Speaking as a Brit, I do not know of a single supermarket that closes before 8pm, Sunday apart, when there are limited hours by law. 10pm closing is very common, and there are a few that are open 24 hours, Sunday apart.
This is very true... maybe Ellie only saw very small ones in tourist towns? Also, many Brits get their weekly shopping delivered rather than visiting a store.
I think they do shut at 5 in the small towns. I lived in London my whole life and got my own culture shock when I moved to Frome. I remember feeling properly unsettled going out after 6 my first time and seeing the main high street totally darkened except for the street lamps with literally no one about. And don't get me started on restaurants randomly shutting on a Monday... I couldn't take more than 2 years of it.
It's just an American thing - i used to have a lot of American co-workers and they do expect everywhere to literally be open 24/7. Sunday closing made their heads explode. I can't even imagine what they'd have been like before the 90s when nothing was open at all on Sundays.
Why is it that so many Americans think that we want to move to their country? The vast majority of us look on in horror at the gun violence, the awful work/life balance and the appalling cost of the healthcare, never mind the tribal nature of the politics, and decide that we sure as heck do NOT!!!
@@Pardesland Not at all! The work life balance is amazing, probably better than the UK. The culture is much closer to the UK and gun violence is non-existent.
What made me laugh was the idea that someone from the UK would want to marry an American woman to get citizenship in the USA. Too many gun deaths, having no free healthcare, and the lack of irony and proper pubs is not appealing.
I guess maybe because the terms „abroad“ or „overseas“ don’t differentiate. We are all the same in not being America and so they do not see that in the last decades Europeans are not the ones who want to live in the USA in great numbers.
The idea we brits want to live in the states makes me 😂 ive loved visiting the place but as you say no pubs just skeezy bars and chemical infused food that is the wrong colour. Their idea of chocolate made me vomit when i tried it and all the bread was like a desert. We had family who lived over there and every time she came over here to visit was with an empty suitcase for food that was additive free. The beer was so weak whatever i tried and the lack of so called freedom was an eye opener.
@@StimParavane There is no such thing as free health care. You pay for it one way or another. We do have healthcare. And people who are low income do receive Medicaid.
I visited Northern Wales, over the summer. It was stunningly beautiful, and I was smitten by all the history. I even visited the original Tudor homestead, which had Neolithic artifacts on the land. That was impressive! I haven’t stopped talking about Wales, since I got home!
We're all just terrified of understanding Welsh 😂😂 To be honest though, the language sounds so pretty, and the countryside does sound so pretty too! Definitely would love to go there one day!
I knew it wasn't right. The standard bird sound on posh country estates (in real life as well as costume dramas) is peacocks which have a high-pitch mewing call which this was not. Peacocks are from India and although they are not normally caged they often don't seem to stray far from home (where they get fed presumably). I saw some wandering Nuneham Courtenay the other day and it made me do a double-take (although they hadn't gone far from the arboretum where they live).
@@EllieDashwoodYou have to get to the airport, through security, fly, get to your accommodation, and in the end, how much money did you save? Flying is faster, but doesn't allow for any adventure in between locations.
@@thefairychild it’s actually cheaper to drive if you factor in getting to and from the airport and your car is economical. It’s about £80s of fuel but £170 for the flight.
Which version of UK were you in where the grocery stores close at 5 pm??? Did you go back in time? It's really weird that people in the US (in a lot of places) never sit in their parks. Yes, we're so quaint with our mossy walls and noisy rooks. Well, you didn't get a vindaloo and chips in Scotland, obviously. US standards of male attractiveness are very, very, very strange.
@@dtchourosWhat she didn't point out (or maybe just didn't know) is that many of those people sitting on random patches of grass were likely on their lunch break from work, or enjoying some social time with their colleagues after work.
@@dtchourosI get that if you've got more space you use it, right, but that doesn't mean that when you're out and about you can't sit in the park? (I think also Ellie's perspective is slightly skewed in that she will have focused mostly in tourist heavy places where of course people aren't sitting in their gardens! They're on a day out!)
Sitting on grass is fun when there’s no ticks, no snakes, no nasty ants, no scorpions. I think the sterotyoe about a lack of cute guys stems from the fact that the UK is okay with semi-cute or average looking guys being celebrities. In the US it seems you have to be pretty good looking to be a celebrity. So US folk look at UK celebrities and are like “that’s the best you got? Wow you have no cute guys.” But the UK is not basing it on their looks as much.
Yes, so happy to see this brought up. I’m sure plenty of amazing American actors get overlooked for better looking but worse actors. I love watching British TV because it reminds me how normal people look.
I'm surprised that anyone would think that someone from the UK would want to marry an American to get citizenship. I know that kind of thing happens but it's generally people trying to get out of countries that have poor living conditions in comparison. The UK and the US are pretty comparable in that sense. About the food, I think that if you're used to mostly eating highly processed food that has lots of sugar, salt, and chemicals, like a lot of the food in the US and Canada, it's harder to appreciate more subtle, natural flavors. As a Canadian who often eats less processed food at home, I liked the food in England. I also stayed with British friends, so I got everyday British food as well as restaurant food where locals ate. That probably helped.
I have had a lot of great holidays in America,but I would not ever want to live there,the lack of a health system for a start,also the bad working conditions,lack of paid holidays etc.i had to get an ambulance once,I had good insurance ,just as well,the cost was horrendous.
Everyone wants to marry an American for their citizenship? In your dreams America. American have so little knowledge of anything outside their own country they truly believe it's the best place in the world to live. I'm a Brit, who lived in California, and married an American girl. She didn't marry me for my British citizenship but because we loved each other. Now she's given up the American life for a life in Britain and in her words "No way in the world would I ever move back "home" even if you divorced me". Not only that she convinced her mom to move here. Not so good for me 🙂
They truly think US is the best in everything, which in my opinion is quite the opposite. General public is uneducated, significant number of youth are school dropouts, tradition and family culture is unheard of, quality of life is way worse than europe and everything is OVERPRICED.
I used to work with an American woman who moved over here about 20 years ago when she married her British husband. They'd been divorced for over 10 years, but she said she never wanted to go back to live in the USA.
I think the misconception and over-generalization comes from how Americans feel received in less developed and/or democratic countries. I lived in Russia and was told daily that everyone wants to live in America. My husband is Russian and he has gotten high fives for bagging an American. That being said, I would never assume anyone in the UK or Western Europe would want to live in America…
@@ashleycollett9036 Blame it on an American propaganda. US govt pushes the agenda onto the world, convincing everyone in the reality of an "American dream", when in reality, it's a freaking nightmare. If you hope to get a life that's shown in hollywood movies, then you are in it for a huge disappointment. United States is a true 3rd world country with a horrendous public educational system, active, modern day slavery, that's present in workplace and non existent universal healthcare. I'm speaking this as Georgian living here lol.
I'm sorry, I've eaten across the world and I really don't agree that British food is bland. They use less salt and less sugar than the US (not strictly a bad thing...) and I know the lack of "good" Mexican style spices is a gripe for many US tourists travelling anywhere in Europe. But the whole bland trope is so old and not even really correct anymore. The breakfast pic you showed didn't look great, arguably, but that also tells me you perhaps didn't research where you wanted to eat enough or otherwise ate in areas that were more touristy and not necessarily where locals would dine.
Also eaten in both countries and I agree. What I will say is that some restaurants, especially, in my experience, Indian restaurants, will try to adjust the seasoning to cater to their customers, and Americans have something of a reputation (not necessarily deserved) for not being able to handle heat or spice as well as they think they can, so they may have cut the chilli in some of those "bland" dishes. I've been a victim of this myself, before, because a waiter thought I looked "too young" to be able to handle the heat. They don't want you leaving with your mouth on fire because you misjudged something, but unfortunately sometimes they're the ones getting it wrong. (A good tip for Indian restaurants is to request Desi or "Homestyle" when you make your order, but that won't help with other types of restaurant)
The sitting on grass thing is because 1) It is finally dry and sunny enough to sit outside for long periods especially if there is a nice breeze, which is good as our housesand flats are mostly designed small and well insulated, 2) Historically we LOVE a good picnic even a last-minute one where you all quickly run to a Tesco Express and grab a meal deal each, 3) we don't have laws against drinking in public/outside so it's nice to relax outside on a sunny day off with a nice bottle of cider or wine with friends and family (or just Uni students having a few cans 😋).
@@skiveman Nah, it's fine in Edinburgh. I've done it many a time. Glasgow on the otherhand.. not so fine because of it's history and recent history. You can still do it in the parks though. But I wouldn't walk around the city drinking. Which I have done in Edinburgh.
The misconception that English food is bland and not good came from GIs who came over during the war and found the food wasn’t very good but the UK had been under strict food rationing for over 2 years and there wasn’t any real choice.
Spot on. The "English food is bland" myth likely originated during the hardship of WW2. I have frequented the UK for over 50 years, and found this to be an outright lie. One surprising thing I found in the UK related to 'Murican Fast Food (McDonald's, KFC etc.) is that the Brits frequently have managed to take the "fast" part out of the equation. This is just my personal, anecdotal experience, I cannot back it up with any proper facts so you can just classify it as slander...
Yeah our food isn't bland, especially calling Indian or other foods bland is mad, I wonder if it's just because we don't pack as much sugar and salt into foods as the Americans, our market food and stuff is usually fresh food
I’m puzzled by the number of American YT that seem to believe that shops close early. Nearly every large supermarket opens at 8 am and closes at 10 pm - and there are hundreds of them, from 5 major chains, nearly everywhere. And in cities all of them have miniature versions (“express”, “metro” etc) on every other street - also open all day.
Our food is not bland, Americans just don't like tge flavour of real food. We haven't destroyed our taste buds with salt and corn syrup. We can detect and appreciate subtle flavours.
As an American expatriate who is now a British citizen and has been here 10 years - you are correct. And even before I came to the UK, I had a sister who was a chef and a mother who was into nutrition. I knew what REAL food tasted like, and America hasn't got much of it. The oversalting is killer. With that being said - I can give really good recommendations for the hidden gem restaurants in the US to anyone going there on holiday who wants genuinely delicious food in America! 😁
@@lisaisaprincess23An immigrant to another country is an expatriate from their birth country? I was simply indicating the country of my birth was the US.
I find it strange that many Americans expect the UK to be the same as the USA. Why should it be ? We're a totally different country thousands of miles away and have a very different culture.
@@jackwalker4874 My boss was born in America but was back in the UK before he was one, and the threat of being stung for American taxes is still hanging over him in his 40s!
Ditto about finally understanding literature! When I first went to the UK, I walked through some woodlands and forests, and saw the Yorkshire moors, and finally all the English poetry I'd read made sense! There was an oak, a hawthorn, a yew, wild berries and chestnuts. (Nature is very different in Australia.)
I've heard the "bland food" comment before from other american people, especially latin americans, but as I keep telling them: it's not bland, your taste buds are just incredibly numb from all the unnecessary extra stuff you insist on adding to your food. The same thing happens with sweet foods and drinks in america; in the US especially everything is so much sweeter than in Europe because your tolerance to sweetness is super high. For us it would just not be edible. I want to taste the actual food, not a bunch of spices and/or sugar. I will absolutely die on this hill!
Why would we want to live in a country with such a high murder rate because everyone can buy a gun in a supermarket? Healthcare is through the roof and people are afraid to call an ambulance and you work long hours and are dissuaded to take lunch breaks and holidays! Most Brits by far would not be interested in an American passport. How misguided your friends are.
True, but those stereotypes about the British are no MORE absurd and innacurate than the ones you just stated are about the US. I lived in the US for 20 years and the UK for ten. The only stereotypes that are true about EITHER country is that neither country has the least interest in understanding the other 😆
Don't get me wrong, Ellie, you're a total catch, but if you were going to marry a British man it would probably be under the condition of living in the UK. We love our taxpayer funded healthcare so much. As a British person, I don't understand the concept of jay walking. Surely I have the right to cross the road where I like? 🙂
I had to laugh if Americans think that we Brits want American citizenship. Your friends must be confused as why would any Brit want to live in USA? I could understand Brits choosing Australia but not the USA. I’m glad you enjoyed your holiday, I can only assume that your friends were rejected by British men & hence their negativity about the country.
@@heatherfruin5050 As a Brit having visited Perth, I don’t blame you. Americans always make the assumption that they live in the best country. But Australia beats the USA hands down.😍
My experience is that Brits and Aussies (and Kiwis) often immediately click. We understand each other and have the same humour. It's not always that way with visitors from the US!
This honestly made me laugh so much! Plus it's nice to see a culture shock video which doesn't make out that one culture is better than the other. I totally understand what you meant about finally understanding the Brontes - UK landscape and nature is very special and very specific. It makes such a difference to go to the places novels were set and see the world through the writers eyes.
Not trying to brag here because our country has a ton of issues but the united states has a ton of immigrants/expats whatever you wanna call them from every country not just developing countries.
As an American expatriate to the UK - THOSE are not the reasons not to move to the US! I'd never seen ANYONE apart from a policeman with a gun in 20 years in America. Gun crime takes place in very specific localities which are very easy to avoid. And is generally criminals killing other criminals with ILLEGALY acquired weapons, not the Wild West - which is, incidentally, one reason NOT to move to the US. The cowboy culture is not real 😢 Most people's health insurance is covered by their employer, taken off the paycheck the same way as taxes that fund the NHS are here. Not being charged astronomical bills upon going to the doctor's office (and let's be honest, the NHS is NOT anything to brag about with the state it's in right now). Reasons NOT to move to the US: there's not enough history and culture (hardly American's fault; it's a young country!), but THAT only matters to those of us who actually care about such things. Politics gets into EVERYTHING. (That was my biggest culture shock moving to the UK. Took me two and a half years to get used to the fact that Brits simply don't pull their political affiliation into everything. Even if politics is important to them, it's never EVERYTHING. The divide between Conservative and Labour is NOTHING compared to Republicans and Democrats. It is SO much more relaxing living here). People are simply more fun in the UK. Americans, as a colleague of mine once said, simply don't have enough 'meaningless traditions.' No one throws a party for the entire country upon a Platinum Jubilee! Or has pantos at Christmas! Or the crazy beetle drives at my church. The British, ladies and gentlemen, know how to have fun. The 'stiff upper lip' is a facade to keep the rest of the world from finding out and interfering 😁 The US, on the other hand, takes itself way to seriously for the average citizen to have much fun. Finally, the reason I decided against keeping my dual citizenship was TAX RETURNS. Never mind the NHS - HMRC vs the IRS is MORE than enough reason to stay in the UK!
