It’s Thanksgiving in America so I’m going to make the most of a couple of days off and cold weather outside (it’s been snowing) to update the blog. In the last post I detailed the process of finding and securing an apartment. You would usually think that is the hardest part of moving in, especially when all you have to move are a couple of suitcases and a badminton racket. Not entirely true..
Moving in: my apartment
It seems a recurring theme – to start a post with an excuse about how busy it is that I haven’t had time to update this blog in a while. Truly though, this is not a meek pathetic clamour for an excuse to avoid updating the blog, I’m surprised myself at how busy my weeks have become. Still I will make an endeavour to update this again within the next week.
One of the biggest events to date in my time here has been finding the apartment in which I am writing this. True to that, this post will focus on apartment hunting in New York.
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In an effort to catchup to present times this is my second post in under a week. I also received criticism for my last blogpost and am eager to make amends. Rob Kingdom take note. This will round up the second two weeks or so of my time in New York and conclude my first month in Brooklyn. There were a couple of other events which occurred while I lived in Williamsburg, however these are more suited to being summarised in a dedicated blogpost.
Been a little while, parents and sister have been visiting for the week so been trying to do New York in 7 days. It is a challenge I implore you to think carefully about before necessarily trying to repeat yourself. Regardless, picking up from the last post where I had just jumped on the plane to New York this post will divulge some of the details from my first month in the City That Never Sleeps.
A little slow on the updates recently, due to travel and general busyness but it’s time to wrap up my time in London. Last weekend marked the 3 month mark to the day that I moved to New York and it’s about time I started sharing some American anecdotes. My final weeks (sounds a little ultimate right?), in the UK were mostly spent seeing people and getting last minute things sorted..
I arrived back in the UK on the 12th May, which meant there was just over a month left until my departure..pending my VISA. Enough time to fit in several leaving do’s and a few other things as well..
The day I landed I had agreed with a couple of lads from work to and watch Ledley King’s testionial (Spurs vs Spurs Legends) at White Hart Lane. I wasn’t sure at one point whether this was a good idea, I only had an hour or two nap when I landed before coming into work and hadn’t slept on the plane. However with the help of coffee I made it through and the match itself was good fun with all the players and referee taking it very light highted. Edgar Davids and Howard Webb were the highlights..
Aside from all this fun was the more laborious but, more important, VISA application. The company had a group of lawyers who deal with all the employee transfers between offices so there was plenty of paperwork that had to be done with them. As part of the VISA you have to prove you have skills/experience/knowledge which cannot be fulfilled by someone in the states. Then a description of your current duties and various other pieces of information. The process is definitely made easier by being a WPP employee, since the company certainly has processes in place for transferring employees. Still the paperwork was hefty..
For the first time I can write this post from the comfort of my own apartment, having finally got internet installed in my apartment. As with most things so far there is a story attached to this which in good time I will get to. For now I will continue to document the journey here. Although the feature of this post will actually be New York..
I’ve just been told to cut to the chase and start blogging about New York rather than events leading up to it. However, I still feel there are some stories left to tell and it’s the journey to New York that inspired me to start a blog. The point the people/persons made was that I should blog about New York while it’s fresh in my mind. Yet when people write autobiographies do they not recall historical events? You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram for ‘live’ updates while I finish blogging about how I got to New York. Things should start to get interesting now though.
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Being without internet in my apartment means I’m having to write this blogpost from the office, however I’ve got the pick of the meeting rooms so am able to sit in a comfortable chair with the window open and views of the Empire State Building it could be worse. Especially after having just watched Man Utd win their second match on tour. However I don’t want to jump ahead of time, so more on the situation at present in a later post.
Having expressed my interest to my manager of going for the New York job, I then had to formally tell HR I would like to apply for the position. From that point until I received my offer the situation was in New York and global recruitment departments hands.
So the next step was to speak to the global team about the role and steps required. While this was all happening in work the benefit of finally living where I wanted in the city was paying off.
Continue readingA good place to start my second post will be to drop back to January where things really kicked off.
I had been aware of a potential opportunity in New York for a while thanks to Judy, my now manager in NY and ex-colleague from London, with her regular nudges about how great New York is. I had never taken the idea particularly seriously though – I loved London, enjoyed my job had a good bunch of friends etc.
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