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I feel a lot of these things just moving from the North of England to the South. I moved 35 years ago and still regularly get asked where I come from because of my Yorkshire accent. And, then when I go back to visit family in Yorkshire, they say Ive lost my accent and speak 'posh'. It's like I don't belong anywhere anymore. (I prefer it here by the way - my life and friends are here now😊)
Hey Alanna, I hope you realise that after 9 years here, we will not accept you leaving us! Your natural warmth & conversational style is most endearing. Last week walking locally I passed a new hairdressers. Looking in I saw the lady was probably Thai or Filipino, and had no customers. Having spent time in both those countries, and needing a haircut I went in. When I said good morning she bowed slightly, so I knew she was Thai. She did my hair and for nearly an hour we talked about our families & travels. The point is, we British love talking, asking questions, sharing experiences, learning from each other - its in our DNA to question. It's also what you do: "which are the best tasting crsips!" You're one of us now, whether you like it or not! x (you know the rules about ending a message with an 'x', don't you?). If not, ask!
I love this channel's focus on objectivity regarding what it is really like being a foreigner living in the UK. This channel talks about the ups and the downs as they really are, and that's one of many reasons to keep watching these videos!
I’m a 64 year old Irishman and having lived here in the UK for 36 years I’ve lived in Britain longer than Ireland. I can relate to almost all of what you say as regards being a foreigner in another country, and our cultures (UK and Ireland)are very similar and I’m ONLY a couple of hours away from Dublin (good old Ryanair). But as you say you miss weddings,big birthdays, big events as well as deaths, illnesses etc. But after all that I’m glad and proud to call both places home, and regardless of where I am in the world I can say “I’m going home”. Thank you for another excellent video, keep making them I’ll keep watching them.
@@AdventuresAndNaps Yes, please stay. But you're also wrong about having to give up Adventures and Naps if you went back to Canada. You've successfully put together videos on all kinds of subjects in the last 7 years, and that wouldn't stop if you went back. You've already done a few videos on visits to Canada, but you can't possibly have exhausted all you could say, especially if you went on adventures outside southern Ontario. And I'm sure there are many of us who would follow you wherever you went.
Homesickness is a two way street, as parents to our son married, living and working in Austin TX we feel the loss as much. I became a granddad about 10 days ago and we’re getting loads of pictures and videos but it’s not the same. I’m 68 and not fit enough for flying to the USA.
As a Yorkshire man living in England, but outside of Yorkshire, I can relate to most of this too. Keeping it real Alanna, that's whats makes you relatable and affable.
Bought (and ate) my first (and so far only) pack of 6 mince pies from Iceland on the 31st August. I don't see why they're only available 'around' Christmas - I'd eat them all year round.
Joined your channel at around 10,000 subs and I have watched you grow as a person in those years but your personality has never changed you have always been true to yourself! I never thought you would be as funny and honest as you have been and that's what keeps me coming back you've never been boring and for that I salute you o7 lol!
I cannot relate to this as I am totally blessed to have immigrated to British Columbia, Canada 30 years ago, not a day passes that I don't give thanks to God for living in this magnificent country. The reason I can't relate is that my entire family immigrated at the same time, no family left in South Africa. What I can relate to is the 'where you from?" 30 years later and still with the 'accent' I felt really bad one day when a lovely lady asked me where I was from and I unconsciously must have pulled a face, she felt so bad and I was mortified at being mean. I explained I couldn't believe after all these years I still have an accent and that was the reason :) I absolutely LOVE Canada, the people are!!!!! that nice :)
A very heartfelt, informative journey you have told there...Wisdom is not based on age, gender, or money, it comes from experiences, good & bad, thank you for sharing it.🙂
Cool video! Regarding the feeling dumb thing. As a teenager visiting the U.K. for the first time, long before GPS I was lost in London. I asked an old man how to get to Brompton road. He stared hard at me like I was an utter fool and said "Brompton road?!? You're standing on it!" I still feel the cringe...
Not the same thing but when playing in goal for my primary school in the 1980/81 season ( a few short years ago) the PE teacher of the opposing team who was refereeing the game put his hand out to shake mine. I took my glove off and handed it to him before realising that he was trying to shake my hand. He probably forgot it the same day but I have remembered it for a mere forty four years such was the level of embarrassment I felt. Thanks for prompting recall. I should have entered therapy.
Alanna, you have such a mature and wise head on your young shoulders and I for one am glad you have found a comfortable home here in Kent (like me). Regarding the short hours of daylight, it is said that November has no afternoons; it stays morning until 2 pm, then it's night . . .
They didn't tell me that a Canadian would make the UK home and make us Brits enjoy her channel so much, it must be really tough leaving home and leaving your family and friends behind, ages ago I spent a week in hospital and I missed everyone back home and they were only six miles away, god knows what it must be like when your loved ones are thousands of miles away, so pleased you stuck it out and made the UK your second home🏴🇨🇦🏴
I'd say that first line was a bit more brutal than humorous, so I'm glad you added a qualifier at the end. Especially as it didn't fit with the tone of the rest of your post. Alanna isn't going anywhere, we'll make sure of that. "One of us, one of us, one of us, one of us...." 🙂
@@RockyBobbieBuster Cool. I wasn't expecting you to change it but it's good that you did. It clearly wasn't your intention to come off that way but I figured it was worth mentioning how it initially read to me. 🙂
Ha! Buses! I remember when I came here from Canada in the mid 80's I was very "shy" as they used to call it (now I could admit I had sometimes serious anxiety). One stupid symptom was down to request stops in London where you had to wave to the driver of an approaching bus if you wanted it to stop to pick you up. I don't know exactly why but it took a little while before I could bring myself to do it and instead I would walk along, however far, to the next proper stop (where all the buses stopped no matter what). Idiotic, but eventually empowering when I got my confidence up.
