Maru and I ticked over 5 years in the UK this week, and milestone has had me reflecting on when we first arrived.
We were lucky. Maru’s parents were with us for the first month, which made settling in easier. But it was still daunting though to arrive with no jobs, scant savings, and few connections. To be honest, I didn’t think we’d stay for more than a 2 years.
Yet here we are, 5 years on. In that time, we’ve made wonderful friends, both of us have changed careers, Maru’s in the middle of graduate school, and we don’t see ourselves leaving in the foreseeable future.
This reflection reminded me of a moment from almost 10 years ago on one of my first visits to the UK. I was standing on the side of a London road with my backpack, and I was lost. A couple came up to me and asked if I needed help or directions. The gentleman immediately recognised my accent and said he was a Kiwi too. I asked him how long he’d been here, and he said, “8 years, and it’s flown by.”
8 years felt like an eternity to me back then. I never thought that one day I’d be celebrating 5 years here, and also looking forward to the 6th, 7th, and 8th.