… since three huge changes in my life took place. Last August everything became different, for the first time in a long time. I had been doing internships for two years since graduating, applying for every job I could and going a bit mad as a result. No money + unsatisfying work + having to rely on parents in your 20s = not fun. My failure to get a ‘real job’ also took its toll on my self esteem and my motivation for working hard. I needed something good, something big.
My boyfriend Dan had just started a new job. It happened to be just outside of London and this lead us to consider, for the first time, the possibility of living somewhere other than the capital. What if I applied for jobs outside of London? I mean, really, we could live anywhere. We eventually decided on Oxford, given that it’s a good place to get into publishing. And I was lucky. One of the zillions of applications I sent out, and one of the zillions of interviews I went to, yielded positive results. I was sitting at home, reading with the dog, when I got a call to tell me I had ‘got the job.’ What! Really. It was the one big thing that I needed in my life, and I finally, finally, had it.
That was big change number one. Big changes two and three sort of came hand-in-hand with one. One was the catalyst that was needed to allow two and three to take place. I finally moved out, and moved in with Dan, something that we’d both wanted to do for a long time and that was a step we were more than ready to take. It was a big coup for independence and feeling like an adult, and it felt really good. He’s also pretty amazing and living with him has made me crazy happy, so that was a bonus too.
The third change is that I (we!) moved to Oxford to be near my work. I’d only been to Oxford once before, though Dan was more familiar with it, but I quickly got to know it, and now it feels like we’ve been here longer than a year. As I don’t drive I’ve learned the bus routes, and walked lots of places, and I feel like I ‘get’ Oxford now. We always joked that you could start a ‘So Fucking Oxford’ Tumblr documenting all the Oxford cliches you see walking around – mad hair, tiny classes, corduroy, bicycle, old shoes, books and papers and an old leather satchel…
It’s never easy adjusting to a new place, but luckily we’re in reach of everything we need, and Oxford is undoubtedly a great place to live. In the last year I’ve gone through phases of hating it and loving it, and I’ve both missed London and been glad to be away from it, but in the end I’m glad I’m here. Life is never perfect, but if you got things that will make you happy, you’ll be ok.
So what is the point of this post? Well, to me August feels like a bit of a milestone, a year of my new life and a year of living with Dan. I’ve been reflecting on it all, and I wanted to mark it in some way. This blog is my little outlet, so what better place?
