Today, we took some time out to speak with Expat Star Award winner Claire Bolden, Editor of UK Desperate Housewife USA. It’s a cracker!
How are you doing today Claire?
I’m am having a great day working out, writing and blogging, and drinking tea 🙂
Give us a 1 sentence elevator pitch on why UK Desperate Housewife USA is so awesome?
It’s a little bit adventure, little bit stream of consciousness, little bit Bill Bryson….. my aim is to create an irreverent look at the amusing, bemusing and sometimes confusing cultural differences between Brits and Americans in the modern day – and we are more different than I had anticipated.
How does it feel for your blog UK Desperate Housewife USA to be an  expat star award winner?
It was ‘awesome’ / ‘brilliant’ – I now have to translate everything into American English and British English because of my blog audience, which is quite amusing to do. Some words I use American just don’t get, especially the colloquialisms (like ‘chinwag’!). Anyway, I was thrilled / chuffed to bits 🙂
What do the next 12 months hold for UK Desperate Housewife USA? Any ‘secret’ surprises?
My plan is to keep on writing as I am – now I seem to have a more diverse audience than just friends and family in the UK – Americans have taken a real interest in my perspective and how I observe their little idiosyncracies, and also how our British ones appear to them. There is a lot of love out there for the Brits! But in addition, I’ll be focusing on travelling more so that I have a wider understanding of the USA outside of Maryland, so I expect many, many more tales of oddities and adventures!
Biggest blogging challenge?
I don’t want to become dull – like write about the washing and the school run, just because that is what I did that day, so I don’t blog for the sake of blogging. And I always keep my camera with me now, and I talk to everyone as you don’t know who they are and what they might say that will be blog-worthy!
If you could give one piece of advice to an expat regarding adjustment, what would it be?
Research, research, research – and then be prepared to have it all blown out of the water! (And stay calm….!) You’ll have good days and bad days at the beginning, but go with it…and you’ll begin to appreciate it.
What advice would you give to an expat wanting to start a blog?
Write from the heart – and be prepared for comment and criticism from people you’ve never met! It’s all good though, because it means people are reading it and interpretation will always be a factor.
Tell us a little bit more about Claire, your background and why you relocated to the states?
I’ve gone from full time in a PR office job in the UK to a part-time Zumba instructor, blogger, freelance writer and social butterfly in the USA! I do love it, but there are things I miss about the UK from time to time. However, my goal is to embrace this experience from top to toe – and I am rather partial to the spring and summer weather here….
Could you ever see a time where you return back to the UK?
We are here for three years but the focus now is all about making the most of it in the USA.
 How do you normally buy foreign currency? Bank or Broker?
I go to the bank – not yet had to do it in the USA yet. I wonder if that will be blog-worthy……I suspect so with video tellers!
Dan Abrahams on Google +
