me abroad seeing as it is a much more reliable mode of transport.
 
That said, that should help give some explantion as to how by the end of the night we were able to walk away with an army hat, two cat masks, a traditional Indian saree, two toy skulls and a union jack umbrella.

Baby, it's cold outside

It's finally starting to get colder here !
Yesterday it was a crisp 3 degrees as I walked home from work, I could feel the ice blocks forming in my veins haha. It's been drizzling with typical London rain pretty much every day now (which does wonders for my hair) and all the leaves have turned orange and dropped from the trees, lining the streets in a very Autumn-esque carpet.
I can't wait for Winter to hit because then that means the possibility of snow !!! All the English people keep laughing at me when I say I've never seen snow and that I can't wait to build a snow man and have snow ball fights just like a four year old.

my cute as hell panda beanie

All the stores are bringing out their Winter woolies and getting ready for Christmas, it's so exciting ! This week, with the meagre money we have, Red Mel and I hit up Primark (pretty sure I could spend the rest of my life in this store) to stock up on warm essentials. And by essentials I mean water bottles in the shape of puppy dogs and leggings with reindeers on them.


I also got a new job because I may have been  fired because they knew I was lying on my resume and was going to skip out before New Years anyway 'let go' from my job as bartender at the pub. Haha, it's alright though because I quite quickly got another job as a waitress (much more up my alley) at a beautiful pub turned restaurant, where there are far less rowdy drunks and far bigger tips as incentive.

I said brrrr it's cold in here !

By the way, I know at the moment I am rejoicing at the decreasing temperature because it means snow could be around the corner but I am writing this from the comfort of my centrally heated bedroom and am quite aware that when it does get so cold that my nose feels like it's going to fall off Michael Jackson style, I will then be crying out for my 40 degrees Australian summer.

welcome to the good life

Back to where it all began

I am currently laying on my new double bed, in my new bedroom, in my new house.

I arrived back in London late last week and after a terrible overnight stay in quite possibility the dingiest hostel I have ever been to (okay, it was 10 pound a night so I really shouldn't have been expecting that much) and a hell of a lot of stress/phone calls/begging/arguing - Red Mel and I moved into our beautiful new house.

We live in Acton Town, which is on the east side of London (waaahh no more Aspers) and only like a 15 minute train ride from Oxford Circus and the rest of central London. The area is fantastic, I love it. It is about as quintessential of an English town as you can get- lots of red double decker buses going up and down the oaked tree lined streets, lots of school children walking around the streets chattering in their prim and proper accent about 'Made in Chelsea' (aka the Jersey Shore of London) and lots and lotsssss of pubs.

On that note, I now have a new job ! Fullfilling the Australian tradition whilst abroad in England, I am working in a pub just up the road from my house as a bartender. The tips are lousy and the sleazy passes by drunk locals are even worse, but it's lots of fun and I always love a challenge.


That's about all I can update on for now seeing as my life right now basically consists of walking everywhere because I'm too poor for public transport and the frozen goods aisle of Morrisons seeing as I can't cook to save myself.

That said, I am so happy to be here. I was walking down the street today and I felt like I was on morphine or those happy high drugs that make you deliriously joyful everytime I looked at everything that is so very London. Laws regarding gay marriage really need to be hurried up and settled so the government can move on to the next problem regarding an individual wanting to marry a city, because quite frankly I don't think I have ever loved anything more than I do London.

let me be youuuu :(

Finishing up, here is a photo of Delta because I don't care how many people complain about her -  I still love her and am going to have an official day of mourning that I am not there to see her new concert :(((( 

Viva España !

I arrived in Barcelona on the 7th of October, just in case you're getting a little lost with time tracking here. Surprisingly, I managed to find my way to the hostel very easily and checked in expecting to find Red Mel, who was flying in from London to meet me.

Yet again, our amazing ability to plan and communicate details between eachother and left us both not knowing where the other was in a foreign country at 10 o'clock at night. Internet connection was lousy and our iphones weren't working so we both headed to our favourite fast food joint and hoped that we would find eachother whilst downing a burger and fries. Unforunately, Mel and I have a difference of opinion of the best place to get greasy food. Mine being McDonalds, Mels being Burger King. Both these places are situated right beside eachother on the main road 'La Rambla' in Spain. That's right. For a good hour or so, Red Mel and I were sitting less than 100m away from eachother hoping that some miracle would lead us to find eachother in Spain.

In the words of Myra - Miracles happen and we were eventually reunited at the bar (haha where else) at our hostel. The first night in Spain was spent catching up on four weeks worth of sarcasm and gossip and drinking the ridiculously cheap alocohol that Spain has to offer.

Waking up in Spain the next morning was like a dream. We lazily got up and had our shitty buffet breakfast before making the long walk down La Ramba to the main beach - Barceloneta. After setting up our spot on the sand with some deckchairs and an umbrella we very quickly decided that this was the life for us.

I could get used to this

 However, not too long after we had started to feel the weight of the world being lifted off our shoulders (because we were sooooo stressed after all) and the sun had started to warm our freakishly pale skin, we realized that this may not be the sort of beach we'd want to spend the majority of our time at whilst in Barcelona.

Not unless we were into nakedness and old people sunbathing topless.

Yeah.. all the beaches in Barcelona are optional nudist ones. And whilst I have no problem with people doing what ever they like in their spare time, I prefer to keep my bathers firmly tied on and not to see lots and lots (read - too much wrinkly skin) whilst at the beach.




Nevertheless, we managed to find some spots on the sand that weren't inundated with topless women and bottomless men and enjoyed the rest of our day lazing about in the sun drinking and eating.

the first of many

The next three days in Barcelona were spent in a very similar fashion. Essentially my time in the famous city was spent eating, sleeping, relaxing on the sand, drinking and clubbing at the amazing 6 level 'discos' they have.







After spending a toturous nine hours waiting overnight at the airport, we flew into Madrid on Friday morning. I really want to emphasis that I love the relazed attitude towards smuggling items onto planes in Spain as it meant that I was able to get my Swiss Army knife in my hand bag through security because I had forgot to put it in my luggage. Red Mel on the otherhand had her hand luggage searched because she was carrying a purse full of very dangerous and illicit change on board hahah

making milk intensly more fun

Madrid was a much more lazy city (if that' even possible!) than Barcelona so there isn't much to do during the day. Red Mel and spent a fair time at McDonalds (I have to say Spain, your nuggets and fries are actually in the running to overtake Italy!) and even more perfecting our skills at Spanish tradition of siestas.


We also spent a few hours grocery shopping in Madrid because they legit have everything. Including 3kg boxes of Nequik, just in case you run out.








 Night time is the time to be awake in Madrid and we saw much of the city by moonlight.
We went to a flamenco show, where we were wowed by their incredibly fast movements and lively music.
We went on a pub crawl of the best pubs and clubs around Madrid where for a hefty price of 12 euros you can get 1L of sangria and 3 shots of tequila (aka heaven).
And we went to the FIFA World Cup qualifiers where we watched Spain and France smash it out, only to see in the last minute France score a goal bringing it to a draw (much to Spain's disgust).
 

France Vs Spain

Sadly, after ten days in the warm Spanish sun it was time to return to reality and say goodbye to the beaches, sangria and relaxing way of life.










I am back in London now, settling into my new house and new job. I will be sure to update you on everything as soon as I stop reminiscing of the smell of the salty air and the warm breeze as I slept on the beach out of my head and start enjoying the sound of the pitter-patter of English rain on my window huge bedroom windows.