My Personal Experiences Of Living In England After 14 Years

I am originally from Hungary. For some reason I always wanted to learn English. When I decided to start learning, I had no idea about, that I would ever leave my homeland and live in England.

I started to learn English in Budapest. That's where I was born and raised. The capital city of Hungary which I love, but who doesn't like their on motherland.

I was always amazed by my friends, who speak English and of course, this is the language, that I though I have to speak, because I can be understood in most countries.

I remember I had one of my friend with me from school, who came with me to my English class. We learned for about three months and managed to learn the basics.

Later an opportunity came up to go and work on a cruise ship. We said why not. It would worth to try as we had nothing to lose at that time. We turned up to take part of the training, which was very interesting to see, what would be our job potentially.

My friend made it and I didn't. They said to me, that my English is not enough for the job, that they offered. I was not sad or envy of my friend. I was happy for him. I knew if I learn more English I could try it again. I didn't want to do it anymore. I heard stories from people, who had been working on these cruise ships and from what I heard I was discouraged. They work very hard each day for 6 to 8 months, far away from their family and friends. So I decided not to try again.

Opportunities Are Always Open

About 22 years ago I wrote a letter to our relatives, who live in Wales. They didn't know, that I started to learn English, so after reading my letter, they were very much surprised. Later on that year, they visited us in Hungary. We talked about my new language skills and they said, that was not bad for a new starter. I was so happy to hear that from native English speakers. They offered me to stay with them in their home for 6 months to learn more.

I thought that is an excellent idea and a good opportunity for me to learn from native English speakers. I accepted their invitation and I flew over to the United Kingdom.

My Learning Progress

I have to admit, that it was hard for the beginning. I heard nothing, but English from everywhere. From people, TV, radio. English was flowing from the tap as well. I knew that it was going to happen, but I didn't know, that it can cause some slight headache, I guess because of the constant concentration every day. People were talking to me and I didn't even understand, what they were saying, therefore of course I couldn't reply. I felt so lost in terms of communication. I had to realize, that my little basic knowledge wasn't enough to communicate with people.

The family I stayed with, put me to a school, which was very good for me and I learned there a lot. I even made friends there. I really enjoyed it. After a while as I was getting better at it, the school suggested me to go up to the next level. They said, that class was too easy for me. So I went to another class it was an intermediate class, where I picked up the pace and learned even more. I noticed, that I started to understand the people around me a little bit more and I was able to reply as well. Of course it was always easier to understand, than to speak.

Time passed so fast and it had come to its end so I flew back home. I found a job, where I didn't have to speak English, however sometimes we had American or English customers and all of my colleagues always called me, when we had them. I was the only one, who could speak to them. It was not constant and if you don't use it that much, you get rusty. I worked for them for about 7 years and I didn't really practice my English, however I didn't forget much.

My New Idea

I never give up. I said to myself, why I learned hard if I don't use it. I had an idea. As Hungary joined to the European Union in 2004, I thought it would be much easier to go back to the United Kingdom to work. Yes I had this idea in my head for a while and asked myself, what if I worked and lived in England.

I started to search jobs online from Hungary. I didn't want just to go blindly to a foreign country with some pocket money. I wanted to go for sure. I did. I found a job, that would be suitable for me. The good thing was the employer came to Hungary to interview people, so I didn't have to risk some money to fly there to take the interview. I thought it is just perfect. There was a little "problem" I had to solve.

I was in a fairly new relationship. We had been together for one year. I came up with my idea and told my partner, that we have an opportunity to work in England. My partner didn't want to hear about it as she just started a job, that she liked very much and made good money too. I explained what I would like and we agreed. If I pass the interview and she doesn't, I don't go. If we both pass we go. So that was the deal and I thought that's fair.

The date of the interview had come and we were a bit anxious, which is normal. We both passed the interview, but there was an issue. They said, that we have to travel and start in 2 weeks, which we didn't know beforehand. We said we are sorry, but we cannot go, because we are both still employed and we need a month notice. They said, that is ok. There will be another interview in 3 months time to do it again. Yes we would have to take the interview again, even though this was passed, because that new interview would be with different people. It means we have to give up our job a month before the new interview. We agreed, that we try again knowing, that we passed on the first one. We took a little risk. You don't win if you don't risk. We passed the second interview as well and we were all ready to go.

Leaving Hungary To Start A New Life

The big day arrived and I had to leave. I was a bit sad to leave my family and friends, but on the other hand I knew, that a new life, a new beginning starts. I also knew, that I can always come back home at any time.

As promised I started working on the 26th. January 2007. I was so happy, that my dream came true and I work and live in a country, that I like and I can use English, that I learned. My learning curve didn't stop there. I continued learning in school to have English qualification so I passed Level 1 and 2 English Literacy. From that point I was more confidant to do anything I wanted. As months passed my English had improved and I started to look for another job in another area. After I worked at my first place for 3 and a half years I had enough. There are lots of opportunities and I was able to do a better job.

I had so many jobs and I lived in so many places all around the country. I made lots of friends everywhere I went. I had ups and downs of course as well. Along my journey abroad I lost my partner. We broke up. I had two choices. Either to fly back home or to stay and continue what I was doing.

I stayed and I don't regret it. I moved apart from my partner and kept working and living on my own. After a few years, I met my wife and we have a family now. She is a native English speaker so now I speak even more and better English.

This is my story living away from home. Of course I visited Hungary many times to see me family and friends and my parents came over too.