Lost count of the number of times that 'See GM' was written beside my signing on space on the signing on sheet, my conductor and I were often pulled in for not stopping at a white fare stage stop. My conductor would often ring me through a fare stage (three bells) if no one was alighting or standing at the bus stop, totally against the rules no matter how late we were running. How were we to know the person sheltering under a shop awning and looking in the shop window was waiting for a bus? Emerging as drove past giving a V sign, another 2 or 3 buses usually just behind. My argument was if waiting for a bus then stand at the bus stop.
Great video as usual Alanna, I hope you no longer feel guilty about moving now and have no regrets doing so as you seem very happy here. Fingers crossed you find that new house you are looking for so you can finally get a dog. Then you will know you are truly home. 🐶🏠👧☺
As a Brit born in London and having moved to the USA at age 47, i can totally relate to the feelings you mentioned. I miss my life in England, but the USA is now my home. Thanks for sharing
It is probably a bit late now, but being in a foreign country one of the things I found useful was, if in doubt ask. Guess what if you feel embarrassed within about 5 minutes the person you asked has forgotten all about you.
I'm English living in Sweden. I work in IT for international companies, so the business language is usually English, plus the Swedes are generally excellent at speaking English. That makes it so much harder to learn the local language .. and yet I still want/need to since virtually everything online/written is in Swedish, and I still encounter a lot of people whose English is poor. At least you've not had that to worry about - language makes life so much more difficult/stressful!
It's always fascinating when you go deep on your experiences - I imagine you have helped many people over the length of your stay without even realising it as they absorb your lived experience & the wisdom you have gathered. For what it's worth you have bigger balls than myself - much as I like to visit foreign climes I'm very much a 'turn up, absorb some local culture, scuttle off back home' type of person. Love your stuff, keep up the good work. Love & Kisses from God's own backyard (Shropshire)
Don’t rule out the possibilty that distance could become a good thing. I’m left the UK decades ago and am on Vancouver Island. My eldest sister left the UK decades ago and lived in Mozambique. Then she got hit with cancer. She had to go back to the UK for treatment for a year - to be treated by the NHS, she had to divest herself of everything in Mozambique. She didn’t enjoy being in the UK again and being given a limited time, left and moved to Tanzania. Her real home was Mozambique, but having lost everything there chose to go to Tanzania, where she vaguely knew a few people.- unfortunately Covid hit just after she arrived, so most people she knew fled. She stayed. She did have a few friends around, but the thing with cancer, is that the days can be fine, while the nightimes can be lonely. Just you and your fears and concerns etc. But throughout those years I was always 8/9 hours behind her. So when it was nighttime where she was, it was daytime where I was. Across those years until she died, I have absolutely no doubt that she and I spent more time 'together' than we ever had in person, and i spent more time with her than anybody. If I had been in the same time zone it would have been impossible. I hope you never go through anything quite that bad, but there are definite benefits in distance and time
I had a little taste of home sickness when I worked in Australia for 3 months. It started on the plane out and within a week I thought I was going to have to bail out and go back home. I would spend evenings alone in my apartment crying. During the day I felt physically sick. As time went on, it decreased a bit but would hit me in waves like being smacked around the head. I had an end date so I knew I would be going home. I have no idea how you get through that if there is not necessarily an end point. Props to you.
Great video. I don't think anyone who's not had that experience can ever *really* know what it feels like, but it's important, and your descriptions are so vivid and immediate it goes a long way towards conveying the experience. Kind of you to share your inner thoughts on this
As a near 60 year old. I had to go abroad to the Netherlands to work as an engineer , after applying for over 300 jobs in the UK. I much later found I was turned down because I was more qualified than the person running the job ad. And with a wife and kids at home in Wales yes I got homesick too.
I am mortified that you have felt uncomfortable, at any time during your time with us. Do not feel dumb. We have been suffering the pomposity of the middle classes for years. Most of us have learned the sport of putting these arrogant fools back in their boxes. Your videos show you to be a charming person. I'm sure your viewers, myself included, wants you to stay. Those fools who say. "I'm so sorry." Are pompous. They are implying that you are somehow lacking. They are doing that passively so, I would intuit that they are people from amongst our, not so wonderful, plumbies. They are what they are.
Thanks for being open about how things have been for you as an ex-pat. As I have said earlier in comments I too am an ex-pat but in the other direction = leaving the UK as a 23 year old heading to Canada. But what struck me with your vlog here is that it was all so different for me and many of the issues you felt, I did not feel at all. Homesickness was very minor for me as my personality is not one that needs many other folks around - such as family or friends. I treated my appearance in Canada with excitement and thinking about how much fun it was going to be by being somewhere else with all those new things to learn. Kind of like learning to ride a bike when you are young - walking done - now riding with all those new places to visit. So you are right that it is a selfish things as I don't doubt my parents felt quite different! I settled in very quickly as a graduate student so there was some instant stability which helped with being so new to Canada. I also had my research for my PhD to do which consumed a huge amount of time and concentration. So maybe that was something many ex-pats might not have to take their minds off other issues. Now I am an ex-pat for over 50 years and I am in the situation of not enjoying the odd visit back to the UK, which has changed so much since I left that it is now a foreign country and quite frankly not one I would want to return to. Those old beautiful houses such as I grew up in are often not very warm with not very reliable infrastructure. My sister's bathroom makes me shudder as the water creeps out of the pipes often with considerable noise and she cannot afford to heat her home on cold and dreary days! Then the garden tends to get hopelessly overgrown and it is hard for her at her age to get anyone to come as a gardener. But we do keep in touch through Skype regularly. So I do think that everyone experiences many different things that cause issues when you are an ex-pat but it is hard to generalise as it depends on your personality to a high degree and the specifics of your situation. What I would say to anyone who is thinking about moving to live in another country is to do some preparation ahead of time , and there are so many TH-cam videos these days that were not available to those oldsters like me when we emigrated. Then be prepared to change and not hold on to too many characteristics of your first homeland - instead revel in all the new experiences you will have in your new land. Every place you live has pros and cons but focus on the pros and just take the cons as they come and get used to them I suppose!
