Katherine's welcome to London - Part 2
Day 3 (Easter Monday)
This was a pretty lazy day, with 2 highlights:
- I went shopping at the supermarket for the first time. I could not find showercaps in Sainsbury (their equivalent to Woollies/Coles). I spent just under 10 pounds for bits and pieces (a loaf of bread, some veggies, some pasta and sauce, laundry detergent) and have no idea whether that was ok or bad value for money.
- Ghassan, a friend I met through MUSE in '02 was in town, so we caught up. We had a cheap pub meal, and a coffee, and bought discount tickets at Leichester Square to see 'Spring Awakening', a relatively new show that won't hit Oz for some time.
[Come on, could I go more than 3 days in London without seeing a show, and still be me?]
I was excited about this - Gas, being a wonderfully talented muso and fellow musical theatre buff, was an awesome show companion.
Spring Awakening was really interesting and unexpected. It's rather post-modern, post-Rent. In some ways really eccentric and funky in the staging and choreography, but it dealt with some pretty hefty issues, and had some very confronting moments. It was also a very *young* show - the characters were teenagers, and played by young actors. The issues were very stereotypically adolescent (which isn't to say that you don't deal with them at later parts of your life), and a few things really spoke to me. Musically it was decent. Some music was better than others. It was all very pop or rock, very modern and accessible and easy on the ears. The diction wasn't always so great, particularly in the beginning, so I didn't always know what they were singing about. Still, I'm really glad I saw it. I might do a proper review a little later.
Day 4 - the psuedo work day
I had recruitment interviews lined up from 9am to 3pm, so this was basically a working day for me. I got up in the morning, got dressed up in my suit, battled the tube during peak hour, and traversed the business districts of London.
When I was all finished up, at about 4:30pm, I was pretty tired. However my last interview was near Piccadilly Circus. It was the first time I'd hit that part of London, and it really is an iconic street. It just made me smile and think - man, I am really here. So I wandered the streets a bit and ended up sitting at a bench in a small park in Leicester Square, shivering a little and wondering why I chose to wear a skirt on the coldest day I'd come across.
The day finished off with me catching the DLR for the first time to get to Limehouse station, to meet some friends for dinner at Gordan Ramsay's pub. Lien, a girl I started at Deloitte with, had been in London for a year and a half, and was heading home, so we were pretty much playing tag. Dinner was nice. Expensive, but not unreasonably so, and it was a nice meal out. It was also good to catch up with some familiar faces. At the same time it made me think about what I want from my London experience, and what I want my farewell to London dinner to be like one day...
Day 5
I had another recruitment interview...and opened up a bank account with HSBC, which will include a debit card (they're not too fond of credit here). It was...interesting, talking to HSBC...
I tried going out cerocing tonight, however the regular Wednesday venue was shut. So I ended up in the city, a wee bit grumpy that my dancing was not going to happen. So I just walked...I ended up at Covent Garden, found the opera house, listened to a busker and gave him too much money (and no it was not because he was cute, he really wasn't all that, but he was decent, and he made me smile, and I didn't have that wide selection of coins in my wallet and didn't want to give him pennies...).
All in all not a bad day.
Day 6
Today, Nikki and I tried out a local gym. [Nikki is living in the house that I'm staying at, and is another recently re-located Aussie, so we've been hanging out, and it's been nice.] It was a really nice gym - very flashy, and very expensive. Much more expensive, just in numerican values, than gym membership at home. Then when you take into account the conversion...!
I also successfully made it to a ceroc venue. It was a brand new venue, and boy do those kids know how to party. Most ceroc classes finish at about 10:30/11pm. These guys kept dancing until 1am. Simon, the owner of the ceroc organisation, was pretty darn happy and pretty darn drunk, which didn't stop him from dancing up a storm. He somehow organised shots at the bar, which he awarded randomly, so we went through a few bottles of shots...
It was a very unexpected night, but fun. Most of the dancers seem quite young/inexperienced, but I got a few good dances. I'm pretty sure I go back, and I'll make a few casual friends, although we'll see if I form any lasting friendships that way.
Day 7 - today!
This was a pretty low-key day in. West Side Story was on tellie and I couldn't resist watching. I cried at the end...yes, I am such a sap. Tellie here is *so* much better than home - although I guess it's all about having paytv.
I also did laundry, and went to the pub for dinner with Nikki and Will.
