The Happiness Project

I just finished reading this book and I loved it. I had been waiting to read it for about a month. I had ordered it on Amazon and it ended up never coming so I had to cancel and then reorder. Once it arrived I read it in three days.


I've been thinking a lot about happiness these past few months and what I want to do with my life, five year and ten year kind of plan thing. I am not unhappy, but I think it will be good for me to really think about what I am trying to achieve. So I am going to be focusing this week on happiness related to my career.


I started out this blog almost two years ago now. It seems like such a long time ago! The purpose at the time was to write about what it was like starting a career in London. I wanted to capture the experience of what it was like to go from a very familiar and established environment (Minneapolis) to something completely unknown (London) and share what it was like to find a job and then what it was like working in London.


The only issues is now that I am working I can't really write about it. I want to respect the privacy of the people I work with and there's always the issue of not knowing who's going to be reading, which can be a bit of a pain if things aren't going so well. So I am going to write a bit about what it is ideally that I want out of work.


I would describe myself as an ambitious self directed person who has always been able to figure things out and make things hap


My career is important to me, I like work. My guiding philosophy has always been I do what I love and love what I do. When I look back over my CV/resume I am happy with every single job that's listed there. I've looked for challenging opportunities. I believe that when you do something you love it doesn't feel like work at all.


What do I want from work? I want to be part of a thriving dynamic and energetic team. I want to work with people who are excited to get out of bed and get to work.  I also at some point want to lead a team. I have always been a natural leader and can see myself working towards that.  I thrive on collaboration. I of course am able to work on my own, but I enjoy working with other people.


 I want to get better at what I am doing and be constantly learning. I want to be productive and make things happen. I like people and am  good at getting people to work together. I also am not precious with my ideas and am open to other people's points of view. Of course I think I have great ideas, but I am not afraid to have them challenged and expanded upon. I want to be busy. I want to make mistakes, to take risks and to really push things. I want to be so excited about an idea that it wakes me up in the middle of the night. I want to solve problems.


 I do feel very happy with what I've achieved in London. I remember reading on the UK Yankee forum back in 2008 about people who were never able to work in their chosen fields and worrying that I might end up doing something completely unrelated. Hard work has paid off and I am proud to say that I've been working in my chosen industry.


So I am going to spending some time this week thinking about career goals. I've got an informational interview coming up with a successful lady and a new mentor which I am very excited about.


Lots of exciting things are happening!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one my favourite holidays... I love it so much. It's a day of not only for feasting, but spending time with friends and family. I really wished that I had gone home this year for Thanksgiving with Matthew. Thankfully I can live vicariously through my friends status updates and photos. 

I don't really do anything for Thanksgiving here in London. The first year I was here I went to a party that was hosted by the American friend of my flatmate. It was a lot of fun, a bunch of Americans studying abroad trying to share our tradition with our new friends. 

As much as I miss the holiday I don't really feel the need to recreate it over here. I thought about cooking the Thanksgiving dinner for Matthew, but I am willing to wait for him to experience it in America. This may or may not have to do with the fact that I've never cooked a turkey before, but Matthew doesn't need to know that.

I've also been getting into all the black friday hype online and telling Matthew all about it. He can't imagine why on earth people would get up to be a store for 4 a.m. I've tried to explain the theory behind the door busters, but I think he'll also have to experience that first hand.

In all honesty I've never been the kind of person to engage in the crazy day after Thanksgiving shopping, but for some reason I feel the urge to! 

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I feel very thankful for all the amazing people I have in my life. I just feel so grateful for everything that I have.

Neighbors

I wrote about my new neighbors a while back. We have the lady across the hall who used to like to come over whilst wearing a bathrobe with no sash and nothing underneath. She hasn't been coming over as often as she used to. The new thing is to just knock on the door and ask for a few pounds, which isn't too bad. She's happy with 3 pounds and then goes back to her flat. She's pretty harmless and friendly.

