You probably heard of GuardianWitness, a relatively recent project of my beloved British newspaper, The Guardian. This page is created to cover the experiences, opinions and ideas of the paper’s readers. There is a different theme being regularly published and anyone can contribute a related media item (text, photo or video) under that topic. A bit like a multimedia forum, really. I wanted to share with you my own migration story to the UK, which was published on the project’s website 19 February 2015. The original link is here.

I am originally from Istanbul, Turkey. I first came to the UK in 2007 to study towards my Masters degree. The photo below was taken in September 2007 at Warwick Castle. Back then, I was about to begin my graduate programme at University of Warwick. It was a uni trip to the Castle and I was amazed by its grandeur and architecture.

(Fotoğraf: Özgür Yüzak)
One of my first photos taken in the UK, September 2007 (Photo credit: Özgür Yüzak)

After my Masters, I went to Turkey to change my visa to a work permit. I was able to come back to the UK in 2009 and started to look for a job. This time I came to London planning to settle here. I was happy to live in my country, I didn’t have any serious problems there. I just wanted to experience how life in a European country is. (Although the UK is the least European country in the EU!) It was hard due to the recession, but I have finally found a job and settled in London after a couple of months.

In six years, I settled here, became a permanent UK resident and saved some money. Recently, I have applied for UK citizenship as well. I would like to become a dual citizen. I love living here: the lifestyle is straightforward and stable, people are tolerant, very polite and friendly. Although London life can be hectic at times, I still love the buzz of the big city as an Istanbullite. I consider myself as a Londoner now.

The only problem here is that I don’t have any close friends originally from the UK. Nearly all my friends are foreigners like me. But apart from that, I feel like a part of this society, totally adapted to local culture and lifestyle. I feel proud and successful to be living here. I definitely recommend this experience of living abroad to anyone: one learns to stand on one’s own feet in every sense.

ingiliz filiz
İngiltere’ye ilk kez 2007 yılında eğitim için, İstanbul’dan geldim. Daha sonra 13 yıla yakın bir süre Londra’da yaşadım. 2.5 yıl önce de İngiltere’nin güneyinde küçük bir kente taşındım. İngiltere’de yaşam ve kültür konulu yazılarımı bu blogda topluyorum. Bu yazıların büyük bölümünü Londra’da yaşarken yazdım ve müzik, yeme-içme, sinema gibi ilgi alanlarımı Londra’da düzenlenen etkinlikler çerçevesinde paylaştım. Şu an çocuklu hayat dolayısıyla eskisi kadar kültürel etkinliğe katılamıyorum, dolayısıyla blog konularım da biraz evrim geçirdi. Çocuk kitapları, çocuk oyunları, aile dostu lokantalar, pub’lar, tatil seçenekleri gibi konularda yazıyorum artık daha çok. Yine de Londra’ya arada bir de olsa gidiyorum ve bu gidişlerimde katıldığım etkinlikleri yazmaya devam edeceğim. Blogumla ilgili görüşlerinizi ve sorularınızı yazıların altına yorum şeklinde bırakabilirsiniz. Eposta adresim:filiz (at) ingilizfiliz (nokta) com Özellikle yazmamı istediğiniz bir konu olursa belirtebilirsiniz. Ayrıca bültenime abone olursanız ne güzel olur 🙂 Bülten aboneliği için aşağıya tıklayabilirsiniz: https://ingilizfiliz.com/newsletter-sign-up/ Keyifli okumalar… 🙂

Leave a Reply

en_GBEnglish (UK)