It was exactly ten years ago when I felt like I needed a change. I packed up my Belgrade life into one suitcase, boarded a plane and went to London to commence my one-year masters studies in Communications Management. I now realise this was so long ago because the company I flew with was then called JAT (today known as Air Serbia) and low cost Wizz Air hadn\u2019t started flying to Belgrade yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, a decade later, when I look back on that year, I know it was one of the most carefree years of my life. The year when I got the opportunity to exercise my courage and show, primarily to myself, that I can succeed alone in a foreign city as big and expensive as London. Back then, it didn\u2019t quite seem so. The whole journey seemed very lonely, and if I didn\u2019t meet my now Kuma (best man) quite early on and Tom a year later, I do not think I would have wanted to stay beyond the duration of my masters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To me, human relationships were colder than with us Serbs (I still think so by the way), but this may have also been due to the fact that I was completely new to the city. When I would meet with my Kuma, we used to hug each other very, very hard simply because we missed bodily contact and there was no one else to hug. Back then, the social distancing of Covid-19 was still in the far distant future so the lack of contact-induced oxytocin was completely alien to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time I was 25 and this was the first time I was living as a real student \u2013 in a student hall with very limited financial resources, far away from Mum\u2019s home and Nana\u2019s warm lunches. I remember the days when I would eat Sainsbury\u2019s (supermarket brand in the UK) maple and pecan cereal only<\/em> and then go on a night out having supplemented this only with a bottle of wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We used to go out regularly to Fabric (Ministry of Sound was less favourite and geographically further away from our Shoreditch base), but I soon became very disappointed by the smell of these clubs (read farts!) and the number of tourists that frequented them (probably because I never properly discovered places locals parted at).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting acquainted with English education came as an uncomfortable shock to me. First, I had to learn how to write a critical essay, where I was required to debate pros and cons to one view and talk in favour of a point I personally didn\u2019t agree with. Next, professors actually READ the drafts I would send to them and then return them with a lot of tracked changes with comments such as: \u2018How do you know this?\u2019, and \u2018Could you cite literature to support this claim?\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the grades: I was baffled when I learnt that Distinction is a mark that theoretically exists but one rarely gets (unless you are Einstein or Tesla or one of those brilliant minds that are rarely born). I was told by a professor that being awarded a Merit is a cause for celebration, while Pass was considered a big success too. To this day I wonder, why on Earth they have a mark they are so stingy to give to hard working students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I met my husband, got my first job (and got to know more people) so life seemed to be picking up in terms of finances and the sense of belonging. For a period of a few years, there was no long weekend or holiday period that we wouldn\u2019t travel abroad, alone or with friends. Likewise, there was also a time when weekend visits to coffeeshops and restaurants for good coffee, brunches and Instagram photos was considered a must (especially with my Balkan girlfriends). This was something we loved doing and adored doing together. It made us so happy and it armoured us with positivity to survive the following week in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of work and office life (pre-children), if one was hard-working, dedicated and showed some passion for what they did (or not even), one could progress up the office ladder in the same company, or even more if they changed companies\/jobs. So to me, life was a \u2018work hard; get rewarded; play hard\u2019 kind of a game, and I do not know why I naively thought this path and progress through life would be linear for evermore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, a child came, employers disappointed, Covid-19 happened and closest friends left the city (and the country). London now, ten years later feels like London from the beginning of this post. I am in need of a change once again\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The past decade was packed with experiences, love, happiness, beautiful friendships, laughter, fighting for oneself, pain and disappointment \u2013 probably as much as life anywhere else would be. I am grateful to have had the opportunity and support of my family to come and experience these in a city such as London, meet my husband, become a dual national and ultimately raise half Serbian, half English child(ren). What\u2019s next on the agenda, only life will tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you, London <3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was exactly ten years ago when I felt like I needed a change. I packed up my Belgrade life into one suitcase, boarded a plane and went to London to commence my one-year masters studies in Communications Management. I now realise this was so long ago because the company I flew with was then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[21,36,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bilingual-children","8":"tag-lifestyle","9":"tag-london","10":"tag-work"},"yoast_head":"\nRaves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
English education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Life became more pleasant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Uncomfortable again?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Not sure why I always end on a grateful note\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n