Letter to my team and my ‘lunch colleagues’

I had never thought about living in London… really, NEVER. Until one day my husband told me: I’ll be a visiting research student at UCL, we can spend a few months in London...

And I came here to live with no specific expectations. I arrived in mid-January 2010: it was cold, dark. I had no friends and my husband would spend many hours at the university every day. During my first months in London, I spent my days with tons of clothes on me, visiting touristic places, museums, shops, parks… by myself.

Then, in April 2010, 10 days after receiving my work permit, the London experience suddenly became much more interesting and challenging: you gave me an opportunity… I am not sure what you saw in me but I really hope you felt that I never let you down. I tried very hard to do my best all the time.

I am very grateful for the opportunity you gave me to work with you. Working in London has been by far my best job experience, not only because it involved being in London, one of the main global capitals, but also and mostly because I have learnt a lot from all of you. I felt very comfortable working with Brits and with colleagues from other countries: Italy, Holland, Poland, Russia, Colombia, Jamaica, Algeria, South Africa, etc… the office, like London, is quite international.

This experience also made me feel stronger and more confident. Now I’m sure I am able to work in any other European country for many reasons:

If I was able to work from 9am to 5:30pm with short and few breaks (most of the time I ate my lunch in front of my laptop) I will be able to work in Italy, Spain or Switzerland where breaks are, almost surely, more frequent and a bit longer.

I really enjoyed working with colleagues from everywhere. I really like the mix an office can have in a city such as London, New York, Brussels, Geneva, etc. Being able to work with colleagues from very different backgrounds and countries makes you a bit wiser as you can learn a lot from every person.

For me it was very important to know how to work in English not only because is the official language in many important countries such as the UK, Australia or the US but also because it is the second language of millions of people around the world. This means I will be able to work properly almost with any company in any country.

Moreover I was surprised by how easily I can adapt to a new environment. I mean, working in Mexico is completely different than doing it in England. And despite the fact that I’m Mexican, I have to say that I prefer the English way: you work hard, you focus on results, you don’t care about skin colour, backgrounds, religion, gender, etc as long as the person is efficient, hard worker, fast learner and competitive. You know how to appreciate the diversity and you respect and recognize the effort.

Finally, it’s going to be great for my CV to have this company on it. I am proud I have been able to work in a competitive city and in a competitive company.

Thanks Anna and Goli because you always have showed empathy and understanding to me and towards the problems a foreigner might have in this country (such as when immigration kept my passport for 5 months). Thanks Neil for your interest in my blog (which is like my journey), for your kindness and for thinking I was 23 years old. Thanks Tia and Catherine for all your help, sympathy and consideration.

You were always extremely nice and apart from teaching me a lot on market research, you were always willing to listen to my opinions, proposals and feelings. You made me feel valued and important for the group. Qual, you are a great team: efficient, fun, honest, clever, fair, helpful, and interested in several topics. You know how to take advantage of the assets of each member. I hope that soon I will find again a similar team.

Thanks Chiara, Stef, Marzena and Sofia for being my ‘lunch colleagues’. I had many nice lunch breaks with you. Thanks for the drinks, the tapas, the flamenco night, the pizzas, etc. You were always very supportive, fun and thoughtful. You know how hard it can be sometimes to be alone in this city or being a foreigner. You made me feel stronger when I felt lonely or under pressure.

Sarah, I know we only worked 3 months together but that was enough to consider you my friend. You made me feel more confident in the team (since I was no longer the only one with an accent, ha!). You are kind, smart, creative, fun, and ironic (like me). I’m sure we’ll stay in touch and we’ll meet again elsewhere.

Thanks to all, I only have gratitude and admiration for you guys and I’ll always offer you my friendship from the bottom of my heart. I’m taking with me a bit of each of you. It was a pleasure to work with you and to share time with all you.

As you can see, I loved the whole experience: my team, my colleagues, the projects (almost all of them), my desk, my laptop, the area where the company is located, I loved the environment, I loved the market besides the office, the freshness of the company, the way of working, all the cakes in the kitchen, etc. (I have to say that I didn’t particularly love the ‘pancake day’ ewww). I am not able to imagine a better first job experience in Europe. Thanks for giving me a GREAT first job on this continent.

Finally, I am posting this on my blog because it is an experience worth sharing and making public. This is a public ‘thank you and see you later’ because, if you want, I’ll always be in touch, I’m your friend.

Con cariño y respeto,

Jess