Lauren, my co-receptionist, knows Chantelle from Celebrity Big Brother! For those of you in America that may not sound too exciting, but everyone in the UK was watching this show during the month of January! I decided to walk home from work today, which is a 3 mile hike from the East End/The City to Central London. I do get to walk past the gherkin, Lloyd's of London, Royal Exchange, Bank, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the British Museum. Nothing but tv and chatting with people once I got home, not too exciting!

I started my corporate receptionist position today! I'm working in The City at Thomson Financial. I am working with another 22 year-old girl from Essex and she's hilarious! We actually had a bomb scare at the Aldgate tube station which is right underneath the building. In the end it was cleared and we were good to go. After work we were all sitting around watching tv and I ended up hanging out with one of the new guys in the hostel for the rest of the evening. Very interesting day with a 'real' job paying well (£8.50) and some good quality time at home.

Chinese New Year! Chris woke me up in time to go see the parade in Chinatown. He also let me try one of the most delicious pastries ever, the red bean pastry! Then it was onto the mass chaos in Trafalgar Square. There were all these paper lanterns around town and we were trying to figure out a way to steal some without being arrested but alas no luck! Our next stop was Chinatown itself where we saw the dragons blessing all the stores. Onto the food! I had some amazing spring rolls from a street vendor. On the way home we stopped by the bakery that has the red bean pastries to buy some more and other great Chinese food. Later that day in the kitchen, Chris decided that I needed painting, so he busted out a paintbrush, from lord knows where, and began brushing me. Sort of weird but hysterical as well! It was clean and dry so no worries there. Goof ball! He had ripped his jeans, at the bottom, as well during the day so I set to fixing them. The funniest part was that he was still wearing them. We didn't think anything of it, but some people thought it was weird. There we were with his foot in my lap and I'm there hand sewing it back up again. Oh well! Laid low the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, but we were both still really hyper. We decided to go for a walk. We went around Regent's Park to the top of the park where the Regent's Canal was. It was our fairly regular walk 'n' talk. They are always great times and I enjoy them. I'm really going to miss them when he's gone.

Greenwich today! Chris, Chad, and I took a little day trip out to Greenwich. We saw the Cutty Sark, which is an old tea clipper ship. We also went through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel which connects Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs in the Docklands. It was a little scary because it's been open since 1902! It also looked something like a submarine on the inside, which was slightly disconcerting. Once back in Greenwich we went through the market and the Royal Navel College/University of Greenwich on the way to the National Maritime Museum. Inside the museum we went throught the explorers' exhibit and played with some things before getting a snack. Our next stop was the Royal Observatory which is up the hill in Greenwich Park. Up at the observatory there is an excellent view of London, not quite as good as Hampstead Heath, but still amazing! Then onto the observatory itself. We went in and then saw the Prime Meridian! This is where time begins! We have all sorts of pictures with us on it, etc. We also saw where they shoot the laser beam from at night marking the Prime Meridian and the telescope that is housed there. On the way back towards the bus we stopped at the Queen's House which has this fabulous Tulip Staircase which is the first spiral staircase in Britain without a central support. An episode of Footballer$ Wives was filmed here as well, which is one of my favorite shows! Once back in Bloomsbury we were going to go see Mozart's Requiem at St. Martin-in-the-Fields since it was his birthday but alas they were sold out! We went for gellato instead. Good day!

The day did not start well with a breakdown in the tube and me being over an hour late to work. It sucks because I couldn't do anything about it. I was on one line, Central, which broke down at Notting Hill Gate so I had to change to another line, District, to get out to where my work was, but I had to change trains in Earl's Court first, which is even farther away so more delays. Plus the power went out at work of over an hour so all we did was drink a lot of tea. I did get some good news at work, I got an on-going assignment as a receptionist at a financial office in The City. I have a job for the rest of my visa! Yeah for job security and £8.50/hr.! On the way home it was snowing when I came out of the tube station. We went for £3 pizza in celebration of my new job, which was well deserved. I spent the rest of the night at home since other people had already gone out. They had gone to the bar at the actual American Embassy, how cool is that? They had meant to only go for a few after work, but ended up staying there and a Marine party until after 10. So when they got home we just ended up staying home and talking until the wee hours of the morning.

