Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Tarrytown
We go to our host families on Thursday afternoon so on Wednesday evening after orientation we decided to walk into Tarrytown and see what was there. The answer is not much! A few shops and not a lot else. My favourite shop was a 7/11 where I experienced my first officially American Slurpee.
Orientation and New York City Tour
Official day one of orientation. One word? Long! I appreciate that there is a lot of stuff to take in and perhaps it was because I was so excited to go and explore my new surroundings that the day seemed to really quite drag.
However, at the end of day one it was time for the New York City tour. Although it felt a little rushed I absolutely loved it and made some really good friends.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Safe Landing
So once I arrived in Newark I had to go thorough immigration. I had been told by APIA that it can take 2+hours to get through, but realistically it took me less than 30 minutes. All they needed was my visa/passport and a document I had received in my placement pack, I walked through to baggage collection and then made my way towards the exit hoping I would meet someone on the other side.
There was a woman, called Jackie, holding up a bright pick 'Au Pair In America' sign in front of a clipboard. She sat me next to a girl, her name was Frida and she was from Sweden and had arrived a little sooner than I had. We were then moved to another terminal to await the arrival of some more girls from Germany. There were about 6 in total, who all arrived speaking German together making Frida and I a little cut off. I was so thankful there was another none German speaking girl there!!
When everyone had arrived we were put on a mini-bus to take us to the hotel where we would be staying in Tarrytown. It was warm and the hotel was gorgeous, I couldn't believe we were in AMERICA! We left our bags in the hotel lobby and went for a brief talk on our stay here. We had to show that our passports had been stamped, were were told how to apply for a social security number, we got our Au Pair t-shirts and our hotel rooms. Although my room was not ready yet Frida's was and so the pair of us went to go and see what the rooms we were staying in looked like. The rooms were set out for 3 Au Pairs who will be living near one another for the year. We entered Frida's room and found two girls sat in her room already, one who was living in Washington DC with Frida and a girl she had recently met and shared a language with (Afrikaans) who would be living in Boston.
Me and Frida wandered the grounds for a little while and kept checking to see if my room was ready yet. I was eager to meet people I would be living with. I got my room and it was still empty, we ate tea and then at about 8pm US time, 3am my time I went to bed.
There was a woman, called Jackie, holding up a bright pick 'Au Pair In America' sign in front of a clipboard. She sat me next to a girl, her name was Frida and she was from Sweden and had arrived a little sooner than I had. We were then moved to another terminal to await the arrival of some more girls from Germany. There were about 6 in total, who all arrived speaking German together making Frida and I a little cut off. I was so thankful there was another none German speaking girl there!!
When everyone had arrived we were put on a mini-bus to take us to the hotel where we would be staying in Tarrytown. It was warm and the hotel was gorgeous, I couldn't believe we were in AMERICA! We left our bags in the hotel lobby and went for a brief talk on our stay here. We had to show that our passports had been stamped, were were told how to apply for a social security number, we got our Au Pair t-shirts and our hotel rooms. Although my room was not ready yet Frida's was and so the pair of us went to go and see what the rooms we were staying in looked like. The rooms were set out for 3 Au Pairs who will be living near one another for the year. We entered Frida's room and found two girls sat in her room already, one who was living in Washington DC with Frida and a girl she had recently met and shared a language with (Afrikaans) who would be living in Boston.
Me and Frida wandered the grounds for a little while and kept checking to see if my room was ready yet. I was eager to meet people I would be living with. I got my room and it was still empty, we ate tea and then at about 8pm US time, 3am my time I went to bed.
Off I go!
So on the morning of Monday 3rd June I woke up at 4:30 am after only about 2 hours sleep. I felt really calm, I had to double check I had everything, got ready, loaded up the car and headed out to the airport. I checked in successfully and said a brief goodbye to my parents. With the ability to Skype so easily (and lets be honest I'm not very good at goodbyes) it doesn't feel like I'm completely leaving everyone at home.
Security was a doddle to get through and I hoped to get breakfast once I was in the departure lounge. I still had several hours until my 9:25 flight so browsed through the shops and looked for some suitable food and a place I could get a couple of magazines so I popped into WHSmiths.
I still had about an hour until I would be able to find out which gate I was boarding from so I sat down with a view of both the runway and an information point so I could watch for my gate. I had only sat down for about a minute when a man who had behind us at the check in desk came and sat next to me. Now please don't get me wrong, I love when people talk to me, I am a chatterbox, but this guy was a little strange and kept staring at me whilst I ate until I replied him. It took me and age to finish my food. Anyway, long story short, I felt obliged to follow him to the gate and stay stood near him until we had boarded.
For some reason I had been upgraded into Economy plus (Thank you Au Pair In America!) and I was able to board a little earlier and had a tonne of extra legroom.
GOOD BYE ENGLAND
AND HELLO AMERICA
Security was a doddle to get through and I hoped to get breakfast once I was in the departure lounge. I still had several hours until my 9:25 flight so browsed through the shops and looked for some suitable food and a place I could get a couple of magazines so I popped into WHSmiths.
I still had about an hour until I would be able to find out which gate I was boarding from so I sat down with a view of both the runway and an information point so I could watch for my gate. I had only sat down for about a minute when a man who had behind us at the check in desk came and sat next to me. Now please don't get me wrong, I love when people talk to me, I am a chatterbox, but this guy was a little strange and kept staring at me whilst I ate until I replied him. It took me and age to finish my food. Anyway, long story short, I felt obliged to follow him to the gate and stay stood near him until we had boarded.
For some reason I had been upgraded into Economy plus (Thank you Au Pair In America!) and I was able to board a little earlier and had a tonne of extra legroom.
