A year in Scotland - an opportunity for new skills and experiences

Having lived abroad as a child, I had so many happy memories from our years abroad that I had always wanted to do this again after I moved from home. Luckily my husband wasn't a stranger to the idea and at one stage we did some research on the possibilities of going to USA or Svalbard (not exactly the same, but still an interesting place to go). However, finding a job for both of us was an issue and if one of us was to study instead of working it still required a fair bit of research. I guess the urge wasn't strong enough, so all this amounted to nothing.

When the opportunity of going to Scotland came up in June 2012, we decided to go for it. Since our initial research we had had two children and I knew that taking a year off work wouldn't mean the end of my career. I had 12years of experience as a Project manager and felt confident that interesting projects would come my way when I returned too.

Preparing to move - and to return to Norway

From our decision to go to Scotland was made towards the end of June, lots of time and effort was put into preparing the family for the move. I had to notify my employer, the school, the gym, the floorball coach (our eldest boy), the "activity school" coach (our youngest boy), the music school (both boys), the doctor, Folkeregisteret etc. We also had to find tenants for our house, prepare our start-up in Aberdeen (choose school, where to live, find a house etc.) and our return (to school, the gym etc.).

There were so many little things that had to be done and I was afraid of forgetting something important. I consulted my parents who are experts in this field, as they have been through this process many times before. Mum gave me a useful book written by one of her expat friends from her first stay in Cambridge, and that made me a little more confident as it was full of details and experiences from her stays abroad. I also consulted one of my friends, who lived in India for two years in 2009 - 2011. He gave me useful tips, but just as important he also gave me lots of encouragement.

Christmas holidays in Australia and starting a new life in Scotland

So, here we are and we managed to get the most important tasks done before we left. The remaining tasks (getting a mobile subscription for me, broadband access, bank accounts, finding activities for the kids and me etc.) were handled when we got here. In the middle of planning the move and handover at work, I also managed to plan our Christmas holiday in Australia. The one month trip to Australia was planned a very long time ago and the tickets bought as soon as they were out, which was March 2012. It was a fantastic holiday, but that's another story.

I'll let this be my intro to my first ever blog, from now on I will focus on all the fantastic things we experience during our year in Scotland. And there will be photos!