Hostel and Camden.
About 2 weeks later after id done all the tourist stuff, my friend Chris gave me a lift to London for a job interview id landed at a market research company.
It was pretty much a road trip. He had all the car essentials like maltloaf, posh crisps, cider and 2000 rock music. It was great. We spent a lot of time listening to Green day and talking about dinosaurs. Chris managed to demolish a bag of crisps with one hand and we had a pretty pleasant 4 hour journey as far as car journeys go. He even let me smoke out of the window. Top lad.
We parted ways at Cock Foster. I had a freak out because that WASNT IN MY PLANNED LONDON ROUTE! And I was about to get the tube alone for the first time. He walked me in, and I glued myself to city mapper, rechecked it about 5 times in 1 minute before essentially standing on the wrong side of the tube train. I made it on and sat nervously but also somewhat proud that I was sat, alone, on a tube, with an oyster card that I now knew wasn't an actual oyster. I did the change over - nailed it- and rocked up to my final tube station destination.
James had just finished and had called to take me for a cup of tea, which was great, because the moment I got off the tube, I wondered down the left hand side of the road, hostel was on the right, naturally.
I got a call from James about 10 minutes later to ask me where id got to. I told him i was the "L word you dont say outloud" and that id found a Costa. That was a safe place. He said to me "Thats all well and good Soph but you do know there are about 400 Costas in London" I reassured him I had only medium fucked up and he found me clutching a cup of tea with a giant bag.
Not too shortly after, he showed me to the hostel, my first ever hostel, which was actually immediately right of the tube station - what a prick.
I checked in, went up the stairs and bounded into my room with more gusto than was probably necessary. I said hi really loudly and realised people were sleeping so I rustled my bags as quietly as I could and then left to go for a drink with James.
He took me down Oxford street - it was massive. We went to a lovely little pub on the corner called -
They were playing some banging songs and we had a catch up on our week before he walked me back.
Sitting in the hostel room was relatively terrifying. I was BURSTING for a wee but refused to leave where I was stationed- middle bunk.
Below me I had someone who must of suffered from night terrors, or had an overwhelming urge to flail. Either way - I was getting punched from underneath. And on top of meIi had a chronic snorer. There is always one.
My mum called to see how I was getting on and to check I was in fact still alive, I told her I had a guy below me and a guy on top of me. Sniggers were made.
I lay pretty ridgedly, willing for the pee feeling to go away until finally I just went for it. I charged up my phone, and braced myself for the sleep I was inevitably not going to get.
I woke up in the morning to my alarm and scrambled to turn it off as quickly as I could. Id had 3 hours sleep so I was ready for a heap load of coffee and to find my work place for training day. Thankfully, James had told me which tube station I needed for which line, else it could of gone horribly wrong.
I arrived at Farrington with 40 minutes to spare, and work was apparently a 5 minute walk away. Feeling pretty pleased with myself, I set my GPS and set to work on turning up early.
Did that happen? Oh no.
After about an hour of frantically searching around, following the GPS, asking people for directions and reading maps, I had a call from work asking me where I was. I told them Barclays. They were excited because Barclays was so easy to direct me from and I had 10 minutes to spare before the training started. It wasn't long before we both realised that I was at Barclays, sure, but on the OTHER SIDE OF TOWN.
I don't EVEN know how I managed it, but there I was, 30 minutes away from my work place. Luckily for me, after explaining i'm a country bumpkin who doesn't understand London, they found it hilarious and rescheduled me for next week, a different training day.
I had the whole day to myself now. I managed to walk to Holborn from Farringdon, by just looking around. I had a cup of tea and a sit down at a Whetherspoons. Ah Whetherspoons, I knew what one of those were, then I made my way to Oxford street to go to SNOG at Selfridges. I told them i was sorry for turning up unannounced, that I just wanted to make myself known and that I was really sweaty from stress walking. I had an interview on the spot and they were happy with me, I then had a follow up email from the manager I was actually suppose to see saying hed heard great things, so that was great. Even after my sweat babble.
I failed to mention that I had infact spent 2 entire hours finding the place and id walked past it at least 3 times. But you know, yolo.
I went back to the hostel for a well deserved nap and shower, and that's also where I met Anooj.
He was from Chicago and had the best American accent ever. After one of our room mates told us hed been to Camden in the day, we decided to check it out at night!
We went to a little gritty pub right on the end, where the bouncer was amazing. He was Jamaican with dreads and didn't kick off when loads of glass was smashed. I had a quick wine and we left to find somewhere else.
We went through a few pubs and clubs, but nothing special. We didn't get to dance but there were some nice beer gardens. Then we decided to call it a night and get the night bus.
Ive never gotten a night bus before, it hurt my brain, and I almost thought we had the wrong one as it stopped and all the lights went off! Awks. We made it back safe though and I went to bed knowing I didn't have to be up THAT early the next day.
