My Year Living in England





My Year Living in England


A close-up of Meghan Markle wearing a white wedding dress, diamond stud earrings, and a diamond tiara over a white veil. Her black hair is in a low bun and she is smiling.


Now that my year living in England is winding down, I thought I would take a look back at all of my prior blog posts on the UK/Europe and write one last post. I absolutely got what I was looking for when I came to live in Leeds: a different cultural experience, meeting people from the other side of the world, discovering what is happening here and hearing the perspectives of British, European and Global South people. Now, a walk down memory lane:

One month after arriving in Leeds and starting university, I was shocked to learn that Black History Month is in October in the UK. I also learned that Britain's (and the UK's) Black population is an immigrant population. Black Britons are primarily immigrants from African or Caribbean countries, and their descendants. For more information on Britain's role in the Atlantic Slave Trade, read this informative article on current events in Britain that traces this history. One of my fondest memories of the year was being a part of the Black Feminist Society (club/student organization) on my campus where I got to discuss important issues with Black British femmes. Through my interactions with other students and classes I learned how dominant U.S. media is around the world, including in Europe! The U.S. is not only the world's current imperial power, but it is also an exporter of cultural imperialism through its TV and Hollywood industries.

Thanks to my flatmate's wanderlust, I started traveling Europe early in the school year, in November! We went to Copenhagen, Denmark, Dublin, Glendalough, and Kilkenny, Ireland, Disneyland Paris and Paris, France, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands together. Then I went to Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland with a friend. Due to scheduling conflicts my flatmates and/or friends were unable to go, so I traveled to Italy and Greece alone! I was initially afraid to do this because I have survived on Wi-Fi here in Europe which means that my travel buddies did the navigating most of the time. But I surprised myself: not only did I navigate Italy and Greece alone by using manual maps, but I got to do and see what I wanted to and I had a blast doing it. During the year, I also traveled Britain: I visited neighboring York on a volunteer trip. I went to see my cousin from the U.S. who happened to be working in Nottingham for a year on assignment. We took a trip to London together where we got the best Ethiopian food at Wolkite. I went to Formby beach near Liverpool with my flatmates when it was -1 degrees Celcius! We took a trip to Bath, England which is gorgeous and has Roman architecture, and to Somerset to see the Stonehenge. I relished it all and will cherish these memories.

All in all, living in Britain and studying for an MA, Social & Public Policy at the University of Leeds has been a dream come true. I am happy that the Royal Wedding happened while I live here. It seems that there are two camps of Black women (in the U.S. and the UK) when it comes to Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding: don't care or I love it! I am in the love it category: if I wrote one of the press articles on the wedding it would be titled "Black actress marries Royal man and escapes America" lol! Well not truly, but you get the idea. I loved seeing Meghan Markle in the Royal Wedding because I remember when Kate and Prince William got married and it felt like the U.S. media talked about Kate for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks of that year. It was nice to see a Black woman represented on British and American media in that same manner, and to learn about her life, the endeavors she would take on with the Royal family and to see her designer outfits. As one Black American woman tweeted in the U.S., it is nice to see anyone proudly be the partner of a Black woman. I am aware that Black women are the least desirable group on online dating sites and I have seen the data that we are the least likely to get married. While the Royal Wedding clearly has no bearing on my life, it is just nice to see a Black (and mixed race) woman thriving. That being said, I do not condone or endorse the imperial, colonial underpinnings of the British monarchy or believe that we must marry a rich, famous white man to have value. We've had inherent value all along...

In a way, leaving the U.S.'s very real and life-threatening struggles with politics, racism, immigration etc., for a year as a woman of color has been my own fairytale. But as I finish writing my dissertation, I know that this year is coming to an end and I will return to the U.S. When I do, I will work to impact policy and ameliorate the situation.

Related: From LA to the UK, In Britain, October is Black History Month, The Prevalence of American Media around the World, Black Feminist Society, Online Dating (on both sides of the Atlantic), A Photo Essay of my Travels around Europe
Hyphenated Ethiopian third culture kid. Twitter: @moonchereka

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