@@cmm5542 ^this. Small town America is not New York or LA. Traditions are everything to a culture and the older it is, the more traditions a culture has. On the fun part, I've met some US ladies that liked fun 😄, but it has often been difficult to get past the lack of humour in the men. Banter is often taken as an insult, I have found. As to guns, Europe is not that safe. The Swiss are heavily armed. Italians love to hunt and the sound of guns in the woods is not unknown. The French like a wild pig, and I was actually shot at in Portugal, accidentally but, wow. The cops all have guns (UK is an exception, not the rule) and they are not always friendly. French Gendarmes with their HKs, Italian Carabinieri toting submachine guns, and the Spanish cops in full anti-terror gear in Barcelona is a bit concerning, especially if they don't like the look of you. The NHS thing really needs thinking about. Is it cheaper to use and are you more likely die using it? There has to be a reason the NHS spends £3B on compensation every year...
@@maggsmick Yes, all you english-speaking countries have _TONS_ of police, *this* one's for sure... a true police-state culture brrrrrrrr At actual police states, such as Russia and Belarus, you don't see nearly as many policemen everywhere, as you see there. Plus they do not make false claims, about being _"great democracies blablabla"._
Grass in UK is quite different to grass in the USA. It is soft and comfortable, if you sit on the the grass in SC, where my son lives, not only is it like astroturf, you are likely to get eaten by fire ants or some other random nasty.
I had to pause for my laughing fit when you said you watch a lot of BBC and that would help you understand the accents! The BBC being full of posh and proper accents is basically an ongoing joke; like we will do impressions of it and laugh at how la dee da we sound. Also, from Northern Ireland and living in England and I appreciate that you know that we are part of the UK cause half the people in England somehow forgot!
Yes but then you have to wait months for any follow-up on anything that's not classed as 'urgent'. Not to mention getting a gp appointment in the first place can be a battle in of itself
Haha, I'm so happy you had a good time here! On the culture shocks, most grocery shops are open till 8pm, market chains usually stay open till midnight so it's plenty of time to shop after work, but you can also order grocery delivery for very cheep, so people often do that. Sunday's are an exception where big grocery stores are required to close by 5pm. We don't cross on the light, because unlike in the US it's not illegal to cross the street. The light is there to shift liability, not indicate legality. So if the light is red and you get hit by a car, the driver wouldn't be liable as long as they followed all the driving rules. Going outside when the weather is nice feels a bit obligatory since most of the time it isn't. I'm glad you managed to visit during a heat wave, because this country really is nice in the sunshine. The food is more complicated. I think we generally use less spice, but more specifically less salt. In the 80s there was a big health campaign that encouraged people to drastically reduce salt usage and as a result we are one of the least big salt consumers in Europe. The thing is your pallet often adopts and after a while, food in other countries becomes way too salty. I also find it common for people who visit to go to very touristy places that generally have terrible food. For example, to get a good pork pie, you probably have to go to a small town and try the local butcher, rather than buy from a supermarket or some place that looks posh but is just expensive tourist trap. As far as cute guys go, that's a very subjective thing, but I think British men are in general on the cuter side 🤭 Your experience of "getting" British literature is sooo on point! Once you live here you start understanding a lot of things about the works that were spawned in this place. For example, the first time I saw Greenwich at night, I immediately understood why Newton and so many astronomers would come up with their ideas there. I genuinely think that living in England will be able to tell you so much about all the small bits in English novels that never quite made sense. I really hope you visit again in the future and enjoy even more of the country 🩷✨
Pedestrians have first priority in the UK. A car must give way for people already in the road. Although as a drive it really annoys me when people ignore crossing lights. Its called having road sense which appears lacking a lately with the increase of people on their phones.
Those aren't stereotypes, that's just kinda racist. We don't want green cards, I appreciate that was not your view, just what you were "warned" nice vid 👍
With UK stores, it's generally the high street shops and small businesses that shut at 5-6pm. Supermarket chains almost always stay open later. (The three supermarkets nearest me shut at either 11pm or midnight.) So it's relatively easy to at least go food shopping outside of work hours. Getting a haircut or shopping for clothes, electrical goods and other knickknaks is definitely something you either have to do on the weekend, or use leave or work part-time for though.
A lot of large supermarkets used to open 24 hours, but most of them seem to have stopped doing that after COVID forced reduced opening hours on them for a while and they've never bothered to go all night since.
I wonder where you live in America, or what you chose to eat here in the UK as our food varies so much and there are loads of wonderful things to eat of really good quality. A lot of our food is such good quality we prefer the taste of the ingredients rather than cover them up with extra spices. Our grass is really soft to sit on and smells gorgeous when cut. When I was little our lawn was full of little tiny flowers and was so pretty I loved lying on it and seeing how many I could find. I'm glad you found the countryside so pretty and appreciated the history here. Please come again!
Spices ARE ingredients. I think it was probably more a case of being used to super spicey food that when she tried it with a little less, it seemed bland. I've found that myself when I've been eating lots of really tasty junk food - the taste of raw food is much reduced. I'm not saying she eats junk food, but super tasty spicey food can do the same thing.
@@futurez12 I meant the main ingredients. Spices were often used to cover the taste of low quality ingredients, or to preserve base ingredients, I meant that we prefer the taste of good quality base ingredients. A lot of additives are allowed in the US that are not allowed in the UK, so yes Americans are attuned to more adulterated food. Add to this that this lovely girl was not necessarily eating what British people eat in their households.
i can assure you most Europeans do not want to live in America. That may have been true 100 to 50 years ago but now a days we see how racist violent and very very uncultured the place is. I get the impression that bullying is an accepted way of behaving , you only have to look at the way American police treat the public. As far as i can see only poorly informed or economic migrants wish to move there now many brits do go but a significate number move back again . please inform your compatriots that the rest of the worlds view on America is not as rosy as many Americans think. You have a government that is supposed to be elected by the people for the people but is completely owned by corporate lobbyists, and looks after business interest's and does not even provide basic healthcare for its citizens. your homeless situation and prison population size are hardly gleaming adverts for your society your answer to many of your problems seems to be give the police more guns and build gated community's NO we don't want a green card thank you .
You clearly don't know the US. As a British person you are clearly paying too much attention to the left-wing European media. The US us like a continent and you will find lots of variation, but your stereotyping is appalling and completely untrue.
By left wing do you mean not allowing our citizens to shoot one and other and our governments to provide health care to all .also is it left wing for your government to provide roads army navy airforce and education but health care for its citizens is tantamount to communism
@@ChrisMartin-b7l Plenty of Americans have explained their lives in America, throughout the states. Sure each are different, but none are a utopia that people would want to join.
@@ChrisMartin-b7l the statistics don't lie. The crime rate is appalling, if London was an American city it would be one of the safest, despite loonies like MTG claiming "you have mass stabbings, lady". Road traffic fatalities are at third world levels too.
My comments on your points. 1. Fair point. It's the climate. When it's 'outdoor weather' you really appreciate it. In the winter where I live it's 'indoor weather' mostly and dark by four o'clock. You get up in the dark and arrive home in the dark. Depressing. So the sun is special. 2. Bit confused about the grocery shops closing at 5. Where? Maybe in very small places. I live in the suburbs of a northern town and I have four small 'minimarkets' within five minutes walk and they all close at 10pm as do most medium sized supermarkets. There is a big Tesco and another big Asda ten minutes drive away and they are both 24 hours (except Sunday when they close at 4pm). 3. Small point. Our signs don't say 'Walk' 'Don't Walk'. They have little green or red men. Red figure means wait, green means go. But they are advisory and we use our own judgement. 4/5. We grow up with a huge variety of local accents and also we grow up watching American TV and films so it's not hard for us. Americans just don't get the exposure to other accents because we are fewer in number, make fewer films etc and you don't travel so much. So you have a harder time identifying them and understanding them. I am from the north of England and when I was in the USA a few people asked me if I was Australian. You made me laugh about your expectations about British looks versus reality. I had the reverse thing when I went to the USA. I was SO used to all the gorgeous American actors on TV and film (and the American jokes about our teeth) that I was subconsciously expecting everyone to be beautiful with perfect teeth. I clearly remember walking around think 'but everybody looks so normal. They look just like us!' I did always feel I was walking around on a film set though. Anyway, great film and very entertaining to listen to you. So glad you enjoyed your trip. Come back soon. Cultural note. I originally put the closing times of the shops in 24 hour clock as that's what it says on the doors but RUclips highlighted them as links to time on your video. RUclips like the USA can't cope with 24h clocks.
That is 100% a vixen fox! I was woken out of a dead sleep one night when two were fighting outside my open window (in Wisconsin) It was terrifying. After that I did a deep dive on the inter webs to find out what the heck was making those bone chilling sounds. Lo and behold, I did indeed find out what the fox says - and it’s a lot. Fun video! I went to the UK for the first time this past January and it was wonderful and for the most part what I expected ☺️ (big time BritBox watcher here) It was fun to hear what your first time experience was like :) I hope you get to go back again!
Years ago I (an American) was lucky enough to get a two-week visit to England; I stayed with a friend in Wiltshire so I got the "native" experience, as well as the tourist experience (York, Cotswolds, London, Stonehenge, Chester, Avesbury, Wales, Bath). I'm an English major and an Anglophile like you, so my head was constantly connecting what I was seeing with books I'd read. I COMPLETELY get what you mean! Seeing an old church graveyard with gorgeous dark spooky yews and BAM! I'm in Wuthering Heights. Heck, as my plane was descending and the clouds parted, I was looking out over English countryside with a winding river bordered by reeds and tall banks and BAM! I'm in Wind in the Willows, and I hadn't even landed yet. Just an awesome experience, especially following Jane around Bath.
I almost forgot, I saw what just HAD to be Watership Down too. My heart yearns to retire in the Cotswolds. Or London. Anyway, two major impressions that stuck with me (one) are the trains and public transport are WONDERFUL compared to ours, and in fact they added to the pleasure of my trip. And two--just the sheer historocity of the buildings, roads, towns blew me away. I'd walk down stone steps that'd been there since the 17th century--there is nothing that old in my home town. I particularly loved the old doorways and doors. Finally, sorry for the long posts!, I kept seeing people I recognized in the statues. Yes, my family tree has roots in England.
This was such a fun video! I'm Norwegian, but I moved to the UK and lived there for four years, and I also had to lower my expectations "because it's not like in the movies" but it really is! In a lot of places at least. For the grocery store thing, did you go on a Sunday? Because they usually close around 5 on Sundays but stay up until 10 or 11 most other days in my experience. In Norway all shops are closed on Sundays so I had the opposite experience of "wow, look, the shop is actually open today!"
Aw, bless your American heart! 😂 I think the perception of beauty differences comes from two sources. One is dentistry. We have perfectly adequate dentistry here, but we don't obsess over it, so you will see a lot more people whose teeth are healthy and functional but not blindingly white nor perfectly straight. The vast majority of us just... really don't care to spend thousands on cosmetic dental work. Second is, well, the movies (and tv shows). Our theatrical culture is different. We have lots of amateur theatre groups, drama schools etcetera, and people who are passionate about the arts learn and train from a young age, and get parts by being talented actors. This talent is no more likely to be combined with stunning good looks than a talent for computer coding. In America, it seems you pick the prettiest people and then try to train them into being good actors. Obviously it's still the most talented and hard-working of these who rise to the top of the profession, but you already excluded anyone who looks too plain / ugly from havjng the chance. In Britain we do have some very talented actors who also happen to be gorgeous. But we have heaps of equally brilliant actors who look rather ordinary, or even are considered to be on the ugly side. (This is highly subjective! YMMV!) If you were to assume that our prettiest people will be the ones on the screen, and ordinary people will be less good-looking... yup, you'd think British people must be kinda ugly in general. But that just isn’t how it works here.
I really enjoy dramas from other countries for this reason. The characters are far more believable, and often genuinely sinister. Whereas, anything from the US is usually bland/annoying or full of violence or explosions. I prefer substance over style every time.
Thanks, Ellie - delightful! Re English men: THE most charming man I've ever known was/is English. I still have warm memories of him from 1969 :) ! And Brit men's sense of humor can't be beat. As one told me: "If you can get a woman to laugh and take her shoes off, you're half way there." He was right ...
In Scotland, we generally like our food "bland". That way you can taste the food's natural flavour, rather than some concoction of dubious origin that has been added to mask something. Keep it simple.
I've never seen you talking about anything else, other than Jane Austen characters honestly. And speaking of food being bland, as an Eastern European in the US, I had food & water aversion for over a month, when I first got here, to me, everything tastes the same, added how unbelievably greasy the food is, and the worst of the worst? - gravy sauce, that will make any sane person start puking.
I'm glad you enjoyed our country. It's easy to get down about the state of things these days, so it's nice to see someone being joyful about it. FYI, those bird sounds - not a bird. It's the bark of the red fox.
The screeching bird sound is definitely the mating call of a vixen. My garden is visited by foxes quite regularly, and they can sound alarming at night. I’m so pleased that you enjoyed all the beautiful historic buildings and landscapes in the UK . We do our best to look after them - and you might have noticed that many are owned by charities and public organisations like The National Trust and English Heritage.
@@jenanizationThat sounds nothing like crows 😂 and it's meant to be at night! The sound tech team knew what sounds you here in the countryside at night. And England today is full of urban foxes.
Average Americans see people around the world in stereotypes only when they finally travel it reveals their willful ignoance, it's kind of frustrating at times.
The bland food thing is just because your tongue isn't functioning as it should be due to the food you've been eating most of your life. If you spent longer in the UK (or Europe) you would get back your ability to properly taste and appreciate those natural 'bland' flavours.
I really enjoyed this video! I had a similar experience as I visited England for the first time last year. People told me that it wasn’t going to be like in my shows, lol. I also assumed that I wouldn’t have an issue understanding the different accents since I watch, not only period dramas, but plenty of British tv and movies. However, I struggled to understand at times 😅 😂. My group and I did wonder since English is not our first language. Even though I primarily use it in my daily life, I do speak my other language consistently. Another thing we prepared for was the “bland food”. Surprisingly (to us) we loved the food we tried, even a place that had Mexican food. As Mexicans, we highly approved! At times we remember the food and miss it, lol.
Very entertaining video. You would find Australia (if you haven't been here) much more like the UK than the US - as regards society. When I first landed in England as a 23-year-old, I felt completely at home. It was an absolute joy to explore Dickens and Austen country.
Yes, I agree. My son has lived in Sydney for the past 15 years, so I have a month's holiday there every 2 years. I always feel more at home there than any other country I've visited. In many ways it's like England but nicer weather!
I've tried many American recipes - and they are very often outrageously sweet or salty, sometimes both at the same time. Sometimes halving the sweetness is not enough to make it normal. Also chains like McDonald's adjust their sweetness and saltiness downward for European tastes (especially in Northern Europe).
