Hm, looks like I'll be moving to U.S.A. for a while @ some point

Kinda keeps seeming more and more likely my wife's going to find a post-doc job in the U.S. rather than more close to home. It'll be for a year at least, so I guess the entire family has to go, neither of us would want to live a year apart from each other and definitely not the kids.

So, gotta start planning. She'd prefer Boston area or some other big city area where there are prestigious universities she could get the place in, but I'd be more partial to going somewhere mid-west, like St.Louis maybe. Good universities there too. I figure it'd be better and safer for the kids. I have no idea what kind of housing we will be able to afford, maybe some sort of a small apartment, but I'd hate to move into some cheap and maybe bad neighborhood in a big city for a year.

The good news is that we'll be able to bring home a dirt-cheap car (tax free too!) which will mean something like 25K on the plus side monetarily, plus we could also bring along lots of ski-doos or ATV's etc. and maybe like a classic car for me for hobby, and with such deals I could probably net another 25K. But even then it's gonna be much less than the amount I'll lose in salaries, having a year off work and no income, plus it's all 'invisible' income that only comes after the year and mostly just as money saved in terms of getting stuff like semi-free cars, not money in the bank.

The bad news (maybe?) is that while my older son could go to 1st grade in the U.S. as well, I myself will have to be a 'house husband' for the duration and just be the baby-sitter. Oh well I could write a book or two to kill time. But, it's not like I'm ecstatic about the whole thing. I could maybe work a little, find some translation jobs etc. but I can't really think of any job I could get there that would pay enough for it to be reasonable. (what is reasonable even??) And of course we'll have to get someone to mind the house and the summer house while we're away.

Anyway...it's just mind-boggling to think of all the things included. I'd have to sell most of my computer stuff, likely some music gear as well, and I'd definitely need a new computer states-side, plus a good network deal, and of course all the other stuff from insurances to whatnot.

Sheesh. Anyway, if you have any ideas what to avoid in areas etc. please do comment...I've only stayed in the Tri-State area before.

By "tri-state" I assume you mean the greater New York City area? It's hard to offer specific recommendations because, well, the U.S. is a pretty big place. I find it amazing that you could save all that money buying cars, etc., here. I'd think that the shipping alone would kill off any profit. Usually you can address the safety issue (and the cost issue) by living in a smaller town outside the big town. You just have to gauge if you save enough to cover the transportation costs/time.

Hell yeah, see, take a VW Passat for instance, it's what, around 20K over there? Guess what, they cost round 40K here. 108% tax on cars over factory price, so most any car in U.S. will be roughly twice as costly here.

Something like a Chevy Van with some passenger conversion options, or a Ram extended, could be priced at like $100K easy.
The thing is, you have to live abroad for a year to be able to bring it in tax-free...if it's just 6 months for instance, you bring a car that cost 50K, you'll pay 54K taxes on top of it...

Shipping a car costs merely 1500 or so...that's what a container costs, and it will carry 2 cars plus lots of bikes, ATV's etc. So yeah, cars, in our point of view, cost nothing in U.S.

Quite often, a car will be the most expensive thing a family ever buys. And it's not just the starting price, there's the yearly car taxes, gasoline is like $12 a gallon etc. etc...

I think it'd have to be so close to the university where she works that she could literally walk there...or some other similarly handy means of transport.

Wow! What's the "logic" behind such a high tax? Is it an import/protectionist kind of thing? If the U.S. government decided to tax things at a rate like that, there would be another revolution. I knew that gas taxes across Europe are ridiculous.

What's her doctorate in? Is she a medical doctor?.....or a person who has PhD after her name? Gave us more info and we might be able to help you out more.

There are more universities within a 50 mi radius of Philadelphia than any other city in the USA.

Dee, I can PM you about a couple of academia contacts, one in Boston, another in North Carolina.

If we are talking medical field in Boston, I can hit my oncologist for tips. He teaches as well, and he owes me one after the money he made off me in the past eight years...

She's a biochemist, so I suppose it's doctor of...biochemistry? LOL. I don't even know the exact words. I know it shares a LOT of medical stuff, I mean, she does delicate surgeries on live mice...and she's been thinking of getting some more courses so she could also become a medical doctor quite easily. But that she is not. Other than that I don't know much. But I understand she could probably go to many a place, and the place itself will be arranged for then by the university and her superiors, once she just decides upon a region. I know she's been asked to at least visit some midwestern universities already, while she was in Spain presenting some of her study findings. I mean, where ever she goes, she'll get a grant for it from somewhere like the government or whatever, like, I dunno, 50K? 100K?, and we'll have to live on that the entire year, buy a car and all, plus pay for the upkeep of our houses here back home. I have no idea yet.

