Welcome

.......................................................................................3 Chapter 1 - Where Everything Has Started .................................4 Chapter 2 - It's A Long Journey Up Here ....................................6 Chapter 3 - The House ................................................................9 Chapter 4 - My First Expedition ................................................12 Chapter 5 - Roads ......................................................................14 Chapter 6 - Pubs & Typical Food ...............................................17 Chapter 7 - London ...................................................................21 Chapter 8 - The Weather ...........................................................23 Chapter 9 - Internet ...................................................................25 Goodbye .....................................................................................27

Welcome
Dear Reader, It's happening again. I fell in love with a new place and I have the desire to write about it. I'm not a professional writer, but I've always done well in my school essays. What you're about to read, it's a collection of thoughts about UK, laid down in no particular order. I just want to explain why an average Italian man has fallen in love with the United Kingdom.

To help my words, Ive also included some pictures Ive taken during the past weeks and months. They were all taken using Instagram on my iPhone 4S. I hope theyll be relevant to you as much as they are to me. Ive already wrote too much and I dont want to bore you since the beginning so Ill stop writing nonsense and Ill let you (hopefully) enjoy this short reading. It has been a pleasure (as always). Yours truly. Matteo.

Chapter 1 - Where Everything Has Started

It was a day like many others, I woke up, I did my things in the bathroom and then I turned my Mac on (yes I'm a big fan of Apple, so you'll nd a lot of references to their products) and read my emails.

Among all the usual junk, one of them made my day. It was a letter from Daikin UK, accepting my request for an internship for six months in the lovely Weybridge. Boom, time stopped and hearth went crazy. I was going to England. I should also explain why I applied for the internship in the rst place. It's a mandatory step in order to get my nal degree from the Politecnico di Torino. Six glorious months of internship worth a piece of paper. Anyway, the point is that now I have the chance to go to my "Holy Land", not only for a short vacation, but to live there, to feel the place, to enjoy the culture and to take out the best of it to grow my life skills.

I have now a number of different feelings inside me. It's a strange mix. Nothing new, but it has been a long time since I felt that way. The rst time was when I successfully made it through the initial selection for my university, meaning acquiring the possibility to spend two years studying and living abroad (in Ireland). So now I get to feel in this way again and this makes me really happy. On the other side I'm a bit sad. Not sad in a bad way, sad because I have to leave behind some things I really care about and that I would always have with me (more on this later). The truth is that there's no going back. They said yes, I have a great chance, I can't blew it.

Chapter 2 - It's A Long Journey Up Here

Having found an accommodation not exactly close to the ofce I would work, I had to decide whether to bring my car with me or to rely only on public transports. At the time I had to make this decision I wasn't aware of how good public transports are in this country, so I decided to bring my car here.

This obviously meant going through a very long journey across France, across the Channel and nally up here in Guildford. If you are a hardcore traveller you can embark alone in this kind of journey, but since I wanted to arrive safe on the other side, I needed some company. Who better than your parents can ll in? I can probably think at two or three different options but there I am with them, on my car, on a two-day journey across Europe. I should probably mention which ride I have at my disposal. It's a glorious (and this time I'm not joking) 2007 black FIAT Grande Punto that has almost reached 100,000 kms on the clock. Five doors, well equipped, tested with full loads (not the one you're thinking) in different occasions. Once again I put it to the test my transferring my own room from Turin to Guildford.

I think I just left my bed behind. Everything else is carefully packed somewhere into the back (and front) of the car. While leaving Italy directed towards the Frejus tunnel I was thinking that I would probably never see those places again in the following six months and I couldn't be happier. I really needed this, a break from the daily routine, diving into something totally new. The journey itself went on smoothly. We reached our rst stop somewhere in an ugly place in the middle of France on the evening of the rst day. It was so ugly that the best place we found to have dinner in was a McDonald. Not that I have anything against McDonald, but you know what I'm saying right? At least the hotel was cool and we had not to kill an army of bugs to get some sleep. It was that cool that it nd a place in this book with its own picture.

