Weekend in Numbers

Okay, actually, this is more like a Week in Numbers post... or possibly a Month in Numbers post... or possibly... well, you'll see!



10: number of times I promised myself that one day I will work (in costume, hopefully) at Colonial Williamsburg while watching The Duchess on TV on Saturday night.

9: number of weeks until the end of the financial year at work.  As I work in fundraising, I feel absolutely no pressure on this front.  None whatsoever.  (Insert nervous giggle here.)

8: number of times I told Jon that we should have our free photoshoot in the gardens at Hampton Court Palace if we win Reverie's competition.

7: number of times Jon ignored me when I told him that we should have our free photoshoot in the gardens at Hampton Court Palace if we win Reverie's competition.

6: number of weeks since I last worked an eight hour day for five consecutive days.

5: number of weeks I have been successfully doing the NHS Couch to 5k program

4: number of fabulous American expats I met up with last week.  It was lovely to meet Karen over lunch in Westminster on Thursday and I had dinner with AT, Ashley, and MVC on Friday in Chelsea - so much fun!  (Yes, I cropped myself from this photo.  Too much sushi!)

3: number of Cream Cheese Braids I scarfed at/after breakfast on Sunday.  On the plus side, I didn't add the sugar glaze.  On the minus side, they were huge; this is 2/3 of one.

2: number of weeks until Jon and I go to Bar Boulud for Valentine's day!  We're going on Feburary 17th, not the 14th - that's just how we roll.

1: number of days until February.  How did that happen?  And why have I seen a daffodil blooming already?  Basically, what is this world coming to?

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, dear readers, wherever you are!

Monday Musings

Okay, we're going back to a Monday Laugh for today - sorry to be a flake, but this is too funny not to share; plus, it seems sort of relevant because I just wrote a little piece for the Texpat on The Experience Collection about the language barriers we encounter as expats. The sketch is long, but you should watch the whole clip; especially pay attention to 4:04-9:12 for the lengths one will go to slip comfortable sentences into foreign conversations.  (I still sometimes answer the phone by saying "Âllo, âllo, ici Jacques!")

You don't need to speak French to understand this, though it might help...

Featuring Something Charming

For the past 18 months, I've been strict with myself regarding the internet holes I fall down Alice-style and have really made an effort to only focus on the niche of expat blogs.  The web is endless - though when you're sleepless at 3am I know it can seem like there's nothing new to find - and I think I had to set myself blog boundaries to avoid going insane at the start.

Boy, am I glad that I eventually followed the rabbit into the larger blogosphere!

In early December, soon after I started enjoying lifestyle blogs written by impressive and insightful women all across the world, I discovered Something Charming.  I was blown away by blogger Joelle's aesthetic and style; not only does she have the most welcoming way of writing but she has also created a beautiful site where she shares the realities as well as the pretty pieces of life.  Especially striking, I found, was how Joelle is so honest about the ups and downs of blogging.  She enunciates so much of the joy and doubt I feel because of Betsy Transatlantically and, I expect, you feel because of your blogs.  Dear readers, I wrote to her, and (among other things) I said:

I relate to a lot of what you write, and your meta posts on blogging really speak to me.  I love sharing my thoughts and experiences with my readers and I love each of my 64 followers and I don't want to change the essence of what my blog is because, truly, it is what I am.  But I was wondering if you had any insights on how to maximize blogging - to reach as many people as possible and take each post to the next level and, basically, be the best blogger possible.
AND THEN I thought: hey, if I'm wondering all of this, my readers-who-blog probably also are wondering the same!  I'd be really grateful if you had any advice... and also I'd be really extra super grateful if you'd be comfortable stopping over to do a guest post about it on Betsy Transatlantically.

Ever gracious, Joelle said yes!  I emailed her a few questions about blogging that have been swirling around my mind, and her replies are here below.

What inspires you to blog?

Blogging is my creative outlet, and it allows me to escape the humdrum of my every day life {for now}. I'm starting my own business, so it also gives me a platform to express myself and my work, and to promote my event planning. I'm inspired to work harder, knowing that this isn't just for fun anymore. I blog for myself, of course, but I want to be inspiring to my readers, and to introduce them to pretty things. I also see so many amazing blogs out there, and while I don't want to compare myself to them, knowing what the possibilities of blogging are encourages me to be myself on my blog and to explore what I want with my life and my blog.

How do you conquer your blogging fears and frustrations?

I actually have a really difficult time to with this, and unfortunately I find myself looking for validation through my readers. I have a problem asking for feedback, when I really should just focus on what I want to write and post, because it is my blog after all. I get scared that people won't want to read what I have to say, which isn't true because people do keep coming back. And I get frustrated when my blog isn't as "big" as I want it to be. These are all very valid and very common, and I continuously find myself struggling with the balance between blogging for other people and blogging for myself. I've improved a lot with this since I started blogging over a year ago, but I still have quite a ways to go.  

Does a blog need a niche in order to be successful?

This is something else that I've struggled with, because I don't know that I necessarily have a "niche." I post about fashion and weddings and my life and design and inspiration, and a thousand other things. But I've asked my readers about this, and they actually say that having a niche isn't always a good thing. I guess people like variety, but I can't say that I wouldn't be more popular if I did have a niche. I just don't want to box myself in just yet.

How can a blogger at any stage maximize her blogging potential and take each post to the next level?
This might sound a little strange, but I think it's really important for all bloggers to have a blog mission statement. Just write down why you blog, and your personal standards for your posts. For me, I blog to develop my business, my style, and my writing. I also blog to reach my personal and professional goals and to inspire others. If the topic of a post doesn't reach these standards, I don't post it.
I also think that it's important to really evaluate who you are as a blogger and a person, and to not compromise that. Bloggers like sincerity and integrity, and it's pretty obvious if a blogger isn't either of these things. Don't post something just because everyone else is doing it, but post because it adheres to the mission of your blog and represents you as a person.