i love most of your video's including the solo days out, but this is among the best and to a degree I can associate with some of it. But your not a foreigner I hear people say. True but I am a southerner living in Yorkshire and you can feel very foreign when that happens. I cannot ever imagine living in London again but you can get bigger places and a backyard up here :)
Your comments on guilt really surprised me. I was born in England although I grew up in Canada. I have lived on every coast here - all three of them! I have never felt guilty at all, in fact that comment really surprised me. If you're aware you, there's no need to feel guilty!
Of course, we each have different experiences when living as an expat anywhere. The cultural adjustment when I studied in the UK as a preteen, and in Canada as an undergrad wasn't too difficult. However, my times working in HK, Kenya, and Germany made cultural adjustment far more daunting. The worst, however, was my six yrs in the US - a place unlike any other on Earth, thank God! Homesickness, though, not so much now that I've been away almost all of the past 65 yrs. 😅
I have no clue how to get bus tickets for my city in Ontario 🤣 Never been on one here. I did take one or two when I was in university though, so about 20 years ago. I'm glad you've never sugar coated your life in the UK. On a much smaller scale, I remember even feeling a bit different when I'd come back to my parents house after the uni school year for the summer. I was used to being "on my own" (I did have roommates at uni) but it was like oh yeah, back to living with Mum and Dad and their house rules, etc. Hang on to that annual leave for as long as you can!!!! (I am lucky and have 5 weeks)
My family emigrated in 60s to New Zealand, we had family there but we were missing our English family, it was like being pulled two ways 😢 We came back to London after 5 years when I was 12. Culture shock !! No beach on doorstep. Not so much freedom.😮 I am in Eastbourne now.
I'm sooooooo unhappy that you didn't feel at home when you came to Britain and felt Lost (I've had that same feeling when abroad ) ................ However I am now pleased that you feel at HOME now
Proud of you for being able to move to another country, away from family and friends. I'm not ashamed to say that I hate being outside of a reasonable walking distance from my parents, I did it once last year, and lasted 6 months.
Im not sure Id suffer homesickness from the result of my first ever 3months away from home, going to Polytechnic in London(1977). I came back 3months later to find some thought me dead as Id not written or phoned! Time flew, everything was a world away from small town Suffolk and I just didnt notice. I think part of this was what to say and we had only got a phone in the house and I was afraid to use it lol. How times have changed. p.s. when I went back for second term, I was given some prewritten/stamped postcards to send at regular intervals, how embarrassing.
For the price of a two bedroom flat in Kent you can get a three bedroom semi detached house in Greater Manchester….with a garden…front and back…and a garage. Just saying…
When people ask me where I am from I think to myself, should I give them the name of the village I live in, the county, the position relative to London or just the country. That is why I usually keep my mouth shut when visiting family in Canada or the USA. I just let my relatives do the talking.
Mince pies? Is this an up coming taste test? If not, why not? Good video, Its good for people to understand how difficult that kind of move is, the simple things different foods, customs, then most difficult, learning a new language. Well done.
Mother nature doesn't put up borders, only men do that. I have a friend who is Canadian, I also have a friend from New York. They have learned that home is where the heart is, and their heart is here in the UK.
I remember getting an email from my student goddaughter telling me how adult she felt, going to a travel agent, buying an airline ticket to visit a friend in Georgia and flying off on her own. She ended it with "Thanks for giving me the money".
I love your vlogs. Find them very interesting. In 2018 my late wife and I, flew to Vancouver. Had a few days there also visited Vancouver Island. Then travelled to Halifax by various trains, with a number of stopovers. We found the people so friendly. Toronto was a bit hectic and Niagara Falls was a bit like Blackpool on Steroids. Too tacky for me. Other than that couldn't fault it. Alana perhaps you should try doing the journey. .
Alanna, sweetheart, the aches surrounding being away from home are not nearly so bad as the loss of a family member! It is a similar feeling but when you lose someone, oh my! As for being in a strange place….hell girl, that’s the excitement!! Woo hoo! You have a mouth, you speak a similar language, just ask! That’s how humanity learns. You’ll get it. No worries. Jeff
I’m glad that you are going to be honest. I’m tired of people moving abroad and realizing that where they’re from all of a sudden is trash and now that they’re wherever it’s wonderful and so much better than where they’re from. I’m not saying that it can’t be wonderful but you don’t have to trash where you’re from.
It's worth noting that her experience of getting here then applying for many jobs is only one way of moving abroad and typically one that is only available to young people (depending on the countries involved young may mean up to 35). Another common way is to get a job first that would qualify you for a Tier 2 - Skilled Worker visa and then get said visa with the support of your new employer before leaving home. Frankly, I would strongly encourage this route or at least having a job lined up before moving overseas.
