Top 3 things I love about London so far

There have been quite a few changes in my daily routine, food I eat and people I meet. I thought I would sum up some of my favourite things about living here so far :)

1. The people

London is a cultural melting pot. Just sitting on the tube and observinn people is an experience on its own. If you want to step up your game, invite some friends over for a Chinese hotpot and find yourself sitting at the table with an Englishman, a woman from Jamaica, 3 Chinese ladies,2 Sri Lankansand well your Slovene addition to the mix. (Thanks Thushaan for taking the picture ^^)

2. Food

Seedless grapes. I liked grapes before, but something about being able to just bite in it without a surprise of the bitter solid bits in the middle makes it feel completely different. In a split second they become one of your favourite fruits ...just can't get enough of them, NOM.
Thick cream /Doubke cream. I have never seen it in Slovenia. It basically tastes like normal cream, but the consistency is not as watery. It comes close to greek yoghurt maybe. It is perfect for topping deserts, fresh berries or ice cream. --> My new favourite desert is fresh strawberries, topped with a big spoon of thick cream with a crushed meringue on top.

Bigger meringues. Meringues, the sweet light dessert of the gods. I am used to them being small bite-sized puffs of white or pink. Not in England. The smallest I have seen hav a diameter of 7cm!!, In local pastry shops they sell even bigger ones, that look more like loafs of bread then desserts. Well they taste just the same, but in this case, bigger means better :)

3. Amazingly friendly customer service

Whether you are going to a bank, a phone store, clothes shopping or just picking up a coffee, you will almost always be greeted by a friendly employee. They will be informative and helpful while still being able to chat with you, discuss the weather.. XD The person, dealing with the setup of my bank account even offered to charge my phone, because I mentioned the battery was running low from using Citymapper too much. So far I haven't had a bad experience. :D

Daydreaming

What have I been up to lately, well trying to enjoy the English life, drink tea and keep myself from panicking every 2 minutes about finding a job / school / money - at least I  have sorted my room out.

Room - I have found a lovely attic room in northern London, which is going to be my home for the next 9 months. Its bright, cosy and has enough storage space for my shoe collection :D (important things!!). The only thing that will probably be a challenge at first is living without a hob. It will be weird to prepare food with the help of rice-cooker, vegetable steamer, kettle, microwave and a toaster only. Reassuringly, my future room-mate has already adapted to this kitchen last year.

University - Has unofficially already started. As soon as I enrolled online , I already got my first homework, well 3 of them. I can see already that this is going to be completely different education system than what I am used to. Our collage has its own blog, that we are supposed to post on, comment and meet people from other fashion courses. Homework no1: design a shoe inspired by our own national heritage and make a 3d model of it (I will keep you updated when I get around to doing it :D)

Drawing - I have been trying to pick it up again as a habit. started with drawing some details from each room in the house (so far only my room and the laundry room) and joining a fb group for daily speed-paint challenge. So here ae the 2 traditional pieces and a 30 min speedpaint; theme Secret door.

Day 6

I'm tired. Have a Ferrari.

Britbound hit the ground running - money well spent -day5

Sooo today was the big - sorting up the official things day. And it went great. First thing in the morning Tim's dad got us a lift to Twickenham so we were able to catch a super fast train to Waterloo. I love everything about the London transport except its prices, since the last time I was here they went up almost 5 pounds!! Thankfully I'll get a student discount when I start studying. 

Anyhow the building where we were headed is home to more organisations than just Britbound, so when we came in and got stopped at the first reception desk, we sat down. The guy was really friendly and all: "Yes yes you've come to the right place, just fill out this form." So I started doing that, in the meantime however he was dealing with another costumer, calculating costs of studying English language for 6 months. Things were starting to look a bit weird especially since I was supposed to attend the arrival party at 11, we were already late upon arriving and the forms were taking waay too long. I politely interrupted him and asked for the first time if this was the Britbound office. It wasn't. So we run along the hall to the actual place. Even though I did not end up applying for an English course, the guy was helpful enough to already offer me a room nearby, might check that out later.

The Britbound hit the ground running package was one of the best things I could have organised to help me get settled in in London. They covered everything from doctors and dentists, to money transfer to getting a job. The staff was extremely friendly and knowledgeable...even had a Slovene person working for them, so I was able to switch back to the mother tongue for a quick chit-chat. They also sorted out my sim card, arranged a bank appointment, started dealing with my NI number...just really helpful. Makes you feel that maybe everything IS going to be alright in the end. At the end of the ''lecture'' we headed to a nearby pub, where we were treated to a free lunch. All for only 103€. I’m not getting paid to advertise this, but it really has been great so far :D

Hmm I think today will be the first day actually enjoying a quiet family dinner at home rather than attending parties or hosting them. So brb food ;)

Parties and bbqs - days 3&4

Having arrived here only 4 days ago I can say I have attended a birthday party, 2 BBQs and a wedding anniversary lunch. Can't say I'm complaining. On Sunday we first visited a lovely Chinese birthday party of a family friend. Not knowing we were attending it, I had put on my 10cm platforms. All I can say is that it was a bad decision. On top of being white, foreigner not even directly connected the person celebrating, I was about 30 to 40 cm higher than everyone there. After sitting down and getting familiar with some of the guests I got treated to the best Chinese food I've had in my life. Ater all it was all homemade <3

After that Tim's mom dropped us off at a BBQ party organised by Tim's friend. Well, mentioning food briefly - Indian dishes, grilled chicken and marshmallows with digestives in the evening. Nom. Even though I did not know anyone upon arrival by the end of the day I've managed to meet and talk to some super interesting, friendlyand really smart people - they are all studying physics, maths or medicine ;) Oh and Tim got thrown into the pool - apparently by now, it's a tradition.

I also got to try moonshoes - I'll refer to them as kangaroo shoes,they make you feel much more like a kangaroo, rather than a person walking on the moon - in my opinion. I've seen these online at some point ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtyCi-3qW9I ). I did like them, but I was sure I wasn't going to buy them any time soon, I also didn't know anyone who had them or even heard of the so I got them out of my head. Turns out their family had a pair... and I could try them on. I did. They were really fun and not that unstable at all, really cool to run with them and just be super tall ;D

Today was a special day, sine I was invited along to celebrate awedding anniversary in a really expensive restaurant. I don't think I would ever go there on my one let alone with my family. The service and the food were worth it though. Also got to enjoy a nice sunny walk along the Thames in Richmond, apparently a really expensive region popular amongst celebrities, well I sure felt like one :).

Succesfully arived to London - DAYS 1&2

I've had some of the worst and best moments since I started flying on this particular flight. The clouds were absolutely magical and I got to see Šmarna Gora from the air, since we had to circle around it and I conveniently had a window seat on the rightside of the plane. Unfortunately, it was all forgotten the second I got stopped by the Stansted airport security and thoroughly questioned about my intentions, place of study, apartement....Apparently two big suitcases mean I'm trying to illegally move into the country, oh well...



Next day me and Tim decided to go to Kingston for no particularreason (well to get Millies cookies and Krispy Kreme doughnuts ^^). I didn't realise Themze could offer such a peaceful fairy tale likeatmosphere, since I'm only used to the gigantic river canal going through the centre of London. There were swans, it was sunny, just the right temperature, anyone even went swimming. I couldn't have wished for a better afternoon relaxation.