What advice would you give to a new or refocusing blogger who wants to connect more with her readers and find a blogging community? 
The number one thing that I think a lot of new bloggers don't realize, is that blogging itself isn't a one way thing. Having a conversation with your readers is really easy by responding to comments, or being active on Twitter or Facebook. I've found that Twitter is the most popular way for bloggers to connect with other people, and it really works.
Also, reach out to other bloggers by visiting their blogs and commenting, following, etc. But don't just do it to get more followers. Learn from them, see what they are doing right and wrong, and go from there. There are so many bloggers out there, and each and every one of them has something to teach the rest of us. And chances are, if you reach out to someone, they will be happy to follow back or connect with you in some other way.


Have you been surprised by anything you've discovered during your blogging journey? 
There is a lot that I've learned in this last year and a half. Mainly, I never knew what a community blogging is. There are so many amazing people out there, who truly want to be your friend and want to see you succeed. I've met a lot of great bloggers, who I can now say are my real life friends. These are people that I never would have found otherwise, and I am so happy I did.


Thanks so much, Joelle!  You've given me - and many of us, I'm sure - a lot to think about.  Hopefully we'll see you back here again in the future!  And best of luck with your new business and all the other adventures.

Stew's On

I'm not a soup person.  I mean, I'll usually get soup as a starter if I'm going out for a multi-course meal at a fancy restaurant, but I don't often make it from scratch at home for myself because I epically fail at eating liquid leftovers and it's almost impossible to make just a serving or two of soup without simply opening a can.

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However, I get very gastronomically traditional during the winter - I feel an undeniable yearning to cradle a steaming bowl of something yummy in my hands as soon as the leaves start falling.  Because I like to make a bit of a creative effort at dinnertime, especially if Jon's coming over, I generally refuse to heat up something pre-made; I've therefore been searching for some yummy recipes that I might not mind eating for lunch the next day.  Usually, I've found, I gravitate to stew.  This isn't a terribly new discovery - see 7 September 2010 and 19 September 2010 and 25 November 2010, for example - but I'm really trying to branch out from the normal basic meat-based routine.

Luckily, a few weeks ago I found this Braised Coconut Spinach and Chickpea dish on TheKitchn.  It's absolutely amazing and possibly even better reheated the next day!  When I had it on the Monday, I served it as it over couscous, but on Tuesday I added some diced chicken and ate it with jasmine rice.  The stew is delicious both ways, and is actually hearty enough that you could enjoy it on its own and skip the grains entirely if you wanted.

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Now, you have to understand that my approach to Indian food is similar to that of soup: I rarely make it myself at home.  I love eating it at restaurants, but I generally don't think it's worth the bother.  (I love the way Marie described cooking Indian for the first time - hilarious.) Indian food requires so many ingredients that you'd never use for anything else and the odours dominate your kitchen for weeks and it's just a pain in the you-know-what to make, right?  Wrong, apparently.

The recipe was so simple; the only thing I didn't have already was coconut milk, which I now no longer find scary.  Also, it was surprisingly quick!  You have to man the stove for most of the time, but the whole thing took 30 minutes, tops.  And even though it smelled delicious, my extractor fan worked its magic when I hollered at it.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for new stews?  I'm totally open to recommendations!  And tell me - what are you cooking this weekend?

Frock Fridays - Friday's Fancies

I recently found about Long Distance Loving's Friday's Fancies series from the lovely Joelle, and I thought it would be fun to join up this week!  I usually like doing my own thing for Frock Fridays, but it's nice to have some structure sometimes, isn't it?  Besides, I hope that you'll discover some great new blogs through the link-up; make sure to check it out.

The theme for this week is winter wonderland... here goes!  (And yes, I realize that there is no frock to be found on this post.  It's fine.  Go with it.)

My idea of a winter wonderland on this green and pleasant island is a weekend in Suffolk: walks on the heath with the family, pints at the pub with friends, and evenings by the fire with the cats.  It hasn't snowed yet in London or by the coast, but it is cold and has rained and frosted quite a bit - such is winter in the south-east of England.  Wellies, therefore, are necessary, and these Hunter Vintage Union Jack boots are adorable.  You've got to keep your toes warm, so chunky socks are also a must, and these Isabel Marant jeans are the best skinny-but-not-skintight pair for tucking into your boots.  I love the asymmetric zipper of this Paul & Joe Sister knit cardigan, which would be perfect over a basic white tank.  The high fashion (well, in my world!) piece of this ensemble is the J Crew cape - classic!

(And yes, I am now even more obsessed with Polyvore having learned the extent of what it can do!)

Shh! A Jewellery Secret

(By the way, is that how we spell "jewellery" in America?  I'm on a British computer with British spell-check and it looks funny to me.  But that could be because I'm writing this at 3am; it turns out that you'll find it hard to fall back asleep if you go to bed at an obscenely early hour and then get woken up in the middle of the night!  Who knew?  Anyway.)

There's a secret in the world of jewellery.  I've known it for years, but that's because I've had a woman on the inside.  (Hi, Mom!)  The secret is this: there are places that you've never think to look for jewellery - but they've got some great finds at fantastic prices.  What are these places, you ask?  I'll tell you:

MUSEUMS

Seriously.  Art galleries have the most amazing pieces.  The jewellery in museum shops is beautifully designed, usually because it's based on actual works in the museum's collection or on renderings of jewellery that appear in other art media like paintings.  For this reason, they're also often historically informed, which is excellent considering the current vogue for vintage.  And, for the most part, they're not horribly expensive because - shh! - shopping for jewellery is still somewhat of a secret.

See for yourself:

Okay, now you know the secret.  Use it wisely, and tell only people you can trust!

Burns Night

Burns Night celebrates the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns, as well as Scottish traditions that are usually best left in Scotland.

Don't believe me?  Check out the BBC's guide to Burns Night, which includes this menu:

• Starter: Traditional cock-a-leekie soup

  Main course: Haggis, neeps & tatties

  Sweet: Clootie Dumpling or Typsy Laird

It sounds like a meal out of Lewis Carroll or The Lord of the Rings, doesn't it?  I'm going to let you Google these foods on your own; I don't want to know more than I already do.

