Edinburgh

After everyone else went back to London or other places after Hogmanay, I set about finding a job and somewhere to live here in Edinburgh. For the first three weeks, I continued to stay at the Castle Rock Hostel, where we had stayed for Hogmanay. If I was ever going to live in a hostel, this would be it, as it is set up perfectly for part timers, and the large lounges make it easy to meet new people, something awesome when travelling by yourself.

I did however want to get a place of my own, so I hit the Gum Tree and searched the listings. Eventually I found a place that looked promising and despite its VERY small size, I decided to move in. I had one flatmate who was English, while the other was Scottish, and both students. It turned out to be a great place to live, as both flatmates were great people, both AS flatmates and as drinking partners. And also because it was so small (lets face it, it was a cupboard!) it was also cheap, enabling me to save money for my future travels.

Once that was lined up, I also managed to get myself a job, with a company called Mellon European Funds Management, which basically dealt in Investment Products on behalf of all the major financial institutions in the UK. While I was assured it was not a call centre I was going into, that was the only way one could describe my job. And do you think I could handle all the different Brittish accents over the phone? Eventually my three months contract there expired and it was looking like I needed to find a new job, but at the last minute was asked if I wanted to join the complaints team downstairs for a while. Once assured this was NOT a job where I would have to speak to ANYONE on the phone, I said yes, and stayed in that position until the end of July, when I eventually left Edinburgh.

I met a lot of really cool people in Edinburgh. While you dont go to the other side of the world to hang out with people from around the corner, its kinda cool when it happens. Many of my good friends were from Melbourne, while there were plenty of other Aussies and Kiwis. After that though, by far the biggest group was actually Canadians, be it Quebecers or otherwise. I organised to travel through Eastern Europe with Dan and Greg, while made plans to catch up with Kim when I move to Ireland next year. I also hope to see all of the Canadians when I head over there in 2008.