6 things I like about living in the UK:
1. I can ride my bike in January.
2. I can take a train or bus to get almost anywhere in the country.
3. Things are close together, so it doesn't take very long to walk or bike somewhere.
4. National health insurance
5. I can rent a furnished apartment for not much more than an unfurnished one.
6. tea
6 things I don't like about living in the UK:
1. Job-hunting as a foreigner is much more difficult.
2. Most restaurant food is expensive and not very good.
3. I have to pay 50 pence (about 75 cents US) to reserve a book at the library--though I think this is just southwest England, not the whole country.
4. Many, many websites here are not very user-friendly. Particularly city bus system sites. If you already know your bus number and your stop, you're in good shape. Otherwise, you're better off going to the station and talking to someone.
5. They are very concerned with titles--everything with my name on it also needs "Ms."
6. Too many options when it comes to mobile phones and gas and electric companies. Once you choose one of the 40 companies, then you have to choose between 40 plans, all of which are confusing.
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
Hey kids. How are you?
One thing I've been doing for a few weeks now is interning at a local magazine. It's a green living, hippie-type magazine. Before today, I was not too excited about it, mostly because I wasn't doing much work and I didn't know if that would change. But today, I received some assignments.
I was given three short pieces to research and write. Short means 200-250 words each. The managing editor gave me the general topics and angles for them, and I just had to make some phone calls and write them up. So today I spoke to three different people and I have at least three lined up for tomorrow. All in all, it was a satisfying day.
I realized that I am out of practice when it comes to writing, but I certainly felt grateful that I could fall back on what I learned in the journalism program. While I was making a newspaper each week in Cardiff, I completely hated every second of it. But the skills I learned there--to do as much research as you can before you contact someone, to prepare all of your questions, and to just pick up the phone instead of finding reasons to put it off--were essential today. A year ago, I would have completely panicked upon being given such a task, and today I just did it. For a real publication.
I also learned that when I am researching topics that interest me, journalism isn't so bad. This should not be shocking, but it's important for me to remember. A lot of journalism students want to be newspaper reporters, and they will do anything to go out there (and "there" can be anywhere) and ask questions and dig deeper by thinking of new questions as they go. I am not one of them. The idea of being a junior reporter at a daily newspaper nauseates me. So much running around and approaching strangers. But if the subject in question is something that fits within my somewhat limited areas of interest, I feel pretty damn inspired after I get off the phone during story research.
So I'm sure you're dying to know what I'm writing about, but since the magazine won't be out for another month, I'm not going to give you any juicy details. Let's just put it this way: I spent 35 minutes on the phone with a pig farmer today. How could anyone not feel inspired by that?
One thing I've been doing for a few weeks now is interning at a local magazine. It's a green living, hippie-type magazine. Before today, I was not too excited about it, mostly because I wasn't doing much work and I didn't know if that would change. But today, I received some assignments.
I was given three short pieces to research and write. Short means 200-250 words each. The managing editor gave me the general topics and angles for them, and I just had to make some phone calls and write them up. So today I spoke to three different people and I have at least three lined up for tomorrow. All in all, it was a satisfying day.
I realized that I am out of practice when it comes to writing, but I certainly felt grateful that I could fall back on what I learned in the journalism program. While I was making a newspaper each week in Cardiff, I completely hated every second of it. But the skills I learned there--to do as much research as you can before you contact someone, to prepare all of your questions, and to just pick up the phone instead of finding reasons to put it off--were essential today. A year ago, I would have completely panicked upon being given such a task, and today I just did it. For a real publication.
I also learned that when I am researching topics that interest me, journalism isn't so bad. This should not be shocking, but it's important for me to remember. A lot of journalism students want to be newspaper reporters, and they will do anything to go out there (and "there" can be anywhere) and ask questions and dig deeper by thinking of new questions as they go. I am not one of them. The idea of being a junior reporter at a daily newspaper nauseates me. So much running around and approaching strangers. But if the subject in question is something that fits within my somewhat limited areas of interest, I feel pretty damn inspired after I get off the phone during story research.
So I'm sure you're dying to know what I'm writing about, but since the magazine won't be out for another month, I'm not going to give you any juicy details. Let's just put it this way: I spent 35 minutes on the phone with a pig farmer today. How could anyone not feel inspired by that?
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Flamin' times in the hilly city
Oy. It has been ages. I'm sorry. A lot has happened. Well, only one thing but it was a big thing. We moved to Bristol, England. Everything else is connected to that. Bristol is ok, except that we don't know anyone and I don't have a job. But I've not had a job before, and I got through it. A master's degree must count for something, right? Ahem.
Yesterday we had a little adventure at the new flat. I should mention that the new flat, by any stretch of the imagination, is a dump. We thought it would be sort of adorable to live in a dump for a while. Turns out, not so much.
