24 December 2007

Yippy!!! I'm out of my funk and am FINALLY excited about moving across the pond. Everything is in order. I sold the credenza (it was the only thing pending) and moved out of the apartment. What an exhausting couple of days! Vaneza came over to help me on Monday and Thursday. We moved the rest of the boxes and were cleaning the apartment until 2am. Ugh. It was so hard to say goodbye to my little apartment... and furniture. I choked up just a little but walked away without looking back.

The following day, it was time to go visit the parents for the holidays. They picked me up in Asheville, NC and we didn't get home until 2am. The next day, guess what I got to do??? I had the pleasure of cleaning my parents new house with them. ha. Just when I thought I had had enough. But, it's OUR house, I assume, so I might as well help as much as I can. Besides, the two of them have dwindled in to nothing. Mom is already little, and dad has lost his belly. Never thought that would happen. ;)

Can't believe it's only 4 more days before I leave for London. The only thing I'm waiting for is my debit card from HSBC. If I don't get that, I guess I'll be eating out of garbage cans once I get there. That wouldn't be good.

18 December 2007

I have been in a major funk lately. Everything is falling in to place perfectly. I have a place to live, have a second interview with Think London, have sold almost all of my furniture, etc. But for some reason, I've been really sad and somewhat depressed lately. I bought this soduku book and have been addicted to it. Rather than getting up and doing work for the move, I've been sitting on my arse playing games.

Last weekend, I had my going away get together with my friends. The snow was absolutely horrible outside. Out of the past 4.5 years I have lived here, I have NEVER seen it snow quite like that. I was completely amazed that anybody showed up at all. My first friend in Chicago, Kathy, made an appearance. When she left, I teared up. By the time most of my friends had left, I was feeling so melancholy and started to cry a bit more. Ugh. Can't imagine what it's going to be like the minute I say goodbye to my parents. :( I'm an emotional reck!

My best friend from Atlanta, Tony, came in town just in time for the party. It was so nice to have him here, although I felt so bad that I did a lot of cleaning and running around on Sunday in preparation for the move. He swore it was ok and said that it was the first time he was able to sit down and relax.

Last night, a few of my co-workers took me out for drinks. We did a little pub crawl - Elephant & Castle, O'Leary's, and Fado. It was so much fun!!!

Today, my project team took me out for lunch at Pizzeria Due. The pizza was sooooo good!!! Some of them came bearing gifts. One of the guys makes pens as a hobby. He gave me this beautifullll white and black pen made out of marble, I believe. Then he popped out a bigger, fancier pen he had in his pocket. I jokingly said, "Now, THIS is what I was expecting!" Everybody laughed in a roar (mostly in disbelief, I'm sure). He gave me the fancy pen. I couldn't believe it! I felt so guilty that I asked him quite a few times if he was sure. And he said, "Most definitely!" Such a nice guy.

Vaneza is coming over tonight to help me pack up more boxes in to her big huge mothership, so I call it. I think once all of that stuff is gone, I will feel much better. Everything will be done, for the most part. I never realized how much stuff I had accumulated over the years. Yikes! Could have been a lot worse, I suppose.

There is also a lady coming by to take a look at the credenza. If I sell it, that will be an extra bonus, since I was really planning on keeping it.

Chris, one of my friends in London, is taking me to see Cirque de Soleil as a "Welcome to London!" present. I thought that was super sweet of him... and very thoughtful.

12 December 2007

Turns out that I had a problem with my phone, which is why Nick couldn't reach me. :( I was so embarassed. The ONE time I am waiting for a phone call and the phone doesn't work. Everything was settled and Nick and I had our interview yesterday. It went ok, but I have to be honest in that if another opportunity came up, I would take it. I was hoping to get more Financial exposure, especially in the Financial center of the world, and they will not be able to provide me with that type of experience. He did say that one of his colleagues is looking for a fluent Spanish speaker to work in the European division. He was going to chat with her today and have her contact me if she was interested.

