The Week in Review

It does not feel like I have been here for a week already.

So far, I have had terrible jetlag for about 4 days, got amazingly drunk on 75p vodka mixers which in my mind definitely helped me get over my horrible jetlag, revamped my resume to make it more British and less Canadian (it broke my heart), attended a Guy Fawkes fireworks display on the beach, and stayed 3 fabulous days in Findochtry (pronounced Fin-echty) a small fishing village north of Aberdeen with only one pub. All in all, time well spent.

On Thursday we went to the Guy Fawkes firworks display on the beach in Aberdeen. It was fantastic--thousands of people watching this amazing fireworks display, eating chips and running around with sparklers. We bought sparklers too, and after having incredible difficulties lighting them we did so and stood there happily waving them around. Then we walked back to Jo's friend Mark's place and he made us fabulous hot chocolate. All in all, a good night. Then, on Friday we headed down to Cat's mum's house in Findochtry which is right on the North Sea. Actually. Right on it. You wake up, look out the window and the sea is about ten feet away from you. Anyway, so it was a fabulous girls weekend, just the four of us playing with my deck of 'Man' cards (half naked 80's men on playing cards--never was money so well spent) with 8 bottles of wine at 2pm in the afternoon. We went to the one and only pub in Findochtry, got drunk, played many a song on their jukebox (amazing) and Joanna drunkenly challenged an old man local to a game of pool (which she won). Then we ended up going back, drinking more wine, eating chocolate and watching The Boat that Rocked (for you Nikita!) which was actually so amazing and my love for Richard Curtis has increased. The next day included a hiking trip up to see the old war memorial and when we got to the top of the cliff the view was so fantastic that I had this overwhelming urge to start doing yoga. So I did and only had trouble maintaining my balance when Joanna called me a loser and I was attempting to giver her the middle finger while remaining in Dancer's pose. Very zen. Then we watched Love Actually, had a fantastic dinner with Cat's mum, and played some more intense card games. Sunday was very chill and involved a giant Scots brunch, then Andrea and I went for a hike along the coast which was actually life changing. I guess this weekend for me was an affirmation that I made the right decision. I had never felt so lucky in all my life to be experiencing what I am experiencing.

Now, onto the hard stuff. It has come to my attention that a lot of things here are really not that different from Canada. Mind you, what is different is very different, but I haven't noticed anything that has put me out too much. When I was jetlagged and sick and feeling altogether miserable I did stroll through the grocery store proclaiming 'What is wrong with these people?? Why can't they have normal bacon?' And shuddering whenever I saw some creepy and Scottish food that I didn't know what to make of. But mostly, people are people, drinks are drinks, and job searching is job searching. What is different, and what has changed are my day to day conversations and interactions. Obviously, I don't see and hang out with my friends in Canada, nor call them up or go out for coffee whenever I need to tell them something. However, Joanna and her friends have been fantastic, so that's been good so far. What I have begun to miss, but most likely because of the habit I had formed, is talking about publishing to people who work in and understand books. The people I hang out with here are fantastic, but they are also mostly all in med school. There is nothing wrong with that, nor with the fact that they talk about medicine so much, but it makes me long for the days where I sat in a group mostly populated by people who worked in my industry discussing things that I felt I had an authority to speak on. It really makes you realize what kind of bubble you lived in, what kind of limitations you set on yourself--but it also makes you crave being in the bubble again.

I also miss having an established routine. Walking to work, going for lunch, chatting with my awesome work colleagues, then walking home, going to the gym and watching some trashy but fantastically entertaining television with my roomie. There you go, that's my Toronto life in a nutshell. Fabulous. Fabulous? Well, it may have started to get a little bit static, and had the beginnings of feeling too comfortable. I could happily go about that existence for awhile, then wake up at 35 and wonder what the fuck went wrong. Hopefully that wont happen here.

And anyway, it has only been a week.