A woman who moved from the UK to the US as a teenager has revealed being struck by a “depressing” aspect of the country, as she insisted you “couldn’t pay her” to return.
Lorna MacDonald arrived in the US aged 1979 aged 17, having left Penzance in Cornwall aboard a 45-foot sailboat used by her family to traverse the Atlantic Ocean.
“There was no room for growth in what my family was doing in England, all my friends were leaving for Dubai or Australia at the time,” she told CNN. “My dad always had an incredible sense of adventure.”
The family settled in St Augustine, Florida, after falling in love with the city while sailing through.
In 1981, the family opened the beloved local eatery The Raintree, which MacDonald owns to this day, and by 1986 she had become a US citizen.
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She told the outlet she visits old school friends in England but insists you “couldn’t pay her” to return there permanently.
Speaking about Penzance, she said: “When I go home now and look at the hometown, it’s really kind of depressing. It’s not vibrant, the economy there is a lot worse than our economy here.
“It seems very much more oppressive than here, and the weather has a lot to do with it,” she added.
She also said she is glad to be without the class structure she observed during her early years in England, saying in the US “you meet all walks of life every day.
“It’s less judgmental of people and more go with the flow,” she added.
MacDonald says despite her reservations, Britain will always be home to her, though “I prefer to the US as home when I’m there.”
The outlet spoke to various people who originally came from Europe before settling Stateside.
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54-year-old Gabriele Sappok left Stuttgart, Germany to found Imagine PR in New York City in 2006 and told the outlet she loves the optimism of the US and defends the country whenever Europeans accuse Americans of being superficial.
“I love my home country, but the general vibe in Germany is the glass is half empty versus here, where there’s this innate optimism that I cherish and love,” she told CNN.
“I explain to people there that it actually makes my day when people ask how I’m doing in the US, it’s a gesture I appreciate,” she continued, saying she had noticed a sizeable cultural divide between Europe and the US.
“In Germany, it’s almost like it’s expected not to be happy-go-lucky all the time because then people doubt your sincerity,” she said. “You have to have a certain level of cynicism and criticism because that’s what makes you smart.”
