My first day at work

Day one.
As an aside, my first day of work was May 18th, exactly one month after I flew out. (Also, 1 and 8 are some of my favourite numbers. OCD much?)

I couldn't focus on anything my new manager was telling me, after I noticed these filing cabinet labels in my office.
Welcome to your new hospital!

How to make friends 101

Coming to a new town purely to work, not knowing anyone else, has been a learning experience. How do you make new friends with the people you live with in shared accommodation in an unfamiliar city? Start by learning their names.

Workmate

I have spent 5 days trying to figure out the girl I work with. We are similar ages. We both come from Australia. We are both locuming in an unfamiliar place, in a foreign country, having to work side by side sharing the workload.

How to work out your address (but not how to make friends)

The UK postcode system is truly amazing. Its a complicated arrangement of numbers and letters, such that when you tell someone what it is (like the pizza delivery man or the bank teller), they type it into their little computer, and it can work out exactly what street and suburb you live in. The only other information they need is your house number. Pretty nifty.

This is fantastic in theory. But moving to hospital accommodation, without a tenancy agreement or any sort of documentation, means I had no idea of my address.

How to dine alone

My top tips for the dreaded lone restaurant visit.

How to go to the theatre alone

This one's a bit trickier than dining alone. But it can be done!

Are you alright?

The first WISW (while it's still weird) thing I noticed since arriving in the UK is how people greet each other. Even now, 6 weeks later (as I blog in retrospect), it still takes me off guard everytime someone greets me. Unfortunately the way this happens cannot be communicated accurately enough via a blog posting, so I'll give you a scenario to increase the impact of the weirdness.