Moving to London from India | First Month | My Mental Roundup

Moving to London from India | First Month | My Mental Roundup

As I sit writing about my first month in London, this is the view that I have from my window.

moving to London from India

Isn’t it pretty? The colour of the sky is the right sort of blue. The colour of the clouds is the right sort of white. And look how puffy they look. The houses and their chimneys at the backdrop! Doesn’t it look like a scene straight out of an animated movie!

If I look at this view alone, it looks like a moment from a perfect day. It looks like a head outside to a park, have a picnic and fly kites kind of day. Sadly, it is not.

Moving to London from India | First Month | My Mental Roundup

London’s Weather is Cold and Yet Beautiful

Temperature outside is 12 degrees Celsius.

moving to London with a kidDay and night it lingers between 8-15 degrees Celsius. It looks sunny but it is cold. Then once every two days or so it rains and it feels colder. At night, of course, it is at its coldest best. And the only funny thing about it all is that it isn’t even winters yet, it is mere autumn!

Ok I get it! 12 degrees isn’t that “cold” cold and I have lived in Chicago/Michigan for 4 years where the temperature drops down to -30. So you may think I am just exaggerating my situation. Well unfortunately, I am not. I would blame it all on living in Bangalore for the last 4 years, all I can think of is warm afternoons and breezy evenings. So the temperature part is definitely going to take me a long time to get adjust to.

Apart from that, I was not carrying enough warm clothing for myself because I didn’t need any in Bangalore. We were well prepared with Little B’s clothing and Mr B’s clothes (he had few because he travels a lot), but not mine. I have bought some warm stuff here and right now it is making me feel a little bit better.

Cold, unpredictable rain and a little sun make London a beautiful place. There’s always something to look at in the sky. Did I tell you that I spotted a double rainbow!

moving to London from India

Right now, London is Lonely

Moving to London from India has been an emotional challenge. Homesickness was something that I knew will kick in once I land here. Even though I was mentally prepared for it, it still feels terrible. We are far away from family and friends. Most of the day passes by just fine, but every now and then, after every hour or two, I miss somebody back in India. Making a new circle of friends is something that takes its own time and cannot be rushed. It is going to happen when it happens and till then I am keeping myself busy with some reading and some movie watching.

London Made me Walk, a Lot

It seems like the entire city of London walks. Wherever you go, people are walking and in fact, enjoying walking. We have rented a house in a quiet residential area and the high street is about 10 minutes’ walk from our place. Back in India, especially with services like auto rickshaw and Uber, 10 minutes seemed like a really long walk. Here in London, walking is almost like a necessity. A couple of times, I got annoyed about walking. Especially because we were trying to fill the kitchen and thus we were hauling heavy stuff. However walking here is always pleasurable. There are pavements, trees, gardens and other nice things to look at. Just two weeks here, walking for a km or two seems just fine.

moving to London from India

The part that I really like is, never a day goes by when my pedometer doesn’t show at least 5 km mark! Yay for staying active!

London Gave me Wings Because Public Transport is Awesome

London is designed keeping in mind public transport. There are buses, underground, trams and cycles. Every place is connected and we have been able to find a public transport everywhere within 5 minutes of walking. There are clearly written road signs, bus stands with all sorts of information and tube stations with clear directions. Even though the city overflows with people, getting lost seems unlikely. Within two weeks, I had already ventured out in the heart of the city with Little B. After our day long Girls’ Day Out kind of trip, we came back home, unscathed, spirited and confident.

moving to London with a kid

London is Helping Me Pick Up on My Reading

The past year was too bad for the book lover in me. I tried reading a variety of book but found it hard to complete almost every single one of them. As it happened, I started getting finicky about reading. I read stories which were short and picked books with as less number of pages as possible.

Moving to London, as I had a lot of free time for myself, I quickly went ahead and joined a library. Also, for the first few weeks, I had no internet as well! And so all I did or in fact I’m doing for hours at a stretch is reading. I have finished reading Last Train from Liguria by Christine Dwyer Hickey and reading Shakespeare’s Mistress by Karen Harper. Both of the books were my random selections at the library. And yet both of the books have much in common. Both of them have female authors and female protagonist. Both of them also have London as a key place in their story.

moving to London from India




5 thoughts on “Moving to London from India | First Month | My Mental Roundup”

  • Anand Verma says:

    I will be back to London in 2 weeks. Then Bees can invite me over for good lunch. That would give you guys a Indian company. Besides I always loved munching at Bees place be it Chicago, Bengalore or London.

  • Last week, we went on a 3 day holiday with my 4 and half year son, and family. On the way back home as soon as we enterd our city he said” mummy see we are nearly home its Tauranga ( thats the name of the city we live in NewZeland)”, it seem strange i had the same feelings as i had look back when we would arrive Delhi.
    It seems yesterday to me to be in the same same shoe as you, new country, new people, new life,starting from scratch every day would teach me something new about a strange country where sun is out till 9 pm in summer and its night at 5 pm in winter, where it rains and is sunny together, a picturesque view every where, but today it feels kike home here, i wake up to all these and my day is never ending even though its summer here an extra hour of sunlight. After reading your article today it how hard was it for me was to come to a new country and easy was it to get settled. I bet in couple of months you will be writing how much this city feels like home. Best of luck.

    • Bhawna Saini says:

      It feels amazing to read your reply. Moving to a new place has its own challenges and I completely agree with you, that once we look past those challenges, it is a brand new world to explore and call home.
      P.S. Chanchal you should start blogging too, I would love to read your experiences!

  • You know you are a brace girl. People like me are so afraid of being lonely in a foreign place that we just rush out for a holiday come running back into our quilts.
    But I am sure you will start making friends thanks to your kids’ friends very soon .

    • Bhawna Saini says:

      “brave?” Well I do what I can! Thanks for motivating me Charu!

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