Thursday, August 03, 2006

Things I have learned in London

Since I have been in London (it will be 10 years October 6th!), I have been through a lot of bad and good experiences, and have learned so many important things.
I came here a young naive 21 year old from Italy and have now become a 31 year old Londoner (but still an Italian at heart!)

So here is a list of what I have learned in the 10 years just gone:

Useless/Useful things I have learned:
To use chopsticks
To read my paper standing in a crowded metro carriage
To always always carry un umbrella in my purse, even when it seems hot and sunny
To walk fast avoiding slow or stationery tourists (it is a useful skills actually, especially when late!)
To dance flamenco
To wait tables and pull pints! (yep, my first jobs in London!)


Important things I have learned:
Well, to speak English (and write - hopefully well enough:)
To have fun!
To drive (wasn't easy, as you might read here failed again...grrr)
My job - where I am respected and rewarded for my hard work (not waiting tables anymore..)

mmmmm, can't think of much else yet.....surely there is more! That's got to be, but can't think of anything else right now.

Things I have never learned and doubt I ever will....

To cook (even though I think I am good, my husband sort of disagree...)
To budget my money - can't help it, I work in an office in the middle of the shopping district of London, temptation is everywhere, especially shoes!

The only question that I have is, would I have learned all those important things if I had been somewhere else? Yes, probably, but would I be who I am today? Probably not.
Do we even care to speculate who would I have been, if I had never left Italy or went to NY instead of London? No, but it is a slow day here in the office :)

Jokes aside, I do wonder sometimes how and who would I be instead, but I am happy with myself and would not want to be any different. All the bad and good things I had to go through, they were worth it in a way, as I have learned to love myself.

And that must be the most important thing I have learned.

7 comments:

Cheryl said...

Yes, you probably would have learned most of that in another city. But, you wouldn't have met the same people, and they definitely influenced wh oyou are now. Congrats on your anniversary!

Erica said...

thank you! Hope you are well!

Dizzie said...

New places & faces makes us learn. I've lived over here for about 16 years now, and every day I learn something new. Things that would never occur to me to learn had I stayed put... :D

Congrats on the anniv.!

Tinsie said...

Using chopsticks is a useful skill (one that I also learned in London). Whenever I have visitors from back home, or other parts of the UK for that matter, they're always suitably impressed at my chopstick skills :-)

j said...

hey erica, thanks for the nice comment on my blog! reading your post makes me think about what might possibly happen to me in this new city.. who will i become? it's scary and exciting.. love your blog!

joe

Erica said...

Thanks Joe! It is scary and exciting at the same time, enjoy yourself and I hope lots of good things will happen to you in LA!

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