We moved into our flat back in early November, but due to engagements and 30th birthdays and the holidays, we are really only now getting properly settled in. Our sofa arrived just after we got back from the states, we ordered a dryer(!) and are trying to figure out how to make the kitchen more our style (TBC).
There’s so much work to do, but here is what we’ve done so far!
This year the Saturday of Thanksgiving (when we celebrate in the UK as it’s obvs not a holiday here) and Gareth’s 30th birthday fell on the same day. We had very recently moved into our new flat and gotten engaged – so there was a lot to celebrate!
We still didn’t have a couch, so we brought some gym equipment from The Yard and fashioned a giant table and fit most of our closest friends in. Other than an oven that broke just when all the pies went in, it was perfect. The food was amazing, after eating we went to the park and played football, a friend had pre-made Gareth’s favourite dessert, so we were still able to sing. Then we stopped into a new craft beer place next door that just opened, got pretty drunk, and played games all night. Perfect.
Back in June, right after my first year of exams for my masters, we started looking at flats for sale. Since I came back from Madagascar in April, we had been living in a pretty small flat with a friend from university. She was very gracious to let me move in unexpectedly, but I think we were all looking forward to having a bit more space and being able to live alone with our partners. We saw five or six properties, but from the time I saw our flat listed, I knew it was the one. We rushed out to see it, and on the drive home put in an offer. It was exciting! It was terrifying! Would they accept?? Was it a mistake? Buying property is a huge and scary financial commitment! The next day we were asked to up it a bit, and then it was official! We were in the process of buying a flat!
What I quickly learned is that buying in the UK is very different from the US in a few ways. Mainly, there is nothing quick about it. We were in a bit of a race to close before Gareth officially inherited his mom’s house, because here you pay something called stamp duty, which is a tax on all property bought. It goes up based on the cost of the property and it goes up significantly if it’s a second property.
Another big difference is that being under offer is not binding. Either side can pull out at any moment and there’s no consequence. In the US, being under offer is a bit of a reassurance – it’s unlikely it will fall through and you can feel okay about spending time and money on a solicitor to handle the purchase, do the inspection, etc. Here, someone could come in at any point in the process and put in an offer above yours – this is called “gazumping” and is really common. Our offer was contingent on the flat being removed from all the websites.
The last major difference is that here you buy property in a “chain.” In the US, you buy a property and sell your property independent of each other. Here, we weren’t selling, but our sellers were buying a new place, putting us in a chain of three. Us, our sellers, and their sellers. We all had to exchange contracts on the same day. So though our sale was ready to go through, we had another week of delay because there was a problem with the sale between our sellers and their new property.
On average the whole process takes about four months, and the fact that anyone can pull out at any time, someone could be gazumped, or an issue further down the chain could disrupt the entire process means that about one in three sales falls through in the UK.
Knowing this made it so. hard. to. wait. We really wanted this place, and after a few months we definitely didn’t want to have to start over or to have to pay for any of the many costs that go into buying a place again.
Luckily, we came in right at the average! It took us about four months, and we closed November 4th.
I haven’t done a non-travel update in so long, and I do love being able to look back at the different stages of life I’ve been through since starting this blog.
Still in London! The weather is still horrible, though last week it was magically beautiful and I suddenly remembered why I love this city so much. Hopefully that will only improve along with the weather.
We’ve moved into a new flat and I am honestly in love with my commute. I loved our old flat but felt like we were ages away from anything, and I was on the train about 2.5 hours every day getting to and from work (but man did I read a lot of books). Now I have a quite enjoyable 15 minute walk to Brixton, where I can hop on the tube (always get a seat as it’s the start of the line), and go straight into work. I look forward to it every day!
Our new flat is so great. The layout just makes so much sense for us (and has forced the cats and dog to get along), and I really love our neighbourhood.
I’m still at my job working in international sexual and reproductive health, and I still find it interesting and challenging and a real anchor to London – I worried it would feel like Gareth’s city I was visiting, but my job has given me a really distinct and separate purpose.
This weekend I leave for a hen do in Ibiza (my first time back to Spain since I said goodbye to Logrono), and then weddings the following two weekends. Somehow, I have timed it exactly right, and am living in London when 90% of my UK based friends are getting married. It’s honestly the luckiest, most incredible timing, as I can do hen dos and engagement parties and all the weddings. It’s difficult having friends I love so spread out, and I am so grateful I get to be here for this season of celebration and love!
