Week 2

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been so lazy about updating. I tried to go out and have fun this weekend, as well as just SLEEP and relax.

This weekend I went up to the Camden Markets which is about 6 different little flea markets full of little stands and booths and exotic food and everything (not that I ate any of this food haha). It was really an exciting place! I think about 6 or 7 years ago it would have been my favorite place in the world with all the Doc Martens and the plaid pants everywhere, it was very exciting. Didn't buy anything, but it was still fun to go and look around! And of course I went shopping on Oxford Street, which is like the main high street where they have 6 floor stores of all the popular stores, very exciting stuff. But the problem is, because I really only have the weekend to go out and about, all of the stores were just JAM PACKED with teenage girls, so much that you could hardly breathe! So I ended up avoiding stores that would interest other girls my age at all costs, and only went into general stores and things like that, so that I didn't get too fed up. Haha.

Alex and I also tried to find a place called USA Pizza and Burrito, which is supposed to have the best pizza in London according to other Americans, but then of course we get there to find that it has gone out of business! Haha!

Besides that, this weekend I went over to my Aunt's house again for Sunday dinner which was lovely. Watched some incriminating old home movies of when I was 8-10 years old, only to realize that I have not changed at all since then. I swear there were phrases in these movies that came out of my mouth that I still currently say on a regular basis!

Work so far this week hasn't been too exciting. It's nice though because I now feel like an integrated part of the workplace. I'm planning on making snickerdoodles one night this week and bringing them into the tearoom, since they do not have these amazing cookies here. Plus I figure it's a good way to get to know people that I haven't officially met yet or anything! I'm also allowed to get my ID card this week so that I can get into the building by myself and that I won't lock myself in the stairwell anymore because I don't have an ID card to leave the stairs. Haha. Yes, it has happened before... But I'm hoping to do more exciting things later in the week and actually do more hands on stuff. Everyone is super super nice at work though, I really think I landed myself this excellent and amazing job, even though I'm not getting paid. With this experience I'm getting I think it's totally worth it.

In other exciting news, I met an incredibly sweet girl at work who had just bought herself a new tv and was looking to get rid of her old one. So she gave it to me for free! I bought an "aerial" (=antenna) for it last night, but of course, since I'm so tech savvy, it doesn't work. So Alex is going to come over and fix it in a little bit. But this girl is so nice and she's 25 so not too far off my age! It's the strangest thing being in a place where you feel like one person looks your age, and then you ask them, and they have a master's degree and are at least 5 years older. Haha! Oh well, I'm moving up and getting out there :)

I'm thinking this weekend I'll head down south on the train to visit my family who I haven't seen in a year and a half, which will be absolutely lovely. Looking forward to it!

And one of my older roommates moved out of my flat, so hopefully someone closer to my age will move in now!

Take care everyone xxx

I Survived One Week!

Oh my god, what a week!

This job is amazing, and I am SO glad I took it but I am exhausted.

I'm learning a lot and being exposed to a lot. It's wierd, dealing with situations of testing for genetic defects and things can put you in very very adult situations that feel WAY too grown up for me. Crash course in adulthood.

On a brighter note, a lovely girl at work is offering to give me her TV she doesn't need for free! Hooray!

AND I AM SIGNED UP FOR BROADBAND!!! I am so excited for it! haha


I can't write too much more, it's 9pm but I'm really exhausted. Not sure what's up for tomorrow, sleeping, for one thing. :)

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Middle of the Week

Finally made it past the midpoint of the week. I realized I never really had a true 9-5 job where I'm running around and paying attention all day, and it did not occur to me how exhausting it can be. I have a really great day every day, but then I feel like I come home at night and I'm just exhausted...it's worth it though.

So it's turning out to be a really great job so far, the people are really friendly, I'm working on interesting and cutting edge projects, and am learning a whole heck of a lot! I've actually been able to work with some real human blood and blood plasma which is kind of crazy. I've never done lab work with human samples, it's pretty awesome. Like this morning? Was working with amniotic fluid. How crazy! I get to work in both of the labs, being the molecular genetics lab but also the cytogenetics lab. So cool.

I'm working on a specific project that is working towards developing a reliable and non-invasive alternative to amniocentesis and CVS (not the drug store :)). But then it seems like I'm also going to get a chance to explore all of the different aspects of genetics that this great place has to offer. I'm really excited about the job, it's going great, I'm just exhausted every night after I come home.

In other news, everything else is really crazy. I can't set up a bank account yet because I need a special letter, but hopefully that should be sorted out by Thursday/Friday. Then I hate this little wireless Dongle thing, it's super unreliable and has a horrible connection. So I'm trying to sign up for broadband, but the website says it can't find my address, and so then when I try to enter the name of my building in the slot for "building name," it won't let me fit all of the letters. So it can't find wehre I live. So then I have to call customer support, which gets VERY EXPENSIVE VERY FAST if you are on a pay and go phone. As in, I wasted 10 pounds because my phone ran out of credit in a call and then hung up, and then I had to call them again and their system went down or something, and so yeah, 10 pounds later, I accomplished nothing. Except to find out that broadband internet is going to be way expensive for no apparent reason. Not only do I have to pay for the internet, it's through a phone line so I have to pay for the phone line, then also pay for an activation fee. It's SO MUCH stuff!

