Not sure where you were, but a lot of the UK is actually pretty livable on minimum wage, so then you decide are you going to do 20 hours at McDonalds and have time for friends, or 40 hours at minimum wage and build your career.
As much as I hate to admit it: I'm all for abandoning friends at 18-20 for the career focus. Then bring back the handful of them that stuck by you.
Plus being cheap meant my management were pretty open to "I don't know how to do that -yet-, but I think I have an idea what I'd need, can I have a few days to research it and get back to you?" which was -very- helpful to my learning process.
I had been planning recently on taking a multi-year hiatus and moving to the midlands and attending university (for the visa and NHS), because after researching it, 3 years of university and living expenses are roughly what 3 European vacations cost anyway. And this would make vacationing to Europe a lot cheaper than from the states.
If it hadn't been for the NHS, I don't think I'd ever have risked going freelance.
Though you might also want to consider Germany - a lot of bits are liveable primarily speaking english and they're not currently suffering from the "fun" of brexit.
I had been hoping the "fun" of Brexit would have made my dollar stretch further, but each time I see it drop toward dollar parity, my hopes are dashed. Sorry if it is a bit morbid of me to wish the pound would lose value so that I as an American can go there for cheap.
As much as I hate to admit it: I'm all for abandoning friends at 18-20 for the career focus. Then bring back the handful of them that stuck by you.