Alas, here I am, writing my inaugural blog entry. It's happening. Then again, there's a lot happening now that I didn't ever seriously expect to happen. Primarily: I'm living in London, for at least 18 months, on a rotation from my job in the States, where I've been working for three years, to do similar work with our practice in the UK.
In writing this, I do not intend to bore the reader with every minute detail of my life. If I do that, yell (or stop reading, for that matter). This is just a way to keep a record of my thoughts, experiences, and interpretations of my experience as an expat.
Having just stated that goal, I am almost immediately going to contradict it with a description of "my first day." In my very few previous trans-Atlantic flight experiences, I was able to catch at least a few hours worth of sleep. However, this time, I couldn't fall into a decent sleep after the first 30 minutes or so of a nap that I caught while taxiing in the queue of planes waiting to leave Newark. I'm not sure if it was the excitement of moving to another country as opposed to just visiting for a few days, the crying baby two rows away, or something else, but I just couldn't nod off. So, I thought I'd have a quiet Friday upon arrival in London, and maybe take a bit of a nap...
I was dropped off at my temporary apartment, arranged through work, with an envelope that had a keyring and two keys on it. Balancing two large suitcases, a carryon suitcase, and a laptop bag, I got everything up the few steps to the front door, opened it, and moved all four bags inside. Next, I saw the sign showing that my apartment is on the fourth floor... great, an elevator, perhaps? Fortunately, there was one. I got everything through the second entryway door and into the elevator to go up to my flat. After restacking everything in the hallway on the fourth floor, I went to open the door. Neither key worked. At all. It's not as if I could insert a key and it wouldn't turn... neither key even looked like it fit either of the keyholes on the door. I looked around, and the building was deserted. It was 8am or so on a Friday, and there was nobody to be found -- the building has only 10 flats, and there is no doorman, maintenance person, or the like on site. After trying a few more times, I gave up and called the emergency contact number for the management company. The guy on the other end of the phone didn't believe me in my jetlagged state and American accent, but begrudgingly said he'd drive over to help. Fast forward 20 minutes... he walks up the stairs, looks at the keyring, and says "oh, oops! wrong keys!"
So, that was mildly amusing and mildly frustrating... but if that's the worst experience I've had to date in a new country, life's great!
Friday afternoon, I settled in, bought some groceries, a UK SIM card for my phone, set up Skype, unpacked the luggage, and went for a bit of a run. I was thinking of cooking a quiet meal and heading off to sleep at 8ish, when I got a message from Christie. Now, two funny things here: I've never met Christie at this point, even though we've had many email messages back and forth about American expat experiencies moving to London, and Christie works for a competitor to my employer. Note that at this point, I have yet to be able to get in touch with anyone from my own firm's office in London, despite several email messages to different people, yet here I am getting a message inviting me to a competitor's Friday afternoon happy hour. Why not?
After a great time and way too much Champagne that night, Saturday started a bit slower. Regardless, I got to experience breakfast from Borough Market, lunch outdoors in Chelsea, a walk through Marylebone, and an incredible wine bar. Thank you, tour guide Christie!
Today was another slow start, followed by a run through the docklands to Canary Wharf, and then meeting up with a former coworker who showed me other parts of Marylebone, Regents Park, St. Johns Wood, Maida Vale, and Little Venice, before I went to view a flat just off the Angel tube station.
There's much more I could say, but it's time to catch some sleep here. As a note to myself and others, here are a few items upon which I'd like to comment at some point in the near future:
- Housing considerations and trade-offs
- The weather
- Why am I doing this?
- Travel plans
2 comments:
Glad to hear you're enjoying life across the pond. Don't worry about being a complete and utter sell-out with your blog. It happens to the best of us, Mr. Mainstream. ;)
It's not a problem boring us with the minute details these first few blogs. You'll get over it. It is just a matter of time and laziness :-)
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