A Year in Review: Best and Worst Moments

Today marks the one year anniversary of when I moved to the UK. So much has happened within the past year! There have been lots of good times and bad times, with no shortage of adventures mixed in! Listed below are my best and worst moments of living in the UK:

Best Moments:

• Arriving to the UK and realizing that I wasn't just here for vacation
• Touring the city with Victor
• Hosting visitors and showing them around the city
• Travelling all around the UK for work (Wales, Liverpool, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Derby, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, London)
• Travelling all around Europe for fun (Turkey, Greece, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, France, and soon Italy with Abby and Czech Republic for work!)
• Victor surprising me with a trip to Barelona for my birthday
• Gathering the courage to cut all my hair off and go natural
• Taking the risk of putting up an ad for friends on the internet and making several good friends in the process (who knew there were so many 20-something ladies in Woking looking for friends?)
• Figuring out on my own how to drive on the left-hand side of the road and not getting killed in the process
• Passing my driving test!

Worst Moments:

• Waiting for my work permit to be approved. Seems like it took forever!
• Saying good-bye to my family at the airport
• Dealing with BT (British Telecom) customer service when we first moved here. It took 5 weeks to get the phone and internet hooked up!
• Initially having to go to the library everday to check my work emails since BT was taking so long with the internet
• Coping with feelings of lonliness, depression, and homesickness since I work from home and don't have regular interaction with people during the day, also since I was new to the country and had no friends to hang out with and Victor was at work all the time.
• Hurting my ankle and having to stop training for the Paris Marathon
• Trying to find something good to watch on UK television
• Missing my family and friends and the comforts of excessive American life

Overall, this has been a great year for both Victor and me! There have been some rough times, but we have gotten to know ourselves and each other better in the process and we do not regret moving here at all. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

I Passed!!

I passed my UK driver's test yesterday!! Whoo-hoo! I am so relieved because I really did not want to have to take it twice. The UK is notorious for having really difficult driving tests, and there is only a 43% pass rate. It is so hard that they even sell greeting cards congratulating you on passing. The test lasts about 50 minutes. First, you have a simple eye test, then they ask you two Show me/Tell me questions which pertain to vehicle safety and maintenance, then it is off to drive for 40 minutes! During the test, you are asked to perform two of these four maneuvers: parallel park, reverse into a side road, turn around in the road, or reverse into a parking space. I was praying that I would be asked to turn around in the road because that is the easiest maneuver for me, and thankfully that was one of the ones I had to do! I also had to reverse into a side road, which is the one that I am the worst at, and I got a point taken off for it because I was too far away from the curb.

I'm glad I passed because my US license is good here for 12 months and after that I have to get a full UK license, otherwise I would be considered a provisional driver and I would have to drive around with L (learner) plates on my car and I would always have to be accompanied by a driver over 21 who has had their UK license for at least 3 years. My 12 months is up October 6, so if I had not passed yesterday I don't know what I would have done!

This is a huge weight off my shoulders. I have been so nervous for the past month or so thinking about this dang test!! I hired a driving instructor for a few refresher lessons and he became a major motivation for me to pass because he really got on my nerves to the point that we had to have it out with each other a few times. I'm so glad I never have to see him again!! I was so nervous at the beginning of the test, but the examiner was really nice and I was able to relax some. I started to worry about 15 minutes into the test though because I kept seeing him mark things on my test sheet and I just knew that I had messed up somewhere! Turns out I did quite well--I only had 4 minor errors and 0 serious errors and you can get up to 15 minors or just 1 serious before you fail. Above is a picture of my grading sheet and my pass certificate (you can click on them if you want to see a larger picture)! I get my license in the mail in 3 weeks.

I had been working on getting my license since June. First, I had to take the written test which I studied for for a month and I passed that back in July. As soon as I passed I booked my practical test, and I had wanted to take it earlier but the slots book up really quickly, so September 30th was the earliest date I could get. So this dang test has been consuming my thoughts all summer long and now it's over!! Time to move on to the next adventure.

Study Guides for Theory Test: £20.00
Theory Test Fee: £30.00

Driving Lessons: £175.00

Practical Test Fee: £56.50

Passing the practical test on the first try and never having to see my instructor again and not having to stress about this test anymore: PRICELESS!!!!