Importance of an expat community

Hi ya

Just finding out how important people find being on a forum like this, or meeting up with people from U.S.  and being in touch with people who understand life in U.S. and can understand what you're talking about before/after your move to U.K.

Thank you 

None of those options really applies to me, MI. Initially, I came here solely for answers to questions. But I've now made some really good friends. However, I think that has less to do with the fact that we're all expats and more to do with just having a handy resource for getting to know each other. If I'd been looking online for info about knitting, I probably would have made friends with a bunch of British knitters! Does that make sense?

None of those apply to me, either.

I mainly signed up so that i could answer other peoples' questions, cos i have been here so long.  I thought i might as well try to be useful to others.
But it has evolved, and is a daily social habit for me now.

None of those choices quite work for me either. I found this site almost 4 years after I had moved here as a student. I'm now married to a Brit and staying here until the wind blows us somewhere else. I check in here almost everyday but it's b/c I've met interesting people and there are interesting debates here. Yes, the fact most of us are Yanks living in the UK helps but it's not why I frequent the site. I don't see it as an 'expat' community so much as a community I feel at home in. A lot of the things I discuss on here have nothing to do with being American in the UK. That said, when I wanna moan about something British that annoys me, I know there are folks here who will be happy to join me! 

Well, it applies to me. I don't know if I would have done what I'm about to do without this kind of resource. A true lifeline for me some days! I hope to make more friends, as I have made a few

I plan to continue on here as long as the UK and my brit bf are part of my life.

I chose the first one - I've met some of my closest friends either directly or indirectly through an expat community and because it's been a totally invaluable resource for me as far as the move, the visa, the job search, and just general information. And at times when I first came over, I needed to know that there were others who sometimes had some of the same difficulties.

BUT I stick around now because I enjoy the chit chat and the cameraderie and definitely have made a few "virtual friends" who I just adore.... But I definitely agree with balmerhon - once I got through needing practical information, I stuck around because I like the people - not because they're American....

I came to get information, and I mostly stay now to give information.  I base my friendships on a bit more than whether I happened to be born on the same continent as someone...

I came to get information, and I mostly stay now to give information.  I base my friendships on a bit more than whether I happened to be born on the same continent as someone...

Yeah.. like how cute and fun they are!! 

I came to get information, and I mostly stay now to give information.  I base my friendships on a bit more than whether I happened to be born on the same continent as someone...

I've learned that beer and wine drinkers really can come together and even be friends  .

Kristi is dead cute and excrutiatingly fun!

And Expat is exceptionally cool - even if she hasn't exactly come around to the joys of a good real ale!

I haven't decided yet about this one. I lived in Krakow, Poland in 1995 and 1996, and by the time I left, I had come to some opinions on how I might have done things differently, advice I pass on to anyone living elsewhere than their home country. One of the main ones was that it was very important to have a way to "retreat home" if only for an hour. If the language is different, there must be a place where you can speak your own language for a while, escape the constant effort of trying to communicate with the locals. That's not as important here, but it's still a good thing. If the culture is very different, as it was in Poland, it helps to retreat to an enclave of your own culture, McDonalds, for instance, even if you usually would never spend time at a MickeyD's. Another thing is that in managing the day-to-day things like shopping and getting around and getting a job and such, the best thing you can do for yourself is to put a considerable amount of your initial energy into building your people network as quickly as you can. Even if you're tight on money, it's worth it to spend some getting a tea at the same shop at the same time almost every day, and such things as that so that people begin to recognize you. Then you build from that.
     This site does a good job of helping out and giving good advice before you get here. And if you come upon a crisis of some sort before you get a chance to build your local network, they'll be there. Maybe it's very useful for Londoners in getting to know the place, but there are just not enough members in other places to be effective. If you're like me, the kind of woman whose interests run more to the arts and politics and philosophical questions, the kind who tends to wind up hanging with the men at parties because you enjoy their conversations more, it's not a great place for discussions, yet. If you're interested in the kinds of things the groups of women at a party are discussing, I guess it works.
     We'll see. I'm trying to treat it like that coffee shop for the meanwhile and waiting for another member to turn up in Norwich.

DJC

If you're like me, the kind of woman whose interests run more to the arts and politics and philosophical questions, the kind who tends to wind up hanging with the men at parties because you enjoy their conversations more, it's not a great place for discussions, yet. If you're interested in the kinds of things the groups of women at a party are discussing, I guess it works.
  

Oh, I was always popular with the men at parties, but I didn't need philosophy and politics to accomplish that .

What do women discuss at parties?  Is wine really better than beer  ?

If you're like me, the kind of woman whose interests run more to the arts and politics and philosophical questions, the kind who tends to wind up hanging with the men at parties because you enjoy their conversations more, it's not a great place for discussions, yet.

Give us a chance....you'd be surprised at how many of us like the arts, politics, and philosophical questions!  

Give us a chance....you'd be surprised at how many of us like the arts, politics, and philosophical questions!  

Yes, but that's very different from turning every discussion about them into an argument.  Sorry, I meant 'a debate'.   

I met a lot of really nice ladies on here but didnt find this site till I was here nearly 4 years. I had no American expat support at all. In a way, looking back, I believe it was best for me to tough it out and learn by Baptism by fire.