Getting to know you (again)!

Great thread idea, Carolyn!!

I'm Lisa, and I came to Ireland in 2004 to be with my husband. We initially met online. He's originally from Dublin, and we've been living in Northern Ireland for most of the time I've been here.  I was a nurse in the US (working in the correctional system) and I've been a stay at home mom since moving here, with the exception of a few part-time jobs here and there.  I'm primarily from Minnesota, though I moved to NI from Colorado. 

We have two kids; DD is 5 and DS is 2.  Both kids have recently been diagnosed with autism, and they keep us really busy!  Before the economy went into freefall and before the kids were diagnosed, we had been tentatively looking and moving back to ROI to be closer to DH's family, and neither of us are thrilled with living in the north, but as Bmore mentioned earlier, the economy there is in dire straits.  We also really value the care the kids get on the NHS, so as much as I'm not overly fond of where we live, it looks like we're here to stay for the foreseeable future.  On the plus side, now that I finally have my license, we can visit family in Dublin pretty much whenever we have the time    And I can still daydream about winning the lottery and moving to some small town in Wicklow.

I joined UKY in 2007, the boy and I had been talking seriously and visiting for about 18 months, after crossing paths sometime in 2004.
We'd been exploring visas for awhile and all we could come up with was, he could move here and become a fish gutter, or I could go work in six flags for the summer and were a bit stuck. After much discussion he decided to try and get a student visa (I'd already graduated at this point) and move over here. We were just doing FASFA and MPNs and everything when I joined. Our visa journey was fairly painless (thanks to UKY!) although we had some hiccups along the way, like when IEFC and Teri loans shut down for a period leaving him without funding going into year 2. We were lucky I think, the financial meltdown hadn't happened so were able to secure funding with less than stellar credit in year 1, I believe he'd struggle to finance an overseas bachelors now.

We've been pretty blissful really, some financial strains as I switched careers and took awhile to find my feet (I love love love what I do and where I am now) but overall it's been brilliant, he loves the UK and my friends/family love him and I'm super grateful that he found the transition to the UK so easy. We go back and forth about moving to the US, I worry that it's a castle in the air and that a move for materialistic reasons wont make us happier but I'm sure we'll try something soon as neither of us are people to rest on laurels. I love the US but not sure if I have a place in it yet, although I do like to Tim Gunn "make it work" so I'm not too worried

I'm a jack of all trades in life, if there's something to try then I'll try it, I am a games producer so play a lot of games and am active in the industry, I'm career focused, a workaholic who loves their work, being away from my blackberry is like torture
I have a lot of friends and like being out and about, so I'm constantly tired but I'm trying to learn to take a step back at the moment, after my Bell's palsy episode, I honestly think it might be time for me to slow down a little :/

I love to cook and bake, but I'm obsessive when baking, I've made some pretty professional cakes for special events but I absolutely love making ice-cream, i'm completely useless at cookies, I don't know why, I'm more into confectionary, and worship Peter Greweling, so really into panna cotta, creams, terrines, ice creams and sugar craft then straight baking   I'm generally passionate about food and decent ingredients, eating out is a major expense at our house as I'm happiest  munching my way around the various stalls, restaurants, markets, pubs in London.

I'm half Indonesian and have been really lucky to have travelled extensively, especially around Indonesia I wish we could do more (I can't wait to take the boy to Indonesia) but funds prevent us right now, we're getting married next summer so there's plenty to spend money on!

The boy and I both have science backgrounds, I have a degree in Physics with Astrophysics, whilst he did Mechanical Engineering, he's at Imperial now doing a masters in Computational Fluid Dynamics. He's a web developer for a small firm in Brighton but works from home, he's quite determined to do a PhD once he finishes his masters, so not sure where or what we'll end up doing/going/being

Legs Akimbo, what do you like to cook or bake the most?  I like to do those things too, but I like it even more when DH does them & I just have the hard work of eating what he has made - lol!  

