Tag: UK

Posted on

In the UK | イギリスに寄り道 (unfinished)

Picture of me shot in Knaresborough

YO whats up guys! I’m so happy to finally make another post in what feels like forever, and let me first start by just saying, I am so terribly sorry, AGAIN, I always get either too busy or too LAZY to update my website/ write posts. I’m SORRY ;-;

[Wrote First Day In The UK] Anyways, before I really get into this giant topic, I just want to say its currently 1:20 am when I’m writing this and I’d normally never write this late at night but as of yesterday morning I am currently in the UK. Its honestly crazy, but, I’ll explain everything very soon so just buckle up because its quite a long story how I got here.

[Note] I first started writing this post literally the day after arriving in the UK (as you can see by the text above), so April, 24th, however, due to partially having a lot on my plate, but also just getting used to my new life in the UK and just hanging out with Max making swag memories etc, I’ve pushed this post off for quite a while, as of now nearly a month and a half already. There is good reason for this though, I really want this post to be quality and I want it to be as detailed as possible without being borderline boring whilst I explain my current situation and also my plans for the future. I should mention, this post is going to be LONG. I mean, I’m literally going to be going over everything from before I even got to the UK, what I’ve been doing, etc. That being said I hope this post can clear things up and give some insight as to where I am in my life right now and what I intend on doing.

[Update 2021/07/29] It’s now been over 3 months since I’ve came to the UK. I still haven’t finished this post due to a variety of reasons. Lot’s of things have happened both good and bad since the last time I updated this post. I’ve realized that I definitely shouldn’t have tried to make this all into one massive post. It’s just too much. That being said, I can’t really stop, I’ve already invested all this time into this post and I want to finish it. At the time of writing this, plans have changed quite drastically. I think what I will most likely do is finish the post but unlike before finish the rest of the post without nearly as much of the detail. Then, once I’m settled I can start making individual posts about specific major events since, well, coming to the UK. Some ideas I have: post about me and Max’s time in London, Post about leeds, Post about knaresborough, post about York etc. Anyway, if this post is too long and overwhelming don’t worry, I totally get that . That being said, I’m still going to finish it as it is (one big post), partly just for memories and to be able to look back later on in my life.

Update 2021/07/30 so I’ve decided I’m actually going to split this post up into different parts within the same post by using page breaks and that way I can publish already finished parts until the full post is complete. I think I’ll split the post up based off of each part. So part 1 will be page 1.

Jump Through

Just in case you wanted to skip through this post because I will admit it is kind of long, I’ve added some anchors so that you can skip through bits and pieces. HOWEVER, I encourage you to read the WHOLE post from start to finish as that, well… would make me the happiest :3

Part 1 Why

Part 2 Making it Happen

Part 3 Last Day in America

Part 4 Going Airborne | The Flights ✈️

Part 5 Arriving in the UK (First Month) | Endless quarantine | inexplicable Hospitability

Part 1 Why

How in the absolute ふぁっく did I get here.

Well, this is a long story.. well not really, but kind of… Obviously if you didn’t know much about me and all you understood about me was the very little that I have decided to put up on the site you wouldn’t really understand how the hell things ended up the way they have (at least for now).

So obviously my “plan” or goals or “dream”, has always been to move to Japan live with my girlfriend and to have a family together, and if you’ve read the bits and pieces I’ve put up on the website you’d know that my original plan was to move to Japan THIS year, in-fact, NOW, in April. I had this whole plan in my mind as Japan at that time and for many months up until a certain point were saying they would have the borders open for foreigners traveling to Japan through some new “special” system that they would’ve created to help let foreigners enter the country. Up until oh idk, maybe a few months ago? Japan was pretty stuck on this date (well not a specific date but just April). Andddddd, you guessed it, they fucked me over again. Well, not just me obviously, everybody. I could go on an entire rant to be honest about Japan and their wishy washy behavior with this bs “pandemic” but I digress, regardless, as you’d expect they not only still have the borders closed, Japan basically bum fucked everyone planning on going to Japan virtually any time soon, I mean seriously, hosting the Olympics and yet cancelling foreign spectators??? Ugh, pisses me off just thinking about it. But yeah, Japan was closed. So, what do I do? I mean obviously its a dream crusher in it of itself for me not to be able to go to Japan despite waiting as long as I have, but on top of everything else, my lease for the place I was staying at for the past 6 months was ending in April, a.k.a, I had until the end of April to basically get the hell outta dodge.