And I'm trying to get to my gmail to access the email of my landlord, but then I can't do that because the Dongle won't load gmail for no very good reason.

Finally, I cannot find hangers anywhere in London. I don't want to spend rediculous amounts of money, and I found a deal of 30 plastic hangers for 10 pounds, but of course the entire city is sold out. I can't find them. So I think I'm going to have to give in and get the pack of like 10 for 5 pounds I found, but that requires a subway trip. It's so complicated.

Everything is expensive, my phone, oyster card for the subway, internet...it's just crazy.

And I thought I made a friend yesterday becasue I met a girl my age! But then I found out it was her last day and she was going back to school today haha.

Hope you're all well and staying safe <3

First Day of Work

Hi Friends,

So yesterday was nice getting to see some of my family and eat pizza =) Delicious! Plus I don't have a tv here so it was kind of nice getting to watch some Friends and Glee.

This morning was my first day of work! I worked from about 9:30 to 5. Everyone seems so nice, so it seems like I get to do some results analysis and data entry but also some work in the lab itself. They're planning to have me over at the college-associated part in the morning and then the hospital-associated part in the evening so that I get to see the whole picture.

Today I was only in the Hospital though. Everyone was really nice and kind to me, it was just great. So I was doing some work in a spreadsheet of results this morning and then I was working in the lab dealing with samples this afternoon. That's right, I actually get to play with blood. Haha But I'm ok with it because I don't touch it. Hooray!

I have a mentor for the results part and also for the lab part, so I think this is going to go really well! I'm just absolutely shattered after 9 hours at work.

Tomorrow will be fun though! And I'm sure it'll only get better as things move along =)

Hope everyone is also having a good day, but it not lame like me who is ready to pass out at 7pm.

Haha miss you all! <3

Day two: First Weekend!

Hi Everyone!

So first weekend has begun! I actually slept pretty awfully last night. Despite my nice, new bedding, I failed to realize that my mattress is as comfy as a plank of wood. And for those of you who know about how lovely my mattress is at home, this was just not going to work. Haha! So I bought myself a mattress topper in the hopes of improving my comfort and sleep quality. Since I live with a lot of nurses, they have to wake up for early shifts at the hospital, so I still risk having to be woken up at 6:30AM on a Saturday (like this morning). Maybe this will stop me from being such a light sleeper!

Today I hung out with Genymphas and we ran around London with his friend Robert. We just had such a blast! I was introduced to this house of 14 students, at least some of whom also go to Drexel. I had no idea all of these Philadelphians were over here for some reason!

Running around London included tourist things like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Downing Street, etc.

But MOST exciting is that we saw the POPE! There was this gathering of people on a street corner where the police were roping off roads, so we assumed the pope was making an appearance somehow, but the police didn't say, and it wasn't completely obvious whether or not they actually knew. So we walked to the portion of the street where it was certain he was going to drive by. We stood on the street corner where no one else was standing, which turned out to be the PERFECT spot! Not only did we see him, but we saw him TWICE! Once when he was driving by fast in a BMW, and the second when he was parading in the pope-mobile. Hardly anyone saw him the first time around, but we totally did, because he waved to us.

So I have, again, attached pictures below. I got videos of him driving by (Genymphas took pictures) but I took screenshots from the videos. Enjoy!

Making pizza and seeing family tomorrow!



Slow drive by the in pope mobile!

Pope inconspicuously in the back of the BMW, but he's waving! Threw everyone off because he was at the front of the procession of Range Rovers, and not at the back.

Genymphas and me on top of a lion at Trafalgar Square. Please note that I could not get on top of this statue without his help haha!

Genymphas, me, and Robert outside of Westminster Abbey.

Great Day!

Day ONE

Hi everyone,

So I arrived last night around 9 pm here, which is 5 pm East Coast time. So, thankfully, because of the large quantities of medications I needed to be on to survive a flight, I was exhausted by the time I actually got here! After happily leaving the airport, I got in a taxi and headed to my hotel for the night. Only THEN did I realize just how complicated it was going to be to move 100 pounds worth of luggage by myself. Way to plan ahead Carina. Haha! I did get to watch a couple things on the plane though, I watched "Letters to Juliette," which was lovely, but very predictable. Also watched the first half of "Babies," that documentary, but got bored when I realized there was no narration throughout the entire thing. So I settled on watching lots of episodes of "House," and "Big Bang Theory." Yay!

