back in Blighty

my arrival to England initiated with an incredibly long wait at the customs office, while myself and about 30 some odd people waited while one officer took care of those of us who were directed to the 'student visa's' line. while all my paper work was done, many of the people in line were coming for six months or less (no pre application required) and thus I had a terribly long wait in the customs offices.

once I got out of the sweltering heat of heathrow, I made it out into the street and caught a cab to Liz's flat in Battersea. Not entirely sure where I was going, I followed the instructions given to me and politely asked the cabby to drop me off at "Battersea Dogs Home". At the time I thought that perhaps the Battersea Dogs were some sort Criket or Footy team, and perhaps I was being dropped outside their arena, but alas when I arrived it was quite literally a home for dogs (like our humaine society only large).

When I got out of the cab and hurled my luggage onto the sidewalk I was immediately greeted by two familiar faces (Liz and Hannah) coming towards me down the street and a short walk, five flights of stairs, and one slightly broken suitcase later I was having a drink in Liz' living room.

It's good to be back, but things seem a little manic with trying to find a place to live. I spent the day in Brighton yesterday and saw two horrible places, and one dream place which I think would be amazing to live in, but unfortunately it has a small room (not so great for guests). Still, I left Brighton in good spirits late last night because after a day of housing nightmares and coming to grips with the thought of living in squalor, I found a place that seemed warm, friendly, and more than suitable.

I'm going to try and see a few more places today, and then see how the week goes. the people I spoke with last night need a few days to work things out, but it seemed that they really liked me and they were eager to live with an international student (two are from singapore). I will write more about the place later, depending on how things work out.

for now I'm off for day two of househunting. Right now I have three appointments, but hopefully in the next few hours I'll get a few more booked as well.

that's all for now, I'm running out of time at the internet cafe

- C