Seven Month Status Report

My job: I have transitioned to a new law firm. It's about 40 people, and I work in the Actions Against the Police department. 
I'm still settling in, but I am enjoying the change and I'm curious to see how I'll feel in a few months time. Our department deals with police complaints, improper abuse of power, wrongful arrest, etc. The department also takes on various human rights cases.

We LOVE the neighborhood where we live. We've fully set into routines and commutes. I'm going to reformer pilates a few times a week at a nearby studio and its really fun. I'm finally gaining abdominal strength so that's a first in my whole life! Brian was playing soccer 2-3 times a week on various teams or pick up with friends. He is nursing a heel injury and taking it easy these days. We'd appreciate your prayers for a solid answer on the diagnosis. We also really love this wine shop that opened up across the street. We've been to two excellent tastings there. One was a wine and chocolate pairing for Valentine's Day! It was so much fun.
Thanks to the wonderful visitors we've had, we have had a special opportunity to explore sights in London we had not yet seen. When the Hubbell ladies were here, we went to the British Museum where we observed giant chunks of Parthenon on display and gawked at mummies galore, and the Rosetta Stone. We also saw a play together, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. We LOVED having them here for a full week- our first visitors really made it feel like we've made this place a home. 
My Dad was here for a few days and we explored new restaurants. We visited the Churchill war rooms, which was quite the history lesson. Brian's Dad visited for nearly a week while checking in on his London office. With him, we went to the British Library which boasts an impressive collection of original Shakespeare manuscripts, Florence Nightingales notebooks, original Beatles' lyrics, the Magna Carta ! it was so cool. We also journeyed outside the city to Greenwich, where the British Naval Academy has this gorgeous park and lovely observatory showing the division of the timezones for the world, hence the name, Greenwich Mean Time. 
My sorority sister, Erin, was in town for a few days and we had dinner at a pub that is housed in the spot on the Thames River where the Mayflower left for the Netherlands (and eventually, onto America). We've been SO blessed by these visitors and hope to have many more! It's easy to get lonely here and to miss our good friends. Brian's brothers have just planned a trip in June and one of his groomsmen will be here for his birthday! 
On the subject of friends, we are still couple-shopping. We've made some good friends here, but its hard not to miss everyone back home. Meanwhile, the time difference and chaos has made it challenging to stay in touch. So hang with us, and please know that we hate how difficult it can be to get in touch. But at the same time, technology has never made staying in touch easier, so please reach out!
I guess the last important update is about the Roswell house. I had the great pleasure of coming home for about two weeks while I was in between jobs. I worked a lot on the house, but the real hero of the project has been Barbara. It's remarkable how much work she has gotten done and how much she has helped us. We are so grateful. The house has officially been listed and we are hoping for positive feedback and a loving new buyer soon! 

Brian's job: there's not much to report here. He likes his job a lot and is enjoying all experiences associated with the big law firm life. We live very close to his office, so these last months he has been able to walk home for lunch which gives Grey a great deal of joy. 

We've just returned from ICELAND and it was the most amazing trip. I'll post about that next! 

That pretty much covers a good chunk of it. 

a flat out nightmare

I was unprepared.
This is an ironic way to start this blog post considering the day of our move to London, I posted a status on Facebook about the ridiculous preparation that was required for survival of May 2015 through September 17, 2015. And then, we landed in London.
I lived in London from August through December of 2013. Not once during that entire period do I recall experiencing what is commonly called, "culture shock." I still cannot bring myself to call it that, because it's just not an appropriate label. No, I had culture shock in Africa. No, I love culture. I love being shocked by culture. That's not what this was. This was a nightmare.

This is the story of how we learned London's leasing market by doggy paddling in the deep end. 

Nearly every sale or let (aka lease) in London goes through some agency. Agencies charge a lot of money. The agents are practically anti-tenant/pro-landlord, as they get paid by the landlord to get the highest possible offer. So basically, we put in an offer and then its totally unprotected and can get outbid. The list prices are all up for negotation. This is supposedly the busiest time of year in the London leasing market and the leasing market here has been repeatedly ranked as one of the worst in the world. Didnt know that! But know i believe it!! Letting in London is much more synonymous with buying a house than what we think of "signing a 1 year lease." 