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip ! But 1. Sitting on grass isn't as common as you make out - the grass isn't usually dry enough to sit on ! 2. Food shops are usually open until late, it isn't an issue. 3. Why would I want to live in the USA when the UK is so much better in every respect ?!!.
Interesting - as a Brit I am confused by the grocery comment as I live in a rural area and even our stores close at 10pm apart from on Sunday. Also, our food is not bland 😂 Glad you enjoyed the UK though - next time check out Wales, because our castles are top tier, and we do great food too.
Ooo I’m always looking for top tier castles! 😍 Maybe they stay open later now? Or perhaps I just was always trying to go to stores that closed early. 🤔
@@EllieDashwood The smaller grocery stores do close early, especially if they are in a small town. However the large supermarkets and convenience stores stay open until 8-10pm. I live in a small town in the UK and am also confused as to why the smaller stores do this! There were many times that I wanted to give the smaller stores my business but they were closed by the time I finished work, so had to go to the chain store supermarket instead. Most of their customers seem to be retired people and those who work from home.
I think the “bland food” problem is two fold. 1) Americans are used to everything being over salted. 2) Food (as in restaurants) in the UK has been “improving” in the last 10-20 years? I think it’s largely due to war rationing? It hit you lovely people so much harder than us and the after effects lasted a long time. (That’s what I’ve heard at least) My experience in the UK was that the food was less salty but still tasted great because the salt wasn’t drowning out the other flavors. My favorite meal: stake and ale pie with the cutest stubby carrots and surprisingly tasty mushy peas! Washed down with a dark cask ale… mmm take me back!!
Yeah, I live in a town in Ireland, and within walking distance I have a petrol station that closes at 10, a Chinese restaurant that closes at midnight, a boutique food shop that closes at 6, and a supermarket that closes at 10. If I want to buy food at 3am I have to drive 10 minutes to a 24-hour petrol station. Most shops close just before 6pm, but there are usually later options if you ask a local. When I worked in Massachusetts, I was quite annoyed that there was nothing open after 9pm unless I drove to the 24-hour Stop'N'Shop a long way away. This might be something that varies by region rather than by country.
Thanks, for your delightful commentary. When I visited Britain for the first time years ago I bought a 1st class “Britrail Pass (sp?),” thinking the accommodations would be better, and that it would be a great way to meet the locals. It wasn’t. The passengers hid behind copies of the Times, and only painfully suffered conversational gambits from a foreigner. I moved to 2nd class, and voila! (or English equivalent) it might as well have been a different planet, a warmer one for sure. As for Brits immigrating to the US, I’m in complete agreement with the Brits who find the gun carnage too much and the health care system too little. You have to travel around the planet and live here and there to get perspective. Thanks again for your candor.
Hi Ellie, on the bland food issue, I think I have a theory. I am an Italian who has lived in the UK for 20 years and travels frequently to the US (both big towns and out in the sticks). Standard american food (enormous generalisation here) is super tasty and yummy and I adore it but whatever you guys put in it to make it so (abundant amounts of salt, sugar, glucose syrup, and other stuff, sauces, and even when producing it, fertilizers etc) also makes it after a while 'bad' for .. those not used to it (I am tempted to say bad for you full stop but I won't. I remember going to everyday shops and trying to find food that only had food ingredients I could recognise and not some chemical code on the label. It was hard!) In the US my taste buds are in heaven, the rest of me not so much so (skin, tummy, grogginess etc), and after a while l go spend good money to make me the plainest of salads at a salad bar, so there is a flip side to 'plain' food.
i got to the usa frequently too, the food is all the same shit as the uk. Im really not sure this flavour explosing you guys are seeing hahahah or you just eat trash in the uk like london tourist spots. In my experience the ingredient quality at american resturants is quite bad, like gross weird looking vegetables, limp thin chicken, flavourless eggs is a big thing i always notice, makes them easier to eat with syrup but i swear american eggs taste like nothing.
My wife and I live in the U.S. part of the year and in the U.K. and Europe for the summer. Unfortunately, what you are saying is correct. In the U.S. we aren't as concerned about what impact the food will have on our bodies, we're more concerned with portion size (big), satiation, and flavor. There are way too many additives in U.S. food and the typical U.S. diet involves far too many ultra-processed foods. Salt and sugar are used excessively. We've imported some of these bad habits into the U.K. and Europe, thus the popularity of KFC and McDonald's, all to everyone's detriment.
Hi! South Asian here. While i agree that loads of salt and sugar is bad, there is an alternative to eating "bland" food without compromising health. We add spices like cinnamon, ginger, garlic, coriander, mustard, fenugreek, cumin...and loads of chillie but that's a separate topic haha. And these spices make our food taste delicious and are actually extremely beneficial for health too 😊
You were in london/tourist traps its not surprising that you fiund gluten free and bland food. Go to birmingham and have a rogan josh and tell me its bland. Thats a fox not a bird. There are people of varying attractiveness everywhere. We sit on the grass because its often damp and we cant. Supermarkets are open to 10pm minimum. If you want to shop in like a town center you basically have to go on a Saturday if its 9-5. No one wants to live in america. You're the only western democracy without socialised healthcare theres too many firearms and you get no holiday.
Cute video Ellie. Yes, the Scottish accent in amazing, but difficult to understand. Movies and TV tend to soften it a bit so others have a chance of understanding the characters. But in real life it takes some time to get used to. The marriage proposals are generally not from G8 countries. That's more prevalent when you go to the Caribbean. When I went to Jamaica, 3 different girls asked me to marry them in a week.
I once bought a ticket to an Irvine Welsh film, in a cinema ("theater") in Somerville, Massachusetts. I laughed at the sign which warned that the movie was subtitled because of the impenetrable Scottish accent. But they weren't kidding - the Glaswegian jargon was knee-deep. I couldn't understand half of it, and I grew up in Ireland!
Jane Austen literally lived in my town for a short while. It is now a Pizza Express. Some of the roads are named after the book she wrote here. Don't know where you are but there are plenty of shops: both chain (Tesco!) and independent for late evening food. When you're from the country that invented the USA, we don't need it's citizenship. It's not an upgrade to us.
Hmmm a lot of the Oxbridge set do look like Darcy. I would also recommend attending the races or the rowing if you want handsome men. You may have been swimming in the wrong circles, you want the upper classes. The everyday English lad isn’t particularly refined. Also everything closes early on Sunday but most grocery stores close at 9pm - at least in London. But yes, we have very strict labour laws. Also, it is like the movies - but again you need to be in the right places. If you come again book the highest level of entry you can to specific sporting events like The Polo. That’s where you find a modern day Darcy.
Nope. Food wasn’t bland, it was healthy. It was made by organic ingredients. Especially when you think about Indian cuisine and such. That’s how you do it when you don’t have GMO and the rest in your food. In the EU and UK it’s banned. (The import of American meat as it is banned.) Crossing streets? That’s most of Europe (although in some countries it’s not so legal the police won’t care) we learn as a child how to cross safely. The whole driving is based on the fact that pedestrians exist so we check things automatically when we cross. The grocery shops also in a lot of countries. The small ones tend to close early. The bigger the shop later will be open. Supermarkets can be open even until midnight. There are some shops at night, probably close to the places where you find parties. We can go out shopping before work, you see the thing is it’s close to our houses, in a walking distance, that’s what you probably don’t have. 5 minutes away. To be frank, nobody wants to go to USA after Trump’s presidency. If anyone had illusions? He made sure to destroy it about being a great country. But why would we? What would be the gain? We have healthcare, paid vacation, paid maternity leave, as you could see in UK everyone works in a better work-life balance. At this point there are no positive consequences. For the people who really could gain with a very high salary they don’t need an American wife/ husband. The company will provide relocation. The rest? They gain more from being here. 6 million people left the USA so far in the last few years to live or work here because of the bad situation. There is that. That’s way more than Europeans going there permanently.
@@winterlinde5395 the number is a general over EU and UK. Even in smaller and not so rich countries have solutions for it. Like in Hungary for retirement in Budapest. It’s very safe and cheap for Americans with retirement savings, way better than the “classic Florida” thing. Every country has healthcare and everything else. As from European perspective it’s just spending money here so the governments are happy. If they are working? Even better. The students? Half of them stay (return) after they realize what are the options here and there. As you mentioned Germany it’s a good example for that. They will learn the language, the chill attitude… we think that it’s hard work Germans have. I worked for German companies. They are pretty strict in policy. But Americans? They think giving 15 days of vacation is a great benefit hahaha… fortunately I was working remotely so it wasn’t on them to decide I have 28 days by law. So thanks I would not live there. They work too many hours and without enough vacation or anything “benefits” (it’s not a benefit).
Frankly, I think UK food, especially produce, is WAY more flavourful than in the US. Give me steak and ale pie in a random pub over The Cheesecake Factory any day. Not that there aren't some good restaurants in the US, but they are WAY harder to find there than here! Ellie may have been stuck in 'tourist traps' though 😢 But it would have to be either a seriously BAD Indian restaurant, or Ellie has extraordinarily high spice tolerance, for her not to be able to taste them! The two-pepper signs at my local takeaway are too spicy for my sister, and there's another level after that!
I agree with most of what you say BUT it is the Left that has segregated the country, vilifying everyone who opposes their ideas and are full of hypocrisy
No-one would think the US and UK are at all alike. Even in small villages the shops stay open until 10pm. Yes, we are free to cross the road at will! 😯. We're pretty good at accents and are used to people from other lands. There are both new and old parts to our country, which is uniquely beautiful. Enjoy!
I'm very guilty of crossing the road because why wait for the vrossing light to be green when the road is clear? One time I did press the pedestrian crossing wait button while crossing a dual carriageway and a guy in a van swore at me because I caused the traffic lights to turn red so he had to stop. Most people just run when the road is clear. So yeah, just British things. Also supermarket are open 24 hours but I do think that most people do their shopping on the weekends. Also, sitting on the grass is something I do when I go out with my friends on a nice day cause it rains a lot here so you have to enjoy the sun while you can. Plus, the vibes 😊 Glad you enjoyed your time in the UK
Dear miss Dashwood. First of all great you tube segment, made me laugh a lot. I live in a lovely English market town (Ledbury in Herefordshire) and 3 of our grocery stores close at 11pm, so I don’t know what shire you were staying in. All the very best ,stay safe and come back soon 👍
We sit out ANY time the weather is good because it very often isn’t! We now have 24 hr supermarkets so large shops are open later, otherwise, it’s 5/5.30
Ooo! Yay! Now if I come visit again I can go shopping late into the night. 🔥 I figured that is why the grass sitting was popular! I guess I come from a sunny place where people are looking for ways to stay out of the sun.
@@EllieDashwood Thursday is usually late night shopping in the larger malls but the smaller shops usually close- unless in Edinburghs Royal Mile where they tend to open later during summer season( I’m a Scottish Tourist Guide 😀)
Small local shops like the bakery or butchers may close at 5 or 5:30 but even the village I live in has a small supermarket that is open from 7am to 11pm
I'm Australian, and really can't imagine why anyone would want to change to American citizenship. Our health system is government backed so you don't need to get health insurance. Health debt is practically unheard of as a result. I think it's just true that wherever you go in the world, people see the novelty of someone from another culture and might get interested in you. I had someone in Jordan essentially propose to me, and trust me, he wasn't planning to move to Australia. He wanted me as a second wife. Maybe it was that "Green Card" movie that started that "marry for US citizenship" trope.
@@EllieDashwood Unless you visited in the ‘90s it been this way for a while! Most supermarkets are in the suburbs so if you were travelling in central London you might have missed them.
Some of the value of travelling is that it invites us to reflect on things we think are 'normal' and take for granted, so thank you for sharing your thoughts! There are all sorts everywhere. The challenge is to keep an open mind, and particularly not judge the individual by any group they may belong to. Listen to Queen 'Lazing on a Sunday afternoon' for a fun take on the British schedule.
That was 100% a fox! I was awoken from a dead sleep one night to the sound of two vixens fighting outside my open window. It was terrifying. The next day I did a deep dive on the inter webs to find out what the heck was making that bone chilling sound. Surely It couldn’t be demons… lo and behold I did indeed find out what the fox says… and it’s a lot. It was fun to hear about your first UK experience! I just went for the first time this past winter and it was mostly what I expected ☺️ (big time BritBox watcher here) it was wonderful! Now I have family there and can’t wait to go back. And I wouldn’t mind if I found a cute British guy to marry 😉 except I’d stay there. It’s too beautiful! I hope you get to go back again soon :)
Ahhh! That sounds so terrifying! I would have never guessed foxes. Where I live we have foxes but they don’t come into town. Admittedly, Rosings Park is very country. 😂 Also, that’s what my friend kept saying. She was like “I think they need to be more worried about me marrying them for their citizenship so I can live here.” 😂
True! Urban fox communities are a real thing in certain areas here but they really are “sly” and slinky so they largely go unnoticed. I learned that the hard way… 😂 So either the UK is overrun with them or they just use the sound effect a lot, haha! I’ll have to ask my family who live there if they hear them much… And yes! My mom was legitimately worried I was going find a man over there and fall in love and she would never see me again 🤣 I wouldn’t say it could never happen… ;) Also, sorry for the double comment! I never do this RUclips comment thing so I didn’t realize how it worked 🙃 Blessings to you!
@@EllieDashwood I didn't marry my Scottish husband in order to live here but it was a nice perk. I moved here nearly 20 years ago and have never regretted it. No one asked to marry me to go the other way. I haven't met many Europeans or Brits that would want to move to the US... The accents in Scotland are indeed a whole learning curve (as are a few American accents I can remember). I spent a lot of time in my first job (in a bakery) asking people to repeat themselves. But after the first year or so I barely noticed a difficulty anymore. But I learn new Scots words or slang on a regular basis and that's after many years :)
I don’t know where you were, but we have 24 hour supermarkets in the UK and have done for years. I live in the middle of nowhere and the nearest supermarkets close at 10.00. Also in the uk jaywalking isn’t a crime. We can cross roads when and where we choose provided it’s safe. We are a tiny country compared to the US, so what to you is a small patch of grass is probably an enormous one over here, perfect for sitting on 😂
What are you talking about? Grocery shops DO NOT close at 5.30pm! All grocery stores are open until at least 10pm and a handful are open 24/7. I have two smaller shops, Tesco Express and Sainsbury Local within walking distance of me and both are open until 10pm.
About 3 decades ago I visited New York and guess what... IT WAS LIKE BEING IN A MOVIE 😂 it was so surreal as everything seemed so familiar to me as I grew up watching American films.
