View Full Version : Moving to London...
Alright... so maybe not but I'd love to... anybody know the cost of sed move... its just me so really the only thing i'd bring over would be my clothes and my computer... maybe some other electronic stuff (yes i know the plugs are different but thats why they make conversion plugs right?) anyways, I am seriously considering it... but Id have to find a job before i moved because the flow of money can't be interrupted for too long. Anyways, anyone on here made the same move? from the states to across the pond? experiences. Yes I have visited and I loved the city. Loved it!
Underground
08-10-04, 15:11
The power source is different here aswell btw, make sure you flick that little switch on the back of your PSU before you plug in your PC ;) else that will most likely be a nice fireworks display :D
Londons pretty expensive to buy housing at tbh compared to most of the rest of england.
Dribble Joy
08-10-04, 15:20
Remember to live in central london, not outer/gtreater london.
General scum cannot afford to live there, so your life will be a whole lot better and peaceful.
I generally like the city, but the out skirts (anything beyond the circle line tbh) are vile.
You will get British TV (telly) too, where we can swear and show boobs on national telly after 9pm. They had titanic on at 5:30 once, winslet boobery at about half six :p.
/edit
The UK uses 240 volt power, which means you may get soem degrees of incompatability.
They had titanic on at 5:30 once, winslet boobery at about half six :p.
:rolleyes: tragic!
Dribble Joy
08-10-04, 15:37
They said fuck at about 1pm on radio 4 a few times too.
shit I am so moving... winslet boobage and fuck talk on the radio! Rock... US Media blows.
Dribble Joy
08-10-04, 15:48
I really did not believe that you could not swear AT ALL on US national and basic cable tv (it this right or not? am I the victim of some naughtyness). Seems so bizarre.
The radio4 thing was very rare and I think they put a warning on at the start.
metalangel
08-10-04, 15:52
Here's my advice:
DON'T DO IT
I moved to the UK from Canada over six years ago and it's a stupid idea!
You'll have to sell virtually everything you own - even stuff you forgot you had, so you'll have an extremely emotional time finding all this stuff from your childhood only to have to immediately throw it out.
Unless you drink and/or smoke you'll be excluded from most social circles - but then, you will be anyway, because you'll be the 'dodgy foreign bloke' and you'll be treated as little more than a novelty to 99% of people - a few patronising questions about where you're from and that'll be it. London is one of the most unwelcoming, unfriendly places I've ever been to - it's bad enough for locals. So aside from any workplace friends, expect to be completely, utterly alone. Can you deal with the stigmata of being an American abroad when American popularity is at an all-time low, especially in the UK? You would not believe the abusive, blinkered bullshit I've been started on with before I polited point out that I am, in fact, Canadian.
What sort of job do you expect to get? Do you have references to back up such a job, given it's overseas? HONESTLY?
Can you survive alone in a different culture? You won't know how anything works, you won't know which stores sell which products, you'll have no idea of the value of money.
'Visiting' is *completely* different to 'living there'. I learned that the hard way. Visiting is going to restaurants every night, riding around on the cool trains and seeing the sights. When you are crammed into the tube twice a day, five days a week, such previously exciting experiences lose their appeal. Did you see any of the real parts of London? Did you go to Leyton or Kilburn or Croydon and see where real people live? You won't be going to Leicester Square for nights out every night - you won't be able to afford it. Not after forking over for brand new appliances, a car, a home, your moving expenses and all the other little drains on the bank account that mount up when you move.
This sounds like a horror story because if you're not careful, it could be. My parents know people who moved from Canada to Hertfordshire, just north of London. After two months, the entire family was utterly miserable and so they upped sticks and moved back. I know of another family from where I live now in South Wales who did the reverse and moved to Canada - the wife can't get a job, the husband (who was a highly-paided financial advisor) is reduced to selling used cars and both kids are failing school.
All the foreigners I meet in the UK are either so highly paid they can afford to be distant, or temporary visitors working for a year before returning home. I have survived only through sheer willpower and because I was able to make a place for myself in the culture. If you think that sounds arrogant, so does assuming you can move abroad so easily.
If you do this, it'll be one of, if not the hardest things you'll ever do in your entire life, and there's a good chance it'll go horribly, horribly wrong. You may think you're capable of handling it but it's one thing to say that from the security of your life now, and another when you're alone in another country with no friends, no money and no job.