However we've got very loud neighbors downstairs. I wish it was a matter of them just playing their music loud, but it's not. They spend most of the time screaming at their two kids. They've got a boy who might just be in reception and a little girl who is maybe 3. There's also a dog that gets yelled at. 

I am not talking about once in a while a little bit of family shouting. These people yell at their kids in a really angry awful way that usually involves a lot of terrible profanities. During the week it's not so bad, but it goes on all weekend. They don't every really leave the flat either. 

Last Saturday it got really bad where there was the yelling and fighting between the man and woman, it escalated into them fighting outside in front of the flat and then yelling at a man on the street. I don't know how he fits into it, but it was pretty intense.

It's hard to try to ignore and I feel so bad for the kids who live there and feel helpless as to what to do. I usually don't hear the kids screaming or crying, just the adults. We were close to going down there and knocking on the door and asking them to keep it down, but when we saw how he kicked off with the random guy in the street we decided against it. They don't seem like the most reasonable of people.

I love our flat, but it makes living here unpleasant. I feel bad for the kids and like I should be doing something. At the moment it doesn't sound to be anything more than horrible verbal and emotional abuse and not physical. If I thought it was I would try to do something, call someone...

It's just such a sad thing. I've never experienced this before. In our last flat we got a bit of noise from the lady upstairs. Her bedroom was above my and she liked to watch EastEnders at 10 p.m. and of course I didn't mind that. I enjoyed listening to it as I fell asleep.

Has anyone else had to deal with something like this before? What did you do?

Feeling more at home

I think one thing that has definitely changed within the last few months is that I am starting to feel at home in London in a way that I haven't before. I no longer feel like the person who is constantly battling against feeling out of place or who wants to focus on how different everything. I find myself going with the flow and feeling more relaxed and adjusted that I have ever felt. 

At the same time I still feel conflicted and homesick, but in a much different way than I have before. I think I've also rebelled against writing about it too. 

I've grown tired of talking about where I am from. I think this should make sense to other expat bloggers. I am tired of most of the conversation being about being from some place else and then moving onto thoughts and observations about life in London. 

Of course I realise that the majority of the population of London if from some place else, but I feel like I end up spewing out the same speech time after time only to end up boring myself not to mention the other people.

Do other expats feel this way? I'd be interested in finding out what you all think.

Selfridges, Oxford Street

I love Selfridges.It's one of my favourite stores ever! Department stores are still in full swing over here and they are very impressive. I love wandering through it early on a Saturday before all the shoppers turn up. These are just a few photos from my last trip. The new shoe gallery is amazing and the displays are just lovely. It's just a special place full of amazing treasures.

Brixton Market

This is why I love Brixton

I love Brixton and this pop up shop is one of the reasons why!  I am really looking forward to this pop up shop put on by the Zombie Collective. They are putting on a one day pop up shop selling prints and other art, plus free workshops for adults and children, including bookbinding and face-painting.

That's my Saturday morning sorted!

Back to the States!!!!

The last time I was in America was May 2009. It was a for a  long weekend to attend a wedding and it seems like a million years ago. I've thought a lot about going home for a visit over the past year, but to be honest I felt really hesitant about it.

I was really afraid of how I would feel if that makes any sense. While it would be great to see everyone that I had missed so much I worried that I would be really sad once I came back to London. So I stayed away. I thought it would be just too sad to have to say good bye to everyone.

They say in many articles about adjusting to a new country that there are different stages that an expat goes through. Even though I decided to live in London I still went and am going through these different stages.

Stage 1 - Excitement
The individual experiences a holiday or 'honeymoon' period with their new surroundings.
They:
. Feel very positive about the culture
. Are overwhelmed with impressions
. Find the new culture exotic and are fascinated
. Are passive, meaning they have little experience of the culture


(Oct 2007 - August 2008) Stage 1 happened when I first arrived to study in 2007 at LCC. I loved London and found everything to be amazing and I liked how different it all was. I would say that I was definitely in the honeymoon period up until I came back married and ready to really live in London. Up until that point I had been studying and having fun. I did miss home, mainly the people, but it didn't bother me too much.


