Archive for February, 2007

Today was an exciting day for me because I met someone from the agency who is supporting me with the search for an apartment. Having this chat was really informative because she told me what I have to expect and what I would need beforehand when searching for housing. I have now a much better picture how the whole process of the relocation will look alike. There were also some weird things she told me: One was how to behave when driving a car and stopped by the police. It is a little bit different compared to Europe which means you have to stay in your car and don’t make any move. Just pull down the window and wait for the officers to tell you what to do. Never ever make any spontaneous moves because that can be understood that you are searching for a weapon. Another one was that whenever you have a car accident you should never say that you are sorry even if someone got hurt because that would mean that you feel yourself guilty and can be sued for it. Yes, that is the American way. You should just exchange personal data and insurance numbers and let the insurance do the rest for you. And the third funny thing was that it takes a while for the human body to get used to the US food because it is different compared to the European food. And if you want organic food than this is extremely expensive. Also natural yogurt (the yogurt you get here normally has sugar added) seems hard to get here in the US but I hope I can get it in some international stores.

What I know from today is that I am not able to really start the search for an apartment right now I first need my VISA, a bank account and my social security number. After having that all I will be able to sign a contract for renting something.

In the evening I was invited to dinner from my current boss – he lives in Hoboken – so we used the path train to get there and he showed me the place where he lives – really nice – and afterwards we had dinner in a Chinese/Japanese restaurant. I had a red snapper fish fillet which was really great. Afterwards I used the chance to walk around a little bit in Hoboken and get a feeling for this area which would be an option for me to live. I think I could imagine to live there.

Finally I arrived in NYC. The flight was a little jumpily so that I had half of the coffee on my trousers afterwards but overall it was a good and uncomplicated trip. Also the immigration and customs at JFK were no problem at all. I also noticed that they have improved the announcements you get inside the airplane so you are pretty good informed which forms you have to fill out and what you have to expect at the airport doing the immigration process.

After exiting the airport I got a cab and went directly to my hotel in downtown, had a quick shower and did a little walk outside afterwards. First I was walking to the building where our office is located (there is currently much construction work going on around ground zero) then I enjoyed a hot chocolate at Starbucks and after one hour outside I decided to go back to my hotel where I felt asleep 5 minutes after getting into the bed.

I’m really looking forward to meeting my colleagues again and will surely have a great day in the office today.

Now this is it. I will start the first BLOG of my life. The fact that I will move to NYC within the next few weeks was reason enough to try it. Here I will try to keep you informed about my adventures, thoughts and experiences while moving and living in NY city. As my first journey startes 25th of Feb (will be there for one week and start looking for housing and also organize stuff with my new boss) I’m currently in the preperation phase.

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