I like to cook practically everything.  I do all the cooking in our house, and generally I enjoy it.  Well, Mr A has cooked for me twice.  Once he cooked eggs and bacon for me when visiting me in the States and another time he cooked burgers and chips.  The breakfast meal was good and the burger was good, but the chips...and the mess... Right now soups and stews focus heavily on our menu because of the weather and they're economical (and easily adapted to my diet which I am restarting with a vengeance).  One of the most rewarding cooking projects I've tackled (or in the process of tackling) is learning to make home made curry without relying on pre-made pastes or sauces.

I like cooking because I can modify things a lot more than baking.  I can make a lot of things fit special diets or work with things on hand.  Since baking is often reliant on specific ingredients, substitutions and variations don't always turn out that great.  You can cook sweet things and there are savoury baked goods. 

I probably bake bread more often than anything else.  I don't like making it, but Mr A loves it, and when I am eating bread I like the taste of it as well.  Really, if I have to make anything sweet for anything, I might attempt baked goods, but I usually just go for making candy which I am pretty good at even though it is really more exact than baking. 

Hi all!  I joined UKY in 2008 when I spent several months on a visitor visa with my British ex-boyfriend.  He was living in the US at the time and he suggested me joining an ex-pat forum before we left for the UK.  That relationship didn't work out (we were living in Cambridge with his mother) and I travelled to Leeds to stay with his brother for a 'cooling off' period.  I met Dom (my current) boyfriend through ex-boyfriend's brother (oh, what a tangled web- but I thought I'd be honest here) and Dom and I dated a little bit.  SarahWelchByrne was a really good friend to me during that time, and I really thank the forum for introducing me to some wonderful people.  

So, I went back to the States in late 2008 and finished my BA in Theatre.  There was some back and forth with the ex-boyfriend, but it just wasn't a workable relationship.  Dom and I lost contact and didn't speak until he (re)found me on facebook at the beginning of this year.  We skyped a little bit and he had a big three month trip planned to travel all over the US, so we planned to hang out in a group with friends.  We ended up spending most of the three months together and I found a great MA programme in Leeds.  Visa and all that followed and now we live together in a cute house in Leeds and we're really really happy.  My mom has been very ill and he has completely proven himself as an amazing partner.  I miss him like crazy and can't wait to go back to our home.  

I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area (Los Gatos-ish) and I like to cook, shop, dance, sing, watch tv and read.  I'm very into theatre and I have mainly done Musicals in the past.  I've found this site to be immensely helpful and I'm lucky to live near some really wonderful UK-Yers like MapleLeafGirl72, Mrs. Robinson, Swelch and Andee.  Plus I've made some really good new friends in other areas- like Zoya.  

It's nice to hear everyone's stories. Great idea Mrs. R!

Hello, my name is Lora and I joined UKY in 2004, and my first post was apparently in the food section.   I met my husband online in 2001 and moved over here in 2003. I was going through waves of homesickness and came looking for other Americans and found you lot.

Since I've been here in the UK I've been a stay at home mom and it took me a few good years to actually feel happy about being here in the UK. Last year I decided since the kids are getting older I needed to do something with my life and I began taking a course for a Level 2 Teaching Assistant and met some really nice people and became even more involved in my kids school. I chose this because I always felt I was meant to work with kids and it fits in perfectly with my kids school schedule too! This August I completed this course and am in the process of taking more classes and as my husband was made redundant from his job he too decided he would like a new course in life and enrolled with me and passed too and is continuing his education.

We have two kids 8 yr old boy and 6 yr old know it all little girl and three animals all black and white in colour, a dog named Phoebe, and a male and female cat named Moe and Mog.

My husband has been the one in our relationship wanting to make the move to the US and I have been undecided and happy to remain here, however my parents are getting older and even though I have lots of brothers and sisters (five brothers and two sisters- I belong to a herd lol) I worry about them and I miss everyone as my family is really close unlike my husband's family who even all live within a three mile radius but don't even talk and this is including with one going past our house every day and it makes me miss my own family even more although I adore my husband's dad and as he is pretty frail at the moment and really the only reason why we are still here I think.

...and my first post was apparently in the food section.  

'atta girl!    We UKY'ers do love our food!

