From Cebu Shores to Lancaster Lanes: Embracing a New Life in the UK

Hi There!

My name is Aunne - a Filipino immigrant who just moved to the United Kingdom from the beautiful island of Cebu, Philippines. I am a software engineer by profession but I also used to love writing. I had a blog when I was in college where I wrote about my life and the silly intricacies of being a teenager. If you want to check that out instead, you can visit my old blog here. However, I stopped blogging when I graduated college and started working. Adulting, am I right? I did draft different blog posts but none of them were ever finished.

Now, I've moved on to another chapter of my life. This is a complete shift from what I have always known in the Philippines. Nevertheless, it's a change that I very much embrace. I came here in the UK on a dependent partner visa. My fiancé works for the NHS or the National Health Service here in the UK. She came here to work as a nurse while the Covid pandemic was still going on since there was a high demand for nurses that time. two years later, I followed her here.

From the hot busy streets of Cebu City, I find myself in the cold but quiet roads of Lancaster. It's definitely not the same as what I've been used to but it's really refreshing that I can experience life away from a very crowded city. Although it's not a very big city, there is still so much that I can experience here that I haven't gotten a chance to enjoy in Cebu. One of those things is the variety of products that I can find in the shops here.

In Cebu, we only usually go to the mall and we usually find what we need there. Here in Lancaster, there is no big mall but you can usually just find what you need in town. You can find food and beverages in different stores all around. If you need clothes, there is also a variety of stores you can choose from. Overall, even though it's not a big city, it's not hard to find supplies at all. Also, if there are things that you can't find in town, Amazon and Temu are my go-to online shopping sites.

Although it's been great so far, there are also a lot of challenges that cannot be avoided when moving to a new country. One of those things is the language barrier. You may think that moving to the UK will be easy if you are already good in English, like myself. However, nothing is farther from the truth. I find my nose still bleeding every time I interact with the locals here. Their accent is very different from what we know in the Philippines. The worst part is that I cannot complain about their English because that this is where the language came from and we're just getting it from them.

Another problem you will face when moving to another country is how to manage your finances. I was lucky that I was able to ask the company I'm working for to allow me to work from here even if the company is based in the Philippines. Remote jobs are the best! However, it's still not the perfect setup. Even though I'm working remotely, I'm still earning in Philippine Peso. With that, I still find myself at a loss with the conversion rates being unfavorable to me. Still, I'm really grateful to my company and also proud that I really prepared myself on what could happen before I even applied for my visa.

Other dependent partners' experiences weren't too great at first, though. Although the pay is great, the cost of living is high and the competition for jobs is also as high. That's why you need to come prepared. What I did was send my fiancé some of my savings to her bank account in the Philippines and she would set aside the equivalent amount in pounds. Then, when I arrived here, I already have some money saved up to spend on essentials like toiletries, shoes, jackets, and clothes for cold weather.

With the money I already saved, I was also able to open my first bank account so I didn't have to worry too much about international fees if I use my credit card from the Philippines. Although I already tried to create an account when I was still in the Philippines, it was also difficult to create one without my Biometric Residence Permit or BRP. Since I believe in the saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket," eventually, I was also able so create a second bank account for my savings. Which is also great since it also has options for me to invest. Hopefully, if I put much discipline into my savings, I'll be able to reap the benefits.

Regardless of the challenges, I'm very happy to be here. All the more, I am excited to share more of my experiences in this blog, not only to document how my life is so far, but also to share to my family and friends in the Philippines what I've been up to here in the UK. I hope you also enjoyed reading about it and I hope to share more soon.

See you later!