I was so proud of my outfit today! It was a white shirt, black sweater vest, black knee length skirt, black tights, and black & white tweed heels. I was quite stylish here in London. After work and Project Catwalk (similar to Project Runway but with Elizabeth Hurley,) Chris & I got all bundled up and headed to Somerset House. We were going ice skating! It was surprisingly cold for London, but it was perfect for ice skating. Funny part was that they were hockey skates, not figure skates, and I've never been on hockey skates! I also hadn't skated in over 6 years, so this was going to be interesting. I nearly fell over once but was able to spin out of it. We had a blast skating late at night with great music. It was nice skating so late cause they weren't any kids getting in the way and everyone else was about the same age. Loads of fun and well worth the wait! I hadn't gone last time I was here and we'd been trying to go since Thanksgiving. When we got home we had crepes with nutella and custard for a midnight snack, so good.

Work today was very difficult cause I was a zombie from last night. Once I was home, no one was particularly exciting so I just hunkered down in front of the TV all night. Both of my roommates had gone to bed before 8! Plus it was a surprise double eviction on Celebrity Big Brother. I also got yelled at by the ancient Maltese woman, Doris, that lives here. I had let my laundry sit in the laundry too long and that's not okay with her, boo! Evidently, "I am quite a girl," and I'm a, "cheeky thing."

More data entry for me today before leaving early to go to a free private Charlotte Church concert. Chris won a pair of tickets to this exclusive concert at the MTV studios in Camden. For those who don't know, Charlotte has gone pop now. There was a free reception before the concert with an open bar. When we got in the studio, there were only about 50 people there so this really was a private concert. They were taping a TV special that night. She performed 4 songs and answered some questions from the audience. She's amazingly nice! On the way home we saw the greatest named alcohol store in history: Booty Wine. On the bus we were talking in UPer and Minnesotan accents, which had us in stiches the entire way home. When we got home we got some bad news which led us to keep drinking and eat the rest of my cookies. We had one hell of a heart-to-heart in Chris's room for nearly 2 hours. It was almost so bad that I thought I would be sleeping in there. By the end of the night there were a lot of drunk people which had all been on emotional rollercoasters over the past few hours. The crowning moment was a quote from our beloved landlord, Bill. "Liberal Americans, very liberal Americans!"

I was woken up by Office Team asking me to work this week and how soon could I be in zone 3 at Ealing Broadway. I am doing data entry at Tchibo UK, a German owned coffee and chocolate company. I am processing orders and returns. It's a nice young, fun office, so it's good to work in. Yeah for work! Made chicken korma curry for dinner in celebration. I watched Sarah, Virginia, and Chris play African Pick-Up Sticks for awhile before getting ready for bed and work tomorrow.

Exciting trip to Tesco for groceries! I accidentally bought too much milk so I got rid of the extra by having a bowl of cereal. The funny part was that we didn't have any spoons around so I ate it out of a very large serving spoon, the boys were in hysterics about the whole thing. Chris & I booked our flight to Jerez, Spain, for the beginning of our Moroccan adventure! It's official we're going to Africa! Then we went to go see Memoirs of a Geisha. The night was good because Chris and I got to sit next to each other and catch-up. We hadn't had a chance to catch-up in such a long time! When we got home I baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, which everyone at up!

Spent the day hanging around the house until I was dragged out by some housemates at night. We went to this really cool place called Buzz Bar. The ground floor was a bar and then there was a club in the basement. They had a quiet drink and then we moved downstairs for a little dancing.

Yet another registration and testing, this time with Newman Personnel. I had an interview at Westminster Abbey Bookstore this afternoon as well. This one went really well as well, so hopefully something will develop here. I had perfect experience because of the way Canterbury Park is and the traffic pattern at the bookstore as well. I had been to 8 interviews in 5 days and a total of 15 interviews in 11 days! For Katy's last night in London we went to curry dinner on Brick Lane. It was the most amazing Indian food I have ever eaten! Then Chris, Jimmy, and I embarked on a wild goose chase through London. We went from East End London to Leicester Square for free entry flyers, and then to Bloomsbury to get changed in less than a half an hour! I needed 5 min. to change and 5 to drink. Then we were off into Soho to find a club for the night. We ended up at The O Bar and had a great night. Chad, Chris, and I closed down the place at 3am! They walked me all the way home; I had one on each arm! It's funny cause they're both over 6ft and I'm a lowly 5'4".

