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Reply to "I'm living abroad in the UK and I hate it."
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, let me give you a different perspective which is in line with much of what you say. I am British and moved to the US several decades ago after being given an offer that I could not refuse! I was supposed to stay for just a couple of years but my employer said they would help me get a green card, retained an immigration lawyer on my behalf and after a couple of years I was given a green card and subsequently became a citizen. The different perspective I referred to above: the culture shock I went through was just how service oriented businesses are in the US, how polite people are especially at department stores and restaurants and just about any type of business. I found Americans I worked with to be friendly and had no hesitation in inviting me to a bbq at their house, etc. It really was quite amazing how welcoming they were. One thing that may have helped me is that Americans generally are Anglophiles and my very English accent went down well - though today my accent is probably a mix of American and English. When I visit England I am told I have an American accent and over here they tell me that I have a British accent. But a British accent really has helped me both at work and socially though - unlike many of my compatriots - I never go on about how great life was in the UK, because quite frankly, I enjoy a far higher standard of living here than I did there. This higher standard of living applies to so many facets of life some of them you have named: a/c, central heating, the cost of living, etc. My final comment pertains to health care. I am entirely familiar with the NHS and I will tell you that for someone who does not have any insurance or has inadequate insurance, there is nothing better than the NHS but for those who do have good insurance in the US, the overall standard of medical care especially if you are hospitalized is way better here.It is still the norm in much of the UK under NHS to end up in a ward if you are hospitalized - as opposed to a private or semi-private room here! I can give you specific instances of relatives who went through endless waits for relatively routine procedures eg knee replacements and pretty much any elective surgery. But the point that will best illustrate the NHS scene is that the most sought after employee benefit in the UK is private insurance - which would hardly be the case if the NHS was all that it was made out to be by some over there and here. This is not to say that health care here does not need reform because it does. So, I am one grateful person and my decision to emigrate and settle down in the US is one of the best decisions that I ever made. BTW, when I was looking at moving here permanently relatives and friends were horrified and the disparaging comments about the US and Americans were relentless. To this day when I tell people there about how life in the US is good, there is an attitude of disbelief but then the British generally react disparagingly about other nationalities as well with the French and Germans getting the brunt of the criticism - though not nearly as much as Americans.[/quote] This is all a wonderful read and so elucidating and helpful. Thank you so much for giving your perspective, which seems much more informed than most of the posters here. It was really interesting to read. I was wondering... do you have any idea why the British have more dislike for Americans over other nationalities? It does seem strange to me since most Americans, as you said, quite like the British. [/quote] OP, let me offer you a couple of other thoughts on why the British - and English especially - react the way they do to Americans. A fellow Brit said that at a basic level there is an element of jealousy that the US is the predominant economic and military power in the world - though it is a position that is being increasingly challenged especially in terms of economic dominance. In many of what were the former British colonies, there was an attitude among the people in those countries that looked up to the British - that has pretty much disappeared. The country that has the most influence over these former British colonies is now the US. Keep in mind that barely 60 years ago, the British ruled supreme over much of the world - a position that has diminished to the point of non-existence today. British education and values were looked up to but that is not the case any more - and that is not to knock the British education system which is still excellent. Most older Brits remember those heady times though the younger generation have grown up in an environment where Britain's role as a colonial power is something that is not a factor. The class system is no longer as dominant as it used to be but there are still vestiges of it to this day. In this context, the Americans are viewed as being part of the nouveau rich - people with new found wealth but not much in the way of "breeding" as the British used to call it. The "browning" of America that is causing so much angst among some Americans today is something the British went through a few decades ago. In many ways Americans are more receptive to that change than were the British when it started to happen. You saw this in the British government's attitude to regimes abroad that proudly proclaimed their superiority because they were controlled by whites - I am thinking of South Africa under apartheid and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) which unilaterally declared independence and installed a government that was controlled by white settlers. British governments all the way to Margaret Thatcher were sympathetic to those white dominated regimes - and this was not so long ago. [/quote] Much of what you wrote reads like a commentary by a 18 year old kid whose knowledge of history and world politics is gained mostly from third rate blogs. [/quote] DP here. I lived in the UK for 12 years and PP is spot-on. There is definitely a bit of insecurity/envy among the Brits. This explains why so many of them are rude.[/quote]
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