Due to my stupidity and lack of foresight, now I have no money to spend for the next two weeks. Just the day I chose to exchange my traveller's cheques (yes, all �300), I had a nice visit from a nearby pickpocket. GREAT. These people are good - I really had no idea that my wallet was gone. Thank goodness I found the wallet - left outside the store I was in with no money inside. At least they left me all my IDs, otherwise I would have a tough time trying to explain that to those people at the office. (my security passcard was in there too)

Well that was my crappy day. Now I'm going to hide in my bed and cry.

Alright, I have no life. It's Friday night and I'm here in an internet cafe blogging. Not a bad thing though - since I'm extremely tired and need a break from work. It's intensive and there is just endless stuff to learn. Anybody want some investment tips? My advise - don't. You don't know who you're up against. We're talking about these people who work in the bank, have millions of euros backing them up (it's the company's money), and they change the tide as they wish. Literally. I saw, today, my boss change the way a bond is going based on the amount he was buying/selling. Crazy.

I still haven't found a *good* area in London to chill. Apparently people drink warm beer in England? That is just sick. I think I might drop by a pub later on to see for myself what it's really like. Have to see it for myself! I hear there are some good clubs down here, but with cover charges as high as �20, I think I'll pass until I get paid in two weeks.

This weekend is still not planned. I really need to sit down and draw out my schedule. Perhaps tomorrow I will take a day pass and visit all the tourist places. Evelyn says I already picked up a bit of English accent. Scary eh?

C'mon people, e-mail me :)

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have no internet access at work and I work on the trade floor. Go figure. Their firewall is pretty tight too - I tried all my usual tricks and I can't even get through. Nice work.

Work is getting really boring. No, wait, it is very boring. Just like what I have done for the past couple of work terms. The only difference is that now I work for a bank. A big bank. Which if I screw up can lose the bank millions. No, billions of euros. 7:00am is killing me. I was sorta late for the first day, and I barely made it to work at 6:55am this morning. I swear people don't sleep there. No matter what time of day, somebody is on the trade floor. Perhaps that's because there's always a market that is open 24 hours a day around the world.

Perks about the job - I get to learn a lot about the financial system. Such as bond trading and government debts. Hedging, BPVs, you name it. Hopefully soaking on the trade floor for four months will make me aware of all these things so I can further my trade skills in the financial sector.

Still planning trips around London and in the UK. Not thinking about outside of the country yet. There's so much to explore even in London. I think I'm cutting down the number of countries I am visiting (for the mere reason that I don't have the money). Paris is a must. I'm actually favouring Greece now. Perhaps even Italy. Oh and how can we forget the Netherlands. :)

Tomorrow is Friday, so don't be surprised if there is no update tomorrow. I'll hopefully have some pictures up soon. :)

Took the tube down to the west end today just to blog. Don't you all feel special. :)

Started my first day of work today. The building was incredible. It looks like I'm working at this really old, big bank (well, I am). The HR person took me to the main trading floor, and I am still stunned at the size and the energy on the market floor. People have 6 LCD screens all hooked up in front of them displaying indices and prices and charts of several investment tools at once, with their speakerphone loud and screaming into them, and phones constantly ringing. The floor is about the size of two football fields, and it's just rows and rows of benches. The other co-op and I are working right on the trade floor! The feeling is so surreal. People drinking coffee, screaming, cursing at the screen (in their posh British accents), uttering "Bloody hell!" to every price change.

The work is actually quite interesting. Programming real time backends to support trading and making money. Hahahaha.. I feel that this is my true calling - to use my expertise and make money. The unfortunate thing is that I have to be at work by 7:00am. No e-mail, no internet at work either. The corporate culture is totally different from the North American style too. I guess it's time for me to open my eyes and see the world in another light.

Alright, now that I'm spending the money to blog, I might as well tell the whole story and not let it be hanging. :)

The goodbyes, the wait, the flight - Said goodbyes to my friends and headed straight for the line up. It's pretty insane to see so many people at the airport, especially when it was just a little past 7am. Finally got my boarding pass, and then getting through the security gate was quite a story. I must say, after the incident in NYC, security is a 'little' tighter than usual. So I walked past the metal detector. It beeped. Nothing unusual, it always does. The guy asked me to take off my shoes and walk past. WTF? So I did, and nothing beeped. Great, so now they think I have bombs in my shoes. Then they swiped some stuff all over my laptop for 'analysis', and said,"Yes it is a laptop, you may go." Like, duh, it looks like a laptop, and I turned it on to show them that it works. It takes a computer to do an analysis to tell me that?

My flight was delayed for an hour. I have no idea why, because by the time they explained it, I already fell asleep. :)

Arrived in London. Couldn't find the guy that was supposed to pick me up. Took me two long distance calls home to find the number to call the guy. Nobody told me to wait for him in front of the car rental places. The guy had NO IDEA where to drop me off. So I had to call home once again to find the address of my apartment. Even with the address, the guy had no idea where to go except for the general area. We drove around for two hours looking for the place, and then he got pissed off at me. Uh, hello, Mr. driver, you are supposed to drive me there. Not to mention that, but he made me look up the map for him and give him directions. I just landed about an hour ago and he wanted me to read a map of London and figure out the streets?! Good luck. Thank goodness for security guards standing around where I live. They told me exactly where to go and I findlaly checked into the apartment.

