Things I learned in London (and why you should live abroad too)

After being back for several months from spending the last 9 months or so in London, people always ask me, “How was it?”. The short answer is, it was absolutely amazing. There were a lot of things I learned, and because I’m asked so frequently, I thought I’d share a bit about my experience and encourage anybody who has the opportunity, to live in another country.

Here you go.  It’s long, brace yourself. 10 Things I learned from living abroad (and reasons you should do it too)

1. You should always do things that scare you.

My journey to London was a complicated one. The nutshell version is that I was too chicken-shit and timid to move to NY after college, so I tried getting jobs at west coast agencies. That didn’t work, so 8 months later I ended up finding a job in Montana. I hated it. Four months after moving there, I was let go. I was devastated. But low and behold, the very next day I got an email from Wieden, offering an interview for Platform at their London office. A week later, I was on a plane to New York, and the week after that I found out I got the job and had a month left until I moved to London.

The lesson here is that big rewards do not come without big risks. I had to hit rock bottom before I finally found guts to take the risks I should have jumped at from the start. Not everyone has to take that path. You ALWAYS have to do the things you’re afraid of. You’ll be surprised what you’re capable of & the opportunities that arise when you put yourself out there.

2. You don’t need ‘STUFF’!

When you move to a new country with only one suitcase, you quickly learn how to say “no”.  When I moved to London, I left 98% of my belongings behind, and you know what? I NEVER MISSED THEM. Not even once. Big realization there. It was a lesson I had to live in order to learn, but I feel SO free now that my “stuff” no longer weighs me down.

3. Experiencing new culture is amazing.

I loved how quaint it felt to have “afternoon tea”, streets named “Hanbury Street” and “Whitechapel Road”, cobblestone roads and hanging out in pubs that were older than the western United States. In addition, the majority of my neighborhood was Bangladeshi/Middle Eastern. It was like living in a foreign country WITHIN a foreign country. London is a bit of a melting pot, and I met people from places I’d never before. New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Finland, Turkey, Hong Kong, Sweden, and Malta to name a few. I realized how ignorant Americans are about the rest of the world. I’m working on fixing my contribution to that.

4. Having an “accent” is awesome.

It never gets old. All of a sudden you’re funnier because of your stupid American accent and foul mouth. I did get a bit self-conscious for a while because of how WELL I fit the American stereotype, but it’s a good lesson in being aware of how you are seen by others.

5. Trying new & different cuisines is a must.

British food lived up to its reputation of being almost complete crap. I found it to be very fatty, lots of mayonnaise, and pretty bland. It wasn’t the worst food I’ve ever had, but it definitely wasn’t the best.

BUT.

Because so many different cultures have formed communities in London, I did have a chance to try foods that aren’t common in Oregon. Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish, Pakistani, Georgian, Moroccan (care of James Ramsden) and Portuguese to name a few. And there was CURRY. EVERYWHERE. It is the British equivalent to Mexican food. No matter what hole-in-the-ground crappy little town you find yourself in, there will be a curry shop. It took some getting used to, but after a visit to Tayyabs (easily the best Pakistani Punjabi shop in London), I was sold.

6. Moving away makes you appreciate what you had.

You don’t realize what you have until it’s gone. A few things I desperately missed:

-Mexican Food

-Tillamook Cheddar Cheese

-Clean water out of the tap

-Pandora/Netflix

-Dishwashers

-Living rooms (most flats in London don’t have one, or it’s being rented out as an additional bedroom because it’s so bloody expensive!)

To this day, hearing the grunt and sputter of the garbage disposal is like music to my ears. And I never considered myself an outdoorsy person until I had NO mountains, NO places to ride my bike, NO places to hike, and NO rivers to swim in on a hot day. I never really saw Oregon as a “cool” place to come from, but GOD BLESS THIS STATE. There’s nowhere I’d rather be.

7. It IS possible to keep your DREAMS and RELATIONSHIPS alive simultaneously.

Yes, my boyfriend and I did the long-distance. AND. IT. SUCKED. Between he & I, we’ve moved 9 times to 6 cities in 2 states and 2 continents in the last 2 years, but we’ve always supported each other. We wanted to make sure we didn’t sacrifice our individual dreams because of each other. It was hard, expensive, and lonely at times, but I am PROUD and HAPPY with our choice.

I’m thrilled it’s over (“over” meaning our 5,000 mile long distance is now down to an 1.5 hour drive), but I would do it again in a heartbeat to get to where we are today. Adversity and challenge brings people together more than anything, and if we can survive that, I’m pretty sure we make it through anything.

We’ll be together 7 years next February.

8. Do NOT believe everything you see on Facebook!

Things like Facebook make it seem like everyone is living the dream, traveling the world, and spending money like there’s no tomorrow. NOBODY puts up the crappy stuff on Facebook. For that matter, it probably looked like I was having the time of my life. Which, I was. But what I didn’t advertise was that London was EXPENSIVE as hell, I was broke, stressed, and homesick.

Both my parents moved to opposite ends of the earth when they were quite young, coming to America, thousands of miles away from home before the days of email, Facebook, and Skype. It makes me appreciate the sacrifices they made to make a better life for themselves and their family.

PS- if you DO live abroad, Skype is a LIFESAVER. If you’d like more info on this, email me.

9. You will make some of the best friends of your life

That really says it all. I now have friends around the world that I’ll be close with the rest of my life. They helped me learn a lot about myself, and gave me 9 months of amazing memories. You can’t put a price on that.

10. You only live ONCE!

You just have to remember that if you hate it, you can always quit and come home. Everybody experiences each country a little differently, and there’s truly no way of knowing what’ll be a good fit till you try.

You have the rest of your life to be tied down to a job, a house, marriage, kids etc. Take one year before you get serious about your life and go experience the world a little. You will come back a more appreciative, passionate, adventurous, and genuinely happy person.

The. End.