On the Personal Side: A London Update

I'm going to take a break from the tech stuff for this post, and talk more about some personal stuff.

I've been in London for 3 weeks now, and I'm getting things sorted, overall. I've got my bank account, even deposited some money into it; I've got a room in a shared flat (a nice big room, so I've got plenty of space all to myself), I've got a duvet and pillows and a picture on the wall and it's starting to feel home-like.

I've also been looking for a job - I've probably been through more interviews in the last two weeks than in my entire life. Things are coming together: I have one company that's very likely to be making an offer; I have another company interested that knows that an offer is likely going to be made, so they're packing all 3 rounds of interviews into one, tomorrow, and taking me out for lunch and basically, I think, trying to check whether they're as interested as the other company and trying to convince me that I want to work for them rather than the other company. And there's a third company who knows about these two companies, and they're interviewing me on Monday; there's a fourth company that's been promising a final round interview for about a week and a half now, but due to various factors haven't quite gotten around to setting up. And all four of these companies are quite prestigous global banks.

This is good - I'm making a good impression on my interviewers, I seem to be in demand! Certainly not a situation that would occur often in SA, where generally you have one, maybe two companies that you're interviewing with, and where all the developers (in Cape Town, at least) kind of drift around the same companies - odds are, your colleagues have either worked at or interviewed at all the same places as you. So the career opportunities are definitely looking good, and if I wasn't so exhausted by all the interviews I've had in the last few days I'd probably be a lot more excited. And tomorrow's all-day 3-rounds-in-one interview is something that I'd prefer not to face right now! although I'm sure I'll feel better after a good night's sleep. Being polite and enthusiastic and answering a million questions about your past jobs, your ideal job, what you're looking to get out of a job, as well as a bunch of tech questions, can really wear you out.

But while this is all good and very positive, it's kinda driving home the fact that I'm not just here for a month or two on holiday - I live here now. Of course I knew this before, it's not as though it's come as a surprise to me ;) But it's sinking in now, and it's a little bit scary.

So tonight I'm feeling kinda homesick - not that I had a great job in SA; not that I had a lot of friends in SA that I'm missing; not that I even had my own home in SA, since the flat I was renting was sold! But my parents are there, and my two little nieces, and my sister... and it's somewhere familiar, where I know how everything works. (Oh, and my bike. I really miss my bike.) I know I'll go back for visits, but it would be so nice just to pop home for a weekend and then come back here and carry on. Pity the flight's so long that that's infeasible.

I know that things will become familiar here too, and that I'll figure out how things work here; I'll find somewhere to have my hair cut, I'll find a good optician (although if I'm going back to SA at least once a year, I could even just carry on using my optician there! but that seems like cheating, really). And the career opportunities are great. So I tell myself (and I'm not lying to myself, it's all true - I just need to convince myself of this) that things are good here; that there's not all that much to miss back home, apart from my family (oh, and my parents' dog, who I miss as well); that when my lease on this room runs out, I'll try to rent my own entire flat, even it's just a small one; that the career outlook is far better than anything in SA; that while I can't really (and wouldn't want to) leave after only a couple months, I haven't committed to staying here for the rest of my life, and that I can always go back to SA after a couple of years. That it's just because I'm so tired from all the interviews, and tired at the thought of the long one tomorrow; that it's because I don't have internet access at the flat yet, so I can't just send email or chat to my parents whenever I like, or use SKypeOut to call them and speak to my nieces (or at least, the one old enough to talk :-), or chat to the friends that I'm used to chatting to on msn, so I'm missing those friends and just feeling a bit more isolated than usual. That I've been off work for 2 months, so it will be a bit odd and stressful going back to work, but that I'd actually go insane if I didn't work, and that working and meeting new people at work and having useful, interesting, challenging work to do was not only the point of coming here, but will also give me a sense of purpose and... I would say, distract me, but that implies just hiding the underlying problem, whereas I think it will actually solve a lot of the underlying problem. So basically, everything seems worse when you're tired, cut off from the world, and purposeless, and over the weekend I'll rest, hopefully get internet access set up, and that'll solve two of the three issues; the third is sorting itself out quite nicely, as long as I don't go getting all stressed about it!

Anyway. This post probably falls under the category of TMI, but hey, it's my blog, I get to post what I like :-) Chalk it up to the cathartic nature of blogging and move on. For now, I need to get some sleep - got a big day tomorrow. Again.