12/23/2011
It's been a fun but busy past few days in Charleston.
I landed on Tuesday and had a nice, hearty dinner of beef stew and rice and homemade bread/toast. I wasn't ever a huge fan of beef stew, but a substantial home-cooked meal just like that was excellent.
On Wednesday I got some Mexican food at lunch--awesome--and then met with J and R and another friend for a couple of drinks at Basil in Mount Pleasant. Then, it was time for a quick drink at Crave, a classic, with E and S, before they closed up shop at 10:30. We hit up the Harris Teeter for a big thing of German beer and had a little adventure before having a few drinks back at a flat in Beaumont.
On Thursday I had a yummy lunch at Ichiban, a classic restaurant in Mount Pleasant. I highly recommend it--the egg rolls are excellent, and the teriyaki beef and chicken meal with fried rice is great. The dipping sauce for the eggrolls/gyoza is a great condiment/topping as well.
I then ran a errands and got a piece of Roquefort cheese, which was enjoyed later that night once we assembled back in Beaumont. Beforehand, though, we had a few pints for old times' sake at Fiddlers' Green pub on Coleman, where we heard the final question for team trivia like we had done so many times back in the day.
After we wrapped up at Fiddlers' Green we enjoyed the bottle of Co/skill wine and the Roquefort, along with several other tasty, soft (smelly) cheeses. Impromptu wine and cheese party for the win.
Today I went with my parents down to Savannah to see my grandfather and get lunch at the Carey Hilliard's down there, now that they've all closed up here in Charleston. CH was all right, but the toast is doused in butter, the onion rings are little more than soft onions in excessive, oily batter, and everything else is just straight up fried. No wonder when I got home to Charleston tonight at 5PM I felt a little ill.
Back to the neighborhood, there was a Christmas drop-in just down the street. Liquor abounded, which was great, but the conversation, not quite as much--though there were people my age there, they were in just a little different "place" from me. E.g.: I found out one of the people there, a female roughly my age but who had a fairly substantially grown child, actually graduated from high school the same year as me. One 7-year-old kid later, well, she's making sure his Nintendo DS is charged before he goes to the party, whereas I'm rolling in from the London flight. Nothing wrong with that, but, that's a seven-year-old!
Ah, well, back to the house now. Just watching some American Dad and hanging out. It's been a busy, long few days back here in Charleston, so hopefully I can get some rest and have a nice Christmas weekend. Still in town for two more weeks!
I landed on Tuesday and had a nice, hearty dinner of beef stew and rice and homemade bread/toast. I wasn't ever a huge fan of beef stew, but a substantial home-cooked meal just like that was excellent.
On Wednesday I got some Mexican food at lunch--awesome--and then met with J and R and another friend for a couple of drinks at Basil in Mount Pleasant. Then, it was time for a quick drink at Crave, a classic, with E and S, before they closed up shop at 10:30. We hit up the Harris Teeter for a big thing of German beer and had a little adventure before having a few drinks back at a flat in Beaumont.
On Thursday I had a yummy lunch at Ichiban, a classic restaurant in Mount Pleasant. I highly recommend it--the egg rolls are excellent, and the teriyaki beef and chicken meal with fried rice is great. The dipping sauce for the eggrolls/gyoza is a great condiment/topping as well.
I then ran a errands and got a piece of Roquefort cheese, which was enjoyed later that night once we assembled back in Beaumont. Beforehand, though, we had a few pints for old times' sake at Fiddlers' Green pub on Coleman, where we heard the final question for team trivia like we had done so many times back in the day.
After we wrapped up at Fiddlers' Green we enjoyed the bottle of Co/skill wine and the Roquefort, along with several other tasty, soft (smelly) cheeses. Impromptu wine and cheese party for the win.
Today I went with my parents down to Savannah to see my grandfather and get lunch at the Carey Hilliard's down there, now that they've all closed up here in Charleston. CH was all right, but the toast is doused in butter, the onion rings are little more than soft onions in excessive, oily batter, and everything else is just straight up fried. No wonder when I got home to Charleston tonight at 5PM I felt a little ill.
