Dreaming about London

We spent the next week trying to sort out our the first few things, and I went quite well, it felt good to get some things out of the way, and we decided to meet at the coffee shop once a week to discuss our progress. At our first meeting Em was feeling really excited. “I’ve found a couple of fulltime jobs for us that we can choose from, and I’ve been Skyping all week doing job interview that way…” she began. “You can do that?” I asked and she nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I mean they’re kind of used to have workers from many different countries so it’s very modern to do it that way.” Aida and I smiled as she kept on telling us about her progress. “So I wanted to find something for us that we wouldn’t hate too much, since we will be working there every day. For you Maja…” she said and pulled out some papers that looked like prints of many emails and I suddenly felt really nervous. “I found a job in an organic bagel shop, where they make you know, bagels, coffee, milkshakes, smoothies and so on. It’s called “Aunt Betty” because it was an elder lady, called Betty, that founded it a couple of years ago and she’s the one I’ve been Skyping with, she seems really nice! So. What do you say?” I was speechless. I couldn’t figure out anything to say so I just hugged a tightly. “Thank you, Em. Thank you so much,” was all that came out of my mouth. “Now, the only thing bad about this job is that you have to start the 27th of September – the day after our arrival. Apparently that’s how their paycheck is done, she just said it would be a lot easier that way.” “Man, it’s going to be hectic. But I can’t wait!” I exclaimed with a small squeal. Aida was smiling, probably excited for what Em had gotten for her. “And for you Aida – I’m really proud of having found this job, that would never happen in Denmark I think – you will be cleaning…” Aida couldn’t help but look a tiny bit disappointed at that information and Em chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’re not cleaning at some boring office, but at a very hip photo gallery!” She pulled out a print from a webpage that had the name The Photographer’s Gallery. “Oh my God, that looks so cool!” It was now Aida’s turn to squeal and hug Em, who continued: “But you don’t have to work until the 1st of October, so you’ll have some days on your own in the apartment to get properly settled, cause I have to start at my job the 28th of September, I’m working at a small coffee shop in Dominion Theatre.” “Wait what?” I asked with my eyes wide open. “The musical theatre?” Em nodded proudly. “Oh my God that is so great! Maybe you can get a discount on some tickets, I remember I watched We Will Rock You there when I was in London a couple of years ago, and was amazing!” I got all carried away thinking about it, while Aida just looked normal, she’d never particularly liked musicals. “But it’s not all settled yet. Maja, you have an appointment with Betty on Skype tonight at 8 o’clock, she wanted to talk to you in person. Here’s her Skype username, just in case, cause she said she would call you. And Aida, you have to fill out this contract this contract and send it to this email before Thursday.” “Man, you’re good!” Aida just said. We spent many hours at the coffee shop that Tuesday, discussing what more to plan, and for each check I made on my note on my iPhone I felt my stomach turn in excitement, knowing that there soon would be no turning back. But I was scared as well. I had never left home and had no clue how I would do somewhere else, especially not another country, another job, another language, another culture. And on top of that all finances were going to be trusted with me – no mum to sort me out, if I suddenly couldn’t pay for a ticket to the cinema. Now we would get kicked out if we didn’t pay the rent on time. And sometimes we would probably have to prioritize a lot more; a great night out or a dinner for the rest of the week. All those things that were foreign to me scared me like hell. But at the same time I felt like I was finally ready to kick their asses. I went home to reach my appointment on Skype with Betty, and I sat down with my computer making sure that I looked nice and presentable. At exactly 8 o’clock I got added on Skype by someone named BettyAunt1960, that must be the right one. She called me seconds later and I put on the video so that she could see me. “Hello,” I said a bit insecure. “Hello dear!” a woman’s voice said happily. “Am I talking to Maja Kjelgaard?” She pronounced my name completely wrong, probably having no clue how to. “Yes, that’s me,” I said smiling and she put on her video as well. A woman in her mid-50’s looked back at me from the screen with a pair of warm eyes. “Oh, you look like a nice young lady!” she said with a British accent and I smiled as politely as I could. “Thank you, so do you!” I said and she laughed. She asked me many questions about my experience with food, my English and my interests, so I told about my work at the gas station and my music and many other things. “Your English is very good,” she said in the end. “Thank you,” I said. “You can begin at the 27th of September at 8 o’clock, then you’ll have an hour before we open the café to learn the different routines. In the beginning you will only make bagel sandwiches and milkshakes and when you’ve gotten used to that you can learn how to make the coffee and so on. You shifts will be Monday to Friday from 8 to 15. I’ll send you an email with the address and some extra information. Any questions?” she asked and I tried to find something to ask for, but I just said: “Uhm… no, not yet at least.” “Great. I’ll see you Monday the 27th of September then. It was lovely meeting you, Maja!” “Lovely to meet you too, Betty!” I smiled. What a nice lady, I thought as I hung up. I felt truly happy about this new job, it had helped a lot to talk to her. Suddenly I looked at my screen realizing that Niall was online. I called him immediately, wanting to hear the sound of his voice – we’d only been writing each other messages for the past couple of weeks. He picked up. “Maja!” he yelled cheerfully and I laughed. “Hi Niall!” “What’s up with you?” he asked as we both put our video on. “Not much, I’m quite busy planning a life in London. I just got a job at a bagel shop 5 seconds ago!” I told him. “Really? That’s great!” he smiled, I could now see his face on the screen. “Wow, it’s really nice to see you,” he then said while moving closer to his computer and I laughed. “Really nice to see you too. How’s everything going with the album?” “It’s some very long days as always, just got back right now. We’ve