Good luck whatever you choose :)
Oh, and DJ: you can swear and show boobies on Canadian TV after 9pm :D
sanityislost
08-10-04, 16:54
hmmmm well ive done the move from UK to America and the America to UK thing, and both places suck ass......
SiL ..:..
Well... I can honestly say that I could do it. As far as being removed from social circles... i couldn't be any far removed than i already am ( honestly... I got a 2nd job because i was bored... thats a really stupid reason to get a 2nd job) I'm a network engineer and as of soon i'll be a CWSP which probably has a place anywhere. I'm not certain what i want to do, but i'm in desperate need of a change of scenery... so at this point moving from one city to another is almost as bad as changing countries. As far as childhood memories... i've already ditched all that baggage years ago, I only have two things from my childhood and they are both really tiny and could easily go with me. I don't know... i could be wrong but it just seems that such a drastic change could be a good thing for me. Perhaps I'll have to find out the hard way.
I live here in the Netherlands, Amsterdam, while my girlfriend lives in the UK, somewhere around Birmingham.
I have to admit it's a question that will always spoke my head 'Should and if, when, will I go and just live there?'
I miss her a lot, I can only be with her when I have a vacation, though everyday we speak and we both use our webcams to comprehense with the situation.
Bodom line is, I'd do it, I'd really do it.[edit: I just read your morals.]
I fail to understand whether it is from city to city or from country to country?
Where do you live right now?
By morals then i'm assuming you mean reasoning behind such a drastic move... thats pretty much why the hell not. I've always been obsessed with the city (london), when I was there it was like a kid in a candy store. I love cities although i dont live in a very big one. My trips to New York and Atlanta and such have always been amazing. Its the closest to paradise i can imagine. Its not a beach to me... i dont need a deserted island to have a good time... just put me in the middle of the city and i'll be perfectly fine. I'm very self sufficient... i only have a small circle of friends now... 5 people total. I think i may come over for an extended holiday (like 2 weeks next summer) and see what its like. Might give me an opportunity to find a job :) I dunno at this point it just in the planning stages of if... but its been on my mind since i was 18 (5 years ago) so its an idea that isnt going to go anywhere.
Vampire222
08-10-04, 17:48
Come live in holland..... errrh The Netherlands....
currently i live in Knoxville, Tn. A growing city with traffic problems as bad as cities twice its size. I'm pretty sick of it... so i'm moving (within the next year) and its going to pull me out of my "comfort zone" anyways, might as well make the move count. Right?
dont get tricked into moving to Bow, poplar, hackney or any where like that. Poplar's where i moved out of like a year ago, and you dont get mutch more decrepid and "ghetto" than there lol.
Central London is nice tho, but expensive, i heard that the only places more expensive were hong kong and tokyo....dunno bout that tho...
NS_CHROME54
08-10-04, 19:01
you never know traffic problems until you've been to Soeul in Korea. My uncle and his family are living there atm for a few months, so my uncle can do his job. He was telling me how on the TV one night on the news they were saying (this being in June), we're having a slight traffic problem this year, as 17,000 have been killed in auto accidents so far this year.
O_o
In Soeul, if it's not vertical, you can drive on it. they're crazy.
I just moved about 2500km driving north in Canada, to the YUKON of all places. I thought life would be miserable, but i actually found it isn't bad. My circle of friends isn't big (6 including me), but they're like a family to me, and i've only lived here just over 2 months now.
Dribble Joy
08-10-04, 19:27
HK and Tokyo are insaneley expensive, especially for the size of the appartments.
Also, in Britain there is none of this 'jaywalking' you have in the States, cross where and when you like.
Afaik, isn;t there like a $20 fine for not crossing the road at a crossing?
Or have I completely mixed two totally unrelated things together?
NS_CHROME54
08-10-04, 19:33
lol speaking of that one time me and a friend were crossing without a crosswalk, but we did it without interrupting traffic cause there was none around. 2 minutes later this upstart cop pulls up and is like "hey i saw you two jaywalking back there" but we say "screw that. we didn't interrupt traffic so we didn't do anything wrong" and the cops like "dammit" and leaves. it was funneh :lol:
Frotto, lets make a deal.
If you move, so will I.
