One Year Ago Today….

I woke up to an email saying I got into my top choice school.  I was so excited to know that our plan was actually happening.

Sorry I don’t have any photos to insert here (not putting my school name on here for obvious reasons).

And 1 year later I’m 2 exams away from finishing my first semester of my Masters program, living in London in my amazing flat in Notting Hill with my amazing boyfriend, meeting people from all around the world but still mainly hanging out with Americans for some reason. 

LIFE IS GOOD.

 

I won!

I’m a member of Expat Women. It’s a great website where other expats tell stories, give advice and just write.  It’s a great resource if you think you are going to be moving to a new country or if you want to get in touch with someone there to ask advice.  As a member you are entered into a contest each month.  I won for the month of September!

That’s what it said in the September newsletter.  I will be receiving Explorer Mini-Guides thanks to Explorer Publishing. I can’t wait to get them in the mail post.

THANK YOU!!!!

See You Later Alligator

I’m flying across the pond right now.

(Source)

Hopefully I’m sleeping but I highly doubt it because my nerves and excitement will win in this contest.

I’m really excited for this adventure and can’t wait to share it all with you!!

Bragging Rights

Amazing gifts from amazing friends.  They know me so well!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

XOXOXOXOXO

What I’ve Been Up To

The past 2.5 weeks have flown by!

I landed at Newark Airport, went to bed then packed for a weekend in Margate with the girls.

Then we were in Aruba for a week.  It was extremely hot but we had a lot of fun.  Delicious food, lots of beach time, jet skiing, massages, shopping, gambling at the Hyatt and repeating it the next day.

This was my view everyday at the beach while sitting under our hut.

I know you’re jealous.

The next 1.5 weeks were in NY/NJ with our friends and family.  Saturday we had my going away party at Studio Square in Queens.  The weather was gorgeous, everyone was there and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.  The girls got me amazing gifts including a subscription to Time Out London!!

Get ready for a lot of photos!!

And now I’m sitting in my parents house getting ready to leave for good tomorrow.  A one way flight to London…WOW!!!

Adventure Up The Jubilee Line And More

Round 1 of IKEA trip was SUCCESSFUL.  I followed the directions from the website and asked a couple of people which direction the IKEA was when I got off the tube and lo and behold I made a left turn and saw the big blue building with yellow iconic letters.

I had so much fun walking through the store myself.  I know it’s not good quality and my family how vowed NEVER to purchase IKEA furniture again but it just makes sense in our situation.  Don’t worry Dad, this time Jon will be putting together the furniture while cursing and saying he will never do this again. Haha memories (that Shanna and Stef witnessed).

I bought 25 items for £56 which I think is a steal.  I bought things for the flat such as kitchen utensils, garbage bin, fruit bowl, etc.  While I toured the showroom I took photos of the furniture pieces I think would be perfect for our flat.  Next time Jon will come and say yes or no and then we can start making the rental into our home. I won’t bore you with the furniture photos but will show you the 2 bags full of stuff I carried back on the bus.  I decided to take the bus back home so I could see other parts of London.

I’ve been fending for myself this week since Jon has been working and I found myself at Whole Foods for dinner every night.  I think it just gives me that little bit of home that every expat wants. Plus their hot food bar is DELICIOUS!

Plus I love “mush” with balsamic vinegar so this place is ideal for me. Just in case you wanted to see what I mean by “mush” here you go.

One more thing before I go.  All flats come with a tea kettle.  Makes sense considering we are in London but it doesn’t work for me.  Today I put the tea kettle on top of the fridge for a “rainy day” and replaced it with a nice coffee pot.  It’s very necessary people!  I also stuffed a TON of splenda packets into my checked luggage so I have a about a years supply of them. Thanks Alyssa for buying the Costco boxes for me!!  While I was purchasing the coffee pot at Sainsbury’s I had to buy coffee but was absolutely confused by the different types.  I want Dunkin Donuts coffee but I’ve got to be realistic.  So I settled on the brand with New York in the title.  I’ll let you know how it is.

Look at that beautiful coffee pot and cute jar to hold my splenda supply!

I made it!!

I packed all day Saturday with the help of my friend, Cristina, and then headed off to the airport with my Dad.

As you can tell my dad is not an artistic person.  It took a couple of tries to finally not get my head chopped off in the photo.  It’s ok Dad the final one turned out “postable”. =)  This is me in the airport parking lot.  I had to document it.  2 checked bags, a carry-on and the green bag which I told them was my purse.  I also had to represent and wear my PSU sweatshirt since it didn’t fit in my luggage.  I also wore a jacket over that (bear in mind that it was 80 degrees in NY that night) because it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase but i knew it would be necessary once I arrived in London.