I’m looking towards the future and am not completely sure what it holds. I’m completely sure I don’t want to be an assistant forever. I miss Los Angeles, and also am maaaaaybe a little obsessed with babies. There’s still so much travel I want to do and things I want to learn, but I’m trying (with minimal success, haha) to stay present in the moment and not worry about the future too much.
So I didn’t accomplish most of my 2017 goals, but I’m giving myself a pass on self improvement and instead feeling proud I got through the year at all!
That said, I have some big goals for 2018, and a lot of them are the same as before.
SPANISH. I am SO upset that I lived in Spain for nearly a year and didn’t leave with a higher level of Spanish. I’ve signed up for three courses here in London, the first was far too easy, though I took their placement test, and the other two have been canceled last minute due to insufficient enrolment. Why doesn’t anyone else care about Spanish?! I’m talking a placement exam with Instituto Cervantes, the official Spanish program, in a little over a week, and am definitely finding a class for January. I have two goals, one easy and one a bit harder. I want to pass the B1 exam that is being given in May. That should be easy as I don’t think I’m far off now. The harder one is that I want to pass the B2 exam that will be given in November.
I want to be physically strong again. I’ve barely worked out in the last six months and have eaten everything and anything unhealthy. I’ve definitely had my mom’s cookies at Christmas, but overall I’ve been eating better and I want to keep it up in January–maybe add in some pilates as well.
Learn to drive a standard. Living in the outskirts of London and not being able to drive is not great! Not being able to drive in Cornwall is worse. Most European cars are manual, and I need to get on it and give myself back the freedom of the open road!
Catch up on this blog. I have travel that I need to write about dating back over a year! I want to get it all down, as looking back through old posts makes me so happy–it’s a great record to have of everything I’ve done.
Get content. Like I said before, I’m having a hard time feeling at home in London. I think it’s a mixture of a few things–we don’t live in a very lively area at all, I commute about three hours round trip a day, and I feel like the future I’d been planning is disappearing. But feeling this way is only making me resent London, which isn’t helping anything at all. So I need to figure out how to either be content living here, or come up with a different plan, because unhappiness isn’t a good look on anyone! There are so many options–moving closer to central London, traveling more, taking classes I’m interested in (Spanish and I’ve also signed up for a pottery class!)–or something more drastic like going back to Spain, or France, and taking language lessons, or going to grad school, or backpacking SE Asia. The possibilities are endless, and I think maybe even just remembering that could give me the boost I need to cheer up a bit.
Well, 2017. You weren’t the best.
The year started out pretty well, actually. New Years was great, and in the first part of the year, Lee visited and we went to Belgium, Faye visited, I got placed in Granada for the coming year, spent Semana Santa in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia. It was a great Winter/Spring, and such a fantastic time in life.
Things since then haven’t been nearly so happy. I haven’t posted about it, but in June Gareth’s mom was diagnosed with cancer. I moved to the UK a few days later, and unfortunately the cancer was incredibly aggressive and she passed away at the end of June–only a few weeks after diagnosis. There aren’t really words to describe what it’s like to watch someone get sick so quickly, or watch the person you love lose their mom, so I’m not going to try. But suffice to say, it was and still is hard on a daily basis.
We moved back to London from G’s mom’s house at the end of July, and I got a full time job in a sector I love. However, the plan was never to settle down long term, and as it looked like the plan to travel was getting further and further away, I was finding it harder and harder to be content with life in London–not to mention Gareth and I finally moved in together under the most stressful circumstances imaginable. Life has been hard and sad lately, though I have hope it’s getting a bit brighter each day.
I try to keep things relatively happy on this blog, hence the lack of posts for much of this year. But the reality is, the second half of 2017 was not nice, and sometimes that’s life. Things aren’t great all the time, and there will be seasons where you just need to survive.
So, 2017 had some highs as well as lows. I’m quite ready for the year to be over, and here’s to a happier 2018!
After the success we had last year having Thanksgiving in London, we did the same this year. It was wonderful, just like before. One of my friends from Logroño came, we ate lots, played games, and – of course – played football in the park. I love Thanksgiving.
I’m getting quite annoyed with myself when it comes to this blog. It brings me such happiness, but I’m having such a hard time keeping it up.
