A few notes: for the most part, I will be writing British English, as I have studied, lived, and worked in the UK for years and that’s my new normal. The one exception will be the oxford comma, which is such a wonderful clarifying thing when making a list and ironically, not used often in the UK. This is my hill to die on. The oxford comma rules.
Secondly, I want to acknowledge that I am writing this from the privileged perspective of a white, American woman. Immigrating to the UK was a brutal, lengthy process, but being a native English speaker with white skin meant I was not met with the racism and xenophobia that some of my fellow immigrants experienced. It’s not right and needs to be called out.
It’s also one of the reasons I identify as an immigrant rather than an expat – it generally seems only wealthy white people ‘get to be’ expats, and I don’t personally want to use a term that feels so exclusionary. The struggle and cost of immigrating, the spirit, hard work, and contributions of immigrants that has made the UK what it is today – I’m proud to be a part of that, in my own small way. Immigrants are my people.
Right, let’s crack on with the story, yeah?