One of the first things I noticed once I moved to Bermuda was that everyone was very friendly. My MIL made arrangements so that the day after we landed I would be working at my FIL’s company. It was a shipping company and I was going to do accounts payable and customer service. I worked with a few older women in my department and right away everyone was super friendly. Eventually I went to work at a bank and met some great people who we would socialize with. The thing about Bermuda is that if you don’t go away to high school you usually have the same group of friends and many people go away to college together. My husband had left to go to the States for high school and college so many of the people he used to be friends with he lost touch with.
There are many British and Canadian ex-pats not as many Americans. But there is a society for Americans that you can join and they have social outings and a huge 4th of July party. One of my fondest memories was going to the 4th of July party. They have a dj and play music that’s American based, serve fried chicken and hamburgers and hot dogs. They have activities for children and at the end of the night they do a huge fireworks show set to songs like ” Proud to be an American” and “Coming to America”. I was never so patriotic as when I went to those parties. It makes you miss home and at the same time be extremely proud of being American. When I went it was held next to the Prison in Dockyard, so we were surrounded by water and it was just a nice time.
The irony of the American holidays was that my husband worked for an American company and they had off work on all the American holidays. I worked for a Bermudian company so I had the Bermuda holiday’s off. I experienced my first Bermuda Day with one of my friends going to a private island for a BBQ and swimming with some of her husbands friends. It was nice, but I remember being aware that I was all alone. I missed having my husband there. That’s a nice thing about Bermuda holiday’s. You usually get invited to a few BBQ’s if it’s the summer or garden parties if it’s the spring. If you have a boat you can sail to meet friends and do a tie up, where you tie the boats together and sleep on the boat and cook on the boat and swim and relax. It’s nice. There is always something to do in Bermuda.
I met some great people from all over the world and I still keep in touch with a few of them. It was nice to be anonymous, no one knows where you are from or has any preconcieved ideas. It’s like a new start and people meet you and like you for you, not for any other reason. That was one of the nicest things about being somewhere so different.
Bermuda tip: research the Bermuda holidays and if you can book your trip to include them. They do a nice parade and some very distinct presentations with the regiment.
