When my fifth London Anniversary was approaching last Autumn, I inevitably started to think about where exactly I was, how did I reach there and what did I want to do next... After all, five years is a big milestone.
I guess some of you will feel identified by what I am saying, let me explain...
I arrived in London at 28 years old, with the big dream of living abroad, improving my English, meeting interesting people, maybe the love of my life along those and, let my London experience be one of a kind!
I definitely did manage a lot of those things, so that my initial 6 months stay, turned 5 years in a blink! : ) I loved this city to bits, London can honestly be cool beyond expectations...
COOL THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN LONDON
I started my photography trip - London definitely does offer the scenery, together with some of the most well reputed photography schools in the world -
I got initiated in yoga - again, if you want to get into yoga, London is the place to be; all types of yoga, any time, any day of the week -
I got myself a great job that made me grow massively professionally and that brought me to a lot of cool places along the globe - London is home to the best companies of its kind, pretty much in any industry... Perfect place to get your career to the next level.
That all brought me to another professional stage, creating my own dream job. That's where I'm at right now - this is a story on its own and I'll tell it in another blogpost -, but I started freelancing a year ago, and bottom line is London makes you even more brave and definitely gets out the creativity inside you!
I met some of my best friends ever along the way. This city is very diverse and that, makes it incredibly enriching. Getting to meet people with different backgrounds, stories, experiences and so on, makes London a very special place. And because some of us are far from our hometowns, these relationships tend to be very real, you end up having your own little London based family : )
Every single music tour in the world stops over here, which means, you get the chance to see some incredible live performances and so I've seen live many of my favourite bands ever. From big international bands, more alternative ones, to independent artists, any type of music, any day of the week, any time of the year, there's always something cool going on.
I have tried some really amazing flavours of the world. London caters restaurants of probably every nationality, and going wrong when dinning out in London is genuinely a complicated mission! Vietnamese, Brazilian, Korean, Thai, Bangladeshi, Cuban, Ethiopian, Greek, Libanese, Afghan, Mexican, American... and of course, the best dishes of the Brit kitchen in the very typical British Pubs & Gastro Pubs.
I also travelled lots through the UK, Europe and the world while living in London... Don't forget London counts with Heathrow, the biggest European airport and 5 other airports. It makes your life a lot easier with direct connections to a handful of places!
And like that, I could enumerate many other things that make London the very magical place it is. - Take a look here for more posts about London, out & about -
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN & MY 365-DAY PHOTO CHALLENGE
But! There's always a flip side to everything, and simply our priorities change or we might crave different things for a change...
Linked to that, and going back to the start of the article, back in November I started thinking about having a little break from the city life, and how I felt like traveling at least for a few months to a warmer and less city vibe destination.
With that in mind, the day of my 5th "London birthday", I started a photo challenge, @365DaysofCharo. The idea behind it all was to post one photo a day for 365 days to see where this countdown would take me to.
I have done the first quarter of the project, 86 days, 86 photo-posts and I've already changed my mind something like 5 times! ha!
I've come to some interesting conclusions by executing this project, as you need to be very constant and keep the whole idea and goals behind it all very present. I've taken several decisions along the way and for now I am feeling happy and full of anticipation about them! I will be disclosing it all on due time in @365DaysofCharo : )
And overall, I'm open to a world of possibilities, "the world is your oyster", a friend of mine told me the other day. I think that's key, stand by your decisions, but keep your options open. It might be that you reach happiness by going to a faraway place for a change, or it might well be that you reach it simply by going back to where you're from, or perhaps even staying exactly where you are, as you may have had it with you all along ; )
I also personally think that love plays a big role in these decisions, so I guess that it will eventually take over the situation and help determining a lot of these things too...
What's your experience like in this respect?! How did you find London or wherever you're living at outside your own country? Are you planning to settle down there or maybe go somewhere else? Is that place back home or is it else where?
I'd love to hear about others' experiences, and for those of you reading this and considering going to live abroad, call it London, call it else where, my piece of advise to you is "YES! do it!" - Living abroad is a once in a lifetime experience! -maybe twice or three or more times in some cases ; )
Don't miss a thing and please share with me this 365-day project following it all oninstagram! : )
Happy Days & Happy Travels!
Love,
Charo
Post originally published in Sunsets & Bubbles Blog