Moving to London from Colombia

Last year I started making my plans for my master’s degree and it needed to be out of Colombia. Why? Because I’ve never experienced life outside my home country. Back in my country, in contrast to UK culture, I’m expected to move out when I get married – and it’s normal to do it just before your 30s. That’s why I’m 25 years old and moved out just a month ago – I know, shocking. Anyways, searching for my masters wasn’t hard, I knew I wanted marketing and fashion combined. The real question was where, because there are so many fashion capitals. I considered New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona and Milan. Then it hit me – I needed a place that’s both business and fashion. And that’s how I started to look into schools in London. A year later, I still need to pinch myself in the mornings because I can’t believe I made it here.

Coming to London was really exciting. Many European and Asian cities are like London, in the way everything works, right? Well for me that’s not the case. Bogotá is a great city – you should go. We have amazing and welcoming people, great food, good nightlife and many beautiful places. But I can honestly say that I have never seen a more diverse city than London. You can find everything from everywhere here. I knew I was coming to a very different culture than mine, but I actually came to a place where you can find all cultures. Every time I’m walking, I can hear at least 5 different languages and count 8 different countries’ shops. I thought I might feel so different from everyone here, but that’s what’s great about London – we are all different!

A lot of my friends are staying in student residencies near the uni. This led to most of them hanging together in the same places near school and their rooms. Which I found not so good because we are also here to get to know your (now) city. As for me, I was lucky enough to get a place that wasn’t far from the uni but also in a neighbourhood that showed me English culture. Remember my mom’s friend? Well, she has a stepdaughter that was looking for a flatmate for September – how perfect was that? So, I contacted her, and we decided to live together in her flat when I arrived. I live in Leytonstone, just 5 stations away from Liverpool Street station. It takes me 30 minutes door-to-door to get to class. Fun fact: Sir Alfred Hitchcock is from Leytonstone! I’ve been experiencing being a Londoner at its fullest. Peak hour on the tube? Check. Grocery shopping with a trolley bag at Iceland? Check. Going to church on Sundays? Check. Taking the bus after a night out? Check.

Moving on, I also needed to get a job. Back in Colombia, I studied for 5 years and worked for another 2. But I’ve never worked while studying. I knew that coming here would be a financial challenge because London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. I also knew that I wanted to go out and travel, but that required even more money. That’s why I decided to work on top of my studies. I searched for jobs through different websites within the first two weeks here. I got job interviews the next week and was able to get a job before my first month in London. I’m currently working with 2 staffing agencies that give me shifts in different venues across town. It’s a great experience for me because it challenges me to work hard. It’s also a good way to get to know other people and get to know more places in London. The other day I was at this beautiful hotel called Grosvenor House in an event with the Duchess of Cornwall and Maggie Smith – can you believe it?

Hardest thing about moving? My family. We Colombians are very close to our families. In my case, they are whom I spend most of my days with. We all have jobs, but we find time to be together. Whether it’s after 8pm in our living room talking about our days, going every weekend to the movies or grabbing dinner at a new place every week, we are pretty much as close as it gets. It’s definitely tough to lose that in a blink of an eye, but I’ve tried to stay as connected as I can to them. I facetime with my mom at least once a day and send memes to my brother every time I go on Instagram – he sends the best memes! Despite being away from them, we all know that I’m over here making my dreams come true, thanks to them.

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