Right, I'm going to (as I sit here against this hot water bottle for my back) attempt to mash together a preliminary clickity-click index of the first postings for each member on this thread.  Love all the participation so far (!!!) & I am sorry that I've not had the opportunity to comment on each & every post - but that's what I count on you lot to help me with, so keep on chatting. 

The quick reference links have been moved to their own separate thread, 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.  

I imagine I did make a WW post somewhere way back in the day. I think I first came on here in 2008 maybe, when I first had serious thoughts about moving to the UK. I haven't posted on here much in the past 6 months or so, but I am a huge lurker--and this is fun, so I thought I might join in

My real name is Tammy, and I'm 25 years old. I was originally born in San Jose, California, but moved to Oregon when I was 8, where I lived in the Portland metro area until I moved to the UK. I'm an only child, a bit of a loner (I'm painfully shy at times). I adore reading and writing (although I'm way too critical of my writing, hence why I do very little of it), and I've been playing World of Warcraft since 2005 (gaming has been a huge part of my life since I was about 5 or so).

I never intended to move out of the country--heck, to even visit other countries period. I think if I hadn't met my husband, I would of been perfectly content to stay close to home, and it's certainly what everyone expected of me.

I met my husband through an online roleplaying forum--we exchanged email addresses and casually talked for about 4 years. When we met, I was 16 and being stupid and awkward in high school, and he was 30, married with three kids. Our conversations were pretty nerdy--he's very much a D&D person, and I used to love me some forum roleplay and we mainly dealt with that. I admit I kinda had a crush on him at the time, he was pretty cute and came from a different country, but it didn't go beyond that. Our time differences (8 hours) kept us from really being able to talk much, but we were decent friends for a while.

So, I do some growing up, go through some awkward phases (and break ups), and my husband resurfaces online after being absent for a while. He tells me his wife is leaving him and taking 2 of the 3 kids--I do my best as his friend to help him out during this time. She moves out, takes the 2 youngest, leaving his eldest there with him (it was by their son's choice to stay with his dad), and me and him end up talking a lot more than we used to as we rekindle our friendship.

At this time, I was going to school to be a medical assistant. I don't regret doing it, since I've always been interested in medicine, but the school was rubbish and I went through a lot of crap to wrangle a stupid diploma out of them. My English Friend (tm) helped me through the stress, chatting to me before I went to college, sending me funny texts during the day, etc etc.

Heh, the first time he tried to call me, I missed the call. He was at work on his break--I didn't recognize the number, but I only knew one English guy, so it wasn't difficult to figure out who this voicemail was from.

In November of 2005, he told me he needed to confess something to me, that he fancied me. I was completely blindsided--I had just come out of another LDR and I was a bit wary of messing things up again, especially with a really awesome guy. I told him I needed a little time to process the information, and he was cool with it and gave me the time I needed. I did a bit of soul searching, and once I got over the shock of it all I decided to give things a shot--he was just as much an adult as I was, so he knew the risk we were taking with 5,000 miles between us. I think the distance he gave me was vital--I was able to make a decision without pressure, and it was very mature of him to do instead of hassling me.

We then planned the first visit. He knew it'd be easier for him to make the first trip--he had the funds, and he was more comfortable with traveling that far. He knew I had never let home on my own before, so he wanted to spare me that for the time being. He came to visit in September of 2006--thankfully he and my mom got on nicely, since I was living with her at the time. He stayed for a week, and I was so scared when I first met him when he got off the train, but he made me feel easy with things. I did my best to show him around ('no dear, you don't bag your own groceries, just stay here'), and when he left I was devistated.

He came over again in 2007 with his eldest, and we got along well, which was also important if me and my husband were going to have a future, considering I'd be a stepmum. I went to visit twice in 2008 to see how the UK would be--I was scared pantsless traveling all that way by myself, but it's one of those small things I can be proud of myself for. He proposed in November 2008, we got married May 27th, 2009 in the States. I haunted these forums around that time, biting my nails down to nothing when sorting my visa out--it was granted July 2009, and I flew into the UK on it in September. Sooo, I've been here about 14 months, been married about 17 months (holy crap O.o), and yeah.

