‘I came here for love’ American woman living in Newcastle documents her new life on TikTok

Lola Oluremi is an American woman documenting her life in the North East on TikTok. 

The 29-year-old originally moved to Newcastle from America to study International Development at Northumbria University.

In June 2017, Lola fell head over heels in love with her now partner Greg, who is from Whitley Bay. The pair met on a night out in the now closed bar, MSA on Hood Street in Newcastle.

After graduating from university, the couple kept up a long-distance relationship once Lola had moved back to America.

After three years of long-distance, Lola decided to move back to the North East permanently to be with her partner. “I came here for love”, Lola explained, while also telling us that the fact she loved the city was also a huge factor.

Lola decided to begin documenting her life in the North East on TikTok after seeing many ‘American in England’ videos on the social media platform. She explained to us that the ones she found were focusing on the South of England, and wanted to create her own versions, shining a light on the North East specifically.

Lola currently only has over 2,000 followers on TikTok, which she explains is “not a lot in the TikTok world”, however her videos are slowly but surely gathering more attention, with one accumulating over 20 thousand views.

Despite only living in the North East since January 2021, Lola has already picked up a slight Geordie twang, which has been pointed out by her followers. One person actually commented on a video, accusing Lola of faking her American accent. Lola exclaimed: “That was hilarious!” She further explained that she doesn’t have any American friends in Newcastle, therefore she has found she has picked up the Geordie accent naturally, by spending all of her time with Newcastle people.

She also explained that she feels Newcastle is a completely different world to other places in the UK, as she said: “I’ve never seen a place like this before”. Lola has been met with kindness from Geordie since moving here, and told us: “I am happy here”. She also added: “It’s a small city, but it has such big personalities.”

Lola’s family from America are yet to visit Newcastle, and Lola feels that when they do it will be a huge cultural shock. However, she told us that they have begun to watch Geordie Shore, which they love and find hilarious!

Lola hopes to eventually get dual citizenship, and would like to remain in the North East.

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