I saw some chocolate ice cream with fudge bits and liquorice sauce. No thanks!
I love liquorice (both salty and sweet), but on its own or maybe mixed with fruit pastilles, but not with chocolate (there's even salty liquorice chocolate bar). Lemon filled (sweet) liquorice is nice, imho.
Ugh. I've been doing a lot of thinking since Kristy decided to leave London and I don't like the outcome. Don't get me wrong, I love this city, it really is quite awesome. But it feels so...temporary? Like no one's really from here and no one intends to stay. And it's really hard to meet new people (seriously, how do you do that after leaving college?). Maybe I put too much pressure on myself assuming that London would be IT for me... I like it here, but I don't feel it. All in all, I've been really freaked out for the past few days. I definitely don't want to go back to Poland (for so many reasons) but I don't feel like I want to stay here long term either. I want to finish my internship but what do I do then? Go somewhere else? Ughhhhh. Thoughts?
Ugh. I've been doing a lot of thinking since Kristy decided to leave London and I don't like the outcome. Don't get me wrong, I love this city, it really is quite awesome. But it feels so...temporary? Like no one's really from here and no one intends to stay. And it's really hard to meet new people (seriously, how do you do that after leaving college?). Maybe I put too much pressure on myself assuming that London would be IT for me... I like it here, but I don't feel it. All in all, I've been really freaked out for the past few days. I definitely don't want to go back to Poland (for so many reasons) but I don't feel like I want to stay here long term either. I want to finish my internship but what do I do then? Go somewhere else? Ughhhhh. Thoughts?
Big cities can be very lonely places. It's hard to make friends when people are whizzing by at the speed of light, with places to go and people to see. Could you see yourself settling in a suburb of London, but still being close enough to the city to work and shop and stuff? I don't know if it's the same all over, but here people tend to be friendlier away from major cities.
Or give someplace else a try! You're young and free. It all takes planning, but why not? For instance, I'm sure Kristy could set you up nicely in Canada. ;o)
It is much harder to meet people after you are out of school. If you don't meet them at work...it's REALLY difficult. (I have to meet my new friends on band message boards.) After your mid-twenties friends get busy with careers or getting married and starting families and you won't see them much anyway. It's sad, but that's how it ends up.
Ugh. I've been doing a lot of thinking since Kristy decided to leave London and I don't like the outcome. Don't get me wrong, I love this city, it really is quite awesome. But it feels so...temporary? Like no one's really from here and no one intends to stay. And it's really hard to meet new people (seriously, how do you do that after leaving college?). Maybe I put too much pressure on myself assuming that London would be IT for me... I like it here, but I don't feel it. All in all, I've been really freaked out for the past few days. I definitely don't want to go back to Poland (for so many reasons) but I don't feel like I want to stay here long term either. I want to finish my internship but what do I do then? Go somewhere else? Ughhhhh. Thoughts?
I found it difficult in Dublin at first, I was 27 at the time, the thing about cities like Dublin and London (I imagine Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, etc would be the same) is that nowadays that we have relatively inexpensive travel the world has shrunk, but the result is also that people are too wrapped up in their own business. Mobile phones, Skype and all these things mean you can move halfway around the world but still keep in touch everyday. The are peoples of all over the world in Dublin it's a huge melting pot of cultures some share, some stick on their own, there are various places to meet in Dublin...
The Africans tend to use the church on Sunday as a much more community thing, they get totally dressed up and treat it like a social occassion rather than a service that must be endured.
There are more than a few Czech, Polski, Slovak bars & clubs (club as in social club rather than night club) where folks tend to go,
There is a whole mini "Chinatown" round Parnell St/Capel St)
I'm sure if I looked for others I would find them, for example there is a Rangers Supporters Club in Dublin.
The thing that most people do is the whole drinking/socializing thing which is ok but being a young attractive girl you are going to attract the arseholes and chancers.
It also can't be easy in the UK at the moment due to the whole immigration issue, I was quite disgusted by it when I was in Scotland a couple of weeks ago. A lot of people have to realize there is a difference between immigration and racism. The recession has resulted in tempers fraying and blame being thrown around, the free movement is still there in writing but... for example when I moved to Dublin there was something like a 3% unemployment rate (it was a negative employment rate in the Nederlands at the time).
I settled in Dublin quite easily after I met my ex, Lisa, I was with her for 5 years before we went our seperate ways by which time I was settled and decided to stay, I did consider going back to Scotland a few months back when things were a bit tough but I'm glad I didn't.
I guess you just need to decide can you handle the "isolated" feeling weighed up against finishing your internship. Maybe by the time you finish it you'll feel differently. You also have to factor in the "Home Sickness" whether or not you want to go back to Poland there will be things/people/places you miss.
If it's any consolation I have found it does get easier with time and it does feel more like a "home" but if you do find you just can't shake it and decide to move on then so be it. There is no shame in leaving because it doesn't suit you or it doesn't work out, for whatever reason. And the type of people who do make smart comments are usually the type of people who would never even attempt to get off their fat lazy arse and try anything new because they're scared.
