I have been living in the UK for the last four years. The experience has been pretty interesting, to say the least. Being from the Caribbean and living in the UK has its pros and cons. There are good days and there are bad days where I just want to go home. In this short series, I’ll be discussing the best and worse things about living in the UK. Let’s start off with the worse things first and stick around next week for Part 2 with the best things.
1. People ALWAYS guess the wrong place when I say I’m from the Caribbean: If I say I’m from the Caribbean, people either think I’m from Jamaica or they’ve never heard of the Caribbean before. While I love Jamaicans, I’m a proud Bahamian and it gets annoying having to explain to nearly everyone where I’m from. Someone once asked me where I was from and when I said the Caribbean, he looked puzzled. Then when I mentioned Jamaica, a light bulb flashed in his head. The Caribbean is made of many beautiful islands and some people who have not been exposed to the beauty and culture of our islands put us all into a box thinking we’re all the same when that could not be the farthest thing from the truth.
When I open my mouth to speak, then apparently I’m American. At this point, I’m so over it, I don’t even correct people anymore. Yea I’m American lol. If I say I’m from The Bahamas and the person I told it to tries to guess where I’m from, they confuse the Caribbean countries beginning with ‘B’ ALL the time. No I’m not from that place where Rihanna is from and I’m not from Bermuda either, thanks.
2. Living far away from home: Living in the UK is not like living in America where you’re just a few hours or less away from home. A flight from the UK to The Bahamas is about 8 hours and there is a 5 hour time difference. As a result, you’ll probably miss out on lots of things happening at home because you’re so far away and don’t have the luxury of a quick weekend trip home for special occasions.
Then, communicating with family and friends is a TASK. Due to the time difference, I would get a Good morning message at like 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon. When it comes to phone calls, sometimes I’m up having the juiciest conversations at 2:00 am when I have a 9:00 am the next day. I fall asleep quite a lot but if you see me falling sleep a lot it’s not my fault, I promise lol.
3. The cold weather: From cute skirts and dresses to winter coats and scarves, transitioning from a sunny Caribbean country that has the luxury of summer all year round to a place where 90% of the time it’s winter is a very hard adjustment. I’ve never met a Caribbean person who said they liked the cold weather. Living in the UK, it is ALWAYS cold, even when the sun is shining.
Spring is winter, summer is only for about 2 weeks, Fall is Winter and then the actual Winter is like life in Antarctica. If you don’t wear gloves your fingers are probably going to be numb. And don’t get me started on the rain. In Birmingham, it is always raining. The weather app can say that it’s going to be a nice day and by 5:00 pm you better make sure you pull out your umbrella. Adjusting to the cold weather has definitely been one of the hardest challenges for me.
4. The Food: I mean no disrespect to all my British friends but in the Caribbean, we are used to GOOD food and sometimes British food just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes the food lacks seasoning. Don’t get me wrong I understand the health ramifications of too much sodium but too little salt can have ramifications for people’s taste buds (lol). Don’t get me wrong, some of the food is really good but other times it can be tasteless, bland and just plain sad. UK McDonald’s and KFC can NEVER touch Caribbean (specifically Bahamian) fast food restaurants.
Now Nando’s and Pepe’s (my new bae, one of the lost treasures of this world that can definitely give Nando’s a run for their money) may be able to go head to head with some Bahamian restaurants. The weirdest food trend that I’ve noticed while in the UK is that people put corn on EVERYTHING, from salad (okay, I guess this is normal for some people) to coleslaw to pizza to tuna! Like what??? I’m not going to lie, the first time I saw corn on pizza my taste buds were offended but to be honest it’s not THAT bad.
There you have it folks. These are the worse things that I found about being from the Caribbean and living in the UK. I hope this blog made you laugh.
Stick around next week for the best things about living in the UK!
Where do you live? What’s the worst thing about living where you are?
Let me know in the comments!
Schar's Mind 
The worst thing about living here is the crime and lack of employment opportunities for many. The food is great you know we have our Bamboo shack which is all Bahamian and let’s not forget the good ole Bahamian restaurants with scrumptious cuisines.
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Scharleeeeeee..come through with the relatabilty, girl! Gal, you know where I live, but (for the sake of others) I’m Miss Bahamian Patriot who studies in Cardiff, Wales and is currently in Antananarivo, Madagascar. [I can’t wait til I can drop the VLOG on my recent experiences..you’ll get all the juice then.] Listeeeeen, u hit da nails rite on da head wit dis! I seriously had to stop takin it so personal n realize that a lot of ppl out of our hemisphere are not well versed in the Americas and so, have little familiarity with the extensiveness our region has to offer- accentsS, varying islands/countries, VIBES, etc. They sum up all accents to Jamaican (may include Trinidadian) and American. Kill me now- tell me I sound AMERICAN 1 MORE TIME! Say the name of my country without using “The” in the title 1 MORE TIME! I b rdy ta pop, gal! You didn’t mention specifically your weather experience when you were in South England, but I am almost certain, as Cardiff is more south as well, that weather in those places are just a lil less heart-wrenching. Thank God for that, cause I really wouldn’t want the true UK weather experience more than I’ve already gotten it. In 2018 dem ppl had the hottest and best Summer weather ever (I told them it was cause I had to be there until late July, I gave them sun and heat), it was record breaking. While that was funny as heck to hear, cause it was the norm at home, it was delightful to finally not walk around in so many layers, boo!
Then the corn thing..OK..so I was a lil thrown seeing it in the tuna and on the pizza but didn’t feel offended as I like trying new things. That flavour combo went well for me. They INSULTED ME though, with their COLESLAW, compared to Bahamian coleslaw, heck NO, it’s all a lie!! LOL! I have probably had better food experiences because Cardiff being the capital city in Wales, is very diverse with foreign cultures and they have all sorts of restaurants based on those foreign cultures. The menu at uni halls was even this diverse..again..tank da GUD LORD! Lastly, time difference did affect me, but not too crazily, especially since being in Mada, which is even further ahead in time than home..dis a real killa! Imagine ppl who study in China n wibes. What a TIME! 😜
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