I'm still trying to adjust. I have some issues that I'm working on overcoming that make transitioning more difficult I think, where anxiety keeps me from doing what I need to do. I'm a housewife at the moment, since my husband can support us on his own. I have three stepkids--14, 11 and 10, two boys and a girl. The 11 and 10 year old live with their mum, but we all live here in Daventry, so no one is more than 5 minutes from each other. We have the 14 year old with us which is...yeah, teenagers are interesting

I'm still amazed at how lucky I am--my husband is the most awesome bloke in the world. We have a 14 year age difference between us, but he's young at heart (I think he still exists in the 1980s) so it's not a huge deal. WoW keeps us together (we both play, with our computer desks side by side), and we just carry on like anyone else would

In the future, I'd like to either have a baby (not too sure on that with our circumstances though ), or pursue some sort of nursing career. We might move back to the US at some point, but we'd have to wait until the youngest child is 18 before my husband will leave, which is completely understandable (and it's the reason I moved over here). I think he'd get on well with the US--there's things about England he's disillusioned with, and he does well in foreign environments (a lot better than me anyway), but we'll see.

Sorry for the wall of text 

Sorry for the wall of text 

And what a lovely wall of text it is!  It's wonderful getting to know our members a little bit better. 

Wow I love these type of posts! Thanks C ;-)

Well I was in a slightly different situation as I was living a care free life in Austin Texas and decided to head to Vegas with a friend for birthday celebrations in April 2009. WHAM I meet Kevin my DH as he was there with his BF who happened to be the cousin of my friend and it took off from there.  I found this forum by accident as I had no idea what the hell I was thinking dating or even liking a British guy and people here I could relate to the "waiting" thing.
I have a Bachelors in History Education but was and still am managing a telecom company (we do audio and web conferencing) globally so staying in touch was quite cheap.

DH works on an oil rig in the North Sea so works 2 weeks on, 2 off, 2 on and then 4 weeks off so visiting each other was always based on this schedule and money.
DH did have 2 kids and on my list of things I never wanted to date anyone with kids or that lived in another country! Goes to show you can't choose who you love.

After DH coming to ATX again for 4th of July and me here in September of 2009 we decided to get married and in November 2009 we got married in Texas and it was beautiful. After changing my passport to my married name and giving up almost everything I owned, I moved here in Jan 2010.  This forum was the rock to help me gather information because honestly I had NEVER EVER thought I would be living in England or married to the most wonderful man I am married to now. I still own a house in Austin and I am thinking of putting it up for sale just to stop worrying about it this far away.

Moving here has had its ups and downs and honestly the people are what get your thru the downs like Jewlz, Elly, Sarah and people not on UKY.  Without friends I would feel quite lonely since I don't have DH here daily and we don't have a normal life by any means. 
I moved here and became a wife, stepmom and remote worker.  I am not sure I like remote work as I miss the office people and feeling needed but hey its a paycheck ;-)
My stepkids are quite wonderful in the large aspect of things and we are getting along like a good family.  I do see a baby in our future hopefully in the new year and then I will be busy. 

I have rambled a lot but in a nutshell - I am from New Jersey, lived in Austin for 8 years, met in Vegas and moved to the UK. 
PS:
I am lucky to have found this place as now I am going for my Irish citizenship from my grandfather and hope to have it be mid next year as I am waiting on my FBR so no more UK visa crap for me <hopefully> ;-)

I thank you all for the laughs, tears and true friendships

Well I haven't been around much lately but I've enjoyed catching up with this thread....what a great idea!

I was sent to UKY by a friend I grew up with who knew you guys could help me out with the visa process.  After that, I just stuck around.  

I'm Shannon, 28, from South Central Virginia.  Graduated high school, got married and spent 1 year at Virginia Tech.  Decided I wasn't cut out for college and joined the military.  Spent 3 years living in Italy and served a term in Iraq.  Got a divroce.  Went to college during all that...after deciding that I needed it regardless of whether or not I was cut out for it!  My term was up at the same time I found out I was pregnant so I decided not to re-enlist and move back to VA to be near my family with my baby.  Had DS in 2004.  Her biological father decided he didn't want anything to do with us when I wouldn't marry him...so he just offers (by force) financial support and stays out of her life.  Worked full time (in a call center and as a waitress...and a few other things) and went to school full time (that was a fun time...not)...eventually got my Masters in Psych.  Worked as a counselor for children.