My flight was smooth and I just slept the entire way.  I woke up when we were about an hour away from landing. I couldn’t wait!!  I passed through customs, grabbed my luggage and raced out to the meeting area to see Jon with beautiful flowers in hand.

Next up…seeing the flat that Jon picked out ALONE.  We pulled up to the front door and I knew it was going to be perfect.  Such a cute, quintessential London flat.  He opened the door and it was love at first sight!  The flat is amazing. Jon did VERY well.  It’s a mess right now because we are unpacking and getting settled in but I will include photos soon.  It’s a 1 bedroom with a lot of space but no closets (eek!).  An IKEA trip will happen very soon so we can figure this all out.

Jon showed me around hte area and the first thing I saw was FRAE so I had my first meal there.  Delicious and so happy it’s close to the flat.

While I was unpacking I marked my territory again with a PSU magnet.  We are……PENN STATE!  Sorry Jon….we share everything now…feel free to put up something Cornell is you want. =)

One more funny thing I want to share before I go.  To me Palmolive is used to clean your dishes but here it’s for your body as well.  I am going to adapt to everything I can but this is one thing I can’t do.  I smell like dishes right now.

With that….I’m off to buy body wash.

4 Days Left…I Never Thought This Day Would Come

So 4 days left of work.  I’ve been there for 3.5 years so as much as it’s a exciting reason to leave it’s sad at the same time.  I’ve become so close with a lot of people in the office.  If you think about it you spend more time at work in a week than actually interacting with the people you live with.  This is my desk…3 years worth of stuff (we sat on a different floor for a little while).

Look at everything on the walls.  All memories.  I think I’m going to miss the huge desk calendar the most.  I love how colorful and organized it made me.  Is that crazy?!

Well as they say, “When one door closes another one opens” so I’m ready for that and REALLY EXCITED!!

What does your desk look like?

Jumping The Gun

I recently ran the CPC Run for Central Park 4 mile race on July 17th and loved every second of it.  It was a hot day and I wish it started earlier than 9am but even with those factors I did much better than I thought.  I secretly gave myself a goal of 43:00 minutes and was so surprised when I looked at my Garmin as I was approaching the finish line to see that I was under 40:00 minutes!

Here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 9:03

Mile 2 – 8:45

Mile 3 – 10:32 <—-necessary walking break in 95 degree heat

Mile 4 – 9:48

453 ft – 44 seconds

Total Garmin Distance: 4.09

Total Garmin Time: 38:53

I don’t have any weekends left to do any races in NY/NJ so I have been looking at London races which gets me REALLY excited.  I have found 3 races that I could participate in. I’m not sure if I’m jumping the gun, should plan that far ahead or even consider these before I move there.

Oct 3, 2010

The Epsom Dash 5k run – http://www.thefixevents.com/content/the-epsom-dash-5km-run/

Oct 24, 2010

After Adoption Hyde Park 5k or 10k – http://www.afteradoption.org.uk/page.asp?section=00010001000600070019

Nov 13, 2010

The Movember 10k Run Greenwich Park – http://www.thefixevents.com/content/movember-10k-run-greenwich-park/

What do you think? Should I sign up now or wait and which ones should I do??

Breaking The Silence

It was August 18, 2009. We were having dinner at Shun Lee before we dropped Jon off at the airport for his flight to London. It was a happy and sad dinner because we knew there would be many good things to come out of this but sad at the same time because Jon and I would be living in different countries! The check came along with fortune cookies so we each took ours and read the fortunes out loud. This was mine.

I believe this was “the sign and push” that got me through these past 11 months. It hasn’t been that difficult. I’ve also seen Jon every month, whether I go to London or he comes home. Who wouldn’t want to visit London every other month?!

When we first broke the news that Jon was moving to London we got mixed reactions.  Most were supportive but there will always be those negative nellys out there. Lots of “long-distance always works”, “good luck with that”, and my personal favorite “I give it 10 days…if that.” All of these said with a ton of sarcasm and lots of rolled eyes. We stayed strong and can finally say:

WE MADE IT!!! WE DID IT!!!!

I gave my notice to work today.  My last day of work will be August 20th!  That leaves me with 5 weeks to enjoy in NYC before I take a hop, skip and a jump over the pond.