Moving to England Tomorrow

[Spectre]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

I used my credit card to take out cash over there... little did I realize that th ATM fees would be like 10 bucks each time! Xavier is a bit smarter than I was LOL

Have fun man- I loved living in London. I lived in North London myself and loved it out there.

One thing I distinctly remember is sitting down on Sunday evenings at 6 PM (with my Subway sandwich in hand LOL) and tuning into the NFL.com fieldpass to listen to Jets games over there. It requires a bit more effort, but you'll be able to keep up with sports.

Oh, try playing tennis too if you don't already. There are plenty of nice courts scattered throughout the city.

[youvalss]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

Have u started drinking tea at 4pm?

[davin]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

Have u started drinking tea at 4pm?

I bet he has, while eating crumpets and singing "God Save the Queen" .

[SlimKibbles]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

...I have a week off in May and am thinking about where I want to go. Germany is calling to me.

Glad you made it in one piece! Go to Munich, man. Great city. Hofbrauhaus and beer gardens are a good time. Plus, you can check out the castles a little south of there.

[MachoMyers]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

Have u started drinking tea at 4pm?

I have never drinken so much beer in my life. Honestly, you go into a pub for a bite and you feel compelled to drink beer. You walk down the road or get on the subway and people have tall cans in their hands. Chelsea played on Thursday and we were just coming home from seeing all the sights in The City and a lot of peeps were having subway beers on the way to the pubs, which are all over the place.

Stuff can be expensive but there are deals. A lot of pubs have two 4 one deals on food so you get two steaks for 8 pounds - which is about $16 U.S. - with tax already included and no tip. Its tough for me not to tip because I made a living off of tips all throughout my college career. Once you start burning a hole in your wallet though you learn to love it. Plus, the service is trash.

I've heard Munich and Berlin are pretty awesome. I went to Stonehenge and Bath yesterday. Stonehenge is about 10x less impressive than I thought it would be. Just some big rocks. I'm a history guy though so I enjoyed the historical significance of it but on a magnitude scale its not very impressive. Bath is very nice but probably the most touristy place I have ever been too. Its worst than Banff.

I almost put 100 pounds on Man. U to win the Premership last night but I held off. Seems everyone here is a degenerate gambler because the betting houses are packed all the time. Then again most things are packed all the time.

Work starts on Monday. Should be quite the experience.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

Whats up Boys!

Yeah, I made it. In one piece, too. I slept about 16 hours the day/night I got in but feel great now. I'm in the process of securing a flat in Southwest London (Clapham) and just love the area. There is a huge commons (park) that is awesome and I guess babes go there all summer and you can just bring a case of beer and play footie.

I haven't even gone into Central London just because I've been running around getting bank accounts (free to use debit cards here) and a place to live. Its pretty awesome though and despite a few down pours its been warm and sunny.

I start teaching on Monday but coming over with this small agency has been nice as they put us up for a week and I have their office to take care of emails and internet and the sort.

I've had a few nice conversations with Brits about Football and the like, many of disappointed about Arsenal but I have seen many Man U shirts/jerseys lately, especially after Chelsea's performance yesterday. I feel really involved in Football here because there is little to no coverage of any other sport. When I go to bed its like 3 pm on the west coast so nothing has even got under way. I miss my North American sports, big time.

I have a week off in May and am thinking about where I want to go. Germany is calling to me.

I have never drinken so much beer in my life. Honestly, you go into a pub for a bite and you feel compelled to drink beer. You walk down the road or get on the subway and people have tall cans in their hands. Chelsea played on Thursday and we were just coming home from seeing all the sights in The City and a lot of peeps were having subway beers on the way to the pubs, which are all over the place.

Stuff can be expensive but there are deals. A lot of pubs have two 4 one deals on food so you get two steaks for 8 pounds - which is about $16 U.S. - with tax already included and no tip. Its tough for me not to tip because I made a living off of tips all throughout my college career. Once you start burning a hole in your wallet though you learn to love it. Plus, the service is trash.

