1) DSLR Cameras
because I just received my first one from a friend,
and while it's older, I am in love with it!
Now I just need to learn how to use it a little more...

2) Meeting blog friends!

Ashley is a Florida girl who just spent the last three months over in an English town near Leeds.  She happened to stumble upon my blog a bit ago, and recently we've met up in the real world.

She's the sweetest, and full of great travel stories - you can find her writing about all of this over at Ashley in Adventureland

3) Why Live A Little, When You Can Live A Lot? over at World of Wanderlust.

If any person can motivate you to live your dreams, it's Brooke.

And if any post can give you that extra push you may need to start working for it, it's this one.

In the past few years, I've become a huge advocate of 'if you want it enough, you can make it happen,' and this post is everything about that.

4) These photos of London, from Umbreen Hafeez.

because London is gorgeous. Do I need another reason?

Oh here's another one - I'm moving there in SEVEN WEEKS!

5) Michael Jackson
because I read an article about him earlier, which reminded me it's been 5 years since his death.
Say what you will about him, but in the end, his music is, and will always be damn good.

Ending this with one of my favorites,
and well, because 'Mac&Jack' is one hell of a combo.

Something.

I love this song. Everyone does.

Frank Sinatra coined it as 'the greatest love song every written,'

and why yes Frank, I'd have to agree with you.

Rather than the original recording that everyone and their mothers has heard,

I wanted to show you all another great version.

Stripped down - just George Harrison and his guitar.

You can hear his 'bum, bum, bum' where the guitar will be put in the actual recording,

his voice is so raw and passionate,

it feels as if you're sitting in the studio with him.

FUN FACTS:

- The opening line - "Something in the way she moves.." was actually inspired by James Taylor's hit with the same name.

- This is the second most covered Beatles song, behind Yesterday

- Remember last weeks post on The Beatles songs broken down? If you look up the deconstructed version of the studio recording on YouTube, you can hear Paul McCartney humming with the guitar solo.

Although this song is amazing recorded in any way,

I almost prefer this version to the original, but you be the judge.

And then you can see what Heather and I are working with...

Another weekly roundup

of the things I've loved this past week

2) Being three-fourths of the way finished with the process of getting my UK Visa
because that's one more frustrating thing checked off my list,
and reminds me I'm that much closer to FINALLY making the move.


3) 22 Times It Sucks To Be A Blogger - from East &.
because it's all. so. true.


4) Kiersten at She Is Fierce.
because you can really tell when someone loves to write,
and it's even better when they're good at it.
and because she's got a great Friday Favorites, which is how I stumbled on love #3.
and because she's an absolute sweetheart.
Do you need any more reason? Check her out!


5) Because I Feel Like Listening to Some Tunes from Marielle at This Flooded Sky.
because I can always appreciate some good music.


6) Nostalgia.
because fifteen years later, I may or may not still be singing along to this...
Someone please tell me I'm not alone.

Okay, this is one of my favorite things.

And I get a little excited .. so prepare yourself.

There are videos on YouTube that take different recordings from The Beatles

and will isolate each part to a song

(lead guitar, bass, vocals, background vocals, piano, etc. etc.)

so you are able to hear the track clearly on it's own
rather than all together within the finished recording.

I love this because it gives you a perspective of a song

that you never had seen/heard before.

Oh Darling is one of, if not my all time favorite Beatles song because of this.

I never really noticed the arpeggios in the lead guitar (George Harrison) during the chorus, and how AMAZING they are.

Also, the background able to be heard clearer without the music,
because it's a little more that a simple 'ooh,' and 'aahh' and it's awesome to hear on it's own.

But the drum track is probably my favorite on this song,
but the piano is also just awesome to listen to, too.

If you can't tell, I was, and still am really impressed with this song.

Here's the deconstructed song for you to listen to.
It's long, but clearly labeled so you can jump around,
which I thought I'd do, but ended up listening to the whole thing I became so interested :

FUN FACTS:

- Paul was very meticulous with the way he wanted to sound on this recording.
Looking for that raw, strained, but powerful sound for the song, Paul came into the studio every day to record the song until he wore his voice enough to create the sound he was looking for - it took around a week for him to achieve this.

