Guest column: Trading peaches for pints

Published 4:00 pm Monday, October 14, 2019

London hosts numerous U.S. expatriates, yet not many of them are from the state of Georgia. As a former resident of Tifton, I can offer an interesting perspective on the move from the Peach State to The Big Smoke.

Having moved to London from Georgia in October 2017, I experienced first-hand the pros and cons of moving to and living in London.

As a masters degree student at Richmond, The American International University in London, I embraced the culture when I moved to London. What I got in return was quite a bit of culture shock.

English is not always English. Common things have unusual names, like a zucchini is called a courgette. Drinking a pint every day after work is a big part of the British culture.

There is a lot of knife crime in London: 14,733 knife crime/sharp instrument incidents were reported in 2017/18. Oven settings are strange and there are about 10 of them. There are no air conditioners (but you don’t really need them here), clothes dryers or grape jelly. Well, there are clothes dryers but they are quite different than in Georgia and not very common in a flat.

In the 2016-2017 academic year, more than 6,165 students from Georgia came to Europe to study. In 2017, the UK issued 13,820 work visas for Americans. I was an exception because I was not only a student, but a permanent resident who could work without a visa sponsorship unlike my classmates.

The majority of students and expatriates do not expect to have culture shock since both countries speak English. What is the phrase? The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language. I believe it was George Barnard Shaw and Oscar Wilde who both coined that phrase. I found out how true that was and how different the countries really are.

Living, studying, and working in London is not what you’d expect. I miss the small town feel where people actually stop, look you in the eye, and say hello. You just don’t get that here. People are always in a hurry. They won’t look at you and won’t talk to you on the Tube either.

I don’t miss the hot summers though because summers in London are very mild. I am also completing an internship, but I think London is a game-changer in the professional sense.

I received a BA from West Georgia College in 1993 but had a paralegal career for the past 15 years. I will complete my MA in September.