Homesick in Wisconsin
Jan 20th 2020, 6:29 pm
#61
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Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
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Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
I was so confused the first time someone asked me where the bubbler was, I was like WTF is a bubbler. The Midwest also has something called Sweetest Day which to me seemed basically the same as Valentine's Day so that confused me when someone asked me about it.
Oh and the folks in WI could spot my accent a mile away, apparently So. California accent is very distinct to the good folks of Wisconsin, so many times people would say oh you must be from California without me ever mentioning it. lol
There was some hate for IL in WI as well if I recall correctly, nothing crazy, seemed to be the same rivalry type thing Californian's have with Zonies aka those from Arizona.
Oh and the folks in WI could spot my accent a mile away, apparently So. California accent is very distinct to the good folks of Wisconsin, so many times people would say oh you must be from California without me ever mentioning it. lol
There was some hate for IL in WI as well if I recall correctly, nothing crazy, seemed to be the same rivalry type thing Californian's have with Zonies aka those from Arizona.
Even my wife was told she had an accent in middle school. She was born in WI, but lived in northern IL before she went to middle school in Cornell for a few years. She was back in northern IL when I met her and even I didn't really notice she had much of an accent.
The IL/WI thing is more of a friendly rivalry. **** the Packers, though.
Jan 20th 2020, 6:40 pm
#62
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Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
Apparently they also use the term 'bubbler' in Rhode Island. Only two states that do. But my wife's a cheesehead by birth so she taught me all the terminology when I came out here. Sweetest Day is such a joke I forgot it even existed until you mentioned it. I think The Simpsons did a bit on it years ago though, I didn't realize it was confined to the Mindwest.
Even my wife was told she had an accent in middle school. She was born in WI, but lived in northern IL before she went to middle school in Cornell for a few years. She was back in northern IL when I met her and even I didn't really notice she had much of an accent.
The IL/WI thing is more of a friendly rivalry. **** the Packers, though.
Even my wife was told she had an accent in middle school. She was born in WI, but lived in northern IL before she went to middle school in Cornell for a few years. She was back in northern IL when I met her and even I didn't really notice she had much of an accent.
The IL/WI thing is more of a friendly rivalry. **** the Packers, though.
Jan 20th 2020, 6:43 pm
#63
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Location: Near Lynchburg Tennessee, home of Jack Daniels
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Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
If the long winters are not the main issue then maybe there is hope for Wisconsin. You don’t need a giant city to get a great difference from a tiny farming town. Getting your license to drive as previously mentioned would be a great start. If you are reasonably close to a small city 50-100 thousand it would have most anything you would need. Also a yearly vacation for a couple of weeks in mid winter to a warm place like south Florida would break up the monotony of Wisconsin winters.
Jan 20th 2020, 7:08 pm
#66
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Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
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Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
If the long winters are not the main issue then maybe there is hope for Wisconsin. You don’t need a giant city to get a great difference from a tiny farming town. Getting your license to drive as previously mentioned would be a great start. If you are reasonably close to a small city 50-100 thousand it would have most anything you would need. Also a yearly vacation for a couple of weeks in mid winter to a warm place like south Florida would break up the monotony of Wisconsin winters.
Madison is a pretty nice city, not massive by American standards, with a population just a bit smaller than Belfast (or about the same as Milton Keynes if you want a slightly more roundabout-filled reference).
Jan 20th 2020, 7:37 pm
#68
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Jan 20th 2020, 7:38 pm
#69
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: East Seaxe
Posts: 72,493
Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
Thatcher was the one who invited him to tea when she was in power. Thatcher also lobbied for his release and sent him a bottle of whisky. Straw finally succumbed to pressure to release him back to Chile.
Jan 20th 2020, 7:58 pm
#71
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Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
Thank you for your post. I have had discussions with my husband and if it came to it he would help me get back to the UK if that’s what i really wanted. Obviously i wouldn’t just leave him, specially now that he’s ill. The reason i moved to Wisconsin instead of him moving to Bristol is because i’ve moved all over the UK, i’ve always taken moving in my stride, My husband lives in the same house he grew up in so how could i ask him to take such a step? We have decided, however that a move to where there is more life and a better climate is needed and not just for me.
So here is my dilemma. Do i start the discussion about moving us back to the UK where i still have a house (it’s rented out so that would be another story) and he would get better healthcare even though i may well be putting him through the same issues that i’ve experience moving to the UK? Or make a move within the US and hope for the best? It’s a gamble uprooting him and then discovering that nothing has changed.
