Settling in to life in the UK

It hasn't been all that much of an adjustment, but things are a bit different than Ireland and even more so compared with Vancouver.

In the absence of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms the job application process is a bit intrusive. I knew that in many parts of Europe it is required that you attach a photo of yourself (understandable if you are applying to say, the adult entertainment industry, but not if you are working a regular desk job). However, in all the applications for positions in labs or offices over here it has been necessary to state my living situation, any dependents (currently living with me or otherwise), sexual orientation and race. It all seems a bit much.

Monday I went out to a pub quiz with Sarah, Donna (flatmates) and Donna's friend from Uni. Apparently just about every pub has a quiz night at least once a week and they are really popular in the winter. In Ireland the questions would just get in the way of drinking - probably wouldn't go over too well. It was tons of fun though. There were 10 teams in all and it ended up being a fairly full bar for a Monday night. I think I did pretty well on the General Knowledge and Music categories, but dropped the ball when it came to sports (as expected they only had rugby, football/soccer and Brit Olympic questions). In the end we came 5th and stumbled away with a free bottle of wine - not a bad deal at all considering there was no entrance fee.

I am still in the midst of searching for work, but have an interview lined up for tomorrow and have my fingers crossed for a lab position just outside of the city that I applied for yesterday.

It's looking like I will spend Christmas on my own here, but I have heard that Christmas Eve is just about the busiest night of the year in the pubs, so there shouldn't be a shortage of things to do. As for New Years, I have bought a ticket to Hogmanay here in Edinburgh. I have heard that it is the largest New Years party in Europe - it's a 4-day event here! My flatmates were even saying that in the past (in Scotland) Christmas wasn't a holiday, but you got January 1st and 2nd off. England, on the other hand, always has Christmas and Boxing Day like in Canada. Ireland has Dec. 25th and 26th off, but have St. Stephen's Day instead of Boxing Day.

I still haven't ventured out for a meal of haggis with neeps and tatties, but my lunch today consisted of beans on toast with ginger biscuits and a cuppa ... much better than I expected.

Just a quick note before I take off to Dublin for the next couple of days.

I put up a few pics of the new flat HERE
Also, I have a few random pics from my first week in Edinburgh on my Facebook site HERE

The serious job search starts at the end of the week when I get back from Dublin - so far the outlook hasn't been the greatest, but I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
There seems to be decent work around other parts of the UK, but I love Edinburgh and don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

Getting settled

My flight back to the UK went off without incident and I spent a good few days in Glasgow taking in the typical sights. The city was alright, but nothing too special. Apparently it has the best shopping in the UK, outside of London - you can imagine how much this impressed me... It was good to browse around the city centre though.

Check out the pics from Glasgow HERE

Next stop was Edinburgh. I booked my bus ticket ahead of time, as it turns out there is a budget company that works pretty much the same way as RyanAir (but for trains and buses). It's called MegaBus.com and I was able to get from Glasgow to Edinburgh for ₤1.
As soon as I got off the bus I fell in love with the city. There is a huge castle in the centre, with gardens all around it. They have 2 main streets - one in the "Old Town" and one in the "New Town". Everyone is extremely friendly and some of the accents are just unreal; hilarious to listen to. I spent the first few days exploring the city - it is very walkable and I went ALL OVER.
This week I started seriously looking for work and a flat, but have only been half-successful so far. After looking at a half dozen flats (a couple were good, but the others were brutal), I found one that I liked and snatched it up as soon as it was offered to me. It is a little box room in a flat with 3 other people. When I say it is a small box you have to take this quite literally - I don't even have a window in there, which may be against tenant codes... oh well. My rent is only half of the going rate in the area (C$500/month), so it is all worth it. The rest of the flat is really nice and the people I am sharing with seem pretty decent. The others are; 2 women (aged 30 and 32) and a random that I have yet to meet.
I move in this weekend before heading back to Dublin for Tuesday and Wednesday to pick-up the random stuff I had left behind at Susan's.

On the job front.
So far I haven't had too much luck in finding anything related to my degree at all. The positions are all looking for permanent placement and aren't willing to interview me because I don't have a permanent visa. If things continue like this I will pick-up some temp work, but am not all that desperate yet. Browsing the online classifieds I found an opening for some seasonal jobs over the holidays and have an interview next week for that.
Wages here aren't as high as I had expected, but they will do for now.

Hopefully I'll be fully employed and settled in my place by next week. Also, I will have more pics from my 2 days in Dublin - can't wait!