From Texas to Sussex

Welcome and good luck on the license! Im dreading it too.

Same here! I can't believe I let a whole year go by. Oh well, lessons it is, then!  May I ask HOW expensive it was?  Did you have to take a full course or just a few lessons?

I took 19 hours at £20/hour. Not cheap, but definitely worth it! I did already drive manual in the states, though. It's different for everyone, it really depends on how confident you are - some people only need a few lessons and others need more. Your instructor will usually let you know when they think you are ready to take the test. Just apply for your provisional licence (I don't think it ever expires - someone on this forum had a provisional licence for 5 years and it never expired), you can get the form at the post office, and get the Driving Test Success CD-Rom - you can usually find it cheap online. You can start doing the practice tests on there to get you ready for the theory test. You can take lessons while you are studying for the theory test - your instructor will answer any questions for you. Good luck! Definitely go for it! 

Thanks for the info! You know, it's amazing how much it helps to know I'm not the only one going through the learning curves.  I feel inspired to move forward now!     

The only real way to conquer the driving over here is to take lessons. I went through all that 30 years ago as I too had a Texas licence that expired so had no option but to take the UK test. You will need to take lessons even if you have managed to drive proficiently here as you tend to pick up bad habits when you are already a driver. I moved to the UK from Texas 31 years ago so am now a fixture here. I live between Brighton and Horsham, have 3 daughters who have all left home and 4 grandkids. Take heart things do get better and you will wonder what all the fuss was about. Jenny

Howdy!  I moved here from Arlington, TX 10 years ago, but unlike you, I'm not happy about it and I've never adjusted.  I miss DFW every minute of every day (the culture, the people, the sun, the heat)!  And yes, I'm very isolated in a small town in Dorset.  They don't like us yanks so my only friends over the years have all been foreigners, who as of last year, have all moved back to their respective countries.  It's very difficult going from a US multi-cultural metropolitan area to a small white community in the UK countryside!  Welcome to the island; glad you are enjoying it.

Hi rebduffy!  Yay, a fellow vegetarian!   Sorry you're not happy here.  I do love England, but I've had a lot of unhappy days, too.  Apparently no one around here is too keen on yanks, either!  On the whole, people in this area are pretty unfriendly--they seem almost paranoid if you try to make a little conversation!  I never had that problem during my many stays in Norwich over the years.  Maybe it's a southern UK thing... Anyway, very happy to meet you!

The people where I live are very friendly to me. I live in the far Northeast, though, so I guess attitudes up here may be different, but all the Southerners I have met at work have been very friendly, too. I've had a few dumb comments about the old American stereotypes, and George Bush, and that sort of thing, but I try not to let those comments bother me. There are numpties everywhere you go, you know?  I haven't made any really close English friends, but it's just taking some time. Mostly, I think it's just me. I tend to get a bit shy about taking the next step toward friendship - asking for someone's phone number or asking them to go out and do something. But there are a lot of lovely people around that I am slowly getting to know. It just takes time to make friends in any new place.

Hey cookieseberg, my fellow veggie!  I believe it is the southern mentality that differs from the northerners.  Even an English psychologist agreed with me!  The southerners (aside from London and Brighton, of course) don't like yanks and don't like anyone with problems.  They only seem to be around when there is food and fun.  As soon as anything gets serious, anything from deep conversation to hospitalization, they disappear for either several months or for good.  I've quizzed folks (i.e. fellow colleagues and neighbors) about it and they've all said the same thing.  They don't want to know their neighbors and they don't want to be bothered by anyone.  On several occasions, I've been the only person to stop and help others who have been in trouble (i.e. car accidents (one in particular where it was a Belgian woman and her tiny baby), dog running across main busy road after leash broke, etc.).  Even though there were plenty of other cars and sometimes even pedestrians around at these times, NO ONE else bothered to stop.  The lack of humanity and sense of community is quite sad!  I miss the Americans sense of compassion!!!

Re driving, I agree about taking lessons.  It cost me £400 in lessons, just to learn how to pass the English driving test (and that was 9 years ago so it's probably even more expensive now).  The instructor said right away I was obviously a very solid experienced driver but he taught me things I never knew and could have definitely used in the US, such as hill starts.  I used to hate driving in America but having all the panick of the tiny, windy, southern UK roads has cured that--give me American road conditions any day!!!  And good luck in getting your UK license (if you haven't done so already)!