It was pretty much a road trip. He had all the car essentials like maltloaf, posh crisps, cider and 2000 rock music. It was great. We spent a lot of time listening to Green day and talking about dinosaurs. Chris managed to demolish a bag of crisps with one hand and we had a pretty pleasant 4 hour journey as far as car journeys go. He even let me smoke out of the window. Top lad.
We parted ways at Cock Foster. I had a freak out because that WASNT IN MY PLANNED LONDON ROUTE! And I was about to get the tube alone for the first time. He walked me in, and I glued myself to city mapper, rechecked it about 5 times in 1 minute before essentially standing on the wrong side of the tube train. I made it on and sat nervously but also somewhat proud that I was sat, alone, on a tube, with an oyster card that I now knew wasn't an actual oyster. I did the change over - nailed it- and rocked up to my final tube station destination.
James had just finished and had called to take me for a cup of tea, which was great, because the moment I got off the tube, I wondered down the left hand side of the road, hostel was on the right, naturally.
I got a call from James about 10 minutes later to ask me where id got to. I told him i was the "L word you dont say outloud" and that id found a Costa. That was a safe place. He said to me "Thats all well and good Soph but you do know there are about 400 Costas in London" I reassured him I had only medium fucked up and he found me clutching a cup of tea with a giant bag.
Not too shortly after, he showed me to the hostel, my first ever hostel, which was actually immediately right of the tube station - what a prick.
I checked in, went up the stairs and bounded into my room with more gusto than was probably necessary. I said hi really loudly and realised people were sleeping so I rustled my bags as quietly as I could and then left to go for a drink with James.
He took me down Oxford street - it was massive. We went to a lovely little pub on the corner called -
They were playing some banging songs and we had a catch up on our week before he walked me back.
Sitting in the hostel room was relatively terrifying. I was BURSTING for a wee but refused to leave where I was stationed- middle bunk.
Below me I had someone who must of suffered from night terrors, or had an overwhelming urge to flail. Either way - I was getting punched from underneath. And on top of meIi had a chronic snorer. There is always one.
My mum called to see how I was getting on and to check I was in fact still alive, I told her I had a guy below me and a guy on top of me. Sniggers were made.
I lay pretty ridgedly, willing for the pee feeling to go away until finally I just went for it. I charged up my phone, and braced myself for the sleep I was inevitably not going to get.
I woke up in the morning to my alarm and scrambled to turn it off as quickly as I could. Id had 3 hours sleep so I was ready for a heap load of coffee and to find my work place for training day. Thankfully, James had told me which tube station I needed for which line, else it could of gone horribly wrong.
I arrived at Farrington with 40 minutes to spare, and work was apparently a 5 minute walk away. Feeling pretty pleased with myself, I set my GPS and set to work on turning up early.
Did that happen? Oh no.
After about an hour of frantically searching around, following the GPS, asking people for directions and reading maps, I had a call from work asking me where I was. I told them Barclays. They were excited because Barclays was so easy to direct me from and I had 10 minutes to spare before the training started. It wasn't long before we both realised that I was at Barclays, sure, but on the OTHER SIDE OF TOWN.
I don't EVEN know how I managed it, but there I was, 30 minutes away from my work place. Luckily for me, after explaining i'm a country bumpkin who doesn't understand London, they found it hilarious and rescheduled me for next week, a different training day.
I had the whole day to myself now. I managed to walk to Holborn from Farringdon, by just looking around. I had a cup of tea and a sit down at a Whetherspoons. Ah Whetherspoons, I knew what one of those were, then I made my way to Oxford street to go to SNOG at Selfridges. I told them i was sorry for turning up unannounced, that I just wanted to make myself known and that I was really sweaty from stress walking. I had an interview on the spot and they were happy with me, I then had a follow up email from the manager I was actually suppose to see saying hed heard great things, so that was great. Even after my sweat babble.
I failed to mention that I had infact spent 2 entire hours finding the place and id walked past it at least 3 times. But you know, yolo.
I went back to the hostel for a well deserved nap and shower, and that's also where I met Anooj.
He was from Chicago and had the best American accent ever. After one of our room mates told us hed been to Camden in the day, we decided to check it out at night!
We went to a little gritty pub right on the end, where the bouncer was amazing. He was Jamaican with dreads and didn't kick off when loads of glass was smashed. I had a quick wine and we left to find somewhere else.
We went through a few pubs and clubs, but nothing special. We didn't get to dance but there were some nice beer gardens. Then we decided to call it a night and get the night bus.
Ive never gotten a night bus before, it hurt my brain, and I almost thought we had the wrong one as it stopped and all the lights went off! Awks. We made it back safe though and I went to bed knowing I didn't have to be up THAT early the next day.
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