moving/living/working abroad

btw im not depending on her getting the scholarship by any means; shell find out by april whether or not she has it, but it cant hurt for me to get some shit together

Sweden is cool. do it.

yeah i was in sweden for a couple weeks in january and had a blast

the politics of furniture design and messenger bags

can someone with ESL experience tell me whether an english MA is generally considered "the equivalent" of the CELTA certificate et al?

ay i stay working a broad

I seriously doubt it, as it's specifically a teaching certification. You might be able to find ESL jobs without the certificate, though, several of my friends have.

So, I'm going to be moving to SF for my husband's job later in the year (from the UK).... you can expect several posts about OMG USA/ SF and what to do in it/ the various ins and outs of moving later on.. but for now I'm trying to figure out what I'm actually going to do when I get there.

My husband will be on a temporary H-1 visa, which means as his spouse I can live and study in the US but not work unless I get my own visa. We're expecting to be there for at the very least a year, but probably longer, if possible. The main thing that will hinge on is whether I'll be able to get a job. As I'm assuming it will take a while to get a job, if I even can at all, I'm thinking about going back to studying. I have a degree already and have been working since I graduated in 2003, currently at a UK university doing a data analyst type role.

I could pay some extortionate fees and study in SF, but the Open University has a course (MSc) that I'm interested in and that allows a lot of flexibility (I could probably work/volunteer part time at the same time). The problem is I have to be in the UK when I register, so would need to register + commit to it before I go.

My other option is to wait til I get out there, try to volunteer/intern somewhere (maybe a University, and maybe I can get a bit of help with that through my current Uni) - with the hope of getting a job in the future. I guess my questions are:

- Does anyone have any experience with OU postgrad courses? What are they like, and how hard is it being out of the student environment? How are the OU qualifications viewed generally by employers?

- Is arranging a temporary visa for a foreign intern a big deal for companies/institutions? Would I have to be pretty outstanding for them to legitimately be able to get me a visa, or is it a (lengthy) paper exercise that employers do all the time?

I'm pretty excited to be going, but it's hard to plan for! Would appreciate any ILX0rs' advice....

...anyone?
Alternatively, recommend me decent places to live in SF, shipping companies, and things to look out for when renting...

my girl didnt get the scholarship :/

if you go for committing to something before you're there, you should specify a start date that's like a month after you arrive. because nothing would suck like getting to SF, realising you could have been on a year long vacation but finding out that you have to go work the next day.

Internships for foreigners can be tough, maybe even tougher as your husband has an H-1. It is hard enough for me as a student. I am lucky that my course requires an internship so that allows me to do one otherwise I would have to wait 9 months before being allowed to use my OPT requirement. The market for internships is terrible right now. Have another. Look at postgrad stuff, there may well be funding opportunities or what you get out of it may be worth the money. Given you work in IT you should take a look at the Masters in Information Systems Management that my university (CMU) offers. Doing this would take a year, get you some great skills and potentially allow you to work for 12 months afterwards and maybe 27 (if it is eligable for the STEM extension). There are amazing schools in the bay area and you should see what they offer that would be worth you stumping up for.

As someone who has recently moved, I didn't bring much as I only planned to be here for a year, now I wished I had brought more. I used a setup called first luggage to ship a bag of clothes and brough my full allowance on the plane plus a bike. BA have the most generous luggage policy, they charge per bag for excess rather than per kilo. You can also take a piece of sports equipment free in addition, in my case this was a bike but I topped up the bike bag to the 23kg allowance with other stuff. Surface shipping will take at least 8 weeks to the bay so may not be worth it for a year.

Think about what you can sell and replace in the US. Think about what you can sell, take to the charity store, recycle, freecycle or chuck so you don't have to ship or store it. No matter how much time you give yourself to pack up your life it won't be enough.

OTM re the packing, as I have recently realised - currently renovating our flat (this was set in motion way before we knew we were moving!) and have packed everything into boxes and it look like eternity to do it. This does have the upside of having all our stuff ready packed (and a lot of books etc have gone into long term storage ie my parents' house), so should in theory be easier when we come to move... but even though the company will pay for our shipping, I only want to take a few essentials (TV) + clothes + cooking stuff...
Thanks for advice, hadn't thought about work placements as part of a course but that would be great.

TV won't work in the states and you can pick one up off craigslist for peanuts. Cooking equipment, I restricted myself to knives and a couple of good pots I couldn't bear to be without. Remember that anything electrical probably won't work (appliances, hairdryers, whatever), although electronics and computers generally do.

Rip all your cds, find out how much books you can't bear to be without are on amazon and abebooks, weight and bulk are your enemies. Think about cheap items of clothing you can replace at any supermarket or chain clothes store, dump them.

I moved recently from the UK to Washington DC - it was done through my work but they were useless so I did all the shipping organising etc. myself. My stuff has apparently arrived, but is being searched and they will charge me for that. I came out for a recce and brought two bags (BA like Ed says) stuffed full of gear and left them with the person I was replacing here - don't know if you'll get a recce opportunity/somewhere to leave stuff, though. I managed to bring enough light photos, cards, ornaments etc. that the place feels fairly home-y even without my shipped stuff. Don't underestimate how much room SHOES take up.

