Any Americans here who live in the UK?

[ILUVMYBRIT]

I'm looking for a bit of advice I guess. I will be moving to England (West Midlands) within the next few months. I am really excited but scared to death. I can't wait to be there with the man I love but...wow its going to be such an adjustment I think. If there is anyone here on the UK board who has moved from the States...how did you adjust? Are you happy or terribly homesick? I know a bit of homesickness will be normal.
Any comments, suggestions, or stories of your move would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Kilted_Yank]

My wife lived and worked in the UK for 8 years in the 1980's... she still misses it, I think.

 

[KayleeUK]

I don't think we have any on here It will be a lovely adventure for you

 

[Verity Chambers]

Let us know if we can be of any help.

 

[Cnd_Jen]

Hey!

I'm not American, but I am NORTH American (Canadian!) and spent 16 months living in Edinburgh, Scotland. I know that's not as long as you probably plan on spending there, but it gave me a rather decent insight as to what living their permamently would be like. I would still be there but the opportunity to work in WDW pried me away

I absolutely LOVED it!!! Yes, there were times I wanted to come home, but those mostly related to the fact that I sometimes had a terrible time trying to find decent work, (I was temping since it's hard to find a good, "real" job when you are on a two-year working visa,) and when I did get the last job I had I hated it, and also my roommates (flatmates for you now! ) drove me up the wall by times.

I really miss it over there and am a bit bummed that my visa expires before my year-long stint at Epcot is up.

If it makes you feel any better about missing home, prices of plane tickets to fly overseas can be surprisingly cheap! I initially flew from Halifax (east coast of Canada) to London Gatwick for about $120USD. I also have some friends flying from Orlando to Paris, return, for about $350 at the end of the month.

I'm not going to say you'll love it, since I don't actually know you, but most of the people I know that have went over there DID love it!

And, thanks to mighty EasyJet and RyanAir, Disneyland Paris is a short, cheap flight away

Best of luck! Have a Chomp bar for me (Better yet, at 10p have, like, a dozen for me! )

~ Jen

 

[Clare D]

Hello
My sister in law (to be) lives in Surrey and hails from Chicago. She met my BIL whilst working on the JET programme in Japan and has lived here now for nearly 3 years. She is a teacher in an International school so is surrounded by other Americans.
She still finds it hard to come back after visiting her family and she hates it when her family goes home, they are coming over in April.
She manages to get her Krispie Kreme hit as there are outlets now in the UK but she misses the fact that things are much cheaper in the states than here.
I live about 40 mins away from Birmingham so feel free to PM me with any info you would like.
Where abouts in the West Midlands are you moving to?
Clare x

 

[ILUVMYBRIT]

Crewe...Madeley Heath to be precise. Its absolutely beautiful. I just get nervous that I wont be accepted. I dont want to feel like an outsider. Its a tiny little village where everyone seems to know each other.

 

[catherine]

Hi

DH is originally from CA and has lived here for 10 years. We originally met over in CA and I'd lived there for 10 years when we decided to move here. He loves living in the UK, sure there are some things that he misses, such as the sun and the food! and obviously his family! but he has no desire to move back! We have talked about it several times and I am more in favour of it than he is!

I think the biggest adjustment he had to make was to the complete difference in the weather. He still can't get used to the idea that the summer months here can and often are wetter and colder than the winter months in CA!

 

[Cyrano]

Can't help with how you will find Midlands but wanted to say hi and welcome

 

[Frances999]

I'm the opposite - we are relocating to San Francisco from England next year (albeit only for 10 months). I'm worried too, but I guess it must be particularly scary for you if you are moving over here permanently.

I wish you lots of luck - but I'm sure you will be fine and will settle in quickly.

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
It's our dream to go in the opposite direction and live in the USA but it seems the only way we can do this is to buy a business out there and we keep looking out for something that "grabs" us but nothing yet. Best of luck on your re-location.

Mick and The Dragon.

 

[T16GEM]

Hi where abouts in the Midlands are you moving to? I am by Birmingham Airport - let me know if I can answer and area type questions for you!

Gems

 

[disneyholic family]

I'm looking for a bit of advice I guess. I will be moving to England (West Midlands) within the next few months. I am really excited but scared to death. I can't wait to be there with the man I love but...wow its going to be such an adjustment I think. If there is anyone here on the UK board who has moved from the States...how did you adjust? Are you happy or terribly homesick? I know a bit of homesickness will be normal.
Any comments, suggestions, or stories of your move would be greatly appreciated.

