Posts Tagged "United States"

America – Part 3

March 16th, 2008

Given that this is the start of my final few days here in the United States, I figured it time for another blog (that and I’m avoiding revising for the Java test tomorrow morning).

The last couple of weeks have flown by, and I’ve got up to a fair amount of stuff, including going to the previously mentioned NBA game between the New Jersey Nets and the San Antonio Spurs, which was good fun. I also went to an NHL game between the New Jersey Devils and the Tampa Bay Lightning, which was more fun as the crowd seemed to get into it more and while the basketball had a couple of moments of skill, the hockey game was far more entertaining overall (especially with there being a couple of fights).

Last weekend I also managed to finally do some sightseeing, taking a wander around Manhattan to  see a number of the landmarks – although I still haven’t done all of them, or any of the museums, and that’s not likely to change any time soon.

I’ve also fully experienced the problem of being a guy trying to go out in New York when a few of us were told it would be $700 for the 6 of us (3 guys and 3 girls) to go into the club… needless to say we declined and went elsewhere which was far cheaper and probably better.

Still, I suppose I best do some work and maybe head to the office as part of that.

 

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America – Part 2

February 27th, 2008

Well, I’m now in my third week in the United States and so far I’m enjoying it, despite the large numbers of differences other than the obvious accents and driving on the wrong side of the road.

The most noticeable differences that I’ve encountered so far have been when going out. It’s strange having to tip bar staff for every drink I buy (along with making drink prices rather expensive) and also the very strict male:female ratios that some places seem to enforce when letting people in (not a great thing when I’m here with work and work in IT with mostly other guys). This has only really been noticeable once so far, which was on Saturday when a few of us went to a comedy show (after being thrown out of a bar by the NYPD earlier in the night) and then went to find a bar for a couple of beers afterwards.

While this might seem negative there’s a load of positives. The transport system runs 24/7 and is pretty reliable too. This makes getting home from a night out at 4am both cheap and easy (especially living only a few hundred yards from the station). The snow also doesn’t seem to cause quite as much suffering as it does in the UK, with the infrastructure actually handling it without issue.

This weekend a few of us are heading to see the New Jersey Nets on Sunday, and possibly the New Jersey Devils on Friday so that should be good.

Of course, fitting this in with the training is a whole load of fun, as we’ve got early starts two days a week and a late night on one of the other days… in this case tomorrow when we have a C++ assessment. So with that in mind I’m having a rare night in watching some TV.

 

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America

February 10th, 2008

As part of my graduate training with work, I get to spend six weeks in the United States of America working in New York, which is due to start tomorrow – so I’m now sat in my apartment in Jersey City.

Yesterday started with the trip to Heathrow airport for the flight, which all started well but we soon discovered that we couldn’t check in easily as there’d been some mess up with thetickets or something. As a result 2 people got free upgrades from economy to premium economy, and through the use of the names-out-of-a-hat technique I was lucky enough to get this.

The next seven hours were spent sat on the plane, mainly watching films on Virgin’s in flight entertainment system – which is pretty good (with the exception of the slow interface).

Upon landing there was the fun with customs, where we got directed down to the side that’s supposed to be for US citizens only, which didn’t go down too well with the officer there – who said (whilst stamping the passports) “welcome to the United States – try not to have too much fun”. Baggage was then collected and a cab taken to the apartment here.

The place itself is very nice, although the view isn’t too great from the 10th floor where I am as there’s a lot of high rise buildings around here that block the view of the Manhattan skyline.

A few of us then went for a wander, got wet in the rain, and eventually ended up in a bar and grill not far from here. As my first taste of a proper American place it wasn’t too bad, and the prices were pretty similar to those in the UK… only in dollars not pounds… so it was rather cheap.

Today will see some more exploration, as all of the grads are here now and we’ve got all day before the 8am start tomorrow morning.

 

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