So... London

The obvious place to move according to the simple calculation of no. of available jobs/square km, or something like that. I am now a research analyst at a ‘major executive search company’. It’s all very hush-hush, since information we are privy to could affect share prices… Hm. My job is great, and considering that it was the first and only job I went for through my agency, I count myself pretty lucky.

Am starting to get slightly nostalgic about Spain. Not that I’d want to move there again, really, even if I had a job that didn’t suck… OK no, if I had this job in Spain I could probably do it, but man, my job really sucked. Anyway, there were a few things that were great, and I figured out they’re pretty much the only things I don’t have here, and vice versa.

Spain – sunshine, quite a few friends and pretty active social life, great tasting vegetables (being vegetarian, a pretty big deal) and seriously relaxed dress code at work (we’re talking flip-flops, people!). On the other hand, shit job, long commuting times, not so great social climate, and constant alienation from society due to my unwillingness/lack of time/effort/money to learn Spanish. Oh, and being constantly broke due to pitiful salary for said shit job (which involved unpaid invoices and a headset – need I say more?).

London – great job, great pay, tomatoes that taste of absolutely nothing, and polyester polyester and heels at work. No social life whatsoever unless you count the occasional evening down the pub with my team. There’s a more comprehensible but not very much safer social climate: here when ppl randomly cuss you out or fight amongst themselves you can actually understand what they’re saying – I’m still undecided as to whether or not this is actually preferable. Not so much sunshine, which I actually like. You appreciate it so much more when it’s not always there, and I don’t want to know what that says about my mentality towards life in general, but there it is.

(the only thing I miss a lot, besides my Dutch crew, is that orange juice thing with soy, which was just amazing... but I seem to recall reading something about it in Marketing Week and I think it’s being launched here soon…)