The southerners (aside from London and Brighton, of course) don't like yanks and don't like anyone with problems.  They only seem to be around when there is food and fun.  As soon as anything gets serious, anything from deep conversation to hospitalization, they disappear for either several months or for good.  I've quizzed folks (i.e. fellow colleagues and neighbors) about it and they've all said the same thing.  They don't want to know their neighbors and they don't want to be bothered by anyone.  On several occasions, I've been the only person to stop and help others who have been in trouble (i.e. car accidents (one in particular where it was a Belgian woman and her tiny baby), dog running across main busy road after leash broke, etc.).  Even though there were plenty of other cars and sometimes even pedestrians around at these times, NO ONE else bothered to stop.  The lack of humanity and sense of community is quite sad!  I miss the Americans sense of compassion!!!

You are entitled to your opinion, of course, and this may have been your experience, but I would be very careful about making a sweeping generalization about such a large area of people. I am sure there are plenty of English people down south (besides just London and Brighton) who have compassion, and perhaps you just haven't been fortunate enough to run into them yet, or you have mistook some other aspect of their personality for lack of compassion. You are painting a very negative picture of what people are like here and it really upsets me, because this hasn't been my experience at all (though I live up north, I do know many southerners who are work colleagues and they are all genuinely nice people) and I hate thinking that people who are about to move here might be reading things like this and could think that if they were in trouble, no one would stop to help them and everyone here is some heartless, soulless jerk who only looks after his or herself. No one likes to be stereotyped. Just as not every American is fat, loudmouthed, and ignorant, not every English person is snooty, uncaring, and lacks compassion. Try to remember that before you start characterizing such a large group of people. If you had substituted the world English for some other nationality, then what you wrote there would be considered very racist and hateful.

I'm sorry those have been your experiences rebduffy. Like Jewlz, I've had a very different experience here (although, I am also "Up North"), and I have a lot of friends who are southern (DH grew up there), and they are seriously the loveliest group of people I have ever met.  Warm and friendly and just amazing. It is frustrating to move somewhere with different cultural triggers, though, could it be that you're somehow missing the cues that would let you know when people want to be your friend? I know I do that allll the time, and it does add to the confusion.
DH didn't really know any of his neighbours, but he is hardly ever home, and we live in a student heavy area, so they don't tend to stick around long. While I was looking for a job, I got to know a few of them, and I'm sure we could be friendlier if I did anything either than drag myself in the door and to bed each evening.

You are entitled to your opinion, of course, and this may have been your experience, but I would be very careful about making a sweeping generalization about such a large area of people. I am sure there are plenty of English people down south (besides just London and Brighton) who have compassion, and perhaps you just haven't been fortunate enough to run into them yet, or you have mistook some other aspect of their personality for lack of compassion. You are painting a very negative picture of what people are like here and it really upsets me, because this hasn't been my experience at all (though I live up north, I do know many southerners who are work colleagues and they are all genuinely nice people) and I hate thinking that people who are about to move here might be reading things like this and could think that if they were in trouble, no one would stop to help them and everyone here is some heartless, soulless jerk who only looks after his or herself. No one likes to be stereotyped. Just as not every American is fat, loudmouthed, and ignorant, not every English person is snooty, uncaring, and lacks compassion. Try to remember that before you start characterizing such a large group of people. If you had substituted the world English for some other nationality, then what you wrote there would be considered very racist and hateful.

Wholeheartedly agree.

I was born, lived and will probably die on the South-Coast and I've always loved it, I miss it hugely now I'm in London.

I've seen so many of your posts and every single one is so incredibly negative, badly informed, not a true representation and borderline racist, all I can think of is that if you are so negative, no wonder people are negative to you in return.

I've always believed that “Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one"

Your experience in the UK will be whatever you make of it. If you never let go of America emotionally (that doesn't mean not missing home etc), then you'll never be able to immerse yourself in your life here. If you're constantly comparing then your new life will always come up short as your America will always be your "home" seen through rose coloured glasses.

You can continue to tell yourself that the people here are mean, that everything is awful, that no one likes you because you're American....or you can dive in with both feet and find your own truth. You write your own happy ending in this life.

   Hay!   I'm from Texas also! Just moved here 3 months ago. Surrey Area.

Rebduffy, I am American and I live in the south (not too far from you actually, in Dorchester) and my experience is 100% different from yours.  I love it here, people have been very nice to me, I know my neighbours, am making friends, and when I twisted my ankle in Bournemouth last year, several people stopped and asked if they could help me.  Not trying to jump on you, just saying.   

  Hay!   I'm from Texas also! Just moved here 3 months ago. Surrey Area.

Welcome Texas Sweety! Which part of Texas are you from?