Lib no longer in London

This will be the last post for Lib in London - at least for a while.

After 4 months I still haven't heard about the visa so a couple of weeks ago I went back to London, packed up my stuff and moved back to Australia.

We'll see what happens from here. I'd love to go back in about 12 months but it will depend on where and what sort of job I get.

Lib in Brisbane

Lib not in London

So I've been in Australia exactly 2 months tomorrow and I'm still waiting on my visa. Frustrating doesn't really cover it - I'm stuck in this weird limbo of it being nice to be home and seeing everyone to feeling like I'm missing out on my life in London. I've missed the start of summer, I'm missing friends leave who've helped me get through my first year, I have 1 flatmate I've never met and it will soon be 2.

I could handle the waiting if I knew the outcome was assured, but to wait all this time when there's every chance the visa won't come through seems like some sort of bizarre torture.
I feel like I'm waiting for my year 12 results - everyday I check the letterbox hoping for a big envelope and everyday I'm a little crushed when it's not there.

I really didn't realise how much I've started to love my life there until I couldn't live it anymore. All the things that I've found hard, such as not having close friends there, have become almost part of my life there and it's changed me more than I thought. I'm more independent in the sense that I'll just go an do it myself if I can't find anyone to go with me and I am far more relaxed (I think everyone I know will attest to this!).

Life here feels much the same but has changed enormously in other respects. The wedding I came home for was the first marriage of my closest girlfriends from school. Two friends have moved to Melbourne which helped cement it as my Plan B city if London doesn't work out. I looked into Ireland but the visa there is almost harder to get and more expensive! Without sounding too cliched you never really do get to come back to things the way they were before anyway, which actually makes it easier for me to head back over. Everyone else is out living their lives so I'm not going to sit out wishing things didn't change or that someone would come to London with me.

Unfortunately, I'm stuck waiting for postman like I did 10 years ago to decide what I'm going to do with my life.

Sweden (Again...) 20th March - 24th March

I'm not sure why I never got around to posting this blog - I'm sure I was going to write something profound instead of my usual went here, did this. This was the last trip I did before I came home.


One of the really nice things about returning to Sweden this Easter is it felt like a tradition was being started as this was the first trip I took when I arrived in London.

The weather was at least different from my last few visits in that it didn't rain all the time.

The was the temperature when I got there...



And this was the temperature two days later when we decided to go to Copenhagen for the day (my first time outside the airport!)



C & I in Copenhagen in the snow.


Copenhagen in the snow


C


Outside the castle

Month Twelve in London or The Year I Wore A Coat Almost Every Day

This post is late as usual and my 1 year anniversary come and went over a week ago. The 12 months has gone by both at lightening speed and snails pace. This post will probably be a mishmash of stories because that's how i feel about moving here. There are been some really great parts and some pretty ordinary ones.

So here are 12 things I've learned:

1. It's not as hard as I though it was going to be. For me, when I had made the decision to move it felt like it was a huge irreversible decision but it's not - if you really hate it you get on a plane and go elsewhere or go home. That being said, I've obviously blocked those incredibly stressful weeks looking for a place to live.

2. Life doesn't change as much as you think it will - i might think differently about this when I get there but right now, even when big changes are going on (people getting married, moving away) it doesn't feel like it will be that different.

3. I don't know if i could do it knowing i couldn't go home - a lot of people i've met tell me I'm brave to have packed up and come over solo but I could only do it knowing i can go home. I don't know how people can move knowing they can't ever go home.

4. I've changed. Overall not a lot, but significantly in other respects (my mouth still works faster than my brain). I'm so much more relaxed - being here with no ties is like having an extended adolescence. For me, there are few people I owe my time to here. And I can sleep places, and use bathrooms that I never thought possible! The most shining example of this (and I'm told there are people who still don't believe this story) is when red wine was spilt on my laptop and I didn't loose it...not even a little.