- John later stated that he didn't think Paul sung the song very well, and had wished he sang the lead, as he thought his voice was more suited for the song

- It took almost four months from the first time the song was attempted in the studio to when it completed.

There are a ton of videos on YouTube, if you just search 'Deconstructing The Beatles'
I know this, because I have spent way too much time listening to them...

I know some of you aren't the biggest Beatles fans,
but regarding music in general, this is a really cool and different way to look at the way music is made.

They also have a lot of videos like this for other bands,

I've found videos isolating Led Zeppelin tracks, Rolling Stones, etc.

I'm pretty sure you won't find anything like a Nicki Minaj or Justin Bieber track isolated,

but then again I'm going to assume you aren't looking for that...

Welcome to Part 2 of the Flat Hunting Saga.

Find the first part to this guide here --> {Part 1}

After laying down the foundation for what we wanted in and around us,

we began the next step, finding the places in London that would offer these needs&wants.

1) The first thing we did was look for areas that cater to people like us
This involved a lot of Google searches for area guides, etc.,
but I'll make it easy for you and list the ones I found most helpful:

- London Rentonomy is an interactive area guide map, where it provides you with the type of area, largest age group, most common nationalities, rent average, transportation, etc.
The site goes into detail for each one of these points listed above - it's a great tool full of information!

- Stuck in London doesn't have as large of a list as the others named here, but they list everything that these other sites do, as well as the good and the bad to living in each place. I've used Stuck in London quite a bit, because it's not too often you find sites that list the downsides to each area, which is something that I like to be aware of.

- Kinleigh, Folkard, & Hayward is an estate agency, but they've got a great section on their website that provides the top five features of each area, what parks and transport is around, and the best things about living in each place!

- TimeOut London lists things to do in each area; popular bars, clubs, restaurants, etc., as well as the areas that neighbor.

- And if you're looking for student accommodation, your university will have housing options for you on their website.
There are also plenty of student accommodation buildings that aren't affiliated to any particular university. The best way to find these are going on Accommodation for Students and looking to the right sidebar, that lists afs partners.
I haven't used the actual Accommodation for Students website search, but use it for their partners (oops)
These are all student living estate agents, that mostly offer studio flats.
This is a great option if you are moving by yourself and are looking to be surrounded by other students.

There are PLENTY of other sites with area guides similar to this, so feel free to do your own searches as well.  These few sites are just the ones that I stuck with the most.


2) After looking at all of this information
along with the previous notes regarding transport links, distance from school/work, etc.
we narrowed it down to around 5 areas that were the best in distance/qualities, as well as environment.

This will give you your list of areas that suite you best.

Once you have this list, you're ready for the FINAL stage before you start viewing to find your property.

View the last stage - part 3 --> HERE!

During our study abroad 'spring break'

that was more like an entire month off of school,

Heather and I had purchased a Eurail Pass for our mini-backback trip

from Germany to Switzerland to Italy.

Our first stop was Munich,

where we spent our time mingling through the famous Hofbrauhaus, beer mug in hand,

eating pretzels, admiring the many lederhosen that were on sale everywhere,

and seeing as much as we could of the city.

When it was time to leave, we headed to the train station

to start the trip and hop on our first train that would take us down to Switzerland.

Heather and I are very smart - we like to know our surroundings, and make sure that we are where we are supposed to be.

Sometimes, though, we overlook it a little bit

and jump onto whatever we think is right -

which in this case, I mean literally jump onto a random train.

We had our tickets and were walking towards the track that our train was to depart from.

We were right on time, and noticed the train was getting ready to move,

so without hesitation we hurried on.

Well.

Turns out, this was the train that was leaving before the train we needed to get on was arriving on the same track.

Which is fine,

unless it's an overnight German workers train.

We walked on into a room that looked like a kitchen.
There were cabinets, a refrigerator, and a middle table with a wrap around booth.
Not exactly the normal train with rows of seats that we were used to.

By the time we finally realized, 'this is not where we're supposed to be'
the train start moving, and that was it.
We were stuck.

