So one day it was time to move. For some very weird reasons, a chair was waiting for my butt in London. I don’t know how those things work, but the whole relocation process was taken care of real fast. Suddenly I was in the waiting room of some crazy visa expediting service in Lexington Ave, then boom, a work visa appeared in one of my passport pages. A few hundred drinks later, I endured a severely hungover mission in a cab to JFK, and ultimately landed in Heathrow in late June.
It was my second move in less than two years, and I was yet again to jump into the overworked chimp shoes, taking a lot of crap in order to enhance the profits of some soul-sucking financial institution at the Queen’s town. Awesome! So how was it? What’s London like?
The first weeks were sort of tough. I left New York and its awesome summer weather (and summer miniskirts) and went on to live in a gray city, with an architecture that is somewhat intimidating. It was summer but it didn’t really matter. If you were wondering, looking for an apartment in London is a pain in the butt, maybe at par with New York. The bank will try to help you but they will always end up recommending extremely cost-inefficient places. At least the hours are not as brutal and you do have more time to look for a place.
Getting used to London was a slow but steady process. The city is not as friendly as New York, and there are a lot of things to learn in order to fully enjoy it. And take this with you: any serious adaptation attempt to a new town involves some prioritization, and quality of life should be on the top or near the top.
What I mean here is: don’t be a cheap bastard and spend a little extra to live near work, preferably in a cool place. Living in a sub-optimal place and investing rent savings at a ridiculously low rates when you’re barely making six digits is moronic. You’re not processing accounts payable for some shitty corporation, 9-5. You chose to donate your soul to the devil, in exchange for the possibility of forgetting about money altogether in a few years.
The reason why I didn’t stay in London long-term has to do with the economy and bad professional perspectives but I wish my relationship with the city lasted a little longer. By the time I was moving out, I realized there are so many cool things about it , so let’s go for a Top 5. And for the sake of discussion, let’s go for 3 of its not so cool things.
London Top 5
(1) Friday Beers: you do not miss this. Everyone goes, and it’s no face time to please your boss. People do get quite hammered, that includes your boss, the summer intern and the hot Scandinavian associate who just broke up with her boyfriend
(2) My hours: S&T average was 7a-6p (summer), 7a-8p (other seasons). Sublime.
(3) Geographic location: well, you’re a short flight away from a ton of cool places. Summer is especially awesome. This weekend in Mallorca, the next one in Villefranche-Sur-Mer, the other one in Sardinia…
(4) Diversity: I remember reading somewhere that London is the place with the largest number of spoken languages in the world. In addition to that, the cultural diversity of the streets is replicated inside the banks, unlike New York.
(5) People: London people are much friendlier than those of New York (duh), but also than those of many other financial centers I lived in or visited.
Worst 3 things about London
(1) Services: well, maybe anchoring expectations at the New York level is a bad idea, but the fact is that you won’t find as many affordable/good service providers. From the shoeshine guy to delis to cable TV. OK, maybe not cable TV.
(2) Weather: this may not matter a lot to many people, but the city where I was born and lived until college was Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Enough said.
(3) Food: you can get angry with me, as much as you want, I don’t give a shit. British. Food. Sucks.
See you in São Paulo next week.
cant wait for sao paulo so i can know if im going to get shanked or not.
Someone is clearly a player and not a gentleman. Nothing wrong with that.
I hope you weren't surprised by the amount drinking done by everyone in London?
I'm with you on food in London. Domino was one of the best options when I was in London, enough said.
Honestly, not sure where you guys are going in London, but I think the food kills most things in the US. Only thing America does better (mainly because it's hard to find in London), is Mexican food - only thing I missed / one of the reasons I'd love Texas. Steaks and upscale burger joints would probably be better in the states as well.
Maybe you're just sticking to English / Western food ?? You've got your Malay restaurants in Bayswater (in my opinion Malay food is the best in the world, a gazzilion great indian places all over east and south London (Tooting comes to mind), amaaazing turkish food in east & south London as well as well as on Edgware road. Explore a bit. Polish meats (also mainly east London) is pretty good as well. Plus, food in east london is pretty cheap so that's always good. For me the food is one of the major draws of London, I think New York food is pretty poor / not as authentic in comparison. Personally I preferred Indian in food in London than in India, Malay food was not as great as Malaysia, but then again nothing is - it comes close though. Turkish / Arab food in London was better than Turkish / Arab food in the Middle East for me as well.
If you want specific restaurant recommendations (for everyday food, not like expensive stuff) PM me and I'll hit you up.
I don't actually eat much English food in england, normally just for breakfast and Shepard's pie, but all the international stuff is top notch and mostly pretty damn authentic.
moneyt, I believe the complaining is not about the availability of different cuisines, it is simply the quality.
I lived in London for 7 months and I hated it more than I hated Zurich. And this says a lot. The only thing I liked London for, was my proximity to Manchester. It's a city that caught my heart and set it on fire.
But what foods are better in NYC than in London ? What type of foods did you have in London / where in London did you go ? I am really curious about this because I hear Americans say this all the time, but I really have no idea where they get this from.
Indian - hands down london (I worship at the alter of Indian food - so this is essential for me, but that's personal taste)
turkish - close, but edge to london. way more available in london too.
Malay- hands down London - dosen't taste anywhere near as authentic in NYC. I felt cheated.
Chinese - Meh, NY, but im not as crazy about this (personal preference)
African - Def London (some of it is actually really good, don't judge until you've had it).
Arab - Def London, but New York is not bad, there are arab stalls everywhere, just not as great quality, though a few hole-in-the-wall places in NYC are just as good. For actual proper restaurants, London.
Italian - okay, NY
Other Western - NY
(But bear in mind, that France is right next door if you want to get your culinary fix on the weekends (and don't work in banking and thus have weekends, you can go to italy on longer breaks and fly over on ryan air and have stuff that kills anything in NY, or have authentic Portuguese of spanish food just as easily.)
I'm not saying that London is better, it's just that I don't get why Americans say London food is shit,I just think that's totally wrong.
Thanks for the post. Actually other articles that I have read also say that London is not as brutal as New York in terms of working hours.
Hmm, it sounds like London just has more of the food you're into but it does get bonus points for proximity to Paris.
The whole "the hours are lesser in London" thing is a little overblown. A top M&A or industrials group in London will be pulling 100+ hour weeks just the same. It really depends on what your actual job is.
You work at a hedge fund in Rio now? I'm jealous.
How hard is it to get a job in London as an American? Is the best route to attend school there and stay or have your firm transfer you to the London office (if possible)?
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