As a professional Brit in Southampton (not a shit hole, dont believe the medias lies. its better than Portsmouth at least) i feel offended that you say any negatives of our Great country. You just need to watch the British Ambassador Al Murray, who is the best Brit and undoubtably a patriot, and just see his videos on our great victories. on a serious note, i like your videos and appreciate your appretiation of our culture. i dont realise how nice this nation is and our briliant culture, whether you like the politics or not, its nice.
The first time I visited the USA I found myself talking to a couple who had an American (I thought) accent. "Whereabouts in the States are you from?", I asked. "Toronto", came the reply.....
I'm a 70yr old Brit, that is struggling to cope with this, Different YT platform, Please Help, wtf am I not doing, to get back to the ole' YT I thought of as home, I was typing a reply about Alanna's frothy coffee, and I got Crashed, Oh I get it, that was my fault,
This was a cool video Alanna, and rather mature and reflective compared to a lot of your earlier videos. I wondered whether you'd ever been tempted to speak in a 'British' accent to see if you could fool people?
This guilt thing you are talking about, yes It does go away. You have to let it go. You have only one life on this world and you need to own it. You need to live for yourself. I’m an Expat from New York . We moved abroad with the intention of moving back to the states after 2-2 ½ years. But when the time came, I was being offered a fantastic job back at home that would have been great, that was the week 9/11 happened which made my wife and I say Ummm no thanks. Now I’ve been living abroad for nearly 27 years. No guilt. There was a bit when my folks passed on but I went back for the funerals and all. Otherwise I don’t even think of going back. Been about 6 years since my last visit. Do I want to go back. No. Never. Guilt? None whatsoever
Wherever you live you have life to deal with, and it’s rarely smooth. You seem to deal with it admirably. Officialdom in any country can be mind bogglingly incomprehensible - I’ve experienced working in Germany and Saudi Arabia and have a small house in France though living in the UK (don’t talk to me about Brexit complications - I can take 20 kgs of fresh fish over there but not even 100 grams of cheese). You’re doing well, you can do buses and trains - living in deep bucolic bliss I never use either, there aren’t any when or where I need to go!! You’re assimilated, one of ours now even if you talk funny, eh!
If Alanna never suffered the stressful realizes of living abroad A&N may of never existed. Her emotional pain and suffering resulted in our viewing pleasure...🤔🇨🇦🇬🇧
I'm not sure I agree about your comment regarding the guilt never going away. Numerous people from my church have spent time living in other countries for the purpose of amhelping those who needed it. In that respect, I don't believe that their motives were selfish. But I suppose they are the exception to the rule.
Hi Alanna, could you do another kitchen video showing how to make POUTINE.... please? If you've done it already, then i'm sorry for asking... I shall look a little better for it again.
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I feel a lot of these things just moving from the North of England to the South.
I moved 35 years ago and still regularly get asked where I come from because of my Yorkshire accent.
And, then when I go back to visit family in Yorkshire, they say Ive lost my accent and speak 'posh'.
It's like I don't belong anywhere anymore. (I prefer it here by the way - my life and friends are here now😊)
We want you Alanna. Canada can't have you back, you're one of us now! 😄❤️
I'll second that.
Hey Alanna, I hope you realise that after 9 years here, we will not accept you leaving us! Your natural warmth & conversational style is most endearing. Last week walking locally I passed a new hairdressers. Looking in I saw the lady was probably Thai or Filipino, and had no customers. Having spent time in both those countries, and needing a haircut I went in. When I said good morning she bowed slightly, so I knew she was Thai. She did my hair and for nearly an hour we talked about our families & travels. The point is, we British love talking, asking questions, sharing experiences, learning from each other - its in our DNA to question. It's also what you do: "which are the best tasting crsips!" You're one of us now, whether you like it or not! x (you know the rules about ending a message with an 'x', don't you?). If not, ask!
I love this channel's focus on objectivity regarding what it is really like being a foreigner living in the UK. This channel talks about the ups and the downs as they really are, and that's one of many reasons to keep watching these videos!
Thanks so much! ☺️
You're welcome!
Plus Alanna is always entertaining to watch
I’m a 64 year old Irishman and having lived here in the UK for 36 years I’ve lived in Britain longer than Ireland. I can relate to almost all of what you say as regards being a foreigner in another country, and our cultures (UK and Ireland)are very similar and I’m ONLY a couple of hours away from Dublin (good old Ryanair). But as you say you miss weddings,big birthdays, big events as well as deaths, illnesses etc. But after all that I’m glad and proud to call both places home, and regardless of where I am in the world I can say “I’m going home”. Thank you for another excellent video, keep making them I’ll keep watching them.
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
Well, for one, I love my Irish friends🇬🇧🇮🇪
I have followed you since the early days. Wow, your confidence, and bubbly personality has shone through. Don’t leave us❤
Alanna, please stay we love you really.
☺️
@@AdventuresAndNaps Yes, please stay. But you're also wrong about having to give up Adventures and Naps if you went back to Canada. You've successfully put together videos on all kinds of subjects in the last 7 years, and that wouldn't stop if you went back. You've already done a few videos on visits to Canada, but you can't possibly have exhausted all you could say, especially if you went on adventures outside southern Ontario. And I'm sure there are many of us who would follow you wherever you went.
Homesickness is a two way street, as parents to our son married, living and working in Austin TX we feel the loss as much. I became a granddad about 10 days ago and we’re getting loads of pictures and videos but it’s not the same. I’m 68 and not fit enough for flying to the USA.