But really, Burns Night is supposed to be a lot of fun.  I don't know how seriously it's taken in Scotland, but here in England everyone - of Scottish heritage of not - joins in for a laugh.  At a traditional  Burns Night gathering, you'll find piping, singing, dancing, and reciting, as well as eating the above delicacies.  (Jon's parents have been participating in weekly dancing classes with their friends since late autumn to prepare for their annual Burns Night ball.)  Of course, there's also a lot of whiskey-drinking!

I'll be meeting some friends at the pub tonight for a wee dram, as they say, and will be wearing my supercute tartan dress from Anthro (circa winter 2009, I think):

Aren't I in the spirit of things?  If you're looking for some ideas for your Burns Night, have a peek at TimeOut, which lists some good options.  Let me know if you get caught up in the swing of the evening!

DA VINCI at the National Gallery

As I have the week off from work but am staying in London for the duration, I've got lots of errands and lunches and touristy activities planned:

Tuesday - housebound; have agreed to babysit mid-day and so will be doing a massive clean of the flat around that
Wednesday - culture with Alex; a trip to the V&A and/or a matinée (perhaps of Noises Off at the Old Vic)
Thursday - lunch with Karen, evensong at Westminster, dinner with Rose, and errands in between
Friday - outing to Hampton Court Palace and dinner with the girls

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On Monday, I spent the day at the National Gallery.  Not in the National Gallery, mind you, but around it.  See, I was dying to visit their Leonardo da Vinci show, but all advance tickets were sold out and I was advised to arrive very early if I wanted to snag a same-day timed-entry ticket.  I live-tweeted my adventure, but the short version is this:

6:00am - alarm went off
6:30am - left the house
7:10am - arrived at the National Gallery and got in line
12:20pm - bought my ticket
3:30pm - entered the exhibition
4:45pm - left the exhibition

That's five hours, dear readers.  Five [expletive] hours of standing in line, 4h40m of which was outside in the [expletive] cold.  (For the record, the girls at the front of the line had arrived at 1am though the people directly behind them showed up at 5am; the people at the back of the queue didn't get there until 9:30am and I think they were advised that they might still be able to secure tickets.)  But I was victorious and, after a lunch break in Covent Garden with a lovely American girl who was studying in London for the month and found me through this blog, I headed into the exhibit.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) trained in Florence, but his most prolific period was during his tenure in Milan, 1482-1499.  This show followed his artistic and philosophical development while court painter to Ludovico Sforza, the ruler of the city, during which time his "ideas on the status and purpose of art... were transformed."  According to the leaflet, "Leonardo emerged as a painter-philosopher, convinced his art could not just mirror nature but reveal a higher reality of divine harmony and beauty."

The National Gallery show gathers together for the first time every painting started by da Vinci during this period - except for The Last Supper, which remains in place - plus as many of his sketches and drawings as well as works by his students and followers.  My favorite piece was a sketch called Bust of a Woman.  I can't find the exact image online, but it's similar to this work, held in the Royal Collection:

It's a massive exhibition, beautifully crafted and thoughtfully put together, and well worth all of the hype artistically.  However, I've got to be honest: I don't think the show was worth five hours of standing in line in the cold plus a £16 admission fee.  As breathtaking as the works are, my experience was nearly ruined by the crowds.  The exhibit was packed, which was to be expected, but I was surprised at how selfish the other viewers were.  Most were listening to the audio guide, which rendered them completely unaware of their surroundings and of their fellow ticket-holders, but even those without headphones seemed to feel no shame at planting themselves front and center and not moving to accommodate anyone else.  It was an unpleasant scrum, and I am truly glad that I had the opportunity to see so many incredible works of art by such a master in one place but I wouldn't recommend that you put yourself through the same.

Monday Musings

In preparation for my series of posts on expatriation, I spent some time researching immigration law globally.  There are some interesting policies out there, but even more fascinating is what the consequences - both intended and unexpected - of those policies have been or are turning out to be.

Alabama has been in the news recently because of its new law clamping down on undocumented immigrants.  (Find the full text here; the previous link takes you to Wikipedia, which I personally find slightly easier to understand.)  Although HB 56 was upheld in court this past autumn, it has been overwhelmingly rejected by the public even in Alabama.  According to the Center for American Progress, Alabama has 120,000 undocumented immigrants (equalling 2.5% of the state's population) who paid $130 million in taxes in 2010; in addition, Alabama's economy would shrink by approximately $40 million if 10,000 undocumented immigrants stopped working and the state could spend close to $2 million (if not more) to defend the law.

Because of the miracle that is the internet, a fantastic photo popped up on my friend Bethie's Facebook page just as I was discovering all of this Alabama nonsense.  How funny is this?

But then also not funny, when you stop to think about it.

Breakfast of Champions

You've read about how I'm trying to be healthy, but let's all agree that everyone has responsible days days and, well, not-so-responsible days.  Right?  Yes.  Therefore, I present my two favorite breakfasts; one for the good mornings and one for the bad.  (In this case, though, "bad" is oh-so-good.)

We can start with the healthy option just to feel better about ourselves: I found this recipe for Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries and Bananas though The Kitchn, so it doesn't matter that it's from a website called SkinnyTaste.  I'll post the correct version of the recipe here, though I made it with oat bran instead of actual oats and it came out much more cake-y than intended but I loved it anyway.

Healthy, but also really yummy - the blueberries provide a bit of a kick while the honey keeps things sweet.

The other breakfast option - which is the fun one, in my book - was inspired by my brunch the other day at The Botanist in Chelsea.  It's basically a crèpe complet: a pancake topped with egg, bacon, and cheese.  Luckily, pancakes in England are much more like French crèpes than American pancakes, so they're easy to make from a mix if you're in the UK.  (Apologies for the mediocre photography - I need to take a class on food styling or something.)