I was unexpectedly awoken this morning and then watched Big Brother for awhile before returning to sleep until a more appropriate hour. But I was woken up by two different people calling to arrange interviews, which was good, but annoying cause I was sleeping! When I finally got up for real I had a phone interview. I spent the rest of the day in Knightsbridge, South Kensington, and Fulham. I had yet another registration, this time with Manpower. I had some time to kill before my next appointment so I popped into Harrod's to read up on my celebrity gossip and chocolates. I also had an interview for an office junior position at a security company. After 3 interviews today I was meeting with my college advisor/professor, Cynthia Curran, and my old RA in London, Tizzy. We went to this really nice Belgian restaurant and have wonderful stuffed mushrooms, stuffed chicken, and glorious waffles! The bill for the 3 of us was £70! Cynthia made me eat all courses and order dessert as well as paying the whole tab! It was interesting to talk to a professor once you're not a student anymore. When I got home everyone was across the street at the College Arms, so naturally I joined them. Then I helped Katy pack to go home :(

I had an interview for one of the girl's position here at the hostel that is leaving at the end of the week this morning. I think it went pretty well, but alas I found out that I didn't get it after all. Then I went to BUNAC to do some major job research! I ran into Chad there and we had a great little chat! Then it was time for Taco Night! We were having hostel dinner of tacos/burritos pot luck style. We also put together a pool for stuff to buy margaritas, but they couldn't find the stuff so 16 liters of Strongbow was purchased instead. It was a great night in with great food, great drinks, and great friends. This also broke my 11 1/2 days of sobriety.

I had another registration today at Office Team which was out in Hammersmith. They are all starting to blur together with all the tests and stuff. On the way home I finally broke and bought a Morocco book. I figured that with us going clear across the country and back again in 6 days we should probably do a little preparation. By we, I mean me cause Chris is a little of a procrastinator. I finally broke and went to McDonald's for McFlurry's at a cheap 99p! Watched some O.C., dyed some hair, and made a grilled cheese sandwich.

I had a registration with Bis Recruit today. They were a smaller, very nice temping agency right in Central London; I think they'll do a good job. That night we watched Big Brother because Chris was going to be on the talk show that is on right after the actual show. The whole hostel was watching him! Jimmy & I discovered these really good, cheap mini apple pies at Tesco that we had with cream during Big Brother as dessert.

Didn't do much today except get things done around the house. Chris and I did go to the internet cafe to do some Morocco research. We needed to get an idea of how long we are going to be gone for and what the price tag is going to be as well. Also a major dose of Celebrity Big Brother!

Chris & I got up way too early to catch a bus out to Hammersmith. We were going to CD:UK which is an American Bandstand-type show, but hipper. Just what we needed was more standing and dancing after last night! First was the live show which included performances by Sunblock (remake of the Baywatch theme,) Liz McClarnon (Woman in Love,) Hard-Fi (Hard to Beat,) and Lee Ryan (When I Think of You.) Then we had to stay and tape performances for upcoming shows. We saw A-Ha, yes the one from the 80s and Take Me On. They performed their new song, Analogue, and The Sun Always Shines on TV. We also say Akon and Little Jeezy. Akon actually bumped into Chris on his way on stage. As we were waiting for A-Ha to get there Chris and I started to notice that we were at least 5 years older than everyone else there and that we didn't want to be there anymore. We were threatening to remake the Push the Button video again to get kicked out, whoops! I fell asleep on Chris on the bus home and then passed out for the rest of the day/night. Too much dancing and standing for the last 24 hours.

Friday the 13th! My favorite days of the year! I woke up at 7:00am to watch Big Brother with Chris before going back to sleep before my first interview today. This one was for an office assistant at London Southbank University. The interview went really well and I should hear by the end of the day. I also finally bought Now 62, which is what they are up to here in the UK. I've been dying to get it since it came out in November. It's pretty much a soundtrack for my time here in London. My second interview was at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. This one was for an assistant at the research library within the museum. I've never been to such a good interview in all my interviews! I wanted this job so badly! I got some bad news on the way home, I hadn't gotten the Maritime Museum position, boo! We were all so glad that it was the weekend! We were pre-gaming from about 5 onwards to my new CD which everyone loves! I just got ready with Dr. Pepper, Peanut M&Ms, and Red Bull. We also watched the first eviction on Big Brother, Jodie Marsh, a Page 3 model. Then it was time to get ready and go out to Heaven! Almost the entire hostel went out tonight. It was so cute all of our gay guys hooked-up at the club! So much fun is always had at Heaven. Push the Button was host to a dance off between Michael & Virginia and Chris & myself, evidently we won! It was a very good rendition/remake of the video. It will go down in BUNAC hostel history, we'll still talking about it weeks later!

