Essex Life

I was a nanny, like a lot of girls in London, but I also worked in the Globe Theatre on Southbank as a volunteer.

I spent all my free time walking around discovering lanes and places. I could not always afford a travel card but walking is better.  There are many places in London which I just love.

Here in Gdansk I've got a job, family and friends but I still go back to London any time I can because, while Gdansk is a very nice place, it's not the same culturally.

Nothing really drove me away from London, but when I visited six months ago and there were so many Poles there.  I am not talking about all Polish people but the people I the saw in the streets were behaving as though London is "their" city.   I really couldn't stand it and I really wanted to go back to Poland. But now I'm in Poland I just want to go back to London again so I really can't find my place under the sun.

I found i had fewer job opportunities in London than here. In Gdansk I used to work in our equivalent of the National Film Theatre. In London, I went to the National Film theatre nearly every day but I couldn't work there.  I was told they couldn't even give me a voluntary job. I fully understand that but its sad that I didn't have the chance to work in the place that I wanted to work.  My experience in London was quite different to that of many Polish people now. They're going after bread, as we say in Poland, but I went there just to learn English. Then I fell in love with the city.