Hello,
I have lived in the United Kingdom since 1999, even though I was lucky enough to live in NYC for three years in between. I am now a Canadian PR and I can give you some pointers about the UK as I cannot wait to get out of here in just a few months when my work projects are done and I can trasnfer there. In one line: 'I do not even want to transfer through the UK anymore'... but I will be fair and tell you what I think is positive and what I think is negative:
Negative:
- The level of violence has been getting so much worse. I cannot even go out at night in London without the thought that there is a possibility that I am going to be stabbed by a 16-year old.
- British people are always unhappy, there is no happiness in the streets. Everyone seems moody and grumpy, unless they are drunk and totally fake. Unfortunately, this is very contagious and I feel like my personality has become very grey since I moved here.
- A very important thing, is that unless you are British, you will never be able to call this land your home. They will never see you as one of them, and the levels of integration are awful. I felt like nobody could claim being American or Canadian because they are new countries. If you do not look English or speak like them, then they will never consider you one of them, which makes it very difficult for me to be proud about this country.
- In England, you need to queue for everything, and everywhere is crowded, not just a little crowded but very crowded, even jails. Yesterday, it took me 2 hours to do 30 miles in the city; I could have chosen to travel by Underground, but most lines were delayed or down due to signal failures, which leads me to the next point...
- The UK is not a modern country (even though they think that everything outside of Britain is Third World). I always love to go to Spain because we have evolved and become modern, we do not rely on Victorian faucets, rails, houses, pipelines... the public transportation moves as fast as my apartment, but at least my apartment is not crowded.
- Weather weather weather. I am not going to live in Calgary because I need to be in Ontario close to my in-law family in NY state, but I will take a freezing sunny day over the endless days of cloudiness in the UK. I call it the land of the eternal summer, there is barely a difference in weather between January and July (unless we are having a freaky year). Like the English say, this year Summer fell on a Thursday. It is very very sad. I need seasons: Cold and snow in Winter and Heat and sun in the Summer.
-Cost of living is outrageous. You will need to settle for things you do not even like such as the home you buy or the apartment you rent.
- There are many more but it could get personal so I think I will stop here and move onto the positives.
Positive:
- Travelling is cheap and easy because London is a major hub (so it is easy to escape). We have travelled all over Europe and North Africa and you can do that during a long weekend if you want.
- Employment law here is great! you are very protected and you get a lot more than you do in Canada in terms of holidays, maternity, getting laid off, notices and so on. That is the thing that I will definitely miss from Europe in general I think. The recruitment process is easy and employers are aware of international papers and work experience.
- If you do not like the cold or the heat, then come here
- The NHS is much better than people say, althogh I hear it depends on your council, but I have not had to wait very much for anything and my doctors are mostly available.
If you have questions, please feel free to ask.
