Why I hated living in London

Living in London had its highs and lows, but mainly lows. I was living in the capital for 2 years for university, only to decide to move home for my 3rd year, because it all got too much. I was away from my friends, family, my dog and my boyfriend, adding sky-high rent prices and a job that didn't pay enough, I was constantly broke, refusing to use the money in my savings account, and refusing money from just about anyone who was willing to offer me it.

Living
The first year of university, I was living in Tottenham, not too far from where the riots had happened a month before I was due to move in. The area wasn't too bad to live in, but it was my experience of halls which made it repulsive. The floor of my block had problems with no hot water, a manky kettle, broken mops... And our flat door would always be left open for friends to pop in whenever they wanted to, but this was really annoying when someone would forget to lock the door completely, so food was stolen, and so was our iron! People banging on your door late at night, people shouting in the court yard, people using your plates and cutlery and not washing them up after.... Little annoyances added up, and I couldn't wait to move out of there.

Rent
Then there was the dreaded hunt for a home or a flat. Just when you think you've looked early enough, you realised you haven't, and all the houses and flats have been taken, or you've got to make your budget bigger.... this was such a stressful time, and on top of that, friends dropping out of being your future 2nd year flatmate, meaning it was just two of us, looking for a flat together. We did find one, and a little over our budget, and it worked. It was peaceful in our flat..apart from when the guy from the council rang asking us for council tax, sending us court notices when we didn't even know we had to pay council tax because we're students. Or that time we had a toilet that was constantly trickling, so our bill went sky-high, even though we told our estate agents and the water company about it. Or the times we were receiving bills for the people who lived there before us. It was driving us mad, we weren't expecting all these problems when we moved in. We did have an amazing view out of our flat, and we were so close to the shopping center it was nearly heaven! So there's that.

The Tube
I like the Tube when it's off-peak and I can get a seat. I hate the Tube when it's on-peak and there are swarms of businessmen. Me being 5"3, meant I got a lovely whiff of armpits from everyone surrounding me. During peak time, everyone seemed to turn into grumpy knob heads who lost their manners when they went through the barriers. There are also the people who look away when an elderly, disabled or pregnant lady are in need of a seat during peak time. Trying to get off the train? No chance! Nobody will move unless you shout "excuse me!" and do a bit of pushing, and by the time you've got through the wall of bodies, you've got people coming onto the carriage! The Tube fares were ridiculous. For me to travel in Birmingham by bus, for a whole day, it's £4. In London, say, zone 1-3, it's capped at £10.60 if you're travelling both peak and off-peak times, and it's £7.70 if you avoid peak times. SO expensive.

I moved home last July for my final year, where i'd be travelling into London for uni. People thought I was crazy for doing this, but it honestly wasn't that bad. It would take me about 3 hours to get to uni (from waking up, getting ready, catching a bus, getting the train, then a tube). I spent my hours on the train reading books, attempting and failing to do uni work, catching up on shows I missed on TV, things like that.

Obviously a lot of people enjoy living in London, but it's very hard to enjoy living in an expensive city with hardly any money. I am super happy living at home, and to top off my whole university/London experience, I got a 2:1 for my degree!

Jenny xo