This does not happen every day that one is moving to a different country, to different continent. Still, nowadays, this seems not to be anything extrodinary any more. Imagining, how it must have been 200 years ago ..., breaking any connections with the past, a real adventure. No communications to back home, one probably would not see the relatives anymore who stayed back.
100 years ago, such a moving was already not so final, with steam ships around, telegraph connecting the continents, allowing a connection back to home.
And nowadays, with internet and globalization, all the adventure in moving has gone. It almost feels like a routine thing. The same shops are now anywhere in the world; Costco (US, UK), Ikea (US, UK), Staples (US, UK), Borders (US, UK), ... are everywhere. Through the internet, news and information about any place can be obtained anywhere (at least on this side of the "digital divide").
Electric power is different (110V in US, 240V in UK), but most electronic devices nowadays come with multiple input voltages, allowing an automatic use at whatever power is available. The only thing that needs to be bought is the right cable to plug into the sockets. Due to international standardization, this is no proplem (3-prong power cables are standard everywhere, they come with various plugs for each country).
So moving does not seem to be anything special, no break in customs or habits seems to be necessary. But still, there are numerous little things that one needs to consider when moving abroad. One of the most important is how to transfer money so that initial expenses can be covered. I decide to take travellers checks, for an initial deposit into a bank account in the foreign bank. So one of the very first steps after my arrival inthe UK would be to open a bank account. Then to get a cell phone, to be reachable. With a good plan for international calls. Then of course buy a car, to get around. All these expenses may quickly drain the initial deposit.
Fortunately in my own situation, I do have a bank account in Germany, with a small leftover from more than a decade ago. And within the European Union, it is no problem to electronically transfer money from one bank account to another, free of charge, even to another country. Yes, banking in Europe seems to be so much more advanced than banking in the US, where still these awkward paper checks are routinely used, and where it costs a fortune to transfer money from one account to another through a "wire transfer", even within the US. There is only this version of a "direct transfer" with ACH which is for free in the US, but rarely anyone knows about it or uses it. However, in Europe, transfering funds from any bank account to any other one is so easy, without any cost, and next day the money is on the account. Are the US banks deliberately refusing to allow such easy transfer of money? This always has puzzled me.
Anyway, these were the thoughts which I considered, as I began a new life in a new country, on a new continent. I was well prepared, and the transition was expected to go very smoothly.
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Living in the Kirkstall Brewery
My new home - a converted brewery!
Since I have never lived in the UK, have no relatives here, I was not sure how to organise the actual living, that is finding a house or an apartment (they call them here "flat"). I asked the university HR dept., and I was offered to stay in the Tower Flat of the Kirkstall Brewery Residences, which actually is a student dormitory. So that is where I moved in after my arrival. All furnished, at a reasonable price.
The first day in the UK - at my new post
The day after my arrival, my first action is to go shopping at the Morrisons Supermarket which just a few minutes away to walk. They do have a nice selection on various food items, so I get the stuff that complements the items provided by Graham and Cath. Typical food seems to be: pies and pasties.
The weather is warm and mild. A few first initial meetings at the faculty.
A tour around a few campus facilities.
Then in the afternoon the start of the staff development festival.
A presentation by Eddie Onbang.
In the evening there is an event on the famous Headingley Cricket Field.
An important game was on - but I have no idea about this game or the rules. But I learn the most important rule: that it usually rains heavily when such a game is on. And it does indeed: it began to rain heavily, and a thunderstorm soaked the ground.
The game was postponed, and instead the dinner was served early.
Later on the BBC news, the reports come in about the horrible events in New Orleans.
The weather is warm and mild. A few first initial meetings at the faculty.
A tour around a few campus facilities.
Then in the afternoon the start of the staff development festival.
A presentation by Eddie Onbang.
In the evening there is an event on the famous Headingley Cricket Field.
An important game was on - but I have no idea about this game or the rules. But I learn the most important rule: that it usually rains heavily when such a game is on. And it does indeed: it began to rain heavily, and a thunderstorm soaked the ground.
The game was postponed, and instead the dinner was served early.
Later on the BBC news, the reports come in about the horrible events in New Orleans.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
The Travel - Chronologically
Monday, August 29, 2005.
Getting up at 3:50 am. Have a coffee, try to squeeze the last remaining things squeeze into the suitcases. I put them one by one in the rental car.
At 4:35 am I leave the house, leave Thousand Oaks, heading on the 101 freeway towards LA. It is still dark, the road is empty, as to be expected. Slowly, the sky gets brighter.
Fill up the rental car with gasoline, then return it.
