Today is exactly 1 year since I stepped off that Virgin Atlantic plane onto British soil to call London my new home. I've since decided that people who make big life changing moves like this are either really brave or really naive. I was very much the latter. I decided to move to London on an expat assignment for my company without knowing anything about the office in the UK or anything about my living situation in London. I had visited London before on holiday but only stayed long enough to see a few of the major tourist sites. I still have no idea what made me think I could survive living day-to-day in London though.
I recall arriving on a Sunday afternoon and Ro (the boss) came to meet me at my temporary flat. He left me on my own for a few hours to rest and shower before we met up again to go shopping for essentials and have dinner. I showed up to the office the very next day and met a whole bunch of new faces with very strange accents. I know that in those first few days I didn't know what to make of my new colleagues and they definitely didn't know what to make of me. I think we've come to understand each other a bit better by now though. Over the next couple weeks I had to find a permanent home, buy a car, open a bank account, and learn how to drive on the wrong side of the road. There were definitely days where all I wanted to do was go home and hide under the covers.
Those days seem long gone although it has only been 1 short year. I am still amazed at all of the things that have passed in these last 525,600 minutes. I've lived in 3 different places in London, watched my first ballet, attended 3 operas, hit 200 kpm on the autobahn, went on safari, walked the steps that Jesus walked, and traveled to 3 different continents with countless cities among my visits. It has definitely been an active year.
Since I feel like this should be a reflective post, here are some of my final thoughts on the happenings of this past year.
- Danny was right, moving to a new country really changes you so you need to decide by the 18-24 month mark to stay or go back before neither place feels like home
- I need to make sure I stay open to new possibilities and continue to take risks, that's what has afforded me all the experiences I've had over the past year
- Be it friends, family, or an expat community, you need to have a good base of people to help keep you going when British Telecom refuses to give you a phone line and HSBC won't let you withdraw your own money
- Finally, don't forget to wear sunscreen - especially when you're standing out in 30C weather under direct sunlight waiting 3 and a half hours for Barack Obama to appear on stage
This was followed by a great basket of goodies in the flat from my great flatmate Erin. She packaged my favorite British treat (Pimms) along with all the fixin's that go with it in a cute little basket on the kitchen counter. I even got a package from the US on my desk as well. 