This coming week marks six years since I first moved to Europe. Moving from Germany to the UK has put me in a bit of a strange position as an American expat to the UK.
-I'm in a completely different position in life than I was six years ago when I first arrived in the UK, and I was only here for 5 months before moving to Germany, so I find it hard to compare my 'new' UK time with my 'old' UK time.
-The people here tend to pick up that I'm an American and usually ask about the biggest difference I see in life here than in America. There's a moment where I stutter and then cannot think of anything to say. Because I've been mainly out of the US for so long I'm not making so many comparisons with the US, but more with my recent Germany life. This may also be because so many UK things are so similar to US things that they do not really stick out as differences, vs. there are differences between UK and Germany things.
-I convert all Pound Sterling prices to Euro in my head to figure out if something is a good price. Then if I'm talking to an American about prices I convert the Euro amount to US dollars. Not sure when I'll break this currency triangulation and go direct from GBP to USD.
-The only German I've heard here has been in the office.
-When I'm torked about something here, the voice in my head speaks German or my immediate response is to speak German. When I'm speaking German in the office on the phone to my colleagues in Germany, it's not because I don't want the UK colleagues to understand; it's because I'm annoyed and that's how it comes out of my mouth automatically, in a torrent. I'm wondering if/when I will break this habit.
-I'm shuddering at the amount of packaging existing in this country on everything one buys and the proliferation of plastic bags given away free. OK that I miss about Germany--the collective environmental nature of society there and how recycling is woven into daily life as a norm rather than an exception.
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