I have just moved out of Edinburgh. Forever. I don’t think it has fully hit me yet. Edinburgh has been the first stop in my independent, almost grown-up life. This is where I’ve learnt that moving to a foreign country is not as easy as it seems (and that, quite frankly, it’s a rather traumatic experience), but that it is worth every single minute it; and that you cannot really run away from yourself, no matter how far you go or how hard you try; and that the world is full of so many different people that you don’t have to try to fit in anywhere, as there will always be someone compatibly quirky; and that the more diverse your closest circle, the better; and all sorts of other truisms that you are aware of, but don’t fully realise when you’re nineteen and freshly out of a small town in Poland (no matter how well-travelled and well-read you are then).
Edinburgh is where I have been very, very happy and very, very unhappy, and where all sorts of important things have happened to me. As cheesy as it sounds, I would have been someone completely different if I chose to spend the past four years of my life somewhere else.
Stretched over by the (alleged) summer, filled with my first full-time job and unexpected acquaintances, the Edinburgh chapter came to an end. Time to move. Since ends are also beginnings, next stop – Moscow. For now, however – my last postcard from Edinburgh: the staircases. Edinburgh is an extremely picturesque city, photographed by millions of tourists and professional photographers every year. For me the landscape of Edinburgh is constituted by its staircases: dim, winding and absolutely unique. Just before moving out I tried to capture some of them, and you can see the results of my attempts scattered across this page.
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I will greatly miss Edinburgh. In fact, I miss it already. At the same time, I am aware that the Edinburgh I know is mostly gone with all of my friends who left. Staying any longer would feel like a Peter Pan attempt to prolong something that is irreversibly gone. Therefore – it’s time to move. Stay tuned, off we go!