Expat Life
I emigrated to the United States May 4th 2004. I've been in the US for nearly 4 years now, and it's certainly been a challenging transition for me and for my Husband.
The first few months I was here, I was really busy trying to organize our Wedding. As the visa I had applied for was for us to be married within 3mths. It didn't really sink in that I was going to be living here, that soon changed once I put my family back on the plane to Wales. After the Wedding and all my visa paperwork had been send off, I started to feel the strain of being an expat.
One of my early challenges of being an expat was going grocery shopping. It took me over 2 hours to get around the grocery store. It was such a large store, with many US products that I didn't recognize. Clayton tried his best to help me around the store, but I just felt so alone. I remember that tears fell down my cheeks as I was just so frustrated and couldn't find anything I wanted. These days I'm not so bad at the grocery shopping, as I've learned most of the brand names and products.
After about 3 months in the US I started to feel a little Homesick, I did a lot of research and found 2 British Stores near me. I also found World Market, thanks to a friend online that pointed it out to me. During my research online I found something a lot more exciting an Expat group for Welsh Women. I got the courage and gave one of the ladies a call, that following Friday I went to their meeting. A lot of them were US citizens that had Welsh Roots, but about 2 or 3 were from Wales. It was great to be able to meet new people and socialize, and to also share passions about my home country.