London

Not much going on lately for me, just working and that's about it. I worked 5 days this week, had Monday and Tuesday off and didn't do much, I did my laundry finally And it costed 12 dollars! Ya that's why I waited so long. And it costs that much and still doesn't even get my stuff 100% clean! 

Someone stole my butter!! Ya I went to go look for my bag In the fridge and the bag that's mine was gone :( waaa I had a few things still in there, sandwich meat, 2 yoghurts, and butter. God damn ass holes. 

Oh but I make up for it with all the peanut butter and jam I steal from the hostel breakfast. Because every morning they have breads, cereals, and toppings for the toast out for anyone that is taking part in the hostel breakfast. And for that you have to pay 3 dollars at reception and then you just help yourself to the breakfast. I buy my own bread so I'm not stealing too much and looking to obvious, I also bought myself a little jar of peanut butter and jam as well, and these 3 items sit in a plastic container on the shelf in the lounge with my name on it. 

Alright so now you see what I have to work with. So I toast my own bread, and when that's done toasting I purposely put my container by the hostel breakfast and then instead of using my own jam and peanut butter (which is what it looks like I'm doing) when actually I am using the hostels supply. GEINUS. Because I'm saving a lot of money I'm sure by doing that. Espiscally how that's what I have for breakfast everyday! Sometimes I'm a total rebel too and I pour some milk for myself from the hostels breakfast. Only because I have hardly any dairy intake, and so I need to get some of that calcium. 

I also met my twin yesterday!! I only call her that because literally she is me 6 weeks ago. She checked into the room I'm staying in yesterday, her name is Jaden, she's 19 and from Vancouver. She has never been to the UK before, London is her first stop. She's on the same working visa as me, and she is also backpacking through the UK for the rest of the year wanting to travel and work at the same time. So literally she is me 6 weeks ago! 

I also got to Skype with Jolene and Ashlyn last week, so good to just sit back and visit for a few hours. For sure what I'm missing the most! Just normal visiting with people I know. Only 12 days till mom and dad arrive and then I will get to visit for 2 weeks! :) 

 

London

Started new job, I have had 3 shifts so far and I'm really falling into the swing of things. I really like my co workers, they are all close to my age and are very fun to work with. I've only had 3 shifts and 2 of them we have all gone out for drinks after. Ya I'm an alcoholic. But hey! I haven't actually been drunk since I have been here! They are just a few casual drinks people! It's not like I'm zinger or anything. 

I think the best part about my job is the free lunch. Because I'm poor and didn't have a job for almost 5 weeks so I'm really in the saving mood and I don't like to buy anything. So having a free meal is a great way to save the money at the moment. 

Today it's 5 weeks since I have been gone from home! So crazy to think about! But it really doesn't seem that long. If feels like I just left! And in less than 18 days Dad and Mom will be here! Wow is time flying! 

I successfully opened a bank account finally, only took 4 years but it happened. I also toured around the Tower of London and got to see a lot of different cool stuff. My favourite part was the Crown Jewels. It's where they keep the old crowns, swords and other jewels from the royal family. Your not allowed to take pictures inside and and much as I wanted to get thrown into a British prison I decided better not. 

In other news my pillow is about as thick as a piece of paper. Ya. And as a person who needs a very big pillow to sleep good this is becoming a problem. And I would just go out and buy one but I live in the ghetto/sketchy part of town and I don't trust anything they sell around here. And I would get one at central but I'm again as poor as a homeless person. So either I find a bigger pillow somewhere that isn't too expensive, or I'm going to throw myself down the stairs so I can be taken to a hospital where they have bigger pillows. 

While on my walk to the bank today I came across a very interesting looking pub. ISIS bar and lounge... Ya I wonder where Isis is hiding out.. Getting hammered everyday.. 

My photo of my shoes is to show how big my pillow is! I'm not being dramatic and the picture proves it! 

Do you see that thing in front of my flip flops?.. No it isn't black lines drawn on the floor, it's supposedly a fucking pillow. 

London

Nothing exciting over the last few days, just waiting to start work which is tomorrow. I went to the biggest mall in Europe yesterday, it's probably literally the size of Macklin. It's massive! There are 3 levels and I think it would take me all day to walk from one end to the other. 

I had to iron my shirt for work, and since I usually throw my shirts in the dryer if they are wrinkly, I have never actually ironed before. Wow. That was a process let me tell you. First of all I'm so stupid I didn't know how to turn it on. Ya I'm so smart. Finally I just went and asked a friend how to turn it on, once I got it going and it wasn't bad after that. But my god you know your helpless when. 