I've heard Munich and Berlin are pretty awesome. I went to Stonehenge and Bath yesterday. Stonehenge is about 10x less impressive than I thought it would be. Just some big rocks. I'm a history guy though so I enjoyed the historical significance of it but on a magnitude scale its not very impressive. Bath is very nice but probably the most touristy place I have ever been too. Its worst than Banff.

I almost put 100 pounds on Man. U to win the Premership last night but I held off. Seems everyone here is a degenerate gambler because the betting houses are packed all the time. Then again most things are packed all the time.

Work starts on Monday. Should be quite the experience.

Xavier, I didn't see this thread until today. It's awesome that you made it over there in one piece and having a good time. Personally, with the economy here in the U.S., being in London is probably a better choice and a great experience. Is this a temporary or permanent move?

[tanis38]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

I just went to London about 3 weeks ago for vacation. We were in London and then we went to Dublin. For some reason, we never felt very welcomed in London. We got a weird vibe there. Like we weren't wanted. It was very disapointing. The city was beautiful though.

Xavier, the highlight of my trip was visiting the Grenadier Pub. It is a really old pub and is pretty hidden in a dead end street but I cannot recommend it enough. It was just fantastic!!! Look it up and definitely pay it a visit! I would go back to London just to visit the Grenadier again. Everybody there was fantastic and it is such a cool dive. Check it out.

[MachoMyers]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

Xavier, I didn't see this thread until today. It's awesome that you made it over there in one piece and having a good time. Personally, with the economy here in the U.S., being in London is probably a better choice and a great experience. Is this a temporary or permanent move?

I'm here on a permanent move. I have what is known as a Right to Abode because my mother is British so, for all intensive purposes, am a UK citizen and can stay for as long as I want. I actually signed a 12 month lease for my flat so I guess I am here for the long haul. It was funny coming into the country in the "Non UK" customs line and while everyone is getting grilled I flashed my Right to Abode on my Passport and the customs agent gave me a big smile and asked me why I was in this line and to welcome home. Great feeling.

The economy is a disappointment and being a teacher, as long as I don't smash a kid or anything, will always have a job.

London has a big rep for being expensive and while it can be, I just got back from the supermarket with loads of food that would have cost me $200 in Maine cost me 50 pounds. While $100 is some serious dough I had to buy EVERYTHING so I was very happy about that.

Somedays I forget I am in another country though until some little thing happens that totally surprises me. I live with my girlfriend and our buddy, all from Canada so we don't interact with a lot of British folks. An example of what I'm talking about though is when I was standing to the side of the line at the bank a women asked me if I was in the queue. At the moment I had no idea what she was asking me and it was a very awkward 30 seconds of here getting totally frustrated at my inability to answer her. Queue? Why not just call it a line?

Work starts tomorrow. I'll post another update and maybe be booking my flight back home. British kids are often compared to life-time criminals. I'm going into this thing with a mentality of a prison guard on death row.

[youvalss]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

When u have time visit Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. it's a beautiful city.

[Spectre]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

That should be interesting- British kids are unique.

I had a ton of those culture-shock moments when I was there. I remember asking for something similar to cheese singles (like the Kraft singles) when I was there and the workers at the store had no idea what I was talking about . Did you find all the food you needed? By the way, what grade are you teaching over there?

[Eton Rifles]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

and if you go to McDonalds or BK ask for chips, not french fries!!!

[davin]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

When u have time visit Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. it's a beautiful city.

Indeed it is. I thought the Royal Mile was cool. Would have liked to have seen the Military Tattoo (I think that is what it is called), but it didn't work out.

[MachoMyers]

Re: Moving to England Tomorrow

That should be interesting- British kids are unique.

I had a ton of those culture-shock moments when I was there. I remember asking for something similar to cheese singles (like the Kraft singles) when I was there and the workers at the store had no idea what I was talking about . Did you find all the food you needed? By the way, what grade are you teaching over there?

Food is good. Pretty much the same stuff over there that we have here, although I can't find licorice or Wheat Thins anywhere, which is killing me.

I'm teaching Jr. High kids, grades 7-10. I've always said Gr. 10 is the toughest. They just start to drive/drink/experiment with drugs/and start having sex...Generally anyway. They usually have the attention span of nats, especially when it comes to English class.