Hi! I'm Ginny Williams, an American by way of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and northern Ohio. I grew up in Lancaster County, PA, went to grad school in Northern VA and lived in Ohio for 13 years before moving to the UK in 2011.

1. Why did you move abroad?
I met my husband in England in 1995 when I was on a 6-month work visa through the BUNAC (British Universities North American Club) program. We were married in the UK in 1996 and lived in Berkshire for just over a year before a company transfer to Ohio, where we intended to stay for 2 years. 13 years, two homes, two kids and two cats later, we moved to southeastern England to be closer to his family and to expand our family's horizons.

2. How do you make a living?
I'm a freelance writer by trade and started out as a proofreader for a publishing company in London. I now do mostly marketing work in the financial services sector but dabble in other forms of writing as well, though I'm currently in the market for a writing/editing job out of the house.

3. How often do you communicate with home and how?
Generally weekly with my parents, via email and phone. Facebook has been invaluable in helping me to keep in touch with friends and family in various places--though sometimes it makes me more aware of what I'm missing.

4. What's your favorite thing about being an expat in England?
When the sun is shining (which it does not do often enough!) it's a really beautiful country, and I love the sense of history that's everywhere here. I also really like being so close to the Continent, especially as we live near the train and ferry links to France and can be in France in about an hour. We're also close to London and all the museums, galleries, shows and fun the city has to offer. I still can't quite believe I can go to France for the day, if I want to, or even Belgium.

5. What’s the worst thing about being an expat in England?
Something that comes to mind is getting school places for our kids. There's an application system here, and no guarantee that your child will get into their local school, which makes no sense to me. I spent the first year here driving our youngest to a school several miles away, and neither one of us was happy. Schools ranked as good our outstanding by the government schools regulator are difficult to get into and most schools don't have any room to expand to take on more students. It's a far cry from our life in Ohio, where you are guaranteed to get into your closest school. We came from an exceptional school system in Ohio, the school was a few blocks away, and we loved everything about it. That's one of the things I miss the most.

6. What do you miss most?
I really miss the sense of community we had in our old neighborhood--and I'm not sure if not finding that is down to where we live or something else I don't understand about British culture. Maybe it just takes longer to integrate here than it did there.

7. What did you do to meet people and integrate in your new home?
I've relied rather heavily on meeting people at the school gates, but I find the most effective way to meet people is to join things, like a fitness bootcamp I now do twice a week. Because my husband is British and we frequently traveled to the UK, I was familiar with most aspects of living here. Plus, since I'd lived here before, it didn't take long to get used to things like driving on the other side of the road again, but I think having kids this time around made it harder for me because I was so anxious to find activities and friends for them that I didn't focus much on finding things for myself. We do try to explore a lot, go to new places and have days out as a family, but that has tapered off a bit in the past year.

8. What custom/ habits do you find most strange about your adopted culture?
There isn't anything, at least anymore, that I find all that strange--I have been married to a Brit for 18 years, after all! I don't understand the lack of electrical outlets in bathrooms, other than outlets for electric shavers. Yes, voltage here is higher than US voltage (220 vs 120, I believe) but why can't I have an outlet in the bathroom? I also don't understand why I have two separate taps, one for hot and one for cold water, in my bathroom sink. I want to mix them to make a nice warm water, and I can't do that. It's the little things, right?

9. What is a myth about your adopted country?
Probably that the English are very reserved and proper. They are reserved, but their sense of humor is wicked! They come out with things I can't imagine many Americans saying, their sense of humor can be quite naughty and the advertisements I see in public for things would never be shown in the States. I've got a photo of an ad for erectile dysfunction seen on the train I've been meaning to post on my blog but I haven't yet had the nerve.

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 much higher--at least 3 times as much, possibly higher when it comes to housing. A nice, affordable house in Ohio would cost about half a million pounds here. Jobs pay less, plus my husband has to pay a hefty fee for his annual train pass to his job in London, fuel is more expensive--England, especially the Southeast, where we live, is not an easy place to get by in! We have less disposable income but we knew that would be the case before we moved. We have to watch our pennies much more carefully, and it means we aren't able to travel across Europe as much as we would like, or go out to eat as much, but these things are pretty minor.

11. What advice would you give other expats?
Do a lot of planning before you move, secure a job (we moved over without either one of us having employment and it took nearly 6 months before my husband was employed again. Even though we had planned and saved for this possibility, it was a nerve-wracking time). Look carefully at where you think you might want to live, visit schools and neighborhoods, price housing, find out how much it costs to live in your chosen area. Do a mock budget. Find out as much as you can and think really hard about how it's going to work and how you can best make the transition. It sounds romantic and exciting, but as a Brit would say, "It's bloody hard work!"

12. When and why did you start your blog?
I started my blog a few months before we moved because I wanted a way to chronicle our journey from one country to another as well as a way to keep friends and family up-to-date with our adventures and misadventures. In a sense, I hoped to keep my friends and family feeling like we were still connected, that they were still part of our day-to-day lives somehow. Hopefully I've succeeded just a little bit in doing that.

Ginny's blog, Expatrimummy

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