5. There is so much more to see here - one of the places i've been dying to go to and haven't done yet is Germany - I'm good at planning week long trips but need to do more weekends in Europe. Even with all the countries I went to last year there are so many more I want to go to. I'm also starting to think Canada is definitely on the cards and that I will do six months in South America on my (eventual) way home.

6. People visiting you here is awesome. Seeing P&T, C&H, J&K, J&G (while they were here) and G was brilliant

7. I'm a better traveller than I thought I would be. I haven't previously been known as a good traveller - too many years of forced camping as a child - and I do like my creature comforts. I have stayed in placed and used bathrooms I never thought I would. A and I drove circles around the same French town 12 times looking for our hotel and I didn't lose my temper.

8. I hate shopping (both grocery and all other kinds) in London. Grocery shopping is always a pain here and every week I end up drudging down our street with heavy bags every week. I never thought I would miss shopping centres or Brisbane mall but I do. Apart from Oxford Street or shopping centres over an hour away on the train there a few centres of shops grouped together. Oxford Street is a nightmare no resident should have to endure. So I've embraced internet shopping in a big way.

9. Visa's are always a pain.

10. I love train travel and hate plane travel. Travelling to and from Scotland on the train is some of the best travelling i have ever done.

11. I don't make friends easily. 12 months in and I don't think i have any English friends.

12. I don't miss Brisbane. I miss my family, friends, my favourite restaurants but I don't miss Brisbane itself. I don't care what anyone says - the weather here is great. The only time I'm sweaty is at the gym.

So there you have it. The first 12 months are done. Visa pending, bring on the next 12.

Month Eleven in London

I'm behind as usual in my monthly update and any other writing seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Having returned to London after all the fun of the Scotland trip it was pretty much back to the grind.

I finished up my job contract with a firm but managed to secure another one with the same firm but in a different department until I go home at the end of March.

I've been loving my new job and it's a really good step in the right direction career wise.

I've started back at the gym and am doing yoga again which is great. The gym is only down the road from home and the yoga school is halfway between work and home so I really have no excuses!

From all the stories i had heard from people about the winter hear, when the days started to get very short and the sun was set by 4.30 I was all ready to bunker down for a few months. It's been nothing like that! The days are getting longer very quickly and although it did rain alot in January it certainly makes you appreciate when the sun comes out!

It's not long until I go home for my visit now but visa pending I'm definitely coming back!

Month Ten in London

What a lovely month this was. The visit to Scotland was so much fun – I had an absolute ball. New Year’s at George’s Square was good fun and seeing The View definitely a highlight. They few days after New Year’s were pretty quiet, especially New Year’s day when nothing open in Glasgow and we had a unforgettable meal at TGI Fridays (I don’t recommend it).

The JW and I headed off on our road trip to the coast. The first day we went north to Stirling and stopped off briefly to have a look around the town. We then headed down to Edinburgh for the night. The next morning we were up bright and early and off to Kinross, then Perth and then St Andrew’s. It snowed the whole day and JW did a magnificent job driving in the snow at night. St Andrew’s is very beautiful and I recommend a visit if you get a chance – even if the wind is blowing a gale. We then headed back to Edinburgh for dinner with C, K & K at First Coast (the same place I went every night I was there with G). There had been some miscommunication and H really wanted to try haggis and had thought that First Coast served it. There was a Sizzling Scotsman next however and they very kindly agreed to serve us haggis even though we weren’t eating in there restaurant. We all had a taste and I have to say it’s delicious. Up early again the next morning for a quick trip to Lake Lochloman before heading back to Glasgow.

A great night at R’s with some steak pie and then a night K will never forget due to the dulcet tones of J & I snoring our heads off. Breakfast at R’s café the next morning and then onto the train – so hard to say goodbye to J – he’d been here for just long enough for me to forget he was going home. Back to London and back to work although I did book my tickets home this week which is a bright spot on London’s very rainy landscape.