Sitting in between boxes, getting ready to move to Italy, I can't help but reminisce.
I am thinking back to that day two and a half years ago when I first set foot on this island to embark on an adventure of emigration that was still unwritten. Little did I know then what to expect. My pockets were filled with most diverse sentiments, the heaviest ones being fear and anticipation. Both of them travel companions that I could have left at home - in Munich. Whilst trying to find my way in London, I learnt that nothing can happen to me as long as I trust myself and my instincts and slowly but surely fear turned into confidence. The same applies to anticipation, as how can you draw an image of something you haven't seen and experienced yet, how can you look forward to something so novel that you can't grasp it? Now I know that it doesn't make sense to look ahead and to waste energy on the absurd attempt to anticipate pitfalls and peaks, I learnt to let go and rely on myself and my talent of finding like-minded companions at every corner – no matter where I am. I am myself wherever I am and that's enough.
With another emigration ahead, I can unequivocally claim that my London adventure was worth every smile, every tear, every effort and every single minute. When I will depart in a couple of weeks with yet another one-way ticket in my hand, I will be fully laden with a million memories. And as time isn't linear and there is no difference between the past and the present, the moments that made me happy here, are going to make me happy forever.
I have met plenty of amazing people in this city and some of them have turned into true friends. London is a pool of creativity and as such hosts many brilliant minds. It is a pot of folly and individuality and has inhaled and embraced the virtue of tolerance better than many other cities on this planet. This above all is one of its most precious traits. But it has its downsides. As per the concept of superlinear scaling, the bigger the city, the more the average citizen owns, produces, and consumes - referring to goods, resources as well as ideas. We all participate in this process, manifested in the metropolitan buzz of productivity, speed and ingenuity. Doubling the size of a city increases wealth and innovation by about 15 percent but it likewise increases the amount of crime, pollution and disease by roughly the same amount.
So, no wonder London is bursting with creativity and ideas but also with their counterparts paralysis and monotony. And they walk hand in hand and create a big gap between the strong and the weak. It took me quite a bit of time to realise that something that on the face of it appears to be most heterogeneous can be very homogeneous within its heterogeneity. I also found out that the much cited fast pace of London is far away from being an abstract tale but as a matter of fact a euphemism. This place is operating in a speed that is infectious. At first, you don't realise and then somewhere down the road of acclimatisation you find yourself running instead of walking and whatever you do, you do it as quickly as possible even if there is no rush. I personally came to terms with the fact that the London pace had rubbed off on me when I went back home to visit slow and peaceful Munich. Measured against my inner London clock it felt as if the people on the sidewalks were crawling in slow-motion, and ironically enough it made me nervous.
But despite the hustle and bustle, there are plenty of friendly faces to be found here – wherever you go, a manner that also rubs off. Not so long ago I ordered a coffee in a bar in Berlin – in the London style by asking "Could I get a coffee with a dash of cold milk, please?" and the waiter looked at me slightly confused and replied "Yes, of course" - with his eyebrow raised and an insinuating question mark hanging in the air.
But in the end it always comes down to the people, no matter where you are. And also in this case, it was the people I met that turned my London experience into a chapter of excitement and inspiration. I didn't feel alone or bored one single day because I was surrounded by creatures that can only dwell in London. The density of human brilliance is certainly a result of the city's nature. But the good thing about people is that you can keep them if you want to.
And now it's time to follow the sun and my heart and focus on the next chapter of my adventurous tale. This time, however, I am neither scared nor do I try to anticipate what is going to await me there. I just pack my boxes, put on my travel boots and breath in deeply being grateful about living a life of surprises and adventure. Farewell, London and thank you for everything!