Whatever you decide to do, Best of Luck!!!
... and if you ever feel like popping over to Dublin on a "Ryanair" let me know, I'll talk Dee into meeting up.
My mum gave me a "lend" of her Ninetendo DS, when I was back the other week, it's hacked or something and has 101 games on it, It's the bloody work of Satan, pick it up and put it back down and it's two or three hours bloody later.
Ugh. I've been doing a lot of thinking since Kristy decided to leave London and I don't like the outcome. Don't get me wrong, I love this city, it really is quite awesome. But it feels so...temporary? Like no one's really from here and no one intends to stay. And it's really hard to meet new people (seriously, how do you do that after leaving college?). Maybe I put too much pressure on myself assuming that London would be IT for me... I like it here, but I don't feel it. All in all, I've been really freaked out for the past few days. I definitely don't want to go back to Poland (for so many reasons) but I don't feel like I want to stay here long term either. I want to finish my internship but what do I do then? Go somewhere else? Ughhhhh. Thoughts?
What about some smaller town, like Leeds or Manchester?
Ugh. I've been doing a lot of thinking since Kristy decided to leave London and I don't like the outcome. Don't get me wrong, I love this city, it really is quite awesome. But it feels so...temporary? Like no one's really from here and no one intends to stay. And it's really hard to meet new people (seriously, how do you do that after leaving college?). Maybe I put too much pressure on myself assuming that London would be IT for me... I like it here, but I don't feel it. All in all, I've been really freaked out for the past few days. I definitely don't want to go back to Poland (for so many reasons) but I don't feel like I want to stay here long term either. I want to finish my internship but what do I do then? Go somewhere else? Ughhhhh. Thoughts?
What about some smaller town, like Leeds or Manchester?
Small towns aren't any easier to meet people. I live alone and work alone so find it incredibly hard to meet new people. On my days off work i spend most of the day in a bookies to just be around people. Im not sure what's worse, coming home to an empty home, eating alone and then going to bed alone. OR being in a really busy bookies and still feeling like the only person there.
On that happy note i'm going to go kill a few kittens, listen to an emo record and then stick my head in the oven!
edit - I'm not really!. I'm an old romantic so believe one day i wall fall in love and everything will just fall into place. it fucking better, or i will be piiiiiiiissed
Ugh. I've been doing a lot of thinking since Kristy decided to leave London and I don't like the outcome. Don't get me wrong, I love this city, it really is quite awesome. But it feels so...temporary? Like no one's really from here and no one intends to stay. And it's really hard to meet new people (seriously, how do you do that after leaving college?). Maybe I put too much pressure on myself assuming that London would be IT for me... I like it here, but I don't feel it. All in all, I've been really freaked out for the past few days. I definitely don't want to go back to Poland (for so many reasons) but I don't feel like I want to stay here long term either. I want to finish my internship but what do I do then? Go somewhere else? Ughhhhh. Thoughts?
I guess the easiest way to meet new people in a new place is to know someone who "takes you in", introduces you to people and stuff... without that, I imagine it can be really hard meeting people (and becoming friends with them!) in any city.
An English friend of mine who lives in Munich met lots of people (both locals and expats) because she volunteered at an English-language online-magazine. I met her through a language-exchange - she wanted to perfectionise her German and I needed someone to practice my English with for my exams...
Have you considered volunteering at weekends? Or, I don't know... the London "Couchsurfing" community? I met some of them a few years back and they seemed really nice (and not too "freaky")...
Obviously, I don't know you and I don't know what your situation is in London. But I think if it was me I'd try and stick around for a bit longer - or search for a job nation-wide. How long have you been there? three months? Maybe your expectations were too high and now the disappointment is overwhelming, but I think three or four months isn't long enough to get the "at home" feeling in a new city. And it'd be such a waste to leave now... all the time you spent on getting a bank account and an NHS number and stuff...
and if it's any consolation: I haven't left my country after uni and I spend my days alternating between freaking-out and trying-to-think-of-sth-other-than-the-freakout-causing-jobsearch.
You never stop freaking out. Only the reasons will change.
So true.
For Meggs, I met my hubby in London, he was a student from the North (of England), me a tourist, just happened to be in the same pub at the same time. His brother met his Irish wife in another pub in London, he was a banker of sorts, she a student nurse. You never know who you might meet when going out! (just watch out for douchebags!!)
I only suggested the slightly smaller cities in case London feels overwhelmingly huge, I mean Leeds is the same size as Helsinki, and that's THE city in Finland (biggest and the capital). My husband was born near Leeds, there seem to be some kind of Polish community up there (I've even seen some grave stones). He also told me that it's really difficult to get into any kind of group in London ("everybody says so"), and that people in the North are more friendly. It was easier for him to move to London, as his brother already lived and worked there. He also made some friends at the Uni, but it takes time.
