Does This Train Go To Grand Central?: Being a Free Spirit..?

Sooooo...

I've had tons of questions about what is going on with my life and instead of answering individually, I figured I'd write a blog since, ya know... I haven't used this. I'm like the world's worst blogger. Any way... I moved to NYC with big high ~~naive~~ hopes that I would find a job and settle in quickly. Unfortunately, the market in New York city hasn't fully rebounded yet and the job market is extremely competitive. I worked briefly for the Human Rights Campaign.. but that came to an end very quickly as they only paid minimum wage (WTF!) and the actual job was definitely not for me. I had no choice but to turn to temporary work and found a job at the Institute of International Education. I LOVED it there but unfortunately it was actual temp work, therefore no option of going permanent. To give you an idea of how competitive the NYC market was, one of the guys I was temping with had a MASTER'S degree! As you can imagine, it was tough goings for me... I applied for about 300+ jobs or so (some that I was very over qualified for!) and didn't even receive ONE phone call for an interview. I am extremely grateful for my time at IIE because I met some amazing people and got some awesome experience. However, I don't know if it was the stress of not being able to find permanent employment or what, but I found myself in a love/hate relationship with New York City. The energy is AMAZING.. it truly is the city that never sleeps. But I HATED the fact that I was constantly waiting for the subway... I lived in an apartment in Brooklyn for a while and it took me an hour or more to get home every day from Midtown on the EXPRESS train! And we won't even talk about what would happen if the train would break down (which was about once a week). Not to mention that on the weekends, especially Sunday, the trains ran about 20 minutes apart (annoying!).

I also found myself wondering if I really wanted to commit to pay an EXORBITANT amount of money for a single room. The apartment I was in was WAY out in Brooklyn (Crown Heights/Lefferts Gardens) and to put it ~~kindly~~... was kind of a shit hole. We're talking a fourth floor walk-up in an OLD building that was not well maintained. The guy I sublet from was SUPER sweet and had the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in... but his roommates were disgusting. Like.. SERIOUSLY. After the first few days, I couldn't stand their disgusting dishes so I washed the entire sink and eventually cleaned their horribly nasty toilet. The water pressure was BAD and it was a good day if the water stayed hot the whole time. To put it simply: it was GROSS.

Staircase:

Toilet:

On the bright side, I saw some amazing sunrises from the window:

Now, seeing all the photos... how much do you think I paid per month for this apartment? ONE room, an HOUR from midtown Manhattan by EXPRESS train, fourth floor walk-up in a sketchy neighborhood, with less than tolerable tidiness... dun dun duuunnnn: SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!! I just couldn't deal with paying that much for so little. If I moved any closer to Manhattan the price went up considerably. With all these things weighing on my mind, I had a lot of thinking to do.

At this point, I had been speaking to my British friendgirl Caitlin for a few months via Facebook, Skype and text. I came to the conclusion that I didn't think New York was right for me at this time in my life and I should probably go back to Texas and start school. Then Cait and I hatched a scheme... I would come stay with her for 6 months (the maximum allowed by the UK) and she could come stay with me for 3 months (the maximum allowed by the US). Sooo.. I did it.

Caitlin:

So here I am in the UK on a 6 month tourist visa and it's been a blast so far. It is ~~slightly~~ COLD though. And I'm learning that British people have some sort of strange aversion to using their heating. Other than that and the price of gas being OUTRAGEOUS, it's been an amazing experience so far. The people in the UK are really nice and easy going. I would say the one downfall to the country (with the exception of their arctic conditions) would be the food. It is pretty bad. With the rare exception (yorkshire puddings and the fact that they have brown gravy with everything!).. it's BLAND. They don't believe in seasonings ~~probably why the douse everything in gravy~~ and anything labelled "Spicy" is LYING. I was told that a tiny bit of my Tony Chachere's was "too hot"! WTF? Anyway, I'll post a few pics and seriously make an effort to update this blog more ~~although I'm sure it won't happen~~.

I'll highlight some of the more delicious things the UK has to offer in the next few photos.

Cadbury is made in England! Did anyone else ~~not~~ know that besides me?? It comes from Birmingham, England and needless to say.. there is a HUGE variety of Cadbury products here. They have full on Cadbury chocolate stores and more products than I could ever imagine. Obviously the eggs have always been my favorite easter time snack and they have them in bulk at Costco!!!

Me with a carton of ~~sex in box~~ eggs!:

A British staple: the CRUMPET! (extremely delicious, especially with PB&J):

All meat products in Britain tell you which UK country the came from (p.s. the British chickens are tiny!):

Welsh McDonalds (not great, but not terrible.. p.s. NO FREE REFILLS ANYWHERE):

Another thing made in the UK is Nestle products.. did you know Kit Kat's were originally made in the UK? They taste different from American Kit Kats but they are still yummy! They have a mint version that is to DIE for!!! Nom.

British people don't store their eggs or butter inside of their refrigerators. It's weird to see eggs just sitting on the shelf instead of in the cooler section:

My favorite part of the week!! Sunday Roast day!! Every Sunday British folks make a roast with veggies, potatoes and YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS!

Another delicious Cadbury product:

And another:

One day we braved a "Mexican" restaurant.. it was ~~terrifying~~ okay. This burrito is TINY and cost about $17. It was an experience.. and I will say that I think the British version of Mexican is better than the New York City version.