I do believe all the other necessary details will be handled too with the help of the faculty, so I don't expect any issues there. I used to work on a J-1 visa myself back in the 90's in N.Y. and that was simple enough without family, I just picked up a visa from the U.S. embassy and went there and worked.

So what I'd be mostly interested in is any views on where would you want to reside with a family in the U.S. given a free pick, with the assumption that we won't be able to select the best and safest neighborhoods, and have to stay close to whatever university there is...?

That and then also what the hell could I do during my stay...can't think of much else than translation, or just being the nanny for a year, LOL :-) I guess I could try to find some local band to sing for, or such. I guess I can still keep recording songs if I just buy a laptop there, and all the necessary gear...if the residence is suitable in the least for screaming without bothering the neighbors :-) It won't be easy but, well, they say you can survive a year standing in three feet of manure on - yer head - if you only have a straw to breathe thru, and despite all the difficulties, a year in the States could be great in many respects too. When I just think of all those dirt cheap guitars and stuff that costs nothing compared to here I start to drool a bit...

So, in essence, a research scientist/doctor. OK, Philly is good......Boston area too as they do a lot of research at the major universities and hospitals......nice places to live and the winters will be warmer than what you are used to (whereas Boston would be too cold for me). Forget NYC, too expensive, too crowded and dangerous if you aren't conditioned to the hecticness of it all. Cleveland and Chicago are viable options....good places to live and work and again, their winters won't scare a native Finn. Last on the list, Minneapolis is outstanding for research. Good luck and keep us posted.

I spent a month in Minneapolis from mid May to mid June back in '92. Actually, I was in Eden Prairie, maybe 20 minutes south as I recall. It was an awesome place for music. I was really surprised at how cool it was. Every week night I would go out to a local jam somewhere and on the weekends the local bands were great. The Whiskey Cafe was a blast

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Originally Posted by marnold

By "tri-state" I assume you mean the greater New York City area? It's hard to offer specific recommendations because, well, the U.S. is a pretty big place. I find it amazing that you could save all that money buying cars, etc., here. I'd think that the shipping alone would kill off any profit. Usually you can address the safety issue (and the cost issue) by living in a smaller town outside the big town. You just have to gauge if you save enough to cover the transportation costs/time.

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I agree. No matter where the larger cities are found, you will surely find lots of crime. Boston is nice but very expensive to live. There also is a ton of traffic to get anywhere you want to go (at least it was that way 10 years ago when I was up there last). Same can be said of the NYC area. I live 2 hours from NYC and there are people who live here and work there. and that is 2 hours without traffic! with traffic you are talking closer to 3! Just to give you the idea of the commute some will go through. They do it because 5 years ago you could get a huge home here for the price they were paying for a tiny one there. Of course, that all has changed... You may want to consider the Philadelphia area. Many prestigious schools and the city has some nice neighborhoods (along with some very bad ones!) and a large suburbia area. There are also many Pharmaceutical companies in the area (possible internship for a bio chemist)

Wow, big changes afoot! I've worked pretty closely with a lot of biochem people in my job, so that's pretty interesting.

My guess for your housing is that if you live very close to the university, you'll probably pay through the nose for housing. The bigger and older cities (NYC, Boston) have ridiculously high rent relative to other areas of the country, which I suppose is kind of obvious.

She could probably find a good university to work at in most regions. Even places you wouldn't necessarily think of, like say Cleveland, have the Cleveland Clinic, which is a big research-y hospital. I doubt our recommendations are going to have much impact on where you end up, but I'm crossing my fingers that maybe our paths will cross while you're over here -- it would be really cool to meet you.

Keep us updated!

Not anywhere near the areas you are thinking of, but based on the looks of your pictures and the vegetation, water, etc. you might like the Seattle area. One really big research university, and many others. Nice, fun city with lots of music and cultural options. Beautiful water and mountains. A bit more mild than I see in your pics as the snow stays mostly up in the mountains rather than in town. Has a lot of the advantages she is looking for in Boston, but more "midwest" in feel than Boston, though not really midwest either. Certainly more mellow than back east. Good luck with the big move!

