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First impressions of living in the South

2009 April 5
tags: , , , , ,
by yankeebean

yankeebeanI’ve now lived in the South of England for about 2 glorious-sun-filled-but-lonely-for-my-York-people weeks.  Now that the ‘moving’ exhaustion, muscle strain and caffeine/sugar coma have subsided – I think it’s starting to sink in that I live here now.  That’s good… because I do…

So what are the differences that I’ve noticed so far?

  1. More sun! – I’m sure this has a lot to do with the fact that we just left a York Winter for a Southern Spring, but statistically we’re living in the sunniest city in England and it’s FREAKING HEAVEN!!  Almost every day we wake up to the sun – or if we wake up to the rain, half the time it burns off to a sunny afternoon.  It is, in a word, AWESOME…
  2. Bzzzzzzzzzz – The buzz here rocks my world.  It feels like there’s so much going on and, even if I decide to stay home and read, I can still FEEL the buzz (in a good way – not in a distracting way).
  3. Neutral territory – My husband, Mr. Nice Guy, and I had the ‘where should we live’ debate when we were coming to the end of our long-distance relationship.  I move to York initially because that’s where he lived and it was easier for me to go through the immigration process here than vice-versa.  But it was tricky moving into ‘his world’ where he already knew his way around and also had an established set of friends that I had to ‘slot into’.  It took a long time for me to feel comfortable there.  But the South means a clean slate for the both of us and it’s ‘our place’ instead of just his or mine.  It’s been awesome exploring a new place with Mr. Nice Guy and I can already feel that it was the right thing for us.  Woop!
  4. There is no place, there’s only people – My biggest complaint about the South is that all the people that I love didn’t move here, too.  Despite all my campaigning and coercing, not one single person packed up their stuff and piled into the moving van with us.  I’m definitely missing everyone already – especially my fellow American ladies – and I keep reading the ‘meeting new people‘ blog entry to motivate myself to ‘get out there’ and get started.

These are just the initial thoughts about the South vs. North from my POV – oh and I think I prefer the Yorkshire accent :)

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  • http://notfromaroundhere.wordpress.com NFAH

    But there are plenty of us friendly American ladies living in the south–I think it’s time to start planning an expat blogger meet-up of some sort…

  • http://www.shesnotfromyorkshire.com peacefulyorkshire

    There is this huge divide inthe UK between Southerners and Northerners, despite the UK fitting into the state of Oregon. Would love to know if you have felt any “cultural” or “social” differences living down South?

  • JP

    I’m jealous. I just sorted out another expensive visa (which they overcharged me by over $200, but that’s a whole different story) and will be returning to York. I was really really really hoping the hubby could find a job down south for us to relocate to. I’ve been waiting in Arizona for my visa and got used to the sunny warm weather again. I’m dreading the rain and cold at the moment.

  • lilibet

    York is gorgeous. Husband went to “Uni” there. But the south is the place to live, methinks.

  • Steve Shawcross

    The divide between northern and southern England comes from tribal roots, when Vikings ruled northern England and Anglo-Saxons controlled the south. I find Nordic people to be exceptionally friendly and down-to-earth, so perhaps that’s why northerners are like they are :)

    Certainly England is much smaller than your average American state; but cultural differences in England are historic,
    and were established long before mass transit or mass communication– when people rarely venture far from their own vicinity. These differences still persist today; despite mass media, motorways and high-speed rail making the country a ‘smaller’ place.

    The other nations of the UK have their own cultures: Scotland has a gruff outlook on life, and Northern Ireland is much akin to the “craic” of the Irish culture of Eire. Channel Islands are very opulent and live the high-life, people on the Isle of Man are laid-back but conservative. The Welsh are… different… ;) (I do like Wales though!)

  • Kim Monroe

    Yankeebean,

    Where do you live in the South? You mention its the sunniest city. I know that Kent is the sunniest county but am curious to see what city you are referring to. Am married to a British man and we’re living in Chicago. We are debating whether we should move to the UK or not. He knows one of my main concerns is sun. I like a lot of it. :)

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