We walked down the connecting hallway, and saw the cabins
that were full of tiny bunk beds and men sleeping in them.

Not really knowing where or what to do,
we just took a seat in the kitchen and thought about our options.
Which was to sit there, and just hope this train wasn't traveling 15 hours to Poland or something.

When one of the guys finally came out, he was very surprised to be greeted 

by two young, clueless American girls.
He didn't speak much English, but understood our waving hands and 'we're not supposed to be on here!'
And from that, we understood from him that the train was traveling to Lucerne, Switzerland,
where we'd be able to get off and figure out the right train to board.

Within a few minutes, another German man came out,
who, while shocked to see us, didn't seem to care that he was only wearing a wife beater and tighty-whities in front of us.
He snapped some German to the first guy, and I'm assuming their conversation was about how we accidentally got on.
This man didn't quite understand that, and for the next hour we were on the train,
we were entertained by this scantily clad foreign man
yelling out 'you vill be arrested! *handcuffs gesture* you are not allowed!'

HEY. WE KNOW.

Luckily, it was only about an hour and a half train ride
before we arrived in Lucerne and could jump off.
The nice German man helped us get our bags off, and gave us a nice wave.
And the other one continued his German rant until we were out of sight and couldn't hear him.

Laughing as we exited, we passed a train employer who gave us a sly grin with eyes that were saying "Silly girls, what are you doing? ...you know you're not allowed to be on that train!"
With a cute smile back, we high-tailed it out to find the train that we were allowed to take.

Lesson of the day: (literally) don't jump on the first thing you think is right.
Or do, because it makes for a pretty funny memory.

Speaking of lessons, here's another one:
GET FREE STUFF IF YOU CAN.
AKA JOIN THIS GIVEAWAY!

I am so excited about the NEW Erin Condren Life Planners! They are so cute, I just had to link up with these ladies to co-host this giveaway.
Be sure to enter below for your chance to win one!

1. World of Wanderlust

The whole thing.

It's full of travel tips, advice,

destination recommendations,

and just about anything you've ever wondered about travel.

I can spend hours on this site just browsing around.

2. My job.

Because while I've been falling in love with this family for the past few months,

I've really been able to see this week how much they mean to me, and how much I mean to them.

Not only do I get to spend my time with two of the greatest little girls on this earth, but I am around a family who is so caring and so loving, towards each other and towards me.

It's so much more than a nanny+family relationship, and I never expected it to become what it is.

I've been so ready to leave and move on with life until I met these people.

Sooo I'm just going to have to figure out how to bring them to London with me...

3. This post fromThe Laughing Medusa's Expat Diaries about wanting it bad enough.

I love this post so much.

I have always come across people who talk about how much they'd love to do this or that, and why that could never happen. 

Why can't it?

If you're content at where you are, and that's where you'd like to sat, then that's fine. But if you're constantly window shopping on everything you'd love to do, then make the move towards doing it.

Taking that first step is always the scariest, but I'm a huge advocate that if you want something bad enough, you can absolutely make it happen.

4. Jim Carrey's commencement speech at a University graduation.
Everyone's seen this, I know.
But I have never heard anything truer to life.
"You can fail at doing what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance at doing what you love."

Just a few little tidbits, fun facts, songs or stories

to end your week with.

Because who doesn't want to end their week with The Beatles?

Since I'm beginning this,

we'll start with some fun facts from their beginning.

Although the boys of The Beatles began dipping their toes in the music scene through the late 50s,

It wasn't until 1960 that 'The Beatles' became the name of the group.

And it wasn't until the fall of 1962 that The Beatles became The Beatles that you know;

John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

Before that,

they were The Beatles - John, Paul, and George, with friend and drummer Pete Best.

These Beatles are known for their famous audition with Decca Records in London.
They had their audition the same day as another band,
and the end result?
The Beatles were rejected for a recording contract,
and Decca selected the other group, Brian Poole and The Tremeloes.

The songs that they played at the audition were recorded,
and some of them are on the Anthology albums that were released later on.

One of my favorites, that's always on repeat in my car,
is one of Paul McCartney's earliest songs,
called Like Dreamers Do.

