Well, woke up to greyness in the sky and puddles in the courtyard below my window, with the rumble of thunder moving closer. Had a breakfast of croissants and a really yummy marmalade with blood orange in it, then waited for the rain, that was now bordering on torrential, to stop. No such luck, so I went down to boil some water in my newly-bought saucepan (no kettle-why? Theres a microwave!) for a coffee while I waited for the thunder and lighning to stop at least.
Had another check to see if WiFi was working (not yet!) and then prepared to get soaked, because I needed a phone and phone card! (And a kettle, but I didn't manage to get one of those!) I wandered out of the door, prepared to try and find the centre by walking through the puddles and following my instinct (a map would have been no good-would have turned into papier-mache as soon as I got it out). 30 seconds from the door I stumbled across a tube station and got straight into the centre, just outside a Mc Donalds. I also found Starbucks, Habitat and H&M so I know where the important places are!
Got my phone really easily, although they are a fan of monthly contracts over there- and using all your credit as soon as you get it! If you get 5 euros pay as you go credit it has to be used in 15 days I think, otherwise you loose it! 10 euros is more reasonable, you get a month to use it all in. It's still very strange though! With the exchange rate being so bad, everything costs a bomb at the moment! I'm used to France being cheap, and I keep looking at the Franc prices (which are still there next to the euro price on the tag) with nostalgia!
Well, I wandered for a few hours, got soaked, the blue in my jeans has dyed half-circles onto my shoes, and I found some really lovely and interesting places while getting spectacularly lost. Got tube back, arrived a short while before the internet started working and now here I am! It's not raining, but it's still grey. I've got an orientation day tomorrow which hopefully won't go on all day, but if it does, I really hope there will be coffee breaks!
I'm waiting for some blue skies so I can take photos, things always look nicer in the sunshine!
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It was nice to speak earlier - sounds like you are finding your feet.
ReplyDeleteI'm still knackered from the drive, but I should sllep well before returning to work tomorrow morning.
Kiera I hope you manage to keep this up over your stay, It's wonderful to hear all the things you are doing.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutley pouring here just driven back from work in the rain. Kenko thinks she would like to join in with the typing and Max is out in the pouring rain.
Hope you have a good day tomorrow