Stage 2 - Withdrawal
The individual now has some more face to face experience of the culture and starts to find things different, strange and frustrating.

They:
. Find the behaviour of the people unusual and unpredictable
. Begin to dislike the culture and react negatively to the behaviour
. Feel anxious
. Start to withdraw
. Begin to criticize, mock or show animosity to the people

(October 2008- February 2010) Stage 2  kicked in when I arrived back from the States to live here properly. This is when I started my job search and was trying to find my feet. I felt irritable and isolated and at times even hostile towards other people. I was tired of being different. I missed the comfort and familiarity of where I was from. A lot of things felt challenging and annoying. I also was really feeling very homesick at this point. This was a rotten stage to be in.

Stage 3 - Adjustment
The individual now has a routine, feels more settled and is more confident in dealing with the new culture.

They:
. Understand and accept the behaviour of the people
. Feel less isolated
. Regains their sense of humour

(February 2010 - April 2010) Stage 3 began for me just about the time that I decided to leave my job. I finished my job on the last day of February and then immediately the next day I went on a week long skiing holiday with Matthew, his brother Thomas and our friends Ali and Becky. That was a fantastic trip and I knew when I got back that things were going to be different. I felt like I had overcome a hurdle and was moving on. It was a great feeling! 

I don't know how to really explain it, but I felt different as a person.

Stage 4 - Enthusiasm
The individual now feels 'at home'.

They:
. Enjoy being in the culture
. Functions well in the culture
. Prefer certain cultural traits of the new culture rather than their own
. Adopt certain behaviours from the new culture

(April 2010 - present) Stage 4 I can't tell you how happy I am to be at this stage. Don't get me wrong. I of course get homesick and miss my friends and family and at times feel uncertain about things, but I feel the love and excitement I once had for London again. I feel so much more alive and happy about everything now. I love my job and where I am living, things are falling into place due to hard work and perseverance.

Of course moving through these steps wasn't as clear cut as I've made it out to be in this short post, but looking back I can definitely see myself experiencing them.

So I feel really good about going back to Minnesota for a visit and all that I've achieved since I've been in London. I never really thought it would be hard to adjust to a new country, but it does make you a stronger person. 

I can't wait to be back and see everyone that I've missed so much.

So long Shepherds Bush and hello Brixton!

We found a flat!

I am very excited that we found a flat! Matthew and I will be moving to Brixton at the end of June. It was easy to find a flat as I mentioned in my last post. I wanted to live near people we knew. We've got a very good friend, Becky, who lives right in the heart of Shoreditch and at first that's where I thought we were going to live. Until we looked at how much rents were. I would have loved to live there. Here's the thing. It's hard for me to sometimes make comparisons between flats and areas in London. 

At the moment I live in a beautiful spacious flat with a garden. The owner of the flat had done it up and was trying to sell it, found that he couldn't and then rented. Needless to say it was in perfect condition. I didn't realise how amazing it was until we started looking around. It's a two bedroom with large outdoor garden for 1500 pounds per month split between four people. It's pretty nice for what we've been paying. I don't mind the area. Although I will admit that I liked the area much better when Mary was living just up the road.

However. Matthew and I would like to live on our own as a married couple and I am desperate to have my own place the way I want it. Mary and her friend Sara, who I've met and is lovely, had taken a flat in Brixton so I thought we should check it out. 

What can I say about Brixton....for me as an American my perspective is a bit different. A lot of Londoners who have lived North of the river would say that they would never move South of the river. There's a bit of a territorial debate. Here's an excerpt from this article on moove2london.

North or South London

Which is the best part of London  – is it the area north or south of the River Thames? As soon as you move to London, you’ll notice how territorial people are about where they live. The debate on North vs South London is ongoing and never really results in a definitive answer. This doesn’t stop Londoners arguing it out anyway.