CRÈPE COMPLET

1. cook bacon until most of the way to desired crispiness

2. make the pancake batter (sample recipe here) and butter a small enough frying pan that you make one pancake per batch

3. after flipping the first pancake, crack an egg in the center of the pancake

4. let cook for 2 minutes and then lay two strips of bacon down the center of the egg/pancake and sprinkle with grated emmental

5. when the egg looks almost done, fold over the sides of the pancake to enclose the egg and bacon, and transfer to another greased frying pan on low heat to be kept warm

6. repeat until you have as many pancakes as you can possibly eat and enjoy!

Do you have any breakfast favorites that you could share?  After all, it's the most important meal of the day, you know!

I Want Candy

When I was in college, my sister made me a workout mix to inspire me to greater aerobic heights.  The first song on the CD was Aaron Carter's "I Want Candy."  When I hear it - no matter where I am or what I'm doing - my heartrate shoots up and my legs get antsy.  It's crazy.  Also crazy: how this song is totally inappropriate for a tweenager.  I mean, look:

Ew.  Anyway.  Moving on.

I wanted to share some very exciting news with you, dear readers: I've started doing Couch to 5k through the NHS.  Yes, I told you with great fanfare that I was joining a rugby team and then that didn't go anywhere, but this is for real.  I'm on week four of nine, and I feel great when I'm not dying.  This is a huge deal for me - I have never been good at exercise and I have certainly never been a runner, so sticking with the program even this far is a big step.

See, in 2002, I lost 50 pounds; unfortunately, I got down to an unhealthy weight and I didn't manage to do it in an entirely responsible way.  I was able to right myself and maintain a healthy weight (with some slight oscillations) for the next six years, but I started packing on the pounds when I moved to London in September 2008.  I have since regained everything I had lost and then some.  Obviously, I'm not happy about this.

My goal is to get back down to a healthy weight, the weight that my body likes and needs to be in order to function to its fullest potential.  The tricky thing is that I've been terrified that dieting will bring me back to the irresponsible mindset that I had in high school, and so I've been afraid to start eating responsibly and exercising appropriately in case I tip over into an unhealthy mental and physical place.

However, I somehow managed to extract myself from this catch-22 by focusing on overall health rather than weight loss.  (Confession: a stern talking-to from my cardiologist grandfather and a lovingly concerned letter from my Jewish mother helped get the ball rolling.)  Since the new year, I've concentrated on eating more healthily and in smaller portions; I haven't denied myself anything except alcohol, though I have imbibed a bit for special occasions.  Also, I started Couch 2 5k on 26 December and have registered for a 5k race in mid-March as motivation to finish the program on time.  And, in total, I have lost 4.5 pounds since 2 January.

WOOHOO!

Okay.  Sorry.  Just had to get that out of my system.

I promise that this won't turn into a healthy living blog - I hate the word "thinspiration" and I'm automatically turned off by any recipe or food that is called "skinny whatever" and I'm terrible at deprivation of any kind - but I will be sharing my journey with you periodically.  I know that some of you are going through something similar, so I hope you don't mind coming along for the ride with me.  Ideally, we will be able to support each other on this path.

Onwards and upwards!

Frock Fridays

Boy, there was a lot of beige at the Golden Globes last weekend!  While perusing the pap snaps, my eye was drawn to some interesting pops of color on the red carpet - thank you, Paula Patton, for bringing the fun - but, mostly, I saw beige with a sprinkling of black and other somber hues.

There's nothing wrong with beige per say but, like with any other color, there's a bad way and a good way to wear it...

The bad way: Amanda Peet looks like she's wearing a vintage tablecloth.  Or possibly she found a dust ruffle that, when she took it off her bed, managed to multiply like some sort of prehistoric single-celled organism that eventually will become a turtle.  I don't know what she's doing here, but I don't like it.

The good way: Piper Perabo's Theyskens Theory frock complements her skin tone well.  It adheres to a classic princess shape with its full skirt and round neckline, but flirts with a bit of sexy by including a sheer panel down the center of the bodice.  She looks like she's comfortable and having a good time, which is always a bonus during awards season!

What were your fashion hits and misses of the Golden Globes?

Moving to the UK: Applying to Jobs in the UK

Originally, this last post in the Moving to the UK for Work series was supposed to be about workplace culture, but we're actually going to do something a bit different: today I want to share a couple of pointers that will, hopefully, help you successfully apply for jobs in the UK.  Believe it or not, the process is a bit different than what I was used to in the US.

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So you found a job that you want to apply for - congratulations, that's a big step!  The first and most important thing you need to do is to update your CV (also known as your resume).  Be confident that your current or most recent position is included, and be sure to add any new skills you might have learned since you last applied for a job.

British CVs are styled slightly differently from American resumes; the most notable difference is that British CVs include a narrative that I think most American career advisors would suggest be saved for a cover letter.  To be honest, though, I never received any negative feedback after submitting my American resume to an English organization, so I think you'll be okay regardless.  If you want some guidance on how they do it in the UK, though, read this BBC article and this DWP write-up.

Another thing to be aware of is this: the timeframe for filling an open position is much faster in the UK than what I was used to in the States.  I have found that jobs are advertised for the same length of time, but things move very quickly once the deadline has passed.  For instance, I once applied for a job in London and where the due date for materials was a Friday; I was called to interview on the following Monday morning, the second round interview was on the same Wednesday, and I was offered the position on the Monday after that.  I have never heard of this speed in America!  Keep this in mind when applying for jobs in the UK in case scheduling might be an issue - and, if you're not in the area yourself, remember that you might have to travel if you get shortlisted.  I found that most companies didn't mind our first interview being over the phone, but they did say that they would want to meet me in person before hiring me.

My last piece of advice when applying for jobs - in the UK or otherwise - is that you should dream big. If you're not enthused about your career path so far, think about moving in a different direction; if you have the time to volunteer, explore other options; if you want to move up the ladder, research the best ways to make yourself as marketable as possible.  And, if you are currently unemployed, take advantage of the time you have to really be thorough and to think about what's best for you.

