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I can't remember the name of the company but it is near London and I am kinda freaking out. It is the best offer he has gotten so far but it comes with alot of complications. Like, I dunno... MOVING TO ENGLAND! I mean, how do we buy a house? We have never been there and it isn't like we can just take a weekend house hunting. And we would obviously be away from our families... and then there is flying our animals over. I know how they fly with dogs. How do you fly with turtles and hedgies??? And are hedgies even legal pets in England? I don't know... Oh and then there is the problem with my job. I have a degree in Criminal Justice. American Criminal Justice. I know Constitutional law and the Americal Criminal laws and legal system. Parlimenatry law? Don't even know where to start. So, woud I have to get a degree in that too? I can't not work and I don't want to do anything except Law Enfrocement and the Legal professions... Gah!!!! But this would be an AMAZING opportunity for him and the idea of living in England really sounds good with the exception of the things I already mentioned. I just don't know what to do or where to start... Also, I have been told by a few people that the English (or the general consensus... not all english) see Americans as ignorant and annoying. I don't want to be seen as ignorant or annoying! I am really hoping that part is just a mean rumor too...
Thoughts?
@Ms Hedgehog: omg thats so exciting!! I don't really have much advice to offer since I've never moved continents nor been to england but it seems like this is something you will have to consider when it comes to your job, perhaps you can see if there are any american companies with a UK office? but either way lots to think about!!!
also i think the general consensus of most of this planet views americans as ignorant and annoying. but thats inevitable when cultures compare each other, nothing you cant prove wrong.
I was just corrected. The company is IN London. But we would not live there because it is too darn expensive.
Wow. That's insanzy! Two of our bees moving to London?! Well, you are a possible. Anyways, I wish I had some advice for you and ways to help. Best bet is for you and DH to sit down and talk about everything. Lay it all out on the table and go from there.
I think most people in Europe find "Americans" as a whole ignorant and annoying but when you're one on one they are perfectly nice to you. Keep in my London is uber expensive and I thought finding an apt in NYC is bad but a friend of mine moved recently and she said apt hunting was a nightmare.
I would totally go
England is a very expensive place to live, so the first thing I would do is look at the whole package offerings.
If you cant work, for whatever reason, does it make financial sense to go?
What are they offering to go? Housing allowance, trips home twice a year o visit family. A lot of that is standard as expat packages at higher levels.
I don't imagine you would want to buy something there, if you can legally even. Its expensive and you need to consider the time you expect to be there. Not sure about England, but much of Europe doesn't buy and sell places like we do in the US. Financing isnt as easy and selling isnt as easy.
Would if hinder your career growth and are you OK with that? Even if it did hinder your career growth, would it make sense financially for your future goals?
Lots to think about, but really exciting!
I personally do not think I would go, but Lefeymw brought up excellent - definitely make a pros and cons list
I live in England (not London but fairly near) and can say that it is harder these days to get finance to buy a property. I echo the comments about London being expensive, but you need to go a fair way out for it to become cheaper, as the commutable places like the Home Counties (which surround London) are very expensive as they're nice suburban places, but with good transport links to London. However, I do like living here and think that we have a lot to offer, not least free health care! Oh, and not everyone here thinks that Americans are ignorant :)
@MissPumpkinPie: 3 actually. I just moved about an hour and a half north a month ago.
England is beautiful!! I LOVE it so far. I've been living here 5 weeks now.
As for a house, check out http://www.rightmove.co.uk. It was super helpful when we were leaving. We found our house on there before we left, arranged a viewing and we were in. Super easy transition. Houses here are VERY expensive to buy, so I would probably rent. The site has either though. Keep in mind that it may be hard for you to buy because you will have no credit over here. From what I understand, London has a large commuter area and people do live further out from the city and commute in. The public transportation is pretty good (mostly trains).
I don't know about hedgehogs, but pets are quarantined when you bring there here. That might just be dogs and cats though. Here's a website that talks about it. http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/
So far, I have not had anyone make any comments about being American. Most of the British people I have been in contact with have been very friendly. Who knows what they are thinking, but they have not been rude to my face.
Other things to be aware of: The cost of living is pretty high. There are a lot of taxes you will not be used to paying such as TV tax, road tax and council tax. I would avoid shipping over an American car. Houses are much, much smaller.
