Current Standings

Ok, so introductions are done for now so i guess i'd better bring you all up to date.

It's 4.25PM on Sunday June 5th and i'm sat in my bedroom in Fallowfield, Manchester. In exactly three weeks from now, i'll be somewhere over the Atlantic heading towards Newark Airport and my first arrival at US borders with my visa. I'm pretty apprehensive about this - i always expect the sorts (does that make me pessimistic, cynical or realistic? Answers on a postcard...) Plus, the fact that i have a connecting flights 2 and a half hours after landing kinda makes me jumpy about missing (i suppose you could just say i worry too much).

So where am i going to? I'm moving to Charleston, situated to the Northeast of the state of South Carolina - geography wise South Carolina (abbreviated as SC over there) is situated above the state of Georgia (which is itself above Florida) and below North Carolina (surprise, surprise). It's a very sprawling city - primarily as the local government has passed a law sayng that no buildings above 10 storeys will be built. This is partly due to the fact that Charleston is a hurricance zone (a couple of the tropical storms last year wandered past it but had largely blown themselves out by then) and also lies on a minor faultline (nothing like the San Andreas fault so don't worry). Also because they don't want to destroy the character of the place - and it has a lot of that. This is very evident in the architecture - very colonial in places. It's hard to describe Charleston so, over time, i plan on posting some photos on here to show what it's like. This will also serve as an introduction to the place for those friends and family who make it over there to see me.

Anyway, things are pretty much sorted paperwork wise right now. Tickets are booked (must remember to print them out), insurance is sorted, accomodation arranged - i've managed to sort out a studio apartment in Downtown Charleston which sounds great (it has a balcony and swing chairs!) and is pretty reasonable (especially when you compare it to apartments over here). This will be the first time i've lived alone - and it will be strange being in a new country. But then i suspect that i'll be working quite hard that there won't be too much time when i'll even have to think about it. At least once the first couple of weeks have flown by.

I'd love to be able to say that i know a lot about the history of Charleston but, alas, i don't. Hopefully, i'll learn more of it as time goes on - but for anyone reading whose particularly interested, go to the following websites.

http://www.celebratecharleston.com/
http://www.hellocharleston.com/

So that's all for now - i'll post more later. But bear in mind that until i get over there, i won't have a lot to talk about just yet.