London baby yeah!

30 September 2006

To view this blog with pictures see http://kiwigirlnextdoor-uk.blogspot.com/2006/11/30-september-2006-well-this-weekend.html

Well, this weekend marks my two week anniversary of being in London, and what a crazy two weeks its been. Ive been really busy running around London to interviews but in the end everything has worked out swimmingly. Actually Im so ecstatic that I dont even know if Ive spelt that word right, and apologise if this blog gets a bit wordy as Im excited and very likely to get carried away with how perfectly everything has worked out. I've got a new place to live, new job, new bank account and a new phone but Im still the same old Melissa you know and love, enjoying getting thrown in the deep end overseas, and still missing the company of her awesome mates in the evenings and weekends - big hug :)

So details...
New Place - A room was available at Jayne's place that I've dossing at for the first couple of weeks. Its a nice area called Fulham in SW London, close to the tube and supermarket and I get along really well with her flatties so am excited about unpacking my bag and moving in this weekend. Its £66 a week for a single bed in a shared room (mines right next to the window, upstairs in the pink house - working on uploading a pic - im sharing with two other chicks, one from Poland and one from Spain) in a fully furnished flat with 6 of us in all (its balanced with two Aussies and two Kiwis)

New job - After attending heaps of interviews and having to put together pros and cons lists for the positions I was offered, I start my new job on Monday. Im working as a temp for Man Investments (www.mangroupplc.com) and will be their Compensation and Benefits Administrative Assistant (working on sending out letters about payment of a bonus to 1400 of their 4000 employees in 14 countries) for the next month. Its a basic Admin role but pays £11 an hr (double the minimum wage) its a nice office right on the River Thames and by the Tower of London and there are free lunches in the cafe or other restaurants nearby, I will be there until the 25th of October. On the 26th of October I start a 6 month maternity cover contract as the HR/Training Administrator of a Media Publishing Company close to Oxford St. Its a close-knit HR team of 5 and I'll be providing administrative support to the whole HR function so it will be great to get an experience of all of generalist HR and will keep me going right through the winter in London until the end of April.

So things couldnt have worked out better if Id planned them - that seems to be a common theme for this trip - and a bit of a scary revelation. It has been actually kind of fun juggling interviews and phonecalls and company research for the past couple of weeks, I feel like Im always on the computer or phone sending out CVs or confirming times etc but it has allowed to get out and about in London a bit - albiet inbetween interviews in a suit. Its great to have everything sorted in under two weeks and I think Im really lucky. Its exciting to know Im settling down in London for the next 7 months and then I think Im gonna try and find work somewhere else in the UK for the remainder of my time here. So keep checking out this blog for updates of how life in London for one crazy kiwi is going. Luv and cake xx