If you're thinking of moving to London
I'm gonna tell you about the things that I did not expect when I first moved here,
so hopefully you can be a little bit more prepared when you get here!
This video is part of my living in London series so make sure you watch to the end of the video to get links
to more helpful tips and tricks for anyone who's planning to move here!
You won't live near the major sights!
Now if you're hoping that you're gonna find a lovely apartment that overlooks Covent Garden
or has views of Big Ben then unfortunately I hate to disappoint you
but that's probably not gonna happen unless you are absolutely loaded!
It is really expensive to live in central London where the most famous sights and attractions are
but actually a lot of Londoners would prefer to live a little bit more outside of central London anyway,
because there are some really lovely areas that have more of like a neighbourhood local feel and
aren't quite as crowded as central London.
You have to pay council tax on top of your rent!
As an American this is not something that I was used to having to pay a tax on top of the rent
that you're always paying when you're just renting, and you don't own a place. But that's something to consider
when you are figuring out your budget and what you can afford in terms of
what kind of rent you can pay for a place here in London!
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Lots of people cook at home, coming from New York where all my friends that live in New York City
literally eat out for every single meal!
London is actually not really like that as much people are much better with cooking at home,
making their lunch and their dinners at home
and it's good because if you are on a budget and can't really afford to eat out all the time
it's not like it's going to really ruin your social life because you always have to cook at home on your own!
Most apartments have their own washers and dryers!
Again knowing my friends in New York who none of them have a washer or a dryer in their apartment ,
in London, generally speaking, it's fairly standard to have your own washer in your actual apartment.
However if you're an American and you're used to dryers
it is pretty tough to find flats with dryers here!
I personally have a washer/dryer combo but
I very rarely ever use the dryer just because it actually doesn't really do a very good job
so I pretty much line dry everything.
Drinking after work is pretty popular!  
 People who work the typical 9 to 6 hours
will often pop down to the pub after work for a pint with their co-workers and their friends.
I think this is great because it gets people out of office at a reasonable time,
it's a nice way to wind down and reward yourself after a long day of work and it can also be a nice way to
meet other people outside of work!
So even if you're not working in a typical nine to six hours
It's still pretty cool to go down to the pub, and it's just a really good energy
once everybody's out of work, and it's really cool and fun to be around!
London covers a huge area!
I talk about this a lot in my videos for people who are coming to visit London
but I think when you do live in London you feel this even more.
London covers an absolutely humongous area especially when we talk about Greater London,
so if you meet a new friend at work or anywhere really
don't expect them to live just down the road from you!
Especially because lot's of people live more on the outskirts the city because they need to save money
and they can't afford to live more central, so you might end up travelling quite far
to get to a friend's house or to meet them in their neighbourhood.
People don't speak on the tube!
I found this very funny when I first moved here, especially as an American and as a New Yorker!
Most of the time the tube cars are very quiet even when they're absolutely packed
during rush hour is pure silence on the car and also the big joke here between Londoners
is that you never look somebody in the eye when you're on the tube is like a super awkward thing and
It's just kind of weird, but yeah
So don't expect to go on the tube and be striking up conversations
With people because most of the time everyone just wants to be left alone,
and it's not that they're being rude it's just how it is here.
The weather is somewhat mild!
As a New Yorker I grew up with really hot summers and really cold winters
and we don't really get the major major extremes here in London. In the summer,
we usually only have like one or two weeks where we get what's considered a heatwave, and it gets really warm
but the rest of the time
it's usually either a little bit chilly or it's a very comfortable temperature!
And in the winter we again will have a couple of weeks where we'll get quite freezing cold temperatures
but for the most part it's not frigid New York type of winter weather.
Although It's very ironic because as I'm filming this it is really snowing out there,
and we very very rarely get snow but we've had a lot this year which is weird.
Another point about this summer in London because the temperatures are so mild,
most flats will not have air-conditioning.
But you really won't feel like you need it, all you do is open up the windows and let a breeze in and it's actually
usually very comfortable and relaxing!
This city is incredibly diverse!
When I first moved here, I thought that
everybody who lived in London would be like wearing tweed and say 'pip pip cheerio' !
And that's kind of a joke I didn't really think of it that much,
but I did definitely did not realize how multicultural that this city is.
In fact, it's so diverse that you'll find it
really quite rare to meet somebody who was born and bred in London.
So many Londoners that live here now we're born in all parts of the world
and it makes the city really accepting of different and new cultures
and very open to all different types of people!
I find it incredibly refreshing and it's the type of atmosphere that I feel like
I always want to be surrounded by and I think that you'll like it too when you get here.
The NHS was confusing when I first got here, but overall I find it to be quite helpful.
As a foreigner who's used to the US health system
I came here, and I had to learn like new systems, and I'm still like trying to figure out which speciality doctors
I have to go to for certain things, how I get this, how I get that checked out...
It's still a little bit confusing and it definitely has its flaws, but overall I feel really thankful for it
and I think for a lot of patients that it is a really good system.
Are you planning on moving to London?
Let me know down in the comments of this video.
Don't forget this is part of a living in London series on this channel
so I have two videos over here that you can watch from the series
and get more tips before you make the big move!
