They made it!
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
Look what I found in the pub downstairs after work...
They made it!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, April 10, 2011
US vs Scotland
So in my head I've been keeping an informal list of differences between US and Scotland (or the UK in general in some cases) and it's time I start documenting them and keep a running total to see who wins. And since I'm sat in an airport waiting for dinner, might as well start now.
Round 1: restaurant beverages.
I've never realized how great it is to get water instantly brought to you every time you sit down somewhere to eat. It's not common in the UK (maybe with the exception of London). If you ask for tap water it's usually not a big deal but some places seem to be confused by it. In addition, straws also seem to be a luxury you have to ask for. Again, not everywhere but I feel pretty strongly about my straws so I notice. I also get them after asking, but the asking is the point.
So after round one the score is:
Scotland 0 - USA 1
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Round 1: restaurant beverages.
I've never realized how great it is to get water instantly brought to you every time you sit down somewhere to eat. It's not common in the UK (maybe with the exception of London). If you ask for tap water it's usually not a big deal but some places seem to be confused by it. In addition, straws also seem to be a luxury you have to ask for. Again, not everywhere but I feel pretty strongly about my straws so I notice. I also get them after asking, but the asking is the point.
So after round one the score is:
Scotland 0 - USA 1
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Disabling Giddiness?
Finally filling out my application for a provisional driving license. Please note #9 below.
Anyone who's spent time with my family should probably check that box.
Anyone who's spent time with my family should probably check that box.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Glasgow!
This weekend Peter and I drove down to Glasgow for a night and stayed with our friend Leesa. She's in the UK on a three month secondment from Australia and started in the Aberdeen office a couple weeks before I did and also lived across the hall from me in my temporary housing. But anyway, after a month in Aberdeen she went to Glasgow to work there so we decided to visit!
We got a late start Saturday morning though and didn't get down to Glasgow (2.5-3 hour drive from Aberdeen) til late afternoon. Then spent an hour getting lost around the city because the GPS kept losing signal and didn't know where we were going. So we finally got close to the Spires (same serviced apartment chain Leesa and I stayed in while in Aberdeen) parked in a parking garage, and walked to 160 Bothwell street. And found this:
There is no 160 Bothwell street. A quick google search found that the Spires had moved locations in June 2010 and the pile of rocks we were next to was no longer the spires. Although I was disappointed in my google map app for sending us to an old address it did give us a 15 minute walk across the city which was nice.
I really love Glasgow as a city. There seems to be a great mix of old and new buildings and lots to do. And random architecture like this peacock:
After we finally made it to Leesa's, we walked around while we tried to decide where to go. We walked past Jamie Oliver's restaurant, but I was too hungry to wait in line just to put our names in
But don't worry, we went back later for some very very late dessert. It has a casual feel,
which was good because we weren't dressed up at all
Anyway, to back track we ended up having a leisurely dinner at an Italian restaurant called Viva and then walked around town to see Glasgow at night.
I fell in love with Glasgow a bit this weekend. I liked the combination of the old and new and the size of the city as well. It isn't huge but big enough that you feel like you're in a city.
There are a lot of pedestrian areas and shopping (thankfully for my wallet we didn't have time for that) and from what we saw on the bus tour Sunday morning, some nice parks and open areas. Maybe it was because except for the occasional rain shower it was sunny all weekend, but I would really like to spend more time in Glasgow.
Few shots from my phone:
It was a hop-on, hop-off bus tour but our only hop-off was to stop at Glickman's, Glasgow's oldest sweet shop.
It was tiny but I got some pretty delicious treats :)
Then after the tour we made one final stop to an "american" sweet shop Leesa had found:
Yes, that's statues of the Blues Brothers.
The name is a bit misleading as most of the store is not candy from America. But the back of the store was a bit more promising. I was most excited by the pop selection, which included cans of a&w root beer, wild cherry pepsi, and welch's grape soda. I was planning on stocking up until I saw they were £1.50 ($2.25) per can. Once I realized how much the 12 pack of wild cherry pepsi and 6 pack of root beer was going to cost I quickly downgraded my quantity.