Since I've only lived in London for a few years I don't happen to feel strongly about the debate. I want to live in area of London that's fun and has stuff going. For some reason get a community vibe from Brixton and I would like to be live somewhere like that. I feel drawn to it, so we'll see how it pans out. 

Yes, there was a massive riot there in 1981. I know that's not been forgotten and also people tend to view the area as unsafe. The times I've been to Brixton I've never felt unsafe and people also said that Shepherds Bush was unsafe...generally people who don't live in London.

So, what's the flat like? Well it's a two bedroom flat! It's on the second floor (or 1st floor if you're not American) and you come in the door and to the left is a spacious living room and kitchen together. It's big, bright and open. There is also one small bedroom on that floor that has high ceilings and a window. You then go upstairs and the main bedroom and bathroom are there. I've never been a flat that had stairs before! We are going to use the small room as an office/sewing room. I bought a sewing machine from John Lewis a year ago and have never used it. I can't wait to get it out and start sewing. 

We live two minutes away from Mary and Sarah, across the road from an amazing pub called the Effra Town Hall, a few minutes away from the Ritzy cinema and it's just a five minutes walk to the tube. 

The only downside to the situation is that we have to be out of our flat on the 19th of June and we can't move in until the 24th. To be honest I am not looking forward to that at all. The landlord has an empty flat where we can move our stuff into, which is nice that we don't have to pay for storage. We'll have to find somewhere to stay for those few days as well. It will all work out, but there's all those niggly last minute things to take care of. 

I am looking forward to living in my own flat with Matthew! I think it will be an exciting new chapter of our London life together.

Finding a new flat

 my lovely mantle

I promised myself that I wouldn't start out this blog post apologising that I haven't posted anything for a long time......but of course I still want to. I am actually a bit surprised that it's only been just over a month since my last post, I thought it would be longer!

So, what have I been up to? Well lots of new and exciting things. I've started a new job! I am now a social media strategist at a lovely agency called Wax. I started there on the 19th of April. It's been going very well and I am happy with my new role. I've also been wrapped up in location based social media apps and blogging about that over on Foursquaregames. The main thing that's been on my mind is the fact that Matthew and I are moving out of our flat.

Our lease is up on June 19th and we've decided that we are going to live on our own. At the moment we are sharing a two bedroom flat with another couple. They've been easy to live with, but I am just ready have our own place. I am tired of just living in my bedroom and having to do the washing up immediately after I am done eating :)

When I first moved in with Matthew he was living with his mate Wayland, that was in Chiswick. When we moved to the flat we're in now, Shepherds Bush, Wayland came with us. I didn't mind living with Wayland. I was still pretty new to London and it was nice to have him as a friend. He started his own business and needed to move to another part of England for a while, so we were left with the choice of either paying all the rent or getting in flatmates.

Of course at the time I was way too cheap to have ever done that. I still have a hard time getting my head around how expensive London rent is, but I am now ready to bite the bullet.

I tell you looking for a flat isn't a walk in the park. Matthew and I have been looking online. Most flats are rented through estate agencies or on Gumtree. Gumtree is what we use over here instead of Craigslist. The main problem is that the estate agencies like to advertise flats that either don't have to let or have been let already! 

What should happen is that if the flat is under offer to be let they should flag it as under offer and most websites will do that. I was on the phone to one estate agency because I was interested in a flat and they told me that it had been let. I then asked about some others that were on their site and they said that they weren't available. I was like, why do you still have them up? So you don't have any flats to rent, but you have them all still on the site? He answered that they keep them up until the people move in. Nice. They keep them up so it looks like they have all these flats. How lovely.

It's really a pain. You call these people and you're lucky if they ever get back to you. I can't wait until we just find a flat and can move in.

We've finally decided on an area, sorry Becky we aren't moving to the East End. Although I really wanted to, it's just too expensive at the moment. Matthew and I are trying to save as much money as we can, so although we could afford a more expensive flat closer in town we've decided to save a bit of cash and go......gasp! south of the river. 

