I’m a Brit living in America – here’s how the US has changed me

A British woman who moved to the US has revealed all the ways life in America has changed her.

Millie Hart, 31, moved from the West Midlands to Ohio with her husband Mark and their children more than two years ago.

Posting under her TikTok handle @milliehart01the mum regularly shares videos about being British in the US, including the differences between the houses, the food and even American phrases she now prefers.

She has amassed more than 1.2 million followers, who watch as she navigates life in a country different from the one she grew up in.

This week she posted a video reflecting on how the US has changed her so far after settling there for a few years – and it has already been viewed by more than 180,000 people.

I can’t live without air conditioning

Millie admits that after getting used to the air conditioning, she can no longer live without the cool air and has a hard time when she gets home.

She told viewers: “I couldn’t live without air conditioning. Last year I went back to England and literally my dad called me the “aircon girl”.

‘I cried and moaned all the time because it was too hot, there was no air conditioning and I couldn’t breathe.

‘I never realized how many Brits need air conditioning until I went back there, like why don’t we have it? Why do we suffer so?’

Driving further is no problem

Secondly, while the West Midlands native might previously have considered driving to another British city as a long journey, her time in America has seen her become more accustomed to traveling further afield.

Millie explained: ‘A four-hour drive isn’t really that big of a deal. Until I moved here, driving literally 30 minutes in the UK was like going on a day trip.

‘I don’t know if it’s because there’s more traffic and it takes longer to get anywhere than here, but honestly long journeys have become more normal for me.

‘I’m used to it. I drive forty minutes to Keagan’s school and forty minutes back twice a day, and it doesn’t bother me.’

Decoration for the seasons

Autumn, or Americans call it fall, is simply a season for those of us in Britain – and a bleak one at that.

But for those living in America, the falling leaves are an excuse to celebrate and decorate your home with beautiful orange and red decor – something Millie is now a big fan of.

She said, “I do things like decorate for fall – yes, I have pumpkins. I have real pumpkins in the house during the fall and a mat that says “Hello Fall.” I’ve never done that before in my life.’

The mother continued, “And I say things like, ‘Damn, did you just see that raccoon running across the road?’ and “We’re going to hit that deer if you don’t slow down” and “God damn raccoons are in the trash again.”

Rely on heating pads

Millie’s fourth, and perhaps most niche point, is that heating pads are popular in the US and she now relies on them, despite never using them in Britain.

She told her followers: ‘I didn’t realize how important heating pads were. I feel like everyone in the US has a heating pad.

‘And now a small tear in my back: a heating pad.

“My American friends call me with a bad back, or a bad stomach, or a bad knee, or a bad head heating pad.”

Basketball hoops, green grass and storm doors are all important

Delving into other quirks she’s noticed about herself since crossing the pond, she revealed that Americans have a lot of garden pride and that basketball hoops are a key feature.

The 31-year-old joked: ‘I’m a proud owner of a basketball hoop and it has rocks on it so the wind doesn’t blow it away.

‘Green grass is more important than anything else. I won’t be defeated – my grass will be the greenest and if I see weeds in that grass, oh no. No dandelions here.’

She added, “I now say things like ‘Close that storm door, it’s going to rain in a minute’ and ‘Who left the storm door open because the wind comes and blows. Eventually that storm door will break.”

A storm door is a type of door that is installed in front of an exterior door to protect it from bad weather and allow ventilation. In America they are common, but in Britain we don’t have them.

Swap tea for coffee

Millie’s latest way in which her life has changed is possibly the most insulting to Brits: it’s that she’s swapped tea for coffee.

In Britain there aren’t many problems that can’t be solved with a hot brew, but in the US most households don’t even have a kettle.

She sheepishly admitted: ‘I don’t offer people a cup of tea anymore, I offer coffee and drink it myself. I have a coffee maker’.

Since the TikToker has a mixed following from all over the world, both British and American social media users have used the comments to talk about the cultural differences.

Commenting on the 40-minute drive Millie takes every day, one shocked Brit wrote: ‘A 40 minute drive here would take me to Manchester.’

Meanwhile, an American exclaimed, “I just got a kettle for the first time and I don’t understand how we as Americans live without it. It’s so convenient’.

Another wondered: ‘The lack of AC [aircon] elsewhere baffles me. It is so beautiful. Why suffer?’

“It took me three working days to find out what air conditioning is,” joked one British viewer, while another argued: “But we only need air conditioning for two weeks a year.”

However, others revealed they have already made the change, with one penny saying: ‘Putting air conditioning in our house in the UK is literally the best home improvement we have done’.

Another chimed in with, “I’ll be with you on the AC! We installed it last summer (live in the UK) – absolute game changer!’

“Heating pad is the truth. That’s the Midwest living there,” one US resident joked, while another asked: “Do y’all [sic] Don’t you have heating pads in England?’

Mille explained, “Yes, but I’ve never had one.”

Other Americans joked, “What did we do to her?” and ‘She said autumn, not autumn. You are now American’.

“Those fall decorations are the best, aren’t they,” someone else said.