I sussessfully obtained a Marie Curie Outgoing Fellowship which allows me to study for two years in the USA and a further year back in the UK. Well done me. Myself and my wife, Georgie, flew from Manchester. We been through a week of leaving dos and goodbyes so in some ways it was good to be actually 
leaving rather than talking about it. Georgie was travelling on the visa wavier program while I travelled with a J1 Visa. To cut a long story short Georgie has been offered a job in the US too but there was a delay in getting the documents.... The flight was long and boring. I have done a few cross atlantic crossings and none of them have been anything like interesting. We arrived in Chicago to a cold but wonderfully sunny day. Chicago looked amazing and we have promised each other that we will visit it for a weekend sometime soon. A short flight from Chicago and we where at Detriot airport. A guy from golden limos picked us up (arranged by the new boss). He was a nice chap and Georgie had endless questions for him including "what's a beat-up car?". It takes about 20 mins to get accross from the airport to Ann Arbor - Our new home town. Snow was on the ground, it was cold, and it was about 7-8pm US Eastern Time. After checking in we noticed that the hotel had a bar and a pool, so not everything was bad. I was very tired but George convinced me it was a good idea to go swimming. We got down to the pool only to find half a dozen prospective students messing around in the pool. We decided to get in anyway. The pool was small but had an underwater exit which took you outside. Its the weirdest thing being outside, in a pool, at night, with snow on the ground. We didn't stay too long the kids in the pool made it a strange atmosphere.
We had some wishey washey beers and some bar food and called it a night. We were booked into the hotel for three nights and since Friday was the only working day we decided that we had to find a home that day. Not only that but we had arranged to meet our new bosses on that afternoon. We jumped onto a shuttle bus from the hotel to the hospital and went on foot from here. The first memorial image was of the US flag in the central campus area.
leaving rather than talking about it. Georgie was travelling on the visa wavier program while I travelled with a J1 Visa. To cut a long story short Georgie has been offered a job in the US too but there was a delay in getting the documents.... The flight was long and boring. I have done a few cross atlantic crossings and none of them have been anything like interesting. We arrived in Chicago to a cold but wonderfully sunny day. Chicago looked amazing and we have promised each other that we will visit it for a weekend sometime soon. A short flight from Chicago and we where at Detriot airport. A guy from golden limos picked us up (arranged by the new boss). He was a nice chap and Georgie had endless questions for him including "what's a beat-up car?". It takes about 20 mins to get accross from the airport to Ann Arbor - Our new home town. Snow was on the ground, it was cold, and it was about 7-8pm US Eastern Time. After checking in we noticed that the hotel had a bar and a pool, so not everything was bad. I was very tired but George convinced me it was a good idea to go swimming. We got down to the pool only to find half a dozen prospective students messing around in the pool. We decided to get in anyway. The pool was small but had an underwater exit which took you outside. Its the weirdest thing being outside, in a pool, at night, with snow on the ground. We didn't stay too long the kids in the pool made it a strange atmosphere.We had some wishey washey beers and some bar food and called it a night. We were booked into the hotel for three nights and since Friday was the only working day we decided that we had to find a home that day. Not only that but we had arranged to meet our new bosses on that afternoon. We jumped onto a shuttle bus from the hotel to the hospital and went on foot from here. The first memorial image was of the US flag in the central campus area.
The first apartment was in the basement of a cool looking house. The rooms would have just about satisfied a down and out heroin addict. The next place was on the second floor of an old house. The living room was small, but nice; however it was still being decorated. Now we had been on foot since 8.30am and were starting to feel it. The following joint was a basement that was nice, but there was no way we could move in for several weeks/months. More dishearting was the talk of the need for credit checks, references, and large deposits.
We walked to another house that was miles away - the sun was shining and it was actually get pretty hot and we were dressed for the cold. There was nobody to meet us at this house. Things were looking bad. We were running out of time, getting tired, and hot and bothered. We went to the second to last place to visit that day. A grey haired balding chap was there ready to meet us holding a cup of coffee. The building he was standing infront of was old, red brick, big and impressive. 
The man showed us two flats; a small one one the 3rd floor; and a larger one one the ground level. Both looked more than fine and even the smaller one would of done us just fine. We took the larger one in the end. It was more flexible in that the lease ran til August. More post later!
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