We've been looking in Brixton. My friend Mary is living there and it's closer to where Matthew's sister lives. I like it over there and hopefully we can find a flat. Matthew and I spent the afternoon there yesterday and we liked it. I love the Ritzy theater and we found some good pubs. I really want to be somewhere new and have a decent sized flat.  So fingers crossed we find something good!

Spring in London

I know it's Springtime in Minneapolis when the lilacs start blooming, but here in London it's all about the daffodils. They are everywhere. In window boxes, in the park, growing in the middle of roundabouts, in vases on kitchen tables and in every flower shop on the high street. I have to say that I've grown very fond of them. They are such a cheerful flower. From now on daffodils will always remind me of Spring in England.

It's been a busy past few weeks. Every since I got back from skiing it's been nonstop. Easter weekend was nice. Matthew and I went down to Bognor for the weekend. We went for a fish supper round Larry's house. Larry is Matthew's mum boyfriend. He actually lives in Worthing, about 40 minutes from Bognor. It was a nice time and all. Matthew's mum and brothers, William and Thomas are going to be moving in with Larry. It was nice to see the house and spend time with everyone. 

After Matthew, Charlotte, William, Thomas and I went to go see Kick Ass. I had already seen, but really liked it and thought everyone else would. It was nice being at the movies with my sister and brothers in law. 

We had our main Easter roast dinner on Saturday over at Nanny's. It was excellent. Nanny makes a mean roast beef. Before dinner we spent the day over at the house cleaning out the garage and the loft. We found some old photos of where Matthew lived while he went to uni. My god, what a shit hole. I mean I've never seen anything that nasty in my life. It was a photo of their lounge and just believe me that it was the worst kind of foul you could ever imagine. 

Not only was it a shit hole, but it was funny how the photo looked like it was taken back in the 1970's. There was just a very 70's look to it. I think Matthew's student days at Reading uni were much different than mine.

What else is new? Well I've been spending a lot of time looking for a new job and playing foursquare. I've been on several interviews now and things look promising. I'll write about the job hunt in another post. 

We'll be moving flats in June. I am very excited about that. We've decided that we are no longer going to have flatmates! I think Matthew had already decided that before the new couple moved in. I will admit that I was way too cheap to want to pay the rent ourselves. Last August our flatmate and good friend Wayland had to move out. I just didn't want to spend all that money on rent, so we let out the room. 

The couple who lives with us are nice people and as flatmate go they are easy to live with, but I am ready to have our own place. I am tired of feeling like I am only living in my bedroom. I am not sure where we'll move yet. We are thinking of either East or North London. I am looking forward to it. I will miss our flat and lovely garden, but it will be nice for it to be just me and Matthew.

It looks like it's a fantastic day outside so I am going to go for a walk and look for some daffodils. 

A very lovely week indeed

As of yesterday I've been home for exactly one week since our holiday. It was such a good holiday. It's also good to be back in London. I would say that it was a pretty good week and very social.

In between job hunting and interviews I went for lunch with an old colleague from Candy Space. I met him over in Chiswick for a pizza at Franco Manca. The pizza and company was lovely. After my interview with the recruiter I met up with Mary, for wine time at the Castle. I hadn't seen Miss Mary for what had seen like ages. It was great to catch up with her.

I also met up with two American gals who are living over here. I went for coffee with Natasha over near Euston station. Natasha's from the Twin Cities and has been living up in Liverpool for the past six years. We've been Facebook friends for some time now and every so often she's down in London on business.

I also met up with another American expat, Audrey, on Friday. We went for lunch and a chat at Cafe Boheme. She's been here in London for the past six months and is also looking for a job. I felt like I was talking a mile a minute and I hope I didn't talk her ear off.

I have to say that I really like meeting expats off the internet. It's interesting to hear about other people's experiences of coming over and what it's like for them living in London. It's nice to have a chat and be able to speak American. I am looking forward to seeing both Natasha and Audrey again soon.

