The difficulties of starting anew

Now that I have been in Manchester, my new home, for over 2 weeks, I figure it only appropriate for an update of how things have gone so far. Aside from the emotional side of things, which like everything, tend to get better, or more so put into proper perspective, with time, starting a new life is fucking hard! We were warned about many things that would take time to get ready, but when you are full of anxiety, the difficulties seem about 1000 times greater than you would have expected. But looking back, within two weeks, I have all but fully settled. Manchester is my home now, and I couldn't have made a better choice. The only thing left is to start classes, which for the 1st time in my life, I am counting down the days in excitement! (Next tues, for those keeping score.)

Finding a flat was relatively easy for me. My flatmate is a guy called Alex, from Russia. We had been able to talk a bit before arriving through the wonders of facebook, and it turns out, he, like me had already considered me as someone he can, in the best case, become close friends, and worstly, put up with for the next year. In all seriousness, he is a great guy, and I am honored to be able to share my journey with him in such close proximity. He actually had set up 2 places for us to look at the week I arrived. After walking about 15 mins from campus to the 1st one, although I liked the set up, I quickly reanalyzed my minimum walking distance from class! If I am going to do this everyday, no more than 10 min tops! (I am sure that extra sleep will come in handy, and I'll be thankful during the winter months!) The 2nd place seemed more promising based on location, but all I new was it was 5 minutes from campus. Oh please let me like it! Please let this work out!

We walked in the place, the current tenats were getting ready to move out, but they were kind enough to give us a look around. The landlord use to live here, and wants to move back next summer, but she is working in Brussels for now. This wasn't your normal student flat. I knew instantly, this was the place I wanted to live.

Finding a flat in Manchester can be quite difficult. We were all told stories of people finding one, only to have another tenant snatch it out from underneath there grasp. Quickly, we called the landlord, and told her we were ready to move in. Since she plans to move back to the place next year, she obviously wanted to meet us 1st(She had already had her trip home planned.) She was kind enough to meet on Sat, and within about 5 mins, approved us as her new renters! As it turns out, because the current tenants were on vacation, no one was able to even see the flat before us, and there were another 10 booked to look at it the following week. I hope their house hunting turned for the better! Pretty standard in terms of 2 bedrooms, one bath, nice kitchen, living room, and washer (but no drier, I guess you can't win them all!) And just like that, my biggest concern, where the hell am I going to live, was resolved.

The lack of drier concerned me at 1st. I mean, I have had one in every place I have lived as long as I have known. I guess I would learn how the other side did laundry. Alex for one, hasn't used a drier in many years. And I'll tell you, it's not all that bad. Clothes take a little bit to dry, but not a life inconvenience. It is easy enough to do, so I should be all right!

I waited a couple of nights to move in, solely because I did not have internet set up. The plan was to get a phone, and use the unlimited phone for my internet, something that doesn't seem like it has been allowed in the US, although would be incredibly popular! But to get a phone, I needed a bank account set up. That takes a week. Not to set up,that took a day, but to get the debit card to access any of your money. So after, hopefully nicely, bugging the front desk every morning with the mail delivery, I finally got my debit card. On a side note, from my experiences, and from talking to some of the brits, England is not a very service oriented country. I would ask if I had mail, and would be told it isn't sorted yet. Well how long, couple of hours. Then a friend would have the same conversation with the same couple of hour timeline, a couple of hours later. Thankfully, they were helpful enough when I asked if I could just look through the mail, since this was really important.

So with a bank card, I was off to get my phone. 3 years ago, I jumped on a Verizon contract, and since they didn't have an iPhone available, I chose Blackberry's answer, the storm. It was going to be great, until it wasn't. You see, RIM made the huge mistake of not letting third parties develop apps for them, so the exciting new appstore turned out over priced and under stocked. After 1 year, no problem, get an iPhone on my 2 year upgrade, since they were becoming available. But then I went off and got accepted to school, so that pushed back any sort of phone upgrade. For 2 years, I wanted an iPhone. And now I could get one. Or so I thought.

Since the phone is expensive, it amounts to a loan from the phone company, which you pay back a little each month on your contract (about 10 gbp over service when you don't have to buy a phone.) And since I had only lived in England for 10 days at this point, I didn't have much credit to rely on. This was the 1st time, and hopefully last, I didn't pass a credit check. So my options, buy the phone outright, or get another contract on another phone that doesn't cost as much. And I was about to do this. But then I remembered it was a 24 month contract (240 pounds), plus 70 more for the phone. And also, I might not live here next year, or might take an internship someplace else. And the iPhone comes unlocked, so I could use it in the US. And I really wanted an iPhone. So now I have an iPhone!

We have become so dependent on technology these days. For the 1st week, I had what amounts to a "burner" phone, cheap, pay as you go, holds me over. No internet, no email, no nothing except calling and texting. This wasn't enough to make me feel like I belonged here, lived here, and am starting the next stage of my life here. It is a little sad and superficial that an iPhone (or any smart phone, depending on what you like) can help bridge that gap. And with our forget about the consumer, you can only use the phone you pay 200 bucks for on our network, US cell phone services, it would not have been possible to use my old smart phone, which I hated anyways. (Everyone else, from India, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Russia, etc. were able to just plop in a new sim, oh the Joys of an unlocked phone!!) Way to go phone companies, continue to find ways to trap your customers, instead of providing a level of service where they wouldn't want to leave.

It retrospect, in under 2 weeks, I found an flat, set up a bank account, got the phone I wanted, and am well off on the next stage of my life. As I sit here and type this, looking back, It was quite easy to get established in a new country. But going through the emotions and stress while you are doing it, that never seemed the case!

Other than that, life has been really good. I have settled down greatly on the emotional side, with the help from my new friend here, and my friends back home. Everyone has been amazing, thanks for all those that have taken the time to read this and drop a line to me. You all are the best.

I will write more this weekend on what I have been doing, how running is an amazing (and sometimes scary!) thing for me, and how beer brings the world together. In the mean time (and this will probably happen more than once cuz she is so amazing!) a special shout out and congrats goes to Kathryn. Not only has she put up with me, encouraged me to go on this adventure, but just got an amazing new job! That girl is quickly on her way to impressing the world!

Love you all, and as always, thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and join me on my journey!