London, 1 Month In

I've made it to the end of my first month in London and wow, what an experience it has been so far! When I woke up on my first morning of being in the UK it was snowing outside which was so magical! Everyone was telling me I wouldn't see snow in London but I've seen it fall twice now, so ha! If you didn't know already, I'm here as an au pair. I'm basically a live-in unqualified nanny, and in exchange for accommodation and pocket money I help out the family with the kids. The family who chose me have been absolutely amazing to me over the last month. I have felt so welcome in their home and have really made me feel like I am an extra addition to their family.

I'm looking after two little girls who are just the cutest. I spend a lot of my time with the younger one who is 1 and a half, and is the funniest little person ever! I feel like I have bonded with the girls already really well which is a great sign for the year ahead. I've got a great room, my first double bed,  and my own bathroom which has a bathtub! I live in a great area of West London and it's quite easy to get into Central London. It's honestly been a dream come true for a girl who has dream about living the London life since high school.

I've already done heaps of things, some of them on my to do list and some I had already done before. I visited the V&A twice to see two different exhibitions, I saw the Harry Potter exhibition at the British Library along with the Magna Carta. I've visited Box Park in Shoreditch and had the most delicious pasta. I've shopped on Oxford Street (the Topshop and Selfridges are my versions of heaven) and visited Daunt bookshop. I've visited Hampton Court Palace and had my first lot of visitors from back home! And I've got some exciting things coming up too! I'm going to a live taping of The Last Leg, a comedy show with Adam Hills, maybe a trip to Liverpool next month, and a trip to Greece in the middle of the year!

Christmas Eve and Day were really hard. When I woke up on Christmas Eve, I had a good cry in bed for about twenty minutes. Christmas is my favourite time of year and the thing I love most about it, not the food and music, is spending so much time with my family. The 8 days from Christmas to New Year's Day, I spend probably 5 or 6 with my extended family. We may as well live in the same house for those days. So being away from them was definitely hard. I Skyped with my family late Christmas Eve (their Christmas morning) to open presents together (my mum packed my suitcase with presents and my Santa stocking). Then Christmas morning I Skyped again, this time they were with my whole family. I had a breakdown on Skype but I think I needed that. I spent the day with my host family's extended family which was really lovely. I had my first English Christmas lunch (nice but prawns, octopus and seafood pasta will always be the real number 1), and they made me feel really welcome. It was a nice distraction. And to be honest, that was the only time I felt homesick. I think I am taking this a lot better than I thought I was going to be.

There have been a few things that I have learnt this month about living in London;

1. CityMapper is my saviour 

This is the best app for anyone in London, period. Type where you want to go and it will give you a million options to get home and give you estimated times. There is your walking time, Uber time, bike time and taxi time. It gives you options for bus/tube/walking routes or a combination of those things, or if you specifically want bus only routes, it will give you those too. And it also shows you the cost which is handy.

2. Always have an umbrella handy

I got caught in torrential rain. Had to remind myself that this is not Perth and that an umbrella is always needed in your bag. Always. I have three now  . . .

3. Ben's Cookies is life

When people ask me about food recommendations for London, number one is Ben's Cookies. Best cookies ever! They have chunks not chips and are not crunchy which is how I like them. And if you get them fresh, the chocolate's all melty and this is making me salivate as I type *insert Homer  Simpson impression here*.

4. You don't tag off buses

After years of the whole tag on/tag off business of TransPerth, I know now after minutes of me spinning aimlessly at the back exit of the bus looking for a card scanner I don't need to tag off. The buses deduct a certain amount (I think £1.50) no matter how far you go on the route. Now I don't look like an idiot when I get off the bus, yay!

I can't wait to share the rest of my London journey with you all!

x