london week six

I’m trying to catch up to real time so here’s week six, which takes us back to October 17th! This was an exciting week because I finally moved into my flat. I couldn’t take it easy though (because I don’t know how), so it was also a fun week filled with friends, cocktails, and new experiences.

tuesday & wednesday

On Tuesday, one of our coworkers was re-patriating back to the US, so we had a celebration at Sixes Cricket bar because he loves cricket. It was a neat spot – they had drinks and appetizers and these sort of “batting cages” where you had the opportunity to hit the cricket ball with the bat. I know nothing about cricket and I wasn’t going to participate because I can’t hit a ball with a bat in any sort of sport to save my life, but everyone else took a turn so I felt like I’d be missing out if I didn’t give it a try. I think I only hit it once out of five attempts, but it was fun to give it a go. After we all had our turns, a few of us left to go celebrate my friend’s birthday at another bar and continue London Cocktail Week (“LCW”). We went to The George, where their specialty cocktail was an Irish coffee. The bartender claimed that they won an award for the best Irish coffee in London and I haven’t fact-checked him on that, but it was a phenomenal Irish coffee, so it doesn’t matter to me if he was lying or not.

Wednesday, we went for after work drinks at a pub called Cittie of Yorke, where they had a fantastic stout. The pub is a historic spot that was re-built in the 1920s with drinking booths (photo below) that we joked felt like confessional boxes at church. I would go here for an after work pint, but the food left a lot to be desired. There’s a McDonald’s you can stop at first nearby 🙂

thursday & friday

Thursday was the day!!! I finally left the terrible Airbnb and moved into my flat. I was very thankful to get my last bag down the four flights of stairs and take an Uber away. My flat turned out to have a couch (didn’t think it would originally) and it is a lot brighter than I thought it was going to be. I’m thrilled so far!! I was so excited to finally unpack the suitcases I’ve been living out of for the last six weeks. I had an event Thursday night with Women In London Collective, which is a meetup group for (you guessed it) women in London. They have fun events every month. One of my new friends invited me to the Full Moon Party at Ballie Ballerson in Shoreditch. She ended up not being able to make it (sad!! but next time!), but I met a bunch of incredible women and not a single one was from the US! I’m trying to branch out a little and make more international friends because almost everyone in my group at work is from the states. It was such a blast at the party – I felt like a kid again in the ball pit and they had great cocktails & a DJ. I was exhausted from the move, but had a great time meeting new people and enjoying a new experience.

On Friday, my shipment from the US arrived with the rest of my clothes and belongings. It was so nice to be reunited with my clothes – I’ve been tired of wearing the same few things since I moved in. I spent the day unpacking and organizing and my friend from work came over for dinner & unpacking. We had ramen and wine and ended up talking until 1:30 am because we didn’t look at the clock! It was a great Friday night.

Also, top left is the view from my flat! So charming with the cool building in the back!

saturday & sunday

I got my nails done with my friend in the morning and then I met up with my friend’s boyfriend who was visiting for the week for brunch at Coppa Club by Tower Bridge. Forever on the hunt for the best avocado toast in London, I, of course, had to try theirs. It was good, but still not the best yet. We had some drinks, the service wasn’t great, and then we headed off to continue drinking at The Alchemist. This bar was SO cool – I highly recommend. I had a “big baby Guinness” cocktail that tasted incredible and each drink came out in a neat glass or had some sort of dry ice / smoke situation going on. I left my friend to his own devices because I had a Chelsea v. Manchester United game to go to!

A coworker won free tickets from a Deloitte partner and she invited me along. She got us Chelsea scarves because we were sitting in their fan section and heaven forbid you had a Man U scarf/shirt/color/anything on – the football fans don’t mess around here. I’ve been wanting to go to a football match since I got here but tickets have been seemingly difficult to find so I was very excited for this opportunity. One weird thing is that you can’t drink in your seats so during half time everyone goes down to get beers and drink them quickly before the match starts up again. I didn’t realize, so had to chug my Guinness which was mildly unpleasant. The game was fun, I learned some Chelsea chants (but don’t worry friends, I am going to be an Arsenal fan – given that I now live in Islington), and it ended in a draw. I met up with my friend’s boyfriend again at Katzenjammers, a German beer hall, and it ended up being a stag party, aka a bachelor party, but I didn’t realize until about two hours into hanging out with the guys. I felt like a true American idiot, crashing a STAG PARTY!, and I tried to leave but at that point, I had already made friends with everyone so they told me to stay. The day turned out a lot more chaotic than I thought it was going to, but hey, makes for a great story.

Finally, on Sunday, I met up with my friend and we went to get our piercings checked in Coal Drops Yard and went for lunch at Tacos El Pastor. The tacos were great and the service was so quick!! We said we were going to take it easy, but of course, it was the last day of LCW and we wanted to take advantage. We ended up at my new favorite bar, called Homeboy Bar, where we had these prosecco drinks and then Irish coffees. They weren’t as good as the spot on Tuesday, but they were still great Irish coffees. We had planned to head to a second bar, but then there was suddenly a monsoon outside and so we stayed and made friends with the bartender. We had a few more drinks and I really loved the atmosphere of the bar. It’s definitely my new favorite spot! I couldn’t link it because the website wasn’t working, but trust me, it’s a must go.