The morning after we left at an ungodly hour to catch a ferry to the white cliffs of Dover. The trip over the Channel last just shy of two hours. A little gap that brings with it quite a lot of changes. The rst change I had to deal with was to drive on the wrong side of the road. Wrong for me at least, for a person used to drive on the right side with the steering wheel on the left. Now I suddenly was exactly on the opposite: driving on the left but still with the steering on the left. This just means one simple thing: forget the possibility to take over other cars when your are not on the motorways. It's that simple. If you want to overtake a car you should expose too much to

see if you're clear to go or not, so just forget it. I would eventually learn that this would cause me that much of a trouble. The second change is of course the currency. Euro is dead, long live the Sterling (or Pound). With the currency comes also a big difference in prices. Everything cost way much that what you're used to see. Finally, language. Not a drama for me, after two years spent trying to understand Irish people, I'm quite good at English. With a new mindset I then left the ferry, taking over the motorways towards my new home. The adventure had ofcially begun, but rst I had to deal with what i would like to call a huge British problem: trafc. As soon as I get into the "London Ring" I had to face a gazillion cars going like crazy over fours lanes (never enough). Normally I would say that Italians are quite bad at driving, here they are on average good, but they are way craziest than us. And if this is true on the motorways it becomes even more true on the little countryside roads (roads will have a dedicated chapter). Nevertheless we nally made it to Guildford and to the house, opening a new chapter in my life and in this book.

Chapter 3 - The House

I have to admit that I'm lucky. For a number of reasons. Lucky to have found such a lovely house, deep into a nice and small residential village on the hill of Guildford. The view that greets me every morning while I'm walking to my car it's just breathtaking (when it's not cloudy, foggy, raining or all three together).

The house is on the rst oor of a small complex of apartments and it's fully independent. Like the house I've always dreamed about as the classic British accommodation. The real reason why I'm lucky is that my parents allowed me to stay into it. I've mentioned before the difference in prices that you get with the Sterling. This reected into an above-the-average (for Italian standard) monthly rent. Just with my salary I couldn't possibly afford the house while living into it, so I have to say a huge thanks to my parents. Without them I wouldn't be here writing these lines I think.

The third reason why I'm lucky is that Guildford is a nice little city, but it also has a number of big attractions: the University of Surrey, a very populated Business Park, a 30 minutes train towards London. The rst two makes the city live everyday, the last one makes me quite happy by letting me enjoying the big city easily without having to live in that chaos.

Back to the house itself, it has everything you need and want inside, enhancing the overall living experience. It's also not that far from the ofce and this means that I can easily drive to work everyday without having to worry to much about the trafc. You just need to get the right timing. I got myself a 25 minutes window from when I wake up to when it's time to leave to avoid trafc. I've started experimenting with different combinations of alarm settings and now I think I've nailed the perfect combination to safely get everything done and still have not to worry at the disaster I could nd on the road. With a nice "Base Camp", the overall experience cannot be less than good.

Chapter 4 - My First Expedition

I successfully survived the rst week at work, it's the weekend, what to do? Go outside! In particular where should I possibly went? London of course. Even if I went to London, this chapter won't be about the city but it will be about the people I saw during my day out.

I don't really know which are the stereotypes for British people, what I know is that they are quite different from us (and by us I mean from Italian people). The rst real contact has been at the Guildford Railway Station while I was waiting for my train to London. On my left I had a young lady on a wheelchair waiting for my same train. Nothing special right? There's more. Out of the blue came a guy, who's working in the station, offering to show the lady the right place to wait to be easily helped to get on board. Then he went off to carry the ramps for the wheelchair, to let the young lady board the train. There's more. I happened to be in the same coach as the lady so I was able to see also how she went off the train. They were waiting for her and I mean this in a good way. As soon as the train stopped and the doors opened a lady working in the Waterloo Station attached two ramps to the train to let the lady in the wheelchair get off the train. She had not to call anybody or ask for special assistance, they were already there to help.

You are probably asking yourself where is the amazing part of this story. I can compare the journey Guildford-London to the Torino-Milano. Not for the duration itself but for the typology: there are trains every half-hour/hour, full of people that use the train as a main mean of transport to go to work. Two completely different approaches. The UK one is far more accessible by anyone, while in Italy every journey can be (I should better drop the conditional) a nightmare. [Mark my words. I'll probably make other comparisons like this one in the book. I love my country. Every comparison is based on facts that I've experienced personally so I know what I'm talking about. It will never be a matter of glorifying a country while denying the other. It will always be the fairest comparison I can possibly make.] You see now why I was that much surprised when I saw that scene. In a way it made my day. I mean I still was amazed by nding myself "hanging around" in London so easily, but that no longer was the focus of my day. Since then I've came across similar situations, but I think that this one really summarize the concept as its best.

