American woman who moved to Britain after falling in love with a British man reveals the WILDEST culture shocks she’s experienced since moving – from baffling slang words to ‘how calm’ the locals are ‘in crisis’

An American woman living in Britain has revealed the most baffling British customs she’s encountered since moving to the country – from unique sayings that left her scratching her head to the range of options available in supermarkets.

Content creator Iniki MacColl, 29, originally from Saint Cloud, Florida, but now living in the English city of Peterborough, has made dozens of videos about how things are done across the pond.

Iniki shared in a recent TikTok video that she faced severe culture shock from seeing children there walking alone to high school and witnessing the calm of the British people during a crisis.

In the clip she said it was very strange and initially worrying to see British children walking to school alone and said that in the United States everyone would be taken to school in a car or a yellow bus.

“Growing up, I lived in a very rich, affluent city that was super safe. I was no longer allowed to walk to school when I was sixteen and the school was less than a mile away.

“My mother was a stay-at-home mom [and] she picked us up and dropped us off every day.”

Iniki believes that walking to school actually helps encourage children to become more independent.

“I really believe it’s so good because my parents gave me a baby and I’m afraid of my own shadow.”

Her video sparked a lively discussion, with some commentators saying that in Australia and New Zealand it is also normal for children to walk to school alone.

“Imagine if you could have gossiped with your friends for a whole mile on the way to school,” one viewer joked.

‘Have you seen the cost of petrol in Britain? My kids are walking, wind, rain and snow, no excuses,” said another.

‘Try being British and then living in California to study and walking the 45 minutes to get there and being told people think I’m homeless because it means I must be too poor to have a to own a car and because I have to carry a backpack,” someone else shared.

“Really, have you ever experienced ‘the school run’ where parents basically closed the city with their parking space,” asked another British viewer.

Another learning curve for Iniki was discovering the slang words “curtain twitcher,” “gobby” and “Bob is your uncle,” which she said she had trouble wrapping her head around after moving around.

Speaking about her decision to move, Iniki said she decided to move to Britain after falling in love with her British husband Sam.

‘I immediately fell in love and knew I had found the Mickey for my Minnie.

‘I was never really sure what I wanted to do with my life, so it was easier for me to take the leap of faith and get moving.

‘One of the things that always amazed me about the British is how calm they are.

‘They don’t take life so seriously, which I like.

‘I still remember my husband having his expensive bike stolen from our flat and his response being something like: ‘Good morning, I hope you slept well. I have to go to work for a few hours this afternoon, but I’ve prepped dinner for the slow cooker, cleaned the car, and oh, someone stole my bike when I woke up.”

‘I will never forget his reaction because he is always so calm, which I am not used to.

‘When I met Sam over six years ago, I would have described him as the quintessential Brit: nice accent, sarcastic humor and that British charm and politeness.

‘Now, however, he uses much of the same American terminology as I do: chips are now french fries to him, football is now football.

‘He is also much more obsessed with American football than I ever was and spends the entire autumn and winter watching every game he can, until the early morning hours.’

Iniki said that because she is American, she is sometimes taken seriously when she tries to be sarcastic, which can be difficult for her.

‘One of the things I think the British are so much better at than Americans is sarcasm.

“So while I totally understand and appreciate sarcasm, my speech isn’t that great.

‘There’s a video of me saying something like, “Wait, British kids are walking to school? What?”

“I’m trying to be sarcastic in that, but it’s clearly not being interpreted that way as I get some nice comments including, ‘That’s because there are no guns so they don’t get shot.’

Iniki said she unfortunately receives unpleasant comments when people make false assumptions about Americans or try to mock their way of life.

“I get a lot of very ignorant comments, especially about guns in America.

‘I shared a video about what I thought was the closest thing to a major American store and what the differences are between a store in Britain and America.

‘One of the things I mentioned was the huge choice of alcohol in British stores, whereas in America there is really only some beer and wine available in our big stores like ASDA.

‘Me, too [did] add that you will have to go to the liquor store for liquor because our stores like Walmart and Target are generally not allowed to sell them.

‘The most common comment I got was of course how backwards America is, and how we can buy guns at Walmart, but not booze.

‘This is a common misconception that no matter how many times I explain it, it will always come up.

“I tend to ignore the comments because I don’t speak for all of America and I don’t necessarily agree with everything that happens there.”

Iniki said she misses the United States, especially her family and living so close to Disney World.

‘Before I moved, I was about a 30-minute drive to the parks, so leaving that behind is still a sore subject.

‘As much as I love Britain and this is my home now, my husband and I have said we would like to move back to America.

‘Coming from a large Spanish family, I let a lot of people down by moving and that really put a damper on the dynamic of my family.

‘I would really like to rebuild all the relationships with my relatives and be close to them again, so going back is not out of the question.

‘I don’t think we would move to Florida though as my British husband can’t stand the heat.

‘We will certainly settle here in the near future.’