I'm an American who has lived overseas for many many many many many years in many different places.
However, none of it in the UK.

But I suppose i can throw in my two cents.

Basically you can't generalize. Every person is different. Every situation is different. I have known thousands of expatriots. Maybe more than that. And each one reacts differently. So many different things affect how a person feels.
How close you are to your family, how close you are to your boyfriend's family, how much you'll miss your friends (assuming you had close friends where you live now), how able you are to mix in with your boyfriend's friends, how difficult it is for you to find work that you enjoy, and on and on and on and on and on...

most people i've known do rather well.........people are much more adaptable than they sometimes think they are...

the worst thing that can happen is if someone in your family back home gets desparately ill.....that's sometimes where the break comes....your loyalties become terribly divided and the pressure can be beyond bearing....or not...each person is different...

in my personal experience, what has kept me relatively happy has been surrounding myself with Americans (not English speakers, but Americans). Other Americans understand my particular point of view on the cultural differences. It's almost a support group sort of thing. Combined friends/support group.
And finding work that is so fulfilling that I would do it for free (but don't tell that to the people i freelance for). But as happy as I am where i now live (and i am indeed very happy), I do have my moments of longing. Certain times of year are particularly difficult (Thanksgiving being the worst for me, since that really can't be celebrated anywhere but in the US as far as I'm concerned, so I don't celebrate it anymore, but i miss it terribly).

But all in all, I'm sure you'll do fine. Just about everyone does.

 

[Tink78]

Hope you like it here, and hope all your dreams come true.
And welcome!

 

[Minniespal]

Can't help with the area info you are looking for ~ Just wanted to say

 

[Goofyish]

That's a nice location you are moving to. Not really West Midlands though, more Staffordshire - very handy for visiting the Peak District, and Snowdonia

 

[UKDEB]

I'm an American who has lived overseas for many many many many many years in many different places.
However, none of it in the UK.

in my personal experience, what has kept me relatively happy has been surrounding myself with Americans (not English speakers, but Americans). Other Americans understand my particular point of view on the cultural differences. It's almost a support group sort of thing. Combined friends/support group

This is probably going to sound terribly rude, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way, but I've always wondered why you choose to post so much on the UK boards. Given your comments, I'm even more intrigued!

 

[UKDEB]

ILUVMYBRIT, I'm afraid I don't have any experiences to add, but I hope you'll be very happy here. I'd love to live in New England!

 

[catherine]

in my personal experience, what has kept me relatively happy has been surrounding myself with Americans (not English speakers, but Americans). Other Americans understand my particular point of view on the cultural differences. It's almost a support group sort of thing. Combined friends/support group.

I find that interesting because DH says the exact opposite. He thinks that he has more in common with people here in the North West than he does with his fellow Americans!

 

[disneyholic family]

This is probably going to sound terribly rude, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way, but I've always wondered why you choose to post so much on the UK boards. Given your comments, I'm even more intrigued!

because i'm a disneyholic, as are some of the people on this board, and given that i too have to cross the atlantic to get to WDW, I've found some very useful information on this board.

And if truth be told, I am sort of an Anglophile as well (a good many Americans are). And I do have many English friends where I live, but the people I tend to see most eye to eye with are Americans. There are just certain strange things that are curiously American.

And if i'm going to go for broad generalizations, Americans are loud, while Brits are reserved (think diplomatic corps type Brits). When I'm being my loud brash American self, I'm going to be more comfortable in an American setting (of course I too can be reserved and diplomatic, but that's the professional self, not my comfortable self).
Nevertheless, the book club I'm in has 10 Brits and 2 Americans (counting me). The upshot of that, is I hate most of the books we pick since they're almost all British authors (I prefer lowbrow American books ).

Probably the main thing is, when you're far from home and you're in need of that cultural support, what you're looking for are people who have grown up with your experiences. Going to similar schools. Going to girl scouts, selling girl scout cookies, learning to be pyschotically devoted to the stars and stripes, making s'mores, drinking slurpees, summer camp (if you ever saw that Bill Murray movie Meatballs, that's exactly what my summer camp experience was, as a camper and as a counselor), and on and on and on and on....
Stupid silly things that make one feel better when you're far from home.

One of my best friends here is what we both affectionately refer to as a hayseed from the midwest. We probably would never have met let alone have been friends had we been in the states as we're worlds apart in many ways. But here we've been best buddies for years. And we both provide the other an outlet when the cultural differences around us simply get to be too much (and sometimes those are cultural differences with our British friends).