Good things about England: The countryside is beautiful. Very ethnically diverse. Tons of good Indian food. Food in general tastes better. People are friendly. Lots of interesting things to see, especially if you're in to history. Tea time!
If you want to know anything more, feel free to PM me. We just made the transition. It's a bit of culture shock, but not too bad. I moved from St. Louis.
Most younger (teens to 30s) people think Americans are cool. I think the generally negative feels are toward American tourists who can be a bit annoying.
It is absolutely possible to buy something there, and prices will run along the same as a major American city. I have family in South London (Thornton Heath) and their 3 bedroom townhouse would go for about $350K or similar, which is about the same as here.
I agree with the pros and cons list. One of the grad programs I am applying to is 2 hours north of London by train so DH and I are in kind of a similar boat (though his job is more easily exported). After looking at smaller city- housing is expensive! I have had a couple friends who had studied abroad and they found some found British find Americans annoying and some see them as a novelty (something about summer camp and tent camping).
That is incredibly exciting! I think that the most important decision is probably the financial possibilities or hinderances and then the rest is just a personal decision. I hope some of the UK bee's will find their way into this thread and give you some wonderful advice.
The contract does include the cost of moving and furnishing a new home. It pays for our lease termination fee here and will afford one trip back to Texas each year. There will be two contracts though. One for the "probationary year" and if everything is all well and good, a 10 year contract. If for any reason after the first year, things don't work out, on either side, they will pay for our relocation again. The only reason this was included was because the first year they will be paying him slightly less because it is probationary. I think it is kinda weird but the 10 year contract is outstanding. Especially considering it is twice what he has been offered here so far. However, there are still quite a few companies we haven't heard back from here yet. He graduates in December so there is still come time but they need an answer by next month. I am iffy because of how fast it all seems to be happening. And the idea that I may not be able to work scares me.
I agree that we need to sit down and make a list. It sounds awesome and if everything goes according to plan, we could end up better off than we could be here... but we may not. I am not the gambleing type and it really feels like his career is a gamble right now.
That is so exciting! Time to do some research and make a pros and cans list of US vs England!
@Ms Hedgehog: That is a generalisation about Americans. People definitely think that but anyone who thinks all people are ignorant and annoying just because they're American, rather than judging you based on you, is not worth you worrying about anyway.
Hedgehogs.... um.... I have never heard of anyone having one as a pet but they exist in the wild here so they're not illegal animals.
The law thing.... you may have to re-train, I'd imagine. But I am no expert.
The house thing..... do you know anyone here at all who could go and check out houses you like once you've narrowed them down on a website? Someone you really trust? Or you could pay me to go do it? (MASSIVELY JOKING.... needs to be someone you trust loads)
i think you can have a pet hedgehog but don't quote me on that, they native to england amongst other countries but i don't know anyone personally who owns one.
i wouldn't live in london yes it is expensive londonbourgh is a lot cheaper but there is congestion charges throughout london for those who wish to drive in london.
all you pets would go through normal quarintine rules and stuff.
as for english people not liking americans it's not neccerssarily true, i think it's more on a person to person basis. i work with quite a few americans, and i think they find me more annoying, probably because my accent is so laid back and well hardly english at all lol. the english are rather curtious people (most of them) but imo the further south the ruder the english get (sorry to point that out) up north and in the middle everyone will let your car out, stop to let you cross the road (no j-walking law here) hold the door open for you that kind of thing.... not so much in london though, everyone is to busy to be polite (only my opinion btw, apologies to any londoners)
i think you will be fine over here, just one rule to remember .... we queue for everything lol
@Miss Longcoat: Nope, I don't think it's American tourists that people object to. But I'd rather not go into it as I am sure people will get offended if I try to explain! And it isn't even my own views, ha.
@stokieGal: Haha, the North-South Divide. I'm from the middle but I think most people agree that Londoners are, in GENERAL, too busy to be polite and friendly. And the North and Scotland are known to be friendly. But I'm willing to bet it's the same in other places, like the West Country, for instance. How can people with such jolly accents and so much cider NOT be jolly? :D
yeah queue up to be served in a bar, queue for a bus, queue in traffic, queue for absolutely everything
Yeah, queue! Properly! I had a professor at Uni who jokingly told us about how she skipped queues..... she was American..... she thought we'd laugh at her being all American and not sharing our English ways...... we just looked horrified! The whole room! Skipping queues is so rude to people here.