We learned that agency's fees were basically unavoidable. We scheduled viewings after work and saw about ten properties in five days. Multiple times, in the short time between booking a viewing and going to the viewing, the property was let. The market is HOT. Additionally, properties on the market now aren't actually available to move in immediately. Some aren't available until late October or even early November. Landlords are also dog-averse. One landlord wanted a £2,300 deposit for Grey. FOR GREY!! 

Last thursday, we found this wonderful place, great location, with this huge terrace for Grey. Brian viewed the property at 5pm and then I came after work and viewed it around 6. We went to dinner, thought about our offer, and went to the office first thing Friday morning with our offer. We had been told by all our London friends & coworkers that asking price is negotiable and no one really pays asking price. So in our offer because of the absurd experience we had all week with flats getting scooped up like crazy, we offered a 2 year contract at asking price. Within the hour we submitted our offer, someone had come in and given £40 MORE PER WEEK. That’s like almost $300 more per month!!! I mean, WHAT?! 

So then the pressure was on big time. Saturday, we went to a second viewing of a place I had reallllly fallen in love with earlier on in the week but that had a crappy location but with so much character and space. We placed an offer and left nervous because they had several other viewings and the agent wouldnt stop viewings or reject other offers until our offer was accepted by the landlord. With little hope, we carried on with our planned schedule and saw two more flats. We liked BOTH of them! At the third place, we put in an offer immediately after viewing. Totally spur of the moment, feeling super crazy, knowing any second the other landlord could accept our first offer and we’d be in big trouble. As soon as we left that place, we called and withdrew our first offer. Feeling like crazy people, emotionally drained, we carried onto a FOURTH viewing for the day because we were afraid our offer wouldnt be accepted. About five hours later, our offer was accepted by the landlord! 

The battle was just beginning. Even after our paperwork and holding deposit finalized, OUR property was still on the market. For three days, we were nervous that someone could put in a higher offer and knock us out. The idea that this is legal under contract law just baffles me. The agency requires the 10 week deposit to come from a UK bank. Well, thanks to the complicated nature of an international wire transfer, we learned that the bank's restrictions would be unable to get the 10-week deposit into our bank account in the strict timeline we had to preserve our hold on the property. Meanwhile, our temporary housing requires 7 days notice of any extension or cancelation. Not knowing whether or not we would be able to move in on Saturday, because we legitimately do not know whether or not we have the flat, we will now be paying for next week's rent in two places. A blessing of a problem to have compared to being kicked out of any housing at all! With quite a bit of thankfulness, we were able to sort the money out and it was deposited to their account today. This whole thing has just been CRAZY. 

Now, we are waiting on a bit of finalizing loose ends but we are expecting to move in on Saturday. 

However, I will not feel reassured until I have those keys in my hands. As you tap yourself on the back for finishing this really long post, say a prayer that we will actually be able to move in and that we are not flat-less in a few days. I'm so anxious to put this flat battle behind us and start settling in! 

I'm no psychologist but, pardon me while I step on my soap box

What phase of culture shock is being sick of everything where you are?
Unlike many of my colleagues who are tempted to spiral into conversations about what we miss from home. I miss the beach. I miss my car. I miss my dog. I miss Mexican food. I am dying for Taco Bell.
Fine, I miss all those things.

But really, what I am is sick of the nonsense of London.
I'm over the food here. Eating is a chore, its something that is simply done because it's the time of the day to eat and you should eat something because humans eat three times a day. There is no joy in the food, no enJOYment of the food. No good sushi, no fresh salads or vegetables. No real kitchen or oven to make healthy or delicious food.
I'm OVER the prices. Everything is SO expensive. $6 for a coffee? Is that serious? An extra 20% charge if I want to eat it here instead of carrying it out of the restaurant for it to get luke warm and then taste even more mediocre? Um, no thank you.
The rain? Over it.
The puddles that get splashed all over you by the cars whizzing by when it rains? YUCK.
Doing laundry in the worst dryer in the history of mankind- over it.
All of the clothes that I brought here? I hate 'em all.
Watching the football games on my computer with interrupted internet connections at 3 in the morning? Yep, ready to be back on a US time zone.
Requiring I dress modestly at all hours of the day because I have two roommates and no actual doors in my loft flat? Nope.
Saying, "Can you hear me?" "helloooo" about 30 times a day trying to get a decent connection on the phone with my boyfriend? No patience for that.
Falling asleep to a symphony of sirens? I've had enough of that.
Twin size bed? Obviously not my preference.
Going to church and only recognizing one song that we sing? Na, I'm longing for the oldies but goodies that I love.
The plastic chair that sits at my desk in my apartment? Ready to throw it out the window.

