the adventures of pinkaholic girl

three hundred and sixty five days later

It's been a year since I left my hometown of Sydney with nothing but a backpack (and a laptop, and suit, and high hopes of earning pounds with some european travel thrown in). I can't believe the time has flown by so quickly, it seems only yesterday that I was standing at the airport, crying my eyes out as I said goodbye to my family and friends.

I do miss some aspects of home, but I think that moving to London is the best thing I've ever done. I've learned so much about myself and my surroundings; how I fit in to the world and what I want out of things. I've travelled through Canada, which was one of the dream holidays that I never really imagined I'd do until I was "grown up". I've seen a few European cities and countries that I never thought I'd get the chance to visit. I've challenged myself work-wise, met a lot of new and interesting people, and made choices and plans for my life that I didn't think were possible a year ago.

That period of upheaval was one of the most impressionable times in my life. I was with faced so much uncertainty of my own doing... I had no choice but to treat it positively. But short of moving to yet another city in the world, I doubt that I'll ever be able to replicate the feelings and thoughts that I experienced back then. Having to deal with all the random thoughts and emotions you go through when you move over here makes you grow up pretty quickly, so while this year has been short, I felt like I've moved quite far ahead relatively in my life.

London is always challenging and never predictable, but I like that. Life here is driven by what you make of it, and I guess my move over here has coincided with a stage of my life where I'm a bit more willing to take risks with work or seize travel opportunities I wouldn't have before. There are also many charms in this city that I have yet to tire of, I am nowhere near ready to go home :)

I wanted to post something more poignant (or at least a bit more "....here's one I prepared earlier") but because of snowballing circumstances, including having our internet account at home cancelled two weeks ago and a 3-day tube strike, I find myself sitting at an internet cafe after a 90 minute commute home on the bus, randomly babbling on about whatever comes to mind. I'm posting this in conjunction with another post that has been on the draft backburner for a while, which captures a bit more of the feelings I've been having lately. I hope this passage makes sense, but even if it doesn't, it felt kind of important to me to write something up to mark the occasion... one year since I've left home, and what a fantastic year it has been. :)

posted by d @ 7:33 pm