I am 26 and born and raised in the US. I've lived in two different states here but never had a residence outside of the country. I've recently come across the possibility to take my job career (GIS Technician) overseas to the UK. Can anyone here that has lived in both countries offer any insight as to what an American can expect in the UK? I've never even made it to Europe in travel yet, so I don't know what I would be getting myself into. The job is located specifically in Wimbledon, if that helps.
dont bother, the uk is an utter **** tip atm, im seriously considering selling my house and moving overseas
A big part of the reason I want to join the RAF is to spend as much time out of this country as possible. Dont get me wrong, it's hardly the worst place on earth (theres no way anyone can take it that much for granted), but it's hard to think of any genuine reasons, other than friends and family of course, of why i'd stay if I had the chance to move somewhere else in the world.... But I have had a pretty dire year this year so maybe it's just that clouding my feelings.
FWIW, you always think the grass is greener on the other side. You'll need to be ready to make so serious mental adjustments that most Americans find hard. You'll be running around whining about "the states" like all the state dept shitheads.
A lot of the time I wonder if people who think about moving abroad just need a change of scenery. Thought about relocating to somewhere else in the states? (or UK for those other whingers in this thread)
Well, for us (my wife and I), it's more about seeing the world and the cultures in it. But then, we didn't grow up in normal settings and moving house every 3-5 years is how we live our lives.
the 4 big differences I noticed between us and the US. mostly the superficial stuff, but it's these things that stuck in my mind. 1) Portions, everything is smaller here, not a bad thing, do you really need a 20 pound plate of chips? 2) TV (and adverts) watch TV in the US was awful adverts evert 5 mins, and such patronising adverts.mind you some of ours make no effing sense whatsoever. 3) "have a nice day", we really don't do scripts like that in most places. I found that when it was said every time in every place it was just a script and had no genuine meaning 4) Gas (petrol). It cost loads to run a car in the UK. You wont get many V8's and at $6 a gallon you'd not want one. But overall it's the same. You get the same sort of folks here as there. Some folks are nice and hlepfull Other are just gits who'll spong of social security. and loads of little things will throw you. words have a suble but differnt meaning. Fanny over hear isn't what you'd think, fella's dont have a fanny..... Rubber > not a prophylactic, but an eraser
That's all well and good and you're lucky if you're able to do that, but it's not simply a matter of choice for many people. People with stable careers can't simply uproot and move every few years, depending on the industry they work in. Why would a company have any incentive to hire you if they knew you were going to gone in a couple of years? It's OK in some lines of work, but not the majority.
I lived in the stated for a few years and In relaly enjoyed myself as i got to do things like wakeboarding and scuba diving n a regualr basis there but i cant here. But as a brit at heart i am much happier here but i cant place my finger on why, as i found both places equaly as firendly when trying new things, both places had merits and both places had flaws. one of the things i liked about america was the ease i found it to try new things like scuba diving, clay pigeon shooting and wakeboarding. also the laws make some things much easier to do such as getting a shotgun to go hunting or clay pigeon shooting. One thing I like about the UK is the common sense, every few days in the states i heard about the latest law suit by a guy who thought theres no notice saying dont touch the blade on this lawnmower so i may as well try it. they are the first 2 things i will thingof more and proide a more detailed post soon.
Thanks for the input, that was one of my other questions! Sorry, could you clarify that? Not sure what you're referring to... I've already moved from Michigan to Arizona. I'm not necessarily looking for a change in scenery, but a change in work related experience and thought this would be worth considering. Like I said, I've never been to Europe, so I would love the chance to travel to nearby countries over there too!
God there are a lot of whingers in this thread. How long is the job for? Permanent? I think you should go for it. It doesn't have to be a permanent thing (if you don't like it you can always move on after a year). You're young and you can still see the world. Even if you don't enjoy London (which you probably will) then its a great base to see lots of Europe from.
The metric system, everything over here is in centimetres and metres, and millilitres and litres (except for beer). Temperatures are in *C and not *F. Temperature variation tends to be less extreme over here than in other places thanks to the gulf stream, summer highs of around 30*C and winter lows of about -5*C. Weather wise, pretty boring, rain rain and more rain, we had a "hurricane" about 20 years ago, but nothing that extreme usually, tornadoes are about 5 a year and tend not to do much damage, earthquakes are rare and very weak, the only thing you have to watch out for is flooding, although down in the south east they tend to have hose pipe bans and droughts . On the subject of things that could potentially kill you, we have no wild bears or wolves or anything, we have one veriety of poisonous snake (the blackadder) and a few spiders that were brought here from abroad in the last few century's, the spiders tend to be harmless with bites similar to bee stings, and the snakes, while they have the potential to kill, rarely do (i heard of people getting bitten, sucking the poison out and being fine). You're never more than 70 miles away from the sea (thats the furthest you can get away from the sea in the country), you can drive from the northernmost tip to the southernmost tip in a day, we have pubs and historical places that you miss out on in America all over the place, so you could be a tourist for a while and enjoy the sights. The south-east mayaswell just be renamed london though, because it mainly is just london. Anyway, like oasked said, if the financial burden isn't too great, come over and live here for a while, if you don't like it you can always go back home, or go somewhere completely different
I think the job would last as long as I could get a work Visa for; maybe a year or two. The only thing that makes me hesitate is so much unknown. I moved across the US for a job but that's not nearly the same. I do appreciate all the input though, this is exactly what I was hoping for. The history of the UK and the rest of Europe is truly amazing and you're right, there is nothing that can come close to comparing here in the US. If you had to compare the Wimbledon area of London to a city in the US, what would you pick? Are there any established/accredited universities near there?
Not true. Tornadoes are more common in the UK than in any other country in the world. They're just miniature and almost always completely harmless.
go for it blake.. and then stop by bit-tech and take some pics =] yeah don't blame you for moving from michigan- I grew up there for the most part, my sister still lives there and jobs are still hard to get there's was a guy from the uk who was over here on a visa and he had to go back this year (expired).. he looks really happy though back in his home country.. you'll probably get homesick after hearing "rubbish" 10 times a day XD but who cares it's a chance to see the uk- I'd go if I wasn't tied down here
Imperial College, the best university in the UK Personally, although my opinion probably doesn't hold much weight, I'd not recommend coming here - I'm hoping to emigrate as soon as I can.
