Sue in the USA

Well the DV cut off numbers for October have been published. They had been published a while ago but for some reason I had not been able to access this site. So I am posting this just now. The cut off for October is just a few 1000 or so shy of my number. So I have to wait to see what happens in November. My number is fairly low so my chances of being invited for an interview are quite good. Yet I can't begin to describe how anxious I am. I guess for the next couple of months I'll be living from cut off number to cut off number ;-) I cannot begin to imagine how the people with the higher case numbers must be feeling. In a way we are all in the same boat however. Well good luck to every one and I will keep you posted of course as promised.

I have a new hobby. Reading weblogs from people that have moved to the USA. Either as expats or as permanent residents. It is nice to read about what these people are going through on a daily basis and all the preparations they had to make to get where they are now. Sometimes it apparently is quite frustrating, and at other times all is well. Amd no matter how frustrated people sometimes get, I have not seen many that have said they were coming back to Holland. On the contrary.

And the more I read to more I want to be there. Of course starting all over can get frustrating. No matter how old or young you are, single or accompanied by your family. Everything is new and different from what you are used to and I guess being frustrated every now and then is only natural.

Just fresh out of college starting my life in Holland was no picnic either. And remember I grew up in Holland, so I am used to how things are here. But still there were some pretty frustrating times here too. Not being able to get my own place right away because of the shortage in housing in Holland. I had to wait for two years to finally be able to move into my house (a rental, I could not afford to buy my own house otherwise it would have been faster). Then I had to deal with the electricity company that just kept overbilling me. The city council that billed me a city tax for a family of 4, instead of a single person as the old tenant was still registered to my address and could not be removed as he had not given permission to be removed from my address (he was pretty much MIA and could not be traced). And a couple of other issues that were very very frustrating to deal with as nobody even remotely seemed to be wanting to help me out or assist me. But I survived (sort of LOL).

I guess I pretty much expect starting out in the US will be the same. Very nice, but frustrating at times too. We'll see. Either way I am so ready. But as always I have to be very patient. Not my strong suit, when it comes to things that affect me personally.

But reading the weblogs is very nice. And the number of weblogs keeps growing every day. I have yet to find weblogs of people that have done the opposite. Americans moving from the US to Holland. I know they are out there. I just wonder if they keep logs. It would be fun to read what they are going through.

Why do you like the US so much? That is a question that I am being asked more often than not. I used to answer with a “Why Not?” basically being a little annoyed by being asked that question in the first place. I guess I just tend to get defense when it comes to the US. Us USA-lovers always seem to have to defend why we like the US so much, and that can get tiring sometimes.

So why do I like the US so much? It’s a question that I can’t easily answer. It has more to do with feelings than anything else.

From a very early age I have been (made) aware of the US. My grandparents and dad used to live there in the late 50s and they would tell me about it when I was little. Stories that were always filled with enthusiasm and stories about all the jobs my grandfather had held and my dad swimming in the swimming pool in the yard and how the weather was always nice. And for some reason I knew who President Reagan was before I knew who any of the Dutch leaders in parliament were. Not that a 8-or-9-year-old would know, but would you average 8-or-9-year-old know who the President of another country is? I just felt connected with the US somehow and to this day I can’t explain why. It must have been the stories I guess. It couldn’t really be the television as I wasn’t watching much of it back then. At least nothing much US related when I was younger.

And then when I was 14 my parents took me on my very first vacation to Orlando, Florida. Basically the US was exactly as I had pictured it, people being very friendly not judgmental, and everyone is so service oriented and everything is pretty much possible. I felt at home right away and fell in love with the US right then and there. After my first vacation another vacation followed when I was 16. And again it was just as I had remembered it. Then I went on a student exchange at MSU in Michigan and did my internship in Orlando. Years later this was followed by vacations in California and Arizona. And again I felt right at home.

Of course the US isn’t perfect. What country in the world is? But for me it is perfect enough. Yes the rules and regulations in the US are different from Holland, but that is something that you just have to take into account when going to the US and respect the rules there. And I have definitely experienced some of the not so nice sides of the US during my exchange and internship, and let me tell ya that was no picnic, but I survived. And no matter how tough it sometimes got, and how much I sometimes felt like getting on that plane and just go home, I never did. Overall I still had a lot more positive experiences in the US and that’s what got me through. If I had left prematurely I guess I would have regretted for the rest of my life. It definitely was a blast being part of the American Society for almost a year and a half. And after my internship it was time for me to go back to Holland, graduate college and find a job.

I guess ever since coming back from my internship in Orlando (or maybe even before that), I was never really able to get settled again in Holland. I just felt like I did not fit in anymore. For some reason Holland seemed changed. But I guess it was me that had changed actually. What really did not help was that I was not even able to get my own house when I came back and was forced to move back in with my parents after having lived on my own for 5 years when I was in college in Holland and then the US. It took me almost 2 years of waiting before I finally had my own place again. What also made it worse was that I was not able to get a job in the industry I had studied for (hospitality). It has taken me several jobs in different industries to finally be in hospitality and even now I know that my potential for growth is slim. Why? Well quite simply not enough higher management jobs and too many qualified candidates. Not to say that it will work out in the US but I do have a better shot at things there.

So in short why do I like the US:
*People are very friendly, courteous and respectful (of each other and the arm of the Law)
*Houses are easily available there, no shortages or waiting lists that go on for years and years and years.
*If you work hard, you are rewarded. If you slack, you are not sharing in anything
*More and better career options in hospitality (even though I might not even end up there)
*More space and room to move around, not as crowded as it is here
*Low gas prices…but now I am getting carried away so I’d better leave it at this.

For those of you that have been to this weblog previously...Yes I have deleted some of my posts. In retrospect I felt it was better not to post about my earlier travels and exchanges in the US. All these events have taken place years ago and as I never kept a log back then it was a bit hard to recapture it all. It just did not work out as I had hoped it would. It just did not capture it quite. I have been to the USA recently. Well recently... last year but still for some that might be considered as very recent. In a future post I will tell you all about my previous experiences in the USA but I will keep it brief, it won't be the long travel logs that you see on most weblogs.

Plus another thing to delete my travel log posts was the reason why I started this weblog in the first place. It is aimed towards an event that will hopefully take place not too far away into the future...me moving to the USA on a green card...and I kind of want to keep it that way.

Until my next post...