My time in London had come and gone. It was a fun 30 days, full of stories I could never put into one little post, but I will try and summarise it now. Firstly, for all my Estonian readers, here's the link to the page I created for my practise: http://tinyurl.com/lndprakt
If You do not read Estonian, here's where You could see the pictures from my adventure: PICTURES
And if You wish to learn a bit more, here's my story:
I spent 30 days in London. Lived as a local and also worked as a local. It was supposed to be a practise, but it turned into a full-blown work experience, which is too cool to even start to describe. It was supposed to be a chef's practise and that it was, in it's core. Since day 1 I was put to work as part of the team in the kitchen and it never stopped. Of course I got to do simple preparation tasks, but everyone did them at some point, so I don't feel as if my presence was taken advantage of.
Some of my highlights were the first day, a Labour party LGBTQ+ event and dealing with not having anyone in charge. That last weekend was kind of hell on earth, but I guess it taught me a lot about myself. It turns out that when I see something wrong, I don't just stand around, I take up the position of common sense and can dish out commands to my senior co-workers. This opportunity also taught me that I can handle a new environment, which was something I was dreading a bit. As some of my closest people might know, the main reason I even went to school was to get the paper to open the doors of other establishments for me as I plan to leave Haapsalu and move on with my life. I want to live and work closer to my family. And now I know I can adjust and handle the challenge.
I also got to see London, not just as a tourist. Pretty amazing. I know now that I would never want to live in a place that is so over-populated. I need my empty spaces and silence. London is a mixing pot of all sorts of cultures and I enjoyed every bit of coming in contact with them. Who wouldn't? But living in a place where you travel an hour to and from work, standing always in a line for something, no! I don't think I would like that.
I don't even know how to put it into words. This month was full of little things that were all incredible. I met some cool people, learnt more about cultures than I imagined or could have in my little country. I ate foods I will probably never eat again. And I missed my family, Estonian cuisine and the quietness of our little country. I wanted to go and I also wanted to come back. Maybe I am getting old or too sentimental. When I was living in France, I really didn't have these issues, except for the food part.
How to conclude this? It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance and I am grateful I got to experience it. I will take away from this a lot of good memories and one pretty important realisation: I don't like Lithuanians (the exceptions make the rule).
R.