I did come out with a decent haul though, which combined with the first sweet shop stop of the day meant we spent about £50 on sweets (and soda) in one day. Yikes.
But I'd say it was worth it :)
And one more bonus of the weekend, saw my first uk rainbow on the drive back from Glasgow
Followed by a full rainbow not too far after. One small perk of lots of rain!
Next weekend, it's down to Reading (pronounced RED-ing) near London to visit some of Peter's friends. And then it's only 2 more weeks until my mom and Bill are here!!
We got a late start Saturday morning though and didn't get down to Glasgow (2.5-3 hour drive from Aberdeen) til late afternoon. Then spent an hour getting lost around the city because the GPS kept losing signal and didn't know where we were going. So we finally got close to the Spires (same serviced apartment chain Leesa and I stayed in while in Aberdeen) parked in a parking garage, and walked to 160 Bothwell street. And found this:
There is no 160 Bothwell street. A quick google search found that the Spires had moved locations in June 2010 and the pile of rocks we were next to was no longer the spires. Although I was disappointed in my google map app for sending us to an old address it did give us a 15 minute walk across the city which was nice.
I really love Glasgow as a city. There seems to be a great mix of old and new buildings and lots to do. And random architecture like this peacock:
After we finally made it to Leesa's, we walked around while we tried to decide where to go. We walked past Jamie Oliver's restaurant, but I was too hungry to wait in line just to put our names in
But don't worry, we went back later for some very very late dessert. It has a casual feel,
which was good because we weren't dressed up at all
Anyway, to back track we ended up having a leisurely dinner at an Italian restaurant called Viva and then walked around town to see Glasgow at night.
I fell in love with Glasgow a bit this weekend. I liked the combination of the old and new and the size of the city as well. It isn't huge but big enough that you feel like you're in a city.
There are a lot of pedestrian areas and shopping (thankfully for my wallet we didn't have time for that) and from what we saw on the bus tour Sunday morning, some nice parks and open areas. Maybe it was because except for the occasional rain shower it was sunny all weekend, but I would really like to spend more time in Glasgow.
Few shots from my phone:
It was a hop-on, hop-off bus tour but our only hop-off was to stop at Glickman's, Glasgow's oldest sweet shop.
It was tiny but I got some pretty delicious treats :)
Then after the tour we made one final stop to an "american" sweet shop Leesa had found:
Yes, that's statues of the Blues Brothers.
The name is a bit misleading as most of the store is not candy from America. But the back of the store was a bit more promising. I was most excited by the pop selection, which included cans of a&w root beer, wild cherry pepsi, and welch's grape soda. I was planning on stocking up until I saw they were £1.50 ($2.25) per can. Once I realized how much the 12 pack of wild cherry pepsi and 6 pack of root beer was going to cost I quickly downgraded my quantity.
I did come out with a decent haul though, which combined with the first sweet shop stop of the day meant we spent about £50 on sweets (and soda) in one day. Yikes.
But I'd say it was worth it :)
And one more bonus of the weekend, saw my first uk rainbow on the drive back from Glasgow
Followed by a full rainbow not too far after. One small perk of lots of rain!
Next weekend, it's down to Reading (pronounced RED-ing) near London to visit some of Peter's friends. And then it's only 2 more weeks until my mom and Bill are here!!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Yep, I live in Scotland
Poor quality video, but had to share since it's not a common sight while on the way home from work:
ok, so you can't really see it. but that man by the statue is playing the bagpipes. not the first bagpipe sighting at this location, and certainly not my last!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
ok, so you can't really see it. but that man by the statue is playing the bagpipes. not the first bagpipe sighting at this location, and certainly not my last!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Problem: I never blog. Solution: buy a blogging iPhone app
Hello blog and anyone reading this! Sorry for not updating in a while. But everytime I think of something to blog about I'm not by my computer and if I am I probably don't have time or feel like blogging. Good thing there's an app for that.
Currently, I'm in a pub in sunny London town watching the manchester united vs. arsenal match in the quarter final of the FA cup. Just one of the many non-premier league related games. I'm finally starting to get a handle on all of the football (soccer). But more on that later.
