lazza

After not knowing what was happening for a really long time, the time between getting my visa approved and today has gone far too quickly. I am not in the least bit organised, and am still procrastinating, 2 hours before I leave for the airport by using the computer I am coming back for a couple of weeks at Christmas, so it's not long to wait if I have forgotten anything. I'm sure it'll all be fine, but starting to get nervous now.

See you on the other side!

Madelina

Good luck!!!!!

1chumly

Hope it all went smoothly

lazza

I'm here! Journey was terrible - almost 18 hours, but i have all my luggage, immigration was fine and I'm in!

Now to find somewhere to live and a car!

nettlebed

'Grats!!!!!

When you have the latter, you'll have the former...

Sue

Congrats on the move. Hope you are settling in ok.

HarryTheSpider

Congrats / good luck / well done...

... count to 10...

... and relax!

Cheers

Harry

lazza

I have somewhere to live (houseshare, seems nice) and a bank account. I've also filled in a lot of forms at work that will set me up with medical, dental, optical and life insurance and to pay taxes. There's a lot of paperwork, but I seem to have waded through it. The medical and optical insurance look to be pretty good - small copay, and no deductible as long as I go in network. The dental's not so great but I've been told it's better than most.

So just the car to figure out, which is a bit of a worry since I just figured out that the journey by public transport is 1.5 hours door to door (it's less than 9 miles!!!) I'd push bike it if I weren't so interested in living!

And Harry, your comment is most appropriate. As of today, I feel like I can start to relax!

This weekend I am lucky enough to be spending 8 hours in a classroom for the mandatory "Driving Safely in Connecticut" course that I need to do before taking my CT driving tests. Happy days

HarryTheSpider

Good for you!

So, 1 Brit to another - what's the weather doing?!

I spent 3 hrs getting to work this morning, normally takes about 1.5 hrs.

Some idiot buried his Mercedes in to the central reservation on the motorway and caused a huge tailback. I hope he (could be she, but I doubt it somehow...!) is OK, but what an arse! Most people would get the hint that major piddling-down weather (torrential) after a long dry spell would require a little more care when driving...!

Still, just a few more months to go then it's AZ for us, and just a 15 min commute!!

Oh, and I'm sure the commute in AZ will have it's fun elements too, like something out of LA Story, with people randomly shooting at each other while talking on their mobile phones - no hands on the steering wheel!

... and 8 hrs in the classroom - is that then followed with the practical test - drive around the block, then parallel park...?!

Cheers

Harry

keaki80

Congratulations on your move. Isn't is strange how all the states have different laws/rules? No driving lessons needed here, just put in for your test and that's it. It was me who wanted them! Fortunately they were building behind us so I used the empty roads to reverse and parallel park and all that jazz. I know some women are excellent at parallel parking; but once I passed my test in UK that was the last time I needed THAT manouevre until I came here!
Good luck, hope you settle in to your life here. Have fun.

Brat1

Hey Lazza, welcome to Connecticut. Yes, I know, the driving school 8 hour thing is a load of nonsense and the driving test is just as bad. Where abouts are you in Connecticut? We've been here 7 months and are loving it. Weather has cooled down quite a bit since last week, but it's still nice.

Hope you can relax now that you're finally here. If you need any help or advice about Connecticut pm me and I'll see if I can help you. Welcome to the US.

lazza

Harry - I have no idea about the driving element of the test. After the past week's experience though, I am more than worried. I'm finding driving over here extremely stressful, and keep doing things wrong! The weather seems to be getting a bit more "English" after the glorious sunshine last week.

Keaki80, Thanks - I know exactly what you mean! I try not to parallel park wherever there's an easier option! The one thing in our favour over here though is that you don't need to worry about the clutch, you can just think about the steering, which is generally powered very nicely too!

Brat1 - I'm in Norwalk, but will shortly be living in Stamford. The DMV is located about 1/2 a mile from my office, which will be helpful for visiting it during non-standard hours.

EricK

Welcome to CT - I moved to Stamford in March this year (live downtown opposite the Mall).

Where are you taking the driver ed classes? Hopefully not High Ridge Rd - the guy there was a lunatic, more like a religious preacher giving a sermons on the evils of drinking and why its eating away at the core of America...

I took the test at Norwalk DMV. Don't sweat it, the test was 5 mins of driving round the block (one left, two rights, straight back into the car park).

Stirchley

Welcome to Connecticut! I'm in the capital - Hartford.

lazza

I decided to give Buffington's Driving School in Norwalk a go. I was going to go to High Ridge, but after ErickK's advice, I thought I'd try somewhere else. I'm then going to use Major Driving School for the test. I'll post my thoughts afterwards...