This was a really hard time for me, in many ways. The thought that this thing I planned for for months, invested money and time in, and was the main thing keeping me positive and motivated to work hard for, just, flops.. I was pretty depressed.. REALLY depressed, not to mention some personal issues with me and my gf and her family at the time just over all this, STUFF. I don’t want to get to far into the personal stuff but when I say I was depressed lets just say I mean it.

This is where Max comes in

I don’t know if you guys know Max, I won’t do a huge introduction for him considering I’m sure he’ll make his own post where he introduces himself some time in the future. Nonetheless, Max is my best friend, he’s the greatest friend I’ve ever had and one of those truly “gem” like people that you look back and think “thank god I met this person”. He is my 兄貴, ya know, in anime n’ shit you got like your protagonist and then there’s the older brother type of figure and Max is like that for me. Anyway, me and Max have pretty much always talked everyday since the time we’ve met each other nearly a year ago now. He knew my situation, knew how hard it was and how little options I really had, or at least, “good” options and told his parents about the whole situation and I guess just in general he would speak about me to his parents and stuff and I remember even at the time thinking they must be pretty good people considering the stuff he told me about them. Anyway, he told them about my situation and I guess they must’ve felt really bad for me and wanted to help me and they did the very generous and kind act of opening up their home to me. I’ll talk about it more later but I am truly lucky to be in the situation I am and to have as good of a friend as Max.

In Short

My original plan on moving to Japan in April and finally seeing my girlfriend again was crushed due to the worlds dumbest “pandemic”. And as a result I had to act quick because my 6 month lease at the place I was living at for the first time alone at 17 years old(On Living Alone), was ending by the end of the month. Thankfully at the time my best friend Max essentially came in clutch and suggested I came to the UK and lived with him and his fam until I could get to Japan.

Making Up My Mind

I ended up coming to the conclusion that making a detour to the UK and living with my friend Max until I could get to Japan was my only good option pretty quickly after we had talked it over some. Obviously I didn’t really have the time to plan this out for months (/years), similar to how I had planned my venture to Japan so I just had to roll with it. I knew it was the right thing to do, and honestly I was just getting dragged further and further down into a giant pit of depression in the state that I was in. I mean, constantly working and striving for something only to be met with harsh reality that its not going to happen. Over and over again. At least going to the UK I could prove to my self that I could do it. I could make a leap and I am getting closer, I mean obviously the UK isn’t necessarily close to Japan in the slightest, however, compared to Florida It is quite the leap. 4,000 miles of a leap. Not to mention even if I absolutely hated the UK or if god forbid things didn’t work out so well with Max or his family, I could at least gain very valuable life experience from it. And obviously I wanted to meet my boi Max and have a swag time together so really it is a win win, well, it’s the best option for now.

So there it is. That’s basically “why”, I mean there’s obviously some more fine details but for the most part that’s the gist of it.

Couldn’t you have just stayed where you were?

Also I realize some people might be confused as to why I seem like I “HAD” to go somewhere, like, why couldn’t I just have stayed in Florida? I’m sure some people, especially someone who didn’t quite know me that well might ask such questions.

Well, obviously I only had until the end of April to go somewhere, or possibly start another 6 month lease at the place I was staying. But, I’ll be completely honest, that place was shit. My landlord was a manipulative and deceptive person who took advantage of me based off my young age and lack of experience renting by essentially charging me way too much for way too little. Even then, I could’ve gone somewhere else right? Work some more, find a new place, start a new lease, move in, repeat the same pattern… right? Well…..no, I think somewhere deep down I just wanted to get away. Not just from that shitty room I rented, just from.. well, everything really. My Dad, the people he associated with, even my own friends. I just wanted to “start fresh”. I still do, I hate being complacent in life. Not to mention moving to Japan has been my current active plan for the past 2 years now, especially when my girlfriend went back to Japan, this entire time I’ve been trying to so hard to go only to be held back but one thing or the other. I started doubting MYSELF, thinking somehow it’s MY fault, that I’M not doing enough. I was really depressed. I mean, I was trying my absolute hardest, working 2 jobs at one point to save up money whilst also doing school and trying to maintain my long term relationship with my girlfriend, it just seemed like nothing was enough. Anyway, I’m rambling now. The point is, when Max suggested the idea of me coming to the UK until I could get to Japan, I started getting optimistic again. Thinking, I might not be able to get to Japan yet, but, at least I have SOMETHING to look forward to, something to be happy about.

So comparing my options, 1. Stay right where I was in Florida, working my ass off to no extent (while at the same time being depressed and loosing hope/vision), or 2. Make the leap, go to the UK give living with my best friend a shot and make some good memories whilst also gaining valuable life experience, AND still working hard towards my goals of moving to Japan and being with my girlfriend. Naturally I’m going to go with #2.

Pages: 1 2