Heard from the University today. They said that they have been diligently trying to get in touch with Credit Suisse and it looks like they may want to interview me the first week of January. I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed for that one.

So, I went to the HSBC branch here in Chicago today. They have moved in to the Hyatt building, which is brand spankin' new and absolutely beautiful. I felt so strange when I got there because it wasn't like a typical retail branch. They had to come downstairs to get me and then I found out there are only 3 people that work in that office. ha. How funny is that? Anyway, she told me that I had applied for the wrong account and now I need to apply for an International account. Luckily, she is going to help me with this one and it should be set up rather quickly. Tomorrow, I have to return to their offices and submit all of the paperwork. What a pain!

Yesterday, we had our company Christmas party. It was a lot of fun! And the food was delicious! We went to this place called Wildfire (steakhouse) and they had karaoke. When I first heard they had karaoke, I thought for SURE that nobody would get up there to perform. Boy was I wrong! We had a guy get up there and perform "Jump! Jump!" by Cris Cross. It was so funny! Everybody at my table was up dancing. And he was really good too! The VP of our department was up there singing and dancing too. It was a good time.

Until next time...

10 December 2007

The weekend was a great time! I'm managing to spend good quality time with some of my closest friends and continuing with the preparations for the new chapter of my life.

This coming weekend is my last weekend in Chicago. I can't believe it! Friday night, one of my friends is throwing a holiday party in her loft condo (it's really beautiful!). Saturday, my best friend from Atlanta, Tony, is coming in to town for a conference of some sort in the burbs. I'm having a farewell get together with my friends at this bar that's 2 blocks from my house. There will be nearly 40 people there! Sometimes I forget how many people I know in this city. It's amazing considering I started out with not knowing a soul four and a half years ago! And Sunday, Barb has decided to do a Sunday Funday. Not sure what that will entail this week, but I'm sure it'll be a great time for all!



Today, I was scheduled to have an interview with the last company on my list of preferences, Think London. They are a not-for-profit organization that helps organizations get established within the London area. Surprisingly, they have offices all over the world, including two in the United States. The interview was scheduled at 10am this morning, so I decided to grab some tea and head down to the lobby. Waited until 10:20 and decided that he probably wasn't going to call at this point. I was a little disappointed, actually. Even though they were the last on my list and I told myself that I didn't really care to work for a not-for-profit, it would have been nice to ask him a few questions to see how my professional goals would fit in an organization such as this. Ah well. Perhaps they will contact the school to reschedule.

7 December 2007

Things are starting to calm down quite a bit now. Today, I went to the British Consulate to get my Visa changed to new dates, which are now from 7 December to 15 July. :) The ladies at the consulate were very nice and accommodating.

6 December 2007

Everything is just coming along so beautifully. Jenny dropped by last night to take a look at the apartment. She was so excited and absolutely loved the apartment and the neighborhood... and my furniture. She said, "When I get back home tonight, I am going to go online and apply for the apartment. I am so excited! It's perfect!"

This morning, I received an e-mail from her asking me if should could purchase my sofa and bedroom furniture. How could I say no to that?

Heard back from the leasing office this afternoon and they said they have approved Jenny's application. WOO HOO! It's official. Now, Jenny and I will need to work out when she wants to move in, etc. I can breath now...

Also received the visa back in the mail yesterday, but noticed the dates were wrong. They were from 12/3/07 - 5/1/08 and I really needed for it to be from 12/29/07 - 6/29/08. Looked all over the website for an answer of how to get it changed. Looked for the phone numbers to contact somebody, sent an e-mail from the website, etc. I was so exhausted and so frustrated that I couldn't get in touch with anybody that I could feel my eyes starting to swell. I tried out the numbers and one of them wouldn't take my credit card (it said the expiration date was invalid?) and I can't dial a 1-900 number from my cell phone (it's restricted), so I felt like I was screwed!

