Itinerary!!

So I finally got the info for my flight to Qatar. I am leaving Pittsburgh on July 20th, flying through Philadelphia and then I leave for London that night. I have a connection in Heathrow the next morning, and then I fly from London to Doha with one stop in Bahrain. I get into Doha around 9:00pm.

Everything else is going well, the only things I have left to do are get my travel immunizations and get my computer fixed, and then just wait for my visa and plane tickets to arrive, and then I go!

Quick Update - Two New Things

Of course I'm not actually in Doha yet, but things have been moving along nicely in Pittsburgh. First, all of the practical stuff is actually getting done for my move, things like doctor's appointments and meetings with the CMU-Q people to discuss things like salary and benefits (which makes me feel so adult!) Also, it looks like my departure date is pretty much set at July 20th. I'm sure the time is gonna fly between now and then.

Also, more exciting than meetings and paperwork, is that I got a chance to work with the Qatari students who are studying in Pittsburgh for the first summer session! There are five of them, and at least three of them are returning to the Doha campus in the fall, which will be nice for me since I will certainly be fully disoriented when I get there. I've basically just been helping them out with the little things that are involved in moving to a whole new country, like getting cell phones and learning the public transit system.

My meetings are just making me more and more excited, and I read everything I can find about Qatar. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go through some sort of culture shock, although I'm not sure to what degree. I think it all depends on the people that are there when I move, and how well I adjust to my job as much as the new city and country.

And I'll probably actually be updating this thing more often now that plans are in motion!