Hello to all! I know, I know…rarely do you get TWO updates from me within just a few short months of each other, but a lot has changed since the last one I sent out…and I don’t even think all of you received the last one. So this time I’m making SURE I hit pretty much everyone in my address book!
K…so just a brief review…I was in London when last I wrote having first transferred to Princeton from New York and then over here to Jolly Ol’ England! To say the least these last few months have been an adventure…but I guess not unlike the others I’ve been on in many ways… Anyway, let’s take this one thing at a time, ok? 
August: I was in London.
September: Towards the end of the month I was finally moved out to Leamington Spa. Leamington is actually pronounced “Lemington”…don’t ask me why…it seems that hardly anything over here is actually pronounced the way it’s spelled…crazy Brits!
October: I spent most of last month working myself to the bone (long long days…too long) and trying to figure out clever ways to get myself checked out of the Hilton Hotel in Warwick (another weird pronunciation…is actually said without that second “w”…again, don’t ask me why). Anyway, 3 weeks in the Hilton was really just WAY TOO MUCH! I knew I had been there too long when I realized that all the staff knew me by name. So one relatively un-wet Saturday I went out and decided that I’d had it with the hotel and really wanted to find a place to live. Asking for the moon, I know, but it had to be done. I spent hours looking at a ton of different places all over Leamington and turned out that I fell in love with the second place I saw. It was absolutely fabulous and so have named it fondly The Fab Pad. I have some pre-furniture pictures (there’s a link at the end of the letter) so you can have a look for yourself. Also have included some pics of Leamington as well. So this place I finally found took a couple of weeks to get into, but now my furniture is all here and it’s feeling very homey. I actually don’t mind coming home which is quite a switch from how I felt about the Hilton!! It’s a converted old Georgian-style home and it’s really a beautiful building! White with pillars…wait, what am I telling you for? You can go see the pictures! My little claim to fame here is that at the end of my block is the home Napoleon III lived in from 1838-1839. Who knew!
Leamington itself is very charming…yeah, I think that’s a good word for it. It’s also very small. Very small. I mean very very small. Did I mention that it’s small? How small is it? So small that I rarely leave the house without seeing someone I know. That’s very unusual for me… Was never much of a danger of running into anyone I knew in New York. Or even Anchorage really…at least not compared to here. So this is really very much a culture shock situation for me… Especially being alone in a different country I think makes it more difficult. I would really appreciate prayers on this! This is not to say that I think being here will not be good…I think it will be hard but everything that has been hard in my life has been good.
Right…so where was I?
Oh, Charming Leamington! Of course! It really is charming… Mainly, I think, b/c the people here do a very good job of keeping up the town itself. Very posh little stores and things. Cafes, etc. are pretty nice too. I actually found a place where I can buy Hershey bars! Of course they’re some insane amount like $1.75, but if I ever have a craving, I have a safety net.
Am I driving? NO! Not that I won’t ever while I’m here, but I think for now I’m pretty happy taking the bus to work, etc. Besides, I can walk to everything else I could possibly want to do including shops, the bus stop, the movie theatre, and even my health club is just a couple of blocks away. Makes for great morning work-outs! And the bus in the morning is good for giving me some time to read which I enjoy.
How’s the job? Oh just fine! In fact I really love what I’m doing and I really enjoy the people I’m doing it with. They’re a great group… I’m not the only American which is nice. Clay, Rob, and Julie are the others and really are my sanity at times! We don’t always feel like we understand the British…we won’t always get what they’re laughing at or they’ll make fun of us for using some strange term they’ve never heard before so it’s nice to have other Americans around to back each other up! Also, I was surprised to learn that most of the British have never seen Seinfeld. I tend to find Seinfeld fits into so many situations but now when I bring one up, I have to explain what I’m talking about…never thought I’d ever have to do that! Here they get Friends and Fraiser. They all love Fraiser.
Am still waiting on getting my bird out here. I’m starting to wonder if it’ll ever happen, but I hope so as I miss her dreadfully!!
Going forward…I have great and fabulous plans! I want to take advantage of being so close to so much that I never have before. I have a trip to Greece all booked now for this summer. I also want to hit as much of Europe as my vacation time will allow…Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, France…Colin! Prepare for a visit! It still sounds very strange to me to hear people say that they’re going to France for the weekend. If any of you have any great vacation thoughts or tips, I’d love to hear them!!
So that’s really just about all the news that’s fit to print.
I’ll be home for a couple of weeks over Christmas so I’ll hopefully get to see some of you then!
Finally, here is all my new address and phone stuff, etc. which really should be pretty stable for awhile (let’s see if I can go a year without moving!):
Flat 7
35 Clarendon Square
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire ENGLAND
CV32 5QY
(01926) 450372 or to call from the US: 011-44-1926-450372
Cheers!
