A brief Interruption - Because today the news is good!

Hello my lovelies, and apologies for the enormous gap. Realistically I shouldn't actually be writing to you at all at the moment, I am disgustingly busy with uni (calm, calm, I have a small break in two weeks, I will write something for my Live in London series then). But I have news.

Firstly - I am 21 on Sunday. That's exciting. It's actually more exciting than any other birthday I've had. But also precarious. 21. Now even America thinks I'm an adult, I suppose I have some growing up to do. So, over the next year - some resolutions...

• Learn to drive (I will never own a car, but I am a failure in my family if I don't get these skills).
• Learn InDesign, the CAD programs and become AMAZING at creating and understanding Manual Drafting (because at the moment it looks like nothingness, and I want this as a career).
• Travel, everywhere, anywhere.
• Paradoxically, not quit uni because you're bored or need adventure. One degree, that's all I ask.
• Take up French.

Secondly - and much more interesting for you! Mon amour has a job! In Brisbane no less. He is an engineer in the city, all grown up, I am so proud and ecstatic he gets to stay. He is even now applying for sponsorship to stay long term. I will keep you all updated.

The (minor) downside of this is that he booked a one way ticket to France and I leased a '1 person only' place the week before we discovered he would stay. So I'm in a minor real estate rut. But, in reality, whatever. I am so happy I don't have to suffer the woes of having a partner on the other side of the world? Does that even work? I'm doubtful.

The other news is that my degree is thrilling but evil. I love and hate every second. The good news is that (so long as I pass!) I will be finished 1st year by November. That's very close. Cross your fingers ;)

Until next, besitos! x

Live in London (part 1)

Perhaps the title of this post isn't clear enough. This post isn't going to be mainly about living in London (although it is, in fact, all of these posts are), it's more about 'Live' things that go on in London, bands and various other events you'd be foolish not to see whilst in London. And the best part? Most of them are cheap, if not, free.

As a big music buff, I'm going to be mainly talking about music here, but there's a few other bits and pieces I feel morally obligated to throw in, starting with cultural events, which will be my first post in a 3 (ish) part series.

Firstly, there is Chinese New Year, I'm sure you are all more than familiar with London's Chinatown that stretches between Covent Garden and Holborn, a veritable goldmine of dumplings and herbal stores. While Chinatown is great at any time of year, I can not recommend the Chinese New Year celebrations enough. Generally taking place in February, London is still pretty cold and dark, but the sheer magnitude of these events are sure to warm your heart. Firstly, there is a presentation in Trafalgar square, choirs, singers, dancers, dragons and all the various fare. If you then walk back in to Chinatown, (and yes, it gets devastatingly crowded, so take your best sense of urgency with you!), there will be beautiful lanterns, special meals, little stalls full of kitsch Chinese New Year paraphanalia (think red drums and golden cats) followed by a small and smoky firework presentation in Leicester square.

Whilst in Leicester square, I should also mention West End Live, which I believe you may have already missed this year (it was on in October-ish last year, so I didn't expect it to come around so early!). Basically, the Westminster council groups a few of the West End's stellar theatre companies together, and gets them all to perform a short song, dance, snippet from their play, etc. It's fascinating stuff and they also generally include a few stalls full of science projects, maybe face painting, or comic book sort of things (I suppose you could generalise it all as being 'kid friendly'. The best bit? Well, you get to see a bit of a London fesitval for free!

Heading up North a bit now, to Holborn, I wanted to tell you about the Bloomsbury festival, a nice little bricolage of music, dance, theatre, UCL students and food! It generally lasts a few days in October-ish and is a great way to celebrate the end of the British Summer (I can hear all you poor antipodeans grumble, I know, the fun settles down from this point a bit!). The festival has been cancelled for two years before 2010, so I'm not sure if you will be lucky enough to see it again - here is a link for reference: http://www.bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/

