Today was the first day at the office, and it was pretty much the same as days in the office in the US. Not much to do because I don't know anything yet. On the plus side though, since this is HQ as opposed to the puny little US satellite branch, there are a lot more people here (about 100 instead of about 15), hence it's easier to walk around and meet new people to kill time. The only thing thing I did today that could really be considered work besides trying to figure out where I'll be next week was sit in on a meeting with a couple of body builders (no, not that kind of body builder) who were learning about the whole vehicle approval process since they're all being mandated to do it starting in a couple years. Basically a body builder is a company that takes a Ford Transit van for example and retrofits it so it can be an electricians mobile workshop or something to that effect.
Anyway, here's a picture of 2/3 of the office. I drove over last night partially to make sure I'd be able to get here this morning in traffic and also because its right next to the grocery store and the burger king which seemed to be the only restaurant open at 11 pm when I ended up making it out for food.
and that's my rental parked there in front... though I wish it was one of these:
This baby was parked a couple spaces over from me when I left for work this morning.
As far as actually learning stuff... well not much of that has happened so far, but hopefully next week I'll get more on the job testing experience. Still not even sure where I'll be, thats pretty much what tomorrow is going to be dedicated to so hopefully I'll have a clear answer on that in 24 hours. So far it looks like I'll either be going to the Midlands Centre which is the other UK office to do I don't know what, going to Italy to work on a Mercedes hearse or doing some IVA around Bristol. IVA stands for individual vehicle approval, i.e. one-off deals where someone has made something custom. I gather is not always as exciting as it sounds, though sometimes it is.
I'm also looking into how to spend my weekends while I'm over here. I was checking out Ryan Air and Easy Jet today and it looks like from either Bristol or London I can go pretty much anywhere in Europe for less than 100 quid round trip. If anyone has any recommendations I'm all ears. For this weekend I'm going to see if I can go to London to meet up with the UM alumni association to watch the EMU game, though they haven't emailed me back yet so I don't know where they'll be.
Okay, time to go find some dinner.
Cheers!
Are you a Phil DeFranco fan? He'll be in Europe all of October. He has scheduled dates for "meet ups" with fans, which sound less like a book signing format & more like parties. Anywho, from the UK to Amsterdam, to Germany, France, & Italy, there are a ton of dates & they all sound like they'll be a blast. So, for what its worth, that's MY suggestion. :-)
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