This may come as a surprise, but back in early August I left my friends, family, cats, and pretty much everything else behind in Huntington Beach, California when I moved to the United Kingdom. Organizing my move was quite a lot of work, but it has honestly been one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made.
I keep getting asked by the people in my life why in the world I decided to do this and I’m sure you may be thinking the same thing as well. Essentially, I was born in England, but I was raised in California. As a dual citizen, it’s pretty easy for me to move between America and the U.K. While living in California, I’ve always felt a bit distant and far away from all of my family that lives in The U.K., so moving to be closer to them has always been something that I’ve wanted to do. I have grandparents, aunts & uncles, and a hoard of cousins that I honestly feel like I don’t know that well.
So I did it, I left California.
Since August, I’ve been staying with loads of family members, visiting different towns in England, and taking small trips up to Scotland to explore the cities and find out where I actually wanted to settle down.
While most of my family lives in England, I’ve felt drawn to Scotland since I visited a few years back. I always assumed that I’d end up living in England, but I ended up reevaluating what I really wanted in life. I felt that Scotland just aligned better with what I was looking for in a place to live.
Since I moved, I’ve taken trips up to Edinburgh, Dundee, and Stirling, but it was Glasgow that wowed me the most. I always kind of figured that it would end up this way, but it was nice to have some sort of confirmation before I actually moved. It was always going to be between Edinburgh and Glasgow, but once I stepped foot in Glasgow a few weeks back, I just knew that I was going to end up living here.
Staying in England over the past couple of months has been amazing, but I am honestly just looking forward to settling into a routine. I have a lovely flat with a sweet flatmate and a job that I can’t wait to start in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I’ll be spending my days exploring all that Glasgow has to offer, working out the remaining kinks from my international move, and preparing to start my new job.
And don’t worry, I know I can’t get away with writing an entire post without mentioning my embroidery. I’ve been updating my journal throughout my time in the U.K., it’s been the best feeling to watch my journal flex and adjust to such a lifestyle change. If you look back at early August, you can pick out the day I landed in London and you can also see individual things I did: visiting the tower of London, going to Nando’s, trying new foods, etc. This has carried on throughout the past couple of months since I’ve moved, and hopefully it’ll never end!
Anyways, If you’re based in Glasgow or in the surrounding areas, please don’t be afraid to reach out. I’d love to hear any suggestions that you have for things to do and places to eat. I’m quite impartial to doughnuts, so bonus points if you have any good recommendations!
This isn’t the first post that I’ve written about my move, you can read the first post about my initial move here. You can also follow me on Instagram and TikTok, where I’ll be sharing more updates about my move, my embroidery journal, and my other projects as well.
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