Now let me tell you how nice the apartment is. It's surreal. It's absolutely insane. I'll put the pictures up once I get internet access and can send pictures. The stupid USB port here at the internet cafe doesn't work, so I can't send any pictures from my camera. I have a balcony, a living area, a dining area. The kitchen is fully stocked (not with food, but just pots and stuff). I have a queen-sized bed. I have my own bathroom. I live in a freakin' hotel. :)

Faiza (my roommate) arrived the next morning as soon as I stepped out of the shower. Helped her unpacked a bit, eat a bit of food she brought with her, and we went out shopping. Needed to buy some food before we starved to death. Arrived at Waitrose (now for those who knows about London should be groaning by now), it looks like freakin' M&S (Marks and Spencers). The prices are relatively similar too. I have pictures, of a can of tomato pasta sauce, selling for �5.00. Nice small bottle too. The prices are HIGH. I thought stuff were expensive in the US. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, it's way more expensive here. We ended up buying a bottle of water, a cheap cheap can of pasta sauce (still setting us back �1.80 I believe), and some oranges. Call that lunch/dinner or whatever. Stuff is just way too expensive. I'm going to lose some major weight here.

It was around 2pm when we finished walking around and Faiza wanted to go home for a nap. I ventured out to the city by myself, taking the tube. Now here is where I complain about prices again. �2.00 for a single trip down to the city. That's $5.00CDN. Now we should all stop complaining about how expensive TTC is in Toronto. Regardless, I took the tube down here and walked around Oxford Street. There is a BIG Virgin Magastore here, and it lives true to its name (the second part that is). 4 floors, any CDs you look for will be here. Adrian, give me a list of stuff you want and I'll check it out for you. There are the usual fast food restaurants, but an abundant number of cafes and bistros around also. There is also several Muji stores here, which I haven't seen since I went back to HK a couple of years ago. As predicted, everything is expensive, almost $=� here.

The rest of the evening was rather uneventful, other than unpacking and watching the telly. I'm getting down with the lingo here. :P

Now here I am! Today I'm going to walk around and see what I can find here in the city. Perhaps buy some necessities and head home. Starting work first thing tomorrow morning. Wish me luck! :)

I've finally arrived. For those who were wishing that the flight would slam into something, well, it didn't. The Big Ben is still ticking and the London Bridge has not fallen down yet. One word I have for all of you - EXPENSIVE. Everything is so expensive here. There is no internet at home, so I'm paying �1.40 an hour (that's $3.50CDN for those who can't do it in their head like Adrian) to blog this. You people better appreciate this. Pics will be up later, once I get some steady internet connection and all. I will also tell my adventures later regarding the flight and all. Just blogging to let you all know I'm still alive and well! :)

It has truly been a rollercoaster ride today! First thing in the morning, I received a call from the human resources manager about my work permit status. Apparently they did not receive it on time and therefore I cannot leave as of today. Then I got a call from the lawyers telling me that there might still be a chance, and for me to stay around to wait for further instructions. After which the human resources manager called and ask me to change my flight, regardless of the penalty incurred with changing at the last minute.

So to make the story short, I'm leaving Saturday morning instead. Great. So much for spending a couple days to familarize myself with the surroundings.

Just got an e-mail just now - my work permit is ready and now I can FINALLY leave. Felt like 'ants in a hot wok' all day.. and couldn't even sleep properly. Now that it has been solved, I can finally get some sleep. :)

It's 3:30am and I just can't fall asleep. Whether it is anxiety that I'll be taking off soon, or the fact that I am way behind in my packing, my heart is pounding faster and faster, and I can barely stand to close my eyes. What's wrong with me? Feeling extremely out of this world at the moment.. almost feels like I don't belong. For the past two weeks, several people have told me that I think too much. I suppose the reason I started blogging was to have an outlet for my thinking - looking at my life through a different angle. Yet, I seem to think a lot more now that I blog, to the point that people actually tell me to stop thinking so much.

Relating to how Tania felt when she left for Germany last year. She said she felt like she didn't want to go. Somehow, I am starting to feel the same way. Yes, I'll still get on that plane tomorrow, because I know deep down inside, I am yearning to get out of this place and experience something that is completely different. Still it doesn't alleviate the feeling of sorrow and sadness. Not only am I leaving loved ones here, but friendships and familiarity. I have been taught, people hate change. It explains the emergence of "Change Management", a study of how to effectively manage change in environments. However, the ironic part is that every human being needs change to grow. It creates an interesting oxymoron - change drives innovation and improvement of self and society, but society resists change in general.

I have procrastinated enough. Going back to packing..

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!! :)

Hope that 2003 will be much, much better than 2002. Hope that this column will no longer be a bitching session, but rather, truly a look at life through the eyes of a bystander.

December 30th - Accompanied Michelle and Wendy to the airport, and went to shop a bit at a nearby mall with Adrian. Didn't do much for the rest of the day, except for meeting up with my classmates at night for bubble tea. It's funny how we always relate to school even when we're out of school. It's kinda sad actually. Oh well.

December 31st - More shopping. Finally finished buying everything I need to go away. Now I'm heading out to dinner and then new years eve party! Yay!