Why did you come to the UK?

I have a good friend who is educated, well-traveled, funny and interesting.  Only one thing bothers me about her. She is very down on the UK. She often makes disparaging remarks about England and frankly, I'm getting damn tired of defending my move and my new home.  Even if I mention something minor that I don't like (ex.  not being able to find napkins in big packs), she'll turn it into an international incident, "How can you live in such a backwards place!?? Ridiculous!"  Anything positive I say she manages to twist to something negative.  When I tell her how beautiful Yorkshire is, she says, "Oh that nice. I'd be bored stiff."   

Today she said, "I don't know why anyone from the US would want to move to the UK unless their fiance/spouse was a UK citizen."

So, good people of UK-Y, if you did NOT come here to marry someone, why did you come?  Also, even if you did come here on the family path, why do you stay (rather than move your family back to the USA)?

Of course I've given her MY answers, but I'd just like to hear what other people have to say.

Well, I'm not there anymore, but I went over because I had met someone while traveling and I wanted to see where it would go. However, I also wanted to go to grad school so that's really why I moved over. I wouldn't have moved at all if I couldn't have done that. I was in no way ready to marry anyone (and thank goodness that was the case cause it didn't last!). I would have stayed as well, even though the BF and I broke up, but I hadn't found a job and had no means to stay.

Hiya,
I came over here to Scotland in 1999 on a work permit.. No relationship was in the air at all. Came over all by myself to work and see what the culture etc was really like on a day to day basis..
For me it was my heritage that sparked the interest in Scotland. My gran was born here in Scotland and had gone to Massachusetts as a young person and instilled the love of her country of birth and the culture in us .. I was the grandchild that took it the farthest.
Worked my way up the immigration ladder and then when i could i obtained citizenship.. Been a dual for years now. Back in the days before Life in UK test and all that ...

I came over when I was 23, to pursue a relationship with a guy I'd met on holiday.
The so-called relationship ended after a few months, but in the meantime, I'd fallen in love with Glasgow.  It was like an enormous Disneyland/playground to me after being brought up in a very repressed and strict environment!

And that was it.  Immigration rules were a lot easier in those days and I simply did what I needed to do in order to stay here, and gained my British citizenship in 1999.

So yeah, I initially came over for a guy, but I have stayed because of a combination of nice people, good beer, cool weather, easy public transport, interesting culture, sense of humour, great curries, the NHS, beautiful architecture, proximity to other favourite places like Amsterdam and Munich, ... and just a feeling of freedom that I didn't feel back in small-town So Cal.   

She sounds jealous to me, to be honest.

I came over because I got married and he was in uni at the time. But we stayed here for three main reasons: (1) we didn't want to deal with health insurance companies and expensive health care, (2) being close to Europe for travel, (3) more paid time off from work.

I moved here because I was tired of my life as it was. I thought of where I'd like to live instead, investigated citizenship options, and decided to give living abroad a try. I've loved (almost) every minute since then.

No relationship involved, though less than a year after I moved here I met my BF, and we've been together for about 18 months now. So far, so good.

I moved here because my husband got transferred.  We always knew it would almost surely not be permanent, but we have been here 4 years and are moving back to the US next week.  I'm going to miss it here a lot.  Sure, there are things about the US that I've missed, but not really to the detriment of the UK.  We've loved living in the UK and we are taking our little London-born baby back with us.  Best souvenir ever!

She sounds jealous to me, to be honest.

I'd agree with this train of thought. So many times, people will be negative about things the are jealous about.

I came over because after 4 1/2 years of living in the States, hubby wanted to move home. Now, three years later he's had more than enough of home (Blackburn specifically, not necessarily England) and we are headed back to the States. I find myself a bit sad because we are leaving and I have grown to love it here.

Whether it is England or any other country of the world, there are going to be things you can't find at the shop that you  REALLY want or need, or some law isn't going to suit you, etc. One of the adventures of moving to another country is moving past frustration and adapting in creative ways. I suppose until someone actually does that, they don't understand. Despite my incessant grumblings about some things, I really do mean most of them in a good natured way.

I'm here because I fell in love with and married my English husband. But before that, I'd always had this idea in the back of my head of living here someday. I've always been fascinated with the UK because:

1) I love the abundance of history, and that the history is integrated so closely in modernity. Walking down the street, there are contemporary shops tucked into buildings 200 years and older.

2) That history has created a much more progressive society than America. The US is still very young in its own history, and it shows: its politics are as reactionary, as petulant and as emotional as a teenager. Though the UK isn't perfect, it definitely has a more responsive government and media than America's.

3) In relation to that, I appreciate the socialist-capitalist mix here. I love the NHS and the healthcare policies. I am a firm believer that healthy, educated citizens make a healthy, strong nation. Somehow, this makes me too far left in America (or at least the red states I lived in); I really feel like I fit in here.

4) The weather is amazing. I know, I know: so few people agree with me. But having spent the last twelve years in the desert of western America, I was ready for a break from the constant sunshine. I love that every day holds the possibility of rain.

5) I love the proximity to and accessibility of the rest of Europe. The quick and easy travel options here are so much more abundant and intriguing than those available in Arizona.

