A toxicologist's tale: Hello from Liverpool!

What a whirlwind week it's been! Finally got my passport with my UK work visa last Wednesday, finished packing and helping Austin clean out our apartment in Gainesville, and then on Saturday flew out of Tampa for Manchester. The flight wasn't the most fun-I usually sleep pretty well when heading east on long-haul flights, but apparently American Airlines hasn't updated their fleet since before I was born, so the seats were hugely uncomfortable :P Thankfully I still managed to go through the border, get my bags, find the train to Liverpool, and got a cab to my hotel all in good time and without any problems.

On Sunday I did some exploring of the city. I was here for just two days in August last year so it was nice to have some time to walk around and figure out where things were. I also got a new SIM card for my phone, so I have a new UK number and data plan (which made finding my way around town much easier!). I also did some preliminary looking at areas where I knew there were some available flats-some places looked nice, and others had one too many night clubs rather close by ...

On Monday I managed not only to find an amazing flat for Austin and I but also filed the applications and reserved it :) Of course I forgot to take pictures, but once we have it all set up I'll be sure to post them. It's a gorgeous 1 bedroom, in a building that's only about 6 years old, with a balcony that looks out onto the courtyard, and a small yet spacious feeling 617 square feet in size. The leasing agency is doing our employment checks this week, and if all goes well we should be able to move in by the end of next week or early the week after.

I've also been doing other moving errands this week, made slightly more tricky by having come from abroad but so far everything has gone alright. Put in an application for a basic bank account yesterday, will apply for my national insurance number (what you need in order to pay for taxes) next week, turned in paperwork to HR and showed them my work permit yesterday, and will do the other fun new job things (online training, setting up email, getting an ID card) in the next few days also.

I've also been able to meet my new lab mates, some of which I met already in August. We had happy hour on Monday, I had a meeting with my new boss yesterday, and today there is a lab dinner with a visiting professor. I really like the group and think this will be a good environment for my new post-doc!

Other anecdotes:
-Being asked "You all right, love?" is at a level of charm as being called "darlin" in the south :)
-Jaywalking is not something I'd recommend, especially when still confused about which way cars are coming from!
-I realized that even living for almost 5 years in Florida, this is the closest to the sea that I've lived. I've also never lived inside of a big city before, or in a place that has a lot of tourists.
-The beers are amazing, second place only to Polish ones.
-Prawn cocktail crisps need to be a thing everywhere. They are amazing!
-So far the prices I've seen here are really reasonable, for flats, food, and everything else we could need
-I've been walking nearly everywhere because I refuse to take the bus until I can get the mobile ticket app to work on my phone!
-Caffe Nero has the best cafe americanos. Thus, a punch card was obtained.

Austin arrives next week to do lots of the same things that I've had to do (apart from finding a flat) but now that we'll have an address soon it should make things easier for him :) More to come soon once we get our flat set up, but for now here are some photos of the city. It's been gorgeous weather here this week!