Shopping in the UK is a little different from back home. Shops tend to close around 5 p.m. during the week, or promptly at 4 p.m. on Sundays. For someone who shops at Walmart around 9 p.m any day of the week, this was like living in the twilight zone. Most days, it was extremely frustrating. I'm not usually decent enough to go out by 2 p.m., let alone get two weeks worth of groceries before 4 p.m. The few days I attempted this I felt like death afterwards for all the rushing around and carrying heavy bags the whole way through town.

My new cellphone came today! It's an Alcatel phone with a QWERTY keyboard. I love proper physical keyboards on phones. I haven't had one in forever. Two of my favourite phones had them: my orange LG Rumor and my HTC Desire Z. Now that I upgraded my Canadian phone last year to a Google Nexus 5, I miss my QWERTY keyboard for typing. So this little pink phone makes me very happy. Texting will be a breeze.

My sim card came in the mail a few days ago. I popped it into my phone right away and activated it online. My pink phone is ALIVE! Muwahahaha. Now I'm off to apply for jobs and continue forward with my plans for living in the UK for the next couple years. Having a cellphone really solidifies it for me. I have a UK number attached to my name... I really am living here.

Dana~

I began my job hunt the other day and realized I was missing one very important thing. A UK phone number. I couldn't exactly give them my boyfriend's cell number, he rarely checks his phone and I don't want to miss an opportunity. So I came to the decision of purchasing a basic cellphone so I could apply for work. It also would come in handy if my partner or friends needed to contact me when I'm out and about. Especially since I find myself wandering through town aimlessly nowadays. It is quite beautiful and I adore the historical buildings.

Anyways, I explained my position to my partner who agreed and said I should look for a good company. He wanted to switch to a new plan since his company was gouging him every month. Thus I set out to visit the phone shops on the High Street the following day. I stopped at all of them and discussed phone plans. They all were really expensive for what I wanted. Also everyone kept trying to sell me on a smartphone when all I needed was a basic phone for texting and phone calls.

 Eventually, I met my partner at his brother's house both tired and frustrated that I had not found a solution to my cellphone problem. My partner corrected my English, reminding me that they were called mobiles here. As I was about to tell him I didn't care, the fiance of my partner's brother spoke up. She told me about her phone plan and how if I purchased a cheap phone from Amazon, I could sign up with giffgaff. Everything was done online and you could order a free sim card right away. They even had a plan which included everything I needed for only a few quid a month.

It sounded too good to be true, but I spent the rest of the afternoon looking it up. She had been right. Even better, once we switched my partner over, texting between us was free! I ordered the sim cards that night and began searching for my new phone on Amazon. Hopefully I'll be hooked up with my new "mobile" number soon!

Dana~

So, I may not have discussed this before, but I'm an avid Simmer. This may not be a word most people know, but it's basic definition is a person who plays a lot of "The Sims 3". I've been playing for about four years now mostly because it's a great way to tell stories and create characters. Whenever I have writer's block, playing Sims always gets my creative juices flowing.

Now, back in Canada I had a pretty decent desktop. It had an Intel i5 processor and everything. It ran "The Sims 3" really well. Well enough that I added so many mods it wasn't funny. I liked to be able to alter the game and my stories to my whim. It was great. Unfortunately, I had to leave my desktop behind when I moved to the UK. I had a hard time coming to grips with the fact I was going to lose my favourite creative outlet. Then I realized I could install the game on my Macbook Pro! I thought this was the solution I needed.

No. Nuh-uh. Not happening. Yes, the game installed. Yes, it ran sort-of-but-not-really-fine. My issue was that the mods barely functioned. Modifications that normally caused no lag, forced the game to a slow crawl. Then there was the custom hair glitch. Half of my properly-installed custom hair styles never load, no matter what trick I try. I had a method to get them to load (Load game, check hairs, close game, delete caches and reset mods, restart game), but even now that has stopped working.

