Update...
Found a job, rented an apartment, bought a car... settled in... rolling away here now as I was back home.
When I first got here, I had taken the big steps (huge ones for me)... given up a good job, left friends and a life I knew (the only one I knew I guess... the last drastic change for me was moving out of my parents home for college!) to move here.
I arrived, in a state of paranoia, in such a rush to get things back to what they used to be that I never once stopped to think of this break from the usual as an opportunity ... to glance at the rear view mirror while cruising along to reflect on whether I really wanted my life to continue in the same way as before or if I should be changing lanes now.
I guess it's a catch 22 really, when you're speeding along in one routine existence, you normally don't think too much about it and then when you develop starting trouble ,all you can think of in the short term is how to get moving again, without really sparing a thought to whether you're in the right direction in the first place!
Not being well, I've been forced to take some time out from work these days and free from the anxiety of having not having options, I've been doing some soul searching and I'm surprising myself with what is important to me now ...
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
first impressions
i'm finally here, though not completely (baggage still being shipped but more importantly, it's still not completely sunk in that I'm now living in UK) but here's what's been happening
landed here on the 26Th and with all the immigration formalities blah blah, managed to reach the place we're staying for the next month only by evening.
we;ll be based out of Richmond (surrey) for a month.
Richmond's pretty commercial looking... very organised and pretty classy. Very quiet, though I think that applies to most places in the UK and as an Indian, I'm not really used to the "sounds of silence". No honking on the roads, no kids creating a ruckus, no sounds of activity, it's like resident alien after the zombies hit it :). Seriously though, pretty peaceful neighbourhood is probably the better way to describe it !
Day 2 went by exploring the place on foot (how much the British walk!!!). Very pleasant. Would've been wheezing and cribbing back home but there's much less dust here, broad pavements and the traffic stops for you when you cross so no hassle.
Maybe it's because I'm very new here but I didn't even notice how much I'd walked as I just spent all my time ogling at the buildings and the people!
Two quick observations - the British are always very well dressed. Haven't spotted a single slob about (i guess I could probably qualify...no matter how much you dandy up, there's a certain classiness about them you just can't seem to match up to)
The buildings are so beautiful and quaint and so totally out of line with our images of what the financial capital of the world should look like! Very few high rises (at least in the places I've been to so far), lots of brownstones, old fashioned chimneys with spires of smoke... very captivatingly Victorian!
Okay, now the weather report... it's COLD and the second i step out of the centrally heated apartment it's like being instantly teleported from the the Sahara to the Arctic!
From inside it looks bright and sunny on the outside but once you step out... well it's still bright and sunny... but also rainy and windy and freezing... ALL AT THE SAME TIME !!!
Shall take a bit of getting used to :D
landed here on the 26Th and with all the immigration formalities blah blah, managed to reach the place we're staying for the next month only by evening.
we;ll be based out of Richmond (surrey) for a month.
Richmond's pretty commercial looking... very organised and pretty classy. Very quiet, though I think that applies to most places in the UK and as an Indian, I'm not really used to the "sounds of silence". No honking on the roads, no kids creating a ruckus, no sounds of activity, it's like resident alien after the zombies hit it :). Seriously though, pretty peaceful neighbourhood is probably the better way to describe it !
Day 2 went by exploring the place on foot (how much the British walk!!!). Very pleasant. Would've been wheezing and cribbing back home but there's much less dust here, broad pavements and the traffic stops for you when you cross so no hassle.
Maybe it's because I'm very new here but I didn't even notice how much I'd walked as I just spent all my time ogling at the buildings and the people!
Two quick observations - the British are always very well dressed. Haven't spotted a single slob about (i guess I could probably qualify...no matter how much you dandy up, there's a certain classiness about them you just can't seem to match up to)
The buildings are so beautiful and quaint and so totally out of line with our images of what the financial capital of the world should look like! Very few high rises (at least in the places I've been to so far), lots of brownstones, old fashioned chimneys with spires of smoke... very captivatingly Victorian!
Okay, now the weather report... it's COLD and the second i step out of the centrally heated apartment it's like being instantly teleported from the the Sahara to the Arctic!
From inside it looks bright and sunny on the outside but once you step out... well it's still bright and sunny... but also rainy and windy and freezing... ALL AT THE SAME TIME !!!
Shall take a bit of getting used to :D
Friday, March 21, 2008
Unto her Majesty's Land
well, as Russell Peters said...
The English ruled us for 200 years and then when they packed up, we were like.."oh no, we're coming with you!" lol
but seriously, England apparently has the second highest population of Indians (no prizes for guessing where the highest is) and it's soon going to add a couple more to the list. The news is I'm moving to the UK this month end for quite some time and though there are a million anxieties I'm facing everyday, at the bottom of it all, it's quite an experience for someone whose last vacation abroad was when she was 6 years old (I'm not counting Nepal :-) )
I'm tremendously excited about the 'big move' to E'h'ngland and can't wait to already be there! Any tips on living in the UK (especially around the Watford area which is where I'm probably going to be at after a month in Richmond) are much appreciated.
Though there is the anxiety of settling into a foreign land, finding a job and dealing with the day to day routine, I'm hoping for the best... but right now at home things are pretty much a mess with all the packing going on, especially considering we've pretty much settled in where we are - bought a house, car, furniture, mutual funds, blah blah... and while I'm writing the last line, it strikes me.... 27 isn't any age to 'settle' like a mossy stone... so here I am, ready to roll !
shall keep you posted !
The English ruled us for 200 years and then when they packed up, we were like.."oh no, we're coming with you!" lol
but seriously, England apparently has the second highest population of Indians (no prizes for guessing where the highest is) and it's soon going to add a couple more to the list. The news is I'm moving to the UK this month end for quite some time and though there are a million anxieties I'm facing everyday, at the bottom of it all, it's quite an experience for someone whose last vacation abroad was when she was 6 years old (I'm not counting Nepal :-) )
I'm tremendously excited about the 'big move' to E'h'ngland and can't wait to already be there! Any tips on living in the UK (especially around the Watford area which is where I'm probably going to be at after a month in Richmond) are much appreciated.
Though there is the anxiety of settling into a foreign land, finding a job and dealing with the day to day routine, I'm hoping for the best... but right now at home things are pretty much a mess with all the packing going on, especially considering we've pretty much settled in where we are - bought a house, car, furniture, mutual funds, blah blah... and while I'm writing the last line, it strikes me.... 27 isn't any age to 'settle' like a mossy stone... so here I am, ready to roll !
shall keep you posted !
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)