I secured a regular babysitting job while I'm in London! This is great news, as I've been trying to find ways to make extra cash for a while now. Four or five days a week I'm helping a really great woman named Natalia watch her absolutely adorable 1 year old twins for a few hours in the evening until her husband gets home. Her daughters are such happy babies, which make it so much better. (Well, minus the colds... but who can blame them??) They just started moving about, however, which makes watching them a bit difficult if you don't have four arms. That's where I come in, and I am happy to help! They're fantastic people. I simply put an ad up on craigslist.com offering child care to people around London. You never know what you're going to get with a random online website, but I was really lucky to have been contacted by such an awesome family!
Jessica's birthday was last Tuesday and it was a blast! She turned 21, and not letting our foreign location inhibit the excitement of this particular year, we partied as if we were in America. How could we not?
The Absolute Ice Bar London was very cool. It was like nothing I had experienced before, at least. It's a bit hard to rationalize paying £12.50 to drink in a freezer, but I finally had a chance to chew on some ice (my glass!), so I was happy.
We then headed off to The Sports Cafe. It's notorious for being filled with Americans which is less than ideal, but it's also the only club we could think of that was open as late as 2am. Jessica accomplished her appropriate amount of tally marks and I made sure we got home alive. A good team, all in all.
On Saturday, our small dorm room was filled with students from Spain, Chile, Switzerland, and Russia. I love being able to meet so many people from other countries. I've never felt like such a "stupid American", but at the same time, I love it. Culture is great. I'm jealous of their ability to speak all different languages but still communicate with me in English. The best I can do is introduce them to the art of the American "Power Hour". Who doesn't appreciate a person who reminds them to drink every 60 seconds or so?
My drawing class has been meeting in the British Museum, which is very very cool. A must see for any visitor to London. Next week we will meet at the VNA, which will be fun as well. I love the opportunity to spend time in all of these museums while earning class credit!
My roomate Sarah and I are currently in the process of attempting to book a trip to Amsterdam next month. I'm very much looking forward to this trip. It's not looking like I'm going to have the option to travel outside of London very much, but Amsterdam seems feasible and it's definitely pretty high on my list. People who have gone run out of words describing it. I can not wait, to say the least.
Next weekend is the Dave Matthews Concert, which Sarah's father so graciously bought us tickets to attend. I'm very excited. Though my love of Dave Matthews does not even come close to comparing with my roomate, Jessica's, I still hear that the show is fantastic and a "must-see". I'm always down for a good live performance and I have no doubt that the show will be absolutely amazing.
I also get a "free" makeover and photo shoot at Sapphire Studios next week. It's free but of course they're going to try with all their might ("bully" as I've read other people's experiences include) to get me to buy these photos. Unfortunately, however, I don't even have enough money to take the tube there and back, so I'm not sure how they can possibly sell me anything. I made a deposit (stupidly), but when it comes down to my options of food and shelter vs. photographs of myself, I'm not sure how they can not sympathize with my situation. No scams for me, thank you. Just complimentary wine, please.
I'm getting so comfortable here. Even the constant rain doesn't get me down. My friends talk about what they miss from home, but I can honestly say there's nothing I really miss. Of course I miss my friends and my family, but I'm having a blast here. I would love for them to visit me. I don't need jars of peanut butter, necessarily. I certainly don't need Jimmy John's sub sandwiches. I'm happy here. I honestly could stay here for far longer, and am definitely considering finding a way to come back. This city is great. There's no other way to explain the upcoming semester in Springfield than as, simply, a drag. Nothing against Springfield. But, let's be honest, how can you compare to London? It's an unmatchable experience.
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