Follow my tales of being an American graduate in London starting her career and building a new life.

reflection post

This little caption has been weighing heavy on my mind. It has for the last few months, but with careful procrastination I've been able to avoid doing anything about it.

Looking back I wished that I had started this blog when I had first come to London way back in 2007. The plain and simple truth was that back then I was having too much darn fun to sit down and write a blog. Those were the days I tell you.

Carefree and still at uni. A semester in London and still one to go before I graduated. I was riding high on the notion that I was some kind of MCAD superstar who was going to take the world by storm once they handed me my diploma.

I could clearly see all the job offers pouring in and taking secrete delight in having to turn some down, while subtly bragging to everyone through Facebook updates how awesome I was.

The semester at LCC was brilliant. I met a bloke decided to stay in London, finish that last semester online. Coming back to Minneapolis for graduation was the icing on the cake.

Four wonderful years at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Four years of hard work and non stop creativity all coming to an end. Walking across the stage with my fellow BS student and looking out into the audience, knowing that I would make them all proud.

There was no time to blog then! I was living the life and wrapped up in the excitement of graduating and going back to London with my fiance.

What an adventure! Look at me, doing something with my life. I had all the confidence in the world.

I was going to have a fabulous Vegas wedding, wait for my marriage visa and head back to London and get my first job. Easy as pie.

After returning to London to join my husband the job hunt began and the birth of this blog.
I thought it would be cool to write about my experience of getting my first job in London.

I thought that it would be helpful and it might inspire MCAD students who one day would find themselves freshly graduated and on the job hunt.

Of course it would be super interesting because I was doing it London! That's right London!
No MCAD connections would be helping me to find my first job. I would be on my own and my talent and experience would speak for itself.

Until I found that no one wanted or cared to listen.

So the blog was born and it became an outlet for me to write about my experiences. It then morphed beyond just writing about trying to find that first job and became a chronicle of being an expat.

The funny thing about this blog is that I haven't written anything about that almighty first job that I was so desperate to get. There are of course reasons for that. Privacy and that kind of thing, but it feels rather odd that I have written next to nothing about it. That's the thing about social media these days, you never know who's reading. Not that I have anything unfavourable to say about my job of course.

So, back to my opening statement. My little caption doesn't seem so accurate anymore. I graduated on May 9, 2008. I don't think I qualify as a recent graduate.

I'll need to come up with a new caption. Something kicky and exciting. I'll have to think on it. I guess the second part is still true. I am starting my career and building a new life.

As they say over here, watch this space, a new caption for 2010 will arrive shortly.