The adventure in question began at about 6:45am. The flat has a bunch of electric wall heaters, which you can turn on using a switch. About 3 of the 6 total heaters in the flat actually work. I thought the one in the bathroom didn't work at all, but Dan managed to turn it on yesterday morning, and so our adventure begins. Dan got in the shower, and then he noticed some smoke. He peeked out to find the heater had lit a roaring, crackling fire to keep him warm. What a lovely surprise!
My first inclination that we were embarking on an adventure was waking up to a funny burning smell. Seconds later, Dan came into the bedroom and told me something was on fire. In my sleepiness, I thought he meant the water heater. Not that the source mattered much at the time. Smoke was pouring out of the bathroom, and we both got dressed and opened some windows. We called 999, a little nervous, because of the training we both had as kids that 911 (the equivalent number in the USA) is FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY!!!
But our bathroom was on fire! So we called, grabbed our laptops, taking occasional breaks to breathe near an open window, and bundled up to wait outside for the Avon Fire Brigade to arrive. About 10 firefighters and two fire trucks arrived to solve the problem, and I kept thinking there was no possible way they'd all fit into our tiny little apartment.
In the end, we received two complimentary smoke detectors, and little damage was done. If our landlord could show a bit of concern and offer to have the other electric heaters checked, life wouldn't be bad at all. I know the smell of burned plastic will fade over time...
Yesterday we had a little adventure at the new flat. I should mention that the new flat, by any stretch of the imagination, is a dump. We thought it would be sort of adorable to live in a dump for a while. Turns out, not so much.
The adventure in question began at about 6:45am. The flat has a bunch of electric wall heaters, which you can turn on using a switch. About 3 of the 6 total heaters in the flat actually work. I thought the one in the bathroom didn't work at all, but Dan managed to turn it on yesterday morning, and so our adventure begins. Dan got in the shower, and then he noticed some smoke. He peeked out to find the heater had lit a roaring, crackling fire to keep him warm. What a lovely surprise!
My first inclination that we were embarking on an adventure was waking up to a funny burning smell. Seconds later, Dan came into the bedroom and told me something was on fire. In my sleepiness, I thought he meant the water heater. Not that the source mattered much at the time. Smoke was pouring out of the bathroom, and we both got dressed and opened some windows. We called 999, a little nervous, because of the training we both had as kids that 911 (the equivalent number in the USA) is FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY!!!
But our bathroom was on fire! So we called, grabbed our laptops, taking occasional breaks to breathe near an open window, and bundled up to wait outside for the Avon Fire Brigade to arrive. About 10 firefighters and two fire trucks arrived to solve the problem, and I kept thinking there was no possible way they'd all fit into our tiny little apartment.
In the end, we received two complimentary smoke detectors, and little damage was done. If our landlord could show a bit of concern and offer to have the other electric heaters checked, life wouldn't be bad at all. I know the smell of burned plastic will fade over time...
Monday, 13 October 2008
6 flats in 8 hours
Hey dudes. Tomorrow we go to Bristol, where we spend the hours between 11am and 7pm looking at 6 apartments. It shall be very exciting and also very exhausting. The sooner we find a new home, the sooner somebody starts working and we have MONEY coming in. Yeah for money! Dan created a flat-hunting spreadsheet using google spreadsheets; it's very geek chic.
Though I feel anxious about looking at so many places in a day and about finding something we like, I feel good that we started looking at ads on Saturday and now have 6 appointments set up. That is a satisfying accomplishment. In addition to setting all that up, today I wrote a draft of a cover letter and resume for a job near Bristol, and I also ate lunch at a middle eastern grocery store with a cafe in it. It was sort of cafeteria style slop, only tastier. Rice, tagine lamb meatballs, chicken curry, peppers stuffed with risotto, vegetables and lamb mince, spinach and bean burritos.
Though I feel anxious about looking at so many places in a day and about finding something we like, I feel good that we started looking at ads on Saturday and now have 6 appointments set up. That is a satisfying accomplishment. In addition to setting all that up, today I wrote a draft of a cover letter and resume for a job near Bristol, and I also ate lunch at a middle eastern grocery store with a cafe in it. It was sort of cafeteria style slop, only tastier. Rice, tagine lamb meatballs, chicken curry, peppers stuffed with risotto, vegetables and lamb mince, spinach and bean burritos.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Circles
Back in Cardiff. Back in the same room in the same house where we stayed when we first arrived here a year ago. Saw a few friends. Still halfheartedly looking for jobs...the fact that my student visa runs out in January and I can't apply for the next visa until then has become a problem. But I have heard back from a recruiter who has a temp job as a production editor--it goes until nearly the end of December and is outside of London. Both of these aspects are appealing.