Peter and I came down this weekend for a few reasons. It started because two friends from the states were going to be here this weekend (for separate reasons) so seemed like an obvious choice. Then I was supposed to have an induction in watford (near London) on Monday and Tuesday so was definitely coming down. Then it turned out work plans changed for one friend and my induction got cancelled (found out yesterday) but i still plan on seeing a friend from KPMG Boston tomorrow for lunch :) pretty excited! And by the powers of facebook, found out Peter has a couple good friends in London this weekend so will hopefully see them sometime too!
Being here really makes me miss living in a big city. Even though I didn't take full advantage of Chicago when I was there it's something that I miss. Aberdeen isn't as small as I thought it would be but it just doesn't have as much to offer.
For example, this morning Peter and I took the tube (unfortunately pronounced chube) into central London, wandered over to the theatre district, bought discounted matinee tickets for million dollar quartet (£25!), had lunch and a wander around, watched the show (REALLY good) and are now watching the game in the pub.
Good day, brought to you by a large bustling city.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Currently, I'm in a pub in sunny London town watching the manchester united vs. arsenal match in the quarter final of the FA cup. Just one of the many non-premier league related games. I'm finally starting to get a handle on all of the football (soccer). But more on that later.
Peter and I came down this weekend for a few reasons. It started because two friends from the states were going to be here this weekend (for separate reasons) so seemed like an obvious choice. Then I was supposed to have an induction in watford (near London) on Monday and Tuesday so was definitely coming down. Then it turned out work plans changed for one friend and my induction got cancelled (found out yesterday) but i still plan on seeing a friend from KPMG Boston tomorrow for lunch :) pretty excited! And by the powers of facebook, found out Peter has a couple good friends in London this weekend so will hopefully see them sometime too!
Being here really makes me miss living in a big city. Even though I didn't take full advantage of Chicago when I was there it's something that I miss. Aberdeen isn't as small as I thought it would be but it just doesn't have as much to offer.
For example, this morning Peter and I took the tube (unfortunately pronounced chube) into central London, wandered over to the theatre district, bought discounted matinee tickets for million dollar quartet (£25!), had lunch and a wander around, watched the show (REALLY good) and are now watching the game in the pub.
Good day, brought to you by a large bustling city.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Quick update (mostly venting...)
Moved into my apartment this weekend. walked in saturday and there was water on the floor in the kitchen, due to a leaky ceiling and lots of rain friday night. Sunday there was no heat because we didn't have any gas apparently. thankfully the guy drinking in the pub downstairs is also the maintenance guy so he showed us the gas meter we need to use a step stool to get to and explained how we need to add money to a card and then put it in the meter. Also found out we do the same thing with electricity but the leasing company didn't give us the electricity stick. there's £11 on the meter that (we think) is ours, so fingers crossed that's enough to get me through the week, or at least until i can get the electricity stick. next challenge: figure out how to get a hot (or just not freezing cold) shower.
oh, and work sucks too.
upside: i'll be spending valentine's day in the same time zone and country as my boyfriend. and he cooked me dinner saturday night (when we had gas!) and sneakily bought me flowers while we were at the grocery store :)
i would say thank goodness everyone here speaks english, but this accent can get pretty ridiculous! (more on that when i'm not trying to conserve energy!)
UPDATE: figured out the shower. just turn it to cold and you get hot water. of course. but at least i got a warm shower!
oh, and work sucks too.
upside: i'll be spending valentine's day in the same time zone and country as my boyfriend. and he cooked me dinner saturday night (when we had gas!) and sneakily bought me flowers while we were at the grocery store :)
i would say thank goodness everyone here speaks english, but this accent can get pretty ridiculous! (more on that when i'm not trying to conserve energy!)
UPDATE: figured out the shower. just turn it to cold and you get hot water. of course. but at least i got a warm shower!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Aberdeen!