So endeth my first week in London! :)
This was a pretty lazy day, with 2 highlights:
- I went shopping at the supermarket for the first time. I could not find showercaps in Sainsbury (their equivalent to Woollies/Coles). I spent just under 10 pounds for bits and pieces (a loaf of bread, some veggies, some pasta and sauce, laundry detergent) and have no idea whether that was ok or bad value for money.
- Ghassan, a friend I met through MUSE in '02 was in town, so we caught up. We had a cheap pub meal, and a coffee, and bought discount tickets at Leichester Square to see 'Spring Awakening', a relatively new show that won't hit Oz for some time.
[Come on, could I go more than 3 days in London without seeing a show, and still be me?]
I was excited about this - Gas, being a wonderfully talented muso and fellow musical theatre buff, was an awesome show companion.
Spring Awakening was really interesting and unexpected. It's rather post-modern, post-Rent. In some ways really eccentric and funky in the staging and choreography, but it dealt with some pretty hefty issues, and had some very confronting moments. It was also a very *young* show - the characters were teenagers, and played by young actors. The issues were very stereotypically adolescent (which isn't to say that you don't deal with them at later parts of your life), and a few things really spoke to me. Musically it was decent. Some music was better than others. It was all very pop or rock, very modern and accessible and easy on the ears. The diction wasn't always so great, particularly in the beginning, so I didn't always know what they were singing about. Still, I'm really glad I saw it. I might do a proper review a little later.
Day 4 - the psuedo work day
I had recruitment interviews lined up from 9am to 3pm, so this was basically a working day for me. I got up in the morning, got dressed up in my suit, battled the tube during peak hour, and traversed the business districts of London.
When I was all finished up, at about 4:30pm, I was pretty tired. However my last interview was near Piccadilly Circus. It was the first time I'd hit that part of London, and it really is an iconic street. It just made me smile and think - man, I am really here. So I wandered the streets a bit and ended up sitting at a bench in a small park in Leicester Square, shivering a little and wondering why I chose to wear a skirt on the coldest day I'd come across.
The day finished off with me catching the DLR for the first time to get to Limehouse station, to meet some friends for dinner at Gordan Ramsay's pub. Lien, a girl I started at Deloitte with, had been in London for a year and a half, and was heading home, so we were pretty much playing tag. Dinner was nice. Expensive, but not unreasonably so, and it was a nice meal out. It was also good to catch up with some familiar faces. At the same time it made me think about what I want from my London experience, and what I want my farewell to London dinner to be like one day...
Day 5
I had another recruitment interview...and opened up a bank account with HSBC, which will include a debit card (they're not too fond of credit here). It was...interesting, talking to HSBC...
I tried going out cerocing tonight, however the regular Wednesday venue was shut. So I ended up in the city, a wee bit grumpy that my dancing was not going to happen. So I just walked...I ended up at Covent Garden, found the opera house, listened to a busker and gave him too much money (and no it was not because he was cute, he really wasn't all that, but he was decent, and he made me smile, and I didn't have that wide selection of coins in my wallet and didn't want to give him pennies...).
All in all not a bad day.
Day 6
Today, Nikki and I tried out a local gym. [Nikki is living in the house that I'm staying at, and is another recently re-located Aussie, so we've been hanging out, and it's been nice.] It was a really nice gym - very flashy, and very expensive. Much more expensive, just in numerican values, than gym membership at home. Then when you take into account the conversion...!
I also successfully made it to a ceroc venue. It was a brand new venue, and boy do those kids know how to party. Most ceroc classes finish at about 10:30/11pm. These guys kept dancing until 1am. Simon, the owner of the ceroc organisation, was pretty darn happy and pretty darn drunk, which didn't stop him from dancing up a storm. He somehow organised shots at the bar, which he awarded randomly, so we went through a few bottles of shots...
It was a very unexpected night, but fun. Most of the dancers seem quite young/inexperienced, but I got a few good dances. I'm pretty sure I go back, and I'll make a few casual friends, although we'll see if I form any lasting friendships that way.
Day 7 - today!
This was a pretty low-key day in. West Side Story was on tellie and I couldn't resist watching. I cried at the end...yes, I am such a sap. Tellie here is *so* much better than home - although I guess it's all about having paytv.
I also did laundry, and went to the pub for dinner with Nikki and Will.
So endeth my first week in London! :)