Adulting (kind of)

So the blog has been v quiet for the past few weeks but I do have a very good excuse, I promise – last Sunday I moved from Sheffield to London, then the day after began my new (and first proper) job as Online Intern for House & Garden magazine. It’s been an absolutely insane whirlwind which has had me jumping for joy one minute and on the edge of a nervous breakdown the next. But not to worry – after the first week I love love love my job and am happily settled in my little flat.

Home sweet home

The most stressful part of the whole business has been finding somewhere to live – I had two weeks to find a place within budget, with a decent commute time, that I could make feel like home. Naïvely I thought this wouldn’t pose much of an issue: London’s a big place, must be full of places looking for tenants right? Wrong. It is a jungle. JUNGLE. So after my shitty experience I thought it might be good if I shared what I’d learnt so that it might help someone else avoid the renting nightmare:

1. If it looks too good to be true it probably is. So obviously try and familiarise yourself with common online scams so not to fall victim. Scams aside, some listings have other less criminal, but just as pressing issues. I got my hopes waaaay up about a beautiful, lower-end-of-budget flat in Camden. It hadn’t actually been built yet.

2. Go and view the places in person. Another obvious one but again v important – one place I went to see wasn’t the room advertised, instead of a spacious double it was a teeny tiny shoebox room.

3. Trust no one. This sounds a little extreme but it’s unfortunately necessary. Confirm and double confirm everything, take phone numbers, call agents, send endless emails. I had some landlords completely neglect to turn up to viewings and others who were uncontactable until I saw them in person. Some people literally do not give a shit about what happens to you so expect to feel a bit bashed about.

4. This being said, it doesn’t mean you should be a shit back to these people. Yes be tough, be sassy but also be polite, be nice – in a land of whiny Frodos be a Sam (sorry not sorry).

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Most people would call my moving away a ‘fresh start’, an opportunity to remake myself, to start from scratch in a new place. But I don’t see it like that at all. The last time I made a true fresh start was three years ago when I started at Cambridge. I needed this opportunity to start again desperately, I wasn’t the person I knew I could be and needed a chance to reinvent myself urgently. Long story short, I did, and managed to graduate happy with who I was. But this time I have no old self to escape from, I don’t need a fresh start but nevertheless I’ve been given one, and in all honesty I don’t really know what to do with it.

Trying to force who I’ve been as a Cambridge student into the stencil of London working life will be near impossible without making some changes, and I suppose this is what I’m scared of – losing who I am when I’ve been so blissfully happy. I’ve managed to crack the code to looking like a native Londoner – look busy. But I don’t want to become someone who never has time – I think that’s how you really lose sight of yourself. I reckon this semi-identity crisis is coming from a combination of golden-age syndrome and fear of growing up. Stay tuned to find out how long I can resist the demon adulthood.