Ahhh, I’ve heard that too! But why are fox barks so ubiquitous on BBC dramas? Are there that many foxes all over the place they just make random noises all night long? Really?
This was such a weird video and didn't reflect reality at all. I groaned when she started going on how all the shops close at 5pm. She made this weird question asking how do people shop when work finishes at 5 as do the shops? Did she even come to the UK? Yes, some shops do close at 5pm, but there are so many that open way later. Go to any shopping centre (mall) or city centre and most of the shops open late. Grocery stores and supermarkets are open on average to between 10-midnight. Some supermarkets are 24 hours. This video is complete nonsense.
I visited the U.K. last year. For the most part as an advid brittish media consumer I felt very much at home in a way I have never felt before visiting a new country. However my biggest culture shock was the resturants. In the US I am used to be checked on quite a lot by the waiters, they come by and see if we need anything, if our food is ok, and they just don't do that in the UK. One time I had to get up and go hunt someone down just to get ketchup for my fries. That being said I did not find the food bland at all, I was warned about that before coming and I was please to have delicious food everywere we went.
The reason that waiters didn't check on you regularly is that, like here in Australia, you don't have to tip as the employer has to pay the wait staff a decent wage. So there's no need to try and impress you to get a big tip.
The reason you weren't 'checked on' regularly by the wait staff is that firstly, they are not your mummy or daddy checking to see that little diddums is eating up nicely - you are an adult, and thus old enough to summon staff if needed -and, secondly, that interrupting someone's meal, unasked, is considered to be very rude indeed.
@@Sine-gl9ly I don't think either way is better or worse, they are just different cultures. It's totally normal in US restaurants for wait staff to check on you a few times, they do it everywhere here. It's also normal to tip the waiters here an average of 20%.
@@carriehooper32 Indeed that sort of 'Nanny' service is 'normal' - _in the USA_ . However, you are claiming to be 'shocked' that in the UK you are treated as a grown adult, not as a horribly-spoilt child. USAians continue to puzzle me. I worked with a lot of them some 40 - 50 years ago and was puzzled then; I am still puzzled now.
❤❤ how excited you were to visit! Londoner here, shops are definitely open until 9-10pm otherwise there is a huge corner shop culture (everyone has a little store no more than 5min walk away). But the brits also LOVE ordering their groceries online
Oh 100% the built environment there is amazing! Coming from New Zealand where we have earthquakes, seeing the old rickety buildings and castles and things was sooo exciting. And the sense of history and landscape, like you said, beyond gorgeous!
So sick of Yanks dissing Brits for the weather. We are on a similar latitude to countries such as Russia and Canada so our weather is different and unpredictable. If it wasn't for the Gulf Stream it would be even colder here and our normal temperature range in summer is between 9C and 18C so if the temperature goes above 20C it could be considered a heatwave and as we are used to the lower temperatures when it gets over 30C it can be very uncomfortable if not life threatening to the very young and the very old. I wish people would actually think about what they are saying before spouting their mindless drivel. Also regarding the fact that people take time out to sit and enjoy the sunshine while it is there well, that's because we have a civillised system of taking breaks during work hours.
I think though, Americans don’t sit on grass because it’s full of ants and it’s wet and it gets green on your clothes. I think that’s why it's more surprising. Americans can take breaks and take lunches too, but they don’t go and sit on the grass, that’s a very uncommon thing to do.
My family visited Scotland in June 2023! BEST TRIP EVER We stayed with friendsin Croy and did a day trip to Maiden?, and Loch Ness (of course)! I want to live in Scotland now! So beautiful, castles galore! Food was awesome, my kids loved crumpets and haggis! Steak pie and diet Iron Bru anyone?
As a Brit, we have plenty of food which is not bland. I suspect you mean it's not spicy, which is often true - though as a Brit who adores hot food it's absolutely available pretty easily, you just have to know which menu items to pick.
Oh! When I said they needed to double the spices I meant all of them. If it had nutmeg or cinnamon or salt or paprika or oregano or anything, it needed at least doubled to suit American taste buds. Admittedly, I think every culture probably develops its own unique taste profile while young. So this is just my American perspective of the food there. I’m sure for British people it is perfectly seasoned to their liking.
@@EllieDashwood Ah - in that case I suspect you'd find the same in a lot of countries, my impression is that Americans use more salt and generally have stronger flavours than a lot of other places (though that's just what I've heard as I've never been to the US)
@@EllieDashwoodYou haven't been to the Coriander takeaway in my village, Ellie! 😂 The one thing I miss from US cuisine is Tex-Mex, though. Very few of those here, even in London. But we eat avocado a lot with other stuff, so it's okay 😁 The produce is generally far more flavourful in the UK than the US (unless you shop at WholeFoods!), and while there is a variety of quality in pubs, I will take the flavour of steak and ale pie over most US restaurants I have eaten in in my life. And I've traveled a LOT. But I believe you live out West, Ellie; and I think most of America's best food is there 😊 Definitely the Anerican northeast doesn't compare to the UK very well, except New York and Philly - in the tried and true spots, that is! Not risking anything not in a guidebook! 😆
@@EllieDashwood You mention cinnamon. I get the impression that the USA is obsessed with that spice. Nearly all the (sweet) recipes I see from Americans throw in some cinnamon. You even have breakfast cereals flavoured with it.
Hi, the sitting on grass thing is more common in cities. In smaller places people have gardens (yards) and/ or countryside or beaches nearby so they go there when it's warm or sit in the garden. Us Scots say 'wee' too😂. I used to work in tourist attractions and I had to slow my speech down a lot. Now everyone thinks I'm posh😅. We geta lot of exposure to English and American accents in the media so we get attuned to them, if you are hearing something regularly you get used to it. Supermarkets are usually open late - some are even 24 hours. Towns and cities usually have lots of ' corner shops' in residential areas which tend to open until 8 or 9 at night. Also, it's not that common these days to work Mon to Friday, 9 to 5, shiftwork is very common. Jaywalking is not illegal in the UK. Our towns and cities tend to be quite walkable. In suburban areas and villages here in Scotland the speed limit is usually 20 mph, precisely so you can stop for stray pedestrians and kids playing in the street.
Ellie: I enjoyed your video! Don't feel too bad about not understanding the various UK accents. I was raised in the Midlands of England - in the city of Birmingham (pronounced Birmingum, by the way!). I remember, as a 10 year old boy, going to visit relatives in York, probably about 120 miles away. All my experience to that date had been of the local Birmingham accent. I found I just could not, at first, understand my Yorkshire cousins at all. It was as though they were speaking a foreign language. I suspect they found the same with my dialect. Fortunately, over time, I have lived all over the country (and some other countries too) so I can tune in to pretty much any version of English easily now. Even American!
15:04 Omg but Irish people can be so charming. Very underrated in general. They’re having a moment in recent times though. Also, Quote of the Day: “It’s 10 a.m. and you might be on drugs.”
Hi, I mean this in the most positive way possible. You're such an American and it's adorable. So are your friends too I guess. You mustn't live in New York City then. If you can't cross a six lanes street on yellow, you can get your membership revoked. If you can walk you walk. They do seem to do it on the crosswalks, though. Possibly because they are so close by, as it's not that far between the streets. I would imagine that the food tasted bland to you because it has so much less salt in it, not to mention all the things you can't pronounce on the label of American food. Salt is a well known flavor enhancer, and so are a lot of those unpronounceables. As the medical system is socialized there, just like in my country, there are restrictions on what you can put in food, for health reasons. We need the allocated moneys to go to other things than all the issues that comes with the additives in food. Most of the houses you showed are quite new, really. Can't be more that a couple of hundred years or so. It's an European outlook, that's all. In northwestern Europe 80 degrees F is sweltering. It doesn't happen that often, or predictably here. We (me excluded) go to the beach when it's 70 degrees and many deem 65 degrees quite nice for swimming and frollicin in the sea. Brrrr. So sunshine takes us out into the air as quickly as we can, because who knows how long it will last. I'm thinking that quite a few people would have been quite certain you were American even before you opened said something. The accent just confirmed it. I don't know why Americans are so easy to spot, but they are. Maybe somebody else will comment on it with a theory. I'm glad that you had a great time discovering a small part of Europe, that is parts of Great Britain. Yours, Ann
Full agreement on the crossing the street thing. I'm a Californian and I was shocked when I went to the East Coast and saw that pedestrians there see the traffic lights as mere suggestions. In Los Angeles, even if the street is empty we stand there and wait for the "Walk" signal.
@@joanhall9381 Hi, I didn't know that. I've not spent a lot of time on the West Coast at all. I'm Scandinavian, and in my adult life I've spent my time either in Miami (Master studies), New York with a small opera company in three months chunks for a few years, and most recently in Phoenix, AZ for 6 weeks in connection with my best friend passing away. The only place where walking is what you do is New York, the other places you drive. Yours, Ann
@@whtalt92 Hi, Thanks for backing me on this. I know this was the case a few years ago, but I haven't sung with them for some time. Of course nobody has time to wait. It's actually the same in many European cities and countries as well. Why wait for walk when there's obvious empty stretch of roadway infront of me? I guess that's why I never questioned it. Yours, Ann
Lovely video, ignore the negative comments. I think some viewers weren't listening to what you were saying correctly! One thing I will add is that we do have supermarkets that are open late till about 10 pm and some are 24/7. The small grocery stores unless you're in a big city like London stay open later but in small towns or villages stores do tend to close around 6pm. The Express mini stores close around 11pm. A lot of Brits tend to order the family shop online now from the local supermarket and get it delivered to our homes after work so we're not using up our free time on our days off food shopping.
The sitting on the grass thing is something that other nationalities do too. Frogner Park in Oslo is full of people sitting on the grass in the summer. Including Americans on 4th July.
Have any of the people who gave you advice ever been to the U.K. or Ireland? This is why people need to travel to different countries! When I was n Bath this past April, a little girl on the street heard me talking and told her father that I talk funny! My husband then proceeded to agree with her! I love 🇬🇧🇮🇪❤❤❤
This is adorable. I felt the same when I moved to Scotland. It never gets old!!! I'm so glad you had a good time and you took such pleasure in the UK! Yay! I'm a reader too, and when I wander the moors where I live, I go full Bronte! I mean, how could you not? :D
Speaking as a Brit, I do not know of a single supermarket that closes before 8pm, Sunday apart, when there are limited hours by law. 10pm closing is very common, and there are a few that are open 24 hours, Sunday apart.
This is very true... maybe Ellie only saw very small ones in tourist towns? Also, many Brits get their weekly shopping delivered rather than visiting a store.
Even then, they'd still be open a little later than 5pm, surely? Not even corner shops close before 5pm.
I think they do shut at 5 in the small towns. I lived in London my whole life and got my own culture shock when I moved to Frome. I remember feeling properly unsettled going out after 6 my first time and seeing the main high street totally darkened except for the street lamps with literally no one about. And don't get me started on restaurants randomly shutting on a Monday... I couldn't take more than 2 years of it.
It's just an American thing - i used to have a lot of American co-workers and they do expect everywhere to literally be open 24/7. Sunday closing made their heads explode. I can't even imagine what they'd have been like before the 90s when nothing was open at all on Sundays.
@@sorscha1308 Go back to when I was young, there was half-day closing on Wednesdays too.
Why is it that so many Americans think that we want to move to their country?
The vast majority of us look on in horror at the gun violence, the awful work/life balance and the appalling cost of the healthcare, never mind the tribal nature of the politics, and decide that we sure as heck do NOT!!!
Canada yes. USA big fat no thank you.
Exactly!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I, for one, wouldn't even _visit_ there brrrrrrrr
Personally I would much rather live in Australia . Or New Zealand.
@@trevormillar1576 Isn't australia pretty similar to the u.s., or its northern appendix canada?
@@Pardesland Not at all! The work life balance is amazing, probably better than the UK. The culture is much closer to the UK and gun violence is non-existent.
What made me laugh was the idea that someone from the UK would want to marry an American woman to get citizenship in the USA. Too many gun deaths, having no free healthcare, and the lack of irony and proper pubs is not appealing.
I guess maybe because the terms „abroad“ or „overseas“ don’t differentiate. We are all the same in not being America and so they do not see that in the last decades Europeans are not the ones who want to live in the USA in great numbers.
The idea we brits want to live in the states makes me 😂 ive loved visiting the place but as you say no pubs just skeezy bars and chemical infused food that is the wrong colour. Their idea of chocolate made me vomit when i tried it and all the bread was like a desert. We had family who lived over there and every time she came over here to visit was with an empty suitcase for food that was additive free. The beer was so weak whatever i tried and the lack of so called freedom was an eye opener.
*EXACTLY.* Those _amèwicans_ just live in a dream.
Live in America ?? - a country that rapes you financially if you take ill or in an accident - PLUS - Trump - that's a big 'NO THANK YOU !'
@@StimParavane There is no such thing as free health care. You pay for it one way or another. We do have healthcare. And people who are low income do receive Medicaid.
We don't have "don't walk" signs here. We are taught as children how to cross the road.
By Darth Vader.
@@paulmidsussex3409😂 I totally forgot that. No wonder I made sure to always, stop, look and listen. That guy looked big, very big and scary.
@@paulmidsussex3409 I thought it was Jimmy Savile. Or was that seatbelts?
@@dcarbs2979 Darth Vader taught us about crossing the road, Darth Jimmy taught us about seatbelts.
Literally nobody in the UK is going to want to marry someone to get US citizenship - the idea is totally laughable.
Everyone forgets Wales is also part of the UK but it also has stunning castles, architecture and history
I visited Northern Wales, over the summer. It was stunningly beautiful, and I was smitten by all the history. I even visited the original Tudor homestead, which had Neolithic artifacts on the land. That was impressive!
I haven’t stopped talking about Wales, since I got home!
I really want to see Wales...
We're all just terrified of understanding Welsh 😂😂
To be honest though, the language sounds so pretty, and the countryside does sound so pretty too! Definitely would love to go there one day!
Oh....wha wha wha.
But do you sit on grass?
When you called something a bird sound, with Colin Firth playing Mr Darcy, the noise was actually a Fox, and not a bird.
Was going to comment this as well ☝️
Came here to say this, too.
Indeed, probably a vixen in heat - they can be very very noisy.
@@MiscellanyTopyep, a sound effect you seem to hear in every historical drama. Either that or a pheasant which sounds weird.
I knew it wasn't right. The standard bird sound on posh country estates (in real life as well as costume dramas) is peacocks which have a high-pitch mewing call which this was not. Peacocks are from India and although they are not normally caged they often don't seem to stray far from home (where they get fed presumably). I saw some wandering Nuneham Courtenay the other day and it made me do a double-take (although they hadn't gone far from the arboretum where they live).