To be honest, I’m having a bit of a hard time overall right now, which I think is making it a challenge to get anything extracurricular done. I was trying to wait until I felt a bit more positive before coming back, but that just feels dishonest and not a real reflection of my life right now. So, hi internet. I’m (trying!) to be back. I’m a bit down right now but I have a lot to update you on, and such a huge backlog of travel I barely know where to start.
As I said earlier, I’m living in London now, and quite honestly I’m finding it hard to adjust to life in England. I miss Spain a million times more than I thought I would. I feel my Spanish rapidly slipping away–I’ve signed up for two Spanish courses here, one was far too easy and one was canceled just last week. Still looking for the right fit/any fit.
Life is hard – we’re living in the midst of grief and also adjusting to living together (or even in the same country) for the first time, I’ve unexpectedly moved countries, started a job in a new field, and everything just feels hard and sad and a bit hopeless right now.
I’m also struggling because instead of traveling, or planning on traveling, I’m having to put down roots. I have a job in a field I love, that could lead to me working abroad in international development. That is a huge goal. But it was an eventual one. After I had traveled and learned a few languages and experienced so much more of the world. I also never planned on ending up in London, once I did settle down. Because I’ve always thought it was a hard place to live, and I don’t think I’m wrong! All my friends who live here have plans to move in the next few years. London is where the jobs are, but not where the housing is, or any real room for growth. It’s overcrowded, overpriced, and and usually raining–everyone just kind of struggles to get through, and that’s not really my ideal tone in a city.
I also know it’s one of the most exciting cities in the world with everything on offer, but my reality is I can afford to live in a suburb miles outside where we can barely find more than two or three places to go for dinner. The pub culture that was so fun when I was a student feels repetitive and draining now. I think cities have personalities, and Boston and London remind me of each other. A bit tough, a kind of “grin and bear it” attitude. LA felt like everyone had a dream and a goal and so much hope and enthusiasm. Spain was like that to an extent, and I was also living out such a dream that nothing could really get me down. Logrono was tiny but I was in the very center of everything. London is huge and I am on the outside. I spend three hours a day commuting to/from work, and it’s dark all the hours of the day I’m not in the office.
I know I need a major attitude change. I’m sitting here complaining when what I need to be doing is finding a way to like it here, to see it as the opportunity it is instead of feeling like I’m stuck in a situation I don’t want to be in. But the thing about roots is they go deep. It was so, so hard to leave LA, and I wasn’t even in a job I loved. I’m so scared if I settle in here, in the right career, I’ll never leave, and I’ll wake up in a decade wondering how I let my life pass by without doing the things I have so desperately dreamed of doing. Then I wonder what I’m doing here, if I’m planning on leaving, because all I’m doing is investing time into a job and a life that I’m not planning on making permanent. I feel confused and homesick for Spain, or LA, or back to a time when I had an idea of what my future would be and felt like I was actively working towards accomplishing my goals. Like I said, attitude adjustment needed!
Well hello there, it’s been a while, no?
After such a long absence I think it’s best to start with an update. I’ve moved to London. I’ve started a full time job working at an international NGO that deals with sexual and reproductive health in the developing world. And I got another kitten.
It hasn’t been an easy few months. Gareth’s mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer in early June and she passed away just a few weeks later. I moved to the UK on June 8th to help Gareth, and other than a quick trip back to Spain to get Brady, my time in Spain has ended.
While London feels familiar, and like the closest thing I’ll get to home while not living in America, I do miss Logrono like crazy, and often find myself imagining I’m back there, walking the familiar streets, easily speaking in Spanish, and eating iberico jamon.
That said, my move was made all the easier because I was in the happy position of finding a job unexpectedly easily, which meant I needed to get my Italian ID card quite urgently. I came home from my first interview with the realization that things could move quickly, whether for that job or another, and getting my proof of right to work was quite urgent. I booked tickets and was on a flight to Pisa the next morning.
Because I bought the tickets so last minute, I had to go with the cheapest options available—which meant I would be spending 5 days around Pisa—which just happened to be close enough for a trip to Cinque Terre, a place I had been longing to visit for years. I planned for a night in Pisa, a day in Vernasca, getting my ID card, and then three days in Cinque Terre. It was a whirlwind trip and definitely one of my all time favorites.