AND HELLO AMERICA
Monday, 13 May 2013
Bags Bags Bags
Okay, I have come to terms with the fact that I will have to take two suitcases as well as a carry on which causes a problem with logistics. So two big pull along cases, two hands and a pull along carry on is not going to go well. So I had to look for a new bag to take with me on the flight. I do have several over-the-shoulder bags which I want to take with me but none of them are really big enough for me to fit in everything I would want to take on a long flight. It is also recommended to take a spare pair of clothes in case my luggage were to get lost so I had to accommodate for that too.
We went looking for a bag to take of any kind and we did not find anything in the conventional shopping centers. We did find one lovely bag that was actually a nappy bag and would have fitted a tonne of stuff in! Although the £99 price tag wasn't so lovely for a bag I might not use so much once I arrived State side. We had a look in a department store called John Lewis and I found myself in the luggage section where we found several backpacks. Now that really made sense. I would definitely use it on day hikes and bike rides with the children and the price range was much more reasonable. Most of the rucksacks in John Lewis were aimed for men though so we decided to go to Cheshire Oaks at a later date which is full of outlet stock and so it is usually cheaper and there are several outdoorsy shops.
Once we made it to Cheshire Oaks we went in pretty much every single shop we could see sold bags and actually found a suitcase shop which sold backpacks. They were ideal as I knew they were the right size to fit in the restricted carry-on space on the plane and they were reasonably nice. So ta-dahh,
We went looking for a bag to take of any kind and we did not find anything in the conventional shopping centers. We did find one lovely bag that was actually a nappy bag and would have fitted a tonne of stuff in! Although the £99 price tag wasn't so lovely for a bag I might not use so much once I arrived State side. We had a look in a department store called John Lewis and I found myself in the luggage section where we found several backpacks. Now that really made sense. I would definitely use it on day hikes and bike rides with the children and the price range was much more reasonable. Most of the rucksacks in John Lewis were aimed for men though so we decided to go to Cheshire Oaks at a later date which is full of outlet stock and so it is usually cheaper and there are several outdoorsy shops.
Once we made it to Cheshire Oaks we went in pretty much every single shop we could see sold bags and actually found a suitcase shop which sold backpacks. They were ideal as I knew they were the right size to fit in the restricted carry-on space on the plane and they were reasonably nice. So ta-dahh,
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Preparation
It still hadn't hit me that I was actually going but I thought it would probably be a good idea to start and think about what I want to take with me. As I'm planning on saving as much money as I can in order to travel after I have completed the program I don't want to pack really light and just expect to buy a lot of the things I need whilst I'm over there and although I really really wish I could fit everything in one case I don't think that's going to fly considering I've already filled about half my case just with gifts for my family! I admit I may have gone slightly over board...
I have already started to separate clothes up into 'Definitely', 'Maybe' and 'Definitely not' piles and it's a system that's been working well as I have my brother's old room to use as a packing area so I have taken pretty much all my clothes out of my room so I can see what I have (I was surprised how many items I had forgotten about). The 'Definitely' pile includes clothes that I really wear on a day to day basis, favorite pieces and bits that I couldn't live without. The 'Maybe' pile is for clothes that I could buy whilst I am there and would take up too much room to take (big jumpers etc.), clothes that I only wear every now and then, that I'm not sure fit really well or have holes in (I'm looking at a MASSIVE mound of tights to check through!) and do I really need to take 12 pairs of pyjamas?!... Probably not, thinking about it.
I still have plenty to think about like make-up and shampoo etc, but having kept in constant contact with my future Host Family I know that after I arrive on the Thursday my family is free the whole weekend to take me to the supermarket, show me the area and take me out driving. I cannot say how important frequent communication helps! I know that I only have to bring about a weeks supply of shower products which will save me a decent amount of weight.
Saturday, 4 May 2013
Visa
After the confirmation of my placement I received my placement pack in the post.
The pack contained everything I needed to begin my visa application and that ran fairly smoothly with a slight hiccup with getting a visa acceptable photo as the passport photos are too thin and so I had to nip to Asda and get photos done again which cost £7!
Once I'd got my head round what was needed I filled a folder with everything I needed to take and rang the US Embassy to book an appointment. The cost of the visa interview was $160 although this was expected I did not expect the atrocious train ticket prices. After discussing it with my parents my mum said that we could drive down and visit Harry Potter Studio Tour (whilst we were down south anyway), stay the night at my brother's flat in Cambridge and then get the train from there which is considerably cheaper.
On the day of my visa interview we had to wake up super early to catch our train to get us their with enough time to then get the tube and walk to the Embassy. Horrifyingly the train we were on had to be aborted as there was a broken track further along and I really did not want to be late for my 11:30 appointment but within 5 minutes a replacement train had arrived in the station and we were only delayed a quarter of an hour. We found the Embassy no problem and there was a massive queue to even get in the building. the security was very high and we were not able to take mobile phones in with us which was a problem as I didnt know how I would meet up with my mum after my appointment. A woman who worked for the Embassy told us of a Starbucks just around the corner so we said we would meet there. Once in the Embassy it we heaving! It reminded me of a airport with a lot of rows of chairs all facing a massive screen which would call out numbers and which window they were to go to.
In total I was waiting in the Embassy for FOUR HOURS! If you're about to go please take my advice and pack a book or crosswords or something, I was close to going stir crazy but it was all worth it once I was told my visa application had been accepted!!
I managed to find Starbucks no problem and we went to some tourist-y shops to get Union Jack goodies for my host family and finally heading back to my brothers so we could pick the car up and head home.
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