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Good luck!

And also - I'd love to hear what you've noticed about differences in workplace culture between the US and the UK.  Email me with your observations at betsytransatlantically[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll put all of our thoughts together for a post next week.  Thanks!

Moving to the UK: How to Look for Work in the UK

Phew - what a corker of a post that was yesterday!  I hope I answered all (or at least some) of your questions about the visa options available to you if you want to move to the UK to work.  Also, many thanks to the amazing commenters who have joined the discussion!  Please do keep adding your advice and experiences.

Boris Johnson doesn't know how he got his job.  He won't be any help.

So you've decided that you want to move to London - or you're already here - and you want to find a job.  Where do you start looking?

If you are currently (or were recently) a student in the UK, your first port of call should be your university's career services department.  The UCL careers service, for instance, provides advice and guidance for your job search as well as a list of vacant positions that range from social media to finance.

If you're a bit more established in your field, I'd suggest you start off by contacting a recruiting firm.  A recruiter can be especially helpful if you don't have a visa and hope to be sponsored by a new employer because s/he can point you in the direction of companies that are willing to go that extra mile.  If you already have a work permit but do not have work experience in the UK, a recruiter will be able to tell you about trends in your industry in the UK (which may differ from what you're used to in your homeland) as well as match you with relevant vacancies.  A quick Google search will lead you to the names of tons of recruiting firms; you can narrow down your options by speciality or interest.

If you are legally allowed to work and have been (or are) employed in the UK, your best best for finding a new job - especially if you want your employer to sponsor you - is through a personal or professional association.  Talk to all of your colleagues in your field, attend collegial lunches and cocktails and coffees, and network your socks off.  If you can get a recommendation from someone you know who is connected with the company you're applying to, the organization will probably be more willing to take the risk of sponsoring you.

Speaking of networking, you should definitely sign up to LinkedIn.  If you don't know about this website, let me tell you: it's social networking for professionals.  Make sure your profile is completely filled out (this can help if you don't know where to start) and describe yourself and your professional experience the way your grandmother would which means that you should, in short, brag.  The key here is to make as many connections as you can as long as they are relevant to your career; don't connect to your college roommate who lent you her fake ID in freshman year but do connect to the former colleague who worked on that one project with you in 2008.  Prospective employers check LinkedIn and will judge you on both the quality of your profile and your connections, so make sure that everything you communicate is appropriate for a potential boss to see.

Also, as in the States, newspapers, both online and in hard copy, always have an extensive list of open positions that you can focus with almost any parameter. Guardian Jobs, my favorite site, allows you to search by industry, function, level, location, salary, contract, and hours.  To give you an idea of what you might find, let's imagine I'm on the hunt.  I will look for a job in the arts, in the greater London area, with a minimum salary of £25k and on a full-time and permanent contract - and it gives me 66 possibilities, eight of which might be worth a closer glance.

Finally, have a look at websites that focus specifically on your interests.  Again, go to Google, and enter "UK jobs _____."  For instance, the top three links for "UK jobs arts" are artsjobs.org.uk, artshub.co.uk, and the Guardian, all of which I know from experience to be reliable sources for vacancies.  (Martha, the best place for teaching jobs is TES - go to town!)

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The only other thing I would say about looking for work in the UK is this: slow and steady wins the race.  Job-hunting can be a full-time job in and of itself, and when you add moving to a new country and tackling visa issues to the pressures of finding gainful employment, it pays to be thorough and methodical.  Because there's so much involved in looking for a new job in a new country, you'll waste less time in the long run if you carefully research all of your options.

Now go forth - and good luck!

Moving to the UK: Overview of Visa Options

Good morning, dear readers!  Are you ready for part one of this series on moving to the UK?  Also, have you read the backstories about why and how I first expatriated?  You should definitely check them out - and learn from my mistakes!

Just to recap and for those of you who are new to this blog, here's my history with moving to/from London in the past four years:

September 2008: moved to London as a post-graduate on a Tier 4 student visa (which expired in December 2009)

August 2009: returned to Washington, DC to accept a job offer

June 2010: moved to London without a job on a Tier 1 Post-Study Work visa (which expires in June 2012)

When I applied to UCL, I wasn't intending on using my course as a way to eventually get a work visa; it wasn't until early 2009 that I knew I wanted to stay in London long-term.  However, if you want to move to the UK and, for whatever reason, a further degree would help you down the road, I believe that enrolling in an accredited program and receiving a Tier 4 visa is a primary gateway into the world of living and, possibly, eventually working in the UK.  You can legally be employed in the UK while on a Tier 4 visa but are limited to 20 hours of work per week.

Frustrations aside, applying for my Tier 1 visa in spring 2010 was not difficult; see this post for more information.  It used to be possible to extend the Tier 1 visa, which is non-sponsored, but unfortunately this option was taken off the table recently.  Also, get cracking if this is something that you might want to pursue, because the Tier 1 Post-Study Work route will be closed to new applicants as of April 2012.

So what to do if you can't apply - or have already applied - for a Tier 4 or a Tier 1 visa?  Your best bet is to try for a Tier 2 visa, which is also known as a sponsored work permit.  If you decide to go for a Tier 2 visa, you'll be choosing between one of two options unless you're a sportsperson or a minister of religion, in which case you probably don't need my help.  The easiest way to be granted a Tier 2 visa is through an intra-company transfer; what this means is that your current job wants to move you to their UK office.  To be honest, I don't know too much about this route, but I think you're probably guaranteed a visa if your employer has enough muscle to have a global presence and you're important enough to be transferred.

