The first day and night

I arrived early today and took a cab to my Aunt's place. The cab driver was NOT friendly but he did pack and unpack my three 50 pound suitcases and my 35 pound carry on so I tipped him well. The house I'm staying in is so great! Very British. My room is up on the third floor and it's a great space with nice big windows. I'll post pictures tomorrow. It's got a fireplace with a mantle and a cute little desk and chair and another white leather lounge. The whole house is nice with interesting artwork and neat little touches.

One strange thing: the "toilets" and "bathroom". The "toilet" refers to the two rooms in the house that contain a toilet and nothing else. No sink, no mirror, nothing. Just a toilet and some toilet paper. The "bathroom" is a large room with an old school bathtub in the centre, no shower curtain. No toilet here, but there is a sink. I was so confused. I didn't use the washroom here all day cause I wasn't sure what to do. I waited until I went out to tinkle. I did shower though. The tub is great and it has a detacheable showerhead, thank God, so I didn't make a mess. I'll post a pic of the bathroom too. My cousin said that the toilet and bathroom situation is the general Victorian style and that it's very common out here. It will take some getting used to for me though. Apparently you use the toilet then go into the bathroom to wash your hands. My question is what do I do if I need to wash my hands and someone is in the bathroom taking a shower?? I'm thinking hand sanitizer will take up a whole new meaning here.

Anyways, this afternoon my aunt and her husband dropped me off on the famous Portobello Road to get my 'mobile' set up. The Orange store ( a UK carrier) I went into didn't have the phone I wanted in the colour I wanted so I ended up walking all the way up to Nottinghill Gate to the other Orange store to get my phone. Then I walked back and home, stopping to get my Oyster card for the tubes! Portobello Road is wonderful, there are tons of cute little shops and vendors. I resisted buying about 25 different adorable (and affordable!) dresses. It was tough, but I did it. The streets here are so interesting and dangerous. I nearly got hit by several cars cause there are no stop signs and a lot of intersections have no light.

My night was surreal. I went to the screening of a BBC miniseries that my aunt's husband is starring in. The screening was held in Soho which definitely lives up to its reputation. You can practically smell the fabulousness in the air when you get nearby. It was crazy. Just a bunch of producers, actors, composers, writers and BBC people networking and hobnobbing and then there's little old me! I kept wanting to pinch myself. I was quite intimidated but I did meet a young actress who had a role in the 3rd Harry Potter movie as Pansy Potts which was pretty cool.

The miniseries was fantastic. They showed clips of the first four episodes and then showed the entire fifth episode. I got sucked in. It airs next week on the BBC every day at 5:15, tune in! My aunt's husband was wonderful. I was worried, but needlessly so because he is one great actor! I was sitting next to him during the screening, I kept wanting to gush about how great he was but I thought that would be uncool. I tried to appear relaxed like I go to screenings back home all the time. I'm pretty sure I fooled everyone.

So basically today was pretty much indescribable, it just did not feel real. It felt like I was living someone else's wonderful life and then every once in a while I would realize THIS IS MY WONDERFUL LIFE!!! Ack! So excited for what's to come. All I need is a job and everything will be perfect :) Tomorrow I'm off to my SWAP orientation all by myself on the tubes! If you don't hear from me it's cause I'm lost wandering somewhere in London so alert the police!