They're gonna ship me to Massachusetts, 2mos company training, first time in U.S., any advice?

Hi all, Sunday is the plan to ship me to Arlington Massachusetts, U.S. where our company office is located in the U.S. where. I'll be staying at a nearby apartment, company expense.

My work is about writing software code. And I'll be staying there til my training ends on Dec 19.

Aside from a 1-week Singapore vacation, I've never been outside of the Philippines. I hear it's winter there, I've never seen natural snow and hope I don't freeze to death X|

Would appreciate any advice, anything I should know, any good things to buy. Thanks in advance!

Bring layers of warm clothes. Long sleeve shirt under a sweater, under a jacket, under a winter coat. Hat, gloves, boots. Hand lotion and tissue paper. Your first winter will hit you like a hammer to the balls.

Dont trust anyone.

And bring a token present for your trainer for christmas.

I live in New England area of the US. Bring warm clothing, you're probably going to freeze your ass off. Snow is basically a death trap, not trying to scare you, but if you have no idea how to drive in the snow learn fast or make sure you have someone to carpool with.

Since Mass is pretty much shoreline, snow is wet, not very dry or fluffy. It compacts easy and once it frozen into ice it's hard to move. If you lucky though(unless you really want to see it) this year will be more like last year and barely snow until before holidays leaving bulk of the snow fall to January.

Otherwise just enjoy the sites, try to experience the culture as much as you can, I live here so not sure what kind of culture there is to see(pretty everyday shit to me). Cheers.

"

MoonYu wrote:

Also you may want to think about what is commonly called long underwear or Long Johns.

Yep, started wearing undershirts again. Currently wearing 3 layers, (tank top type)Undershirt, thick T-shirt, and a very thin fall/spring sweatshirt/hoodie(w/e you prefer calling it). Then just underwear, socks and Pajama pants(I wear jeans over these when I leave the house). Pretty much just be sure to keep your chest insulated, it will help keep the rest of you warm.

If you go up even a little further north, we are -3 windchill for a few days now :( I am wearing my winter jacket, with a scarf and longjohns.... fun times (Nova Scotia, Canada BUT whatever MA, USA gets, we get a day or 2 later in weather terms)

PS. Snow is beautiful at least! Enjoy its fluffyness and make sure you do at least 1 snow angel on your visit there :)

Don't mention that you are muslim if you are one unless you want to be "Randomly selected for a security search"

The USA is really paranoid in that matter.

Ok so there has been a change of plans. And so on Saturday is my flight. Delta Airlines.
On Sun, 14FEB will be my trip back. So that's 5 weeks.

I think I got my winter clothing ready (I hope it's enough so I don't become a white walker). But my shoes are probably not appropriate:



I've heard that you'll need a leather boots. I suspect that's very expensive here in PH unless it's used. Is it better for me to buy one in the states?

Dunno how to drive. So I'll be commuting. I've been told that there are Android apps that will show me bus schedules etc. which will help me commute.

I use ancient cellphone technology, so I'll be finally buying an Android. At the very least I'll need to buy a new phone bec the company will give a micro sim card that is not compatible with my current phone:



My colleague told me to try Best Buy for the phone. Don't anything fancy, as phones get cheaper everyday, I don't wanna spend too much on it. Hopefully I can get an android with keypads as I'm not a fan of touch screens on phones.

I plan on buying the following for this opportunity:

1. A couple of SSD - will use this as storage for pics/videos as well as backup.
2. A digicam - most probably a canon.
3. An mp3 player and a nice closed headphones like that staple Sony model.
4. A stock of elixir strings and a tuner. I assume it's gonna be cheaper there.
5. Toys for my two kids. Anything special? Like that flying inflatable fish called Air Swimmer.
6. Make-up for my wife. Maybe maybeline.
7. Victoria Secret bombshell perfume for my wife.
8. Wonder what else?

Appreciate any advice. Thanks!

well, considering the US is a crime hellhole, dont get shot?

Hi,

some real boots would be good, some socks made of wool, padded gloves, a long, broad, thick scarf ( buy one there ! ) and some hot black tea with sugar and cream, when you come home, at least that´s what I like (if not some brown rum with hot water - be careful).

Greetings from the north of Germany, we have some snow outside.


Good luck :-)