Julia with friends in London. Picture: Julia D’Orazio
LONDON is a place that can swallow you whole and spit you out. It can be an unforgiving city, yet it can offer you endless possibilities.
That was the first piece of advice I received when I first set foot in London — there simply is no other city like it. Like a relationship, you need to work with London for it to be kind to you. London is the type of place when you first arrive, it overwhelms you.
You feel like you already know it from all the movies, the iconic sights and all the British stereotypes. You probably do at face value but once you get into the thick of it, the world is your oyster.
It was always a goal of mine to move to this global city. I’m not too sure why I was fascinated with London. It could have subconsciously been that unofficial rite of passage I felt as a young Australian to be a part of the flock that moves to London in droves; obtaining a two-year visa (lucky I have a EU passport) and experiencing the motherland and feeling a part of the world since coming from Perth — well it pretty much feels like the edge of the world.
At first, my fairytale notion was met with a confronting reality.
When I first arrived in London after living a nomadic lifestyle around Europe, I wasn’t sold on moving there. I had fallen in love with other European capitals such as Berlin and Amsterdam, but this life goal of mine, I couldn’t shake it off. I needed to do this.
Was it a mistake? Picture: Julia D’Orazio
After arriving into London and almost having an emotional breakdown (think overnight bus from Amsterdam, getting delayed for over eight hours due to bad weather at the ferry crossing and the bus company adding an extra two hours onto the journey to change driver, plus physical exhaustion), I just didn’t get off on the right foot with London.
It was also so expensive that I may as well have got all my cash together, lit a match to start a bonfire and watched it burn right before my very eyes.
I wondered constantly; “What was I doing here?” At first, I had an offer to crash (couch surf) at my friends sisters’ apartment. A few days turned into weeks, a few weeks turned into over a month-and-a-half. Six of us were living in this three-bedroom apartment.
My friend and her boyfriend had just moved over from Perth also, so in one bedroom there were three of them piled in and me lapping up residency on the couch which I packed up my makeshift bed everyday as I wanted to have as minimal presence felt possible — I felt like I was already intruding enough.
In the good times. Picture: Julia D’Orazio
If you know someone who is already living in London and you can take advantage of their generosity accommodation-wise that’s great, because without a job and living off the weak Australian dollar, things can get tough.
I was frantically applying for jobs. Recruitment agencies are a huge thing in the UK so I signed up to as many as I could. I had countless interviews with recruitment agencies and I always left feeling great and full of optimism.
It could be summed up like a promising first date. They were into me, they were lapping me up and they made it feel like I had the world at my feet. I left feeling like I was on the cusp of landing a dream job. But soon enough, I realised the feeling wasn’t mutual. It was one sided and from many agencies, I never heard from them again. My confidence was struck a blow, professionally and personally.
It was a challenging time. Picture: Julia D’Orazio
I ended up with a job that I took out of desperation for the money. It was doing the most unnatural thing in my life; cold calling people. I loathed it and left after three months. I also took on some hospitality work at minimum wage.
To put it in perspective, the minimum wage is £6.50 (roughly $13) an hour. If I was to go out and buy a cocktail in London, I may be paying £8.50. Unless you earn good money, living in London is pretty much reliant on pay cheque to pay cheque with a savings account being unheard of.
Happy to say, I am now working at a tech start-up company with London being one of the world’s leading start up cities and life couldn’t be sweeter.
That is the job side of things. Then there is the house hunt. It is all about the zones in London. The advice I commonly received was to live in either zone one or two as it was much more convenient to get around.
Hi there, London. Picture: Julia D’Orazio
I applied for countless houses and went to many viewings. Unless you have the money to afford it, London is the place where you may have to drop your living standards according to your budget to survive.
I went to a ‘house’ viewing that ended up being a Big Brother-style arrangement with 18 people all living together in one big warehouse. It seemed like fun but after living in and out of hostels, I wanted to have my own space and a place I could call home.
To save money, people even share rooms and lounge rooms are converted into bedrooms. Unless you’re earning millions, you’ll find that most of your pay check goes straight to rent. I ended up living in a shared apartment with a few random Australians and a token Spanish guy. Overall it was a nice living arrangement. I had heard of some horror stories such as having dirty or unkind housemates, so I was glad I didn’t really have to endure that!
A Sunday toast with Aussie expats. Picture: Julia D’Orazio
The love-hate relationship I continue to have with London all comes down to the commuting. It’s expensive and time consuming. Be prepared to throw spontaneous meetings with friends out the window as if you live on opposite sides of London, it could take you over an hour to commute.
A day can easily be chewed up with three to four hours commuting if you haven’t prepared your day well in advance. Sure, if you had that Sliding Doors moment and missed your train by a few seconds, there wasn’t going to be a long wait because the next train quickly followed within a minute or two.
It’s the buses and traffic that makes me loathe London, especially if I’m running late. My continuous rookie error is always taking Google Maps for gospel truth in terms of planning times, never mind running through London with my millions of layers and needing the world’s coldest shower after.
Getting around London isn’t easy. Picture: Julia D’Orazio
I ended up doing the London thing; buying a backpack and always being prepared for the unexpected.
I often say that it’s rare to meet an actual Londoner in London because most people seem to be there from aboard. It also turns out the cliche is true, that Australians do hang out together in London. You think that after travelling half way around the world, you would question why you would want to hang out with your own kind.
Contrary to London being home to over eight million people, London is a tough city to make friends so you do feel inclined to stick with what or who you know. Sure I have used dating apps like Tinder to broaden my scope of meeting new people as well as join professional networking events and go out and about by myself.
Cheers! Picture: Julia D’OrazioSource:Supplied
As it’s a big city, it is easy to feel lonely but that’s when you really need to put yourself out there and be open with people from all walks of life. Yes, London can be tough. But there is a pay off. And it’s a fantastic one.
January was my turnaround point. It was when I started to appreciate how amazing and truly captivating London really is. It has the world on a smorgasbord. You’ll never run out of
activities to do, things to see or places to go. Everything you can think of (or didn’t think of) is on offer.
Hip hop brunch karaoke, adult ball pits, late night ping pong bars, underground squatter punk parties, eccentric queer balls — take your pick!
Add that to the usual things that go on in every other city, but times a hundred in terms of options at your disposal: live gigs, food markets, festivals, exhibitions, bars, districts — the list goes on.
There’s so much good in London too. Picture: Julia D’Orazio
What’s even better is that in comparison to what it would cost back at home in Australia, things are affordable to do (drink prices are another story). That’s because there’s so much choice. It’s the constant ‘first world problem’ of what to spend your last few pounds doing in London every week because there’s so much going on and you just want to do anything and everything.
I feel like I have finally found my feet. After landing an unbelievably great job and finally meeting my type of people that I’m well and truly comfortable hanging out with, I now feel settled in London. It took a while. Sure I miss the coast, I miss my family and friends, the fresh air (no thank you London smog), but living in London is an experience I cannot recommend highly enough.
Someone introduced me to a quote by the great English writer Samuel Johnson about London that couldn’t be more accurate — “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”. In a playground like London, it’s hard not to be tempted to play on.
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