I did a postgrad course with the OU - just one module, which was a prerequisite for a different, non-OU course I was enrolled on - you had to have a certain amount of credits in psychology and they let you do both in parallel. It was well-organised, the tutor was responsive, and I got miles better tutor feedback on my work than I did from the non-OU, face-to-face course. But I was working full-time so wasn't needing the student experience part of things (and anyway got that from the other course I was doing).

Oh and for replacing stuff you can't bring, don't know about SF but in DC I went to Target, which had pretty much everything I needed all in one fell swoop.

Thanks ljubljana, which psych course was it? I'm actually thinking of the forensic psych one as my first degree was in psychology - it's more for interest than trying to persue a career in that area per se, but something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Exploring Psychology - you will have covered everything in it in your first degree (it's kind of Psychology 101), but I thought the materials were pretty good and the course was well put-together, so that might bode well for other psych courses.

No matter how much time you give yourself to pack up your life it won't be enough.

so OTM. i got rid of everything except two small boxes of photos/letters (stored at parents') and brought just under 50kg with me - two large suitcases (one was almost entirely shoes!).

Yeah totally. I just got old roommate going 'you left this, this, and this, what do you want me to do with it?' and me smacking myself in the head going 'shiiiit, ummmm....'

I still have a bunch of photos, letters, and some keepsake cds in my old bedroom closet at my parents house. Every 2 years when I manage to visit home, Mum gives me an expectant look and asks if I want to go through some of my stuff. And inevitably I do, and I fish out a handful of things that will fit in my bag...and inevitably I get that sad, disappointed look from Mum that wonders if the closet will ever be empty in her lifetime.

I sold all of my books except the absolute MUSTs, can't live withouts that had sentimental value. I've been able to buy most of them here, though it does kind of hurt to part with them initially. Ended up getting here with one huge suitcase, a backpack so crammed with books and leftover clothes that it almost threw my back out of alignment...and that was about it.

The 3 months of not working is tough when you're getting approved for work authorization, but it's good job searching time, and I found it helped get me a little acclimatized to Sacramento. It's a shock to the system no matter what you do, but if you can get working as soon after the 3 months is up, you'll get a routine started and pieces of your life will slowly fall into place.

Still trying to figure out the minefield that is visas so ... what's this 3-months work authorisation? I thought the only way I could work was to approach an employer directly and have them sort out a temp work visa. Admittedly, I haven't had time to look into the whole thing properly yet so would love to hear about other ways to get working.

One more question - my husband's visa is due to start on 1 October. If we wanted to go over a couple of weeks before that, could we do it on a normal holiday visa (the one you now have to fill out online a few days before getting on the plane) or could that confuse the whole thing?

OK, thanks to Ed for my new motto and display name.

Generally most US visas allow you to enter up to 30 days before their start date, but check the conditions of the actual visa. Coming in on a tourist visa, or rather the visa waiver program and switching status is absolutely not on. If you want to do this be prepared to take a trip to tijuana or vancouver and come back in on the proper visa.

Ed, if you know where it is, please could you post a link to the info on the visa extensions for work purposes, including the STEM ones?

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=9a3d3dd87aa19110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Thanks!

OMG two weeks to go!

In the US, how do you go about getting a prescription for the contraceptive pill? I've got enough to last me a while but I don't know anything about the healthcare system over there. On the Stephen-Hawking-murdering NHS you just make a free appt with your GP then get a free prescription (after they check your blood pressure etc) and then you pick up your pills for free. Is money/tipping involved anywhere in the US process? I will have healthcare insurance.

The packing has not proceeded very far. My parents are the proud recipients of boxes of videos and books so we are only taking the essentials, and I now have loft space in my UK flat, so can chuck a load of stuff up there. We still seem to be taking tons, though...

you need to find a doctor who accepts your insurance and make an appointment to get the prescription. then bring the script to the pharmacy. you'll have to pay for it unless it's covered by your insurance. costs about $30 for the 4 week supply. no tipping!

also: check online to find the generic equivalent of the pill you're currently on. it'll give you an idea of how much it will cost.

if that doesn't work, or if you don't have insurance, try planned parenthood. they offer low cost contraceptives of all varieties.

you're moving to SF, right? when i was looking at refilling my pill prescription a month after i got here, i found a women's clinic in SF that is free and will do this for you.

xxxpost $30! It's almost cheaper to have a baby!

if that doesn't work, or if you don't have insurance, try planned parenthood.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Just1n3 - yeah, it's SF - that sounds great, if you could let me know the details :)

there's absolutely nothing wrong with planned parenthood! i've used them as my primary care physician (for pap tests, checkup, bc pills) when i didn't have insurance in FOUR different states and i was treated with respect and like an adult every single time.

not that different from a "women's clinic" imo

...well, i'm sure there are some things wrong with them, but for your needs it's not a horrific option or anything.

otm xp

btw that was $30 (or like $28.99 or something) for the generic version. i think it costs pretty much the same as whatever i was prescribed and the pharmacy just subbed it themselves. i think target and walmart have cheaper drugs but last time i checked the pill was not included.

but if you have insurance you should prob find a way to get them to pay the women's clinic if you go. it's "free" but not really free because this is america, you know?