American "I'm only driving a hundred miles, so not far"
British "This house was built a hundred years ago, so it's new"
Yesss! We drove all the way from Edinburgh to London and locals were confused why we didn’t fly. 😂 But to us that was nothing.
@@EllieDashwoodYou have to get to the airport, through security, fly, get to your accommodation, and in the end, how much money did you save? Flying is faster, but doesn't allow for any adventure in between locations.
My house is 200 years old 😂
@@thefairychild it’s actually cheaper to drive if you factor in getting to and from the airport and your car is economical. It’s about £80s of fuel but £170 for the flight.
My mums house is 500 years old 😂😂😂
Which version of UK were you in where the grocery stores close at 5 pm??? Did you go back in time?
It's really weird that people in the US (in a lot of places) never sit in their parks.
Yes, we're so quaint with our mossy walls and noisy rooks.
Well, you didn't get a vindaloo and chips in Scotland, obviously.
US standards of male attractiveness are very, very, very strange.
some smaller towns the smaller stores close early, or it was a sunday
I own 5 acres. Why would I go sit on grass in odd places? Many of us have large yards. That is where we spend a lot of our outdoor time.
@@dtchourosWhat she didn't point out (or maybe just didn't know) is that many of those people sitting on random patches of grass were likely on their lunch break from work, or enjoying some social time with their colleagues after work.
@@dtchouros I think it refers to urban areas with built up mansion blocks.
@@dtchourosI get that if you've got more space you use it, right, but that doesn't mean that when you're out and about you can't sit in the park? (I think also Ellie's perspective is slightly skewed in that she will have focused mostly in tourist heavy places where of course people aren't sitting in their gardens! They're on a day out!)
Sitting on grass is fun when there’s no ticks, no snakes, no nasty ants, no scorpions.
I think the sterotyoe about a lack of cute guys stems from the fact that the UK is okay with semi-cute or average looking guys being celebrities. In the US it seems you have to be pretty good looking to be a celebrity. So US folk look at UK celebrities and are like “that’s the best you got? Wow you have no cute guys.” But the UK is not basing it on their looks as much.
Yes, so happy to see this brought up. I’m sure plenty of amazing American actors get overlooked for better looking but worse actors.
I love watching British TV because it reminds me how normal people look.
I'm surprised that anyone would think that someone from the UK would want to marry an American to get citizenship. I know that kind of thing happens but it's generally people trying to get out of countries that have poor living conditions in comparison. The UK and the US are pretty comparable in that sense. About the food, I think that if you're used to mostly eating highly processed food that has lots of sugar, salt, and chemicals, like a lot of the food in the US and Canada, it's harder to appreciate more subtle, natural flavors. As a Canadian who often eats less processed food at home, I liked the food in England. I also stayed with British friends, so I got everyday British food as well as restaurant food where locals ate. That probably helped.
I have had a lot of great holidays in America,but I would not ever want to live there,the lack of a health system for a start,also the bad working conditions,lack of paid holidays etc.i had to get an ambulance once,I had good insurance ,just as well,the cost was horrendous.
Everyone wants to marry an American for their citizenship? In your dreams America. American have so little knowledge of anything outside their own country they truly believe it's the best place in the world to live. I'm a Brit, who lived in California, and married an American girl. She didn't marry me for my British citizenship but because we loved each other. Now she's given up the American life for a life in Britain and in her words "No way in the world would I ever move back "home" even if you divorced me". Not only that she convinced her mom to move here. Not so good for me 🙂
They truly think US is the best in everything, which in my opinion is quite the opposite. General public is uneducated, significant number of youth are school dropouts, tradition and family culture is unheard of, quality of life is way worse than europe and everything is OVERPRICED.
Mother-in-law next door. Tricky.
I used to work with an American woman who moved over here about 20 years ago when she married her British husband. They'd been divorced for over 10 years, but she said she never wanted to go back to live in the USA.
I think the misconception and over-generalization comes from how Americans feel received in less developed and/or democratic countries. I lived in Russia and was told daily that everyone wants to live in America. My husband is Russian and he has gotten high fives for bagging an American. That being said, I would never assume anyone in the UK or Western Europe would want to live in America…
@@ashleycollett9036 Blame it on an American propaganda. US govt pushes the agenda onto the world, convincing everyone in the reality of an "American dream", when in reality, it's a freaking nightmare. If you hope to get a life that's shown in hollywood movies, then you are in it for a huge disappointment. United States is a true 3rd world country with a horrendous public educational system, active, modern day slavery, that's present in workplace and non existent universal healthcare. I'm speaking this as Georgian living here lol.
I'm sorry, I've eaten across the world and I really don't agree that British food is bland. They use less salt and less sugar than the US (not strictly a bad thing...) and I know the lack of "good" Mexican style spices is a gripe for many US tourists travelling anywhere in Europe. But the whole bland trope is so old and not even really correct anymore. The breakfast pic you showed didn't look great, arguably, but that also tells me you perhaps didn't research where you wanted to eat enough or otherwise ate in areas that were more touristy and not necessarily where locals would dine.
Totally agree and having lived in the US home cooked food in the UK is far superior to home cooked food in the US
Spot on.
Also eaten in both countries and I agree.
What I will say is that some restaurants, especially, in my experience, Indian restaurants, will try to adjust the seasoning to cater to their customers, and Americans have something of a reputation (not necessarily deserved) for not being able to handle heat or spice as well as they think they can, so they may have cut the chilli in some of those "bland" dishes.
I've been a victim of this myself, before, because a waiter thought I looked "too young" to be able to handle the heat.
They don't want you leaving with your mouth on fire because you misjudged something, but unfortunately sometimes they're the ones getting it wrong.
(A good tip for Indian restaurants is to request Desi or "Homestyle" when you make your order, but that won't help with other types of restaurant)
The sitting on grass thing is because
1) It is finally dry and sunny enough to sit outside for long periods especially if there is a nice breeze, which is good as our housesand flats are mostly designed small and well insulated,
2) Historically we LOVE a good picnic even a last-minute one where you all quickly run to a Tesco Express and grab a meal deal each,
3) we don't have laws against drinking in public/outside so it's nice to relax outside on a sunny day off with a nice bottle of cider or wine with friends and family (or just Uni students having a few cans 😋).
Yes! I saw so many friends having picnics! That’s something my friends in America have never even suggested as a hang out option. 😭
There are laws against drinking in parks in Edinburgh.
@@skiveman Nah, it's fine in Edinburgh. I've done it many a time. Glasgow on the otherhand.. not so fine because of it's history and recent history. You can still do it in the parks though. But I wouldn't walk around the city drinking. Which I have done in Edinburgh.
The misconception that English food is bland and not good came from GIs who came over during the war and found the food wasn’t very good but the UK had been under strict food rationing for over 2 years and there wasn’t any real choice.
Spot on. The "English food is bland" myth likely originated during the hardship of WW2. I have frequented the UK for over 50 years, and found this to be an outright lie.
One surprising thing I found in the UK related to 'Murican Fast Food (McDonald's, KFC etc.) is that the Brits frequently have managed to take the "fast" part out of the equation. This is just my personal, anecdotal experience, I cannot back it up with any proper facts so you can just classify it as slander...
Yeah our food isn't bland, especially calling Indian or other foods bland is mad, I wonder if it's just because we don't pack as much sugar and salt into foods as the Americans, our market food and stuff is usually fresh food
If you think Indian food is bland, you clearly didn't have original Indian food.
@@Halli50 True, we took the fast out, but added the food part. :D
@@ArcanisUrriah ...and all the European nations have also mostly taken out the "unsafe to eat" ingredients.
I’m puzzled by the number of American YT that seem to believe that shops close early. Nearly every large supermarket opens at 8 am and closes at 10 pm - and there are hundreds of them, from 5 major chains, nearly everywhere. And in cities all of them have miniature versions (“express”, “metro” etc) on every other street - also open all day.
And that doesn't even include the local cornershops.
The village shop where I live is open from 7 am to 8 pm. And in our local, fairly small, cathedral town, Tesco is open until midnight.
Our food is not bland, Americans just don't like tge flavour of real food. We haven't destroyed our taste buds with salt and corn syrup. We can detect and appreciate subtle flavours.
As an American expatriate who is now a British citizen and has been here 10 years - you are correct.
And even before I came to the UK, I had a sister who was a chef and a mother who was into nutrition. I knew what REAL food tasted like, and America hasn't got much of it. The oversalting is killer.
With that being said - I can give really good recommendations for the hidden gem restaurants in the US to anyone going there on holiday who wants genuinely delicious food in America! 😁
@@cmm5542 10yrs? Now a citizen? Immigrant. The word you are looking for is immigrant. Expat; my foot.
@@lisaisaprincess23An immigrant to another country is an expatriate from their birth country? I was simply indicating the country of my birth was the US.
I am South Asian and to be fair most of western food tastes bland to us 🙈😅 it's just different cultures i guess ❤
Our food is pretty good now.
I find it strange that many Americans expect the UK to be the same as the USA. Why should it be ? We're a totally different country thousands of miles away and have a very different culture.
No one said that.
@@peterharridge8565 Ellie did though, in the beginning of this video.
@@MeReaper Ellie said pretty similar, not the same.
As a Brit nothing would want me to be an American citizen as far as i'm concerned it's a dystopian nightmare
Just being an American citizen affects you even if you don't live there. You're stuck filling in tax declarations in perpetuity.
@@jackwalker4874 My boss was born in America but was back in the UK before he was one, and the threat of being stung for American taxes is still hanging over him in his 40s!
You’re stereotyping the US as being all like its large cities. There’s a lot of small town America that is delightfully different.
This sounds like one of the myths the Americans are said to believe about us.
Ditto about finally understanding literature! When I first went to the UK, I walked through some woodlands and forests, and saw the Yorkshire moors, and finally all the English poetry I'd read made sense! There was an oak, a hawthorn, a yew, wild berries and chestnuts. (Nature is very different in Australia.)
I've heard the "bland food" comment before from other american people, especially latin americans, but as I keep telling them: it's not bland, your taste buds are just incredibly numb from all the unnecessary extra stuff you insist on adding to your food. The same thing happens with sweet foods and drinks in america; in the US especially everything is so much sweeter than in Europe because your tolerance to sweetness is super high. For us it would just not be edible. I want to taste the actual food, not a bunch of spices and/or sugar. I will absolutely die on this hill!
Why would we want to live in a country with such a high murder rate because everyone can buy a gun in a supermarket? Healthcare is through the roof and people are afraid to call an ambulance and you work long hours and are dissuaded to take lunch breaks and holidays! Most Brits by far would not be interested in an American passport. How misguided your friends are.
True, but those stereotypes about the British are no MORE absurd and innacurate than the ones you just stated are about the US.
I lived in the US for 20 years and the UK for ten. The only stereotypes that are true about EITHER country is that neither country has the least interest in understanding the other 😆
@@cmm5542 The US murder rate is thirty times that of the UK, it's not a misconception.
Google: OECD/Better Life Index/Safety
Don't get me wrong, Ellie, you're a total catch, but if you were going to marry a British man it would probably be under the condition of living in the UK. We love our taxpayer funded healthcare so much.
As a British person, I don't understand the concept of jay walking. Surely I have the right to cross the road where I like? 🙂
I had to laugh if Americans think that we Brits want American citizenship. Your friends must be confused as why would any Brit want to live in USA? I could understand Brits choosing Australia but not the USA. I’m glad you enjoyed your holiday, I can only assume that your friends were rejected by British men & hence their negativity about the country.
Australian here, I'd live in the UK but never the US however I'm very happy here in Perth.😊
@@heatherfruin5050 As a Brit having visited Perth, I don’t blame you. Americans always make the assumption that they live in the best country. But Australia beats the USA hands down.😍
Australia has the advantage of being as far from Starmer as possible on Earth.
@@andyonions7864This just made my morning! 😂
My experience is that Brits and Aussies (and Kiwis) often immediately click. We understand each other and have the same humour. It's not always that way with visitors from the US!
This honestly made me laugh so much! Plus it's nice to see a culture shock video which doesn't make out that one culture is better than the other.
I totally understand what you meant about finally understanding the Brontes - UK landscape and nature is very special and very specific. It makes such a difference to go to the places novels were set and see the world through the writers eyes.
Brit here. "Most people want to move to the USA"😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂NOOO!!!
Not trying to brag here because our country has a ton of issues but the united states has a ton of immigrants/expats whatever you wanna call them from every country not just developing countries.
I don’t know any single person who would want to move to the US. The gun culture and dreadful medical bills would be enough to put anyone off.
*EXACTLY!!* 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
As an American expatriate to the UK - THOSE are not the reasons not to move to the US!
I'd never seen ANYONE apart from a policeman with a gun in 20 years in America. Gun crime takes place in very specific localities which are very easy to avoid. And is generally criminals killing other criminals with ILLEGALY acquired weapons, not the Wild West - which is, incidentally, one reason NOT to move to the US. The cowboy culture is not real 😢
Most people's health insurance is covered by their employer, taken off the paycheck the same way as taxes that fund the NHS are here. Not being charged astronomical bills upon going to the doctor's office (and let's be honest, the NHS is NOT anything to brag about with the state it's in right now).
Reasons NOT to move to the US: there's not enough history and culture (hardly American's fault; it's a young country!), but THAT only matters to those of us who actually care about such things.
Politics gets into EVERYTHING. (That was my biggest culture shock moving to the UK. Took me two and a half years to get used to the fact that Brits simply don't pull their political affiliation into everything. Even if politics is important to them, it's never EVERYTHING. The divide between Conservative and Labour is NOTHING compared to Republicans and Democrats. It is SO much more relaxing living here).
People are simply more fun in the UK. Americans, as a colleague of mine once said, simply don't have enough 'meaningless traditions.' No one throws a party for the entire country upon a Platinum Jubilee! Or has pantos at Christmas! Or the crazy beetle drives at my church. The British, ladies and gentlemen, know how to have fun. The 'stiff upper lip' is a facade to keep the rest of the world from finding out and interfering 😁 The US, on the other hand, takes itself way to seriously for the average citizen to have much fun.
Finally, the reason I decided against keeping my dual citizenship was TAX RETURNS. Never mind the NHS - HMRC vs the IRS is MORE than enough reason to stay in the UK!
I’m American and have seen only once seen a gun, aside from on a police officer.
@@cmm5542 ^this. Small town America is not New York or LA. Traditions are everything to a culture and the older it is, the more traditions a culture has. On the fun part, I've met some US ladies that liked fun 😄, but it has often been difficult to get past the lack of humour in the men. Banter is often taken as an insult, I have found.