Of course all of these thoughts are extreme "First World Problems" and I recognize that. Additionally, each of these can easily be translated into me missing all things home. A few of these things have also carried over because, let me remind you - I have really been away from home since May. I haven't seen the things I left in storage since May. My car, my Keurig, my TV, my beautiful large computer screen. My bed, my clothes, my mother's rings. My stuff that I feel I need.

It also goes without being said that it is November 26, my first final is in less than a week, I am dreaming of law school in the few hours I get to sleep… and it's just a general trend that I currently hate almost everything.

I post this not because I need pity, but to make you laugh and be reminded that the life of a gypsy isn't nearly as glamourous as we'd all like to think. And sure, I'm no psychologist but I just don't believe the stages of culture shock go in some chronological order. They spiral around like a roller coaster. One day you go to bed thinking you're fully integrated and the next day you wake up feeling like everything you thought you'd become acCUSTOMed to, you actually resent. And then the next day you wake up feeling fine. In all moments, attitude and outlook is critical. In these moments, you have to be honest with these thoughts then move onto focusing your mind on something else.
It's not like you pass stage 3 and never look back.
That's just not how it works.
Abroad, or anywhere.
Fellow expats and travel lovers, care to chime in?

here it comes, the big parade

This is my biannual post asking for your prayers during an incredibly stressful time- law school finals. I'll paint the picture for you. 

My first final is in T minus 8 days and my last final is in 17 days. The next three weeks of my life will look like this (if they are anything like last year with added info from this round of Russian Roulette):

I will wake up after getting 6-8 hours of sleep, have my first cup of coffee and go to school. 

I will take over a table in the library or in one of the classrooms where I will sit for about ten hours reading, making notecards, reviewing, highlighting, and typing. After compiling all my notes from the semester, I will put those into an outline form that ends up being about 50 pages for each class. I will virtually memorize this 50 page document. 

In order to prepare appropriately, I will take "practice tests" which are the professors previous years exams. Each practice test is 2-3 hours. Ideally, I will take about eight total. 

These exams are 100% of my grade. Unlike last year when a multiple choice was 1/3 of my grade and essays were 2/3, this semester all of exams are only essays except for one. I'm not sure how this will turn out, but hopefully it helps me. 

As Thanksgiving is approaching, I have millions of things to be thankful for. After reading 1000 Gifts (great book, highly recommended), I've integrated extreme thankfulness into every day. I have a wonderful support system, which includes many of you readers. I do not appreciate you often enough, even though I am much more negligent about posting than I should be. 

The best thing about stress is, as soon as you trudge through it, it's over ! 

On December 12, it will be over ! AND I'll be HALF way done with law school !!!

(Post Title: The Lumineers, The Big Parade - song on repeat)

The California Effect

After a year of living in California, I am heightened to seeing it absolutely everywhere while I am abroad. I see t-shirts walk past me with a colorful sketch and cursive Malibu letters and think, "I go to school there." Tshirts from UCLA or Santa Monica are common too. 

Yesterday, I was on the treadmill at the gym and I observed a student walk onto the treadmill next to me, and select "Los Angeles Run" on her screen as she put her headphones into her ears. I couldn't help but glance over as she was running next to me to see her screen lighting up with images of Palm trees, Venice beach, the Hollywood sign, sidewalk with stars... Incredible! 

It's challenging for people other than Americans to understand that Americans can be from all over the place. So when strangers or new friends ask a group of us (Pepperdine students), "Where are you from?" instead of participating in an ordeal of "I'm from Atlanta, he's from Boston, she's from Michigan, he's from Pittsburg and she's from California... but we all live and go to school in California now." We have deduced this process to "we are from California." One reaction was particularly remarkable when he swooned as if Angelina Jolie had just given him a kiss on the cheek. This is the California effect. Igniting envy in a stranger at the very words- I live in California. Yes, the same one in the movies. THAT Los Angeles. Yes.

Indeed, by many definitions of the word "from," we are from California. I've always battled this question. Where did I come from, as in where was I before London- Rwanda. Some people answer this question with where they were born. Texas. Where have you lived the most amount of time? Georgia. Where do you live now? London. Where am I going back to after London? California. 