Chapter 5 - Roads
Roads really need a dedicated chapter in this book. Why? Because when they're not ooded with cars, they're simply amazing. Yes it's that simple. And I'll go further: they're the best roads I've ever driven on.

As you can imagine I'm not talking about the "Ms", but I'm referring to "As (the small ones) and "Bs". These roads feel like they have been painted on the ground by a man who loves "curves" (yes, those curves). And the best part is that once you get away from a village you can easily put your foot down and have some fun. Of course you always have to drive with your head on your shoulder and you have to know your limits, but 50 mph are quite an interesting limits. Be prepared to be overtaken a lot. Because British people they just drive at the limit. Even if the road is narrow, has a lot of blends, there are other cars, they just drive their way to their destinations. Again I want to be objective while I'm trying to describe those roads. How do you universally know if a road is a good road? You look for motor-bikers. If there are a lot of motor-bikers, driving in groups, making a lot of noise you know for sure to be in the right place. End of the story.

So far almost every road I've been on (except for the Ms) was full of bikers scaring the hell out of me by driving very fast and overtaking me passing few inches away from my mirrors. Except for bikers, there's a lot more to see while driving around UK. There are wonderful elds lled with colors, breathtaking views from the top of the hills, lakes, forests, all sorts of nature. Mostly untouched. This is something else that has always impressed me since I've started going around the country. There are big cities true, but they are quite packed and except for London and few other main cities they don't occupy that much soil. Or maybe, to say it better, they are not widespread across the countryside. Once they are off they are off. This means that there's always a lot of green around them. Even around London. Seems impossible but it's true. Even approaching to a big city like London, you can always nd elds and green around. And of course all the cities are as green outside as they are green inside. Big beautiful parks and green areas are at your disposal everywhere. I cannot really understand how they've managed to save all those areas but I'm happy they did, because it's so great to drive around them. Not only around but even across. My love for these little road caused lots of headaches to my GPS. Mainly because it can only provide one route at a time and it's always pointing at main roads to get you quickly to your destination. It really doesn't get the concept of sit back, relax and enjoy the trip. At the end of

the day "it's just a computer". That's also why I rely a lot on Google Maps. With it you can fully customize your journey, going around whatever lines you want (even if when I'm on mobile is not always that easy to do).

Apart from all of this, what I really like about those roads is that they allows you to really feel the life outside the big cities. When I drive into the really small ones, I always image how they would have looked years and years ago with knights, kings and queens on their horses and chariots. After half an hour of driving into a forrest it's almost natural to have this kind of fantasy for me. The atmosphere around catches my imagination and lead me towards new routes.

Chapter 6 - Pubs & Typical Food

This is probably the section I was looking forward the most to write about. Pubs. What a wonderful place on earth they are. I don't want you to think that I'm some kind of alcoholic person addicted to beers (even if sometimes this is the case), what I want you to focus on is the concept behind the pub.

Pubs are places where people can easily gather to chat and to have fun, but it's also a creative space that can lead to different outputs. Pubs are great places where you can discover old stories and where those stories continue to live when they are passed upon younger generations. Maybe this is not completely true in big cities' pubs (such as London), because the majority of them are for tourists and it's more difcult to see locals. When you move out of the chaos and you enter the rst little village you nd on the road, there you'll see the true spirit of a pub. Not so crowded, quite dark (even at noon), with smooth typical British music in the background. That's where the magic begin. There's nothing better than a beer in a pub, topped with some chat with locals. When I go around the country in my car, the stop in the pub is one of the moments I look forward the most!

It's not just beer then, it's also food. Not casual food, but typical local food. The best way to enjoy all the spectrum of avors and colors is to go around and eat in a pub as much as you can.

