Hello!
Its official! I am a Londoner now. I moved on Friday into Zone 1 of London, ie the most central part of London. I decided that it would be a once in a lifetime experience to get to live and work in central London, so I went for it! All my placement money is being spent this year, but it will be unforgettable. I have already had an amazing time since I got here. I have met loads of people from around Europe, the middle east, and Asia. On Sunday, we did a meet and greet for the new students that had moved into the building. I live in private student accommodation, so there are about 300 other students that go to various universities and backgrounds living in the building. We went out for pizza and a few drinks at this super cute pizza place just a minute away. There was a live band playing and a great atmosphere. Everyone was super friendly. We ended up taking a walk around Tower Bridge, along the Thames, and through Bank on our adventure. It was so cool to see the city at night. There has also been the introduction of night tubes on a few of the lines which will make seeing the city at night even easier. It opens of the possibilities.
I moved Friday and it was a pretty full on day. The beginning of the day started out with the check out of my house in Guildford. Another housemate and I had spent the last two weekends trying to get the house in perfect condition before the inspection. We still had to pay about £100 each out of our deposit to get the house cleaned and fixed before the next tenants moved in. We were charged for professional cleaning of the curtains, the carpet, garden, and every wall (or section of wall) that had blue tac on it had to be repainted because it leaves a greasy mark. Blue tac is a sticky tac, kind of like a gum substance, that people use to hang up posters. I don’t like it, but it is super popular here. However, we were expecting to get charged about that much, so we are happy to have the rest of our deposit back!
As we were finalizing the cost of the fixes, my moving company showed up. I decided to hire a moving company because I couldn’t move the stuff on the tube (it would have taken me like 20 trips), my car isn’t big enough nor would I like to drive in London, and a taxi wouldn’t help me move my stuff in and out of my house and it would cost a load of money. The best option for me was a moving company. I had two moving men and a truck that had plenty of space for my things. They loaded my stuff up super quickly and gave me a ride into London with them. They were very friendly and I learned lots about Romania, their home country. Once I got to my new place, they parked right out front of the building, carried my stuff up two flights of stairs, and into my place. It only cost about £130 which is an incredibly good price. I would definitely recommend doing that if you need to move. I found them on a website called AnyVan that gave me various estimates from multiple companies based on my moving inventory.
I spent the next day and a half unpacking all my stuff, buying groceries, doing laundry, and just settling in. I love it so far. On Saturday, I was able to see a friend from America as well! She was in town for just a few days before going off to Paris. Whenever people are in London, it is super easy to see them. From Guildford, it takes 30-45 minutes to get into central London and now that I have moved, I can meet them within a few minutes. The thing that makes it really easy to see my friends though is the fact that I am on my placement year. All my time outside work hours is free to use how I choose, I have no homework (besides a couple university placement forms), and when I want a holiday I can take it anytime. I have been so much more social these past few months because I now have the time. I got a message from one of my friends who is also on her placement year that she wants to go on vacation ASAP, and because of all these things I can just simply ask “when and where” and I’ll be there! I am having so much fun. This year has just begun and I can’t wait to see what else it has in store.
Holly