Moving within the US is by far the most realistic option i know, my sensible head is telling me to think of all that will be lost if we go back, we have dogs and an art gallery, i walked into a life that he built for me, i can’t just systematically dismantle it. But, and it’s a pretty big but. There is the other half of my head that plagues me with thoughts and memories of home. As i said, i’ve lived all over the UK and where my stuff was that was home, no regrets, never a second thought. Which is why i thought i’d be ok, yes moving countries is a different kettle of fish entirely but i thought i was better placed to handle it but now i’m thinking that maybe you need to do this while you’re young and still mouldable. I was 48, maybe i just left it too late.
So here is my dilemma. Do i start the discussion about moving us back to the UK where i still have a house (it’s rented out so that would be another story) and he would get better healthcare even though i may well be putting him through the same issues that i’ve experience moving to the UK? Or make a move within the US and hope for the best? It’s a gamble uprooting him and then discovering that nothing has changed.
Moving within the US is by far the most realistic option i know, my sensible head is telling me to think of all that will be lost if we go back, we have dogs and an art gallery, i walked into a life that he built for me, i can’t just systematically dismantle it. But, and it’s a pretty big but. There is the other half of my head that plagues me with thoughts and memories of home. As i said, i’ve lived all over the UK and where my stuff was that was home, no regrets, never a second thought. Which is why i thought i’d be ok, yes moving countries is a different kettle of fish entirely but i thought i was better placed to handle it but now i’m thinking that maybe you need to do this while you’re young and still mouldable. I was 48, maybe i just left it too late.
Having said that, there are a number of places in the US that do offer a closer parallel to the UK, both in terms of people and climate. Both coasts tend to offer a more 'liberal' outlook (socially/politically), and the oceans also help to moderate the climate (more so on the west than east). While I'd personally vote for California as being an ideal target, the more appealing areas are simply too expensive for an 'outsider' to come to later in life. I'd give a strong recommendation for Seattle or Portland, or basically many locations in the Washington / Oregon states. Look into 'Bend, Oregon' for one such example. Auburn, Oregon would be another possibility. I'd also look into New Mexico - Albuquerque is not a bad place to consider. Or Flagstaff, AZ - moderate summers, short cold winters.
To evaluate (or speculate) whether a return to the UK would work for your husband, we'd need to more about his hopes and ambitions. How old is he? Is he likely to enjoy the UK existence? If he's used to a very isolated existence in the US, will he cope with the relatively crowded nature of many UK locations? Does he have a stockpile of weapons and enjoy hunting? How does HE feel about the weather in Wisconsin? I know the winters are ridiculously brutal, but aren't the summers filled with relatively clear days, open skies, etc? If there's one thing that always hits me when I go back to the UK, it's the relentless 'gray'. Blue skies are rare, and fleeting. I went back 8 times in the last 2 years; for the first few visits, I was blessed with 'great' weather (meaning, it only rained a bit and was only moderately cloudy most of the time) but after those lucky breaks, I got about 6 visits of nothing-but-drizzle - winter, spring, summer, fall.
What about spending time in both locations? Is it beyond the realm of possibility that you could spend winters in UK, summer in the US? You have a son returning to the UK soon; could you not come up with some arrangement where you would stay with him while in the UK, and return to the US?
Jan 20th 2020, 8:44 pm
#72
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: East Seaxe
Posts: 72,493
Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
One thing I like to say to people comparing the UK to the US; The US is more comparable to Europe than to UK, in terms of diversity, range of climates, behaviors, etc. The climate, for sure, has parallels in both Scandinavia (eg, Sweden compared to, say, Wisconsin) and the Mediterranean (eg, Greece compared to, say, Southern California). I don't even know of anywhere in Europe that has the stifling heat+humidity of, say, Florida, nor the intense, dry heat of Southern Arizona. I'm not sure where you'd have to go in Europe to see the poverty on display in the US, nor where you could find an equivalent to the whacky situations you'll find in the 'bible belt'. The point being ... just because you're accustomed to moving around in the UK doesn't mean you are a shoe-in for a US relocation!
Having said that, there are a number of places in the US that do offer a closer parallel to the UK, both in terms of people and climate. Both coasts tend to offer a more 'liberal' outlook (socially/politically), and the oceans also help to moderate the climate (more so on the west than east). While I'd personally vote for California as being an ideal target, the more appealing areas are simply too expensive for an 'outsider' to come to later in life. I'd give a strong recommendation for Seattle or Portland, or basically many locations in the Washington / Oregon states. Look into 'Bend, Oregon' for one such example. Auburn, Oregon would be another possibility. I'd also look into New Mexico - Albuquerque is not a bad place to consider. Or Flagstaff, AZ - moderate summers, short cold winters.
