I sat down this morning to write this newsletter with my morning coffee, my favourite extra-thick jumper and my go-to fuzzy socks and then I realised: what actually happened in November? Where did this month go??
I’ve been hard at work building up a backlog of content so I can take some time off during Christmas. So I’ve been busy, but a good kind of busy. There’s been soooo much filming and editing and filming and editing… and more editing… but I’m excited about the videos and I hope you like them, too! 📹 💻
I’ve just about completed what I need to work-wise, and now it’s time to clean the house 🫧 🧽 And then my mum arrives for our annual Christmas visit! Fingers crossed it doesn’t rain the whole time!!!!!!!!!
I also (annoyingly) gave myself the worst cut on my hand that I’ve ever had, so that put me out of action for awhile. I just sat around the house feeling sorry for myself so thank god we’re past that. When you can’t use your hand, you learn pretty quickly how often you, in fact, need to use your hand!
And then I realised it was my 9 year anniversary since I moved to England! 🤯 It felt like it came out of nowhere and suddenly SURPRISE here it was.
When I moved to the UK 9 years ago, I had no plan. I wasn’t intending on settling in the UK, or giving it a year and then deciding what I wanted to do - I just moved.
No plans in mind.
And here we are.
I’ve been sharing my journey on YouTube for the better part of 7 years now and I really wanted to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who has supported me - whether you’ve been here from the start or found my content last week.
Sharing my experiences as a foreigner in the UK has been truly so fun and rewarding, even when the experiences themselves have been less-so. I don’t know what the future holds (imagine that!) but I’m excited to see what comes next. I hope it involves good food, cozy socks, a pub dog or two and continuing making content.
A+N Updates
On Youtube this month I reacted to bits of British humour and the Isle of Man TT Race. I also posted a sit-and-chat video about all the things they don’t tell you about being an expat.
My solo adventure this month was a trip to London’s Aquarium! I had a great time but the video bombed - doesn’t seem like people enjoy aquariums lol 💀 I still want to continue the solo adventure series but it can feel disheartening when they perform so terribly. Such is life! We will continue. 🐠🪼
This month on Twitch we played a spooky murder-mystery, built some lego, played some Geoguessr, chatted with the community and played a very silly multiplayer game set in an office! It’s been a fun and chill month.
I also added in a dual-stream where I was live on Twitch and Youtube at the same time. Like I mentioned in my email last month, I want to do this a few times over the next few months - mainly to let people know about Twitch if they enjoy the livestream format - but also to try something new and say hi!
If you’d like to watch a bonus full-length weekly video, please consider joining me on Patreon or Youtube Memberships. I post the same content on each platform, but I know some people prefer staying on Youtube or vice versa.
This month for my exclusive content I took a British Accent Quiz (and performed horribly lol) and shared some of my favourite funny videos lately. I also answered a bunch of questions to celebrate my 9 year anniversary in the UK 🇬🇧 and taste-tested tons of weird Christmas crisps! 🎄🎁 It’s been a good month!
What I’ve been watching + reading
This month I watched Megalopolis (lol), Blink Twice and Gladiator II. Megalopolis was a hot mess (as expected), Blink Twice was actually really good and Gladiator paled in comparison to the original. Although I might be a bit bias because the original Gladiator is still one of my all-time favourites. ⚔️
As part of our informal monthly Book Club on our Discord (available to certain tiers on Patreon/YT Members), we read Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. This book has been recommended to me for yeaaarrss so it was nice to finally read it.
Written in the early 90s, a lot of Bryson’s observations about Britain aren’t true anymore, but I still found it a really interesting time capsule - a look into a Britain I never got to see. And while parts of it didn’t age well, I still enjoyed it.
Bits that made me laugh
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you’ve had a great November! Stay warm out there and I hope there’s a glass of mulled wine in your near future… or mulled cider? Both are good. 🍷❄️
Alanna x