As a Yorkshire man living in England, but outside of Yorkshire, I can relate to most of this too. Keeping it real Alanna, that's whats makes you relatable and affable.
@@AdrianDowthwaite and I am the reverse, an English man living in Yorkshire and feels a different country at times
Lol,and it's only going to get worse.
@@garywoolton1875 Ye both, out of place but at home. Yorkshire is differant from Country and Counties all.
Londoner here, I lived in Bradford for a year, it was like being on Mars
I love that you quite randomly sound like you're from North London for a few seconds every so often! One of us, one of us, one of us etc..
Is always a pleasure to listen to your experiences/opinions/emotions. Thank you 🙂.
Bought (and ate) my first (and so far only) pack of 6 mince pies from Iceland on the 31st August. I don't see why they're only available 'around' Christmas - I'd eat them all year round.
I've been getting mince pies from Morrisons on and off for about the last 5 months.
Joined your channel at around 10,000 subs and I have watched you grow as a person in those years but your personality has never changed you have always been true to yourself! I never thought you would be as funny and honest as you have been and that's what keeps me coming back you've never been boring and for that I salute you o7 lol!
Another really interesting video. Thank you. You are definitely one of us!
I cannot relate to this as I am totally blessed to have immigrated to British Columbia, Canada 30 years ago, not a day passes that I don't give thanks to God for living in this magnificent country.
The reason I can't relate is that my entire family immigrated at the same time, no family left in South Africa.
What I can relate to is the 'where you from?" 30 years later and still with the 'accent'
I felt really bad one day when a lovely lady asked me where I was from and I unconsciously must have pulled a face, she felt so bad and I was mortified at being mean.
I explained I couldn't believe after all these years I still have an accent and that was the reason :)
I absolutely LOVE Canada, the people are!!!!! that nice :)
Home is where your heart is!
A very heartfelt, informative journey you have told there...Wisdom is not based on age, gender, or money, it comes from experiences, good & bad, thank you for sharing it.🙂
Wise words, thanks Steven! 🙏🏻
02:56 "You will ge' a job." Your English is showin', luv :)
“Mate” 😂😂pulled it off!
Fantastic video again Alana ! And fascinating to hear your evolution and perspectives !
Cool video! Regarding the feeling dumb thing. As a teenager visiting the U.K. for the first time, long before GPS I was lost in London. I asked an old man how to get to Brompton road. He stared hard at me like I was an utter fool and said "Brompton road?!? You're standing on it!" I still feel the cringe...
😂 omg
Not the same thing but when playing in goal for my primary school in the 1980/81 season ( a few short years ago) the PE teacher of the opposing team who was refereeing the game put his hand out to shake mine. I took my glove off and handed it to him before realising that he was trying to shake my hand. He probably forgot it the same day but I have remembered it for a mere forty four years such was the level of embarrassment I felt. Thanks for prompting recall. I should have entered therapy.
Alanna, you have such a mature and wise head on your young shoulders and I for one am glad you have found a comfortable home here in Kent (like me). Regarding the short hours of daylight, it is said that November has no afternoons; it stays morning until 2 pm, then it's night . . .
Finding a house with a back garden will be ok. Finding a house with a back garden AND a dog will be a lot tougher!
@@micko5664 there's thousands of dogs that need a home, a lot of them reside at THE DOGS TRUST.
@@RockyBobbieBuster And it appears easier to adopt a child, than a dog from Dogs Trust..
Rant over...................
@CovBloke1310 I've had no trouble adopting from DT, could it be the potential adopters fault?
I already have mince pies, too....... they aren't even for Christmas 😅 they're for NOW 🥰
Good one, Alanna! Many important, and often overlooked, points.
They didn't tell me that a Canadian would make the UK home and make us Brits enjoy her channel so much, it must be really tough leaving home and leaving your family and friends behind, ages ago I spent a week in hospital and I missed everyone back home and they were only six miles away, god knows what it must be like when your loved ones are thousands of miles away, so pleased you stuck it out and made the UK your second home🏴🇨🇦🏴
I'd say that first line was a bit more brutal than humorous, so I'm glad you added a qualifier at the end. Especially as it didn't fit with the tone of the rest of your post.
Alanna isn't going anywhere, we'll make sure of that. "One of us, one of us, one of us, one of us...." 🙂
@@Elwaves2925I'm gonna edit it, I don't want to upset anyone ✌️
@@Elwaves2925I've edited my comment and I think it reads a lot better now, thanks for pointing out my stupidity ✌️
@@RockyBobbieBuster Cool. I wasn't expecting you to change it but it's good that you did. It clearly wasn't your intention to come off that way but I figured it was worth mentioning how it initially read to me. 🙂
@Elwaves2925 again, thanks for pointing out my stupidity ✌️
Alanna, yer our kid now. Lots of hugs!
Ha! Buses! I remember when I came here from Canada in the mid 80's I was very "shy" as they used to call it (now I could admit I had sometimes serious anxiety). One stupid symptom was down to request stops in London where you had to wave to the driver of an approaching bus if you wanted it to stop to pick you up. I don't know exactly why but it took a little while before I could bring myself to do it and instead I would walk along, however far, to the next proper stop (where all the buses stopped no matter what). Idiotic, but eventually empowering when I got my confidence up.
Lost count of the number of times that 'See GM' was written beside my signing on space on the signing on sheet, my conductor and I were often pulled in for not stopping at a white fare stage stop. My conductor would often ring me through a fare stage (three bells) if no one was alighting or standing at the bus stop, totally against the rules no matter how late we were running. How were we to know the person sheltering under a shop awning and looking in the shop window was waiting for a bus? Emerging as drove past giving a V sign, another 2 or 3 buses usually just behind. My argument was if waiting for a bus then stand at the bus stop.