To evaluate (or speculate) whether a return to the UK would work for your husband, we'd need to more about his hopes and ambitions. How old is he? Is he likely to enjoy the UK existence? If he's used to a very isolated existence in the US, will he cope with the relatively crowded nature of many UK locations? Does he have a stockpile of weapons and enjoy hunting? How does HE feel about the weather in Wisconsin? I know the winters are ridiculously brutal, but aren't the summers filled with relatively clear days, open skies, etc? If there's one thing that always hits me when I go back to the UK, it's the relentless 'gray'. Blue skies are rare, and fleeting. I went back 8 times in the last 2 years; for the first few visits, I was blessed with 'great' weather (meaning, it only rained a bit and was only moderately cloudy most of the time) but after those lucky breaks, I got about 6 visits of nothing-but-drizzle - winter, spring, summer, fall.
What about spending time in both locations? Is it beyond the realm of possibility that you could spend winters in UK, summer in the US? You have a son returning to the UK soon; could you not come up with some arrangement where you would stay with him while in the UK, and return to the US?
Having said that, there are a number of places in the US that do offer a closer parallel to the UK, both in terms of people and climate. Both coasts tend to offer a more 'liberal' outlook (socially/politically), and the oceans also help to moderate the climate (more so on the west than east). While I'd personally vote for California as being an ideal target, the more appealing areas are simply too expensive for an 'outsider' to come to later in life. I'd give a strong recommendation for Seattle or Portland, or basically many locations in the Washington / Oregon states. Look into 'Bend, Oregon' for one such example. Auburn, Oregon would be another possibility. I'd also look into New Mexico - Albuquerque is not a bad place to consider. Or Flagstaff, AZ - moderate summers, short cold winters.
To evaluate (or speculate) whether a return to the UK would work for your husband, we'd need to more about his hopes and ambitions. How old is he? Is he likely to enjoy the UK existence? If he's used to a very isolated existence in the US, will he cope with the relatively crowded nature of many UK locations? Does he have a stockpile of weapons and enjoy hunting? How does HE feel about the weather in Wisconsin? I know the winters are ridiculously brutal, but aren't the summers filled with relatively clear days, open skies, etc? If there's one thing that always hits me when I go back to the UK, it's the relentless 'gray'. Blue skies are rare, and fleeting. I went back 8 times in the last 2 years; for the first few visits, I was blessed with 'great' weather (meaning, it only rained a bit and was only moderately cloudy most of the time) but after those lucky breaks, I got about 6 visits of nothing-but-drizzle - winter, spring, summer, fall.
What about spending time in both locations? Is it beyond the realm of possibility that you could spend winters in UK, summer in the US? You have a son returning to the UK soon; could you not come up with some arrangement where you would stay with him while in the UK, and return to the US?
Personally, I would say that the US is more different from the UK than any European country, culturally speaking.
Jan 21st 2020, 1:58 am
#73
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,439
Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
That said, I could hardy disagree more with your opinion, and in support of my contrary view I would point to the Brexit referendum, and that despite the vocal opposition that the turnout in the recent general election actually declined, so in addition to the Brexiteers, there there are apparently lot of people who are not motivated enough to stay in the EU to get of their sofa to vote for a remoaner MP.
I would also point to the estimated 1.3 million (per BBC) British citizens living in the US, compare to currently around 240,000 (I have seen estimates of close to 400,000, but that was in 2012 and numbers have declined since then) in Spain and 150,000 in France (estimates may have been as high as 185,000), then about 100,000 in Germany and 65,000 in Italy - and this is despite the obstacles put in the way of a British citizen relocating to the US, whereas any (British) Tom, Dick or Harriet, has had the unrestricted option to move to Spain, France, or any other country in the European Onion, for more than 40 years, and yet the number of British citizens who have done so is only a fraction of those who have made it through the hurdles to make it to the USA. That doesn't sound like close cultural affinity to me.
Then there all those British citizens who decided to leave the UK, but went to Australia (1.2 million), Canada, and NZ (200,000 each), all of whom apparently felt so little affinity with EU countries that they preferred to move thousands of miles across the globe, and go through the visa application process, rather than make the visa-free, unrestricted hop across the English Channel.