The range of offerings changes accordingly to where you are. The only constant of course is: sh&chips! Before starting my adventure here in the UK I was among many that consider sh&chips as the only typical British food. I'm happy to report this is very far from being true. If you are on the inside you can have different kind of dishes based on meat: from hamburger to fresh cuts, always cooked with great personality and uniqueness. If you visit different pubs but you always choose the same dish you are going to eat different things anyway. Each place has its own unique way to prepare the same food, giving you a taste of the local village where you are. The same is true also for dishes based on sh. While driving on the coast, prepare your mouth to be amazed by all the great avors waiting for you. While visiting Brighton I remember how much I was surprised by the quality of what I've found. Along the seaside, a number of pubs looking at the sea were waiting for me. I ended up in one of them, treating me with some delicious sh soups followed by a small but incredibly tasty smoked salmon sandwich. It's simple food, very simple: a soup and a small sandwich. The simplicity is the key to the great taste. The experience is concentrated around the prime ingredients (shes) so you can taste all their avors without loosing yourself among different condiments. I've loved it.

Speaking of typical food, I also recently discovered another great dish: meat pie. Do you remember Sweeney Todd? His girlfriend runs a meat pie shop (she used human esh, I prefer beef), boy they are good! With some vegetables, mash potatoes and a touch of gravy sauce, it's the end of the world! You can nd them almost everywhere, not in pubs (at least not in all the pubs I've been into), but in bakeries (cold) or in dedicated Pie shop as the one I've discovered in the Covent Garden Market.

I think this place needs few dedicated words. I've been in the Market many times because it's a cool place to hang around. There is always lots of people, there are many places where you can eat and there is a huge Apple Store! In addition there are always street artists performing in all the halls and just around every corner they can nd. Plus there are great places where you can go and eat. I've already mentioned the Pie Shop (which is a recent discovery) but there's much more. If you are into sweets it's the place for you. Several tea houses and coffee shops, but the highlight is the cookie shop. I don't think I've ever had a better cookie, except maybe for the Tesco branded ones (joking)! The downside is that there's always a long queue, but you know this is a sign of quality.

The next time you'll pay a visit to the UK, please do yourself a favor: abandon fast foods and go look for a pub. You'll thank me later.

Chapter 7 - London
I'm not sure if I really want to write this chapter. I mean, London is a big big city, it's almost impossible to see everything during a life time, how can I make any judgments after few months? Anyway, it's one of the main reason I've started this book, so I think I need to write something.

Right, London. I rst went there with my family when I was a little boy and since then I've always loved this place. I kept coming back in different occasions (simple tourisms, concerts) and every-time I had a chance to see a different angle of the city. It's probably safe to say that every trip there means discover something new. Now that I live close to London and that I can go there whenever I want, I had the chance to explore the city less as a tourist and more like a local. I don't have to rush between two places, I can take my time but most importantly I've abandoned the underground. I used to be a big fan of the underground (mainly because sometimes I'm a lazy person) because it was the only way to take the most from a visit to London. Now instead I very much prefer to walk around. The starting point is always the Waterloo Railway Station, the ending is always somewhere different, the journey in between is a constant discovery. To avoid get overwhelmed by all the things you can do and see in London, I always give myself a minimum goal: two or three things I want to do for sure and then I start. If along the way I nd something else I do it, otherwise I continue on my plan. You have to be exible if you want to enjoy the experience. Also remember to always have a plan B, in case the weather starts to make fun of you.

The thing I like the most about London is that no matter how deep in it you go, you always nd some green areas, parks where you can sit and relax, taking a break during the walk.

I don't think I can really tell you much more about London. I feel like I have still many things to discover. The best thing to do is to jump on a car/train/ferry/airplane and try to get up here to feel by yourself the pulse of this city.

Chapter 8 - The Weather

Weather is perhaps the most unpredictable thing you can nd in the UK. It's so unpredictable that even the BBC forecast the majority of the time just puts on sun/cloud/rain all together. Labelled as "variable", I've learned that looking at the forecast is just a waste of time. If you want to go out to do something you just go and see what happens. If you are lucky you can get everything done, otherwise it's just a matter of running home at the best time in order to avoid the storm.