It was a nice weekend as well. Matthew and I went down to Bognor for his sister Charlotte's birthday lunch. We hadn't seen most of the family since before the holidays. I was feeling a bit under the weather, but it was good to catch up with everyone.

Today we went over to the Book Club in the East End and worked on our laptops together. I am trying to get my website finished and Matthew had some course work to do. It was a nice quiet weekend.

I am looking forward to this week. I've got one interview in particular that I am really looking forward to. Wish me luck.

Getting ready for interviews

I am just taking a wee break from getting for my interview tomorrow. I will write more about looking for a job soon. Although I want to write about it and share my experiences, I am a bit hesitant. I want to repsect people's privacy. Which is why I never wrote about what it was like working at Rechord. 

At first this started out to be a blog about looking for work and then I thought it would morph into a blog about what it's like to work in the UK. However, I didn't feel right about it doing. 

Ok, I should get back to work. Just thought I would share with you a photo of where I usualy sit at home whilst working. 

Cheers

Rhea

Interview #1 Futureheads Recruitment

I've been putting off writing about this interview because it went pear shaped. You know when you meet someone and you just know that you're not going to get on? You feel a vibe, well I felt a vibe and lost my nerve. 



Before I go into interviews I like to sit down and prepare a list of objectives for the meeting. Key points to highlight, questions to ask the interviewer and I make a list to describe how I want to come across. On my list were the following words: capable, secure, confident, calm and enthusiastic. I probably didn't hit any of those on the list. 


I probably came across as incoherent and unfocused. Two things you don't want to project in an interview. The good thing was that it was an interview with a recruiter, so it was good practice. How likely is that recruiter going to want to find me a job? Not very, but there are loads of recruiters our there. 


The person was kind enough to give me some valuable feedback and I took all that they said on board. I went home and started writing out in a standard format the projects that I worked on. I've also been using a voice recorder on my iphone so I can practice answering questions. It's works really well.  I used to just talk in front of a mirror, but you can forget what you've said. Once you've recorded it to a standard that you like you can just listen to it. Trust me, I am taking steps to make sure there isn't a repeat performance. 

My digital pm mentor was super nice and sent me an email asking how it went and offered her words of wisdom after I told her. I am pretty darn lucky to have such a great mentor.


What can you do except learn from the situation and do better next time.

That's right, I am looking for a new job!

I put in my notice at work and it's my last month so I am back to looking for a job in London. I started this blog to chronicle my experiences of being an American graduate trying to find her first gig in a foreign land and now it's time to start the hunt again. 

I am pretty interested to see what it will be like this time around and I have to admit that I am pretty darn excited. So I will be back to blogging about what it's like looking for a job in London and with some UK experience under my belt the sky's the limit!

Top Hat Tap Dance

Top Hat Tap Dance, originally uploaded by maryjanes856.

I can't believe that I didn't write a post about the tap class I took with my friend Ali! Better late than never, so I thought I'd do a quick post.

Those who know me might remember that I've always had a love affair with tap dancing. For a short time during college I danced with a small outfit called the Shim Sham Shufflers.

Back in those days I was taking a tap class with my roommate Gina through one of the community ed programs. We'd practice our shuffle ball changes in an empty classroom over at Roosevelt High School and fancied ourselves to be the next Ginger Rogers.

My friend Ali caught wind that I had tapped before and asked me if I would be interested in doing a class with her. I thought it sounded like a fantastic idea and we both signed up for lessons at the City Academy school of dance. Ali had taken the beginners course there before and reckoned that with our experience that we should be ready for the intermediate class.

I remember that first night. Ali and I had met up at the Castle pub, just outside of Farringdon station. Our class started at 8 p.m. so we had plenty of time to catch up over a drink or bottle of wine to be more accurate. We polished off our bottle and headed off.