Now toward the east, presenting the London Fields Festival! I have told you so many times about the wonders the East (my old hometown) have to provide you with. And I maintain my belief that it is one of the most 'alive' corners on London that you may ever find. Now, London Fields and Brick Lane both have markets every weekend (on the Saturday and Sunday respectively), but around August, London Fields turns in to a wonderful little festival scene, totally free, with a real sense of community pride and happiness. I cannot recommend you go enough. However, I have just checked the site and, in what seems to be an ever more stifling style, it has been cancelled for this year at least, a true pity and I am so sad that you have to miss out on this. If you have ever been, follow my lead and make your complaints known! http://www.littlelondonfields.co.uk/

Fear not however, there are a few more wondrous things that the East has to offer, firstly of course there is the spectacular Guy Fawkes fire work night, held in November-ish most years in Victoria Park, it gets very crowded and if you want any bearable view you need to get there early (yes early, I'm talking to you my Italian friends!!!). It also tends to be freezing, but take a coat and a thermos of tea, and you'll be fine!

Well, I think that's it for cultural events, I may have to present another post later with things I may have forgotten - I hope this has provided a jumping off point for you - there is so much to go and see in London, so please make the most of it!

x

A streetcab named rip-off

One little ditty for you all as, once again, I am hindered from posting anything decent to you all for a while. The next month or so I'm going to be very busy finishing my first semester at uni (don't ever say design isn't a challenge, you've never met my lecturers!). So far I'm doing pretty well, and I intend to keep that up.

So, the purpose of this note is not just to say 'bye for now' of course. Would I do that to you? I just wanted to give you all a run down on the public transport in London (from b to t - bike to tube and everything in between).

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Bike: The hire bikes were introduced to London (in zone 1 and a teeny bit of zone 2, though extensions were planned) and so my expertise on them is fairly limited. Pay a fee, and you can hire the bike out day by day, or of course you can get a membership which is more cost effective. Unlike in Australia, you don't need to wear a helmet, but the sheer amount of traffic may make you want to invest in one anyway. London has hoons, don't assume the English are as polite as their reputations may make you think.

Bus: Much cheaper than the metro and, if you live in zones 1 or 2, again, just as effective as the tube. Old Boris has been slowly jacking up all public transport prices, but the bus still beats the tube costwise, and, you'll find, sometimes it's just as fast (particularly if you know how to bus-hop). Also, when you're new, it's a wonderful way to see London and get your bearings.

DLR: The information under 'metro' (particularly regarding strikes) will be of great value for you as well. The DLR is fairly fast, and a great way to get to Southern areas like Greenwich, but be prepared for lots and lots of works going on the weekend.

Metro (tube, underground): The tube is a bit love/hate. Firstly, it's more expensive than the bus. Secondly, 'signal failures' are much more common than you would hope (and spending an hour underground waiting for the bleeding tube to move whilst you run ever more late for work) is hell. Thirdly, the staff are not paid enough and like to strike, I would say 3 - 5 times a year, at inconvenient times, it causes supreme havoc. Also, catching it in peak hour is disgusting. On the brightside, when it works, it really works. And you will get wherever you need to go super super fast. The best (i.e most reliable lines) tend to be Piccadilly, Central and the Northern. Stay the flip away from the District and Circle.

Overground: Similar to the tube really, links you to a lot of places that weren't accessible via the tube previously (Dalston, Haggerston, etc) therefore I also blame it for a huge jump in rental prices in the east. Having said that it's quite nice and modern.

Taxi (cab): This really threw me off when I arrived in London. There are two forms of taxis: the very cute, horrifically expensive 'Black Cab' (like you see in all those pictures) and private cabs, much cheaper, from the outside, look like a normal car. The general rule is, you can't hail a private cab down, I've tried before, they thought I was a prostitute. The issue is, they are all run by little call centers (you'll know the numbers when you see them, they look like any other business number), and, if you don't know where you are (this will happen), you're a bit screwed. Also, if you're too far away from the number you called, you are also screwed. The lesson is, be prepared for paying a lot in a black cab, store millions of private cab numbers in your phone for any occasion, remember all your local nightbuses and, ideally, never leave zone 2 after 10pm!

Funny story on that note - a friend used to have a 'no-one-nighter-or-relationship' policy with anyone living further than zone 2, that transport issue just gets awkward. 2 hour train ride of shame early Sunday morning? No, ta.

