Reminder to Self: Voltage is Different in the UK

Well, it is day two in London.  This morning I burned my hair with my overpowered hair dryer.  I mean it..I lost two big chunks of hair.  I didn’t cry and for that, I’m proud.   Feeling a bit dumb that I didn’t pay attention to the heat setting…yikes!  We also did a bit of exploring.  We had Nando’s for lunch (yum!) and bought some quick essentials at the overpriced market, because I needed to head back home to write my paper.  We then headed off to go to an evening service at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), which was just as awesome as it was 7 years ago when I attended for 5 months.  Tim Hughes leads their worship, which is kind of hilarious.  He’s so chill and relaxed that you forget he’s sold tons of albums.  I left Nathan there and skipped off to a reception for my course (explanation below) at a local pub.  It was a full day!

I probably ought to explain why it is that Nathan and I are here.  The main reason is that I am taking a course at NYU London during our January Intersession called HIV Prevention & Counseling.  It’s going to be fantastic and draining, I can already tell you that.  My first paper is due the first day of class, tomorrow at 10am.  Since volunteering at the Bailey-Holt House in Chelsea for the past (almost) year and a half, I’ve become more and more aware of the impact HIV/AIDS has had on our culture as a whole as well as the impact it continues to have on my generation and youth in the US.  Anyway, a round about way of saying that I feel like I need to understand more and our professor is a well-respected and well-published leader in the field.  Stay tuned for more on that.  Nathan decided to ask his London-based company if he could work remotely in their London office for the two weeks I’m here.  They said yes, so here we are!  They’ve set up an itinerary for Nathan’s time here, including a couple field work visits, some presentations on his work in the NY office, and a trip to their Leeds office where a lot of wastewater engineering work takes place—an area of high interest for Nathan.  Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday so he doesn’t go to work, but I start class.  No fair! 

Okay, that was long.  Expect that from me, though.  I tend to write A LOT when I blog.  Time for sleep!  Looking forward to a fun and full week that will include class, seeing Mike Yates, seeing some Spanish friends, and also doing as much sightseeing as we can fit in!!....

xx