Now I am on my own - 4 big heavy suitcases + two carry-on bags. One by one I lift them otno the shuttle bus to the terminals.
Then, when checking in, a problem: two of the suitcases weigh each 95 pounds, one is 75 pounds. The permitted limit is 70 pounds. Any overweight causes the excess luggage (only two pieces are for free, the rest wold cost a fee - I already had checked that a few days ago on the phone with the airline) to be charged at tripple rate. This would make my luggage almost more expensive than my flight ticket: $375 per bag! The airline attendent offers me a cartboard box, so I could have a 5th luggage piece, but each of them would then weigh less than 70 pounds. I agree, move to the side of the ticket counters, and start unpacking my cramped suitcases. Now I have 3 additional luggage pieces, but each costs then "only" $125. Well, moving to another continent is not cheap.
When standing in line of the personal X-ray scan, I meet two of my colleagues from work. What a surprise - they are on a business trip to the US East coast. A bit chatting, I grab something to drink, then we board the plane. Despite my "Frequent Flyer" Gold status, I did not get a First Class upgrade. Oh well...
Three hours stop-over in Detroit. I did not see my colleagues at the airport, as I had to make a phone call right after landing - greetings to you, guys! -, and I walk around through the airport shops. As I did not buy the lunch package that was available on the plane, I decide that for the last time for a long time, I would eat Mexican, a Fajita-Burrito. Of course, this here is not Southern California Mexican, but Detroit-style Mexican...
A one hour delay of the boarding - maintenance problem with the oxygen in the main cabin. I buy a noise-cancelling headset, a book about Great Britain, and a currency converter. Might need that to track the expenses.
Nice entertainment system on the plane! The movies can be stopped and continued individually for each passenger. I watch "The interpreter", "Monsters, Inc.", and "The Kingdom of Heaven", as we fly through the night. Do not feel sleepy at all - I had slept on the 4h flight to Detroit.
The night is short, and day breaks soon. Then a medical emergency - one passenger gets sick. We make an unscheduled stop in Shannon, Ireland, around 7:00 am local time. The passenger gets carried off the plane where he received medical emergency attention. After one hour stop, with refueling, we take off again. A brief look at Ireland during this stop, from the small windows of the plane. Deeply green landscape, natural fences out of bushes and trees parcel the land into segments. Several layers of thick clouds ly over the island, as we climb up again.
One hour later the plane arrives in Amsterdam. Since I have plenty of time, the delay does not matter. I enjoy one of those excellent Holland herring rolls and stroll around in the airport shops. No purchases - I have now to begin saving money.
The flight to Leeds is delayed too: we are already on the bus that should bring us to the plane on the tarmac, but then we are called back into the terminal. A stewardess had called in sick, and the airline could not quickly find a replacement. With 1/2 hour delay we take off.
Finally the jet lag catches up with me, and I doze off a couple of times during the short flight to Leeds. Sunny weather at the arrival at Leeds airport - a friendly welcome for me at this new place. Catherine and Graham are here to pick me up and show me to my new place to stay - a very nice welcoming gesture. I pick up my rental car, and Graham drives ahead to show me the directions. They help me with my luggage, carrying it up the stairs to my new residence. Later we have dinner together at a nice restaurant, and after that we have a beer at a local pub nearby in Headingley: with a hand-pumped "Tetley Bitter".
My first day here in the UK is over, and after I unpacked all my suitcases - surprisingly none of them was missing when I picked them up at the baggage claim - I have a good night sleep.
Getting up at 3:50 am. Have a coffee, try to squeeze the last remaining things squeeze into the suitcases. I put them one by one in the rental car.
At 4:35 am I leave the house, leave Thousand Oaks, heading on the 101 freeway towards LA. It is still dark, the road is empty, as to be expected. Slowly, the sky gets brighter.
Fill up the rental car with gasoline, then return it.
Now I am on my own - 4 big heavy suitcases + two carry-on bags. One by one I lift them otno the shuttle bus to the terminals.
Then, when checking in, a problem: two of the suitcases weigh each 95 pounds, one is 75 pounds. The permitted limit is 70 pounds. Any overweight causes the excess luggage (only two pieces are for free, the rest wold cost a fee - I already had checked that a few days ago on the phone with the airline) to be charged at tripple rate. This would make my luggage almost more expensive than my flight ticket: $375 per bag! The airline attendent offers me a cartboard box, so I could have a 5th luggage piece, but each of them would then weigh less than 70 pounds. I agree, move to the side of the ticket counters, and start unpacking my cramped suitcases. Now I have 3 additional luggage pieces, but each costs then "only" $125. Well, moving to another continent is not cheap.
