Jolly Ole England

I have finished the first week of my job! It really went by fast. It's been good to get into a routine. It is definitely making time go by faster. I still have a hard time believing I am in England. It seems very surreal sometimes. Today, I went into the city centre with my two American friends who are placed at my same social services through the same job-placement agency, and we were running errands (getting bus passes, duvet covers, etc.), and it just seemed so common place that I almost forgot where I was for the moment. I guess life is still life no matter where you are, even though it varies a bit from place to place. I suppose that there is a universality to the world that even different cultures and languages cannot erase.

I have some travel opportunities coming up with my two friends. We are hopefully going to Cornwall next weekend, we're going to rent a car and I'm going to drive since I'm 25! I'm really excited about driving over here, actually, although it will be interesting trying to drive on the left side of the road. And roundabouts are quite scary, actually. I know that Chevy Chase's European Vacation is a bit exaggerated (them going around and around the same roundabout for hours), but it is scary to go across lanes and get the hang of them. Once we get out of the city, however, I'm confident it will be fine. We're going to rent a GPS system, too, in case we get lost.

Then, the weekend after that we're going to take off from work a couple hours early and fly to Prague! We found some cheap tickets/hotel combination so we'll go Friday and come back Monday. Then, the weekend after that we are flying to Dublin. We got a fantastic deal on that, flight and hotel for the whole weekend is costing 110 pounds. So, we just have to pay now for food and entertainment. I get my first paycheck this Wednesday, and I'm very excited about that! And I get paid every week, so I'll have plenty of money for travel. I've really been wanting to go shopping. I almost bought a pair of black, skinny pants today, actually, but decided to wait until I have acumulated a little more money, especially because I have to pay for first months rent this week plus a first month's rent deposit (which I'll get back when I move out.) Yes, I've found a little studio apartment to move into that is in a good location, so I'm excited about that. Things are starting to look up, but I still miss my friends and family at home.

People at work have been really nice to me. That has been my biggest experiences with British people so far. It takes a bit of concentrating to figure out what's going on most times. One interesting thing, instead of asking you how you are doing, they say, "Are you alright?" It threw me off guard at first because I thought, what's wrong with me that they keep asking me if I'm okay? Even though I know what it means now, it still catches me off guard.