How did you do it?

Hi all!  This might belong in a different section of the forum, but thought I'd start here.  I've been a long time lurker of the site, and was hoping you all might have some advice for me.

For many years I have had the idea of moving to and living in London sitting in the back of my brain.  The idea of it both excites me beyond belief and yet terrifies me at the same time, and it finally seems that in the next year or two I am going to finally make it a reality.  The problem is that my logical brain is not letting me enjoy the process and I think it is causing me to hold back and continually make excuses.  

I recently gained dual citizenship with an EU country which means that I would be able to move over and work freely, but my main goal and the thing I want to do most is complete a masters program in London and then get a job after that.  The part that worries me the most is going from functioning working adult with a great salary and a fairly nice lifestyle, into the life of a university student and the instability (and let's be honest, lack of finances) that often comes with it, which would be especially prevalent because of doing it in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

I've picked up and moved my life to other countries before, but I have always had a job waiting so it never seemed as daunting and scary to me.  But the idea of living like a student, subsisting on savings and loans and whatever other financing I can get, and no guarantee that I will get a job at the end of it all scares me.  I know I am letting my fear get in the way, but I am also trying to be realistic.

I'm sure there are other people out there who have done this (or something similar) before.  How did you let go of the fear and just do it? What did you tell yourself?  Any advice would be much appreciated  

I moved to the UK under very different circumstances, but my advice is to do it if you can. You have EU citizenship so you're actually able to freely move to London, which is fantastic, as many people that want to move there can't. It's scary, but well worth it.

The job market in the UK is bad right now, but if you're studying at a UK university you'll have a much better chance of getting a job after graduating than if you studied at a non-UK university and moved over there in hopes of getting a job. It seems that part-time work for students is fairly easy to find, so you shouldn't have a problem finding a student job to make extra cash while studying.

As for the cost, have you thought about studying somewhere besides London? London is great, but there are great universities throughout the UK, and the cost of living is FAR cheaper outside of London. You could always work in London after graduating. I don't know what the fees would be like for you, but I've heard something about EU citizens being able to study in Scotland for FAR cheaper than people coming from England. Maybe someone else can clarify this, as I've only heard it as an argument when English students were having to pay outrageous fees to study in Scotland. I don't know what you'd like to study, but Edinburgh and St Andrews are fantastic schools and both are beautiful places to live, and are a great deal cheaper than London. I'm biased and think Edinburgh is the best city in the UK, so I encourage everyone to move there

Good luck!

Hi,

Some things to consider from what Edinburgh posted up!

I do try to be a realist as much as I can, after all, dreams can't feed or house you! in short, only you can decide if the risk is what you want and can go for. There's positives and negatives.

A few years ago, it was 'easier' as the UK was riding the wave of borrowed money and enjoying the party as a result. The wave has gone and it's a soppy slog back to dry land - jobs are now scarce, job security is not good and costs of living are generally rising and on an upward trend. If you in a field which is in high demand or will be in high demand throughout the next few years, then do indeed consider things further as the 'risk' will be less if you know the chances of you finding a job after the masters is better. If perhaps it's in an area that's not in as high demand, then continue to evaluate with that in mind.

Different people have different needs and wants, which I completely understand, but for now and the medium 2-5 year future of the UK, things aren't looking too good economically so I'd personally say to stay with what you currently have and perhaps look at distance learning etc for the Masters and observing the kinds of jobs and the labour market in the UK over this time to see if it improves.

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!