Don't worry about mince pies, just make sure they are served with cream!
Great video as usual Alanna, I hope you no longer feel guilty about moving now and have no regrets doing so as you seem very happy here. Fingers crossed you find that new house you are looking for so you can finally get a dog. Then you will know you are truly home. 🐶🏠👧☺
As a Brit born in London and having moved to the USA at age 47, i can totally relate to the feelings you mentioned. I miss my life in England, but the USA is now my home. Thanks for sharing
@1.20, the "wood" that we usually touch is our heads!
It is probably a bit late now, but being in a foreign country one of the things I found useful was, if in doubt ask. Guess what if you feel embarrassed within about 5 minutes the person you asked has forgotten all about you.
I'm English living in Sweden. I work in IT for international companies, so the business language is usually English, plus the Swedes are generally excellent at speaking English. That makes it so much harder to learn the local language .. and yet I still want/need to since virtually everything online/written is in Swedish, and I still encounter a lot of people whose English is poor. At least you've not had that to worry about - language makes life so much more difficult/stressful!
Mince pies before December!😮 How very decadent of you Alanna.😄
she's gone native
When I was young Mince pies only appeared around Christmas, after mother had made the mince meat. The stock of jars could last for a month or two.
It's always fascinating when you go deep on your experiences - I imagine you have helped many people over the length of your stay without even realising it as they absorb your lived experience & the wisdom you have gathered. For what it's worth you have bigger balls than myself - much as I like to visit foreign climes I'm very much a 'turn up, absorb some local culture, scuttle off back home' type of person.
Love your stuff, keep up the good work. Love & Kisses from God's own backyard (Shropshire)
I'm British and lived in Mexico for 3 yrs. Very isolated when I couldn't speak the language. 1st year was so lonely.
when i moved back to my hometown, i forgot u need a torch, and that was only 30 miles
Don’t rule out the possibilty that distance could become a good thing. I’m left the UK decades ago and am on Vancouver Island. My eldest sister left the UK decades ago and lived in Mozambique. Then she got hit with cancer. She had to go back to the UK for treatment for a year - to be treated by the NHS, she had to divest herself of everything in Mozambique. She didn’t enjoy being in the UK again and being given a limited time, left and moved to Tanzania. Her real home was Mozambique, but having lost everything there chose to go to Tanzania, where she vaguely knew a few people.- unfortunately Covid hit just after she arrived, so most people she knew fled. She stayed. She did have a few friends around, but the thing with cancer, is that the days can be fine, while the nightimes can be lonely. Just you and your fears and concerns etc. But throughout those years I was always 8/9 hours behind her. So when it was nighttime where she was, it was daytime where I was.
Across those years until she died, I have absolutely no doubt that she and I spent more time 'together' than we ever had in person, and i spent more time with her than anybody. If I had been in the same time zone it would have been impossible. I hope you never go through anything quite that bad, but there are definite benefits in distance and time
UK not knowing if we want you? Of course we do. We want you.
I had a little taste of home sickness when I worked in Australia for 3 months. It started on the plane out and within a week I thought I was going to have to bail out and go back home. I would spend evenings alone in my apartment crying. During the day I felt physically sick. As time went on, it decreased a bit but would hit me in waves like being smacked around the head. I had an end date so I knew I would be going home. I have no idea how you get through that if there is not necessarily an end point. Props to you.
Thank you for sharing.
Have a nice day. ❤❤
Thank you! You too!
Please know that WE LOVE YOU
Hiya Alanna,when I was in London, I got asked if I was from Liverpool or Newcastle, neither I'm from West Cumbria,this is Choppy
It Bites an excellent band and one of the few to hail from Cumbria.
Great video. I don't think anyone who's not had that experience can ever *really* know what it feels like, but it's important, and your descriptions are so vivid and immediate it goes a long way towards conveying the experience. Kind of you to share your inner thoughts on this
Thank you, I appreciate that! ☺️
As a near 60 year old. I had to go abroad to the Netherlands to work as an engineer , after applying for over 300 jobs in the UK. I much later found I was turned down because I was more qualified than the person running the job ad. And with a wife and kids at home in Wales yes I got homesick too.
I am mortified that you have felt uncomfortable, at any time during your time with us. Do not feel dumb. We have been suffering the pomposity of the middle classes for years. Most of us have learned the sport of putting these arrogant fools back in their boxes.
Your videos show you to be a charming person. I'm sure your viewers, myself included, wants you to stay.
Those fools who say. "I'm so sorry." Are pompous.
They are implying that you are somehow lacking. They are doing that passively so, I would intuit that they are people from amongst our, not so wonderful, plumbies.
They are what they are.
the homesickness is very real..even though I love living here..I found it very hard making friends here..loneliness ...
Thanks for being open about how things have been for you as an ex-pat. As I have said earlier in comments I too am an ex-pat but in the other direction = leaving the UK as a 23 year old heading to Canada. But what struck me with your vlog here is that it was all so different for me and many of the issues you felt, I did not feel at all. Homesickness was very minor for me as my personality is not one that needs many other folks around - such as family or friends. I treated my appearance in Canada with excitement and thinking about how much fun it was going to be by being somewhere else with all those new things to learn. Kind of like learning to ride a bike when you are young - walking done - now riding with all those new places to visit. So you are right that it is a selfish things as I don't doubt my parents felt quite different!