Because even if British people call them "showers", they are storms at all the effects. Rain, wind, sometimes ice all together to provide you some outdoor pleasure. There is one important lesson that I've learned and that I'll always remember: do not buy an umbrella. It's just a waste of money and time. Why would you ask? Because when it rains, it does it every direction at the same time, so the umbrella will only save you from the small amount of water coming from above while all the other sides are exposed to the fury of the elements. Choose some water proof clothes combine them with a hat and you're good to go. I've learn these stuffs the rst rainy day we had while I was going to work. I left my car and the second I've opened my umbrella it has been just reversed by wind that also broke its structure, making it

totally useless. This umbrella lasted even less than usual in my hands. It was new and that was its rst opening. What a sad moment. The best thing to do is to look outside the window in the morning and to put on some clothes accordingly to what you see. Then always pack a weather proof jacket. Yes, even if it's sunny outside. Again, you'll thank me later.

Chapter 9 - Internet
If you follow me just a bit, you should know that I love the internet and all the services that it can provide. Now that I'm the UK I can nally use many of these services that before were not accessible for me from Italy.

There are not many, but they are now key in my daily routine: Spotify & Netix. If you don't live under a rock you have probably already heard about those two great services, but let me help refresh your mind. Spotify is one of the best music streaming services out there. It started as a little Swedish startup in 2008 and in only four years it has already conquered the world. Almost the entire world, because Spotify still isn't available in many countries, such as Italy. That's why I wasn't able to use it. And it was a pity because when I tried it for few weeks it has immediately changed my music habits for better. Unfortunately, once my trial expired I was left into the darkness of iTunes. Now that I'm in the UK I can easily access Spotify and I can nally enjoy a huge library of music that I can listen to without limitations. The best part is that you can actually have Spotify installed on your mobile devices (such as iOS devices) and carry this incredible library of music always with you (as long as you have an active internet connection) and because the music is

streamed from the cloud you don't waste precious space on your memory. All this awesomeness comes at a price: 9.99/month for the top of the line subscription that will allow you to have unlimited streaming from any device (PC/Mac/Mobile), no ads and the possibility to save your playlist for ofine listening, freeing you from the need to always e connected to listen to your music. Apart from all of this, the reason why I really love Spotify is the possibility to have it on both my iPhone and iPad. As I am most of the time on the go, having all that incredible amount of music always with me is great, because it allows me to be really exible and gives me the chance to listen to whatever song I want anytime. When I was stuck into the all iTunes sync world, I always had to compromise on the music to sync in order to leave some space for apps and photos. This is a huge point to consider especially if you have a low capacity device (such as my 16GB iPhone 4S). Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world, so there are some downsides in using Spotify on mobile. The greatest feature of the desktop version is the Radio app. It allows you to create a "radio station" based on a song/artist you select, giving you a big playlist of similar music. This allowed me in the past and continue to allow me today to discover great new music to add to my portfolio. This feature is missing on the iOS app, but the solution is not that far and it's called SpotOn Radio. SpotOn Radio is a simple iPhone app (works on the iPad too) that is based on Spotify and Echonest. The latter is a web app that allowed people you to do exactly what the native Radio function of Spotify now does, before it was available as an ofcial solution. This web app still exist even if now has lost some of its exclusivity. Thanks to their API though, it was possible to build SpotOn. The app is tied to your Spotify account and at the rst launch automatically create some playlists based on your most listened artists. You can delete and add new playlist by simply entering the artist you want as a reference and then the magic starts. This app is a must have if you want to take the most from your Spotify experience while on the go. In addition to be a big music consumer, I'm an even bigger TV series consumer. I follow many of the american and british top series and with Netix it's super easy. If you live in the UK you'll have a fairly big library that will surely satisfy your needs (if you are in the US you have the full library). Netix is super cool because it has apps that work on the majority of the devices out there: a web version, iOS/Android apps, AppleTv (and many more tv boxes and console). You only need a small monthly subscription (5) and you're good to go. In this months I used those two apps a lot and I can't imagine going back to pre-Spotify and preNetix. I really hope those services will broaden their availability to reach a lager number of countries (including Italy). They are both good services that enhance the music and the television experience, everybody on the planet should be able to benet from them.

Goodbye
If you are reading these lines it means that you successfully made it through the entire book! I hope it has been a pleasant little reading for you and one again I want to thank you for the support you gave me by buying this book.

For me it has been a great experience writing this and I hope that you will too one day be lost in the UK as much as Im now. Now if youll excuse me, I have a dream to live. Cheers. Matteo.