I'm Marina. San Francisco was my most recent home town in the USA (there have been a few). I'm currently living in London.

1. Why did you move abroad?
I moved abroad when my husband was hired by a company in London. Even though it meant giving up my career as a high school history teacher for a few years, I knew we had to take this opportunity to live abroad. I had always dreamed of traveling around the world, and this was my chance to do that!

2. How do you make a living?
When we first arrived in the UK 2 years ago, I worked full time as an English teacher at a language school in my London neighborhood. Now I work part-time teaching private English lessons, and I fill the rest of my time with freelance writing jobs. I'm lucky that I have the background and skills that I do, as jobs in England are hard to come by these days (particularly if you are foreign).

3. How often do you communicate with home and how?
Skype, texting apps like Kik and Whatsapp, and the app called MagicJack for phone calls. I'm in pretty regular contact with my closest friends and family, but the longer we're away the harder It is to maintain more distant relationships. I didn't expect it to be so difficult with all of the modern technology at my disposal, but as it turns out geography still matters!

4. What's your favorite thing about being an expat in England?
I'm in London, so my favorite thing is having access to 5 airports and a lot of budget airlines! England really is at the doorstep to continental Europe, so it affords us a lot of really great travel opportunities. I also love that my husband has five weeks of paid holiday, which allows us to take advantage of those travel opportunities. We always joke that we can never go back to the stifling two weeks of paid vacation in the USA.  

5. What’s the worst thing about being an expat in England?
The weather! I know it's not England's fault, but I miss the California sunshine and the beach. And being a vegetarian, I'm  not a big fan of English cuisine.

6. What do you miss most?
Aside from friends and family, I miss the comfort of being in my own culture. I think a lot of people assume that since we speak the same language that British and American cultures are similar, but there are a lot of differences and I never really feel like I'm completely at home here.

7. What did you do to meet people and integrate in your new home?
I was very lucky to make friends at my first job. Those early friends and acquaintances were invaluable to helping me integrate. I also took advantage of social networking, as well as meet up sites like Internations and Meetup.com. I've also met a few friends through blogging. Travel/Expat bloggers are a friendly bunch!

8. What custom/ habits do you find most strange about your adopted culture?
One thing that drives me crazy is that most people in Britain don't use clothes dryers. Obviously you can't hang your clothes outdoors for most of the year here, so people hang their laundry to dry indoors. It takes forever and feels so tedious to me, but it's just the way they do it. I've learned from living abroad that I have to stop comparing cultures and norms and just accept that things are different sometimes (although if someone gave me a dryer I'd probably cry tears of joy).

9. What is a myth about your adopted country?
One thing that makes me laugh when we go back to the USA is that our friends and family seem to think everyone we interact with here is either prim and proper like Kate Middleton or goofy like Michael Palin or Ricky Gervais. Of course, English manners and sense of humor are very real things, but 99% of people don't fit those exact stereotypes (just like all Americans aren't a certain way).

10. Is the cost of living higher or lower than the last country you lived in and how has that made a difference in your life?
The cost of living is a lot higher. We have eliminated a lot of the extra expenses in our lives. For example, we canceled cable and now rely solely on the Internet for TV.

11. What advice would you give other expats?
I think it's easy to get excited about the fun aspects of living abroad, but it's important to really think it through before you take the leap and relocate. For example, we thought we'd only be away for 2 years, but my husband's job is going well and now we are staying for an undetermined length of time. You never know what's going to happen and you have to prepare yourself for a lot of emotional and financial sacrifices. I think future expats need to do an honest assessment of how well they handle stress and change, as well as how well they handle loneliness and how much they feel the need to fit in. I've learned a lot about myself from living abroad, and I've definitely toughened up over time, but it hasn't been easy! I think it's been much easier for my friends who expatriated for a finite length of time because they knew all of the adjustments they had to make were temporary, so it all depends on each individual situation and outlook.    

12. When and why did you start your blog?
I started my blog to keep in touch with friends and family at home, and then I kept it up because I realized I that I really enjoyed the writing process. I'm still learning the ins and outs of blogging, but I get a lot out of it. I'm also happy to have a record of our trips and experiences. It's fun to look back and see everything we've done over the past two years. It's a great reminder why we expatriated and how lucky I am to have had so many travel adventures.

Marina's blog, Hercules Gets A Passport

  Find out more about being an expat in the UK with Easy Expat's

London Guide

To be considered for an interview (as well as other articles), add your blog to BlogExpat!

Recommended Partners