The second and slightly trickier Tier 2 option is applying for general sponsorship; what this means is that you've been offered a job by an organization in the UK and they're willing to declare that no one in the EU can do the job better than you can.  It is relatively simple to switch into a Tier 2 visa from a Tier 1 visa as long as you're remaining in the same role at the same company throughout the process because the sponsoring organization has to jump through fewer hoops to sponsor you if you were originally hired by them on a Tier 1 visa.  However, it is difficult to be hired blind by an organization who is willing to sponsor you on a Tier 2 visa.  From what I've heard from recruiters as well as from people who have been lucky enough to be successful in this endeavor, you have a better chance of going straight on to a Tier 2 visa if you have more skills and experience.  In other words, the company can probably prove that no one in the EU can do your job better than you can if you're high on the professional food chain, but it's going to be tougher if you're entry or even mid-level.

These are the options for working in the UK that only concern you, in the instances of the Tier 4 or Tier 1 visas, or you and your employer, in the case of the Tier 2 visa.  If you are in a position to involve a British national or someone who is legally living in the UK, read on...

A Fiancé(e) visa will allow you to remain in the UK for up to six months but you cannot legally work while on this visa.

An Unmarried Partner visa will allow you to live and work in the UK for 24 or 27 months (depending on what criteria you meet) and, afterwards, you can apply for indefinite leave to remain.

A Spousal visa will allow you to live and work in the UK for a probationary period of two years, after which you can apply for indefinite leave to remain, or to settle permanently immediately (depending on what criteria you meet).

In addition, if you want to live and work in the UK and you are genetically blessed, you can apply for a work visa based on ancestry if you are a Commonwealth citizen and at least one grandparent was born in the UK.

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Whew!  I think that's it - I hope I answered any questions you might have.  Please leave a comment if you know more than I've covered here.  I would love to start a discussion about all of this because I know it's complicated and, from experience, it really helps to feel that other people are researching and/or going through the same process as you are.

However, I do want to add two things to what I've said already:

1. Do not overstay your visa.


I'm not even kidding.  Do not remain in the UK illegally.  I read a blog recently (though I can't for the life of me remember where) in which the blogger admitted that she lived in the UK with her English boyfriend for well over a year and, because she had overstayed her tourist visa, couldn't leave the country until she was ready to move back to the US.  I cannot emphasize enough how stupid this is.  The chances that you'll be caught and deported are very slim, but if you overstay your visa, leave the country, and then try to return, you might be refused leave the enter the country ever again.  The border officials will have every legal right to bar you from coming into the UK.  Ever.  It is just not worth the risk.


2. Read and follow the directions.


Despite what a lot of people - including me, when I was going through the process - think, the border agency in the UK is not out to make your life more difficult.  They are not going to deny you a visa just because they're having a bad day.  If you are eligible for a visa and you do everything the guidance notes tell you to do when applying and they haven't filled their annual quota, you will probably be given a visa.  It really is that simple.  Make sure that you're actually eligible, read the instructions on how to apply, follow the directions, and you'll most likely be successful.  I know a woman whose visa application was denied because she hadn't submitted all of the necessary supporting documents and she was beside herself when her appeal was refused.  If your application is incomplete or incorrect the first time around and it is rejected, you have to reapply; an appeal won't do anything because you're essentially trying again using the same material that was deemed inappropriate the first place.

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If you have any questions at all about any part of this process, consult a lawyer or other official advisor.    In the meantime, though, I do hope this has been useful!  Tomorrow: ways to look for (and hopefully find) work in the UK.

Monday Musings - MLK

[Note: The content of this series of posts have been evolving over the past month (ish), so I'm going to make it official by changing the title from Monday Laugh to Monday Musings - although a smile helps you ease into the work week, it is even more crucial, I think, to start the week by challenging yourself with new ideas and fresh perspectives.  Don't worry, we'll still find humor here from time to time as musings need not be dour!]

Throughout his too-short life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought tirelessly for justice, equality, and freedom for all those who were oppressed.  He sought to overcome ignorance, to banish hatred, and to end poverty and war. He spoke to make all humankind brothers.

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I wonder what MLK would say if he were alive today - what he'd think of the first black president in American history nearing the end of a difficult first term in office, of the Republican candidates for the presidential nomination constantly seeking to out-Christian each other, of LGBT teenagers being driven to suicide by bullying and harassment, and of the financial inequality between the rich and the poor growing ever more shocking across the globe.

We've come a long way since 1968, certainly, but we have miles to go yet before we fulfill King's dream.  We can achieve the vision he had for America and for the world - we can and I have faith that we will, but we only will have hope if we do it together.

How I Moved To London (The First Time)

It's entirely possible that my family didn't already know the whole truth behind why I moved to London (the first time) but, since they do now, I feel I should say this: it was so worth it.  Also, sorry.

Anyway, now that you've all enjoyed that story, it's time to tell you about how I moved to London (the first time).  I hinted yesterday that it involves 10 hours of detention at Heathrow, so gird your loins, dear readers, for a bit of an adventure.

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On 15 September 2008, I boarded a plane at Dulles International Airport bound for London, armed with two huge suitcases (for which, if I remember correctly, I paid an extortionate overweight baggage fee) plus the biggest carry-on I could find.  My mother and I both cried when saying goodbye in Washington, but I sauntered through security with a spring in my step and a smile on my face and only a vague awareness that I might need a visa to enter the UK.

See, I had applied for a Tier 4 visa over the summer but hadn't properly submitted all of the supporting documents and was duly denied my paperwork.  This was a setback, admittedly, but I was undeterred.  I had already booked both my flight to Heathrow and my return to Washington, and because my length of stay in the the UK for the first term of my MA program was less than three months I figured I could scoot through customs as a tourist.

This might have worked, had I actually told border control officials that I was a tourist.  Instead, I told the truth: I was a student.  Funnily enough, it seems that if you want to be a full-time post-graduate student in the UK you need a visa.  I was hauled off - nicely but emphatically - to a detention room, where I was questioned by a lovely immigration officer who clearly hated the fact that I was sobbing throughout my interview but who nonetheless stood his ground.  Once he had determined that I was a very silly girl and not, in fact, a terrorist, he deposited me in a room full of other very silly people and checked me in to a return flight to Dulles.

