British mom in San Diego struggled to make American friends

Madeleine Collins grew up in London and left at 22 after her mother died, having spent the final year as her full-time caregiver. She spent 15 years moving between countries — Melbourne, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Dubai — chasing a dream of acting, building a journalism career, and taking overland trips through India and Africa before settling in San Diego to raise her two daughters.

Moving to San Diego with her husband and baby daughter in 2009 brought a different life: routine errands and sleep deprivation replaced restless travel, and she found it hard to connect with local moms. Small language differences and the absence of nearby family made her feel like an outsider, so she gravitated toward a nearby British mom's group where shared humour and homesickness created a strong kinship.

That comfort eventually turned into a self-made expat bubble; she began preferring English friends and worried she had become a smaller, more fearful version of herself while living in the US.

United States, San Diego

madeleine collins, british mom, san diego, london, expat, homesickness, acting, journalism, motherhood, language differences