So I meant to blog almost every day but I had to pay for internet at my serviced apartment and there isn't free wi-fi all over the place. Anyway, a quick recap since I need to actually get to sleep tonight since I have to work tomorrow:
We almost have an apartment. Put a deposit down so now it's just reference checks and waiting. If all goes to plan we'll be moving in next weekend!
Generally things have been frustrating and I feel like I've been hitting a lot of walls and obstacles and had a lot of moments where I just wanted to go home where I know how things work. Every time I'd try to get a bank account they said I need a permanent address, which I don't have yet (My job is paying for me to stay in a serviced apartment for two weeks, thank goodness). But most apartments like you to have a bank account so you can set up direct debit for rent payments. And even more importantly I can't get a monthly cell phone plan without a bank account and address and therefore couldn't get my iPhone that I've wanted for so long.
At the beginning of the week things were looking up since Peter and I found a great apartment on my first day in Aberdeen (Saturday) in a location we loved and it was through a person and not a solicitor (aka real estate agent) so the checks weren't as thorough which is great because I have no job history, previous landlord, current address, etc in this country. So we sent everything in, talked to the owner, but then found out Tuesday we didn't get it because she gave it to someone else due to their personal situation. So then started the apartment scramble. I'm pretty sure I saw every two bedroom in the few mile radius we were trying to live in and found a great place in almost the same location that had a lot more furnishings than most of the places I've seen (we're getting furnished since neither of us have anything). And even better, the solicitor works by having you put a deposit down to secure the apartment so it gets taken off the market and then the application process starts, which made me feel better after losing the last place. They also pride themselves on getting an apartment turned around quickly, so moving in by the 12th (when my free lodging is up) was an actual possibility. So I'm feeling good about that now.
In addition to the apartment, other things started looking up. I looked at the cell phone plans and got my iphone as a pay as you go plan and was still able to get the international plan I wanted. I'll switch to the monthly soon since I pay a lot for outgoing calls, but incoming calls are free and I have enough texts and data to keep me going. Having access to the internet and google maps all day is amazing and so helpful. Wish I had gotten the phone before Friday!
So in my quest for a bank account I had stopped in some different ones asking what I would need and got enough different answers that I didn't really know what was going on. So I looked it up online for the bank I wanted and it said all I needed was my passport. Well I have that. So I went into one branch and was told that I needed a signed employment contract. I had my offer letter but I accepted the position online and don't have anything physically signed. He also said I needed a signed lease. So I felt pretty defeated and frustrated after that. It's just difficult because I keep feeling like everything I had in the US doesn't matter anymore. I had a car, a good job, good credit, bank accounts, everything but need to start my life over from scratch. So I decided to walk a few more blocks and go to another branch. I don't know if it was because it was full of women or because the second question she asked was what's my salary and I had a good answer, but they were very helpful and I got my bank account. It was remarkably easy, the lady I worked with was so nice and I finally felt like things were coming together. Not having a permanent address didn't matter, they're sending my debit card to the place I'm staying and I should have that in a few days. Friday was a good day.
And today I bought a dongle. No I didn't make that up. It's the UK word for the mobile internet from a cell phone carrier that you plug into a USB port (what I'd call a wireless air card). But anyway, I'll have more and better internet, so hopefully I can catch up on blogging. Sorry this is so rambly but it's off to bed for me. As much as I'd love to stay up to watch the superbowl, I'd rather be alert for my first day at work :)
Goodnight US!
We almost have an apartment. Put a deposit down so now it's just reference checks and waiting. If all goes to plan we'll be moving in next weekend!
Generally things have been frustrating and I feel like I've been hitting a lot of walls and obstacles and had a lot of moments where I just wanted to go home where I know how things work. Every time I'd try to get a bank account they said I need a permanent address, which I don't have yet (My job is paying for me to stay in a serviced apartment for two weeks, thank goodness). But most apartments like you to have a bank account so you can set up direct debit for rent payments. And even more importantly I can't get a monthly cell phone plan without a bank account and address and therefore couldn't get my iPhone that I've wanted for so long.