If you move, I will live with my girlfriend in England. ....Deal?
its true that moving to another country would be difficult and weird, but alot of people do it, and do it successfully, granted, untill recently the furthest ide ever gone from london was bogner lol.
Just beware of the chavs :D
___T-X____
09-10-04, 00:37
Where your from doesn dictate who you do and dont meet - what your like does, so ignore metals 'DONT DO IT' bs.
I met a guy traveling from Canada (Sasskatoon) to get work experience here, he become a great friend, and loves this country.
NS_CHROME54
09-10-04, 00:46
its true that moving to another country would be difficult and weird, but alot of people do it, and do it successfully, granted, untill recently the furthest ide ever gone from london was bogner lol.
Just beware of the chavs :D
might i inquire, what, sir, is a chav?
a chav is a pikey, "rude boi"
erm i guess its an english thing...
NS_CHROME54
09-10-04, 01:02
a chav is a pikey, "rude boi"
erm i guess its an english thing...
yup.
please try and explain it in the least "slang" way possible.
well www.chavscum.com (http://www.chavscum.com) is a good place to start
a chav is some one who wears alot of gold jewelry thats so over the top and you just know its from argos or something like that, drives a car like a VW golf or a ford fiesta, which are a good cars, but they put the most horrid carbon fibre and aluminium body kits on them
oh and the trackies, they alwayts wear addidas or nike track suits that look like they've come from the bargain bin
I would encourage to you move to the UK, but not to London. If I were you I'd start somewhere a little more quiet (friendly?) if you're not all that used to the culture, not that its temendously different to that of the states, but it's the little things you don't expect to change that'll cause problems. The power is different, we run 230V, as opposed to 110V, but you can buy converters. Stay away from anyone wearing a tracksuit who doesn't look they're out jogging.
NS_CHROME54
09-10-04, 01:32
sounds like a typical rapper to me. they always wear way too much gold jewelry... but they call it "bling"
:rolleyes:
I've visited London a few times, but I would hate to live there, but then I actually dont like cities (strange as I was born in a town which is now a city, so I'm really a city lad), people move to fast, in London you never know your next door neighbour.
I'm actually a naturally friendly and polite person (offline anyhow :p) I always mind my manners which I think surprises people in London, when you say "excuse me" or "thank you" or "please" the people actually do smile, I remember going to get some photos developed and having a nice chat with the girl there, I think she was geniunly happy that someone was taking an interest.
When I stay in London, its in the Lewisham area, Croydons a bit of a dump tbh (worked there) Angel Isslington has an All You Can Eat place which sells Tai food, which was nice :D
If you want friendly people, you'll find a very small country town with about 30-40 people and only 1 pub, where everyone knows your name. I live in a town of 6000 people, most are friendly, but the smaller towns like St Just are even smaller and the people are friendlier. Here we know our neighbours, we probably know most of the street. But like all small towns we have a crime problem from the townie twats.
Employment in places like Bristol is all over the place, they are screaming for people to work for them, so you can pick and choose your job, you might have a problem actually working over here though, you'll need a visa and stuff like that, which means you would need to bring a skill you can use so you can be classed as an economic migrant.
Saying that, lots of people from Australia work in the NHS down in Cornwall to go surfing in Newquay/Fistral Bay :)
Dribble Joy
09-10-04, 01:45
sounds like a typical rapper to me. they always wear way too much gold jewelry... but they call it "bling"
:rolleyes:
Think of people that who might find in a 'ghetto', but with hoorible fashion sense, vile accent, too much hair gell on thier short hair or skin heads, no respect for anyone or anything, like spitting in the street (especially the girls) and are the epitomy of degenerate scum.
NS_CHROME54
09-10-04, 01:48
Think of people that who might find in a 'ghetto', but with hoorible fashion sense, vile accent, too much hair gell on thier short hair or skin heads, no respect for anyone or anything, like spitting in the street (especially the girls) and are the epitomy of degenerate scum.
i'm thinking "Vancouver's Downtown Eastside," cept they don't have the accent.
yeah, and they always smoke, like at 12, and the girls always seem to have a necklace with like a doll sorta thing on it...