We arrived at the beautiful Finsbury Town Hall, on time for our class. Full of enthusiasm if not a bit tipsy. Ok, maybe a bit more than tipsy. The class just kind off began. With no real instruction. The teacher turned on the music and the class just started dancing. What a minute!? What happened to the shuffle ball changes? We were doing triple time steps along with a series of other steps that I didn't even know the names of.

Not only I was not able to keep up I ended up just kind of moving my feet around to make it look like I was dancing! It was crazy. The class was unbelievably difficult, way beyond my abilities. Ali was a bit better off, but not by much. It was just so comical. Especially when the teacher made us demonstrate the steps in front of the class!

I tried my best, but I am sure I made a real dogs dinner of it! We kept going to the intermediate class until I decided that perhaps we were maybe a bit out of our depth. I suggest to Ali that perhaps we should swallow our pride and move down to the beginners course. Thankfully Ali is a lovely and reasonable girl and we ended up going to the 6:30 p.m. class, which left us plenty of time to explore all the fantastic restaurants along Exmouth Market.

10 weeks later and we had perfected some steps and had a lot of fun. We've decided to give Bollywood dancing a go for the next session. I will keep you all posted.

Here's a list of some the places we went for food and wine.

The Eagle

Little Bay

Dollar Grill & Martini

Moro

The Castle

Monday Morning Brolly

Haymarket Rain, originally uploaded by D I C K S D A I L Y.

I woke up this morning before my alarm went off. Lying in bed I listened to the gentle sound of rain. Another day of rain. Although I am trying to be optimistic. That was exactly 19 minutes ago and it seems like the rain has stopped. There could be some sun today. I could have a look at the BBC weather report to see, but I'd rather be surprised. 

When I went hunting for an image to use for this post my search words were Brolly, England, Summer. Brolly is a word that I had never heard before I moved to London. I have to say that I really like it. It's just a cute fun word, makes having to use an umbrella everyday a bit more cheerful!

I am trying out waking up a half an hour earlier to write. I am going to get back into the habit. 

This week I am going to Germany for a wedding. Matthew and I are leaving on Friday afternoon for  Saturday wedding in a village just south of Munich. I don't actually know if it's a village, but I thought the idea of going to a wedding in  a German sounds nice. It's a short trip and we'll be returning on Sunday night. 

Matthew's dad's cousin is getting married? I think that's right. He's called Michael and we've gone to visit him back in December of 2007. That was a great trip. We stayed the weekend with Michael and he was an awesome host. He took us around to several Christmas markets and even drove us into Austria. I really liked him so I am happy to be going to his wedding. 

I am also starting a pretty strict diet tomorrow. I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and he was kind enough to inform me that I am a bit overweight. He was very matter of fact about it and of course worried about my health, cheers doc! I will blog about that later, it starts tomorrow. It's not that interesting. I have never been a super diet or exercise person and am not all that concerned with my weight. I certainly don't want to become a person who is always talking about their weight either. Boring. 

I've got one minute left before I have to jump in the shower. I am thinking that today will be a good day! Cheerio!

Keen to get my foot in the door

http://rheajoconnor.extendr.com/

I've been following Tim Brunelle's Future of Advertising class at MCAD. He's been great at getting his course information up onto his blog, Useful Lunacy. I didn't get a chance to meet Tim when I was at MCAD, but friends of mine have been in his class and have said good things. It's been interesting to follow the class and to learn along with them.

I was going through the class sessions looking for some of the workfolio sites that the students were using as part of the class and ran across the link to a site called extendr.com. I have been thinking that I would need some sort of online workfolio in order to boost my chances at getting a job in London. Unfortunately, all of my MCAD work is very carefully documented and stored on a memory stick packed away in a basement in Minnesota.

The reason being is that I came to London to study abroad and I only planned on being here for two months. I didn't bring that memory stick, but oh how I wish I had! Most people would like to see work examples and I understand why. I've put off sorting it out because to be honest the thought of recreating three and a half years worth of portfolio projects is the last thing that I want to do.