I settled in very quickly as a graduate student so there was some instant stability which helped with being so new to Canada. I also had my research for my PhD to do which consumed a huge amount of time and concentration. So maybe that was something many ex-pats might not have to take their minds off other issues.
Now I am an ex-pat for over 50 years and I am in the situation of not enjoying the odd visit back to the UK, which has changed so much since I left that it is now a foreign country and quite frankly not one I would want to return to. Those old beautiful houses such as I grew up in are often not very warm with not very reliable infrastructure. My sister's bathroom makes me shudder as the water creeps out of the pipes often with considerable noise and she cannot afford to heat her home on cold and dreary days! Then the garden tends to get hopelessly overgrown and it is hard for her at her age to get anyone to come as a gardener. But we do keep in touch through Skype regularly.
So I do think that everyone experiences many different things that cause issues when you are an ex-pat but it is hard to generalise as it depends on your personality to a high degree and the specifics of your situation. What I would say to anyone who is thinking about moving to live in another country is to do some preparation ahead of time , and there are so many TH-cam videos these days that were not available to those oldsters like me when we emigrated. Then be prepared to change and not hold on to too many characteristics of your first homeland - instead revel in all the new experiences you will have in your new land. Every place you live has pros and cons but focus on the pros and just take the cons as they come and get used to them I suppose!
i love most of your video's including the solo days out, but this is among the best and to a degree I can associate with some of it. But your not a foreigner I hear people say. True but I am a southerner living in Yorkshire and you can feel very foreign when that happens. I cannot ever imagine living in London again but you can get bigger places and a backyard up here :)
Your comments on guilt really surprised me. I was born in England although I grew up in Canada. I have lived on every coast here - all three of them! I have never felt guilty at all, in fact that comment really surprised me. If you're aware you, there's no need to feel guilty!
Of course, we each have different experiences when living as an expat anywhere. The cultural adjustment when I studied in the UK as a preteen, and in Canada as an undergrad wasn't too difficult. However, my times working in HK, Kenya, and Germany made cultural adjustment far more daunting. The worst, however, was my six yrs in the US - a place unlike any other on Earth, thank God! Homesickness, though, not so much now that I've been away almost all of the past 65 yrs. 😅
I once spent the best part of a year unemployed. All of the knock backs from job applications definitely felt like the biggest rejection.
I have no clue how to get bus tickets for my city in Ontario 🤣 Never been on one here. I did take one or two when I was in university though, so about 20 years ago. I'm glad you've never sugar coated your life in the UK. On a much smaller scale, I remember even feeling a bit different when I'd come back to my parents house after the uni school year for the summer. I was used to being "on my own" (I did have roommates at uni) but it was like oh yeah, back to living with Mum and Dad and their house rules, etc. Hang on to that annual leave for as long as you can!!!! (I am lucky and have 5 weeks)
12:45 - I feel the same as a Brummie living in Somerset. 😂
It’s incredibly selfish of a family to put guilt on someone who prefers to live elsewhere.
My family emigrated in 60s to New Zealand, we had family there but we were missing our English family, it was like being pulled two ways 😢 We came back to London after 5 years when I was 12. Culture shock !! No beach on doorstep. Not so much freedom.😮 I am in Eastbourne now.
I'm sooooooo unhappy that you didn't feel at home when you came to Britain and felt Lost (I've had that same feeling when abroad ) ................ However I am now pleased that you feel at HOME now
our house prices are high, because rich people buy them up and rent them out..
however , victorian era houses arent warm, theyre very waterproof,
Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.
Proud of you for being able to move to another country, away from family and friends. I'm not ashamed to say that I hate being outside of a reasonable walking distance from my parents, I did it once last year, and lasted 6 months.
TY 🙏🙏
Im not sure Id suffer homesickness from the result of my first ever 3months away from home, going to Polytechnic in London(1977). I came back 3months later to find some thought me dead as Id not written or phoned! Time flew, everything was a world away from small town Suffolk and I just didnt notice. I think part of this was what to say and we had only got a phone in the house and I was afraid to use it lol. How times have changed. p.s. when I went back for second term, I was given some prewritten/stamped postcards to send at regular intervals, how embarrassing.
Don’t worry, even every 20 miles the accent changes. I have a generic English accent. Continuously got asked when I was in Liverpool where I was from😊
For the price of a two bedroom flat in Kent you can get a three bedroom semi detached house in Greater Manchester….with a garden…front and back…and a garage. Just saying…
Always interesting your videos when given from the perspective of an ExPat's side.
Thank you!
When people ask me where I am from I think to myself, should I give them the name of the village I live in, the county, the position relative to London or just the country. That is why I usually keep my mouth shut when visiting family in Canada or the USA. I just let my relatives do the talking.
Mince pies? Is this an up coming taste test?
If not, why not?
Good video, Its good for people to understand how difficult that kind of move is, the simple things different foods, customs, then most difficult, learning a new language.
Well done.
Please do stay. Great video. Good stuff.
You'll probably have the Christmas tree up next week. 😧
Mother nature doesn't put up borders, only men do that. I have a friend who is Canadian, I also have a friend from New York. They have learned that home is where the heart is, and their heart is here in the UK.
I remember getting an email from my student goddaughter telling me how adult she felt, going to a travel agent, buying an airline ticket to visit a friend in Georgia and flying off on her own. She ended it with "Thanks for giving me the money".