If I don't start that job next week, then I shall go to Dublin to visit Sinead. I envision a lazy, relaxing time, with movies and snacks and tea and pints. Not that life has been terribly busy. It's more this feeling that I ought to be doing so much more than I am. A feeling that if I don't hurry up and decide something, I will pay the consequences later. What I'm trying to feel is that I have some free time, and once I go back to the USA and get a full-time job, I won't have this free time, so I should enjoy it now.
But an invitation to Budapest has been offered, and said offer is under serious consideration. More details if/when we decide to go.
I leave you with images of London.
Takeaway wine at the supermarket
.jpg)
Fish and chips box
.jpg)
Dan finds a till (cash register) in the neighborhood
.jpg)
Huge slabs of rotating meat for doner kebabs
The trailer in which police horses ride. It's empty now because the horses are patrolling the streets during a Chelsea football (soccer) match.
.jpg)
Horses in action
.jpg)
If I don't start that job next week, then I shall go to Dublin to visit Sinead. I envision a lazy, relaxing time, with movies and snacks and tea and pints. Not that life has been terribly busy. It's more this feeling that I ought to be doing so much more than I am. A feeling that if I don't hurry up and decide something, I will pay the consequences later. What I'm trying to feel is that I have some free time, and once I go back to the USA and get a full-time job, I won't have this free time, so I should enjoy it now.
But an invitation to Budapest has been offered, and said offer is under serious consideration. More details if/when we decide to go.
I leave you with images of London.
Takeaway wine at the supermarket
.jpg)
Fish and chips box
.jpg)
Dan finds a till (cash register) in the neighborhood
.jpg)
Huge slabs of rotating meat for doner kebabs
The trailer in which police horses ride. It's empty now because the horses are patrolling the streets during a Chelsea football (soccer) match.
.jpg)
Horses in action
.jpg)
Sunday, 14 September 2008
transition
Am sitting at the dining table in the posh house in London. Handed in the dissertation last week (woo hoo) and am now technically job-hunting full time. The house-owner for whom we were planning to house-sit until the 28th is technically back, though he went to a wedding this weekend and will also be gone next weekend. So we are looking for a new place to squat. Gumtree offers quite a few options, which we have sifted through, and now one of us will begin calling or emailing to set up visits. Am hoping it won't be too horrid, since we're just looking for a month-to-month type of situation.
Confirmed today that we are mostly looking for short-term work here, before heading back to the USA. I am scared to go back to the USA, because I see few to no full-time job opportunities, but am prepared to dive into the freelance editing and writing to make do. In addition to that, we may need to get a car to live in that damn country, which sounds like a huge pain in the ass, in addition to be hugely expensive.
But I digress. All of that is later. Right now is for applying for a job as an online editorial assistant here in London. It would be the perfect next step--learn online stuff as a newbie, temporary contract, and probably decent pay. Have also applied recently for short-term project manager at a publishing company and for a production coordinator for an online travel section of a newspaper. And in the next week or so, I might start investigating how to pitch stories to magazines/newspapers.
If the United States offered proper maternity/paternity leave to new parents, it would open up a lot of short-term work. They have that here, and most of jobs I'm applying for are 6-12 month maternity leave contracts. It's perfect. You don't have to commit your life to something, but you can earn some money and learn something. Plus, they don't have the bullshit health insurance issue, where you have to get it through your employer, so you're not so tightly tied to one job. I think this would be healthier for everyone.
Not much else. I shall leave you with this beautiful image:
Confirmed today that we are mostly looking for short-term work here, before heading back to the USA. I am scared to go back to the USA, because I see few to no full-time job opportunities, but am prepared to dive into the freelance editing and writing to make do. In addition to that, we may need to get a car to live in that damn country, which sounds like a huge pain in the ass, in addition to be hugely expensive.
But I digress. All of that is later. Right now is for applying for a job as an online editorial assistant here in London. It would be the perfect next step--learn online stuff as a newbie, temporary contract, and probably decent pay. Have also applied recently for short-term project manager at a publishing company and for a production coordinator for an online travel section of a newspaper. And in the next week or so, I might start investigating how to pitch stories to magazines/newspapers.
If the United States offered proper maternity/paternity leave to new parents, it would open up a lot of short-term work. They have that here, and most of jobs I'm applying for are 6-12 month maternity leave contracts. It's perfect. You don't have to commit your life to something, but you can earn some money and learn something. Plus, they don't have the bullshit health insurance issue, where you have to get it through your employer, so you're not so tightly tied to one job. I think this would be healthier for everyone.
