The Blog
Welcome to Anywayward. My hope for this space is that it will be a compilation of tips and tricks, anecdotes, misadventures and musings which entertain you while we’re stuck at home and perhaps even inspire you for that fateful day when our bonds are broken and we are once again allowed to freely (and responsibly) roam this great Earth. What I imagine it will turn out to be instead is a slightly disorganized (shocking), not so chronological (again… shocking) collection of those same things but with a little more rambling than I had intended.
My Story
Hello, I’m Rachel, an American from the Midwest (Bloomington, Indiana to be precise) who has found herself living in the UK and working as a nurse in the NHS during a pandemic. I ask myself now, how did the pieces of this puzzle fall into such a strange arrangement?
Life in the US
Over 5 years ago, a university study abroad experience during my final year of nursing school, and a divorce which followed not long after my return, encouraged me to find a new, hopefully happier, adventure. After graduating, I began my career as a labor and delivery nurse. The job of ushering new life into this world is one full of responsibility.
As many nurses will tell you, seeing the beauty of life, the pain of death and the thin line which divides the two changes the way we perceive the world. Some days it takes everything from you, some days it gives you appreciation and strength beyond anything you’ve ever felt. Every day it is a burden we carry, often in silence.
Maybe being a nurse is what gave me enough courage to move 4,000 miles away from home to a little city called Norwich tucked away in East Anglia.
Moving to the UK
The process of getting my nursing license recognized by the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was long and frustrating. It took an entire year, but I finally got everything in order and I made the move across the pond in January of 2018. Here, I am not a labor and delivery nurse because the job simply does not exist. They instead have midwives who have a slightly larger scope of practice.
I now work as a “theatre nurse” which has absolutely nothing to do with improv, acting, or performing in front of large audiences. In the States my job would be called an OR nurse – that’s the one in the background on all the medical dramas waiting for the surgeon to say scalpel. My job title is just one of the many examples of British/American English confusions I’ve come across since moving here. It can be a source of great frustration among expats, especially if there was an initial assumption that English is English wherever you are. Spoiler alert – it’s not.
Needless to say, work has become slightly hectic lately and I’m mostly just trying to find ways to cope with the madness.
Me
When I’m not being a nurse, I travel, or perhaps when I’m not travelling, I’m a nurse. Either way, I make travel a priority. However, I like everyone else, am taking part in social distancing. The UK has been under strict lockdown for most of 2020, which means I’ve not been doing any travelling. Instead, I’ve been reminiscing about the Ionian sun shining down on me as I read my book on the beach. Under the current circumstances, it feels like an impossible memory. I hope to soon write more about my trips to Europe and further afield, but for now, check out this list to see where I’ve been.
When I have the energy, I’ve been filling my time with some of my other interests and hobbies. These include, but aren’t limited to: reading, gardening, enjoying nature, photography, embroidery, cooking, and baking. Good coffee almost always accompanies these activities.
Because of the unusual situation, you may find that instead of travel, I write a lot more about these interests and some tips for managing one’s mental health. I fear my plan for a travel blog may be ever so slightly knocked off its original path, but in true British fashion, I must take these things as they come, keep calm and carry on.
Get In Touch
Feel free to get in touch. If you would like to read more about certain things, have a specific question or just want to say hello, I would love to hear from you.
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I wish you all the best. Stay safe. Stay well.