So when I found extendr.com the other day, I thought that it might be the perfect way to have a presence here in London. I liked that it was simple and straightforward so why not give it a try? It was fun to put my profile together. It also helped me to remember that I have done a lot of stuff and that I have worthwhile experience!

One of the challenges I face being here looking for a job is that no one here has heard of MCAD, let alone the Visualization program. People can look at my CV and see that I've had an internship at Popular Front, but it doesn't mean anything to them. Someone scans my CV and they think "wait a minute! Where are her GCSEs and A Levels? Did she get a first at university or a second?" I've received the feedback that because I am coming from a different educational system and have had internships at places no one has heard of, that I am going to have to work extra hard at getting that information across.

Great, but how do I do that? My CV is already going on 4 pages! I've gotten the advice that I should I write up a one page summary and include thumbnail images. I wasn't too keen on that idea, writing up a one page summary explaining all that I did in four years at college? Yikes! Even if I included the links so they can take a look, they still have to take the time to type in the urls. It seemed to me that there should be a better way and along came extendr!

What I am hoping to get out of my extendr.com profile is that an employer or someone whom I am trying to network with can look at it and quickly get an idea of what my background is. They can have a look at where I've worked, what I've been learning and what I am involved in. It's quick and easy. They don't have to read a bunch of copy and bullet points. Just click if you're interested in something and away you go.

I will keep you all updated on my progress with it. It's also just a great way to keep up a list of all the things you've done.

Heart to heart before I start over

"Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory." Ghandi

Things have been a bit up and down lately. I thought that I would have one last blog post about my feelings about looking for a job. I've had some good things happen last week and I've decided to "start over" with a new strategy and new goals. 

I am going back to Minneapolis in May and it will be one year since I've graduated from MCAD. I've been out of school for one year and still no job. I have to say that I feel a little bit like a loser returning to Minneapolis without a job. Deep down I don't think of myself as a loser at all, but I really wanted to have had a job by now. 

I have been officially looking for a job since October, that's when I came back with my spouse visa and it's been one hell of journey. From graduate schemes, recruitment agencies, interviews and job fairs it's been a bumpy ride.

 

I was feeling pretty low last week when I didn't even hear back from Pret. That's the sandwich shop in town. I had been applying for a bunch of part time jobs, restaurants and shops, and I haven't heard back from any of them. 

I was a bit shocked that I wasn't hearing back, let alone not getting the jobs. I've worked since I was 16 years old. I was starting to think that there was something wrong with me. It's not like I've been picky either. I applied to work at KFC , determined to work anywhere. I didn't hear back from the colonel either. My self confidence was starting to get shaken. I just couldn't understand why I couldn't get hired. I had even taken off all my college education so I didn't seem to over qualified. 

I started to wonder if I would ever find something? I know deep down that eventually something will come up. I am a smart, educated talented young lady my only fear is that it might take a long time before something happens. 

I wish someone could tell me how long it is going to take. Is it because of the recession? Is it because my CV stands out? Am I coming across as a total idiot during my interviews? All these thoughts run through my mind, especially when I hear people tell me that it shouldn't be hard for me to get a job with my experience. That's a real hard one to deal with! I am like ok then how come I am not getting hired? 

I just feel like there's something that I don't know. Is it really going to be that hard to get my foot in the door? I can't seem to understand why it would be that hard, are there just that many people in London trying to get a job? 

With thoughts like those running through my mind it's easy to see why I've been a bit down on myself. I felt that back in Minneapolis I was a on a good path. I had been networking for three years and getting myself involved in things and I was well on my way to starting my career. For some reason I don't feel like that at all here and I've got to figure it out. 

I am not the kind of person who takes no for answer and I can't accept that I can't find a job here. Like I said, I am willing to do whatever it takes. I've had people help me with my CV, very kind people from the States send me leads and I won't give up! 

I've got some new ideas up my sleeve and will write about those soon. Thanks again for every one's support!