When standing in line of the personal X-ray scan, I meet two of my colleagues from work. What a surprise - they are on a business trip to the US East coast. A bit chatting, I grab something to drink, then we board the plane. Despite my "Frequent Flyer" Gold status, I did not get a First Class upgrade. Oh well...
Three hours stop-over in Detroit. I did not see my colleagues at the airport, as I had to make a phone call right after landing - greetings to you, guys! -, and I walk around through the airport shops. As I did not buy the lunch package that was available on the plane, I decide that for the last time for a long time, I would eat Mexican, a Fajita-Burrito. Of course, this here is not Southern California Mexican, but Detroit-style Mexican...
A one hour delay of the boarding - maintenance problem with the oxygen in the main cabin. I buy a noise-cancelling headset, a book about Great Britain, and a currency converter. Might need that to track the expenses.
Nice entertainment system on the plane! The movies can be stopped and continued individually for each passenger. I watch "The interpreter", "Monsters, Inc.", and "The Kingdom of Heaven", as we fly through the night. Do not feel sleepy at all - I had slept on the 4h flight to Detroit.
The night is short, and day breaks soon. Then a medical emergency - one passenger gets sick. We make an unscheduled stop in Shannon, Ireland, around 7:00 am local time. The passenger gets carried off the plane where he received medical emergency attention. After one hour stop, with refueling, we take off again. A brief look at Ireland during this stop, from the small windows of the plane. Deeply green landscape, natural fences out of bushes and trees parcel the land into segments. Several layers of thick clouds ly over the island, as we climb up again.
One hour later the plane arrives in Amsterdam. Since I have plenty of time, the delay does not matter. I enjoy one of those excellent Holland herring rolls and stroll around in the airport shops. No purchases - I have now to begin saving money.
The flight to Leeds is delayed too: we are already on the bus that should bring us to the plane on the tarmac, but then we are called back into the terminal. A stewardess had called in sick, and the airline could not quickly find a replacement. With 1/2 hour delay we take off.
Finally the jet lag catches up with me, and I doze off a couple of times during the short flight to Leeds. Sunny weather at the arrival at Leeds airport - a friendly welcome for me at this new place. Catherine and Graham are here to pick me up and show me to my new place to stay - a very nice welcoming gesture. I pick up my rental car, and Graham drives ahead to show me the directions. They help me with my luggage, carrying it up the stairs to my new residence. Later we have dinner together at a nice restaurant, and after that we have a beer at a local pub nearby in Headingley: with a hand-pumped "Tetley Bitter".
My first day here in the UK is over, and after I unpacked all my suitcases - surprisingly none of them was missing when I picked them up at the baggage claim - I have a good night sleep.
Friday, August 19, 2005
My last day at work
Today is my last day at Rockwell Scientific. Since April 1996 I have worked here as Research Scientist / Program Manager, and I enjoyed working on software technology developments and interacting with customers.
Now I move on, to a new environment, to a new country.
I have lived in the US for almost 10 1/2 years - quite a significant portion of my life. Originally coming from Germany, I studied for one year in an exchange program at SUNY Buffalo, and later came back to work in the high-tech industry. I always
appreciated the openness and entrepreneurship that is so prevalent in US society.
But as life goes on, a new opportunity came across: working in academia as "Professor for Creative Technology". To accept this offer, I would have to move to the UK, to Leeds. This is quite a step, from the sunny warm Southern California (vicinity of
Los Angeles) into the cooler Northern England. But it is also a step towards being closer to home and to the European cities, to which I like to travel so much.
Well, I will miss all the friends from my work. It has been great working here in the US, and I might come back some day. But now I am ready to move to "Yorkshire".
Now I move on, to a new environment, to a new country.
I have lived in the US for almost 10 1/2 years - quite a significant portion of my life. Originally coming from Germany, I studied for one year in an exchange program at SUNY Buffalo, and later came back to work in the high-tech industry. I always
appreciated the openness and entrepreneurship that is so prevalent in US society.
But as life goes on, a new opportunity came across: working in academia as "Professor for Creative Technology". To accept this offer, I would have to move to the UK, to Leeds. This is quite a step, from the sunny warm Southern California (vicinity of
Los Angeles) into the cooler Northern England. But it is also a step towards being closer to home and to the European cities, to which I like to travel so much.
Well, I will miss all the friends from my work. It has been great working here in the US, and I might come back some day. But now I am ready to move to "Yorkshire".
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