I am very irked as many of the glitches have made me feel more annoyed by my hobby than happy. Things have gotten a bit stressful and I always used to turn to Sims...but now it too is a struggle. I guess I'll just have to keep fighting with it on a day I'm not frustrated.

Dana~

I did it. I live in the UK now. Part of me thinks this is unreal. The other part of me is full of excitement and is jumping for joy. Living abroad is a dream I have that finally came true. The travel was a pain, but after nine hours in the air and five hours riding a National Express coach to the South of England, I finally arrived in my new temporary home. There wasn't much to see on the way, mostly empty fields and sheep. Lots of sheep. But I love sheep, so no real problem. My partner met me at the bus station and we took my luggage back up to the cottage. It has been such a long day I don't think I can explain much more in any coherent way.

I'm settling in and counting all the different things I have to be excited about. New plans to make and a new future to create. I'm excited beyond belief! (Have I said the word excited enough in this post?) For now, I'm too tired to cook and we ordered our favourite Chinese takeaway. I must try to nail down all the slang so I fit in a little better. I still get looks for my North American accent, but my Canadian flag pin should help me be rid of those.

Tomorrow is a new day, the start of a new life in a new country. I just hope I don't forget my old life too much. I'm not leaving Canada nor my family behind forever...

Dana~

I handed in my passport to the UK government the other day. In two weeks time, I should have my Youth Mobility Scheme visa. You see, that relationship across the pond grew a little bit. Enough for me to give it a real shot and move in with the man. I mean, we spent 6 months together last year. Three in England and three in Canada. This visa was the easiest for us to be together and it lets me try to find work right away. This feels very rushed, but so right. The excitement is so intense I feel like I could burst! I've always wanted to live abroad, let alone date someone from far away. Even better I could have international experience on my resume. Chance of a lifetime, absolutely!

Now the not so fun part. I'm terrified. I have never lived away from my family. I can barely cook for myself, not for lack of trying. Then there's the whole, "I'll have no support system" issue. My friends and family, my confidants are all back home. But Skype should be enough and I can always buy a cookbook... I guess I'm just a little nervous. This is technically me moving away from home for two years. That's a hell of a long time. Maybe I'm naive believing I can do this. I mean, I'm 21. I am certainly old enough. But am I mature enough? Are all these doubts proving that I'm not ready? I guess I should go for it and try not to focus on all these worries. I have pretty much everything else sorted. Accommodations, tickets for travel and starting off funds. I'm not taking a blind leap of faith. Thought it certainly feels like it.

I don't want to live with regrets.

Dana~

I suppose I should introduce myself. Or should I talk about this blog? There's not much to say about it right now, the website has yet to be developed so why discuss it? I guess that leads to the discussion of me as someone who is sort of developed. I write, I ramble. I'm often out of my mind but focused on what I'm doing. My current focus is job hunting and developing myself as a person. I finished college a year ago, studying professional writing in hopes it would open new doors. Thus far it hasn't even opened a window, but my horizons certainly broadened.

A sunset shot from my trip to  Harrison Hot Springs, BC

I had the time to travel, first camping around BC and then to the UK of all places. It was never high on my list of post-education destinations; Japan was always a childhood dream vacation. But I formed a relationship across the pond and the travel plans made sense. Besides, doesn't everyone go backpacking in Europe after college? Though, the UK isn't really in Europe and staying in a rural cottage for the summer isn't really backpacking.

So those are my most recent exploits. College graduation, job hunting and international travel...Boy, do I feel like a cliche.  Either way, I created this blog so as to practice my skills and make sure I had an online presence. Now let's hope my Photoshop skills don't fail me as I try to assemble this page!

Posts that may appear here will include anything from politics and local news to my daily happenings and video games. Hopefully my writings will be insightful to you, readers of the Internet. Maybe my personal growth will be entertaining or educational...Though I have my doubts.

Dana~