Not much else. I shall leave you with this beautiful image:
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Please explain why this position appeals to you
Hello friends. Job-hunting this week. Have completed the dissertation, sent it to the bindery...have received no confirmation that they got it, but am trying to wait a few more hours before I call for the second time, because they appear to be quite busy.
The next exercise is a brainstorming session for a job application question that goes a little something like this: Please explain why this position appeals to you.
I need a job, but I can't say it like that to you because it sounds like I only want any job, when in fact you want me to want this particular job. Okay. I want to work on websites. Can you be more specific? Sure, I can. I just finished a master's degree in international journalism. I learned how to write news, research and write long features, think critically (more or less), use InDesign and Photoshop, and accept that Indian classmates are ALWAYS late, no matter what the activity or assignment. I also learned that organisation is key to any functioning programme--in this case, the international journalism programme. The biggest flaws in this programme are lack of organisation, combined with unrealistic expectations and promises of what the professors are capable of doing.
But you don't care about any of that. You want to know why I want this job. Well, I want to improve my online skills. I use the internet every day, for writing email, connecting with friends through social networking sites, sharing photos, reading news, checking weather, finding a cheap place for a haircut, and so on and so forth. I also did an internship at the website for a local/international newspaper, and I learned how to use their content management system (CMS), but as I was there only three weeks, I am still not an expert on online systems.
Your travel site, on which I'd be working if you give this this job, is really cool. It has neat pictures. I like pictures. I like sorting through pictures and choosing the coolest ones, and the ones that fit together or offer contrast with one another or whatever.
Also, the site has neat tips on travel. It's not boring stuff, like the Eiffel Tower costs a lot. It's things like my family and I went on this long bike trip and we stayed at this cool eco-hostel and here's what we liked about it and this is what we ate later. I understand that many of the reader tips I'd have to sort through would be lame and boring. I worked for a romance publisher once, and one of the most entertaining parts of the job was sorting through submissions of new titles.
Of course, as you well know, your company as a whole has a fantastic reputation for journalism and covering social issues. I know I'm part of your target audience--an overeducated woolly liberal, but I can live with that. And I appreciate that there are news organisations that cater to my tree-hugger liberalism. But aside from that, you win awards. Not that I care inherently about awards. But usually awards signify good stuff, and I have seen evidence of that good stuff myself.
Ok, this has been really helpful in getting the crappy stuff out of my head to allow the better stuff to come out. Thanks much and talk to you later.
PS just found out today that the homeowner of the house we're sitting is coming back this weekend instead of on the 28th. Moving again...don't know where/when yet.
The next exercise is a brainstorming session for a job application question that goes a little something like this: Please explain why this position appeals to you.
I need a job, but I can't say it like that to you because it sounds like I only want any job, when in fact you want me to want this particular job. Okay. I want to work on websites. Can you be more specific? Sure, I can. I just finished a master's degree in international journalism. I learned how to write news, research and write long features, think critically (more or less), use InDesign and Photoshop, and accept that Indian classmates are ALWAYS late, no matter what the activity or assignment. I also learned that organisation is key to any functioning programme--in this case, the international journalism programme. The biggest flaws in this programme are lack of organisation, combined with unrealistic expectations and promises of what the professors are capable of doing.
But you don't care about any of that. You want to know why I want this job. Well, I want to improve my online skills. I use the internet every day, for writing email, connecting with friends through social networking sites, sharing photos, reading news, checking weather, finding a cheap place for a haircut, and so on and so forth. I also did an internship at the website for a local/international newspaper, and I learned how to use their content management system (CMS), but as I was there only three weeks, I am still not an expert on online systems.
Your travel site, on which I'd be working if you give this this job, is really cool. It has neat pictures. I like pictures. I like sorting through pictures and choosing the coolest ones, and the ones that fit together or offer contrast with one another or whatever.
Also, the site has neat tips on travel. It's not boring stuff, like the Eiffel Tower costs a lot. It's things like my family and I went on this long bike trip and we stayed at this cool eco-hostel and here's what we liked about it and this is what we ate later. I understand that many of the reader tips I'd have to sort through would be lame and boring. I worked for a romance publisher once, and one of the most entertaining parts of the job was sorting through submissions of new titles.
Of course, as you well know, your company as a whole has a fantastic reputation for journalism and covering social issues. I know I'm part of your target audience--an overeducated woolly liberal, but I can live with that. And I appreciate that there are news organisations that cater to my tree-hugger liberalism. But aside from that, you win awards. Not that I care inherently about awards. But usually awards signify good stuff, and I have seen evidence of that good stuff myself.
Ok, this has been really helpful in getting the crappy stuff out of my head to allow the better stuff to come out. Thanks much and talk to you later.
PS just found out today that the homeowner of the house we're sitting is coming back this weekend instead of on the 28th. Moving again...don't know where/when yet.
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