I got lost a couple times today, but never far, and I always found my way back.

30/12/08 6:10 PM GMT

I really need to stop eating American food. It’s hard to, though—we make cheap food! Dinner tonight is KFC. It tastes very much the same, except they don’t have potato wedges—just plain fries instead.

Today certainly was eventful. I started by braving the shower and realizing I didn’t have any sort of flipflops or similar to wear in the shower. Not trusting that tub (just because it doesn’t LOOK dirty doesn’t mean anything), I donned my freebie airplane socks and stepped in. After drying my footsteps with the extra pillowcase I was given, the formerly-white cloth had grey-brown smears on it. Yuck! I’m glad I haven’t gone barefoot in here!

Next stop was Tesco for groceries. In addition to a 2L bottle of water (three guesses for my favorite drink, first two don’t count!) and some sandwiches, I picked up anti-bacterial multi-surface wipes and floor wipes. I dumped the groceries in the kitchen and took some pictures for you guys. After a quick breakfast and a nice chat with my mom, dad, and cat (she didn’t even notice I was in the computer), I started cleaning.

After wiping down surfaces, toilet, sink, and tub fixtures (I’ll stick to the socks), I hunted down the vacuum. It was easy enough to find, on a stair landing. Easy to use, too, even getting under the bed. One pile of cleaning wipes and a thorough vacuuming of bed and bathroom later, and I was feeling pretty happy with myself. The room felt 1000 times better (and smelled lemony-fresh, as opposed to the hall, which smelled showerly-rotting). As I was getting my lunch, a new girl was shown in. Her name is Macy, and she’s now my roommate. Bill, the hostel admin, said we’d probably get another one later today. Joy and rapture. For those of you who don’t know, I’m incredibly introverted. I crave a secluded spot to call my own even more than I crave a cat to cuddle with. Roommates were inevitable, but I wasn’t looking forward to them.

The pile of used wipes, and their grossness. My laptop is now here.

A side note—one major difference between Brits and Americans—Brits don’t throw their trash away in fast food places. I mean, places like McDonalds, BK, KFC hide their trash cans, if they offer them at all. You’re just expected to leave your trash on the table and walk off. Occasionally, you’ll find the can, but if you’re not wearing the uniform, you’ll get odd looks for using it. Trust me. I did. It’s so weird.

Anyway, I’m getting cold from my proximity to the door, so I’ll finish this back at the hostel. I wonder if I have another roommate.

30/12/08 7:49 PM

Nope, no new roommate. Macy’s on her laptop, so I’m now sitting on my luggage at the other end of the desk. No big deal, plenty of outlets for all of us. Today continued to be busy, so here’s what I did the rest of the day.

After Macy showed up, I went out. First stop was Carphone Warehouse. I had done some research, and it looked like the SIM cards that BUNAC had offered yesterday during orientation gave me the best rates, so at Carphone Warehouse (which is an independent retailer of mobile phones, and, I suspect, owned by Best Buy because they have the same “Geek Squad” logo around) I just bought myself a British charger for my phone. The one that came with it was a dud, a replacement wasn’t sent in time, and the Blackberry charger I borrowed from my sister didn’t seem to work. So, new charger. Then I went on to Barclays, a UK bank that has an agreement with BUNAC. About half an hour later, I had a bank account set up and ready for use. I’ll be getting my debit card in the mail in a week or two, so I’ll need to try and forward that on to Salisbury.

After Barclays, I headed down to the BUNAC center to work on my resume. It took some stretching and prodding, but I finally got something that the BUNAC people approved of, so now I can start job hunting in earnest. I also went to buy a SIM card from them, but apparently, they don’t sell them. They just handed it to me. “Here you go!”

So, yay, free SIM card with great rates! Awesome! It’s in my phone now, and my phone is charging. I’ll have to buy myself some more time; right now I just have £1 on it.

By the way, you don’t know this, but I’m proud of myself. I set up a shortcut on Microsoft Word so pressing Ctrl+L gives me the £ sign. I figured I’d use it a lot in the next six months, and I didn’t want to go Insert > Symbol every time I needed it. I’m so smart. :)

After BUNAC, it was getting late, and dark, so I headed down to Farringdon Tube station to get the train home. I saw a KFC and decided to stop in for a bite, but did I have enough money on me?

I checked my purse… checked my pockets… checked my purse again… my wallet was gone!

Calm down, I thought. Where did I last use it?

BUNAC, actually. I had taken it out to buy paper for the printer (2p a sheet, I bought 10p worth). That was about half an hour ago, and the street had been fairly empty while I walked on it. No one had been near me, at least. It was probably back at BUNAC, I probably just forgot to put it back in my purse.

I hustled my way back to the center, reentering at 5 PM (it closes at 5:30). I went upstairs, but didn’t see it near the computers. I went to the front desk, but no one had turned it in. I checked my purse and bag and pockets again—nothing. At least, I was thinking, my passport was in my purse and not my wallet…

I did one final check of the computers, and there it was! It was sitting innocently in a chair I had vacated, hidden by the back when I had done my first glance. Nothing was missing. Huge sigh of relief all around, by me and by the lady at the front desk. As she put it, “Good thing we’ve got honest people here!”

My wallet went back into my purse, in the pocket where it’s supposed to be, and I zipped it up good and tight, then carried it tucked under my arm the rest of the way. This was probably a good experience—I lost it because I was careless, but in a place where it was pretty safe and where I found it again quickly. Now I’m going to be more careful with it, and I didn’t have to lose anything truly valuable to learn my lesson.

Well, Macy’s off to bed, and I probably should be too. It’s going to be a long night tomorrow, after all, New Year’s Eve. Macy and I are going to go to the fireworks over the London Eye. I hope I have fun.

To end this post, here's a billboard I saw in the Tube. The last line made me smile. This is apparently an ad campaign, because there are a lot of similar ones around. I like them.