There is already a lot of research and work that goes into finding a home.
Doing this in another country, from another country - makes things a little more difficult.
A lot more difficult.

For those of you who are going through/may be going through a jump across countries.
I've got a mini  (meaning I broke it up in parts because it's not mini at all) guide for how to go about this in an organized way.

This is pretty specific to London, but I'm sure this can relate to any type of apartment hunt as well.

Heather and I have been at this for quite a while now.
We've gone through the dirt and grime of the hunt,
and feel like we could be estate agents ourselves,
with how much we now know about renting in London.

Going into this, you are starting from scratch,
so you need to lay down the foundation (the easy stuff) to this building process.
The preparation.

What are the things that are most important for you to have in your home

for the next 12+ months?

1) Budget

 - This is probably the most important of anything I'll list- make sure you know your exchange rate with the British Pound - if I had a guess, I'd say it sucks.  The British Pound is one of the most expensive currencies in the world, so unless you live around the Persian Gulf, you're probably going to be hurting with this.

Now, accept the fact that you are going to be converting everything for the unforeseeable future. 

London is expensive. Like New York City, but more expensive. So having a budget of what you'll be spending a month for everything will help you figure out how much you'll be able to spend in rent.

An example list of things you may be paying for on a monthly basis:

Rent

Utilities (Gas, Water, Electricity, Wifi, Cable)

Transportation (Tube Pass)

Groceries

Mobile Phone Bill

Leisure/Emergency/Miscellaneous

This may also include a Council Tax if you are in London for work.
(Council Tax - basically a monthly fee everyone have to pay to simply live in London - used to pay for local services i.e. police force, firefighters, trash collectors, etc.) 

Full-time students do not have to pay Council Tax in the city - make sure you know this if you are a student. Council Tax is a pretty expensive bill, so being exempt can make a noticeable difference.

You'll want to have a general idea of how much money you will have monthly to spend, then break these payments down to how much you can spend on each.
It's a bit of a process, but having the clearest idea of how much you will be spending makes the next few steps easier to get through.

2) Transportation Links

-  Commuting through London is a long enough process - you definitely want to make it as easy as you can.  If you have a job or are going to university, know what Tube lines are nearest to wherever the place is.  You'll want your flat to either be near a direct line, or where you are only needed to make one line change during your commute.

3) Safety

- I'll get into areas in the next section, but this is something to take note on from the start.  Safety is very important to me - meaning I want to be able to walk home from the Tube Station by myself at 10PM at night and not feel like I need to kick off my heels and make a sprint for it to keep myself out of danger.

This may mean finding a property in a safer, wealthier area, or preferring to look at flats that are within a close distance to your Tube Station - we choose this, meaning we normally look into flats that are (at most) around 0.5 miles away from the station.
You may be more okay with a flat that is a mile away from transportation, or you may not want to go farther than a quarter-mile. It all depends on you, and what you are most comfortable with.

4) Convenience to Necessities

 - Being near these shops just makes life easier. Groceries, Cosmetics, etc. - in my previous flat, we were right down the street from a Tesco (grocery store), and a few blocks away from a mini-Boots (health, pharmacy, cosmetics, etc).  You want to be close enough to these that if you need to make a quick run to pick something up, you'll be able to with ease.

5) Furnished Flat

- This is a necessity simply because if you are reading my blog, you are probably somewhat similar to me and don't have enough money to ship furniture, or buy furniture on top of your rental fee.  This is okay - London always deals with internationals, and many properties are available furnished for you. Just make sure the ad lists the property as furnished, or ask about this when in communication with the agent/landlord.

6) Miscellaneous Needs&Wants

- Do you prefer a double bed, or are you able to survive with a single? What about a desk? Do you need a washing machine in the flat, or are you okay with going to a laundromat?  Do you like the idea of living in a residential area, or more of a place with nightlife and things to do?  Little things like these questions will come into play later on in this process.

This is a general list of the first things that Heather and I discussed.
Once we created the big picture of 'what' we wanted,
we were able to move on to part two - 'where' we wanted it

.

