My First Week as a Londoner

Well now that almost every member of my family has asked when I'll be posting again, I take that as a sign that maybe I have left my little blog languishing un-updated long enough. Why the radio silence you may be thinking? Let me take you waaaaaaay back-

A couple years ago, right after I graduated college, I was feeling super overwhelmed and not in the best place mentally (or physically and definitely not financially if we want to get super honest here), so I spoke to a counselor several times to help ease my transition out of college before moving to New York where Scott had already been living and working for a year.

We talked about a lot of things, (and took a Meyers-Briggs test which was actually super fun to read the results of- and scary accurate!), but one of the things that stands out the most in my memory is when she asked "Are you good at dealing with change?" and I laughed and said "Of course!" and then I actually thought about it for a second and realized pretty much everyone I am friends with (and dating!) had been around for almost a decade, I went to the same college as my older sisters, and I always get nauseous on the first day of school... Nope, I'm definitely not good with change.

It's not an aspect of my personality that I am super happy about, so when opportunities like, oh.... moving to London arise, I try to jump on them to shake myself loose, but that doesn't always mean the transition is super easy for me. So, this is my rather wordy (and anybody in my family will tell you uncharacteristically open) way of saying- its been a slow adjustment period. Plus, I think we can all agree that January isn't the best time to be exploring a new place.

So, lightning round, what have my first 10 or so days in London been like?

-I couldn't sleep at all on the flight over, so when we arrived I'd been up for more than 24 hours and was like a zombie
-Only to arrive at our (freezing cold- like 14°C) apartment and see hundreds of dead gnat like bugs in our bathtub and the window sill in our bedroom ::gag:: and the French doors standing ajar and un-lockable
-I promptly fell asleep on the love seat (any port in a storm) while Scott proceeded to get. shit. done. with the rental agency though it was Friday afternoon and nobody could come do much for us before Monday
-So we spent 3 nights in a hotel, making our first weekend feel more like a rather un-fun vacation than a move
-Where the most "exciting" thing we did was spend literally two hours at the bank getting out international accounts set up (I haven't spent that much time in a bank in the past two years combined!)
-Finally most of the maintenance issues got fixed so we were able to move into the apartment
-After the first night in the apartment, Scott left for a business trip to the US leaving me in a new apartment with no tv and spotty internet (he's back... for now)
-Where I have proceded to spend massive amounts of time playing Bejeweled (Diamond Mine- its the only way to go) (new high score: 982,500, but NBD, whatever)
-Watching K-dramas (specifically Coffee Prince and Secret Garden... blame my sister for those 20+ hours gone)
-Eating foreign junk food because we have no cookware, silverware, plates, cups, etc.... There's been a lot of frozen pizza (served on the cardboard box it came in- don't judge, respect my ingenuity)
-Playing with the Wacom tablet I got for Christmas-

Thanks to Creature Comforts for inspiring me to experiment with creating patterns in Photoshop- I think you can tell where my heart (and stomach) lies

-Hiding out inside because it keeps raining and snowing and the only shoes I have are not weather appropriate (SOMEbody I was flying with needed 4 of our 5 suitcases to feel comfortable that he had enough to last 2 weeks)
-And anxiously awaiting having home internet (tomorrow!) and the arrival of our stuff shipped from the US (the following day!)

After about a week of hibernating mostly inside, I am starting to feel less like Bambi on ice when I leave the apartment (though I still keep looking the wrong way before crossing!). I've explored the neighborhood some, found the most important places in the direct vicinity, and am finally feeling up to exploring more of London and learning to navigate the Tube.

For one of my first bigger solo outings I'm planning on the Victoria and Albert Museum later this week, but if anybody has been to London and has any favorite places they think I must see I'd love to add it to my "See Before Moving Back to the US" list- let me know in the comments or at amanda@dangerousenough.com