Supplied
By the time the instances began to extend once more in September and there was extra speak of one other lockdown, I began waking up feeling listless, writes Natalie Walsh.
OPINION: In 1999 I embarked on my first OE. I used to be 23 and had labored onerous at two jobs to avoid wasting the cash I wanted for the journey.
I purchased a one-way ticket and I bear in mind it was ridiculously costly at $2,000 – I had about $6,000 and the pound was three to 1. Throughout the journey I used to be poor and filled with surprise.
In London I dossed with pals. Back then New Zealand was nonetheless discovering its ft as an rising financial system and the whole lot appeared costly. I bear in mind feeling like a bumpkin in comparison with our Northern hemisphere pals – there was a lot that I didn’t know, I used to be inexperienced. I didn’t final lengthy in London it wasn’t me, I ended up residing in Paris.
Fast ahead to 2019 and a job comes up in London with my NZ-based firm, so I believe, why the hell not! An grownup OE is simply what I would like. I imagined it could be a option to spend a while seeing Europe from my London base as a fully-fledged, fully-salaried grownup.
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My plans have been scuppered when Covid hit. Come March 2020 we were locked down for 4 months. It was a wierd time.
At first, I loved the liberty of working from residence and tailored, like everybody else I discovered new and modern methods to attach. I additionally began exploring a really quiet London. It was desolate, an enormous juxtaposition to the frenetic, thrumming metropolis that was – now I discovered myself biking alongside the Mall with barely a soul round. It was like a post-apocalyptic scene. I used to be alone, however I used to be OK.
By the time the cases started to increase once more in September and there was extra speak of one other lockdown, I began waking up feeling listless.
There wasn’t a lot to sit up for, I wouldn’t eat till I remembered, and I had developed a behavior of staying up late simply to speak to family and friends again residence.
When the new strain emerged, I used to be attempting to stay constructive. I had a aircraft ticket again to NZ arriving on January 4 by way of Hong Kong, and I had bought my home so wanted to get again and pack it up, take a vacation after which work from the NZ workplace for 3 months.
