I was so excited when I first found Jade's blog, lalaLondon. She's originally from Sydney, like I am, and she writes about her London adventures, just like I have been. Not only that, she's stylish and fabulous and I hope to squeeze in an in-person cup of coffee with her before I head off on my travels!
As I sit here writing this post, I believe Aly is packing madly for her round-the-half-world trip and getting ready for her big move back to Australia. I’d like to thank her for the opportunity of guest posting here – this is my first ever guest post, so I certainly hope all you readers enjoy and that I live up to Aly’s great blogging standards!
Aly shares some wonderful stories about life in London and because of that, I’ve decided to write a post about why I’m yet another young Australian in London and why I’m here for good.
I moved here when I was twenty-four. My husband of all of six months at the time was the one who suggested it; after all, he’s called both Sydney and London home at various times of his life. We had originally planned to move over in 2003 but put it off when he was accepted into University – probably a good thing, as I’d never really lived outside of home at that point, let alone living outside of home in a completely different country on the other side of the world!
When we first arrived, I was very lucky. I had a job that I was hired for before I even got on that horrid 24-hour flight from hell. I started along with another Australian girl, who is still a very good friend of mine to this day. In my first year here, I managed to travel to several different countries in Europe and my dream destination, New York City.
As the years went on, we became more “English” – my friends at home often tell me that they think I sound like the Queen now, but the Brits tell me I sound like a mixed up South African. We continued to travel, we went through a rough patch and we made more friends. We visited family, we shopped in Tesco & we found ourselves calling London “home”.
Sometimes, especially in the dead of winter, I dislike living in London and want to go home – I’m very close to my family and miss them terribly. But London offers me everything I could wish for. Good shopping, wonderful restaurants and cafes, beautiful architecture and parks full of lush green grass, just waiting for the husband and I to visit. We can get in our car and drive for a few hours and be in a different country or we can hop on a plane for the price of a week’s groceries and be on a whole different continent! There is so much to keep us here, for truly, London is a city for the global citizen.
I’m now almost twenty-eight. I can apply to become a UK citizen in two years. We are at the stage where it is time to start thinking about buying a house, having some kids, getting serious.
Now we have realised that home is here. Because it’s where our heart is. And our dog is.
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3 comments:
I've always dreamed of living in London and this makes me want to live there even more!
I only lived in London for a few months, but think about it often. This made me want to jump on a plane! If you feel like an Aussie fix there's a lot of great blogs to read. Pop over any time x
Home will always be where my dogs are. Always.
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