To note if this ever happens to you: when they send you back, they use your pre-booked return ticket, which means that you're not technically paying extra for the privilege of being turned around because you're using a ticket you had already purchased but you will, in fact, have to buy a new round-trip ticket if you want to eventually continue on your merry way.

Unfortunately, the first LHR-IAD flight with an open seat wasn't departing for another ten hours, so I spent an incredibly frustrating day in detention.  But, believe it or not, I made a friend, Whitney, who was in the exact same situation as me - we've actually kept in touch a bit since then - and she made the day slightly less unbearable.  Also, I realized that I was relatively lucky because, even though I was completely overwhelmed, I understood what was going on and why it was happening; there was a whole Brazilian family in detention with me (I don't know specifically why) who didn't speak any English and who were painfully in the dark about their situation.

As soon as I got back to Washington, I reapplied for my visa.  The gods of karma must have been watching over me, because the whole process (the second time around) took just under two weeks, and I flew out of Dulles on 29 September and successfully entered the United Kingdom on 30 September, one day before my classes started.

Because of this debacle, my ever-patient parents wasted a few hundred dollars on plane fares and I lost two crucial weeks in London that I would have used to find housing, meet my classmates, and get acclimatized to the city.  The overarching lesson of this story is simple:

By the way, I'd like the record to state that I was not deported; I was denied leave to enter the country.  Those are two very different things, it turns out.

Up on Tuesday: what you should do to avoid this situation.  Check back!

Why I Moved to London (The First Time)

Okay, it's time to start publishing the epic series of posts about how to move to the UK to/for work.  I figured that what I'd do is start off with my history of moving the the UK, both to study and to work, so you know that I do sort of have some experience with this, and then schedule the informative posts for next week as follows:

Tuesday: overview of visa options
Wednesday: ways to look for (and hopefully find) work in the UK
Thursday: applying to jobs in the UK.

I've gotten a bunch of questions from you all, but please do keep sending them through if you think of anything between now and the above days or while you're reading.

I first moved to London in September 2008 to pursue a Master's in Medieval Studies.  Wait, no, we need to back up.  You need to hear about how I came to be a graduate student - this story is too good not to tell.

The spring and summer of my junior year in college were spent in Paris; while there, I met an English boy named Harry who was taking a year off from university.  We dated for four months and broke up only because I was heading back to NYC to finish college and he was returning to London to start medical school.

Betsy and Harry at a party in Paris in 2007

I really don't know why he's taking the wine away from me.

Yes, it's possible that I may slightly have a type.

Even though our relationship was brief, I was head over heels for Harry, and I'd like to believe that, as he said at the time, he was for me as well.  I spent until the following spring with a broken heart, pining for him, while he started dating another girl a few months after we left Paris.  (He turned out to be a master manipulator, though I do have to take responsibility too because it was obvious to everyone around me what was going on but I only saw what I wanted to see.)

After visiting Harry and his family in Yorkshire that Christmas - I have no idea what his girlfriend thought was going on, but I'm pretty sure he didn't tell her the truth - I decided that I simply had to move to England, probably mostly to be with him though I have since blocked this phase of my life from memory.  One day in mid-January, the morning after a night of heavy drinking, I opened my .edu inbox and found an email from UCL that read:

Thank you for beginning the online application for a postgraduate degree at University College London.

Excuse me?  What?  It turns out that, in my pitiful and inebriated state, I had, indeed, started the online application process to be admitted to a Master's program in the UK.

This is crazy, I told myself, and closed the browser.  But the email stewed in my brain for a week until, finally, curiosity got the better of me.  I logged on to research the MA in Medieval Studies at UCL and, after a few hours investigating the professors, the course modules, and the dissertation requirements, I realized that it was an incredible opportunity for scholarship and adventure that I could not pass up.

I can't remember if I told my parents I had applied before or after I submitted the application, but they supported my decision and, in September 2008, I hopped a plane to London to begin my studies.  For the record, I had been over Harry for months at this point and actually we didn't keep in touch much during the spring and summer of that year - none of which stopped him from trying again each time we hung out in London even well into my relationship with Jon.  I haven't seen him for a least a year now, though we do send occasional "hey, we should meet up sometime" texts.  (By the way, Jon is aware of this sordid story and has approved the publishing of this post.  He also knows Harry, vaguely, because they have some mutual friends and wants me to point out that I can't hate Harry too much because it is through one of these mutual friends, who I had met originally via Harry, that I came to be introduced to Jon.)

So that's why I moved to London (the first time).  I think the lessons of the story are:

Okay, I think that's enough storytelling for one day, don't you?  Tomorrow we'll talk about my failed attempt to actually enter the UK to begin my studies in September 2008.  Hint: it involves 10 hours of detention at Heathrow and another lesson or two...

Frock Fridays

The Duchess of Cambridge turned 30 on Monday, and in honor of her birthday I was planning to share my own re-imagining of the black velvet gown and regal diamonds that she wore to an event just before Christmas.  I had the dress and the jewels picked out and everything, but then I saw a photo of Kate at the London premiere of War Horse and I swooned.

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I mean, yowza.  Why explain how you'd be a queen-in-waiting when the former Miss Middleton always does it so eloquently for you?  William could never have resisted, really; she was born for this role.

Be Nice On The Internet Week

Okay, I know that the title of this post sounds like a brilliant and original idea, and it is, but I have to admit that it's not my brilliant and original idea.  Be Nice On The Internet Week is an initiative of Real Simple, the magazine I read when I want to pretend I'm a grown-up, and it's really a breath of fresh air.

They've got details of the program on their website and on Facebook and are facilitating discussion all over the interwebs about how we can each be nicer online, but the concept is easy:

BE NICE ON THE INTERNET

We all, at times, get sucked into the maelstrom of negativity that lurks around every corner online.  (Whoa, hey there, mixed metaphors!)  It can be deceptively simple to say something disparaging while hiding behind the relative anonymity of our screens.  And we each have typed - and sent - messages that we would never have thought appropriate to voice out loud.