Haven't done anything too exciting too share with you so that's why this post is going to be incredibly short. Tomorrow it's 3 weeks till Dad and Mom are going to be here! So beyond excited for that! 

I would also like to wish a happy birthday to my wonderful grandma Scherger today! She's my personal seamstress for all my pants that I seem to always rip, Love you Grandma! Miss you lots! 

Tower of London

So excited to finally announce that I got a job! Today it has been 4 weeks since I left home! Didn't think it would take this long that's for sure! But I guess waiting, constantly applying for jobs and going on interviews finally paid off because I am now working at the Tower of London as a General Assistant! 

The job sounds a lot more glamorous than it really is! To be honest I have no idea why the title is called that, but it is. I will be working in the food services department at the tower. And before I get into that I will first explain what the tower basically is. 

Her majesty's royal palace and fortress, known as the Tower of London is a historic castle located directly right across from the river of Thames, in central London. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman conquest of England. A grand palace early in it's history, served as a royal palace. Today the Tower is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions, with the Crown Jewels being the most exciting thing to see at the Tower. During the summer it is visited by more than 10 thousand tourists DAILY! 

So now with me being part of food services my position will change from day to day, the food services include 3 cafés on the Tower grounds, the main restaurant inside, they do a great deal of catering inside the tower banquet hall as well as outside catering. They even cater big parties at Buckingham Palace! So who knows I could be serving shrimp to the queen one of these days! HA doubtful but a girl can dream. 

I start sometime near the end of this week, and the staff at the Tower is massive, they have more than 20 food services staff on daily, and that's on a slow day! So hopefully it's safe to say that I will be meeting a lot more people very shortly! 

Speaking of meeting people, I met a girl in my room here at the hostel, we have become really great friends! Her name is dialla, she's from Paris and has moved to London with her teaching degree in hopes to find a job soon aswell. We went out for drinks and supper in Covent Garden the other night. So good to get out with a friend finally and just socialize away from the hostel. And with the drinks of course. We also went to a steakhouse for supper and I nearly cried when I was eating my steak!! I am 100% lacking meat in my life right now and that supper was so phenomenal it's been 2 days since that supper and I'm still thinking about it! 

I took pictures from the inside of the Tower of London so you can see and get a general idea of where I'm working. It's also located right beside the Tower Bridge. 

Stonehenge/ Bath

2 days ago I booked myself a bus day tour to Stonehenge, and the city of Bath. So yesterday we left London by bus with a tour guide and headed to Stonehenge first. Really nice to finally sit in a moving veichle above ground, I'm sure it's been weeks since I have done something as simple as that. 

I met some good people on the bus from Portugal and Brazil. I sat with them on the bus and spent most of the day walking the tour with them. Stonehenge is blocked off by fences and you can only get close to it by going on their busses to the grounds. So we arrived and then had to get on another bus for about 5 minutes while it took us through pastures towards the stones. 

We spent about an hour walking around the entire landscape. It's blocked off by rope as you can see from the pictures, but the rope does get in close at one part and allow you to be very close to the stones. After that we went in the huts they have to represent what they lived in while building Stonehenge. And then there was an exhibition to go through and we could see some real artificts that they have found from the builders and what they used. And some slideshows of what it looked like in each stage of it being built. Very good and interesting afternoon!

After that we were off to the city of Bath, one of England's most visited cities. We were given a guided tour of the Roman Baths and then were given free time to tour the city at our own pace. 

The Roman baths are a type of hot springs. Romans kings and "important people" bathed in these waters. And if someone was sick there was certain water that they would have them drink that would help "cure" them. Or so they said. (If you want to know more just google it, I can't explain it perfectly.) 

Inside the monument it was very cool, a lot of well preserved artificts were still perfectly intact, and the open bath itself was beyond words! You know that it's still the original building just from walking around the bath from the sculptures and the floor you walk on is so old and uneven. They are purposely not fixing it because they want people to see that these were the original bricks and stones used to build the original building. (Again something worth googling if you want to know more.) 

My free time I went off on my own to look and tour the city, such a very old beautiful city. They have a big open courtyard in the middle of the city where you can only walk through, and that's where most of the shops are. Bath is also like a big valley, all the houses circle around the top and then the shops and the city centre are at the bottom in the middle. 

Very great day of touring, I would definitely reccomend the "Anderson tours" to anyone in England. Good price and the guides are beyond friendly and helpful.  