Finally, after tons of searching, I found the fax number to the visa department at the Consulate. Wrote up a little letter explaining my problems and faxed it over. Within 20 minutes, I received a phone call from a lady at the consulate and she said I could drop it off tomorrow and they will fix the dates for me. Phew.

So, really, I guess everything is working out beautifully. That was the last thing on the list I had to stress about. Now, I can just relax and get excited about moving to a wonderful new city!

OH! One last thing. I put in my resignation today here at work. My Supervisor phoned me up and told me that the VP has approved for me to take a 6 month leave of absence. They are just waiting on HR to make the final approval. Wouldn't that be nice? Although, I never quite imagined myself coming back to work here, but if things don't turn out like I plan for them to, it certainly would be nice to have something to fall back on.

5 December 2007

OH MY GOD! I have fab news that has absolutely nothing to do with moving to London. Ok, so, I know some people may find this a bit silly, but back in September (when I decided I was going to move), I thought it would be interesting to see if I could network with different folks over there... ya know... to pick their brains... and maybe to use as a professional reference for a job or internship. I signed up on LinkedIn and started looking that way. But then I also signed up on a London Love website and started to meet folks within' the Financial industry (amongst others). It was great! To date, I have managed to keep in touch with quite a few of them and they have all been very helpful and will be wonderful friends once I get there.

Back to the news. Last week, I found out that Radiohead was going to perform in London for 2 dates in June, but the tickets hadn't gone on sale yet. I was sending messages to my friends and asking them if they liked them (so I could seek out a concert buddy, naturally) and they all said they liked them ok. Except, one of them (namely Nick) told me that his boss is a fanatic! I asked him if he would ask his boss if he wouldn't mind a silly American tagging along. I guess he didn't mind because I heard this morning from Nick that the tickets went on sale and he got me a ticket! How great is that?! I'm so excited!!!

In other news, I sold my dining room table last night and stayed up until midnight cleaning my apartment and packing up my artwork. There is a Jenny that is coming to take a look at the apartment this evening. I'm REALLY hoping that she will be the one to take the apartment. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

4 December 2007

It's officially official! The British Consulate has sent me a confirmation e-mail that my visa has been processed and approved. I should receive it tomorrow! I'm sooo excited!!!

Another revelation... I have been told by several people that it is very difficult to set up a bank account in the UK. You have to show proof of residence, and submit a ton of paperwork in order to open an account. With that in mind, I have asked several people which bank is most prominent in London and they all said HSBC. Looked on HSBC's website and noticed they have one branch here in Chicago. Rather than going to the branch, though, it was much easier for me to open a student account online. They had a few things to verify before they could accept my application. I received notification today that my account has been approved and now I can start populating it with a few dollar bills. :)

Additionally, I have finally received word from the University of where I will reside. Originally, I was thinking that I was going to be neighbors with the Queen and living in Victoria (it was my first option), BUT it turns out I will be living in Highgate Hill, which I hear is very lovely. It's about 30 minutes from the campus on the tube and about an hour away from all of my new friends.

The only thing pending now is the whole apartment situation. I posted it again on Craigslist last night and haven't had any bites today. It's making me really nervous!

1 December 2007

I received the e-mail I have been waiting for! The British Consulate has received my application! WOO HOO! Luckily, I turned it in when I did. They said in the e-mail that around Thanksgiving and Christmas time is their peak season and they may need up to 10 days to process the visa. Yikes! The heart has stopped palpitating... thanks goodness.

This morning has been quite a whirlwind. A couple came by this morning to look at the car. An hour later, it was sold. I can't believe it! As I was running upstairs to get the title to the car, I ran in to a couple with their daughter that was looking at my apartment. Richard, the maintenance man, was showing them a few units here. The couple told me they would have a decision by Monday. They said it was between mine and the one on the 3rd floor. I'm almost certain they will choose the one on the 3rd floor, since they like the timeframe of when that apartment will be available better. But that's ok. I can feel that the apartment worries will be coming to an end realllly soon!

Until next time.