It's the small things

Yesterday was a day that I will always remember. It was a turning point in life at my current flat. For Bianca and myself, it was a great day. And by all of that I mean, yesterday was the day we finally broke the kitchen fan.

Sure, a kitchen fan. Doesn't sound too terrible. But that is where this fan proved that theory wrong. Since moving into the flat in January, we have had it out for this fan as it has ruined worsened our lives. In the mornings, I would walk into the kitchen, prepared, to perform the task in there most time efficiently. I knew that after I turned on the light, I would have 1 minute and 50 seconds until the fan would stir. I would immediately have to flip the light switch off and then back on for silence to be mine for the next 1 minute and 30 seconds (shorter after the fan had been woken from its hiatus throughout the night). This process of me trying to out beat the fan by finishing my cooking, boiling, making in the kitchen with 1 minute intervals to flip the switch would continue until I could no longer bother with it and the fan would win. This fan was most annoying as to the sound it produced. Imagine the worst sound possible. For me, I always compared it to a cow dying but maybe that is a bit dramatic. Regardless, the sounds coming from this machine were comparable to nails on a chalkboard. And the sounds were of course, audible throughout the flat. I will now give you a mental image of "the fan". 

 As you can see, the fan looks lovely in our kitchen! Really brightens the place up. Regardless, we had taken measures of fixing the problem upon moving in. I told the letting agency twice that it was broken but little did they care. In my mind, as long as they thought it was broken when we moved in, it would be broken when we moved out. Bianca had also asked the repair man fixing the leaking bathroom ceiling to fix it or at least shut it up. His response was "wow, that is old, dirty, and sounds awful but it is technically not broken so I cannot help"......welp

I guess it should not matter because after 2 1/2 months of that fan, we will no longer have to torture ourselves or our ears. All in all, I am ecstatic and ready to use my kitchen in longer periods with less adrenaline. I will now leave y'all with one last and final picture of the fan (close up). It is somewhat scary and I think my mother, who is allergic to mold,dust, etc., would have a cow if she saw that in my living conditions. So here it is....

R.I.P fan. I am sure that the tenants after us will not appreciate the kitchen silence as we do now.

Yours faithfully (learned that this is the way to properly end a cover letter in the UK this week and now want to try it out for a while)

Yours Faithfully, 

Cate

Kony, Ice tents & Marni

So this morning I woke up to a Facebook and twitter full of "Kony2012" or "Stop Kony" posts. I was instantly intrigued to watch the video but saw that it was 30 minutes and didn't have enough time. 
On my way to school, I looked over at the bus window and in the fogged window (it was of course raining in London) I saw 'Stop Kony' written from someone's finger. 
At school I asked my friends about it. Some had seen it on Facebook, some had watched 1/2 the video but were confused about Invisible Children, and some didn't know. 
I came home after a day complaining about professors, school work, and dissertation to watch the following video. 1. Me thinking as a marketer and the fact that this really shows you the power of social media but 2. More importantly- the change we need to make and the power the world has. 3. We are all the same. All over the world. We are connected. 


Please take time & watch if you haven't. You won't regret it.


http://vimeo.com/37119711

Now, On a lighter note- Tonight, my friends Charlotte & Siri are at my flat. 
(picture of them below)

They are just beauties. 

We are having a slumber party and waking up at 4 am to go to the release of H&M's new line from Marni. Anyways, at dinner we were talking about Norway and hiking and Siri informed me that in Norway, there are empty cabins in the mountains for hikers to stay in for the night. The cabins have food and everything one might need. When leaving, the hikers are supposed to just leave the amount of money that they thought they should. I was incredibly impressed by this long tradition that Norwegians have. She next informed me that over Easter, there will be lots of hikers and if the cabins are full, one just builds an ice tent! Now, this may not be as amusing to some of you but for a southerner, I was just amazed that my friend Siri builds and sleeps in igloos. Like an eskimo. 

& now, I would like to dedicate this blog to Charlotte and add, "You had me at Nutella"


<3 cate

Life Long Learner

So I haven't really been too good about posting updates lately and that is because I have had nothing to update on. Unless you wanted to see a picture of me in the library attempting to explore the strategic world of business because that is what I have been doing. In an attempt to put off more writing on that topic this morning, I was inspired by my roommate, Bianca, to post. Last night I walked past her room and she told me that she was playing a really fun game. I looked at her on the computer and assumed it was 'Family Feud' or maybe even like 'Farmville' or 'Tiny Tower'.....those type of games that people get really into. I asked her about it and, to my surprise, she was playing the 'States/Capital' game on some website. There was my 20 year-old, Italian roommate playing a game that involved her learning the location of the states along with their capital, capitals that I even forget most of the time. I was inspired because of her ambition to learn. I guess it makes sense as she knows 7 languages. My dad is also the same way. Last weekend I texted him to see what he was doing. Response- going to Spanish class and then to a First Aid Survival Class at REI to prepare him for his motorcycle trip to South America. 
With this I just encourage everyone to learn something new today & as my friend, Kelsey, would say, "be a Life Long Learner!" 