As to guns, Europe is not that safe. The Swiss are heavily armed. Italians love to hunt and the sound of guns in the woods is not unknown. The French like a wild pig, and I was actually shot at in Portugal, accidentally but, wow. The cops all have guns (UK is an exception, not the rule) and they are not always friendly. French Gendarmes with their HKs, Italian Carabinieri toting submachine guns, and the Spanish cops in full anti-terror gear in Barcelona is a bit concerning, especially if they don't like the look of you.
The NHS thing really needs thinking about. Is it cheaper to use and are you more likely die using it? There has to be a reason the NHS spends £3B on compensation every year...
@@maggsmick Yes, all you english-speaking countries have _TONS_ of police, *this* one's for sure... a true police-state culture brrrrrrrr
At actual police states, such as Russia and Belarus, you don't see nearly as many policemen everywhere, as you see there. Plus they do not make false claims, about being _"great democracies blablabla"._
Grass in UK is quite different to grass in the USA. It is soft and comfortable, if you sit on the the grass in SC, where my son lives, not only is it like astroturf, you are likely to get eaten by fire ants or some other random nasty.
I had to pause for my laughing fit when you said you watch a lot of BBC and that would help you understand the accents! The BBC being full of posh and proper accents is basically an ongoing joke; like we will do impressions of it and laugh at how la dee da we sound.
Also, from Northern Ireland and living in England and I appreciate that you know that we are part of the UK cause half the people in England somehow forgot!
Received pronunciation.
@@pathopewell1814 which was developed specifically to be universally easy to understand
Most Brits don't want to move to the USA, we have an NHS.
Yes but then you have to wait months for any follow-up on anything that's not classed as 'urgent'. Not to mention getting a gp appointment in the first place can be a battle in of itself
Good one.
How can _anybody_ want to move to the united n.r.a. states has *always* been totally beyond me.
@@Natasha-tu5qs but when it’s urgent the care is second to none .
@Natasha-tu5qs even if you go private to skip the queue, the cost will still be much less than in the US
@@Pardeslandglad to hear you don’t want to come. Maybe you can convince all those people crossing our southern border.
Haha, I'm so happy you had a good time here! On the culture shocks, most grocery shops are open till 8pm, market chains usually stay open till midnight so it's plenty of time to shop after work, but you can also order grocery delivery for very cheep, so people often do that. Sunday's are an exception where big grocery stores are required to close by 5pm. We don't cross on the light, because unlike in the US it's not illegal to cross the street. The light is there to shift liability, not indicate legality. So if the light is red and you get hit by a car, the driver wouldn't be liable as long as they followed all the driving rules. Going outside when the weather is nice feels a bit obligatory since most of the time it isn't. I'm glad you managed to visit during a heat wave, because this country really is nice in the sunshine.
The food is more complicated. I think we generally use less spice, but more specifically less salt. In the 80s there was a big health campaign that encouraged people to drastically reduce salt usage and as a result we are one of the least big salt consumers in Europe. The thing is your pallet often adopts and after a while, food in other countries becomes way too salty. I also find it common for people who visit to go to very touristy places that generally have terrible food. For example, to get a good pork pie, you probably have to go to a small town and try the local butcher, rather than buy from a supermarket or some place that looks posh but is just expensive tourist trap.
As far as cute guys go, that's a very subjective thing, but I think British men are in general on the cuter side 🤭
Your experience of "getting" British literature is sooo on point! Once you live here you start understanding a lot of things about the works that were spawned in this place. For example, the first time I saw Greenwich at night, I immediately understood why Newton and so many astronomers would come up with their ideas there. I genuinely think that living in England will be able to tell you so much about all the small bits in English novels that never quite made sense.
I really hope you visit again in the future and enjoy even more of the country 🩷✨
I love and agree with pretty much all your sentiments here :) :) and am also from and living in the UK
Just a small now but here in Scotland there are different rules for dogs and they don't have to close early on a Sunday.
Pedestrians have first priority in the UK. A car must give way for people already in the road. Although as a drive it really annoys me when people ignore crossing lights. Its called having road sense which appears lacking a lately with the increase of people on their phones.
You can always add extra salt & chilli powder. That is easy.
@@sjw.8314 ah, good point! I’m talking about England and I assumed it was the same in other countries, but apparently not 😅
Those aren't stereotypes, that's just kinda racist. We don't want green cards, I appreciate that was not your view, just what you were "warned" nice vid 👍
With UK stores, it's generally the high street shops and small businesses that shut at 5-6pm. Supermarket chains almost always stay open later. (The three supermarkets nearest me shut at either 11pm or midnight.) So it's relatively easy to at least go food shopping outside of work hours. Getting a haircut or shopping for clothes, electrical goods and other knickknaks is definitely something you either have to do on the weekend, or use leave or work part-time for though.
A lot of large supermarkets used to open 24 hours, but most of them seem to have stopped doing that after COVID forced reduced opening hours on them for a while and they've never bothered to go all night since.
I wonder where you live in America, or what you chose to eat here in the UK as our food varies so much and there are loads of wonderful things to eat of really good quality. A lot of our food is such good quality we prefer the taste of the ingredients rather than cover them up with extra spices. Our grass is really soft to sit on and smells gorgeous when cut. When I was little our lawn was full of little tiny flowers and was so pretty I loved lying on it and seeing how many I could find. I'm glad you found the countryside so pretty and appreciated the history here. Please come again!
Spices ARE ingredients. I think it was probably more a case of being used to super spicey food that when she tried it with a little less, it seemed bland. I've found that myself when I've been eating lots of really tasty junk food - the taste of raw food is much reduced. I'm not saying she eats junk food, but super tasty spicey food can do the same thing.
@@futurez12 I meant the main ingredients. Spices were often used to cover the taste of low quality ingredients, or to preserve base ingredients, I meant that we prefer the taste of good quality base ingredients. A lot of additives are allowed in the US that are not allowed in the UK, so yes Americans are attuned to more adulterated food. Add to this that this lovely girl was not necessarily eating what British people eat in their households.
i can assure you most Europeans do not want to live in America.
That may have been true 100 to 50 years ago but now a days we see how racist violent and very very uncultured the place is.
I get the impression that bullying is an accepted way of behaving , you only have to look at the way American police treat the public.
As far as i can see only poorly informed or economic migrants wish to move there now many brits do go but a significate number
move back again .
please inform your compatriots that the rest of the worlds view on America is not as rosy as many Americans think.
You have a government that is supposed to be elected by the people for the people but is completely owned by corporate lobbyists,
and looks after business interest's and does not even provide basic healthcare for its citizens.
your homeless situation and prison population size are hardly gleaming adverts for your society
your answer to many of your problems seems to be give the police more guns and build gated community's
NO we don't want a green card thank you .
Agreed. I'd live with you if I could. The US is the looney bin.
You clearly don't know the US. As a British person you are clearly paying too much attention to the left-wing European media. The US us like a continent and you will find lots of variation, but your stereotyping is appalling and completely untrue.
By left wing do you mean not allowing our citizens to shoot one and other and our governments to provide health care to all .also is it left wing for your government to provide roads army navy airforce and education but health care for its citizens is tantamount to communism
@@ChrisMartin-b7l Plenty of Americans have explained their lives in America, throughout the states. Sure each are different, but none are a utopia that people would want to join.
@@ChrisMartin-b7l the statistics don't lie. The crime rate is appalling, if London was an American city it would be one of the safest, despite loonies like MTG claiming "you have mass stabbings, lady". Road traffic fatalities are at third world levels too.
My comments on your points.
1. Fair point. It's the climate. When it's 'outdoor weather' you really appreciate it. In the winter where I live it's 'indoor weather' mostly and dark by four o'clock. You get up in the dark and arrive home in the dark. Depressing. So the sun is special.
2. Bit confused about the grocery shops closing at 5. Where? Maybe in very small places. I live in the suburbs of a northern town and I have four small 'minimarkets' within five minutes walk and they all close at 10pm as do most medium sized supermarkets. There is a big Tesco and another big Asda ten minutes drive away and they are both 24 hours (except Sunday when they close at 4pm).
3. Small point. Our signs don't say 'Walk' 'Don't Walk'. They have little green or red men. Red figure means wait, green means go. But they are advisory and we use our own judgement.
4/5. We grow up with a huge variety of local accents and also we grow up watching American TV and films so it's not hard for us. Americans just don't get the exposure to other accents because we are fewer in number, make fewer films etc and you don't travel so much. So you have a harder time identifying them and understanding them. I am from the north of England and when I was in the USA a few people asked me if I was Australian.
You made me laugh about your expectations about British looks versus reality. I had the reverse thing when I went to the USA. I was SO used to all the gorgeous American actors on TV and film (and the American jokes about our teeth) that I was subconsciously expecting everyone to be beautiful with perfect teeth. I clearly remember walking around think 'but everybody looks so normal. They look just like us!' I did always feel I was walking around on a film set though.
Anyway, great film and very entertaining to listen to you. So glad you enjoyed your trip. Come back soon.
Cultural note. I originally put the closing times of the shops in 24 hour clock as that's what it says on the doors but RUclips highlighted them as links to time on your video. RUclips like the USA can't cope with 24h clocks.
That is 100% a vixen fox! I was woken out of a dead sleep one night when two were fighting outside my open window (in Wisconsin) It was terrifying. After that I did a deep dive on the inter webs to find out what the heck was making those bone chilling sounds. Lo and behold, I did indeed find out what the fox says - and it’s a lot.
Fun video! I went to the UK for the first time this past January and it was wonderful and for the most part what I expected ☺️ (big time BritBox watcher here)
It was fun to hear what your first time experience was like :) I hope you get to go back again!
Exactly! So funny she thought it was a bird sound :D
@@MariaVosa its crows or jackdaws
@@eleanorgilchrist2238
No. It's a fox barking.
Years ago I (an American) was lucky enough to get a two-week visit to England; I stayed with a friend in Wiltshire so I got the "native" experience, as well as the tourist experience (York, Cotswolds, London, Stonehenge, Chester, Avesbury, Wales, Bath). I'm an English major and an Anglophile like you, so my head was constantly connecting what I was seeing with books I'd read. I COMPLETELY get what you mean! Seeing an old church graveyard with gorgeous dark spooky yews and BAM! I'm in Wuthering Heights. Heck, as my plane was descending and the clouds parted, I was looking out over English countryside with a winding river bordered by reeds and tall banks and BAM! I'm in Wind in the Willows, and I hadn't even landed yet. Just an awesome experience, especially following Jane around Bath.
I almost forgot, I saw what just HAD to be Watership Down too. My heart yearns to retire in the Cotswolds. Or London. Anyway, two major impressions that stuck with me (one) are the trains and public transport are WONDERFUL compared to ours, and in fact they added to the pleasure of my trip. And two--just the sheer historocity of the buildings, roads, towns blew me away. I'd walk down stone steps that'd been there since the 17th century--there is nothing that old in my home town. I particularly loved the old doorways and doors. Finally, sorry for the long posts!, I kept seeing people I recognized in the statues. Yes, my family tree has roots in England.
This was such a fun video! I'm Norwegian, but I moved to the UK and lived there for four years, and I also had to lower my expectations "because it's not like in the movies" but it really is! In a lot of places at least. For the grocery store thing, did you go on a Sunday? Because they usually close around 5 on Sundays but stay up until 10 or 11 most other days in my experience. In Norway all shops are closed on Sundays so I had the opposite experience of "wow, look, the shop is actually open today!"
A Flying fox ???
Aw, bless your American heart! 😂
I think the perception of beauty differences comes from two sources. One is dentistry. We have perfectly adequate dentistry here, but we don't obsess over it, so you will see a lot more people whose teeth are healthy and functional but not blindingly white nor perfectly straight. The vast majority of us just... really don't care to spend thousands on cosmetic dental work.
Second is, well, the movies (and tv shows). Our theatrical culture is different. We have lots of amateur theatre groups, drama schools etcetera, and people who are passionate about the arts learn and train from a young age, and get parts by being talented actors. This talent is no more likely to be combined with stunning good looks than a talent for computer coding.
In America, it seems you pick the prettiest people and then try to train them into being good actors. Obviously it's still the most talented and hard-working of these who rise to the top of the profession, but you already excluded anyone who looks too plain / ugly from havjng the chance.
In Britain we do have some very talented actors who also happen to be gorgeous. But we have heaps of equally brilliant actors who look rather ordinary, or even are considered to be on the ugly side. (This is highly subjective! YMMV!)
If you were to assume that our prettiest people will be the ones on the screen, and ordinary people will be less good-looking... yup, you'd think British people must be kinda ugly in general. But that just isn’t how it works here.
I really enjoy dramas from other countries for this reason. The characters are far more believable, and often genuinely sinister. Whereas, anything from the US is usually bland/annoying or full of violence or explosions. I prefer substance over style every time.
Yup, one of the most popular people on TV is Jeremy Clarkson. A man who looks like a toffee apple which has been dropped on a rug.
Thanks, Ellie - delightful! Re English men: THE most charming man I've ever known was/is English. I still have warm memories of him from 1969 :) ! And Brit men's sense of humor can't be beat. As one told me: "If you can get a woman to laugh and take her shoes off, you're half way there." He was right ...
Our UK men are just fine, thanks.
I don’t actually know anyone who wants to live in the USA.
Now Canada….
In Scotland, we generally like our food "bland". That way you can taste the food's natural flavour, rather than some concoction of dubious origin that has been added to mask something. Keep it simple.
I've never seen you talking about anything else, other than Jane Austen characters honestly. And speaking of food being bland, as an Eastern European in the US, I had food & water aversion for over a month, when I first got here, to me, everything tastes the same, added how unbelievably greasy the food is, and the worst of the worst? - gravy sauce, that will make any sane person start puking.
I'm glad you enjoyed our country. It's easy to get down about the state of things these days, so it's nice to see someone being joyful about it.
FYI, those bird sounds - not a bird. It's the bark of the red fox.
I was hoping someone would point this out!! 😊
The screeching bird sound is definitely the mating call of a vixen. My garden is visited by foxes quite regularly, and they can sound alarming at night.
I’m so pleased that you enjoyed all the beautiful historic buildings and landscapes in the UK . We do our best to look after them - and you might have noticed that many are owned by charities and public organisations like The National Trust and English Heritage.
They're crows
We have foxes that live nearby. We hear them screaming like in Pride and Prejudice
That sound was made by crows not foxes
@@jenanizationThat sounds nothing like crows 😂 and it's meant to be at night! The sound tech team knew what sounds you here in the countryside at night. And England today is full of urban foxes.
@@paulcropp660Absolutely not.
Things close early because workers have rights here. Grocery shops are generally open much later, but we can also shop during the lunch hour.