Back to the neighborhood, there was a Christmas drop-in just down the street. Liquor abounded, which was great, but the conversation, not quite as much--though there were people my age there, they were in just a little different "place" from me. E.g.: I found out one of the people there, a female roughly my age but who had a fairly substantially grown child, actually graduated from high school the same year as me. One 7-year-old kid later, well, she's making sure his Nintendo DS is charged before he goes to the party, whereas I'm rolling in from the London flight. Nothing wrong with that, but, that's a seven-year-old!
Ah, well, back to the house now. Just watching some American Dad and hanging out. It's been a busy, long few days back here in Charleston, so hopefully I can get some rest and have a nice Christmas weekend. Still in town for two more weeks!
12/20/2011
The long ride
I just got on the Picadilly line at Green Park. It was an early start, Heathrow-bound, and switching at Green Park represents the second and last interchange prior to the run out to zone 5 or 6 and the arrival at the airport.
In about three hours I'll get on a plane back to the US. When I came over to Europe, I wasn't sure what future awaited me. The first and second years were one big break from the US, the first out of choice, the second not so much. A lot has changed since my fortunes turned around with the internship at LSE, and I certainly wasn't expecting to be making the run back to the US every six months, especially with the occasional trip to Turkey worked in between.
Anyway, that's now where I'm at, and it's hopefully how things will continue. I could certainly do well if the pound strengthens a bit more or trans-Atlantic flights cheapen, but I don't know how likely either of those are right now.
I certainly hope that will continue and that 2012 will be "the year of the job.". I've got a bit of anxiety myself, having sat my ACA exams in early December and finding out those results on 20 Jan. Two were reasonably fine; one was not. Of course, the way things work, the one about which I'm most concerned will probably be okay and it may turn out one of the other ones tripped me up. In any case, it's a waiting game for those results, but if that passes without incident I'm home free until the summer.
I'm not the only one who is or will be anxious about jobs. A certain someone else is on the hunt, and indeed the plan for this Christmas break, though separated by several thousand miles and seven hours time difference, is to coordinate the job assault and get some CVs and cover letters banged out. Now is the time to line up next summer and beyond--jobs, money, and visas.
I'm hoping for a quiet Christmas otherwise. I want to see the friends in Charleston, I want to enjoy some Westbrook beer, and I want to get 2012 off to a promising start. When I come back to London, the Olympics spirit will be in full swing and it'll hopefully be the start of a good 12 months.
That's all for now. Am at Earls Court so still got a ways to go . . .
In about three hours I'll get on a plane back to the US. When I came over to Europe, I wasn't sure what future awaited me. The first and second years were one big break from the US, the first out of choice, the second not so much. A lot has changed since my fortunes turned around with the internship at LSE, and I certainly wasn't expecting to be making the run back to the US every six months, especially with the occasional trip to Turkey worked in between.
Anyway, that's now where I'm at, and it's hopefully how things will continue. I could certainly do well if the pound strengthens a bit more or trans-Atlantic flights cheapen, but I don't know how likely either of those are right now.
I certainly hope that will continue and that 2012 will be "the year of the job.". I've got a bit of anxiety myself, having sat my ACA exams in early December and finding out those results on 20 Jan. Two were reasonably fine; one was not. Of course, the way things work, the one about which I'm most concerned will probably be okay and it may turn out one of the other ones tripped me up. In any case, it's a waiting game for those results, but if that passes without incident I'm home free until the summer.
I'm not the only one who is or will be anxious about jobs. A certain someone else is on the hunt, and indeed the plan for this Christmas break, though separated by several thousand miles and seven hours time difference, is to coordinate the job assault and get some CVs and cover letters banged out. Now is the time to line up next summer and beyond--jobs, money, and visas.
I'm hoping for a quiet Christmas otherwise. I want to see the friends in Charleston, I want to enjoy some Westbrook beer, and I want to get 2012 off to a promising start. When I come back to London, the Olympics spirit will be in full swing and it'll hopefully be the start of a good 12 months.
That's all for now. Am at Earls Court so still got a ways to go . . .