Definitely find out the package they're offering him. I would definitely not recommend buying, especially given the climate England is in now for housing! Just to give you a rough idea of rental costs, London is divded into 6 zones (zone 1 being the most central, zone 6 being the very outskirts). A one bedroom apartment in zone 2 is around 1200.00 pounds a month for a decent place (exclusive of council tax, or any bills). Rightmove as mentioned before is a good website to look at, and also FindAProperty is good as well.
A few things that are more expensive in England:housingbillstrain fares
A few things that are less expensive:healthcare (free)groceriescell phones
I studied Canadian law - which is based on English law. There is no way in heck I'm able to get a job here unless I do a course in English law. That said - you can make realllllly decent money as a PA or other type of assistant in central london (upwards of 40-50K) so that might be an option? There are also a few companies that will take you on as a legal secretary and offer to pay for your ILEX training. They are super hard to come by though! And legal secretaries make crap wages here!
Hedgies are definitely not native to this country, and I've never seen one in a pet store. You might not even be able to bring it over if it is classed as an exotic animal :( Dogs (even if they have doggie passports) are put into quarantine for 3-6 months.
The thing about Americans is 100% true. I could tell you countless horror stories about not being served at a restaurant until clarifying that I was actually Canadian. That said - there are TONS of Americans living over here, and you'll eventually start to pick up a faint accent and people won't be able to pinpoint exactly where you're from any more ;)
I made the move 2 years ago, so if you have any questions at all feel free to PM me :)
ETA: I had no idea England had Hedgehogs! My DH has always told me he's never heard of one! I stand corrected
@Ms Hedgehog: Also, do you know the location if it is just outside London? (I think you said that, I may be remembering wrong.) Because then us UK bees could suggest cheaper and convenient places to commute from than London?
what the heck is a queue? A line? A wait? A spinny thingy I have to walk through that counts how many people go in at an amuzement part? (That's what they are called here)
@Ms Hedgehog: Erm..... maybe a "line"? Maybe you don't have a word for it because you don't do it!
@Ms Hedgehog: haha. Yeah, it's a line. They're basically saying that you have to wait for everything.
Queue = line
Plenty of people in America line up on a regular basis, bars being a notable exception
How exciting Hedgie! It's awesome that we have so many UK Bees to give you tips and advice!
@zippylef: But not just wait - in a polite and orderly fashion. No pushing in/skipping the queue or everyone will frown and tut and tell you to get out.
@peacheslea: That is my prospect for a legal future? Screw that! He can move and I will stay here! And having my puppy quarentined for that long would devistate me... She is just a baby! And MY baby! And not bring over the hedgies? Deal breaker. I would be more okay not bringing over the turtles but only because their set-up would be a PITA. Gah... I am feeling less and less confident about this job offer...
If you can try to find another country, than do so. Lol! UK can be a great experience for a little while. If you can't find anything anywhere else, THEN go.
@peacheslea: What? Of course hedgehogs are native here! You don't get them in pet stores because they're wild - everywhere! You mainly see them run over on roads.
@Ms Hedgehog: After January, they are actually changing the quarantine law. It's only going to be a month instead of 6.
@peacheslea: Hedgies are definitely not native to this country,
not to start a debate but ... i think you should tell that to the British Hedgehog Presevation Society, a registered UK Charity dedicated to helping & protecting hedgehogs native to the UK (Erinaceus europaeus).
@LGenz: That may be but Americans are notorious for trying to skip queues. Which may be why the above preconception about Americans being annoying was mentioned.
I should emphasise that when we go on about queues, we are openly mocking ourselves. It's one of those things that we laugh at because it's very English - drinking tea, talking about the weather and taking queues seriously.
@Ms Hedgehog: I know what you mean. I had to leave my doggie behind with my parents and it seriously broke my heart (he was more of a family pet, but I was super attached to him). I always tell my husband that if I ever leave him, it will be for my dog!
I would check the rules out again though - since it's been 2 years since I officially moved over. I knew a girl who was able to bring her guide dog over without the quarantine rules applying, but I'm not sure what hoops she had to jump through to get it :(
Annnnnd they don't have chipmunks in the wild - only as pets! This whole country has got it around the wrong way ;)
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