Met DH online and did the whole dating thing, then got married.  We couldn't decide if we wanted to live in the UK or the US so we spent an entire year separated (with lots of visits back and forth).  I moved to Yorkshire (we're quite literally sitting on the line of West and South...Wakefield address but Barnsley phone number) in October of 2009 (just celebrated my one year in the UK anniversary) with my daughter...DH has accepted her as his own and enjoys being her Daddy (her biological father has nothing to do with her).  She's pretty obsessed with him.

Had DS in July of this year and now enjoying being a SAHM to my 2 little munchkins.  I want to go back to work at some time and have considered a drastic career change as counseling children was very depressing for me and not looking forward to sitting around crying all night because it was just impossible for me to separate my tramatic work from home life.  We may have another child in a few years (will definitely be the last one unless we win the lottery...in which case I'll have 19...lol) so I probably won't go back to work until all the kids are in school.

I found the move to the UK to be pretty difficult as I was going through the transition period while pregnant...and very up and down with my feelings about everything.  Now I love it here.  I've made lots of friends (it took me awhile) and I'm embracing the country and everything that comes along with it.

I'm Shannon, 28, from South Central Virginia.  Graduated high school, got married and spent 1 year at Virginia Tech.

Woo, go Hokies! When were you there? I was there 1999-2004. I miss Bleaksburg sometimes.

Woo, go Hokies! When were you there? I was there 1999-2004. I miss Bleaksburg sometimes.

HA!  We have quite a few Hokies on this board!  I was there in 2000-2001.  Stayed in West AJ 4th Floor...everyone thought I was sooo cool to have a co-ed floor.  Lol!  It was alright except that the guys at Pritchard thought it was awesome to pull our fire alarm every. single. night.  At like 2-4am.  Rolling outside in the middle of winter in PJs = awesome sauce.  The building-wide snowball fights were a blast though.  I could just barely see into the stadium from my window.  It was good times but me being a dummy was more worried about a boy back home than getting the education I needed.  Sucked for me in the end since I had a full ride which I gave up and then had to pay for my degree on my own while being a single mom.  *sigh*  Hindsight and all that.

I might have seen you - I was a night monitor for a while in West AJ in 2000.

Ugh, Pritchard was so disgusting. I think I went in there twice and vowed to never go in again.

My name is Jennifer, I'm 29* and living in Inverness with my BF, Chris. I'm from California (originally south bay - so close to SarahJoyHappy that it's hard to believe our paths never crossed) and Chris is from London.  We met on twitter, which seems less silly after reading that other people met on youtube  

Our relationship has been very rushed, which is the main reason we're dragging our feet on the getting married thing, despite presure from our respective parents, the neighbours, the window washer, and random strangers. We wound up on this side of the pond as I had a life I could easily walk away from (I'm not close to my family, my dead-end retail job was getting even more dead-end, I'd moved something like 9 times in the previous 4 years and had just been given another eviction notice...) whereas my BF owned a house and his own business and his father isn't well enough to travel.  Needless to say, things have been going swimmingly. I applied for a Computing course at the local college, returned to California to get my student visa, and am back in the UK. We recently adopted two very skittish kittens, Oliver and Libby, who eventually decided that they like us, though we'll never be able to prove it as they hide from everyone else.

My hobbies include reading, knitting, cooking/baking, swimming, faffing about on the internet, and pretending I didn't notice that the house needs to be hoovered. I used to be an avid dancer and hope to get into that again. I am rather bemused to find myself in Scotland as I never particularly gave it any thought, but I really love it here, even when it's hard
 
Oh! I forgot to say my BF found UKY for me over the summer, right around when I got my visa. If only I knew you were here, we could've saved ourselves so much hassle!
*for the first time