Londoner Portraits: Vicky Beyond London

Hey everyone,

Something that is really important to me that I wanted to share on this blog is stories about other Londoners like myself. I believe living in the capital is amazing but it's definitely not easy and it's not for everyone - especially when you have come from far away.

Before moving to London, I read a lot of 'Things I wish I knew before moving to London' articles and most of them depicted quite a grey and sad reality of loneliness, tiredness and exhaustion. Nonetheless, I was determined to make it work for myself because I felt a sense of belonging here that I hadn't felt anywhere else.

I want to tell these stories because they are underrated but they are powerful and inspiring. If you leave your home to move to a foreign country, you will have a strength of character that nothing and no one can ever take from you.

So today, I tell you about South American Vicky and her love for London's multiculturalism.

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"If I had to describe how I came to be where I am, I’d say I owe it all to a scholarship called the United World Colleges. When I was 17 I was selected to study in Italy for two years and live in one of their boarding schools, and it was the most amazing time of my life. I lived with people from so many different continents and it really opened my eyes to how much I loved being in culture-rich environments. 

During what we used to call our project week, we had a couple days to spend on our own and I decided to come to London to visit as it had always been a dream of mine. 

The first time I saw Big Ben I literally started crying. I was genuinely so moved to be in a place that I had seen in movies and magazines and it just felt really magical. I didn’t have that much money as a student, so my friend and I spent most of our time here on foot.

 Walking around all the touristic bits (from Camden to Hyde Park) it made me feel so incredibly happy. I told myself that one day I’d come back and do the stuff I couldn’t (London Eye, Tower of London, etc).

I then went to the States to study for a couple of years, and on my third year I moved to Nottingham to do an exchange, so I got to be in London relatively often with school and for fun. I got to learn more about the city and actually take the tube instead of walking!

I met my fiancé at the university, and around April we decided to take a trip down to London as friends. Our trip was in May, and we went to one of my favourite Argentine restaurants called La Patagonia - sitting there and chatting we decided to become a couple and our friend trip ended up being our first trip as a couple 🥰

My love for the UK has always been there, but London has given me so many beautiful memories that I knew I wanted to move here eventually. When I graduated Uni I moved to the UK and lived in Surrey for almost two years, and now I’m a permanent resident of East London.

My favourite thing about the city is that you don’t need to leave it to travel - you got the world in your palms here. Food? You got it. Art? You got it. Cultural activities? You got it. First-class theatre? There. I just genuinely love this city and the people in it and I would be very sad if I ever had to leave London!"

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Check out Vicky's blog on Instagram @beyondlondon

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