Amy lives with her husband in Devon, England, where she's working on her costume design business. Living in England can be expensive, but she feels more at home there than when she goes back to visit family in the USA. Read her thoughts on expat life topics like UK English, the price of housing, and British humour.	Amy

-Where were you born?
Watsonville, California, USA (about an hour and a half south of San Francisco) but I grew up in Santa Cruz, the next town over.

-In which country and city are you living now?
Just outside of Plymouth, in South West England

-Are you living alone or with your family?
I live with my husband, and we are currently house-sharing with 2 friends.

-How long have you been living in England?
I came over for the first time in 1998, so (not counting the times I had to return to the US for University or visa reasons) I have been here almost 9 years.

-What is your age?
I am 28.

-When did you come up with the idea of living in England?
I have always been fascinated with the idea of the UK – I was obsessed with reading British authors and watching British TV when I was younger. When I came over for the very first time it was to study Textile Design at the University of Leeds.

-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?
Coming to study, the visa was pretty straightforward – I could be here for a year, could work part-time (which of course I didn't!) and I could study. Coming back after university was trickier – I first came back on a BUNAC work visa (you have to be within 6 months of having graduated but you get free rein to work wherever in the UK you can find a job) and then the next time was on a fiancée visa, which took a LOT more legal wrangling and paperwork and meant leaving the country for completion.

-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?
I didn't really think about it at the time (was banking on not getting sick!) but when I got tonsillitis as a student it was pretty scary. Luckily I was covered by the NHS, and they took good care of me. There is insurance for things that the NHS doesn't cover, like dental work and alternative therapies, and they tend to be pretty straightforward to get, though more expensive.

-How do you make your living in England? Do you have any type of income generated?
The first job I ever had in the UK (when I was on the BUNAC visa) was for the City Council Benefits Agency. I got it through a job agency once I was here and did it for about 6 months. It was terrible – badly paid, low staff morale, and threats of violence on a daily basis! I took it because I didn’t feel I knew enough about the system to find anything better at the time. For the next few years I worked as a professional secretarial temp – moving between 2 countries meant I couldn't really have a permanent job and constantly waiting for a visa to come through meant that I couldn't give any guarantees of how long I could stay. I didn’t pre-arrange any work, but trusted the agencies to find me something once I was in a particular place. After I was married, I had to apply for a work permit (I legally wasn't allowed to work in the run-up to the wedding) and then I ended up as a recruitment consultant for the same agency that had originally given me the City Council Job. Since then, I worked my way out of recruitment and into the public sector, spending time as a Volunteer Counsellor and (paid) administrator for a national children's charity, and I now work part-time as an arts administrator/project coordinator and I am working on my own business start-up (costume design and alterations for private clients).

-Do you speak the local language and do you think it's important to speak the local language?
Well, I thought I spoke the language! There is actually a whole world of difference between English spoken in the UK and English spoken in the US. On the surface it seems to be the same, but grammar, pronunciation and regional dialects all make for translation issues. When I first moved here I was very conscious of the stereotypes of rude American tourists and so I deliberately spoke more softly and politely than I normally would. Years later it is a learned habit, and it is only if I am tired, drunk or particularly annoyed that the Loud American comes out. There are trans-Atlantic differences for the same words – I say 'pavement' now instead of 'sidewalk' because it's easier and (I admit) I was trying to blend in. My accent and manner of speaking is always going to set me apart as a stranger, it is just a question of where people think I am from! I have been mistaken for Irish and Canadian, usually before I am pegged as being from the US. I thought my accent had changed dramatically but recently heard a recording of myself speaking and it’s just as broad as ever!

-Do you miss home and family sometimes?
In the back of my mind I am always homesick, but I realise now that it is for a place that does not exist anymore. When my husband and I go back to California to visit I find that it is a surreal and alien place now – it looks and smells and tastes like home, but I forget which way to look when crossing the street and I am surprised to have tax added to my purchases. For all intents and purposes I have lived here since I was 19, so I have kind of 'grown up' in the UK. I miss doing things with my family, going to lunch, or shopping, goofing around with my brothers. We talk online all the time though, and I feel like we all have a very close relationship. My moving was traumatic for them, but I think in the end it was a very positive thing – my mom has a passport now, and has travelled in Europe, which is something she may never have done without the incentive of coming to see me!

On a very tangible level, I miss the food. I can get quite a lot of things here, but the experience of sitting down in a café and ordering just one (huge) pancake is not something I have been able to replicate in the UK. I used to love going into the local Coffee Roasting Company and ordering some new and exotic blend, and that is not something that I can really do here – Starbucks doesn't fill the same need!

I grew up in Santa Cruz, near the beach, and living in landlocked Leeds, that was something that I really missed. I don't tan and never learned to surf and yet it turns out that just being near the sea is a very comforting thing…hence the move down to Devon!

-Do you have other plans for the future?
I am working on starting my own costume design and alterations business, and would really like to do some more travelling. My husband keeps promising to take me to Paris one of these days…

-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?
We owned a house in Leeds and sold it when we moved down to Devon. It was a 2-bedroom semi-detached (townhouse) and we paid £75,000 for it in 2003 (just about $152,000) and sold it for £123,500 ($250,000) earlier this year. House prices are becoming a huge political and economic issue here and we probably will not be able to afford another place until something drastic happens with the market. We have also moved to a far more expensive part of the country, so renting will be on the cards for a good while.

-What is the cost of living in England?
I think it is an expensive place to live, but then again I am always thinking in terms of both pounds and dollars – I can't seem to get out of the habit of converting currency in my head. Some international shops have the same prices in both countries – a pair of jeans in the Gap will be £39.99 in Britain, $39.99 in the US – the difference is that I am paying almost twice as much for the same thing. Then again, I am earning pounds rather than dollars so it's all relative.

-What do you think about the British?
On the whole, I have been treated with respect and curiosity. Nearly everyone that I meet (and have met, for the last 9 years) wants to know why I would leave California for the UK. (Came for University, fell in love, the rest is history!) Britain has an extremely diverse population packed into a VERY small area and there will always be people who have values and beliefs that are different to mine. Part of the reason I love living here is that I get to have some sort of cultural exchange on a near-daily basis. I long ago gave up being annoyed that people asked me questions about myself, and accepted it as just the way life is. If I were to move back to the US, I would miss being the 'different' one.

-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in England?
It's not so black-and-white as that, really… On a personal level, I find that the NHS, Yorkshire Puddings and sunset over Dartmoor are all positives, and I am not so keen on racism, football hooligans or the national obesity crisis…

-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in England?
The national sense of humour can be very, very dry. Consider yourself warned!

-Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about England?
*The Expatriotic Expatriot is my own site. Some of it is about being a foreigner and some of it is just about me!
http://bit-of-a-mouthful.blogspot.com/

*Watching the English by Kate Fox is an absolutely fascinating look into "the hidden rules of English behaviour". It is one I have read again and again, and constantly find myself referring to:
http://www.sirc.org/news/watching_the_english.shtml

* BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/