Settling in

Today I went for my first run in Central London. It was rather surreal. I ran across London bridge, down past the gerkin, Along the river Thames, by the tower of London, across the Tower bridge, past the HMS Belfast and Sir Frances Drake boat back to the new flat. It was so weird as I wove my way through a combination of commuters and tourists thinking all the while to my self that I am no longer a tourist! hehe! So funny.

I'm now in the middle of my nursing induction at Guys and St Thomas' or as it is referred to as GSTT (for all future references). It is a mixture between boredom and interesting facts. I think that the fact that I only recently went through a VERY similar induction at Mayday makes it that much harder for me to sit still. The Flat here is pretty much the same as the last flat...so not sure that I'll post pictures as there really isn't that much that is different! I look out my window to a TREE (Which as central London goes is a pretty FABULOUS view!) further in the background I can see the tower of Guysand off to one coner the skeleton of the new "Shard" building! Which means my continual backgound noise is a combination of seagulls, piegons, and construction noise. My one newphew would be VERY pleased that I still have a "Lofty" out my window...the highlight of visiting my condo in Calgary! hehe!!

Anyways maybe next week I'll get brave and take a few photos of the views near my new workplace and my new flat.... we will see.

Time flies

Well it has been amonth now here in England. Not just visiting and exploring castles and shops but REAL life! I'm exhausted! he he. I feel like I am slowly coming to terms with life here, but then today I went to the local shopping centre and was once again a little overwhelmed by it all. I mean fabulous shoping to be had!! But unfamiliar names, brands, shop layouts...etc. Infact in Mark's and Spencers I wandered around looking for the public restroom as after the 20min walk in the wind and chilly weather to get to the shops I was READY for a pit stop. I KNEW that M&S (as the locals call it) had such a facility...two shop assistants later and multiple missed turns through the Christmas area, home furnishings, a cafe, and the beauty department I finally found RELIEF! AH....

To be honest although some of you may not believe it I didn't buy anything for me...except for lunch out of my first UK paycheck. Oh wait I did I bought a planner for next year for the grand total of a pound. I instead bought Christmas cards as if I am to send them out on time I need to have them out by the end of next week! YIKES! And I bought a surprise for Mark for helping me out SO much over the past month. He has be SO helpful and generous as I am trying to get my footing here.

Work is going well. I am now flying "solo" okay not really as I am mostly working with my mentor and all the staff have been incredibly helpful. But I am no long supernumerary I am "in the numbers" YIKES. So far though it has been all good as the patients they are giving me are definitely within my scope of practice.

So what is nursing in England like. Well to be brutally honest. There are MANY differences, but I'm going to start with what is the same. People. Staff and patients alike. There are still some of the same challenges that you have to face. There are some people that you work with that no matter how hard you try they just don't like you and vise versa. Also when people get sick as a nurse what you do to get them better is NOT all that different in a different country. Yes scopes may be wider or narrower but ultimately you can do pretty much the same things to help them along a path of healing. I'll go into some of the differences over the following weeks as the become more cemented in my mind.

Sorry no pictures this week.

The new place

Yup as you have found out from my email I am in England! I have a visa, a job, and a new place. It isn't huge but it is warm and safe what more can a girl ask for. I am slowly finding my way around but I have so much to learn! hehe! the new job is going REALLY great and starting next week I'm no longer supernumerary ONE of the numbers!! hehe! I'm excited and to be honest a little nervous. BUT the staff have been SO supportive and helpful I know I'll be ok. I still have lots of training that I'll be attending and I have two mentor who I'll be working with for 80% of my shifts so I won't REALLY be on my own! Phew! Anyways this is just a short one I just wanted to sahre photos of my new place. More to come...

LONDON!

London was amazing!! Mark knew a free place to park!! Then we got on the tube and the adventure began! We came back to the surface at Piccadilly circus!! Talk about incredible!! I didn't really know where to look or what to think! The statue of Eros the big signs and the traffic! I though Toronto was bad. From picadilly we walked to "Lester" (I don't know the proper way to spell it) and had lunch. Sandwiches that we had made at his parents house! It was great!! People were wandering around the square where all the premiers happen it was pretty cool! From there we went to Covent Garden where there we lots of living statues and street performers NOT to mention all the neat things for sale.This guy was my favorite!! He was scary all the passerbys!! It was So funny to watch!! From there we walked through the Admiralty Arch down the mall where SO many princes and princess have paraded to the Buckingham palace! It was amazing. The sky was dramatic and the Union jacks lined both sides of the mall. It was incredible. Behind me off in the distance was the London Eye, the parliment buildings and further adventures!!

From there we walked through a "royal park" I think it was regent park, but I'm not sure! It was filled with the largest variety of birds that I have ever seen. I saw a "stork" (white pelican), a black swan and lots of other odd birds. There was this one that had leaf feet!! It was SO funny looking!! Then we went to the horse palace! Where a horse guard decided that my vest and scarf would make a GREAT lunch! It was SO funny!!

From there we walked down a street (not sure the name of it) BUT went by Downing Street! That was neat and then lots of other monuments!! It emptied out on a corner that housed the parilment building (and big ben), westminister abby, the statue of Winston Churchill and the London eye! I was stunned. I could barely move!! I mean it was stunning. The sun we peaking through the most dramitic cloulds and I was there listening to the voice of Big Ben!! I was blown away as we sat on a bench on the other side of the Thames under the shadow of Big Ben and watched the world go by! I felt like I was in a dream!

From there we took the Tube to Tower hill where I saw the London tower...incredible and the tower bridge!! I can't even begin to tell you how stunned I was I think I took 25 picture of big ben and the tower bridge (not together) BUT both individually. At least!! Probably more! hehe!!

From there we walked along the river bank of the Thames! The sun was setting and the electric lights were twinkling all along the bank of the river street artists were climbing out of their costumes! And it was getting dark. We walked at the way past the replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship. To the replica of Shakespeare's Globe. As we walked it was SO easy to imagine the easy pickings that nasty guys would have had before the "lighting" of the city! There are tons of hiding places!! But I felt nice a safe with the light on and Mark by my side! We stopped in an Imax theather but nothing that great was showing so via the tube we returned to covent garden were we watched a little bit more of street preformances. It was awesome and I didn't want the day to end. BUT I was exhausted! I could barely hold my eyes open AND my legs were killing me!! So we took the tube back to where the car was. I was starving!! So we stopped and got REAL English fish and chips!! YUMMY!! Waht a day! I still can't believe that it wasn't a dream!! I got to see and experience SO many things in a single day!!