Brits add condiments to food after its cooked. Mustard with beef, mint sauce with lamb, horseradish, cranberry sauce etc. Gives the eater a choice.
Average Americans see people around the world in stereotypes only when they finally travel it reveals their willful ignoance, it's kind of frustrating at times.
The bland food thing is just because your tongue isn't functioning as it should be due to the food you've been eating most of your life. If you spent longer in the UK (or Europe) you would get back your ability to properly taste and appreciate those natural 'bland' flavours.
I really enjoyed this video! I had a similar experience as I visited England for the first time last year. People told me that it wasn’t going to be like in my shows, lol.
I also assumed that I wouldn’t have an issue understanding the different accents since I watch, not only period dramas, but plenty of British tv and movies. However, I struggled to understand at times 😅 😂. My group and I did wonder since English is not our first language. Even though I primarily use it in my daily life, I do speak my other language consistently.
Another thing we prepared for was the “bland food”. Surprisingly (to us) we loved the food we tried, even a place that had Mexican food. As Mexicans, we highly approved! At times we remember the food and miss it, lol.
Very entertaining video. You would find Australia (if you haven't been here) much more like the UK than the US - as regards society. When I first landed in England as a 23-year-old, I felt completely at home. It was an absolute joy to explore Dickens and Austen country.
Yes, I agree. My son has lived in Sydney for the past 15 years, so I have a month's holiday there every 2 years. I always feel more at home there than any other country I've visited. In many ways it's like England but nicer weather!
I've tried many American recipes - and they are very often outrageously sweet or salty, sometimes both at the same time. Sometimes halving the sweetness is not enough to make it normal. Also chains like McDonald's adjust their sweetness and saltiness downward for European tastes (especially in Northern Europe).
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip ! But 1. Sitting on grass isn't as common as you make out - the grass isn't usually dry enough to sit on !
2. Food shops are usually open until late, it isn't an issue.
3. Why would I want to live in the USA when the UK is so much better in every respect ?!!.
Interesting - as a Brit I am confused by the grocery comment as I live in a rural area and even our stores close at 10pm apart from on Sunday. Also, our food is not bland 😂 Glad you enjoyed the UK though - next time check out Wales, because our castles are top tier, and we do great food too.
Well blandness is a scale, it might not be bland to you but it's probably more bland than what she's used to.
Ooo I’m always looking for top tier castles! 😍 Maybe they stay open later now? Or perhaps I just was always trying to go to stores that closed early. 🤔
@@EllieDashwood The smaller grocery stores do close early, especially if they are in a small town. However the large supermarkets and convenience stores stay open until 8-10pm. I live in a small town in the UK and am also confused as to why the smaller stores do this! There were many times that I wanted to give the smaller stores my business but they were closed by the time I finished work, so had to go to the chain store supermarket instead. Most of their customers seem to be retired people and those who work from home.
I think the “bland food” problem is two fold.
1) Americans are used to everything being over salted.
2) Food (as in restaurants) in the UK has been “improving” in the last 10-20 years? I think it’s largely due to war rationing? It hit you lovely people so much harder than us and the after effects lasted a long time. (That’s what I’ve heard at least)
My experience in the UK was that the food was less salty but still tasted great because the salt wasn’t drowning out the other flavors.
My favorite meal: stake and ale pie with the cutest stubby carrots and surprisingly tasty mushy peas! Washed down with a dark cask ale… mmm take me back!!
Yeah, I live in a town in Ireland, and within walking distance I have a petrol station that closes at 10, a Chinese restaurant that closes at midnight, a boutique food shop that closes at 6, and a supermarket that closes at 10. If I want to buy food at 3am I have to drive 10 minutes to a 24-hour petrol station. Most shops close just before 6pm, but there are usually later options if you ask a local.
When I worked in Massachusetts, I was quite annoyed that there was nothing open after 9pm unless I drove to the 24-hour Stop'N'Shop a long way away. This might be something that varies by region rather than by country.
Thanks, for your delightful commentary. When I visited Britain for the first time years ago I bought a 1st class “Britrail Pass (sp?),” thinking the accommodations would be better, and that it would be a great way to meet the locals. It wasn’t. The passengers hid behind copies of the Times, and only painfully suffered conversational gambits from a foreigner. I moved to 2nd class, and voila! (or English equivalent) it might as well have been a different planet, a warmer one for sure.
As for Brits immigrating to the US, I’m in complete agreement with the Brits who find the gun carnage too much and the health care system too little. You have to travel around the planet and live here and there to get perspective.
Thanks again for your candor.
People travel first class in order not to be bothered with other people.
Hi Ellie, on the bland food issue, I think I have a theory. I am an Italian who has lived in the UK for 20 years and travels frequently to the US (both big towns and out in the sticks). Standard american food (enormous generalisation here) is super tasty and yummy and I adore it but whatever you guys put in it to make it so (abundant amounts of salt, sugar, glucose syrup, and other stuff, sauces, and even when producing it, fertilizers etc) also makes it after a while 'bad' for .. those not used to it (I am tempted to say bad for you full stop but I won't. I remember going to everyday shops and trying to find food that only had food ingredients I could recognise and not some chemical code on the label. It was hard!) In the US my taste buds are in heaven, the rest of me not so much so (skin, tummy, grogginess etc), and after a while l go spend good money to make me the plainest of salads at a salad bar, so there is a flip side to 'plain' food.
i got to the usa frequently too, the food is all the same shit as the uk. Im really not sure this flavour explosing you guys are seeing hahahah or you just eat trash in the uk like london tourist spots. In my experience the ingredient quality at american resturants is quite bad, like gross weird looking vegetables, limp thin chicken, flavourless eggs is a big thing i always notice, makes them easier to eat with syrup but i swear american eggs taste like nothing.
My wife and I live in the U.S. part of the year and in the U.K. and Europe for the summer. Unfortunately, what you are saying is correct. In the U.S. we aren't as concerned about what impact the food will have on our bodies, we're more concerned with portion size (big), satiation, and flavor. There are way too many additives in U.S. food and the typical U.S. diet involves far too many ultra-processed foods. Salt and sugar are used excessively. We've imported some of these bad habits into the U.K. and Europe, thus the popularity of KFC and McDonald's, all to everyone's detriment.
Hi! South Asian here. While i agree that loads of salt and sugar is bad, there is an alternative to eating "bland" food without compromising health. We add spices like cinnamon, ginger, garlic, coriander, mustard, fenugreek, cumin...and loads of chillie but that's a separate topic haha. And these spices make our food taste delicious and are actually extremely beneficial for health too 😊
@@WookieWarriorz
There are a lot of additives used in food in America that are banned in the UK.
Sure we have some crap food. Just not that crap.
You were in london/tourist traps its not surprising that you fiund gluten free and bland food. Go to birmingham and have a rogan josh and tell me its bland.
Thats a fox not a bird.
There are people of varying attractiveness everywhere.
We sit on the grass because its often damp and we cant.
Supermarkets are open to 10pm minimum. If you want to shop in like a town center you basically have to go on a Saturday if its 9-5.
No one wants to live in america. You're the only western democracy without socialised healthcare theres too many firearms and you get no holiday.
That bird is 100% a horny fox. They are the worst.
Cute video Ellie. Yes, the Scottish accent in amazing, but difficult to understand. Movies and TV tend to soften it a bit so others have a chance of understanding the characters. But in real life it takes some time to get used to.
The marriage proposals are generally not from G8 countries. That's more prevalent when you go to the Caribbean. When I went to Jamaica, 3 different girls asked me to marry them in a week.
I once bought a ticket to an Irvine Welsh film, in a cinema ("theater") in Somerville, Massachusetts. I laughed at the sign which warned that the movie was subtitled because of the impenetrable Scottish accent. But they weren't kidding - the Glaswegian jargon was knee-deep. I couldn't understand half of it, and I grew up in Ireland!
Yeah, there are plenty of British middle aged women who think that a young Nigerian has fallen for them. He's just after a passport.
Jane Austen literally lived in my town for a short while. It is now a Pizza Express. Some of the roads are named after the book she wrote here. Don't know where you are but there are plenty of shops: both chain (Tesco!) and independent for late evening food. When you're from the country that invented the USA, we don't need it's citizenship. It's not an upgrade to us.
You mean the guys don't look like Mr Darcy 😂😂😂. Sounds like you had a fun trip though!
😂 Apparently there is only one Colin Firth in England.
There's a younger brother who's even more attractive!@@EllieDashwood
@@EllieDashwood Ah, such a shame. . .
Hmmm a lot of the Oxbridge set do look like Darcy. I would also recommend attending the races or the rowing if you want handsome men. You may have been swimming in the wrong circles, you want the upper classes. The everyday English lad isn’t particularly refined.
Also everything closes early on Sunday but most grocery stores close at 9pm - at least in London. But yes, we have very strict labour laws.
Also, it is like the movies - but again you need to be in the right places. If you come again book the highest level of entry you can to specific sporting events like The Polo. That’s where you find a modern day Darcy.
There is that one guy who does.
The odd thing I found with this video is that I didn’t detect even a trace of Irony.
Suspect it was not her accent that gave away the fact she is from US. 🤔
Nope. Food wasn’t bland, it was healthy. It was made by organic ingredients. Especially when you think about Indian cuisine and such. That’s how you do it when you don’t have GMO and the rest in your food. In the EU and UK it’s banned. (The import of American meat as it is banned.)
Crossing streets? That’s most of Europe (although in some countries it’s not so legal the police won’t care) we learn as a child how to cross safely. The whole driving is based on the fact that pedestrians exist so we check things automatically when we cross.
The grocery shops also in a lot of countries. The small ones tend to close early. The bigger the shop later will be open. Supermarkets can be open even until midnight. There are some shops at night, probably close to the places where you find parties. We can go out shopping before work, you see the thing is it’s close to our houses, in a walking distance, that’s what you probably don’t have. 5 minutes away.
To be frank, nobody wants to go to USA after Trump’s presidency. If anyone had illusions? He made sure to destroy it about being a great country. But why would we? What would be the gain? We have healthcare, paid vacation, paid maternity leave, as you could see in UK everyone works in a better work-life balance. At this point there are no positive consequences. For the people who really could gain with a very high salary they don’t need an American wife/ husband. The company will provide relocation. The rest? They gain more from being here. 6 million people left the USA so far in the last few years to live or work here because of the bad situation. There is that. That’s way more than Europeans going there permanently.
Same here in Germany. They don’t come by the millions, but about twice as many US Americans move to Germany than the other way around. 😊
@@winterlinde5395 the number is a general over EU and UK. Even in smaller and not so rich countries have solutions for it. Like in Hungary for retirement in Budapest. It’s very safe and cheap for Americans with retirement savings, way better than the “classic Florida” thing. Every country has healthcare and everything else. As from European perspective it’s just spending money here so the governments are happy. If they are working? Even better. The students? Half of them stay (return) after they realize what are the options here and there. As you mentioned Germany it’s a good example for that. They will learn the language, the chill attitude… we think that it’s hard work Germans have. I worked for German companies. They are pretty strict in policy. But Americans? They think giving 15 days of vacation is a great benefit hahaha… fortunately I was working remotely so it wasn’t on them to decide I have 28 days by law. So thanks I would not live there. They work too many hours and without enough vacation or anything “benefits” (it’s not a benefit).
Frankly, I think UK food, especially produce, is WAY more flavourful than in the US.
Give me steak and ale pie in a random pub over The Cheesecake Factory any day. Not that there aren't some good restaurants in the US, but they are WAY harder to find there than here! Ellie may have been stuck in 'tourist traps' though 😢
But it would have to be either a seriously BAD Indian restaurant, or Ellie has extraordinarily high spice tolerance, for her not to be able to taste them!
The two-pepper signs at my local takeaway are too spicy for my sister, and there's another level after that!
I agree with most of what you say BUT it is the Left that has segregated the country, vilifying everyone who opposes their ideas and are full of hypocrisy
The “wee” part reminded me of Derry girls, which if you haven’t yet, you MUST watch!
No-one would think the US and UK are at all alike. Even in small villages the shops stay open until 10pm. Yes, we are free to cross the road at will! 😯. We're pretty good at accents and are used to people from other lands. There are both new and old parts to our country, which is uniquely beautiful. Enjoy!
I'm very guilty of crossing the road because why wait for the vrossing light to be green when the road is clear? One time I did press the pedestrian crossing wait button while crossing a dual carriageway and a guy in a van swore at me because I caused the traffic lights to turn red so he had to stop. Most people just run when the road is clear. So yeah, just British things. Also supermarket are open 24 hours but I do think that most people do their shopping on the weekends. Also, sitting on the grass is something I do when I go out with my friends on a nice day cause it rains a lot here so you have to enjoy the sun while you can. Plus, the vibes 😊
Glad you enjoyed your time in the UK
Dear miss Dashwood. First of all great you tube segment, made me laugh a lot. I live in a lovely English market town (Ledbury in Herefordshire) and 3 of our grocery stores close at 11pm, so I don’t know what shire you were staying in. All the very best ,stay safe and come back soon 👍
We sit out ANY time the weather is good because it very often isn’t!
We now have 24 hr supermarkets so large shops are open later, otherwise, it’s 5/5.30
Ooo! Yay! Now if I come visit again I can go shopping late into the night. 🔥 I figured that is why the grass sitting was popular! I guess I come from a sunny place where people are looking for ways to stay out of the sun.
@@EllieDashwood Thursday is usually late night shopping in the larger malls but the smaller shops usually close- unless in Edinburghs Royal Mile where they tend to open later during summer season( I’m a Scottish Tourist Guide 😀)
I don't know where in the UK you live but most supermarkets have opened to between 8pm and 10pm for donkeys years.
@@Murdersville in Scotland and yes has been that way for last 10-20 yrs
Small local shops like the bakery or butchers may close at 5 or 5:30 but even the village I live in has a small supermarket that is open from 7am to 11pm
I'm Australian, and really can't imagine why anyone would want to change to American citizenship. Our health system is government backed so you don't need to get health insurance. Health debt is practically unheard of as a result. I think it's just true that wherever you go in the world, people see the novelty of someone from another culture and might get interested in you. I had someone in Jordan essentially propose to me, and trust me, he wasn't planning to move to Australia. He wanted me as a second wife. Maybe it was that "Green Card" movie that started that "marry for US citizenship" trope.
It may already have been commented on but those bird noises in the background are actually fox screeching.
2:44 the supermarkets close at 11pm or 10pm generally except, in England, on Sundays due to what were originally religious laws.
Ooo! That’s so nice! I wonder if it changed since I visited or I just went to all the wrong stores. 😂
@@EllieDashwood Unless you visited in the ‘90s it been this way for a while! Most supermarkets are in the suburbs so if you were travelling in central London you might have missed them.