been recording since 10 o’clock.” He rubbed his tired face. “Wow, then it’s true what they say about how hard work it is to be in the pop industry.” I sent him a hopefully comforting smile. “Yeah, but I mean it always pays off. And we just have loads of fun being in the studio, so it’s not something we don’t enjoy. It’s great!” “That’s nice to hear.” “I’m just feeling like getting my mind off a bit now.” “Want to play Bubble Struggle? I know a webpage where we can play together online.” “That’s a great idea!” He already seemed a lot more cheered up. The Bubble Struggle ended up getting more and more serious, and not much of a relaxation for Niall, cause we both shouted and jumped whenever we would almost got hit by the hundreds of small balls. But we had so much fun, and I felt completely exhausted but in the best mood right after our last game at 11 o’clock. “Might be time for you to go to bed,” I said to him. “Is it already 11? Man, I had the greatest time, Maja. Thank you so much!” he said and kissed his camera. I laughed. “No problem, Niall. I had a great time as well. We’ll do this again soon then. It helps me not miss you so much.” “Yeah me too. Okay, I better go. Can’t wait till I get to see you again! Bye!” “Bye!” I smiled like a fool when I hung up, but at the same time suddenly feeling extremely tired, so I went to bed, hoping that my conversation with Niall had given me something nice to think and dream about. And that’s pretty much how we spent out last month in Denmark; planning different things for London, working some of the last shifts at the gas station – I could only hope that my new job would do me better than this one had. And skyping with Niall of course, though it didn’t happen very often because of our different schedules, but about once a week we would get the privilege to hear each other’s voices and see each other’s faces. He offered to send his and the boys’ car to us and our stuff up at the airport, which just made the whole trip both a lot easier but also cheaper – something we all appreciated in a situation like this, where we would soon have to spend a lot of money on furniture and thousands of other things. One evening at 9 o’clock, where Niall and I had decided to skype, I found myself sitting with my computer in bed waiting for him to get online. I waited. And waited. And waited. At 10 o’clock, after having done every possible thing I could do on my computer, I decided to just go to bed. It made me a bit sad that I didn’t get to talk to him, cause we were leaving in a week and I would probably not find the time to talk to him before that. This week the girls and I had gotten together almost every other day to check up on things and we now had felt prepared and extremely excited to move and to begin an entire new life. But that following morning, after Niall must have had forgotten our Skype-date, I was suddenly not feeling so excited about London anymore, but instead I felt the fear getting more and more difficult to cope with. What if everything would fall apart? What if Em, Aida and I just couldn’t live together and our friendship would be destroyed all because of a stupid dream? What if it didn’t work out with our jobs? We could get kicked out on the street any minute. And what about my bulimia? Would it just magically disappear or would I spent my money on things that I could throw up? Man, I felt so nervous now. I needed my mum. I went in to the kitchen to find her making breakfast to her and Christian, her boyfriend. “Mum…” I started and she looked up at me. The minute our eyes met I couldn’t help but tearing up immediately. “But sweety…” my mum began and rushed over to me and sat me down on a chair at the table. “What’s wrong?” “It’s just… What if everything goes completely wrong? What if London is a mess and that I have to go home feeling like a loser and a failure?” I cried. “Well. You can put it this way. You go over there and try to get the best out of it. And if I know you – and as your mother I would say that I do – you will make the best out of it, and I honestly can’t imagine London being a shitty city to make the best out of.” I already felt better. She always knew exactly what to say and how to make me feel better. “You are three smart and clever girls,” she continued, “and probably most important is it to say that you’re ready to move out on your own, even though you don’t feel like that right now. You’ve done everything you can to make it easier for you already, all you need now to create a life in London now is to arrive. You’ve taken care of everything all by yourself. Don’t you think that shows some independence and maturity?” I nodded smiling a bit. “My motherly experience tells me that you’re definitely ready,” was the last thing she said to me before I left for breakfast at Aida’s house, feeling much better. When I arrived at her house Em hadn’t showed up yet, so her and I sat down distributed the last things – she would take care of health insurance and I would do some research on mobile subscriptions. I had brought my computer and I began right away while having a cup of coffee with Aida. Half an hour later Em finally came bursting in the door. “I’m so sorry!” she said breathing heavily when she sat down at the table. “I overslept, I was skyping with Liam last night all until 3 o’clock…” “Great, how are he and the boys doing?” Aida asked looking up from behind her computer screen. I couldn’t help but listen curiously at Em’s answer. “They’re doing great, they’d had their first night off last night so I think they had some party going on quite early. Liam was too tired and wanted to stay home.” “You mean, he wanted to talk to you as well, right?” Aida said with a wink and I couldn’t help but feeling a bit jealous at Em, especially when she smiled a proud but also shy smile back at Aida. “Is something wrong, Maja? You’re so awfully quiet.” Aida must have noticed my down-turned mouth and was now looking at me slightly concerned. “Oh nothing, it’s just… Niall and I had agreed to Skype yesterday as well, but he never got online, so I… It was probably that party they had going on at that time, so… it’s fine.” I tried to sound convincing, not just to them but also to myself. Everything was fine, I was just literally being a pussy. I could feel the two girls look at me so I changed the subject by talking about some mobile subscriptions.

Notes

We're getting closer and closer to London! Yay, so excited !!
But what do you think happened with Niall, since he forgot his Skype-date with Maja?? Let me know in the comments! :-D
And also, don't forget to subscribe and vote, I always like getting feedback on my writings! Love <3