Also- shout out to Green River Ordinance. One of the band members is my friends' brother-in-law. They just released a new album-Under Fire and it is great! I am listening to it now so you should check it out, buy it, and spread it on. 


Happy 1st of March,
cate

New Music

So this post is basically just to introduce everyone to new music artist. They are 2 Swedish girls and my Swedish friend, Charlotte, actually got me listening to their music and I love it. Decided to make them global by sharing them with y'all. Enjoy!

SNOW in London town!

lately my attire other than my outer clothing has consisted of under armour leggings (sometimes top too), gloves, hat, scarf, and even the occasional hot hands/ feet. basically it has been SO COLD here! Our flat doesn't help that by any means as it keeps no cold out and no heat in. BUT.....it finally snowed here. & was beautiful. the snow started falling at like 9 pm last night and by 11 was at least 3 cm. So Bianca and I decided to go walk around and see the pretty snow.

 My flat!

 Our street. Full of snow!

 Me in the snow. Pumped, of course

 Bianca and me 

Bus- Stranded on a road

Now, in honor of super bowl Sunday, I am making an American meal for dinner for Bianca and myself- Chicken Poppyseed Casserole. 

New Humble Abode

as I woke up this morning, I realized that no one (except a few lucky ones) have seen pictures of my new flat. It is truly British, in my opinion. I described it to my dad as similar to the house in the first Harry Potter movie. & to answer any concerns, not the cupboard part. The street is very residential with a row of 4 story houses/ flats. The picture below is my flat: 56 Greencroft Gardens via Google Maps. The building currently looks a little different as this picture was taken in October 2009 but you get the general idea. 

It is a little different than my first flat but growing on me daily. The best thing about being in ZONE 2 would be the shops! I finally have a real grocery store. And not just 1 but 2 within 5 minutes of my flat. I am also getting a little physical activity by walking to/from school, which is about 2 miles each way. I know I am not in the city anymore as I pass a fenced-in area with 3 goats along the way. 

Pictures of my flat!

My own bedroom with a double bed! & yes- be jealous of my Primark duvet and bookshelf decorated with the pillow shams!

Hallway complete with the Union Jack artwork 

Living room/ dining room/ storage room. The Indian decor really spices this room up. Also, the couch covered with the blanket given to me on the Continental flight over is clutch. 

Another view of the living room/ dining room/ storage room. We do have a balcony that looks over a common 2-mile garden area that we share with all of our neighbors. Totally like in the movie Notting Hill!

Being an Adult

Obviously, the blog postings have been a rarity recently and that is not due to lack of having exciting news but rather the lack of broadband....STILL.

With that being said, being an adult is not always fun. Since moving into my flat I have been dealing with bills, stupid companies, and of course, incompetent people. I guess I am growing up and I do not really love it. Probably because I am currently just dealing with the expenses and not the part of making an income. Soon, that will change! I have learned from several experiences thus far a little more about how the Brits work. Obviously, the water leaking through my bathroom ceiling was an example. No worries though because it finally got fixed and we have electricity in the bathroom.....3 weeks later!
My newest issue has come with trying to get broadband and switching mobile providers. Almost all companies for broadband require a 12 month contract. Not a big deal, unless you have no idea where you will be in 12 months like me. I originally thought that is what we would have to do and signed up for Sky on 3 of January. On the 12th of January, Sky contacted me to inform me that the process had been stalled because I would have to have a new active landline and needed my approval. I called them instantly and gave my approval. At this point, I figured that Wifi would soon be ours! On the 27th of January (yes, I waited 2 weeks. Maybe a little long) I called back to see what the heck was going on. That beautiful Friday morning, I found out that my order was still not active. Basically, the Sky worker that I spoke to on the 12th did not activate the account again. In being concerned about customer relations, the new Sky worker offered me the promotion that I was currently a part of already (the Internet promo that made me choose Sky oh the first place). After I told her that, she said that she would talk to the first Sky worker who messed up my order. That definitely made me feel better. Anyways, it is fine now because I canceled Sky yesterday!

I canceled Sky because of that ordeal and that we would not have broadband for another 2 weeks and because I was just fed up with them. Instead, Bianca and I opted for a monthly contract with O2! Monthly= way better for us! In signing up for O2, we were offered huge discounts if we were O2 mobile customers. Being that neither of us were customers, I decided to switch! Good times ahead. I went to my current providers, Vodafone, to cancel my account. At the retail store, they told me that I had to go online and send an email though their website. Obviously, I don't have wifi so hearing that was frustrating but easy enough. At home, I purchased 24 hours of wifi and went to their website to discover that it was down. Sooooo I called the customer helpline. The customer helpline was very informative and told me that their website was down (obviously) so I asked if I could cancel via phone. No- of course not they told me. So I had to wait 24 hours for their website to work so I could cancel. I am just going to say it but that is just not what I am used to!


Anyways, enough venting. It is canceled and Wifi is mine in 5 days!

Cheers to being an adult!
<3


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