On my way to the airport to fly out, I was told I’d gotten a second interview, and upon my return was hired for the job. Job hunting is one of the most stressful times in life, and I’m so happy to have mostly missed out on it this time around.
Right now I’m trying to focus on making London home. I’ve signed up for Spanish lessons, and found a Pilates class right by my work. I’m also starting to book some trips, which I’m very much looking forward to. I’m leaving for Norway in about a week, and think I’ll try to fit in Sweden, Estonia, and maybe Latvia before flying home to Boston for Christmas.
As I already posted about, I spent this Thanksgiving in London. I hadn’t been to London in quite a while, and was so excited to go back. I was a little nervous, because traditionally I spend Thanksgiving in America with Katie’s family, and I was worried I’d be homesick and surrounded by Brits on one of my very favorite holidays. That said, it was amazing!
The perfectness started after Gareth felt last minute guilt and agreed to pick me up from the airport. It’s so nice when someone is waiting for you at the gate, and even nicer when that isn’t followed by an hour long night bus. I got in late the first night so we pretty much grabbed some food and went right to bed. Can I say again HOW MUCH I love to, on occasion, eat non-Spanish food? It’s pretty great.
On Friday we had breakfast at one of the best coffee shops in Peckham, and then headed into Greenwich. I used to spend a lot of time there when we were all still in college, but I can’t remember having gone anytime recently at all. It was almost the same as I remembered, except the got rid of the Tex Mex place which breaks my nostalgic Mexican-loving heart.
We wandered around the park, which was gorgeous. I caught a few pokemon, because I’m cool. Then it got too cold and we headed to a pub nearby for beer and mulled wine (guess who ordered what). After that we went to the market where I got a really old map of Massachusetts, and for quite the deal because apparently Gareth is an expert negotiator. We got lunch and an 8 pound bottle of Rioja wine (on sale from 16 and still about quadruple what you’d pay in actual La Rioja), and then went back and tried to sneak in a nap before meeting up with all our friends.
It was a chill night, we had a few rounds, played some pool, and caught up about everything I’d missed in my nearly 10 month absence! Just to put this out there, I have the best friends.
Saturday was our stand-in Thanksgiving day, and what better way to start stretching your stomach than with a classic fry up! After joyfully eating something other than a pastry for breakfast, we headed to the big Sainsbury’s in the hopes they would have all the American stuff I needed for my recipes. Which they did, apart from corn syrup (which I need a disgusting amount of for my chocolate bourbon pecan pie). I substituted golden syrup which was actually a pretty big step down but it worked in a pinch.
I spent the morning cooking the pie and helping (aka watching and criticizing) Gareth prepare the turkey. I met up with some friends at the pub to watch England defeat Argentina, and by the time we got back the kitchen was set up and food was nearly ready. (Thanks, G!)
I’ve never properly hosted a Thanksgiving before. I’ve had one at my place, but never was in charge of making sure everyone had assigned foods and knew what they were making. That said, because my friends put so much effort in, it was all perfect. We had enough for everyone to have seconds, the food was delicious, and I even got like two British people to say what they’re thankful for, which was the biggest surprise of all.
After eating we went to the park and spent about an hour playing 6 on 6 football. It was excellent (and not only because my team won by a lot). Eventually we wandered home and attempted to drink even half the wine that was brought. We played cards and talked about all the new engagements and had a perfect end to the night.
The next morning we watched Gilmore Girls (I want another season!), went to another great coffee place for breakfast, and then I had to leave for the airport. The trip went so fast. It mostly just reminded me how much I love London, and my friends there, and how much I miss it. It’s so nice seeing Gareth all the time, and exploring so many new places, but it was a reminder about how much I love the old ones too. Right now I’m deciding what to do after New Years, because in Spain we have the week after off too. I found cheap flights to Budapest and back to Spain from Vienna. Really cheap. But I could also spend like 5 more days in London, which I know I would love too. It´s hard to make decisions!
I’m writing this on my break before my lass class, and then I rush home, pack, and head to Barcelona. I fly out at 6:00am tomorrow morning for Berlin, and from there will visit Amsterdam, Prague, and Wroclaw. I get back Sunday morning, 10 days from now, and my mom arrives for the holidays on that Wednesday. I am so excited for all that’s coming up. Just once more, in case I’ve not made it sufficiently clear… I love the holidays!