@@EllieDashwoodno....you went to wrong shops
Some of the value of travelling is that it invites us to reflect on things we think are 'normal' and take for granted, so thank you for sharing your thoughts!
There are all sorts everywhere. The challenge is to keep an open mind, and particularly not judge the individual by any group they may belong to.
Listen to Queen 'Lazing on a Sunday afternoon' for a fun take on the British schedule.
That was 100% a fox! I was awoken from a dead sleep one night to the sound of two vixens fighting outside my open window. It was terrifying. The next day I did a deep dive on the inter webs to find out what the heck was making that bone chilling sound. Surely It couldn’t be demons… lo and behold I did indeed find out what the fox says… and it’s a lot.
It was fun to hear about your first UK experience!
I just went for the first time this past winter and it was mostly what I expected ☺️ (big time BritBox watcher here) it was wonderful! Now I have family there and can’t wait to go back. And I wouldn’t mind if I found a cute British guy to marry 😉 except I’d stay there. It’s too beautiful!
I hope you get to go back again soon :)
Ahhh! That sounds so terrifying! I would have never guessed foxes. Where I live we have foxes but they don’t come into town. Admittedly, Rosings Park is very country. 😂 Also, that’s what my friend kept saying. She was like “I think they need to be more worried about me marrying them for their citizenship so I can live here.” 😂
True! Urban fox communities are a real thing in certain areas here but they really are “sly” and slinky so they largely go unnoticed. I learned that the hard way… 😂
So either the UK is overrun with them or they just use the sound effect a lot, haha! I’ll have to ask my family who live there if they hear them much…
And yes! My mom was legitimately worried I was going find a man over there and fall in love and she would never see me again 🤣 I wouldn’t say it could never happen… ;)
Also, sorry for the double comment! I never do this RUclips comment thing so I didn’t realize how it worked 🙃
Blessings to you!
@@EllieDashwood I didn't marry my Scottish husband in order to live here but it was a nice perk. I moved here nearly 20 years ago and have never regretted it. No one asked to marry me to go the other way. I haven't met many Europeans or Brits that would want to move to the US...
The accents in Scotland are indeed a whole learning curve (as are a few American accents I can remember). I spent a lot of time in my first job (in a bakery) asking people to repeat themselves. But after the first year or so I barely noticed a difficulty anymore.
But I learn new Scots words or slang on a regular basis and that's after many years :)
I don’t know where you were, but we have 24 hour supermarkets in the UK and have done for years. I live in the middle of nowhere and the nearest supermarkets close at 10.00. Also in the uk jaywalking isn’t a crime. We can cross roads when and where we choose provided it’s safe. We are a tiny country compared to the US, so what to you is a small patch of grass is probably an enormous one over here, perfect for sitting on 😂
What are you talking about? Grocery shops DO NOT close at 5.30pm! All grocery stores are open until at least 10pm and a handful are open 24/7. I have two smaller shops, Tesco Express and Sainsbury Local within walking distance of me and both are open until 10pm.
About 3 decades ago I visited New York and guess what... IT WAS LIKE BEING IN A MOVIE 😂 it was so surreal as everything seemed so familiar to me as I grew up watching American films.
The bird noise is actually a fox!
Ahhh, I’ve heard that too! But why are fox barks so ubiquitous on BBC dramas? Are there that many foxes all over the place they just make random noises all night long? Really?
@@Matty06001 At certain times of year it is really noticeable.
@@Matty06001 It's a vixen looking for a mate (I think)
This was such a weird video and didn't reflect reality at all. I groaned when she started going on how all the shops close at 5pm. She made this weird question asking how do people shop when work finishes at 5 as do the shops? Did she even come to the UK? Yes, some shops do close at 5pm, but there are so many that open way later. Go to any shopping centre (mall) or city centre and most of the shops open late. Grocery stores and supermarkets are open on average to between 10-midnight. Some supermarkets are 24 hours.
This video is complete nonsense.
I visited the U.K. last year. For the most part as an advid brittish media consumer I felt very much at home in a way I have never felt before visiting a new country. However my biggest culture shock was the resturants. In the US I am used to be checked on quite a lot by the waiters, they come by and see if we need anything, if our food is ok, and they just don't do that in the UK. One time I had to get up and go hunt someone down just to get ketchup for my fries. That being said I did not find the food bland at all, I was warned about that before coming and I was please to have delicious food everywere we went.
The reason that waiters didn't check on you regularly is that, like here in Australia, you don't have to tip as the employer has to pay the wait staff a decent wage. So there's no need to try and impress you to get a big tip.
I hate being fussed over in a restaurant or a shop.
The reason you weren't 'checked on' regularly by the wait staff is that firstly, they are not your mummy or daddy checking to see that little diddums is eating up nicely - you are an adult, and thus old enough to summon staff if needed -and, secondly, that interrupting someone's meal, unasked, is considered to be very rude indeed.
@@Sine-gl9ly I don't think either way is better or worse, they are just different cultures. It's totally normal in US restaurants for wait staff to check on you a few times, they do it everywhere here. It's also normal to tip the waiters here an average of 20%.
@@carriehooper32 Indeed that sort of 'Nanny' service is 'normal' - _in the USA_ .
However, you are claiming to be 'shocked' that in the UK you are treated as a grown adult, not as a horribly-spoilt child.
USAians continue to puzzle me. I worked with a lot of them some 40 - 50 years ago and was puzzled then; I am still puzzled now.
❤❤ how excited you were to visit! Londoner here, shops are definitely open until 9-10pm otherwise there is a huge corner shop culture (everyone has a little store no more than 5min walk away). But the brits also LOVE ordering their groceries online
"during what they thought was a heatwave" 😄
Oh 100% the built environment there is amazing! Coming from New Zealand where we have earthquakes, seeing the old rickety buildings and castles and things was sooo exciting. And the sense of history and landscape, like you said, beyond gorgeous!
I'm so glad you weren't disappointed. I am in love with this country, but to me, it's home.
So sick of Yanks dissing Brits for the weather. We are on a similar latitude to countries such as Russia and Canada so our weather is different and unpredictable. If it wasn't for the Gulf Stream it would be even colder here and our normal temperature range in summer is between 9C and 18C so if the temperature goes above 20C it could be considered a heatwave and as we are used to the lower temperatures when it gets over 30C it can be very uncomfortable if not life threatening to the very young and the very old. I wish people would actually think about what they are saying before spouting their mindless drivel. Also regarding the fact that people take time out to sit and enjoy the sunshine while it is there well, that's because we have a civillised system of taking breaks during work hours.
I think though, Americans don’t sit on grass because it’s full of ants and it’s wet and it gets green on your clothes. I think that’s why it's more surprising. Americans can take breaks and take lunches too, but they don’t go and sit on the grass, that’s a very uncommon thing to do.
I don't think this is the best week for Americans to diss British weather.
My family visited Scotland in June 2023! BEST TRIP EVER
We stayed with friendsin Croy and did a day trip to Maiden?, and Loch Ness (of course)! I want to live in Scotland now! So beautiful, castles galore! Food was awesome, my kids loved crumpets and haggis! Steak pie and diet Iron Bru anyone?
I will join in the steak pie!
As a Brit, we have plenty of food which is not bland. I suspect you mean it's not spicy, which is often true - though as a Brit who adores hot food it's absolutely available pretty easily, you just have to know which menu items to pick.
Oh! When I said they needed to double the spices I meant all of them. If it had nutmeg or cinnamon or salt or paprika or oregano or anything, it needed at least doubled to suit American taste buds. Admittedly, I think every culture probably develops its own unique taste profile while young. So this is just my American perspective of the food there. I’m sure for British people it is perfectly seasoned to their liking.
@@EllieDashwood Ah - in that case I suspect you'd find the same in a lot of countries, my impression is that Americans use more salt and generally have stronger flavours than a lot of other places (though that's just what I've heard as I've never been to the US)
@@RosLanta It depends on where you go in the U.S. Our food preferences can be very regional.
@@EllieDashwoodYou haven't been to the Coriander takeaway in my village, Ellie! 😂
The one thing I miss from US cuisine is Tex-Mex, though. Very few of those here, even in London.
But we eat avocado a lot with other stuff, so it's okay 😁
The produce is generally far more flavourful in the UK than the US (unless you shop at WholeFoods!), and while there is a variety of quality in pubs, I will take the flavour of steak and ale pie over most US restaurants I have eaten in in my life. And I've traveled a LOT.
But I believe you live out West, Ellie; and I think most of America's best food is there 😊 Definitely the Anerican northeast doesn't compare to the UK very well, except New York and Philly - in the tried and true spots, that is! Not risking anything not in a guidebook! 😆
@@EllieDashwood You mention cinnamon. I get the impression that the USA is obsessed with that spice. Nearly all the (sweet) recipes I see from Americans throw in some cinnamon. You even have breakfast cereals flavoured with it.
Hi, the sitting on grass thing is more common in cities. In smaller places people have gardens (yards) and/ or countryside or beaches nearby so they go there when it's warm or sit in the garden.
Us Scots say 'wee' too😂. I used to work in tourist attractions and I had to slow my speech down a lot. Now everyone thinks I'm posh😅. We geta lot of exposure to English and American accents in the media so we get attuned to them, if you are hearing something regularly you get used to it.
Supermarkets are usually open late - some are even 24 hours. Towns and cities usually have lots of ' corner shops' in residential areas which tend to open until 8 or 9 at night. Also, it's not that common these days to work Mon to Friday, 9 to 5, shiftwork is very common.
Jaywalking is not illegal in the UK. Our towns and cities tend to be quite walkable. In suburban areas and villages here in Scotland the speed limit is usually 20 mph, precisely so you can stop for stray pedestrians and kids playing in the street.
Ellie: I enjoyed your video! Don't feel too bad about not understanding the various UK accents. I was raised in the Midlands of England - in the city of Birmingham (pronounced Birmingum, by the way!). I remember, as a 10 year old boy, going to visit relatives in York, probably about 120 miles away. All my experience to that date had been of the local Birmingham accent. I found I just could not, at first, understand my Yorkshire cousins at all. It was as though they were speaking a foreign language. I suspect they found the same with my dialect. Fortunately, over time, I have lived all over the country (and some other countries too) so I can tune in to pretty much any version of English easily now. Even American!
The birds 😂😂😂 also known as foxes, I actually stopped trying to uncork a bottle of wine to type this , I was cracking up so much
"BBC bird noise's!" I did giggle.
That bird sound was a fox screaming😂
When I went to England I thought the English food delicious. I told my English colleagues this and said not to tell anyone. lol 😂
Awww! That’s awesome!
@@EllieDashwood I want to go back so bad! I could live there I know I can.
@@angelrays7
Maybe you could marry someone for citizenship? 😉
15:04 Omg but Irish people can be so charming. Very underrated in general. They’re having a moment in recent times though.
Also, Quote of the Day: “It’s 10 a.m. and you might be on drugs.”
Hi, I mean this in the most positive way possible. You're such an American and it's adorable. So are your friends too I guess.
You mustn't live in New York City then. If you can't cross a six lanes street on yellow, you can get your membership revoked. If you can walk you walk. They do seem to do it on the crosswalks, though. Possibly because they are so close by, as it's not that far between the streets.
I would imagine that the food tasted bland to you because it has so much less salt in it, not to mention all the things you can't pronounce on the label of American food. Salt is a well known flavor enhancer, and so are a lot of those unpronounceables. As the medical system is socialized there, just like in my country, there are restrictions on what you can put in food, for health reasons. We need the allocated moneys to go to other things than all the issues that comes with the additives in food.
Most of the houses you showed are quite new, really. Can't be more that a couple of hundred years or so. It's an European outlook, that's all.
In northwestern Europe 80 degrees F is sweltering. It doesn't happen that often, or predictably here. We (me excluded) go to the beach when it's 70 degrees and many deem 65 degrees quite nice for swimming and frollicin in the sea. Brrrr. So sunshine takes us out into the air as quickly as we can, because who knows how long it will last.
I'm thinking that quite a few people would have been quite certain you were American even before you opened said something. The accent just confirmed it. I don't know why Americans are so easy to spot, but they are. Maybe somebody else will comment on it with a theory.
I'm glad that you had a great time discovering a small part of Europe, that is parts of Great Britain. Yours, Ann
Full agreement on the crossing the street thing. I'm a Californian and I was shocked when I went to the East Coast and saw that pedestrians there see the traffic lights as mere suggestions. In Los Angeles, even if the street is empty we stand there and wait for the "Walk" signal.
@@joanhall9381 Hi, I didn't know that. I've not spent a lot of time on the West Coast at all. I'm Scandinavian, and in my adult life I've spent my time either in Miami (Master studies), New York with a small opera company in three months chunks for a few years, and most recently in Phoenix, AZ for 6 weeks in connection with my best friend passing away. The only place where walking is what you do is New York, the other places you drive. Yours, Ann
@@annlidslot8212 Nobody in NY has time to wait for a traffic light!
@@whtalt92 Hi, Thanks for backing me on this. I know this was the case a few years ago, but I haven't sung with them for some time. Of course nobody has time to wait. It's actually the same in many European cities and countries as well. Why wait for walk when there's obvious empty stretch of roadway infront of me? I guess that's why I never questioned it. Yours, Ann
Lovely video, ignore the negative comments. I think some viewers weren't listening to what you were saying correctly! One thing I will add is that we do have supermarkets that are open late till about 10 pm and some are 24/7. The small grocery stores unless you're in a big city like London stay open later but in small towns or villages stores do tend to close around 6pm. The Express mini stores close around 11pm. A lot of Brits tend to order the family shop online now from the local supermarket and get it delivered to our homes after work so we're not using up our free time on our days off food shopping.
There’s something wrong with your taste buds - it’s probably all the chemicals in your food.
The sitting on the grass thing is something that other nationalities do too. Frogner Park in Oslo is full of people sitting on the grass in the summer. Including Americans on 4th July.
Have any of the people who gave you advice ever been to the U.K. or Ireland? This is why people need to travel to different countries! When I was n Bath this past April, a little girl on the street heard me talking and told her father that I talk funny! My husband then proceeded to agree with her! I love 🇬🇧🇮🇪❤❤❤
This is adorable. I felt the same when I moved to Scotland. It never gets old!!! I'm so glad you had a good time and you took such pleasure in the UK! Yay! I'm a reader too, and when I wander the moors where I live, I go full Bronte! I mean, how could you not? :D
There are sooo many reasons I'd like to visit England, but you added one. I had no idea it would be easier to be gluten free there!
I'm shocked that you are shocked about people sitting on the grass when it's sunny. I'm Australian.