Check out part two --> HERE

I'm pretty upset I didn't remember it for that post,

though I'm not sure it would surpass the one I did include about dodgy dudes and police officers..

Anyways,
while Heather and I were on our mini backpack excursion through Europe,
we spent a couple days in Interlaken, Switzerland.
The hostel we stayed in had an underground bar,
which happened to be really the only thing that was open at night in the small town.

The last night we were there, we made our way down to check out the place.
A tiny, but typical hostel bar, full of different groups of foreigners.
We got some drinks and took a seat at a table by ourselves,
but it wasn't too long before three guys who had been at the bar approached us.

They were three French guys
who spoke some English
... and by some English,
I meant they knew how to say "um," "no," and "what??"

One of the guys knew a little bit more, and was able to translate as best he could,
which wasn't very well.
But he disappeared once he realized
his friends had each grabbed one of us to talk to.

They sat with us for a few minutes.
Heather talked to one guy, and I was in conversation with another.

I use the word 'conversation' incredibly loosely,
as our conversations really went as followed:

Me: "Where are you from"
Him: "Where... em.. ???"
Me: "You have no idea what I'm saying do you..."
Him: *blank look of confusion*
Him: "You .. uh ... no ... um... " *waving his arms around trying to speak in sign*
Me: "well then..."

We didn't get much farther than that.

I did notice out of the corner of my eye though,
while Heather was focused on talking to the other guy,
the one I was speaking with gave his friend a look/nod,
as is the universal guy code for "dude we're totally going to nail these chicks!"

Which really just made me laugh.

It wasn't too long after that until Heather and I made our getaway
and mingled around to some other folks.

Later on in the night though, the guys showed up again and came straight over to us.
Attempt number 2 I guess..

The friend who spoke the most English leaned in to us
and explained that
"they had lost the key to their hotel room,
and they were going to have to stay in ours."

Um, what?

Heather and I gave a stare
as blank as the one I received trying to talk to the guy.

There wasn't even a need to use the excuse of a boyfriend.
We couldn't help but laugh with each other, followed with a
"Uhh ... no .. you're not staying in our room."

We floated around the bar a bit,
until we found a clean getaway
to get back to our room without being followed.

Let me break it down for you.
Three FOREIGN dudes,
can not understand a single word that comes out of our mouth
yet still think that they can 'read' signals we were (not) sending out,
that give them the impression that we were down to hook up?
And then their big plan for success,
is actually to say that they lost there key
and oh man, there's NO WAY we can get back into our room,
so we need to sleep with you.

How mind-boggling is it that this seriously happened?
How hilarious is it that it was an ACTUAL attempt to hit on a couple of girls?
And how easy was it to shut them down?

Too easy my friends,
way. too. easy.

Spent this gorgeous day out on the beach with my parents.

I'm realizing that I need to soak up this lovely weather as much as I can.
Before I know it, I'll back in the cold and grey (but still beautiful) London.

When I was in the UK back in October,
I was mistaken for being Spanish twice.
Which I absolutely took as a compliment.

I've got two more months to perfect this tan,
until I start slowly fading to pale.
But I'll totally sacrifice my dark skin
for some British living. :)

Some pics from the day!

Three completely life changing years.
And to commemorate that,
I've decided to let her go and make a completely new blog.

I've been wanting to move from Wordpress to Blogger for a little while now,
and it finally felt like the right time to just go on and do it.

Andy with the help and advice of a few blog savvier friends,
I finally made the change.

And I don't mean just dip my toes in with a host change.

I wanted the whole sha-bang.

Host site, name, page layout,

you name it, I changed it.

So without further adieu,

Welcome to Where The Heart Is!

(on Blogger)

Previously known as Adventures Abroad.

(on Wordpress)
It's still me - I'm still adventuring abroad,
and will still be posting about preparations and getting to my life in the UK,
I'm just doing it now with a cuter theme.

Anyways.
This is it!
We're here now.
I'm still all over social media like I was on Adventures Abroad,

so you can still find me on Instagram, Twitter,

and my blog's Facebook.

But who knows.

I'm so inconsistent,

I'll probably change all those too.

Kidding.

Stay tuned!

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