It has been one year since Ryan and I moved to London! Ok, so I went back to the US for a little bit, but Ryan has been working here for one year and we’ve had a London address for one year. My first post about London was last year on March 9. It feels like the move was so long ago, but also like this last year has flown by. We’ve been expats for one year, and we’ve signed on to stay for another.

This time last year, I was terrified about our move. Was Ryan going to like his job? Were we going to drive each other nuts? Would I find a job? Would we make friends? Would be able to make it in a brand new place so far from home? When we first arrived everything was overwhelming because we didn’t know how to do anything. We shared one mobile phone and struggled to make appointments to open a bank accounts, look at flats, and set up our cable and internet. I still remember being so embarrassed as I tried to pay for a coffee and couldn’t figure out which coins to use and then dropped everything on the floor. Everything felt hard and new, scary and exciting.

Today I feel so proud of us. We were able to uproot our whole lives and set up something lovely across an ocean. It feels like we really live here and that London is a home for us. Ryan really enjoys his job and I was able to find something full-time, fun, and in my field. Now when we cross the street, we look for cars driving on the left instead of the right. We know which coins are which. We can find our way around parts of London and don’t have to look at the map. We have friends, favorite restaurants, and we’ve traveled.

One of the best things about living here is learning and experiencing a new culture. It’s been great trying new foods like savory pie, or visiting thousand year old castles, and pulling a Christmas cracker for the first time. But I especially like the differences in language. When we moved here everyone said, “at least they speak the same language.” And sure, it helped to move here and be able to communicate. However, there are so many differences and every week someone at work says a word I’ve never heard before.

Now, Ryan and I haven’t gone totally native. We don’t have accents but we have adopted some words and phrases. Ryan says thinks like “speak soon,” instead of talk to you later. I say things like, “let’s take the lift,” instead of taking the elevator. So, to celebrate our one year anniversary, I wanted to share a list of 100 American to English translations that I’ve learned this year. The list isn’t perfect and maybe not accurate 100% of the time – but it’s true to my experience. And now let’s get on with the list (which fyi, is in no particular order). If you want to see what else we’ve been doing since moving to London, you can find it all here.

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