Getting to know you (again)!

I have updated the clickety-click quick reference links for this thread today!  As you probably know, they have a new home on a separate thread - as the key to all the initial intros on this one.

That new quick reference links thread is located here:

Quick Links – Key to the Getting to know you (again)! Thread on Chit Chat

That guide is for reference only purposes (locked to reply), that I will maintain from time to time as new folks join in on this thread.

Okay & I know we still have regular members who have not yet posted their (re-)intros on this one, so if you haven't already, go for it! 

I guess I should add my "2 cents" as well!!  I'm Amber (28) and I like to call myself a "mixed mutt" (dad was in the Air Force so I have lived all over the U.S. Korea and was born in Germany prior to moving here!) I moved here from beautiful Boise Idaho though!

I'll try to sum up because its a long story! I met my husband on holiday in Cancun Mexico beginning of November 2009! We both had gotten out of long-term relationships (mine was a Jerry Springer break up with a husband and friend who were having an affair...It was really weird!) with  6 months prior and were just looking to get away from our realities and having fun in the sun with our groups of friends! Coincidentally, we were staying at the same resort and met the first night we were there and our 2 groups hung out for the most of the week we were there! We kept in touch via skype and facebook after the holiday and then he came for 4 weeks to visit me early 2010 and then I went to visit him August 2010 when he took me on a surprise trip to Greece and proposed! I moved to England on the 9th of January (2011), got married on Feb 14th, 2011 (Valentines day!)

What else? Umm...
I have a major in the Marketing and a minor in Business
I always wanted to go into acting, singing and voice overs but could never really figure out how to get in there (my original degree started with music performance-singing with a minor in fine arts-acting LOL!) so most people that know me think I'm a little quirky!
I love Belly Dancing (haven't done it since leaving Boise)
music-of all types but especially 80's music, 90's, Jazz, acoustic, etc. 
Films-I watch and love most genre's...except for the really nasty gory films...I think you can scare without being so gross!
reading- Crime, mystery and something to scare you like ghost stories!
exercising with my friends
Scuba Diving and Traveling (since they seem to go hand-in-hand!)
I'm very social and love to meet people and make friends! Pretty much throw me in a room with a bunch of people I can chat to and I'm a happy girl!

There's a little bit on me! I'm kind of a "one-woman-circus" so it's hard to really put it all out there without writing a book! LOL! 

Yay!  Thanks for posting, Amberelle11.  Love to get new people on here & I know there's still others out there who haven't joined in too.

Come on - you know you want to! 

I've only been in the country for 6 months, and I did do a WW post, but that was short and I haven't been on here in awhile...so I guess I'll be a bit more long-winded here.

I'm from Salt Lake City, Utah, and moved to Chicago in 2007 for college. My (future) husband and I met at that college because he worked at the school's coffee shop, which I frequented daily. Apparently he had already noticed me in the class we had together because of my "big teeth and loud laugh". I walked away from the first conversation we had thinking "What an English snob. I'll never talk to that guy again." Aaaah, how things change.  

I flew out to England for my first visit in August of 2007, and he took me to Paris, where he proposed on the Seine in front of the Eiffel Tower. We got married on May 31, 2008 in Salt Lake, and then finished our degrees in 2009. We knew that we wanted to start a family soon, and that we also wanted to find a place to settle in and really call "home". We thought about getting his green card, but ultimately knew that if we were ever going to make an international move, it would have to be now.
We found out that we were pregnant with our first baby a month and a half before we moved over here, and are getting REALLY excited to meet our son in mid-June. I'm currently 30 weeks pregnant and very ready to be done, and just have my baby in my arms.

We're struggling with what the future holds, as to whether or not we should stay in England, but we're going to be here until at least December, so you can bet I'll be frequenting the boards again while we try to decide where to go.

As far as personal interests go, my BA is in communications, and I love to write. I'm a freelance writer (but am currently taking my maternity leave) and would really love to start writing things that I care about--like books. Ha. I laugh loudly and gesture wildly, and am much more "American" than I ever thought I was. I would eat Mexican food every day if I could, and currently miss the food in the States almost more than anything else. I love sunshine, mountains, and wide open spaces. It's the being-from-the-west thing. I listen to just about every kind of music, and even though I am a white girl, there is a ghetto rapper hiding inside as well. I have a difficult time making good friends and getting myself out there, but can be fairly crazy once I feel comfortable. I am eternally grateful for UKY and all of the amazing people that have put up with my whining!

I love reading all of these intros, and finding people that are like-minded. It's nice to know that I'm not alone out in this gloomy, confusing country!

Thanks for joining in, camarinadoo.  

Congratulations on your upcoming new arrival.  If you're missing US food - spend some time on the Food Talk board - we're always full of ideas on how to source what you're needing, how to substitute, or how to make it yourself.

