One Year Anniversary

Wow!

Today marks the day when I first arrived in London 365 days ago. When I first arrived in London I was excited and ready to embark on new adventures. Everything was new and at times, a little scary. I had to navigate this thing called the tube and master all the tube lines... Jubilee, District, Circle (but wait, they go to some of the same stations, which line should I take?!), Central, Bakerloo... how do I know where I'm going? After getting disorientated many times while on the tube (I was going south bound when I really needed to be heading northbound) I managed to find my way ok. Zones and Oyster, whatever do you mean? Add cold weather to that and I really was outside my comfort zone.

Even supermarkets and areas, finding a house to live. Starting off in East Putney which was a gorgeous area but expensive I ventured down to Shepherd's Bush... Brilliant. Deciding this was still too expensive I ended up sharing a ROOM in Chiswick and spent the better part of my year sharing a room which I vowed I would "never ever" do.

Looking back, I can see how far I have come. I embarked on this adventure not knowing what to expect and not knowing what would happen in the end. At times I have cried and wanted to come home like you would not believe but I pushed through the hard times and have now found myself enjoying every second of London (minus the windy coldness).

I've explored new places and have met some amazing people and am only continuing to meet many more. It will be such a sad moment when I leave London because this has not just been a holiday destination for me - it has been my home. Definitely a culture shock too because of how multicultural London is. The accessibilty of Europe is amazing and I only just booked £40 return flights to Norway (which is cheaper than me booking return tickets from Melbourne to QLD) which means traveling is a breeze. Although, don't be fooled, even weekends away can turn quite expensive.

London has taught me so much about life and about myself. I've said it before and I'll say it again - London is one of the best things that I have ever decided to do in my life. Sometimes I feel that my London experience hasn't turned out the way I wanted but then I think about how I left everything at home to come on this crazy adventure and decide that I don't need to have my experience turning out a certain way - it will turn out the way it is meant to turn out and all I need to do is enjoy the ride.

And the ride has been amazing and is nowhere near over yet!