Welcome back to the weekly series! This has been a pretty quiet week travel-wise, but I’ve finally gotten around to publishing lots of blog posts that have been on the back burner for a while. And I stepped up my job hunting, so to be honest a whole lot of this week has been spent on the laptop! This is what I’ve been up to and thinking about this week.
I’m still reeling from the election
In my post last week, I talked quite a bit about the election. I’m still reeling from the news, I’m still panicking trying to figure out what I can do so far away, I still feel guilty for being abroad. I’m just exhausted from it. But if I’m exhausted, I can’t imagine what the marginalized communities are feeling as people across the country lash out with hate crimes. Ugh. It hurts my heart. I’m trying to find the silver lining, but it’s hard. At least the internet has exploded with Obama-Biden memes! They give me life.
No longer unemployed!
I have a job! Woohoo! I don’t feel like I can be too open about it since they’re still waiting to check my references and I haven’t signed all the paperwork yet, but I’m (almost) employed! Yay! It’s pretty similar to my last job, a barista/server/bartender/general front of house staff. I’m excited to have something full-time, where I’ll make good money, and now I feel like I can actually start my real life here. I feel so much more settled, and that feels good. Hopefully I’ll find out more details soon!
I FINALLY have a bank account
It took 4 and a half weeks since I applied for a bank account, but I FINALLY have my debit card and pin and can access money! This process has been so frustrating and extraordinarily painfully slow. It should not take a whole MONTH to open up a bank account here. It is ridiculous. Friends, do not bank with HSBC in the UK. I strongly advise against it. But I have a bank account now! Good news!
I have a real phone contract!
Due to the fact that I haven’t had a bank account for the last month (see above…), I haven’t been able to get a phone contract. Yesterday I finally set up a phone contract here, and I’m so happy! The last month has been really annoying, not being able to really use my phone. But I have unlimited texts and 250 minutes (and some data, but I never use data) a month and it’s made me feel so much more settled in!
I’m working on my York Bucket List
This weekend I visited the Yorkshire Museum for the first time, which was really cool and had lots of information about the history of the area. I’ve been to several more good pubs (for blogging purposes, of course), and I’m really excited to see the city as winter approaches. So I’m slowly but surely working on ticking things off my York Bucket List!
York has opened their Christmas market…
I’m not sure how I feel about York opening up their Christmas market and turning the lights on the Christmas tree when there are still leaves on the regular trees! I know Thanksgiving isn’t a thing here, but the immediate crossover from Halloween to Christmas is a bit too much for me. I’m not totally sure how early is too early, but I think having green leaves on the trees is just a bit too early.
LoveGreatBritain featured my Edinburgh photo on Instagram!
There are loads of popular UK/Britain/England/Scotland/etc. accounts on Instagram (and I follow basically all of them), and one of the big ones featured my photo of Edinburgh! LoveGreatBritain has 270,000 followers on Instagram (waaaaaaaay more than me!!) and my picture got a ton of likes! As in, over 9,000! I’m so happy to be featured, and it’s a huge pat on the back for me and the time I spend working on my photography. You can check out my Instagram here!
A reader messaged me about jobs on Instagram!
Maybe even more exciting than being featured on a big Instagram account… I had one of my readers reach out on Instagram to give me some tips on job hunting! This was the first time that a reader I didn’t personally know had reached out and contacted me, and it was just really cool! My purpose with this blog is to inspire other people to travel and share experiences. So I want to connect with people, and have readers be able to ask me questions, or get in touch with advice, anything and everything. Since I really have no idea who reads my blog (unless you like my link on Facebook or comment on the blog), it meant a lot to me. And of course I really appreciated the tips on finding jobs in the UK—thanks, Gemma! 🙂
This weekend: Peak District!
I’m headed out of town to the Peak District today, and I’m really excited! I’m hoping for good weather, since I’m planning on spending most of my time hiking. I’ll be in Eyam and the surrounding area, and hopefully able to explore some good places! It will be a nice nature break for the weekend.
First weekend in December: London!
FINALLY! I’ve got my plans organized and I’m headed to London for a quick trip the first weekend in December! It’s no secret that London is one of my absolute favorite cities in the world, and the last time I went was for just one day at the end of April. I’m so excited, and already have a million things I want to try to do and see in my short time there. I can’t wait!
What has your week been like? Any exciting plans coming up?