For mountains or wide open spaces, you might need to venture a bit away from Kent - you can find those in the UK in lovely places, but perhaps not in Kent(?).  Sunshine - well...UK does spring really well!  

Ok so I just posted in the Welcome Wagon, but I shall reintroduce myself with a little more info.

My name is Ayelet, I was born in New York City. I grew up on the Upper East Side, sort of the stereotypical affluent city kid. My parents are both lawyers, and they worked a lot when I was a kid but I always looked up to them. I went to Columbia University and studied finance, then did surprisingly well on the LSAT and went to law school. After that I worked as a corporate lawyer for 2 years, and then 3 years ago I made the switch into investment banking and I love what I do despite the turmoil of the last few years.

I met my now fiancé when I was 6 and he was 12. His parents and my parents are friends and we went on a family vacation with his family to France that year. I absolutely did not like him at all, and I saw him once every few years but was never interested in him until I was about 20. We went on our first date on January 2nd, 2002 and we have been dating ever since He asked me to marry him on our 5th anniversary and hopefully we'll be married by our tenth. He was born and raised in London and works managing a hedge fund.

If my name/occupation/family and friends' occupations didn't give it away, I'm Jewish (reform). I love sports! I love to watch football and I've always played soccer and basketball. I like all types of music, but I'm secretly a sucker for country music. I used to spend the summers with my redneck godfather in Mississippi so secretly in my heart I'm not totally a city girl. I’m fiercely competitive but mostly I just love to have a good time and I’m a fairly nice person, especially for a New Yorker. My favorite authors are Karen McQuestion, Caprice Crane, Elin Hildebrad and so many more I can’t even remember but I love to read. I mostly enjoy being outdoors in my spare time either doing something athletic or reading. I would like to have children, some time soon-ish, but I’m very hesitant about taking time away from my career. I work hard and sometimes I have a tendency to let my career be my whole life. I guess there’s more to me, but that’s me in a nut shell 

Welcome to UKY & thanks for posting your story here!

I am going to be the bumpkin in NYC for the very first time ever this October - neither DH nor I have ever been.  So we are going for 4 nights before we travel down to attend a family wedding near Baltimore.

Good luck with everything! 

I have been on this forum for quite some time, and I have never formally introduced myself (sorry!).

My name is Margaret, I am 25, and I am from Charleston, South Carolina. After graduating high school, I enlisted into the Air Force. I was stationed in Omaha, NE, unfortunately, for four years (although, I deployed to Southwest Asia twice). It was there, in Omaha, that I became bored with my mundane life, and decided to sign up on a penpal site that catered to military. Not long after, I received an email from my now husband (amongst other emails, but he was the only one I continued to correspond with). He's in the Royal Navy and was deployed at that time. It was for both of our morale that we continued to email each other for two years. Although, we never once sent a photo to each other for that first year.

February of last year, I separated from the AF, and moved to Isle of Palms, SC whilst I waited for my move to London to start school. I went to London in July to study Illustration, which was also where I met my husband for the very first time! It obviously went very well. We have so much in common, understand each other very well, and are generally inseparable (when allowed to be).

I quickly came to realize that I wasn't going to find a fulfilling career in the arts, which was quite a shame considering I lived and breathed art. I enjoy researching, reading, and actually would rather work for/in the military again. (I, surprisingly, miss military life).

Anyways, I decided to drop out of the school, and Chris and I married in December. I moved to Gosport with him (he's stationed in Portsmouth), and he deployed for six months in January. I adopted an Egyptian Mau kitten to keep me company. His ship recently returned from that deployment, too. Now, other than spending what time I can with him, I am awaiting Uni in September. I will be going to Portsmouth for International Relations and I cannot wait!

As for my personality, I am an INTJ. I am quiet, soft-spoken, very calm, love to spend time inside my head, and generally come off as aloof to other people. I am very friendly, but I do have my standoffish moments. I love Haruki Murakami and Kurt Vonnegut. I adore most things French. I love to learn new things, explore, read, and even succumb to a video games (lately, World of Warcraft, eep). My music tastes can range from Brahms to Puccini to Françoise Hardy to Refused, but never venturing into the rap, hip-hop, pop, country genres. I am a vegetarian (considering veganism), and am very much into animal rights (or rather, welfare) and environmental issues.

I'm not particularly good when it comes to writing about myself, but I hope this helps.

Welcome Margaret! I love your MBTI use. I am an ENFP! lol

I have been on this forum for quite some time, and I have never formally introduced myself (sorry!).

My name is Margaret, I am 25, and I am from Charleston, South Carolina. After graduating high school, I enlisted into the Air Force. I was stationed in Omaha, NE, unfortunately, for four years (although, I deployed to Southwest Asia twice). It was there, in Omaha, that I became bored with my mundane life, and decided to sign up on a penpal site that catered to military. Not long after, I received an email from my now husband (amongst other emails, but he was the only one I continued to correspond with). He's in the Royal Navy and was deployed at that time. It was for both of our morale that we continued to email each other for two years. Although, we never once sent a photo to each other for that first year.

