It's official

[Former_Member]

Flights are booked, I'm officially moving to America on 11th January :)

It's been a loooooooooooooooooong process!! We 1st decided to move in September 2009, then after applying for my spouse visa I got cold feet and put it off. My Nan (Grandma) was unwell and I couldn't leave her, so the US embassy gave me until October 2011 to complete everything or just leave it all alone.

I had my medical in April in London, then I had my interview in September just gone, got the green light then and there, got my passport with my visa printed in it about a week later.

So now it's all 100% done :)

When I land, I'll have to fill out MORE paperwork, this time for a green card :) (More money though!! arghhhh, it's cost about $2000 already).

So there you have it, this Brit is officially moving Stateside in less than two months!!!!!! :)

No more London photography :(

[Former_Member]

Wow. BIG move!!! Where are you settling?

[Former_Member]

Terre Haute, Indiana.

I noticed someone else on ETK's from there!!! lol Small world!

[Former_Member]

OMG Terre Haute. I moved to Cincinnati 4 yrs ago from a small town in Illinois just 45 miles from Terre Haute! Have you ever been there?

[Former_Member]

No way!! lol

Yeah I've been there 3 times now. I got married there in 2005 :)

Then we took our son Draven there in 2007 for Christmas, then after Brandon was born we took both boys there for Christmas in 2009 :)

Draven had his 1st words there, Brandon had his 1st Christmas there :)

[Former_Member]

Oh wow, that's exciting!! You and your kids are going to be the most popular people in town, mark my words. Everyone loves a good accent :)

[Former_Member]

lol Rena we get that every time we go, I feel like a famous person "there's the English girl - SPEAK to us!" haha, especially since it's not a tourist area, it never happened in Florida or NYC haha

[Former_Member]

Well you must have family there I assume? That's great that you;ve been and not going to a completely strange place.

[Former_Member]

Yeah my husband's from Terre Haute, we'll be staying with my in laws until we're on our feet :)

[Former_Member]

We go back home a few times a year. hell, we'll have to meet up! If we each drove half way that would be like 20 minutes driving. LOL Look up Danville, Illinois. It's right on the Indiana illinois border

[Former_Member]

Well then he knows of Danville. Holy crikeis! You'll be so close when i visit home!

[Former_Member]

Yeah we should definitely meet up!! haha that would be great!! I will look it up, my husband's probably been, I may have even drove through when we drove to Chicago to get his British Visa years ago lol

[Former_Member]

Chicago is a ways away. like 2 1/2 hrs. Danville is literally on the Indiana Illinois border. As soon as you cross into Illinois from Indiana that is Danville. Ask your hubby. Now if you've been to Champaign Illiniois where the University of Illinois is,, then you drove past Danville to get there.

[Former_Member]

That is too cool! a British teamie moves to the states and will be in close proximity to my hometown! LOL amazing.

[Former_Member]

When are you moving?

[Former_Member]

haha it is really cool! :)

11th January, less than two months!! ARGHHHH I get palpitations thinking about it lol

[Former_Member]

hahahaha - been there Heather. Get used to three questions (I recommend a tape player):

1) I love your accent! Where are you from?

2) How long have you been here?

3) Do you like it?

I generally don't talk much anymore, I hate sticking out.

Eat as many toasties as you can before you leave, they don't make them right here, PG Tips and Barry's are super expensive and I've not found a decent alternative, walkers crisps are non existent, ummm... oh you can get No. 7 ad Boots own brand stuff at Target. If you ask for milk in your coffee or team they will look at you funny, say cream. And Wheelie Bins are called Toters.

^^^things i wish I'd known before I moved here.

[Former_Member]

What's a toter?

[Former_Member]

Maybe that's a rochester thing then - the big garbage cans on wheels what you bring to the curb on garbage day

[Former_Member]

Oh LOL! I just call the big garbage cans! Haha!

[Former_Member]

I wish you luck girly! That's a big move! I hope everything goes smoothly for ya!

[Former_Member]

The only reason I found out they called it a toter was I didn't have one when I moved to this house, so I called the city, and was trying to describe what I was needing, and she said 'Oh! A TOTER!'. It was quite funny as she was having a heck of a time understanding my accent anyhow.

[Former_Member]

Haha! I expierienced something a little similar when I moved from georgia to Pittsburgh. When I would go to a restaurant and ask for sweet tea people always looked at me funny. I went looking for black eyed peas in the grocery store for my new years dinner and the store manager didn't even know what they were. I mean come on!

[christmasangel]

Congratulations! Good luck with the move and resettling :)

[jill2day]

Jenifer, black eyed pea (veggie, not music) and grits should never be allowed north of the Mason Dixie line!!

Our best friends are relocated Brits (30+ years) and they still run into language issues!! But now it is BOTH countries - we Americans love the accent, but their Brit friends say they have an American accent! The funniest was when we were planning our New Years celebration. Usually it is a casual affair, but we wanted to do something special for 2000, so she said we should do "fancy dress" I got so excited, because I never get to "dress up".... it took a couple weeks before we realized she was talking costume and I was talking formal attire!!