Almost Friday...

Hello Friends,

So it's been a good week at work. It looks like I'm going to be focusing on just the project for developing a non-invasive alternative to amniocentesis, and spending less time doing other stuff. But I'm happy about that, I can get really involved in this project, and use all of this cutting edge technology, and then when the paper is published soon then my name gets to go on it too! They're going to let me work over in the university hospital soon too, so then I get to see all sides of the project all across the board. So then I'll be really involved. Yeah I really love this job. The people are so nice and friendly and crazy!

I went out earlier in the week for my first non-full pint of beer, it was called a something -top but I have no idea what it was. Something involving Heineken, which wasn't too bad. It's strange being old enough to legally drink. I went out to dinner today and they asked me if I wanted wine with dinner! Haha WHAT? WINE? I must be getting old :)

Oh and this week at work I saw a real storm trooper walking down the street. In his full costume and everything, legitimate storm trooper. And I pretty much died laughing, so much that I didn't get a chance to take a picture before he was whisked away into a building. I suspect he was actually there for the purpose of entertaining and visiting the children at the hospital, and wasn't just a Star Wars fanatic.

So tomorrow is Friday! Thank god! Tomorrow after work I think a bunch of us are going out for Carina's first legitimate pint for real, which should be an adventure.

This weekend I think I'll try and head out to this mall called The Westfield and maybe invite this girl from work who is 22, close to my age! It's supposed to be really sweet and brand new. Now they have Hollister in London? What's going on here?

Tonight I went out for dinner to this little place called Ciao Bella which I was told by my co-workers that it has the best pizza in London. I went out with another girl from Drexel, Cassandra, who is also on co-op abroad in London, but she's a fashion design major. We actually never met before, but she was super nice and we had a great time! So see? Making friends all over the place.

Everyone at work keeps giving me a hard time about my super enthusiasm, I can't see it wearing off too soon though :)!

Please everyone have a good weekend!

Next week: Free dinner at The Royal Thames Yacht Club courtesy of Drexel :)

PS - If the website won't let you comment, I think it's because it really only likes Internet Explorer. It won't let me comment in Firefox, but leave me some love!

AND I SHOULD BE GETTING BROADBAND TOMORROW!!! FINALLY!!! :)

Update

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, it's been really busy this end and it was hard to actually get internet in Bournemouth. Stupid dongle, I should have broadband on Friday though!

So last week was actually really good. Thursday I decided I needed to get my student railcard so that I could get decently priced train tickets to go down to Bournemouth for the weekend. So a lovely guy Tom from work walked me to the train station and helped me get my picture, card, and tickets all sorted out. He then gave me a walking tour of London and showed me where all the good pubs are around out area, and even not in our area. So we walked all around London, and down to the Thames, and he was a history buff so I pretty much had my own personal tour of London which was excellent. We went to Nando's for dinner, which is like a KFC, and where I conveniently get 20% off with my work ID. Very good.

There is talk of going out for Carina's first beer soon as a big event, since I really haven't had this experience of going into a pub and physically ordering beer for myself! Haha. And next Friday we're going out for Indian food in the lab, that should be exciting!

But yeah, then Friday night after work I rushed to Waterloo station and hopped on the train to Bournemouth to go and see the family. I haven't been down there in over a year and a half so that was really nice to see people. Only got to see a few family members, but was still very nice anyway. Got my Gran a cordless phone! And went out for Chinese food with my darling godfather and Ellen. Went to the shops on Sunday which was nice because going shopping on a rainy Sunday morning in Bournemouth is MUCH less crowded than going in London anytime at all. Haha!

So came back this morning, and ALMOST missed the train but made it with about 10 seconds to spare :) Then came into work by 12 which wasn't too bad, except for the subway strike hooray! Hopefully that fixes itself soon! Then got out of work at 4:30 and met with Alex for dinner.

Not a bad week! Things are going well and I'm settling in fine! I have survived 2 1/2 weeks and still going strong!

I still slightly feel like I'm on vacation and I'm going back to America soon, but I'll get used to the change soon enough. It'll sink in. Eventually.

Haha how are all of you doing? Hope everyone had a good weekend and stayed dry! I think it rained in the States too...

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!