Where do you call home? All of these places. 

This is always the time of year that I get homesick. And by homesick, I mean sick for HOME. Interestingly, more and more that seems to be some place between Atlanta and York, Alabama. It's very much both of those places. And it's very much where the people that I hold dearest to me are- which these days is just about all over the world. This only becomes challenging when they gather in one place and I have the worst "fear of missing out" pain in my chest, just burning to be there, with them, at home. As this past weekend was the LSU game in Tuscaloosa, many of my favorite people in the world were in some of my favorite places in the world. And I wanted more than anything to be right there with them. 

But this is the best part about being so far- when I do come home (to any of those homes) to those people, it's going to be the sweetest. It's going to be the best. It's a reunion that makes all the distance and time dissipate completely, and it will be a long series of the tightest of embraces. And for one second I just may whisper that I will not leave again. Although I know that this is something I incessantly chase- and to get it, to truly learn and to discover more of yourself, you just absolutely have to leave home. 

37 days. 

Where have all the Londoners gone?

About life and thoughts on London

I am living in a brand new apartment building about a thirty minute walk from the school. Most days when the weather is nice, I try to walk. I can also take the tube (London's underground) or a bus. There's a huge grocery store just a few blocks away and the apartment is in a really beautiful, quaint, quiet residential area. On my walk to school I can hear anywhere from two to five languages. London is one of the most international cities I've ever lived in. It's such a melting pot, it has me constantly wondering where all the Londoners are! 

I like it a lot. The weather has been remarkably good, but I expect that to change any day and that many miserable rainy days are ahead. There are about fifteen other Pepperdine students that live in the building with me and about forty students in the program all together. Pepperdine rents out a huge house that hosts two large classrooms, two student lounges, a big kitchen and library and living spaces for about forty undergrad students. The undergrads and law students don't really mix too much, but I expect the library will get a bit territorial around finals time. The schools location is great- in the heart of a nice walking plaza and museums galore just two blocks from Hyde park. 

London food isn't nearly as terrible as everyone always says it is. But what it absolutely is is mediocre. It's almost like someone comes around to every restaurant tasting the dishes and saying, "nope, it's too good. remove the pepper and that one ingredient so it's merely mediocre." Everything we eat is completely edible, but it's just not great. Food is really an afterthought- many of the restaurants are merely take-away cafeterias catering to people who want to walk in, grab something quick, walk out and eat while on the way to doing something else. Sound familiar??

I feel that calling this experience a "study abroad" is a misnomer for many reasons. In no way does it meet any expectations you carry of a typical "study abroad." I am not studying at a University in London, I am still enrolled completely at Pepperdine University School of Law. I will not have transfer credits, and my professors are Pepperdine-employed. There are three visiting students in our classes, but they're all Americans, and it's in no way an "international" school. I haven't met any real Londoners, have hardly any interaction at all with the culture (by comparison to living or traveling anywhere else) and haven't had any culture shock at all whatsoever. Of course, there are differences between the US and London, and there are things about living here that really manage to irk me. For example, the fact that the toilet flush handles are usually inconviently placed in a way where you have to SHUT the toilet lid in order to flush - like, seriously? WHY? Or that ATMs = cash point, cents = pence, buggy = stroller, chips are fries and chips are crisps. The guy at the PETROL station yesterday straight up laughed audibly at my "so funny accent." The lack of RUBBISH BINS in the city is appalling, and will leave you carrying your trash for over thirty minutes. Indeed in three months, I will be able to list on two hands every single trash can in this city. No doubt. But annoyances are prevalent anywhere you live, and the opportunities to meet Brits and to do all the amazing things that London has to offer are endless. However, I am a law student and its all I can do to work hard from sun up to sun down during the week, and let my gypsy side run wild on the weekends. 

view from the roof of our building

Proof we do actually work. Occasionally. (Taken in Pepperdine's Library preparing for our Internal Moot Competition) 

At Hillsong (a major producer of phenomenal worship music) London

Navigating the chaos of tarmacs and baggage claim

Its been ages since I've had one spare second to write a post. I am finally back into the swing of law school and actually feel like I am a student again. The first weeks here were whirlwinds and it was all I could do to get myself out of bed and to where I was supposed to be, managing to read about 50% of what was expected from me. But get prepared for a series of great posts!