**For all of the pictures on today check out my Facebook- couldn't quite get them all on here but I got most! 

London

My trial run went good the other day, they are going to call on Friday and tell me if I got the job or not. So again it's a waiting game. I got another call this morning from a restaurant by the Tower of London, they want to set up an interview on Monday. Which is exciting but still another 6 days away and then I may have to wait another week even more before I find out if I get the job. So again more waiting. Oh well nothing I can do about it. 

I found this website however that's called "jobs on tap" and what they do is find jobs (restaurants/bars) with accommodation in the UK for travellers. So basically exactly what I'm doing. I emailed them a resume and hopefully I hear back soon! At this point I would gladly leave London for a job and accommodation! Anything to do at the moment to keep myself busy. 

On Thursday I decided that I'm leaving London for the day and getting out and going somewhere. Either Bath, York or somewhere else close I'm thinking. Just for the day to get out and sight see more. 

The sun is finally shining, after 2 days of constant rain and wind. Can't complain though because I heard it's -21 at home and it's snowing. Where as I'm wearing runners, capris, and a light jacket. 

  

I would also like to wish a Happy 19th birthday to one of my best friends! Hope you had a wonderful day Katy! Love you ❤️ 

St. Paul's Cathedral

I have the smartest cousin in the world! Really she is going to do great things! When I told her I'm a few hours away from Paris by train she was like "what? Isn't Paris in London?".... Ya... That's my smart cousin.. I promised I wouldn't tell who she was so no one would think what a complete and total moron she is.. Don't worry Taya Scherger, your secret is safe with me. 

I got 2 new roommates, they r 2 older ladies from Poland and don't speak a lick of English! They are here visiting the one ladies daughter who lives here in London. The daughter was here helping them move in so I got to meet and talk with her for a bit. She must have told them my name because last night the one lady said "Taylor" and I look up from my bed and she had a bottle of wine and 3 glasses. I laughed and nodded. So the 3 of us drank wine in the room, me not knowing a word they are saying. But still how nice to offer a stranger something to drink at their expense! Just proves that we all drink alcohol in the same language! 

I went to St Paul's Cathedral today, my grandmas are going to be so proud that I went to church. The inside was cool, the architect of the church walls and ceilings are incredible! But my favourite part was going to the top and looking out over the city! More than 400 steps to the top but I made it. At the top its 345ft in the air, looking out over the city and you can see a lot of the main attractions from this view aswell. Tower Bridge, London Eye, The Shard, River of Thyme, Big Ben, etc. 

Getting to the top wasn't the funnest climb. Steps are very steep and very narrow. And at some parts where your climbing up the hallways get so small! I'm not really Claustrophobic but those spaces are so tiny even I was having a little bit of a hard time with it! Once your at the top it's great, minus the wind! Very windy up there, but makes sense your 345ft in the air what do you expect. 

After that I went to a store called Primark, just a clothing store to buy stuff for my trial run. I got a pair of pants, 2 shirts, a pair of shoes and a bracelet for only 30 pounds! (60 dollars) that's Insanely cheap! In Canada it would be double that! But it's crazy because everything in London is so expensive yet this was beyond cheap! 

I saw someone famous today, not a clue who she was. But I was standing on the street on my phone trying to figure out where I was and she was walking on the street and stopped right beside me and just started posing for the dozens of paparazzi following her. It was awesome because I looked so good today. Uh not! I was also looking at my map very confused and then this rando walks beside me and starts posing so I think I gave her the biggest WTF look in the world. Not kidding you I looked at her like she was on drugs. Well that was until I realized she was posing for cameras. So I swear to god if that ends up in the paper or in a magazine I will jump off St Paul's Cathedral because it will be her looking all sexy and seductive and me looking like a homeless confused person. 

I get the feeling that my family totally misses me. Like I'm sure I am all they think about! Well for starters you have Keifer, oh what a guy, I messaged him almost a week ago... Still hasn't responded to me. Oh but wait then there's Laine who I know misses me! We have the same heart bracelets to represent our sister love for one another and I wear mine all the time.. She told me today she hasn't worn hers once since I have been gone and thinks she actually may have lost it... At least Connor misses me. I never get to talk to him unless it's over Skype, I Skyped home the other day, mom and dad were in the living room skyping from the tv. Connor sat on the couch and was on his iPod the entire time, and then after about 5 minutes I think he figured this was boring and went to his room. And now that I think about it I'm pretty sure he didn't even say hi to me. Wow, what a great bunch of siblings I have!!!!