So I wandered around the area a little bit yesterday, my roommate helped my find one of the nearby grocery stores so that was nice. I didn't really know what to buy though because most brands aren't familiar to me! The eggs I bought are all different colors so I haven't tried them yet... makes me nervous haha. And I bought "semi-skimmed milk" whatever that means! So I've mostly been eating my left over pizza so far... I think I saw a Subway down the street so maybe I'll check that out soon! ;o) I also bought my tube pass and looked into buying a fan for my super hot room but didn't end up getting one because they are outrageous!!! In this department store that claims to have unbeatable prices, a desk fan cost 45 GBP!! That's like a $100 fan.. I don't think so. Keeping my fingers crossed that this heat wave will end soon so I don't sweat to death! Speaking of sweating, I've decided that many of the people in this city must be mad! I was walking around the city today when I had to go to my orientation (which was somewhat helpful hopefully) and my bank appointment, and I saw so many men walking around in suits!! I don't know how they do it because I was in capris and a tank top and I was sweating like Shaq...

I still haven't taken any photos because I forgot to put my camera in my purse this morning... but I have 5 1/2 months to take photos so I'm not too worried about it. I was more concerned with not getting lost! The court buildings here are beautiful though so I'll have to try to go back there at some point to take a picture of them. I think I'm going to try to go on some walking tours soon, after I get a little more settled, because they seem like a better idea than wandering on my own or taking a bus tour. It sucks though because some of them are only during the weekdays so I won't be able to do them... I'll have to check out what is offered in the evenings and on weekends. I definitely want to do the Jack the Ripper walk, which is every night I think so that won't be a problem, and the Harry Potter walk, which I'll need to look into more!

I didn't get a lot done today because the orientation took up my entire morning and my bank appointment filled the afternoon so there wasn't much time for anything else. I think Andre, the student who was here before me, is in London tonight so hopefully he'll contact me and I'll hang out with him for a while later, otherwise I should probably try to read over my work info a little bit more.... I don't feel prepared at all... I hate starting new jobs, I'm so nervous about it. Raj keeps talking about "diving into the deep end" to see if I will swim... but I hope he realizes that I still need to be trained because over the phone training isn't going to cut it! Like I said before, I hope Sam is really helpful and nice. I talked to him on the phone earlier today to get directions etc. to the office and he sounded decent, so I guess I'll find out tomorrow! I'm sure he has a lot of his own work to do but hopefully he'll take the time to help train me...

I have good news and bad news: the good news is that I met a few really nice people in the residence I'm living in last night, but the bad news is that they are only here for another couple of weeks. There were about six of them I met and they are all here on a study abroad program from Utah State University. They were all really nice and let me hang out with them yesterday after I came in the common room while they were watching a movie. We went on a short walk afterwards down by the river and it was really pretty. Hopefully I will see them again soon because it was nice not to be sitting alone in my room! LOL. I guess I'll see how this first week of work goes and judge how much spare time I will have...

Oh I still haven't written about my alarm clock issues! I brought my alarm clock from home along with a plug-in adaptor and a converter but when I plugged it in that first night I realized something was wrong. It seemed to be working alright and I had it set to the right time, but when I looked at it later the time was completely wrong! It seemed to have been going by really fast for some reason... I couldn't figure out why but I thought it might have something to do with the different outlets so I bought a 9V battery to try to run it off batteries... but that didn't work at all. So then I tried plugging it into the wall without the converter, but I think that fried the clock completely! After that, the next day I went to the store to buy a new one... I get back to my room and realize that it doesn't work at all! I tried new batteries and everything and it wouldn't turn on... I had to go back to the store today to exchange it. So far the new one seems to be working alright so hopefully the buzzer isn't too annoying to wake up to tomorrow morning!

Well I think that is all I have to write about at the moment... I will probably write another post tomorrow after my first day of work to update you all on how that went! Hopefully it will be a happy post ;o) Thanks everyone for writing comments - it helps me feel less alone! I have yet to see Jude Law, Hugh Grant, or anyone else rumored to live around here (I even heard that Johnny Depp might have a place near where I'm living, but I didn't think he owned a place in London.... so no idea if that is completely false but it would be nice if it were true!! One can only dream haha).

Anyway, hopefully I am not hit by a car anytime soon... pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way here! Luckily most of the streets tell you which direction you should be looking before you cross... I hope everything is well at home and that you all keep writing me messages!! :o)

Love and miss you all!!!