Four On The Move

Brexit means Brexit , said Theresa May, when no one knew what it meant. Not much has changed in this matter since then, but I think I can tell a bit about what Brexit means for European immigrants in the UK, as I was one of them. People tend to assume we left the UK because of Brexit. No, we didn’t, Brexit was not a direct reason. Did Brexit play a role at all? Yes, it did, but only as one of the many elements of a jigsaw puzzle that eventually led us to this decision. I still remember the night of the referendum. I woke up after midnight and decided to quickly check the initial results. Of course, I knew the majority would vote for remain. I knew, didn’t I? What was BBC showing then? How the hell was this happening?! I didn’t sleep until the morning, checking the results every 5 minutes and hoping they would change. The next day at work felt like a funeral. We could not believe it, we did not even know how to comment. Was it possible that we had lived in a bubble all...

The first big shock for a European studies graduate One of the first big surprises for me as somebody coming here from continental Europe was to find out that when Britons say ‘Europe’ they don’t mean themselves and their country. They mean the continental Europe, like ‘Europe’ was somewhere else, but not here. This is so different to how my friends from other European countries identify themselves and also different from how we see Britain – when we say ‘Europe’, we do include Britain in it. I feel there are two elements of this ‘not being Europe’ identity. One of them is a strong individual distinctive identity of this island. Coming from continental Europe you will notice all the obvious signs of doing things differently here: driving on the left side of the road, having two taps in the bathroom and using the imperial measuring system (good luck with learning that one!). You will try to understand what cricket or netball is, and why people here have no idea about vol...

Whenever my parents came to visit us in Liverpool they exclaimed with surprise several times a day: Everyone is so nice in here! And they can’t even speak English, so this is just the impression they got through smiles, gestures and my conversations with locals that they watched. If I could name only a few things I love about this country, it will probably be the first one: strangers smile, greet each other and start small talks in the street, shop, park etc. Being nice works as a boomerang, and they seem to know it. Some of my friends from other countries say that it’s artificial and is not about real relations with people. No, it’s not. It’s only about being nice and friendly. In Eastern Europe we are definitely more about real and deep relationships, but if you ask me, they don’t contradict giving a smile and a ‘good morning’ to a stranger passing on the street, or having a funny small talk in a queue at the supermarket. Actually, holding small talks is something I ...