Friday 1 December 2006

How to prepare for a move to a new country

When contemplating a move to a new country, it's easy to just think of basic, practical things. When taking into consideration the basics, which range from looking for a good mobile plan, setting up a bank account, finding somewhere to live, getting the proper documentation/visa, finding a doctor/sorting prescriptions, looking for work and places that might provide work ahead of time, working on your CV (no longer called a resume), finding inexpensive phone plans for those at home to call you and vice versa, and all importantly, saving up enough funds to support yourself until you find work, there is the social side to consider. Once you leave behind the friends, activities, hobbies etc you enjoyed at home, where do you find your identity. Best to plan ahead of time on those as well. My boyfriend thinks I'm very organised, but little does he know this is a necessity for survival once we arrive, and will benefit him almost as much as me;) So far, I've found a great literary journal which I'd eventually like to subscribe to, called the Australian Book Review. I found this through a literary blog, which I found through a personal blog, which I found through a list of blogs on Adelaide or by people from Adelaide, which I found on page 10 or 12 of a google search for Adelaide. This made me think to look for some book groups/clubs, of which I found two through yahoo groups...one based in Adelaide which is mainly a book exchange and another that is simply Australian. Both seem very friendly and sociable, so there is one need met, hopefully. I'll be sorting out a place to go for yoga (er, which I did for England as well, both Leeds and London, yet have never been). I've been networking on on-line groups for Americans in Australia, just to get info, as well as to potentially find some people in Adelaide to go have a coffee or pint with. I've got ridiculous amounts of web sites bookmarked, on things from general info on Australia, to what to see and do in Adelaide, where to buy books online since amazon.com does not have an Australian component, to Australian recipe sites....

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