A year ago, I made the decision to quit my job and return to college, to do my Masters degree in Applied Digital Media. Not only that: I packed my entire life into boxes and moved to Dublin.

I believe that this may have been the best decision I have ever made.

Living abroad, in this beautiful city, has given me so much perspective on life and the world. I have met so many people from so many different places with so many different viewpoints. I have tried new things, said ‘yes’ to as many things as I could, and I have the photos to prove it.

Everybody should visit Dublin at least once in their life. It is colorful, its streets are filled with music, and the people are among the most friendly I have ever met. To steal a quote from James Joyce, “When I die, Dublin will be written in my heart.”

The time, however, has come for me to start the next chapter of my life and do something I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember. So here’s my big news:

I am (finally!) moving to London in September.

I cannot even begin to express how excited I am about this. London is a part of me. I consider the city my friend, my relative. It has always been a big part of my life and I have always known that I would move there one day. Things happened along the way which delayed the inevitable, but I have finally made up my mind. Nothing’s stopping me, and so I am going to realize a dream I have had ever since I was a little girl.

Let me explain.

Here is what I love about London (if I can cram everything into this one post):

Theatreland, The West End, the South Bank, Shakespeare’s Globe, picnics in Hyde Park, Park Lane, Mayfair, London Fields, the Saatchi Gallery, The Tate Modern, The National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, Science Museum, Baker Street, Gower Street, Curzon Street, Half Moon Street, Piccadilly Circus, Soho, The Tube, Taxis, Chinatown, Oxford Street, Kensington High Street, Portobello Market, Notting Hill, The National Theatre, The Science Museum, The V&A, The Natural History Museum, RADA, King’s Road, The Ritz, Gloucester Road, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Eros, The Thames, Trafalgar Square, Bloomsbury, Belgravia, the pubs, the rain (YES), Tower Bridge, Camden market, Hampstead Heath, Carnaby Street, Little Venice, South Kensington, Kew Gardens, St Christopher Square, Selfridges, Covent Garden, Brick Lane, Charing Cross, Embankment, Double Deckers, Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Dali Exhibition, Battersea…

So here’s to London. And me in it. And all the things I intend to do. And photos I intend to take. And people I intend to meet. Here’s to me being a love letter to the city.