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P.S: www.tfl.gov.uk - a lifesaver, that's no lie. (At least I had *warning* I had to make the 1 hour journey to my work by foot at 5am, in December, at least 3 times). *sobs*

East/West Side Story

Having just moved in to the West End of Brisbane (which I love, despite my moaning about my expensive studio here) it got me to thinking I should give you all a (incredibly biased) tour about town. So, part one, for you lucky travellers - where should you find a house?!

Le copain and I lived in totally different areas of London. I in zone 2 East End (just past Liverpool st, a veritable gold-mine of sub-continental Asian immigration and dodgy landlords, and him in the (so aptly named) 'frog-valley' that is South Kensington, zone 1. Big, white apartments, interior design stores & macarons. I don't even need to describe it... I have pictures.

Observe.

East

West

Obviously this is generalization at it's worst, but, for an antipodean tourist (or indeed, any tourist) - this is going to help you work out where you will want to live.

For those who need a cheap place and don't mind a bit of grit: Council houses in the East or South. Let me admit - I couldn't hack that. I did for a few months and then upgraded to a full time job and thus a little studio in a block of apartments above a pub. Maybe I lived in a particularly dodgy one, but getting followed home at 10pm or, should you choose the 'safer' option and take a cab, being solicited by the driver. I paid about 200 more (per month) to live on a main road closer to a night bus. Highly recommended.

Hot spots to visit in the South and East: Brick Lane, Columbia Road, Brixton, New Cross, London Fields, Borough markets.

Towards Liverpool street on Shoreditch High St.

For those who want somewhere right in town, a little gritty, a lot cool: Try up North, Camden (good luck to your bank account), Angel/ Islington, Highbury. You'll be paying more rentwise - but the area is vastly populated and seems more peaceful than in the East - I've always felt fine walking around there at night (as a young lady, that seems important). If you're willing to go a bit further out of time I highly recommend Stoke Newington - feels a little edgy and cool, but also a bit like a village. Other people are on to this though, so prices could rise.

Hotspots in the North: Camden market, KOKO nightclub, Regent's canal, Notting Hill.

Camden Markets

For those who don't consider money a factor: Lucky you! Take your pick! Honestly, if I were young, single and had a very full bank account I would probably still live in the East, maybe Shoreditch or so. But, the real budget busters are South Kensington, Notting Hill, Chalk Farm (Primrose Hill), Kensington, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, etc (there are so many horribly expensive places I'm not going to name them all - I defy you to find someone who will!). The boy was living in a teeny student residence and was paying 170 per week. About double what I paid for a much bigger room. I suppose it's all about the postcode, darling.

Hotspots in high society: Harrods, V&A Museum, Museum of Natural History, Hyde Park, Mayfair.

Most of the people I worked with would choose to live somewhere far out of London (Northampton, Kent, Reading) and commute in daily. But watch out for nasty train fares - and for the younger generation, living out of the smoke is certainly not 'cool'.

All the luck possible guys. Get in contact if you want an opinion.



(P.S: Again, excuse my monumentously awful generalizations and, indeed, the fact that the South and North of London are more or less cut out - this blog is for illustrative purposes!)

Interlude

I have moved to Brisbane and share 1.5 rooms of heaven with mon amour. University started on Monday, I'm already 45 times more artistic than I ever thought I would be, (hooray, now I have a reason to be pretentious!).My head is exploding with knowledge and, aside from the fairly common panic attacks over how on Earth I am meant to pay rent, fund uni and eat over the next month, life is good.

On a more relevant note for you guys - my notebook has died in the journey over here and all of my photos I need to show you are hidden somewhere on that harddrive. Fear not, I should have them by next week and then you will be post-ified and updated on London once again.

Thankyou, lovelies.

Back in Bris-bane of my existance.

Oh goodness. It's been a whole month since I've spoken to you all! Sorry, sorry. I think since the very moment I got off the (incredibly turbulent) plane my head has been in a total swirl of nothingness. I want to tell you that it's lovely to be back in a city you know, with familiar faces and a way of life you know like the back of your hand.

But I can't.