well i live in London
not the city
and i am a chav im 15
basically, many ppl are chavs what we do is steal mopeds motorbikes and cars
i dont really enjoy being a "Chav" or "Townie" or "Gansta" but im already to caught up in it
basically the only job i can see is selling drugs or something really legit and big
tbh i would rather sit in and live a passive life playing NC but i would probably b killed or something dumb
basically all chavs are dumb (i aint dumb though)
and btw most english ppl in outer london r very racist to americans so id say move to somewhere like the central, though even thats not that good
i say move to africa :)
anyway, hopefully if u move u find a better life and hav some gr8 m8s and stuff
not the ones that r mostly interested in what u can offer
i have nearly been stabed many times in London by rival gangs etc
(basically in NC terms an OP war :))
ahh wel nm sory to put u off
GL with the move
im really a nice guy, prolly the same with all chavs deep inside but shit happens
thats why i got out, almost got stabbed one too many times, i wouldnt class myself as a chav, but i am from one of the major suppliers of chavs
i used to hang around with some really...shifty people lol, it all starts to go really downhill when you go to secondary school lol, puberty, peer pressure and not enough police....
what part of london you from r3yka?
http://www.humphry-davy.cornwall.sch.uk/images/index1.jpeg
Thats the school I went to, we didnt have any chavs there :p
NS_CHROME54
09-10-04, 02:33
obviously there's a difference between the school lexx went to...
http://sd23.bc.ca/schools/secondary/KSSphotonew.jpg
... and the school i went to.
edit: that building isn't even 3 years old yet.
dude, your school was a carpark? O_o
NS_CHROME54
09-10-04, 02:47
dude, your school was a carpark? O_o
no, actually, it was a prison. at least, if it wasn't, it was laid out just like one.
London's great, but the problem of mugging/townies and everything that goes with them isn't getting better. Annoying, but idiots exist everywhere anyway. I love living in London. :)
I live in the Netherlands, Amsterdam. I don't like busyness at all. Infact, I dislike it, I hate it.
I do not live in the central of Amsterdam, I live at the edge of it, it's quite calm, but the people suck, and I dislike speaking my own language.
My girlfriend lives a bit the same like me, she lives just outside of Birmingham, small place, loads of forest, I love it. Plus they speak english, and the good thing is that, you can start a new live, and with that I mean, you can be a new you.
You can start a new personality, noone knows you, and you can change from 0 to 1.
metalangel
10-10-04, 13:21
All I'm saying is that it's a huge undertaking, more stressful than you can imagine - and you have to really appreciate the enormity of it. That's all.
T-X, it's not bullshit I'm afraid, it's very, very true - I've met many locals on my travels who agree that London is an extremely introverted place, and people simply won't want to know you. Yes, there will be exceptions.
I'd avoid London, it's not all it's cracked up to be, there are plenty of other nice cities that are much more affordable to live in.
Frotto, lets make a deal.
If you move, so will I.
If you move, I will live with my girlfriend in England. ....Deal?
Deal... but as i said earlier... I'm not doing it yet... but within the next year. Gotta get things in order... cant just pickup and leave ya know :) I'll probably take a trip this summer or spring for a week or two and see how it goes. that pending... its all good.
Deal... but as i said earlier... I'm not doing it yet... but within the next year. Gotta get things in order... cant just pickup and leave ya know :) I'll probably take a trip this summer or spring for a week or two and see how it goes. that pending... its all good.
I'm going over to my girlfriend on the 23th this month so ^_^
Seriously? It's the first time I'll meet her.
I met my girlfriend trough Planetside, and we're on the webcam and microphone everyday now!
See? Games are good for something boys!
NS_CHROME54
11-10-04, 08:25
I met my girlfriend trough Planetside
god save the children...
Hey there's nothing wrong with that. She's a great girl, and her hobby is playing Planetside, she knows nothing about computers.
I'm lucky to have met her trough PS.
Who would like to see some pictures? ^_^
Gunner_turret
30-10-04, 04:06
Well im from the UK and everyone treats me like im from japan or something
britains a (nearly) nice place, its just 89% of it are either complete idiots that watch eastenders all day or jerks that drink in pubs watching football, 11% are nice people (normally at a uni or something, or there a scientist)
EDIT:
people in the manchester centre love the american Accent!
hey i drink in a pub and watch football.....and so does like 98% of the population lol, i bet you cant find a single englishman on these forums over 18 that hasnt, hell im 17 and i go down the local all the time... :p
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