San Anglais

Cheers,

I agree that I've made up my mind. I do want to go. It just doesn't seem like I've seriously considered enough factors before just decided "yeah, go for it"

I'm basically here to make sure there's nothing I've forgotten to consider that I really ought to know about before jumping in with both feet.

San Anglais

Thank you all for your input, by the way. I appreciate you all taking the time to offer your advice

anabella

My thoughts exactly..

Bob

Getting the company to sort out health insurance is normal, it's the small print you need to consider, how much will you have to pay per month, it can be anything from nothing to a grand depending on age, previous conditions etc. You'll also need to look at deductibles, co-pays, prescriptions, maximum coverage etc. And see if they cover dental and eyeballs because that's expensive too.

And the point that was stressed about the visa was a valid one, plenty of people on this site looking and get a stumbling block because they couldn't get the visa. The wiki has a good guide explaining what the main ones are. It sounds like you'll be getting the L1 as a company transfer for either management or skilled worker, as long as you've worked there over a year and meet other requirements.

anabella

Where would you be moving to?

kins

I do think it helps to think about where you will live and what would suit you. You can't control all the factors but you can try to make it as easy as possible.

And having struggled so much on my second stint of living in the US, I am now on my third stint and haven't had a moment's homesickness in the year (nearly) that I've been here. This time we thought really carefully about where we wanted to live, and I think had more of a 'make the most of it' attitude, which it sounds like you already have :-)

Which university were you at when you did your exchange? A friend of mine did an exchange last year to Michigan (of all places) and had the time of her life.

San Anglais

My company's US HQ is in southern California, somewhere between Long Beach and Lake Forest.

But I'm not 100% sure that I would have to live there, and if not, it I would have free choice. I'm quite tempted to move around quite a bit, spend six months in San Francisco, six months in NY, six months in Florida etc.

The other option is to be based near the hub of my industry, which is around Indianapolis or south east Illinois.

San Anglais

I spent a year at Iowa State University in a campus town called Ames, about an hour outside of Des Moines.

It was very..... well, how you would expect a good college to be, but in Iowa. Thankfully because it's a big uni the campus was huge and it wasn't quite as rural as it might have been!

It's difficult to know which areas to look at and which to avoid though. I'm just throwing darts at maps at the minute really.

another bloody yank

Ames, Iowa is very similar to SoCal.

San Anglais

In what way??

Ray

They both have an O in the name

Tracym

I'm in the Chicago area, and have never experienced a burning desire to move to southeast Illinois.

Nothing horrible about it, but nothing special imo.

If I could live anywnere I chose in the US, I'd certainly choose somewhere else!

Florida is not my favorite either, but that's just personal opinion. Too hot, muggy, buggy - I preferred Arizona or New Mexico.

There's so much incredibly beautiful country out west, Colorado was quite nice.

Depends what you're looking for though - city life or beauty or weather - try this - it trys to say what parts of the country would appeal to you:

www.findyourspot.com

San Anglais

yeah, I can't say I'd choose south east Illinois either, but a lot of my industry is based around Indianapolis so it would make sense to be within reach.

I'm not really sure what I'm looking for either, I'm a country boy who's got used to living in cities. I'd quite happily spend the first year or two just experiencing different places before deciding where to settle. I do like the look of Colorado, though!

Thank you for that link, I'll take a look now!

Tracym

You're welcome.

Indianopolis is ok - Chicago area's not too far though, if you'd like to be by or in a big city.

I like the country myself - and currently look out my window at a neighbor's barn. But I can be in downtown Chicago in an hour or so, which I do occasionally.

What is your industry, if you'd care to say?

San Anglais

I work in motorsport, the kind that centres around Indianapolis. It's not essential to be there, I'll have to travel all over the country most weekends wherever I live. But there will be more shorter haul flights if I'm around there somewhere, than flying back to, say, Oregon every Sunday night!

The four places that I liked the look of on that MySpot site were:
Bloomington, Indiana
Harrisburg/Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Denver, Colorado
Springfield, Missouri