alybain

Hi all,

we are relocating to Ohio in 7 weeks, and I have heard that there may be a real culture shock coming!?

We have visited the area, and it was exactly as we expected, just wondered in your experiences what shocked/surprised you when you first moved? and what feelings did you all experience?

civilservant

Driving on the wrong side, not being familiar with the size of the coinage, your accent (and I'm only from Somerset) being a real barrier to communication with some people, all the branded products you are familiar with not being available.... those are just off the top of my head.

You can expect a certain amount of homesickness, I haven't looked through your other posts but it you are not working straight away it's easy to become quite insular. It's a good idea to get out and meet people - although Americans seem to make friends 'on the surface' rather than actually wanting to spend time with each other outside of social occasions or work.

You'll certainly know you're no longer in Southampton, put it that way

audi4t

Americans usually "love" the English accent, particularly that of new comers, it can be an advantage for creating conversation.

The problem with that is, Americans listen more to your accent and not what you are saying.

Without doubt you will use a phrase or a word that has a totally different meaning here in the US.

For example:

UK pavement is US sidewalk

UK "joint" is US "roast" - US "joint" makes a happy smoker

and many many more

good luck !!!!!!

penguinsix

Part of the culture shock is re-learning how to do things a different way, such as open a bank account, make a doctor's appointment, set up a mobile phone contract, etc. Some things are done specific to the norms, customs and laws in the USA, which are foreign to you, and frequently will seem "stupid" for lack of a better word compared to the way you did things "back home". This can lead to a lot of better than / worse than comparisons that can get a bit frustrating, and sometimes spiral downwards into something worse.

In our wiki, we say to prepare for this trip like you would if you were moving to Mongolia. It's a foreign country and the sooner you can accept it being 'different' rather than better / worse, the easier time you might have getting going.

If things really get you down, I often recommend reading this expat message board about homesickness and hard times. It's folks trapped far away from their customs and norms having to deal with the 'stupid' way things are done and 'superficial' friends who are nice on the surface but not very deep beyond that. It's for US expats living in the UK, and you'll start to see some of the culture shock and adjustments you are about to face are somewhat universal to expats no matter where they are in the world.

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?board=68.0

Good luck with the move.

Pulaski

Psych yourself up for the road test you'll have to do to get a license. It's embarrassingly easy, but feels bizarre having to take such a test again years after getting a British licence.

MarylandNed

Yeah - 15 years later, I still remember running outside to stop my wife from shouting "Here pussy pussy! Here pussy pussy!"

Jerseygirl

But it's perfectly acceptable to shout 'my fanny is sore'.

My favourite is rubber.

Xebedee

Its the loveliest accent in England.
The women sound like they are singing and the men kind and generous.

Proper job!

Yorkieabroad

I kinda like lycra, but isn't it a bit early to be getting so personal..?

alybain

lol! rubber/lycra.. hmmmm!!!
that uk yankee site is interesting, its sad that some Americans find our UK living so challenging, and seem to hate living here, but I do think it must be harder for them somehow with the 'British reserve' and some people being unaccepting of others.
Its a totally different way of life here to there, we like to walk places, theres no provision for that and things are more spread out in the US from what I've seen. The language is English but its not the same at all, im sure we will get loads wrong!
Im a big believer in thinking its not better or worse, just different.
When we were visiting Chicago last November my husband decided he wanted a smooke before he came up to the hotel room.. the doorman opened the door for me and looked behind me for hubby. I innocently said "oh no, hes just popped out to have a fag by the bins, he wont be long, its way too cold for me to be outside"!!! the look on the poor mans face was priceless.. must remember to say 'smoke' in future!

Poppy girl

Not really I had watched enough Jerry Springer to know what to expect

Poppy girl

Dito in Kroger Illinois.....shouted from 1 aisle to the next, where my then husband was, "Where is the Pussy food" the old lady next to me nearly passed out

ChocolateBabz

Like penguinsix above the biggest thing for me was everything being the same...but different. Paying for cheque books (writing cheques for that matter), being asked for a deposit to set up satellite tv, when your bank tells you they offer this wonderful new service where you can have your wages paid directly into your account , feeling guilty every time you turn right on red, stopping at a stop sign in the middle of nowhere with no other cars on the road.

I could go on, the first time you have to go to the dr and they mug you on the way out, crap bread/bacon/sausages/biscuits, having to order 'hot' tea, the first time they screw up your order and you take a swig of root beer when you ordered coke and run out the restaurant screaming 'I drank tcp, I drank tcp' - you know the little things

For us it was very important to keep our sense of humour and not sweat the small stuff, there was a lot of eye rolling and cursing but after you have done everything once you know what to expect next time. Also don't keep things bottled up, I felt like I shouldn't complain as I was the trailing spouse and hubby had enough to deal with starting a new job but this just led to me having a mini meltdown every 6 weeks or so, tears, shouting, swearing and threats to drive to the airport and go home, the whole nine yards.

Now that we have just celebrated our 5 years Ameriversary (30th May) we can look back and laugh.

Pulaski

One expat watching another!

civilservant

I don't I've ever said proper job, my favourite, and one I say often, is 'where's that too then'