Basically, an American Expat in England with her boyfriend. UPDATE: American woman back in America with her English expat boyfriend.
More specifically, this blog follows MAL’s 5,370 mile move from loud Los Angeles to elegant England, the adjustments from being a somewhat aspiring actress to an overly-excited novelist, the cultural shocks a very American woman faces living in a European nation, the reluctant but fantastic start-up of a social group for women in a foreign country, and finally, learning how to live with the English gent she fell in love with. Phew.
AND THEN, after a year and a half of that, this blog will traverse continents back to America, two months of travels around the states, selling the novel, and MAL’s repatriation back into being an American citizen while her boyfriend goes into his own respective culture shock.
You can read other articles and various stories by me published at these places:
AND Magazine – Fashion and Politics ( http://www.andmagazine.com/contributors/megan_lopez.php)
Guest Blogs:
Expatica – That Middle Area and Interview with Expat
Anglotopia.net – Guide to the Best of the South West of England
Smitten By Britain – How to Start a Ladies Group in a Foreign Country
BritFancy – Why I Prefer Englishman
Lahloo Tea – What I Love About Tea
And, if you want to know even MORE about just me, here is the full story:
My journey has been a crazy one, but not one shy of self-exploration, fun and experiences.
I grew up in Baltimore, going to Baltimore School for the Arts for high school.
Determined to get out of, what I considered, a small town, I got accepted to University of Southern California in 2000 and moved to Los Angeles a few days after my 18th birthday. The first year being somewhat tumultuous, I took a semester off to live in Philadelphia with some friends, on a couch, with a dog, and auditioned for various shows. I then got a job for two months in Altoona, Iowa, moved there, and lived in a hotel. I walked across the corn fields to work everyday, and met some rather interesting UFO friendly people.
California was calling me again, so I went back for another semester.
Even with my part time job, the play I was in and the full time studies, college didn’t seem to be agreeing with me. So, with some of the money I had made working in the Dean’s office of Cinema/Television at USC that Spring, I moved to New York. I worked as a stage manager for LAByrinth Theatre Company’s youth division, amongst the fifty other jobs I had to take in order to pay my rent in the West Village. For a year I worked non-stop and late. I soon realized that without a college education, I would be stuck working menial jobs, making less than half the money I could make with a degree. Plus, I wasn’t someone who started something and didn’t finish it.
During my year in New York, I realized three big things – 1. I desperately wanted to learn another language to have a step up in the world, and even though I am half Cuban, Spanish wasn’t the language I loved, French was, 2. Theatre was in my bones and I should continue with that degree, and 3. I wanted to live abroad.
Back at USC, I declared a second degree of French, applied for the year study-abroad program, got accepted and starred in two Theatre productions that year. Oh, and I gained about thirty pounds.
Moving to Paris shaped and changed my life forever. I studied at the Sorbonne and L’ecole Florent (for film). I was enchanted by the French and their ability to present everything wonderfully and with so little effort. I lost the thirty pounds and some. I worked in a bar on the Seine across from Notre Dame. I lived in an apartment overlooking Marie Antoinette’s tomb, and I became fluent in the language I revered so highly. I also traveled all over Europe – learning about the country my Cuban ancestors originated from: Spain, reveling in the care free attitude of the Amsterdamians, and enchanted by buildings older than our own country. I never wanted to leave.
When I returned to LA to graduate in 2006, I started my professional life as a casting associate for films and television, while auditioning myself on the side.
Again, I became dissatisfied, seeing my life at a stand still. I didn’t want to be casting other actresses in roles I would kill to play, and I was yearning to get out of the United States again.
I decided to medicate myself with getting a personal trainer and exercise, a self-help telecourse with an amazing goddess Crystal Andrus, and basic goodness. That’s when I could see clearly again.
I finally was in the right spot to allow changes to happen in my life for the good.
One road trip to Vegas later, four months apart while he traveled to Africa, and a reunion in Chicago July 2008, I fell in love with a Brit. (Funny note, I started the telecourse with Crystal in February of 2008, and six months later I was in love, starting the novel I’m writing now, and planning a move to Europe where I always felt more at home).
We lived in Bristol, England together for a year and 8 months. I picked up another passion of mine – writing. I finished my first novel and am in the middle of seeking publication.
Now we live in Chicago.
Please enjoy my blog all about it!
