My First Week Living in the USA

I’ve been here in Connecticut now for a week and a half. I arrived on the 4^th, a Saturday, and we didn’t get up to too much. The following day was the Super Bowl and we decided to stay in and watch it. Prior to the start of the game, we went to Target and spent many hours walking through the aisles and picking out things we needed, including snacks for the game. It surprises me how much time we spend in that place when we shop there. That night, we watched the game and I was happy to watch my first Super Bowl in that States with a big football fan, and Reese was very excited to see the Ravens win since they were his second favourite team.

During the first week, I spent a lot of time unpacking and organizing the apartment. It was a bit odd to wake up on Monday and not have to go into work. It is a really nice change of pace, but I keep panicking because I forget I don’t have to plan or mark for school the next day.

Reese is usually home until 6pm, and while he’s at work I find things around the apartment to do. At midnight I watch his show and then make dinner/snack for when he gets back. My sleeping schedule has completely shifted, it is now the opposite to a teacher’s schedule, which I’m not complaining about.. I do not miss waking up at 5:45am to get ready for work.

When I first arrived, the weather here was warm and there was green grass on the ground. The temperature usually stays above 0 degrees (Celsius.. I haven’t learned Fahrenheit yet). I was surprised to see green grass in February and was also very excited I wouldn’t have to worry about wind chills and -40 degree weather anymore. However, I didn’t get relief from the snow.. this past Friday we received snow and a lot of it! Reese said that CT broke a record for most snowfall in one day. Late Friday night, we went to the entrance of his apartment building to look outside. The walkway to the parking lot was covered in about a foot of snow and was pushed up against the door. Also, the door was slightly open and there was snow drifting into the apartment building. It was shocking to see so much snow! The day before there wasn’t any snow in sight and now it was piling up everywhere. It continued to snow through the night and in the morning there was probably about 2 feet of it.

On Saturday, which was also my birthday, we decided to dig out the car. Since Reese isn’t used to this much snow, we had to find tools around the apartment to help us clear it away. We armed ourselves with whatever we could find, and left the apartment with a spatula and a dustpan in hand and headed outside. Luckily the walkway out of the building had been shoveled already and it wasn’t that cold out. When we got outside, there were many other residents also trying to dig out their vehicles. I’ve never seen so much snow! It completely covered the vehicles in the parking lot, top to bottom. The snow around and on top of Reese’s car was astonishing. The whole front of his car to the back window was buried in snow and we couldn’t get into any of the doors. Around the car, the snow was about 2 feet deep, or more. Shortly after we began digging it out, one of his neighbours from across the parking lot, shouted from her balcony and asked if we would like a shovel. She must have noticed our embarrassing shoveling tools and felt bad for us. Reese went and got the shovel and I thought to myself that that was very kind of the lady. Americans are friendly too! After about an hour and a lot of shoveling, we were able to back the car out of its space. We were relieved and winded, or at least I was, and went back inside.

We weren’t able to go out for my birthday Saturday since there was too much snow, so we decided to go out Sunday instead. We went out for a nice dinner to a nearby restaurant and I was thankful that the waitress said they can’t sing happy birthday songs and make a big commotion, despite Reese’s efforts.  They did give me a carrot cake cupcake though. Back at the apartment, Reese had baked me my favourite kind of cake and it was very delicious. I was mostly impressed that Reese was baking, and I think it made the cake even sweeter.

I had a lovely birthday and I appreciate all the birthday wishes I got from family and friends. There’s still snow on the ground but it’s melting more and more each day. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and Reese has the day off since he will be in New York on Friday for work. It’s time for my late night coffee so I can stay up with Reese when he gets back.

(Oh ya, I refuse to switch to American spelling.. )          

Moving to Connecticut from Canada

February 4th, 2013

My recent flight to Connecticut was the worst flying experience yet. I had been anticipating this flight/move for weeks, full of joy and excitement to be finally moving in with Reese and starting a new life in a new country with my incredible boyfriend. I was startled awake at 3am the night of my flight with a pre-recorded phone call telling me that my flight, which was supposed to leave at 6:30am, was changed to 3pm! I was horrified!

I quickly texted Reese and told him about the switch. He was able to calm me down and I ended up phoning the airline to see if I could get on an earlier flight. Luckily, the airline was surprisingly accommodating and changed my flight to a 6:40am flight with a different airline. All was good.

I got to the airport and made it through security just fine. The plane was leaving on schedule, but as we pulled out of the airport, the pilot announced that there was something wrong with the breaks and that maintenance would have to come examine the issue. Great. Everyone on the plane let out sighs and grumbles and seemed very unimpressed, including me. We sat there waiting not knowing whether we would be taking off shortly or if we would have to get off the plane and board a new one. Again, luck was on my side, the pilot announced that the issue had been resolved and we’d be taking off shortly.

After about an hour, we were in the air and I treated myself to a romantic comedy to pass the time. Arriving in Toronto, many of the passengers were frantic to get off the plane since the delay caused them to be late for their connecting flights. My layover was supposed to be two hours, and even with the delay I wasn’t worried about making my connection since I still had an hour or so to make my flight. I wasn’t worried, that is, until I had to go through the new Toronto baggage system which doesn’t allow you to go through security or customs until your bags have gone through first.

After waiting a half hour or so I was able to pass through customs. No issues there, thank goodness! I had the ‘funny guy’ at customs.. He asked where I was going and why, I told him to visit my boyfriend in Connecticut, he asked how I met him, I told him we met at a comedy club, he was performing.. Then he accused me of being a stalker and told me to have a nice trip. I laughed and gathered my documents and I was on my way. I only had about 5 minutes to get to my flight, and when I arrived they were starting to board the tiny plane.

Taking a plane from Toronto to Connecticut means you take the smallest plane possible. The plane we were on sat 18 people and the pilots also assumed the duty of flight attendants. There was a total of 6 people on the plane which meant you had the option to sit anywhere.. Except me. I was assigned ‘emergency exit duty’ and had to stay where I was.

The flight in general was smooth. Despite this, the lady in front of me obviously didn’t like flying and she was noticeably uncomfortable. I was about to offer her a gravol or even the book I was reading to ease her nervousness but her husband took out the iPad and was able to calm her down with a movie. I tried reading for about an hour but then I began to get incredibly cold and my focus switched from reading to trying to warm up. I looked out the window and was relieved to see the ground and tiny houses, which meant that we would be landing soon.

15 minutes later we began our descent, a very rocky descent! The plane felt like it was swaying quite a bit.. Too much. I was pretty anxious about the landing, but it turned out fine and my anxiety quickly turned into excitement knowing my trip was finally over and I’ve arrived at my much anticipated destination.

Being such a small plane with very few passengers, my luggage made it to baggage pick-up faster than me.. If only I could say the same for Reese! Haha. He did finally pick me up, a bit late but he did pick me up and that’s all that matters. I’ve only been here in CT for a few days, I’ve unpacked and have started to claim space in the apartment. Reese has been very generous and making me feel at home.

My friend Ginelle encouraged me to start blogging as a way to keep in touch and also as a way to pass the time. I’m going to try to update every week or so for all who are interested to hear about what I’m getting up to here in the States.