Since I last blogged I spent 10 days in Seattle, a weekend in Cincinnati, five days in North Carolina, and about 36 hours in Detroit.
Oh, and I moved to London.
If you’re following me on Instagram or Twitter you’re probably already aware of this, but if you’re not, I will now fill you in. I arrived in London on the last day of August to begin a Master’s degree in digital journalism. Moving to London is a dream realized- I’ve been wanting to live in this city since 2009. And now it’s happening.
The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind.
Luck was on my side with the housing search and soon after I arrived my friend’s roommate had an offer of a free flat and suddenly her room was available. So now I’m about to sign a 15 month lease for a flat in Richmond to live with my friend Claire who I met when we were au pairs in Rome four years ago. I found a bed on Gumtree last week, printed off some photos of my travels, and have an epic trip to IKEA planned for this weekend. Settling down has never felt so good.
Flatmates. In Assisi four years ago.
I’ve also started a rather intensive digital bootcamp. This is a pre-term course designed for those on the Master’s who don’t have a background in computer programming. While I’ve spent hours tooling around on the Internet and started writing craptastic Geocities websites at the age of ten, I don’t really have a great knowledge of coding. And holy shit, it’s hard. I now know a career in JavaScript programming will not be in my future.
There’s also been a pub crawl in Richmond and a food tour of the East End. I’m trying to learn to navigate the city’s public transport system as efficiently as possible and remember to say trousers instead of pants. I’ve been meeting a ton of really awesome new people and avoiding looking at my bank account (holy exchange rate).
And mostly I’ve just been really happy that I’m finally here.
This blog might take a little turn over the course of this year. I’m still going to travel. I’ll probably even write about it. But there’s probably going to be a lot more about London and about life because maybe now I’m finally not as farsick as I used to be.
And I’m thinking that it’s not a bad thing.
Richmond is the best, especially in summer! Have fun and good luck with your course.
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Thank you! I’m already counting down the days until spring/summer. And it’s only September 12…
Ah, I’m so happy everything is going well for you, Amanda. Good luck with the studying and enjoy the transition. Looking forward to reading about your explorations of a new city, country, and region.
Thanks Laura! I hope all is well in Thailand- I’m looking forward to another email update!!!
This makes me so happy! I can just tell from reading this that you are happy. I can’t wait to read about everything! (And let’s catch up on skype soon!!!)
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So cool! Good luck with everything!
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Thank you Sally
Yay! So happy that you’re happy — and I’m coming to London in December, you best believe I am hitting you up for a food crawl!
YES YES YES! I hope you’re enjoying your new city. I’m hoping to get back to Italy soon, so a Milano food crawl may be in the cards as well
Just name the date and time.
Richmond is great – a really cool place to settle in London! I don’t live very far from it (a little closer towards the centre) and occasionally go to Richmond for great pub food and strolls in its massive park.
Good luck with the course as well – it sounds super tough. Let me know if you’d like to go for a drink (or a pub crawl) sometime!
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Richmond is really cute! I would love to grab a drink sometime. I’ll send you an email
Thanks Katherina.
15 months in London, that’s awesome!! The only city that we’ve found since we left London that can compare is New York. Richmond is a nice place to live (I love the village feel there) and we used to go on long walks in Richmond Park to see the deer, have you done that yet? You’ll have an amazing time – enjoy London!!
Yes, it’s easy to see even after only 2 weeks that London is a one of a kind city. I have not been to Richmond Park yet, but everyone keeps telling me to go, so I probably should!
Good luck settling in! Hope you have an amazing time in London!
I’m loving being able to unpack and put things into a closet. IKEA was amazing as well! Yipee!
Jessica Wray recently posted..Sheep, Ghosts & Ale: A Week Exploring Yorkshire
Thank you! I hope you are settling into Madrid nicely – from the looks of it you are. And yes, I am inappropriately excited to be able to decorate and unpack and have things.
Sounds like you’re up to exciting things! I love love love London and have always dreamed of living there again. I lived there for just 4 months before when an undergrad as part of a study abroad program…the idea of a digital journalism course is very cool – I’d be interested to hear more because it sounds like something I would be interested in too! Is it at the UAL London College of Communication?
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London is the greatest! I’ve only been here two weeks and I’m already obsessed. The course is actually at Goldsmiths, University of London. I haven’t started it yet (only a pre-course), but it seems great. If you want more info, feel free to shoot me an email
This is awesome Amanda! Living in London is definitely something that is still on my life list too! So happy for you!
Also, I once took a programming class during my Master’s which was even called “Programming for Students of Humanities” — but I didn’t even manage to download the programming program properly… If my boyfriend hadn’t done all my homework, I would have failed sooo badly
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This is such an incredible change for you, chick. Doing a Masters = Wow!
And living in London? Amazing! Visit Camden for me. It’s my favourite area.
Also, I’m heading down to London for a long weekend closer to Christmas (I’m only 2.5 hours away) to catch up with friends so we’ll have to meet up for a coffee or tea.
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