At the beginning of the week things were looking up since Peter and I found a great apartment on my first day in Aberdeen (Saturday) in a location we loved and it was through a person and not a solicitor (aka real estate agent) so the checks weren't as thorough which is great because I have no job history, previous landlord, current address, etc in this country. So we sent everything in, talked to the owner, but then found out Tuesday we didn't get it because she gave it to someone else due to their personal situation. So then started the apartment scramble. I'm pretty sure I saw every two bedroom in the few mile radius we were trying to live in and found a great place in almost the same location that had a lot more furnishings than most of the places I've seen (we're getting furnished since neither of us have anything). And even better, the solicitor works by having you put a deposit down to secure the apartment so it gets taken off the market and then the application process starts, which made me feel better after losing the last place. They also pride themselves on getting an apartment turned around quickly, so moving in by the 12th (when my free lodging is up) was an actual possibility. So I'm feeling good about that now.
In addition to the apartment, other things started looking up. I looked at the cell phone plans and got my iphone as a pay as you go plan and was still able to get the international plan I wanted. I'll switch to the monthly soon since I pay a lot for outgoing calls, but incoming calls are free and I have enough texts and data to keep me going. Having access to the internet and google maps all day is amazing and so helpful. Wish I had gotten the phone before Friday!
So in my quest for a bank account I had stopped in some different ones asking what I would need and got enough different answers that I didn't really know what was going on. So I looked it up online for the bank I wanted and it said all I needed was my passport. Well I have that. So I went into one branch and was told that I needed a signed employment contract. I had my offer letter but I accepted the position online and don't have anything physically signed. He also said I needed a signed lease. So I felt pretty defeated and frustrated after that. It's just difficult because I keep feeling like everything I had in the US doesn't matter anymore. I had a car, a good job, good credit, bank accounts, everything but need to start my life over from scratch. So I decided to walk a few more blocks and go to another branch. I don't know if it was because it was full of women or because the second question she asked was what's my salary and I had a good answer, but they were very helpful and I got my bank account. It was remarkably easy, the lady I worked with was so nice and I finally felt like things were coming together. Not having a permanent address didn't matter, they're sending my debit card to the place I'm staying and I should have that in a few days. Friday was a good day.
And today I bought a dongle. No I didn't make that up. It's the UK word for the mobile internet from a cell phone carrier that you plug into a USB port (what I'd call a wireless air card). But anyway, I'll have more and better internet, so hopefully I can catch up on blogging. Sorry this is so rambly but it's off to bed for me. As much as I'd love to stay up to watch the superbowl, I'd rather be alert for my first day at work :)
Goodnight US!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Made it to Newcastle...
Note: all the bags fit in Peter's car :) Now it's off to Aberdeen!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Mostly there...
I made it to Heathrow. Once my 6 hour lay-over is over it's off to Newcastle where Peter will be picking me up and then we're making the 5(ish) hour drive to Aberdeen on Saturday. Given that I ended up checking 5 bags, going straight to Aberdeen probably would have been better since I doubt they will all fit in Peter's car, but we'll make do. I packed so that there was only one bag I actually need for the next two weeks, so as long as I have that one and my laptop I'll survive.
I decided to watch movies on the plane instead of trying to sleep the whole time, and only got about 5 hours of sleep Wednesday night so I'm pretty tired right now. so I won't try and be witty just yet. I have a whole week alone in Scotland next week before work starts, so hopefully some hilarious anecdotes will come out of that :).
Bring on the culture shock and crazy accents! After I've slept, that is.
I decided to watch movies on the plane instead of trying to sleep the whole time, and only got about 5 hours of sleep Wednesday night so I'm pretty tired right now. so I won't try and be witty just yet. I have a whole week alone in Scotland next week before work starts, so hopefully some hilarious anecdotes will come out of that :).
Bring on the culture shock and crazy accents! After I've slept, that is.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Here we go...
So since I'm about to be embarking on a part of my life that might actually be of interest to a few people I decided to start a blog. Plus once it occurred to me I could bust out some alliteration for the blog title, it was pretty much decided. Supposedly I leave tomorrow evening. As in move to another country tomorrow evening. Right. I should probably get packing.
Welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping by :)
Welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping by :)
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