Living The American Dream
Where are you from?! Are you Australian? How did you end up in this tiny town? You're not from around here are you? I love your accent! I could listen to you talk all day... Speak more! Do you drink tea with the queen? The people ask me with their distinct country accents. Whoa whoa whoa! Hold up, let's rewind a little. As it may or may not be apparent, that no I am not Australian, I do not drink tea with Queen, I am not from 'around here' and yes I do have an accent.
Okay, now I enjoy where I live but i'm the kinda person.. you know that wouldn't be classed as the 'loud or outgoing' type that you get in every friendship group. I'm just that shy girl named Becky from Reading, in the little country called England, (just outside of London, as I know some of you will be wondering where the hell that is!) who used to blend into the crowd... for the most part, and I probably still do. But the main difference is that I now live in the wonderful but... let's just say different place, of USA. Tyler, Texas to be precise. As you can already tell, being English, I stick out like sore thumb.
Tyler? Texas? But why?!
Now let me explain. My better half (as he would call it) is an avid tennis player/coach, which you're probably thinking that i'm amazing at tennis because I get soo many free lessons from him. WRONG! I suck at tennis and every other sport known to mankind.. Well unless you call the gym a sport? But we'll talk about the gym and my one true love later on!!
Okay, back the story Becky.
Back in 2013 he had the chance to attend a college in California. I know right he lived the dream. But unfortunately he had to return to little old England. Sad right? No no no! Because that’s where he meant the most amazing person EVER! Me of course! Lol.
He would always pester me about how great America was and I was having none of it... Until we went on vacation/holiday (whatever you wanna call it!) to... drum roll please! You guessed it Los Angeles, California.
This was where we met a few of his yank friends haha. They were pretty darn cool! May I add that Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Hollywood was most definitely a night to remember! They introduced us to a company called Cliff Drysdale Tennis.
And once we heard that they hire international coaches from all over the world we were ready to take on a whole new adventure!
Spending summer 2017 in the German heritage town of New Braunfels, Texas opened my eyes to how different the US is to the UK. And you might be thinking ‘well you speak the same language’ OH HELL NO WE DONT! Lol but seriously everything is different, the people, the surroundings, the work ethic. The list can go on and on! May I also add that we lived with three crazy people (in a great way) from Manchester and one crazy (in a great way again obviously!) from Birmingham which created the best of conversations and memories that I will cherish forever. Oh and how could I forget the sweetest American girl I have ever met!! We floated down the Guadalupe river, went on country nights out, we even got to shoot guns! Which is most likely unheard of to most English people.
But sadly that also came to an end on September 2017. A year ago to the date actually! How cliche of me haha.
We then spent a long month of being what you call ‘bums' no jobs, nowhere to be. It was great... For about a week or so. Thankfully we returned not too long after, but this time to Tyler, Texas. I think the Texans liked us a little too much.. well our accents that is! The first month was a whirlwind to say the least! Straight away we got thrown into hosting a Ladies Pro Tennis Tournament, (a big deal in the tennis world) learning a whole new system, learning about the people of Tyler and once again the list goes on!
Nearly a year later I am still based in Tyler. You'd probably think I've gained a few pounds since being here, oh no no no, maybe in muscle (oh how I wish) even though there are sooo many fast food restaurants in the US. And a lil fact for you, Tyler has the MOST restaurants than any other town in the US! How crazy is that.. I mean look on the map and see just how small Tyler is haha.
And i'm not gonna lie, i've had my fair share of fast food and goodies since being here but this is where my passion in life comes into play.
Yeah, you guessed it, well you read it a little earlier on in this post but i'll let you think your psychic lol. I am MASSIVELY into the gym, I even recently received an ACE Personal Training Certification. I know, you must be as surprised as I am that I passed my exam on the first try! But as you delve further into my life you will see the extent that the gym/fitness has taken over my life, especially in the past year, and obviously it has been in a great way. I now feel like I have a purpose in my little old sad life haha.
Well.. if you have read this far then you have made a great choice! haha just kidding, but I am very grateful that you've taken the time to learn a little bit about my life. You may be thinking, oh my, she has moved half way across the world and left her whole life behind her, her family, her friends, her job, her stability. How would I even begin doing something remotely similar to that? I don't have the confidence, what if I fail? What if I don't like it? What if I have no money? Just rewind back to the beginning of this post and realize that I stated 'I blend into the crowd'.
Just process that for a little or even a long while and see what you can achieve.