If it's a university where she'd be working, there are plenty of large, prestigious universities in small towns where it would be more affordable. Case in point: the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

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Originally Posted by marnold

Wow! What's the "logic" behind such a high tax? Is it an import/protectionist kind of thing? If the U.S. government decided to tax things at a rate like that, there would be another revolution. I knew that gas taxes across Europe are ridiculous.

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Beats me...not for protection since they don't make cars here (save for some electric ones and I think some Porsches). Cars have always been a good milking cow for the government. I suppose they'd love if everyone just used public transport. Sometimes I feel like driving a car is next to the worst environmental crime there is :-) there are tax reductions if the car is especially low-polluting one, though.

There are or at least were several loopholes in the law that people use. For instance, in the late 80's someone realized you could buy a pickup truck with lower tax than normal cars. Thus there was an influx of U.S. cars like TransAms which were promptly 'chopped' i.e. states-side someone justf used an angle grinder to cut off the back of the roof and the back seats and turn them into pick-ups and shipped here :-) crazy.

I also used to have a Chevy Van that used a loophole in the law that you could have a cheap-taxed van that still had a backseat; the cargo room had to be left certain size and the backseats had to be shaped 90 degrees angle and maximum one inch of padding. There must still be thousands of such Chevyvans here in service. Oh yeah and with all these they had a fixed speed limit of 55(80km/h) even on 120 roads. There were also STW's built to similar specs, with 'temporary' backseats.

These days the only loophole I know is buying a heavy van, and if it's just heavy enough like the heaviest Chevyvan or a Ram pickup, you can legally register it as a truck, with low tax again. Only then only people with professional licences can drive them (I don't have one). And those have a speed limit of 60 (90Km/h).

BTW she's got masters in biochemistry but her Ph.D. work is in neurobiology, and she said she can work in most any research group that starts with the neuro-affix.

Well, good luck. If things go according to plan, I have no clue where I'll be when you're over here.

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Originally Posted by deeaa

BTW she's got masters in biochemistry but her Ph.D. work is in neurobiology, and she said she can work in most any research group that starts with the neuro-affix.

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Yet another option to check out... The Houston Medical Center is home to some of the most renowned medical research and academic institutions in the world. TIRR is where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords went to recover from her gunshot wound, for instance. Even the expensive near by residences are a fraction of the cost of what I've seen near Boston.

Academic and Research Institutions

• Baylor College of Medicine
• Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions
• Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library
• Houston Community College System, Health Science Programs
• The Methodist Hospital
• Prairie View A&M University, College of Nursing
• Rice University
• Texas A&M Health Science Center - Institute of Biosciences and Technology
• Texas Heart Institute
• Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
• Texas Woman's University Institute of Health Sciences-Houston
• University of Houston
• University of Houston College of Pharmacy
• The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
• The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  
  • Dental Branch
  • Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
  • Harris County Psychiatric Center
  • Medical School
  • School of Health Information Sciences
  • School of Nursing
  • School of Public Health
  • Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases
  
  
• The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Hmm...yeah, I would not mind Texas at all. Neither would she. It could well be an option. It would certainly be a real experience to live for a while in such a vastly different climate.

Well, at any rate, it'll be at least 3-4 months before we can start really planning seriously. I have 2 months of vacation now, and only after that I can get to speak to my boss about a sabbatical or other options.

The only real worry I have is is that I _really_ can not afford to lose my job. I mean, I only was ever interested in the English language and that's all I really studied for. And most every teaching job here requires credentials in a minimum of two, like English and German, but very often three or even four languages. They just posted a job at our school for a teacher of English, German and Finnish. I don't even know if such a beast exists :-) (of course I do know Finnish too and also German passably, but what's needed is 4 years of studies and a diploma in each to get the tenure)

So, if I lose this job, it'll surely be at minimum at least another 10 years, if ever, before I could find a similar position, and very unlikely it'd be where we live now. So I must do whatever it takes to keep the tenure; it was pretty much created for me having worked in the same place 10 years on and off and being really well liked by my bosses and the rest of the staff. It's a once in a lifetime job for me, because I was so dumb in my time to not take on any other languages, but instead some useless stuff like psychology and computer sciences. So that's something I need to be ultra secure about.

Actually, St. Louis is one of the most dangerous cities in the country according to crime statistics. Check out the Golden Triangle in North Carolina. Jammed packed with high tech, chemical, medical research companies. And some of the best Universities in the country. Some of the friendliest people, most beautiful surroundings, close to mountains and ocean, and great food!