When you came to the UK, you knew you were "home"

I saw a brief interview on TV with Arnold Schwarzenegger and he was talking about his early days as a bodybuilder.  He said when he got off the plane on his first trip to America, "I knew I was home."  That is the feeling I get when I am in the UK.  I know foreigners who say the same about America.  So this would seem to be a common experience for many expats.  What is your story?

I am British, and the first time I ever went to France, (in 1965) I felt that I was 'home'. The intervening 43 years have only made that stronger. I have an apartment in Perpignan, and before long I shall be living there full time.

I definitely felt this was home when I first came here, but it does not mean that all my adjustments went smoothly.  I did however, know that I was it was going to be worth it for me and I'd be happy here. 

Uhm, no, not at all. For me, home is whereever you choose to make it.

Nope. For me, home will always be the place I was born.  But as I haven't lived anywhere near there (or wanted to) for thirty years, 'home' is a maleable concept.

Yes, that was the case for me. My parents (who are here visiting at the moment) can't quite understand it, but when I came to Manchester as a student in 1993, I felt an amazing connection to the city. And now 15 years later, I still feel the same way. I love it here! It is my home!

Home is wherever my husband and daughter are, currently that is the UK.

No, I didnt feel like that though I loved it terribly.

To be honest, I think it is a vey dangerous statement to feel you are "home" in a place in which you have never spent a great deal of time...the reality is often very different and can be very depressing when you realise it has a great deal of warts to it..

No, I didnt feel like that though I loved it terribly.

To be honest, I think it is a vey dangerous statement to feel you are "home" in a place in which you have never spent a great deal of time...the reality is often very different and can be very depressing when you realise it has a great deal of warts to it..

Agreed.  Its a very romantic idea, but not very "real life".

I didn't feel at home in the UK straight away...I did find it fairly easy to settle in, though, so it only took a few months until I was perfectly comfortable with the idea of living here forever.  It's definitely home now, 2.5 years later

To be honest, I think it is a vey dangerous statement to feel you are "home" in a place in which you have never spent a great deal of time...the reality is often very different and can be very depressing when you realise it has a great deal of warts to it..

I agree totally.

I agree totally.

Me too!

That is me exactly. I remember standing at the top of the Wallace Monument in Stirling, looking out at the hills and thinking, 'Yep, this is for me.' When I came across the following summer to do a research project for 12 weeks, I knew I was meant to be here within a couple of days. Once I actually moved for my Ph.D. I knew I wouldn't be coming back to the States of my own free will.

This is home. I've felt this way immediately, largely in part in how accepting Tim's family has been of me...his mum even thinks to ask me how my mom is everytime I talk to her! 

I'm going to be so upset when I go home and know that it will be a while before I'll be back and even longer before we start to make things permanent. 

It didn't take me long to realise where I was born wasn't home to me.  But I did a fair bit of wandering around in my 20s before coming to the UK.  Wound up here, but still didn't feel completely at home till we moved through here to the Western part of the country.  Now, as we start to make more lasting friends and our children start to grow up here, it really feels like home.