From my perspective I see a lot more cultural cross-interest between the US and UK than between the UK and anywhere else in Europe - European music doesn't resonate much in the UK, not compared to music from the US, European films are mostly an art-house affair, whereas Britain has aspirations to a global mass-market films, and also hosts many US productions. And then there is television - I can't think of much European TV that makes it onto British TV channels, and in any case any European TV programming is a tiny fraction of the amount of US TV programs that make it onto British TV. ..... Can you believe that I was a huge fan of the Dukes of Hazzard, which seems amusingly ironic considering where I now live?
Last edited by Pulaski; Jan 21st 2020 at 2:38 am.
Jan 21st 2020, 2:17 am
#74
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Joined: Nov 2007
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Posts: 13,103
Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
I would say that depends heavily on your own cultural perspective and life experiences, and I believe most critically on your opinion on US politics.
That said, I could hardy disagree more with your opinion, and in support of my contrary view I would point to the Brexit referendum, and that despite the vocal opposition that the turnout in the recent general election actually declined, so in addition to the Brexiteers, there there are apparently lot of people who are not motivated enough to stay in the EU to get of their sofa to vote for a remoaner MP.
I would also point to the estimated 1.3 million British citizens living in the US, compare to currently around 240,000 (I have seen estimates of close to 400,000, but that was in 2012 and numbers have declined since then) in Spain and 150,000 in France (estimates may have been as high as 185,000), then about 100,000 in Germany and 65,000 in Italy - and this is despite the obstacles put in the way of a British citizen relocating to the US, whereas any (British) Tom, Dick or Harriet, has had the unrestricted option to move to Spain, France, or any other country in the European Onion, for more than 40 years, and yet the number of British citizens who have done so is only a fraction of those who have made it through the hurdles to make it to the USA.
From my perspective I see a lot more cultural cross-interest between the US and UK than between the UK and anywhere else in Europe - European music doesn't resonate much in the UK, not compared to the US, European films are mostly an art-house affair, whereas Britain has aspirations to a global mass-market films, and also hosts many US productions. And then there is television - I can't think of much European TV that makes it onto British TV channels, and that in any case any European TV programming is a tiny fraction of the amount of US TV programs that make it onto British TV. ..... Can you believe that I was a huge fan of the Dukes of Hazzard, which seems amusingly ironic considering where I now live?
That said, I could hardy disagree more with your opinion, and in support of my contrary view I would point to the Brexit referendum, and that despite the vocal opposition that the turnout in the recent general election actually declined, so in addition to the Brexiteers, there there are apparently lot of people who are not motivated enough to stay in the EU to get of their sofa to vote for a remoaner MP.
I would also point to the estimated 1.3 million British citizens living in the US, compare to currently around 240,000 (I have seen estimates of close to 400,000, but that was in 2012 and numbers have declined since then) in Spain and 150,000 in France (estimates may have been as high as 185,000), then about 100,000 in Germany and 65,000 in Italy - and this is despite the obstacles put in the way of a British citizen relocating to the US, whereas any (British) Tom, Dick or Harriet, has had the unrestricted option to move to Spain, France, or any other country in the European Onion, for more than 40 years, and yet the number of British citizens who have done so is only a fraction of those who have made it through the hurdles to make it to the USA.
From my perspective I see a lot more cultural cross-interest between the US and UK than between the UK and anywhere else in Europe - European music doesn't resonate much in the UK, not compared to the US, European films are mostly an art-house affair, whereas Britain has aspirations to a global mass-market films, and also hosts many US productions. And then there is television - I can't think of much European TV that makes it onto British TV channels, and that in any case any European TV programming is a tiny fraction of the amount of US TV programs that make it onto British TV. ..... Can you believe that I was a huge fan of the Dukes of Hazzard, which seems amusingly ironic considering where I now live?
I have to say, I had no idea about those statistics for UK citizens in US vs EU.
Jan 21st 2020, 1:14 pm
#75
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Re: Homesick in Wisconsin
The British, in very broad terms, have a bit of a problem with people speaking a different language (I know it is not all). It doesn't surprise me that we migrate to English speaking countries as a result. People like people like themselves.
It's only when you live here people probably realise bits (much in purse geography terms) of the USA are actually not at all like "home". It's horses for courses, but many people are taken over by a dream before getting here - my earlier post was making sure you identify what that dream really requires and target based on it, making sure to understand what could turn that dream into a nightmare. Don't just assume it will feel a lot like "home".
It's only when you live here people probably realise bits (much in purse geography terms) of the USA are actually not at all like "home". It's horses for courses, but many people are taken over by a dream before getting here - my earlier post was making sure you identify what that dream really requires and target based on it, making sure to understand what could turn that dream into a nightmare. Don't just assume it will feel a lot like "home".