I went to Copenhagen with five fellow law students at Pepperdine who are also spending the semester in London. There was a spectrum of travel experience, ranging from one friend who has been to over 30 countries to one friend who landed in country #3 upon our arrival in Denmark. I can never appropriately reiterate how blessed I've been not only to travel as much as I have, and that most of that travel has been throughout Europe. Copenhagen has been somewhere I really wanted to go for quite some time and it did not disappoint. 

The highlights of the weekend were a canal tour through the city and endless wandering on accident because many canals left us at dead ends. 

In an outpouring of God's goodness, my boyfriend was offered a job in London next summer and they flew him out here for the weekend. We had a chance to do a few touristy things I hadn't done since I was in London a year ago. As he poetically point it, we took "a mile wide instead of an inch deep" approach, but had a lovely stroll from the Tower of London all the way past Parliament and Big Ben. It was wonderful to have him here and this whole long distance thing is old. Although it is not the end of our long distance chapters, as I have already accepted a job for next summer in Los Angeles and he accepted the offer to work here in London. The phrase "when you plan, God laughs" has never been more poignant. I'm so proud of him and thrilled for his incredible opportunity. 

Brian spoiled me by taking me to a sushi restaurant on the 38th floor of a building in the city center for our 1 year anniversary dinner. 

My schedule has never been crazier. Law school is no joke, and I am still expected to read about 100 pages of cases (tough reading) per day, plus working for a law firm, plus juggling any other responsibilities and expectations. Then I am traveling every three or four days to some places I've already been, and new lands I haven't yet seen. I get that not everyone would choose this lifestyle - the jetsetting, navigating the chaos of tarmacs and baggage claim. But I have no post code envy,  I love what I am doing, I love where I am at and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's likely that I will hit fifteen countries this year alone. I'm amazed at what I am learning, and its my sincere intention of carving out more time to tell you about it. 

As always, thanks for reading. 

I guess I'll know when I get there

Well it's been a full year since I began law school. And oh my what a FULL year it has been. Law school is notorious for throwing you in the deep end and making you learn how to swim. That's a good analogy, but the one I prefer is making you hike up a never ending Mt Everest in a bikini blind (not blindfolded, but actually physically blind). 

It's odd to be sitting in a classroom again, reminded of how little I know and how much I still have ahead of me to learn. This semester I am taking some international law courses that Im really excited about. Last week alone, I was assigned over 200 pages of reading. This isn't exactly study abroad undergrad style, it's still the brutalities that law school has to offer except now the temptations to do anything except law school are 5 times stronger. 

I landed Tuesday morning in London and headed straight to class. It was surreal sitting in that room taking notes. My mental sloth is evident in the abnormal amount of motivation it takes to get through one page of dense textbook reading. It's nothing like devouring a John Grisham in just a few hours. 

In addition to trying to get back into the swing of school, I am starting to get settled in this great international city. Reverse culture shock has hit me pretty hard. It's so strange to see women with painted nails, be surrounded by English speakers that I can understand, read all the street signs and billboards with ease, walk up to anyone and ask a question expecting to be understood, availability of Internet at my fingertips.  The public displays of affection and the liveliness of the Brits chattering away on the tube have also jolted me quite a bit. It feels like living in London can hardly be classified as living abroad. Not to discount the differences between American and British culture, but I can walk into a grocery store and get bagels and Philadelphia lite cream cheese or a dozen Krispy Kreme. 

Then again, compared to East Africa, life almost anywhere else would be easier or at least more Western. I took the weekend to be selfish. I needed to catch up on sleep and spend some time in solitude just reeling from my weeks in Rwanda. In Tom Petty's Learning to Fly he says that "Coming down is the hardest thing." He also sings about a journey that started out on a dirty road, all alone. Then for the end of the journey, he ends the song with "I guess I'll know when I get there." 

I have secured housing, learned how to successfully text on my new phone, navigated around with delightful ease, survived my second week of law school and booked my next flight to new lands not yet explored. This week, I move into my apartment, attempt to get caught up on school and hopefully get to re-explore the city a bit. I will be here until the end of December and travel plans are whirling in my mind. Greatness lies ahead. 

Ladies and gentlemen, beloved readers, welcome to London where this journey continues on.