Very productive day today! I sent out over 50 CVs today alone. I had an interview for an office assistant position with a commercial real estate advertising company. The only reason I didn't' get it was because I only have 4 months left on my visa, boo. I have 2 more interviews tomorrow, hopefully they will go better. While we were watching TV tonight I got into 2 wrestling matches with Michael OC and kicked his butt both times; come from years of practice with my little sis!

Day 3 of my trying to find a job. I spent most of the day journaling and watching Big Brother. Chris and I went to go see Brokeback Mountain for the sweet price of £3.50 each, which is ubercheap for London! It was an amazing movie and an amazing experience to share it with him. Such a great movie, I hope it does well at the Golden Globes!

Shopping spree at Tesco today! I bought stuff to make chicken wild rice soup as well as cookies and other food that will last me at least a week! It took me over an hour to make the soup from scratch, but I have tons of it! I also made chocolate chip cookies with Cadbury chocolate chunks, not as good as Hersey's chocolate chips, but it'll have to do. It's weird I've gotten very domestic here. I'm actually cooking proper food, not just pasta, and baking all the time, weird!

I have to find a job this week! I had two interview today. One was for an assistant at the British Standards Institute working in the library, archive, and store. The other was an office assistant at a law publisher. I thought both interviews went really well. But we'll have to see. I actually spent nearly 6 hours on a bus in London today because I'm too poor to take the tube. The rest of the day was spent watching TV (Big Brother, American's Next Top Model, and Little Britain) as well as playing cribbage and speed with Chris.

Our Christmas tree went out the window today! It was so dead and miserable that we just pitched it out the window! Really boring day of bad cooking (grilled cheese and nutella toast) and wrestling, Chris and Sarah got into a battle about the remote. My mother woke me up at 2am to ask about loans, weird? I was actually sleeping at 2 and she forgot the time change!

Spent half the day in bed after last nights festivities. I felt so bad for awhile this morning that I've decided to go on a 10 alcohol fast, nothing for the next ten days! Didn't do a whole lot today, just watched Celebrity Big Brother and e-mailed back and forth with my sister. £3 pizza for dinner before we went to the American Sports Cafe to watch NFL playoffs for awhile. More Big Brother and chatting with Chris before bed.

I got a new roommate today. Her name is Jennifer and she's from Florida. I unpacked from Ireland and looked at my financial situation. I was finally able to call everyone back that had called me while I was in Ireland and unable to use my phone. I got three interviews lined up for today and Monday. My interview today was complete crap, but whatever. I also went to BUNAC to get information on a Science Museum position that people were telling me about. We decided to go to the Roxy again tonight so we got ready and pre-gamed. We had a great time dancing to cheesy pop, but it wasn't as good as the last time we were there. We didn't get home until around 3 or so.

Ireland!!! We are headed for Cork, Ireland for a few days with the new CSB/SJU study abroad students.

1/1 - We got to Stansted Airport via city bus and train. Once we got there we found a nice little cubby under an information kiosk to sleep in. We squeezed in and fell asleep.

2/1 - We got up around 4:30 am to check in. While we were in line we ran into a girl that had been in Laura's early start archaeology class in Cork earlier in the fall. We had Starbuck's gingerbread lattes for breakfast and headed towards the gap where I took a nap on the nice chairs. I think we sat on the plane on the ground longer than we were actually in the air. The sunrise from the plane was amazing! I also got to see the coast of Ireland and Cork from above! At the airport I was issued a tourist visa (2 stamps) until the 5th. When we got into town we headed towards the Leeside Apartments where the study abroad kids were staying. We got settled in, went grocery shopping, and had crepes with nutella, raspberries, and custard for breakfast, yummy! After a second trip to Tesco for food for full Irish breakfast tomorrow, I took a little nap since I really hadn't slept that much the night before. For dinner we went to Supermac's, the Irish McDonald's, which was really really good! Then for a quick stroll around town. We all gathered around a laptop to watch How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days before heading to the Franciscan Well Brewery & Pub just across the River Lee from the apartment building. One of the guys on study abroad was also from Maple Grove so we got chatting for a while. Our final stop for the night was An Brog one of the four pubs/bars in Cork that are open past 11pm. We had this amazing pear cider and I got into a pint drinking contest with an English ice hockey player. I drank an entire pint of Murphy's stout (similar to Guiness) in one go! Note to anyone out there, if you drink an entire pint of stout in one go (i.e. less than 30 seconds) you'll be drunk within 15 minutes, even if it's the only thing you've had to drink that night. What an amazing first day in Ireland.