Got to my little hotel for the night, where I was staying because I didn't want to make my way into central London at 9 at night after flying for 9 hours. Plus the rental office for my housing wasn't even open at that point, so it all worked out. Then I ate dinner in the "sports bar" because the restaurant was closed. This so called "sports bar" was really just a pub that had a large projector showing people playing billiards on the wall, I guess that's the sport part. FINALLY got some food besides ritz crackers and teddy grahams (don't laugh, that's a majority of what I ate on the flight). And then passed out around 11 pm = 6 pm EST. See? The meds actually HELPED me get over jetlag!

Then this morning, yes morning, it's 8:30pm here, I ate breakfast at the hotel and took a WAY overpriced taxi ride to the closest subway station. My plan was to take the taxi to the closest tube station, and then take that line all the way into the city, since I like 300 feet from a tube stop on that line. So this sketchy driver was trying to convince me to allow him to drive me all the way into London, which I INSISTED would be very very expensive, since it's about a 40 minute drive. Although this nice nice man said he would do it for the low low price of £48, which according to the current exchange rate, is about $75. No thank you. So I got to this subway station and my entire journey, taxi and all, cost less than £20. See? Win. Except for the fact I had to lug all this luggage around and carry two 50lbs bags down the 30 stairs into this subway station. People were so nice to me though, one man helped me carry everything onto the train and another even carried one of my suitcases up the stairs at the other end!

20-25 tube stops later, I FINALLY arrived at my stop. Then got my apartment all sorted out and leased, and was allowed to move in! FINALLY I had my bags in my room, and they were not being supported by my own arms. Keep in mind I also was carrying a backpack that included all of my electronics (2 laptops are not very light...surprising right?)!

I was excited and happy to be here! I mean, I was really in LONDON as a RESIDENT and a working human! And not a tourist only in the country for 3 weeks.

I then realized I had nothing. I had clothes, but they didn't get me far in terms of living supplies. I realized there was no internet, and I would have to call and get an ethernet connection set up if I wanted internet, which seems pretty important. I also did not, at that point, have any bedding, shower supplies, towels, a hair dryer, or a cell phone. SO then I went on a huge adventure all around London trying to set up a bank account and getting everything I needed. My GPS saved me SO many times during this adventure, I did a good thing getting a new one right before I got here. Plus it was the only thing that knew where a drugstore and bank were, considering I had no internet! I got a new phone! I'm so excited about it it's the cutest little thing. I've never had a touchscreen phone, so I feel really fancy to actually have one. And as you can see, I also have internet now! It's one of those wireless USB flash drive things that connects through a cell phone network, very nifty.

Also, side note, I found the best system ever today. In the huge department store where I bought my sheets and towels, when I paid for my purchases, the woman asked me if I would be taking them now. So I said, "Um, what's the alternative?" And they had this FANTASTIC system where you can buy things and then pick them up later! This is so that you don't have to carry bulky things (like bedding) around London while you're continuing your shopping. The duvet I bought came in a cardboard box, and to save me some trouble, the woman had put my bedsheets and towels inside of this box. Unfortunately, this made the box heavier than it was designed for. So when I went to pick up all my things and take them home, the handle on the box broke, and there was no way for me to carry 2 large bags from the drugstore, a bag from the cell phone store, my jacket (it was about 55 degrees here), a pillow, and this broken box. Believe me, I tried many many different ways. Then sad and pathetic, I gave up about 10 feet from the subway station because I simply could not carry everything. It didn't help that my arms were also completely shot from lugging around 100lbs+ worth of luggage for 2 days. So I got a taxi, which was actually really great, had the nicest taxi drive who enlightened me all about the system of how you become a London taxi driver. He said average time it takes a person to pass the course is 2.5 years, because you pretty much have to memorize all of London. Crazy stuff right?

So I am finally all unpacked and set up. I'm hoping to post some pictures at the bottom of the message showing my room!

Not sure what the weekend holds for tomorrow, I've got to get some hangers for the mass of work clothes currently sitting on my chair waiting to be hung up. Also need some food so that my lunch and dinner tomorrow aren't McDonnald's and Pizza Hut (don't hurt me Mom :) )! My friend Genymphas from Drexel is down in London for the weekend from Manchester, so maybe meet up with him and do tourist things. Then Sunday I am off to see some family and make pizza! Hooray!



New phone! So cute and fancy!


Shared kitchen with my 4 roomates

New bedspread (don't laugh Elaine, it's plaid.)

My little sink and vanity area, as well as a wardrobe that is currently only filled with shoes.

Finally, my desk and large pile of clothes waiting to be hung up!



Love to all! xxx

Leaving Tomorrow!

Hi Everyone,

I'm leaving tomorrow! Flight is at 9 AM which means we're leaving the house at 5:30AM! It's going to be a nice long day. Then Thursday night at 9 PM I will officially be in London for 6 entire months. Wish me luck!

-Carina