Alanna, Did you know the Toronto Argonauts won the 2024 Grey Cup this past Sunday? 🏈🇨🇦
wooooo! 🎉🎉
Mince pies? And we haven’t been invited over yet? ;) hope you and yours have a great time
I love your vlogs. Find them very interesting. In 2018 my late wife and I, flew to Vancouver. Had a few days there also visited Vancouver Island. Then travelled to Halifax by various trains, with a number of stopovers. We found the people so friendly. Toronto was a bit hectic and Niagara Falls was a bit like Blackpool on Steroids. Too tacky for me. Other than that couldn't fault it. Alana perhaps you should try doing the journey.
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Alanna, sweetheart, the aches surrounding being away from home are not nearly so bad as the loss of a family member! It is a similar feeling but when you lose someone, oh my! As for being in a strange place….hell girl, that’s the excitement!! Woo hoo! You have a mouth, you speak a similar language, just ask! That’s how humanity learns. You’ll get it. No worries. Jeff
Excellent video from Alanna. Question from Canadian viewer. The homes shown on the traditional opening to Coronation Street - still for sale?
I’m glad that you are going to be honest. I’m tired of people moving abroad and realizing that where they’re from all of a sudden is trash and now that they’re wherever it’s wonderful and so much better than where they’re from. I’m not saying that it can’t be wonderful but you don’t have to trash where you’re from.
It's worth noting that her experience of getting here then applying for many jobs is only one way of moving abroad and typically one that is only available to young people (depending on the countries involved young may mean up to 35). Another common way is to get a job first that would qualify you for a Tier 2 - Skilled Worker visa and then get said visa with the support of your new employer before leaving home. Frankly, I would strongly encourage this route or at least having a job lined up before moving overseas.
I bet it was hard on your parents and siblings when you decided to move would be good to know there perspective and how they felt
"Why would a business hire a foreigner over a British person." Good, sorry Alanna, I don't want to be undercut in my own country.
Yep I’ve had this happen to me
They will hire foreigners,just not white ones.
Guilt? WHY ffs? I honestly can't comprehend that. You aren't harming anyone. What's selfish about that?🤷♂
As a professional Brit in Southampton (not a shit hole, dont believe the medias lies. its better than Portsmouth at least) i feel offended that you say any negatives of our Great country. You just need to watch the British Ambassador Al Murray, who is the best Brit and undoubtably a patriot, and just see his videos on our great victories.
on a serious note, i like your videos and appreciate your appretiation of our culture. i dont realise how nice this nation is and our briliant culture, whether you like the politics or not, its nice.
Wait about 6 months and there will be a nice house for sale in Sittingbourne. I’m planning on moving back to Wales 🏴
The first time I visited the USA I found myself talking to a couple who had an American (I thought) accent. "Whereabouts in the States are you from?", I asked. "Toronto", came the reply.....
You want a home with a back garden and a dog. Partner is sitting on the back step sobbing…..
If the UK were to fully accept you tomorrow, would you be ready and willing to fully give up Canadian citizenship?
I'm a 70yr old Brit, that is struggling to cope with this, Different YT platform, Please Help, wtf am I not doing, to get back to the ole' YT I thought of as home, I was typing a reply about Alanna's frothy coffee, and I got Crashed, Oh I get it, that was my fault,
Honesty on the internet? Nah, people ain't used to *that* .😎
Like the way you describe stuff, sound spiritually British, so you must get your permanent residency or whatever you need. 😁
I've lived in Kent all my life, I haven't read Kent Life ever.
I looked inside one once. In dentist waiting room. Never bothered again.
I understand a little, even though I didn't move countries ... but 100 miles is far enough so that home is too far to just pop over after work ...
This was a cool video Alanna, and rather mature and reflective compared to a lot of your earlier videos. I wondered whether you'd ever been tempted to speak in a 'British' accent to see if you could fool people?
are you going to call the dog 'Deefa'?
After the deaf wolf Diefenbecker in the Due South t.v. series?
👍👍👍
🙏🏻
This guilt thing you are talking about, yes It does go away. You have to let it go. You have only one life on this world and you need to own it. You need to live for yourself. I’m an Expat from New York . We moved abroad with the intention of moving back to the states after 2-2 ½ years. But when the time came, I was being offered a fantastic job back at home that would have been great, that was the week 9/11 happened which made my wife and I say Ummm no thanks. Now I’ve been living abroad for nearly 27 years. No guilt. There was a bit when my folks passed on but I went back for the funerals and all. Otherwise I don’t even think of going back. Been about 6 years since my last visit. Do I want to go back. No. Never. Guilt? None whatsoever
Wherever you live you have life to deal with, and it’s rarely smooth. You seem to deal with it admirably. Officialdom in any country can be mind bogglingly incomprehensible - I’ve experienced working in Germany and Saudi Arabia and have a small house in France though living in the UK (don’t talk to me about Brexit complications - I can take 20 kgs of fresh fish over there but not even 100 grams of cheese). You’re doing well, you can do buses and trains - living in deep bucolic bliss I never use either, there aren’t any when or where I need to go!!
You’re assimilated, one of ours now even if you talk funny, eh!
If Alanna never suffered the stressful realizes of living abroad A&N may of never existed. Her emotional pain and suffering resulted in our viewing pleasure...🤔🇨🇦🇬🇧
I'm not sure I agree about your comment regarding the guilt never going away. Numerous people from my church have spent time living in other countries for the purpose of amhelping those who needed it. In that respect, I don't believe that their motives were selfish.
But I suppose they are the exception to the rule.
Hi Alanna, could you do another kitchen video showing how to make POUTINE.... please? If you've done it already, then i'm sorry for asking... I shall look a little better for it again.