3/1 - The day started with full Irish breakfast: black and white pudding, sausage, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, potatoes, beans, eggs, and toast. Then we were off to Blarney. I was going to kiss the Blarney Stone! We wandered around the village first, then on to the castle. We went around the grounds first taking in the wonderful greenery and climbing trees. The castle itself was pretty well conserved considering how old it is and what style it is. The Blarney Stone is on the roof. You lay on your back, grab the bars, pull yourself over the edge of the castle and pucker up. So if you though I talked a lot before, just you wait, cause now I have the gift of gab! After the fact I looked down and it's a long way down!!! Laura was my official photographer, so I have all of this documented. After the castle we went to the Blarney Woolin Mills before heading back into Cork. In town we went down one of the main shopping streets, Oliver Plunkett Street, before going to the tourist office, cheesy but good. We ended up in the internet cafe for awhile before running into someone else from CSB on the street. She had done study abroad the year before and was back on her own for another semester. We had a quiet night in after all that fresh Irish air and excitement.

4/1 - Grand tour of Cork today. We went past St. Francis Church, Cork Courthouse, many pubs, Beamish Brewery, River Lee, Fosters being brewed in Ireland (weird to anyone else?,) Elizabeth Fort, the oldest pub in Cork and possibly Ireland, St. Finnbarr's Cathedral, Grand Parade, English Market, Oliver Plunkett Street, St. Patrick's Street, an art gallery, doughnuts, Cafe Depeche, University College Cork (UCC) campus including the Quad and Chapel, and then we hiked up to the Music Building which boasts the best view of Cork. That night we went to An Spailpin Fanac to finish my tour of Irish stouts with Beamish; I also had a Balmer's Irish Cider there. After that we went to the Old Oak, which is a really cool bar with good craic = Irish for good atmosphere. On to An Brog where we didn't last long and headed home just after midnight.

5/1 - Laura left for America at 6:30 this morning! I spent the day packing and getting ready for my trip back to London. Terril and I went on a hike to The Lough which Laura had recommended to us. The Lough was really pretty with tons of birds, it's a nice park inside of the city. I'm always a fan of greenery inside cities, otherwise you get too land and building locked. It was raining pretty bad, so when we got home all my stuff went onto the radiator to dry before my flight, I even used a hair dryer on my jeans they were that wet! By the time I walked to the bus station, took the bus to Cork Airport, checked-in, flew to Gatwick, got my baggage, took the train into London, and then the bus back to BUNAC, it took me 7 hours to get home! When I got home no one was up, weird. Chris came home not too much later cause he'd been at the Celebrity Big Brother launch.

Evidently Chris woke up this morning on a bench in zone 6 southwest London! He wins the New Year's Eve story contest. Laura and I went to mass at Westminster Abbey this morning while everyone else was hungover. After a lovely service we watched the London New Year's Day Parade. We took the best pictures ever with us in red phone boxed with Big Ben in the background. We found our way back via St. James Park and the Horse Guards Parade Grounds. Trafalgar Square was nearly as packed as it was 12 hours earlier! We took turns climbing on the lions, which I had never done! We went through Leicester Square and Chinatown on the way home. After food and computer/job work we headed to King's Cross train station to play Harry Potter! We each pretended to go through to Platform 9 3/4 with our carts! When we got home we got ready to head towards Ireland. We are spending the night in Stansted Airport north of London. Laura has had an amazing whirlwind tour of London that included just about everything I could think of, plus she had someone to share it with! Good times, I can only hope that my time in Ireland will be as amazing as her time here!