And at the same time, we've all been victim of cruelty online, so we all know how it feels; how opening an angry email can sting more than being told off in person, how seeing a defaced picture on a website can burn more than a drunken insult hurled across a bar, and how reading a malicious comment left on a blog post can be harder to dismiss than an offhand comment made in the heat of the moment.

There's a line in The Social Network, the movie about the founding of Facebook, that has stuck with me since I saw the film: Mark Zuckerburg's spurned ex-girlfriend says

The internet is not written in pencil, Mark, it's written in ink.

I think that it's worth being reminded of this from time to time, and that we can all be encouraged to be a little bit nicer on the internet.

This Might Call For Some Adele

Okay, confession time: I wrote a totally pathetic post last night and (gasp) published it but then I had an attack of oh-my-God-what-if-they're-tired-of-me-being-down and so I deleted it.  But this morning I got this really sweet email from Karen about it and I realized that:

a) some of you saw it before I took it off anyway
b) there's nothing wrong with being a bit gloomy when, you know, life sucks

Basically, for those of you who aren't as impressively on top of your Google reader as you might be (ahem), I explained that I was at Dulles International Airport, waiting to board my flight back to London, and that I didn't want to get on the plane.

And then I asked an immortal question, one that I'm sure I will ask until I die:

At what age do you stop wanting to be with your mother when [expletive] hits the fan?

I'm not there yet.

I've got a lot going on right now, and, to be honest, I was stressed out by everything that's being thrown at me even before Dad called about Grandma last week.  There's a constant chatter in the blogosphere about how much of the messy bits of our lives we bloggers should share with our readers and, on the flip side of the coin, how much of the messy bits our readers want to be aware of, so I'm very conscious of trying to walk the line.  Therefore, while I'm not going to stop posting about the hard parts that come with being a daughter/granddaughter/sister/girlfriend/expat/professional/whatever, I'm going to do my best to do so in a measured and composed way.  And in the meantime, I'm going to remember this, from Marilyn Monroe:

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Monday Laugh

I've been drafting the promised posts about moving to the UK to/for work (thanks for your queries, by the way!) and have been running into the complicated question of how to talk about my experiences without, you know, specifically talking about my experiences.  Of course, my navigation of the visa process, the job search, and the move will figure in the information and advice that I pass along to you, but I do want to be careful about protecting myself as well as my family, friends, and colleagues, none of whom chose to be part of this blog.

Look, I know that if you put your mind to it you could discover my surname, my employer, and probably much more.  I'm vague enough, I hope, in that I don't broadcast any information that is too particular, but I haven't made a concerted effort to be completely anonymous or to keep these details secret.  So I think we're just going to have to trust each other, dear readers.  After all, we don't want this sort of situation...

On Faith and Loss

Judaism doesn't really focus on the afterlife.  The Torah is primarily intent on instructions for the here and now, though it does propose existence after death, so most of what Jews believe regarding future punishments and/or rewards has been extrapolated by biblical scholars through the centuries and is open to personal interpretation.  Essentially, though, Jews don't ascribe to heaven and hell in the same way that Christianity does: in Judaism, the souls of the righteous dead ascend to a higher state of spiritual perfection in which they learn the secrets of the scriptures, and the souls of those who did not earn this transcendent award through their actions while alive are subjected to a punishment/purification processes after which they join the righteous with God.

To be honest, I'm not sure I entirely believe this.  I do buy it over Dante's version of the afterlife, which seems a bit histrionic but which has been adopted by millions of of people of all faiths who perhaps haven't spent as much time in church/temple/whatever as they could, and I prefer it to most biblically-based Christian beliefs, be they Catholic, Protestant, or anything in between.  However, I hypocritically do love the liturgy of the Requiem Mass and find many settings - the Mozart, Fauré, Duruflé, and Verdi are generally the most popular - to be incredibly powerful.



I've talked a bit on this blog about my own brand of faith, but what I haven't shared with you, dear readers, is this: I want more.

I want more faith.

There's a blog I read obsessively - I won't name it here because it doesn't seem appropriate given that I am not exclusively saying nice things - that is so firmly grounded in faith that it blows my mind.  Even when the blogger isn't overtly discussing her evangelical Christianity, it clearly directs her every action and thought.  She overwhelmingly believes in the love of Jesus and unequivocally places her trust in God.

At the beginning, in all honesty, I mocked the blog and its 12,000 followers.  (Yes, you read that right: twelve thousand.)  I saw this woman's adherence to her religion as irresponsible, maybe even cowardly; that kind of blind faith seemed naïve to me.  How could you put your happiness in someone else's hands and be convinced that everything will turn out alright?  How could you yield the power to make decisions about your life and be confident that whoever is in control knows better than you?

It took me a few months, but eventually I realized that the snark that reflexively flared whenever I read a new post wasn't really rooted in any fundamental disagreement - it sprung from a total lack of understanding.  I realized that I couldn't comprehend how anyone could believe that wholeheartedly in anything, tangible or otherwise, and it scared me.  So I sat myself down for some introspection, and discovered further that it wasn't simply that I didn't understand that kind of faith or that I was afraid of it, but that I was jealous of it.

You've read about my Jewish upbringing and my concurrent immersion in the culture and beliefs of the Anglican church, but what you perhaps haven't ingested is that I don't truly profess to believe wholeheartedly in any religion.  I maintain that it's not necessary to agree with the tenets of a single faith,  but I am learning that it is incredibly important, if you don't ascribe to one official belief, to create your own.  Cut and paste if you want and/or make it up as you go along, but have faith.  I don't yet, not entirely, and I'm desperate to.  I don't know if finding faith will provide any clarity or answer any questions, but I know that it will comfort me through times of trial and I know that it will release me from some of the stress that I place on myself.  Having faith - real, overwhelming, mind-blowing faith - takes amazing courage and strength, and I want more.