I'd guess a bit of your friend's responses come from jealousy; she lost you to another country, and I imagine there's a bit of bitterness there, especially if she's a good friend, as you say. But then, all the beauties of the UK aren't for everyone. I think she's missing quite a lot, though. I absolutely love it here.

Thank you for all these answers!  Last night I compiled a list of 27 reasons I love it here (several of the answers that were given here as well), but many different.

My friend is much older than I, and has traveled and lived all over the world. I, too, suspected it was jealousy, but it doesn't make sense given her history. She lived 3,000 miles away from me so I didn't get to hang out with her, but we did spend a lot more time on the phone when I was in the USA. Perhaps she is bitter because our phone time has decreased dramatically? (We still email nearly daily.)

Please keep the answers coming. I am going to fire off one heck of an email to her in a couple days (nice, but firm LOL).

By the way, ymberlenis, I also loooooove the weather here.

1) I love the abundance of history, and that the history is integrated so closely in modernity. Walking down the street, there are contemporary shops tucked into buildings 200 years and older.

I love that too! One thing that really amazed me to the point of childlike glee was standing looking that the Tower of London, and then turning my head just slightly and being able to see The Shard still under construction. The blend of new and modern living in harmony is a beautiful thing.

Because I am not a fan of heat and humidity, I have enjoyed-ish summers here. I'd like a lot more of the days in the 70's, because I hate wearing a jacket in summer, but even that beats standing or sitting still outside and sweating.

When I had to leave the UK to care for elderly parents in the US what I missed was the convenience of public transit, the NHS, the countryside, the wonders of London, yes even the food, the interesting people, proximity to Europe -- and of course my family still in the UK. What I appreciate most is the muddle-through attitude -- people manage to cope quite well with their lives without all the flash and glam of America.

I moved here after over 7 years in Switzerland. I moved there because my husband was Swiss, and he didn't want to move to the US. I found Switzerland a difficult place to live, it is hard to make friends with locals, etc. and while I do speak the language, I'm not fluent and it was difficult.

I had travelled to the UK many times before I met my husband, and we started to take holidays in London, several times a year. We decided to move to the UK, as he was struggling to find work in Switzerland. He moved to London ahead of me, and a very, very long story short, I ended up in Manchester and we ended up splitting.

I've been in Manchester for just over 2 years now, and I can't imagine ever going back to the US. I love the history in the UK, which is all around us. Public transport, even at its worst in Manchester is far better than I ever experienced where I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio (very similar cities, really).

Then there's the cultural things. I prefer British TV. Their pragmatic view on things. The lack of overly boastful attitudes. Heck, even their take on patriotism here is much more to my liking (even after the patriotism binge for the Jubilee!). The way newspapers are still read and flourish here, despite other news sources. Books are still a very valued thing, a way of life, as is theatre and other arts. Things are far less superficial.

Even the music on mainstream radio doesn't feel as superficial - overall - there are some unexpected gems showing up all the time. Brits are not only unafraid of their musical history, but proud of it - including movements like punk, genres such as metal, etc., whereas in the US those types of things are frequently swept under the carpet or only the clean shiny stuff is showcased. Heck, BBC Radio 6 chose the month of the queen's jubilee to launch their month of Punk (where the Sex Pistols' anti-monarchy protest song was the feature), as did BBC 2 for their documentaries. One of the mainstays of Christmas music is Fairytale of New York - not the happy, jolly, singing snowmen stuff. You'd never see any of that in the US.

The Brits don't feel the need to be "cleaner" (meaning the squeaky-clean all-American image that really defines America to me) or shinier than everyone else. It is really hard to explain, I'm not sure anyone else sees it that way.

Hope that makes sense!

I dunno. Honestly I would get sick of that right away.

My husband immigrated to the US when we married in 2009. We dated for 1.5 years, and I spent many months in Scotland. I've always loved it. The views alone are amazing; my DH is an amateur photographer, so we love traveling around the Highlands and the coasts. As a child my favorite stories were of castles and medieval era things - it's amazing to see castles and ancient buildings. You don't have that sort of history in the US.

We settled in the US, as I went to grad school. My DH couldn't get a job to save his life because we're in a city with a higher-than-average unemployment rate. We've little family here, while he has a huge family in Scotland. Shelling out money for health insurance and *still* having to pay for medical things on top of that, astronomical dental bills, no vacation days...not to mention I was told that if I got pregnant I would have *two weeks* after I gave birth as my "maternity leave."

I nearly choked when I read that you get 25 days vacation for one of the jobs I applied for. So yah, there's plenty of reasons to leave.

Why do people ALWAYS say "but what about the weather" when you say you are moving?  Lol.  Do they think England is the only place with rain and seasons?  Before we decided to move back to the UK we were looking into Seattle, the weather may have been a little warmer there but pretty similar.  I guess when I think about it people used to say the same thing about Seattle with all the rain. 

To each their own.  We are done with US, our city especially, but have lots of friends (including Brits) who love it here and would never leave.

I am moving because my husband is from there and has lots of family there.  We have none in our current city.  We are looking for new opportunities, want to be near family, and ready for a new adventure with our young children.  And as so many others have done on here, if we don't like it, we can always come back.