About London

I'm beginning to think that I've been doing this wrong.

I came to London expecting, well I'm not sure what I was expecting. I was hoping though that I would come here and quickly develop a significant social network or two, meet new people and make some great friends here, all the while spending time in one of the world's great capitals. I thought I could do this by just being here, and that by hanging out with all the people that I already know here it would all just fall into place.

This hasn't happened.

Aside from the difficulties that the English have with accepting new friends into their lives (which I still believe to be true), I think that I have handicapped myself by coming here as a tourist, rather than on a working holiday. I believe that if I were in a repetitive social situation (office, behind a bar, in an improv group), then maybe things would be different.

I think it's important now to state here that I am having a great time here, but I'm having a great time here as a tourist; seeing the sights and visiting friends. I think my frustration is due to my hoping that my London visit would be more than just as a tourist; perhaps a potential immigrant that the city would try and seduce into staying, rather than a guest that the city is polite to and shows a good time, but nothing more.

I don't think I can honestly say that I know what it would be like to live in London though. I'm starting to think that the best way to really experience a city like London is to actually live in it. People who visit the city probably don't fall in love with the place and move here, while most of the people who come on a working holiday tend to stick around for at least a few years.

London really does appear to be a city which you need to live in to enjoy. You can spend a week here and have a great time, or you can spend a couple of years here and love it.