Don't get me wrong, I've loved seeing my family again, I loved looking at pictures of me as a baby and remembering the golden era of times when the hardest decision was, well there wasn't any. But there is this huge social wall around me, I'm still waking up at 6.45 am to get ready for work like I'm still in England, I'm spending money like I still have an income, I'm still assuming that my boyfriend is going to stay because we're only an hour from his family. But none of it's true. It's like adjusting back to the old way of life is just as hard as adjusting to a new one. I don't want to call any of my old friends, I don't want to reminisce about the 18 year old who left. On the other hand, nor do I want to talk about the 20 year old who's come back.

Of course, the bigger issue is that the love of my life is not adjusting well either. Queensland is a beautiful, laid back land, and perhaps I've been naive, but I thought he'd have a job by now. But since we've been hit by a cyclone (Yasi, google some satellite pictures) and enormous flood damage have slowed the Queensland economy and pushed up rental prices. As such, le copain has no job, and we are renting a house that neither of us can actually afford. More to the point, he has widened his job search Australia wide - which means I have driven right in to financial shit creek (without a license - how did I do that?!) if he goes.

NB: Don't sign a lease with someone who is planning to leave. I know everybody tells you that, and you think something like 'psh yeah, whatever, nobody is stupid enough to do that' but it seems to strike when you least expect it.

I am hoping that it all works out soon though, we are slowly moving in and making maison Brisbane look slightly more maison-ly and I am jobhunting for anything that will provide me with an income so I can support myself through study, and my poor adorable Frenchman through his jobsearch. Chin up though, something has to give soon. Le copain still has some valuable leads, and I? Well, I'm going to be a student, I'll muddle through.

I attach a few pictures of the end of France and through South East Asia. After this, I'm going back to London (in this blog, at least).

Wish us luck, you know we need it!

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Christmas in Toulouse, 2010

Toulouse in Winter, 2010

Hindu temple in Singapore - January 2011

2011 - Year of the Rabbit, Gong xi fa hai (I think?)

The Petronas Towers - Kuala Lumpur. January 2011

Finding a bit of France even in Singapore, January 2011.

Getting ready for a long haul

Hello again! The past few weeks I have been staying with my boyfriend's (wonderful) family in Toulouse (who saw fit to spoil me rotten to the point I can once again not fit everything in to my suitcase). I went to the Pyrénées, and ate foie gras for the first time, and saw one of the most unusual cathedrals ever, it's been a wonderful period. But, all things come to an end and this morning le copain and I boarded a flight to Paris, for a final goodbye with some friends before boarding our midday flight on Thursday to Kuala Lumpur. We hover in south-east Asia for a few days before our arrival in Brisbane the next week. The flight is 12 hours Paris - Kuala Lumpur, then about 10 hours Kuala Lumpur - Brisbane, I will let you know how it goes, I haven't done such a long flight since I arrived in the Northern hemisphere.

How does it feel to be going back to Australia? For me, it's ok. My passport is Australian and it feels sort of like I'm going back to square 1. Just to study, and then after that; I'm off again (I am beginning to think diplomat would have been a better career choice, I'm an eternal nomad). The poor boyfriend though is all up in a mess about it; the biggest problems seem to be that he doesn't have a promised job (and as you might remember here, he likes to have direction) and also that he's going so far away for so long. And who can blame him really? It's the first time he's been so far away from everything he knows, for an indetermine amount of time and its causing quite a bit of stress. It's only natural, I'm sure things will improve!

Another worry of course is that, at the moment the town where my family live (and where we are suppsedly going to stay until we find our feet) is in danger of being under water by the time we arrive. North east Australia has endured almost constant heavy rainfall this new year, informing le copain and his family of this has not been fun. Today I looked at the Australian news that Queensland's capital (where I will supposedly be moving to for study) is about to be evacuated, and, my university is virtually under water. Not the best thing to hear as you're packing your bags! I hope everyone there is keeping safe and dry!

As my computer and thus my photos have given up on me today, pictures will have to wait. I will probably not have time to write a blog while I'm in Asia, so you'll have to wait another few weeks to hear from me I suppose. On the brightside, I will hopefully be settled in to my new lifestyle by then, and will be able to get back to posting more informative posts about London. A bientôt !

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