We moved to Zurich just over a week ago after more than 8 and a half years living in London. As you can imagine, it’s a culture shock – or maybe I should say, a wonderful change of pace shock! And the amazing thing about travel and really embracing it, is not to judge one city above another, or feel that a place and its unique history owes you something. I truly believe that what you get out of any place, is the energy you put into it and keeping an open mind.
I absolutely loved living in London. It was a privilege to live among so many different ethnicities and religions, to try food from any country at any time of day, and more importantly, to have this slowly become normality. As a few months turn in a few years, you don’t see the ever-crowded pavements of commuters as much because you’ve learned the rich pay-off of this city and its seemingly relentless crowds, is being able to file into the latest exhibition, show or pop-up restaurant whenever you please.
London is literally a human ant hive of activity that offers endless opportunities to learn and have fun. It’s impossible not to get sucked in.
So how do I feel a week after leaving? I feel exhilarated and out of my comfort zone! And that’s absolutely a good thing. A new city and a new language forces you to dig deep into your resilience and resources that you haven’t needed to draw upon for some time. Previous routines and steadfast friendships are of course still there, but they’re a few hundred miles away from now. I’ve run the gauntlet of trying to buy Zuri Sacks (special bin bags that you can only find at the supermarket checkout) and completely confusing the lovely sales assistant, cooking meatloaf without understanding what on earth the smooth lump of meat was until after I’d cooked it (thank you Google!), to trying to lug suitcases up tram steps and failing miserably and then seeing a step-free access tram glide into the stop a few minutes later. That I stood there pink-cheeked from exertion and slight mortification is to put it mildly. The lesson I’m quickly learning as the days pass and it’s hard – is to slow down.
I have the power to take ownership of my time and plot and plan how I want to use it. I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to call another city home. So far, I’ve unpacked pretty much ever box in the apartment (need to get used to calling it that and not a flat after so long in the UK), built furniture with Iain (and we didn’t kill each other!) and have had walks around the beautiful lake in the spring sunshine. Plan of attack is to have a little to-do list each day and tick off one or two important things and realised that I’ve learned something new about life here.
On that note, I’m going to finish some errands, go for a walk and then call a fabulous group of friends from my old office back in London for my first virtual Book Club. The joy of Wi-Fi and friendship means that distance is nothing.