1 week to go...

Welcome to my first ever blog. I will try to keep this up to date and interesting. The idea is to share my experiences of moving and working in the USA with friends and colleagues back home, (and remind people that I still exist).

With only a week to go I am feeling surprisingly relaxed. There's not much I can do in a week I suppose. The mad rush of moving out of our house and getting it ready to rent is just about over. Now we just have to remember to cancel the phone, TV, Sky, gas, electricity, council tax, etc. The boys are having their last day at school / nursery tomorrow. They're very excited, asking every day when we're going on the aeroplane.

The BA strike was the last big stressful hurdle, and at present, touch wood, it looks like we got lucky. Strikes are Sat, Sun, Monday and we fly Tuesday morning. Nice one Unite! It takes something special to make me think that the BMA isn't so bad after all.

We're arriving in Chicago on 23rd, hiring a car (which will hopefully be big enough for all our luggage - 4 suitcases plus hand luggage) and staying in a motel somewhere for 1 night, then driving the 4 hours to Ann Arbor (or A2 to the locals). We move straight in to our new home on the 24th which we are renting. I've already bought the furniture from the previous tenants who are moving back to the UK the same week. All this has been arranged by e-mail, but the photos look nice. It looks very stereotypically american.

Not really sure what I'll be doing in the first week. I know I have to get a social security number and a bank account. We're buying a car (more like a tank) from the previous tenants. My new employers are kindly arranging a $10000 loan for me on my arrival to pay for the car and help settle us in. I can pay it back direct from my salary over the next 12 months. Work starts 1st April so I don't have long to settle in. I've got a copy of April's rota already but I really can't understand it. I'm hoping to have a gentle induction, but we'll see...

I'm really looking forward to new challenges and some exciting cases. I'm really not looking forward to the early morning starts.

I'll post the next blog after we've been there a few days. It's just dawning on me that in just over a week I'll be doing the same thing in a new house on a completely different continent.

Take Care,

Drake