February of last year, I separated from the AF, and moved to Isle of Palms, SC whilst I waited for my move to London to start school. I went to London in July to study Illustration, which was also where I met my husband for the very first time! It obviously went very well. We have so much in common, understand each other very well, and are generally inseparable (when allowed to be).

I quickly came to realize that I wasn't going to find a fulfilling career in the arts, which was quite a shame considering I lived and breathed art. I enjoy researching, reading, and actually would rather work for/in the military again. (I, surprisingly, miss military life).

Anyways, I decided to drop out of the school, and Chris and I married in December. I moved to Gosport with him (he's stationed in Portsmouth), and he deployed for six months in January. I adopted an Egyptian Mau kitten to keep me company. His ship recently returned from that deployment, too. Now, other than spending what time I can with him, I am awaiting Uni in September. I will be going to Portsmouth for International Relations and I cannot wait!

As for my personality, I am an INTJ. I am quiet, soft-spoken, very calm, love to spend time inside my head, and generally come off as aloof to other people. I am very friendly, but I do have my standoffish moments. I love Haruki Murakami and Kurt Vonnegut. I adore most things French. I love to learn new things, explore, read, and even succumb to a video games (lately, World of Warcraft, eep). My music tastes can range from Brahms to Puccini to Françoise Hardy to Refused, but never venturing into the rap, hip-hop, pop, country genres. I am a vegetarian (considering veganism), and am very much into animal rights (or rather, welfare) and environmental issues.

I'm not particularly good when it comes to writing about myself, but I hope this helps.

Since you miss the military have you ever considered joining the reserve. I really think that could be done in the UK but what do I know?

Oh yay - thanks for joining in, onemorecupofjoe!!  I met my husband on a penpals site too.

I am glad someone stepped in with 'splaining (sort of) the INTJ,  MBTI and an ENFP, 'cause I had no idea. 

Welcome, Margaret! Fellow INTJ vegetarian WOW-player here. (Not considering veganism, though, I would miss cheese and eggs too much. )

Welcome Margaret! I love your MBTI use. I am an ENFP! lol

Yay, for another MBTI user! Do you fully agree with what the analysis has to say about you? Oh, and thanks for the point!

Oh yay - thanks for joining in, onemorecupofjoe!!  I met my husband on a penpals site too.

I am glad someone stepped in with 'splaining (sort of) the INTJ,  MBTI and an ENFP, 'cause I had no idea.  

Thanks, Mrs. Robinson! You should take the test! They can be very enlightening!

Since you miss the military have you ever considered joining the reserve. I really think that could be done in the UK but what do I know?

For expats (or military dependents) overseas, there's the IMA Reserve program, which I did consider joining back in January. The main problem with that is that there was a chance I wouldn't even have found a position in the UK, they could put me in Germany, Italy, ect- all depending on openings. Also, I wouldn't have been able to cross-train (I don't want to continue what I used to do); the IMA program doesn't want to have to pay for flying back to the US and training.
Plus, for my short while back in SC, I did join the Reserve unit at Charleston AFB (I wasn't sure if I was going to London at the time), and I was highly disappointed. I was bored most of the time and didn't feel like I was doing anything important nor challenged. I wasn't keen on the 'personal' environment; no one was formal with rank, and the lower ranking airmen seemed to be pretty disrespectful in my eyes. :\
(Sorry for the story. ^^)
Anyways, I might commission once I get my degree, but that's still a might!

Welcome, Margaret! Fellow INTJ vegetarian WOW-player here. (Not considering veganism, though, I would miss cheese and eggs too much. )

Awesome, another INTJ! We seem to be rare! Are you horde or alliance on WoW? I'm horde.
I see veganism as a test of will for me, as it would be quite hard! I wouldn't want to give up some milk-chocolate, like toblerones. xP

Thanks, Mrs. Robinson! You should take the test! They can be very enlightening!

Actually I think I have before, on a work course.  It sounds like something that reminded me too much of work, so I promptly forgot all about it. 

Awesome, another INTJ! We seem to be rare! Are you horde or alliance on WoW? I'm horde.
I see veganism as a test of will for me, as it would be quite hard! I wouldn't want to give up some milk-chocolate, like toblerones. xP

Mmmm...chocolate. Yes, would not be able to give that up, either! Or most desserts, really. (Though I had tofu ice cream once and it was surprisingly decent!)

I've been playing Horde mostly but I've also got some Alliance characters because all the red/brown gets tiring to look at after a while. I think the Alliance characters (and mounts, especially!) are much prettier. Ponies and kitties FTW.