Aussie may be moving to Pittsburgh (ski resort, rental, living)

[Fiddlehead]

Great choices! I think both cities are pretty darn cool. Lots to do, a strong, but not annoyingly self-satisfied self-image, and great areas to explore in the surrounding region. You'd be closer to the sea in Portland, but for an Aussie, or PNW shorelines would probably seem outrageously cold. No bikinis, but lots of goretex! That said, the Oregon Coast is stunning. I don't know how easy it is to get over to the Great Lakes from Pittsburgh, or to the East Coast, but both seem appealing in different ways. Warmer waters for one, and the Great Lakes dunes and shorelines seem exceedingly scenic.

[Tiger Beer]

I lived in Portland for a year, it isn't really a sports town. It has tons of cool stuff going on, but sports is fairly low on the list. They do like their professional basketball team there, but that's about the extent of it.

I think you'd still enjoy Portland, but probably not as a sports town.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

Great choices! I think both cities are pretty darn cool. Lots to do, a strong, but not annoyingly self-satisfied self-image, and great areas to explore in the surrounding region. You'd be closer to the sea in Portland, but for an Aussie, or PNW shorelines would probably seem outrageously cold. No bikinis, but lots of goretex! That said, the Oregon Coast is stunning. I don't know how easy it is to get over to the Great Lakes from Pittsburgh, or to the East Coast, but both seem appealing in different ways. Warmer waters for one, and the Great Lakes dunes and shorelines seem exceedingly scenic.

It's not too far from Pgh to Erie, about 2 hrs according to google maps, but the Dunes are in Indiana, about 8 hrs away. It's about 5 1/2 hrs to Atlantic City, NJ, again according to google maps.

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by Katiana

It's not too far from Pgh to Erie, about 2 hrs according to google maps, but the Dunes are in Indiana, about 8 hrs away. It's about 5 1/2 hrs to Atlantic City, NJ, again according to google maps.

I think Erie is seriously underrated as a beach destination, and yes, it's about 2 hours away. Presque Isle is beautiful, and even has a couple of lighthouses. I've also been swimming there a couple of times. It's not nearly as bad as you'd imagine. The water seems clean enough, although you get some seaweed (lakeweed?) you have to pick off later. I didn't get any weird rash or anything, though. Also, the water is quite cold.

[sheezymaneezy]

Thanks again. I think I'm going to have to go with Pittsburgh on this one. Really came down to the friendliness and help of all the Pittsburghers on this forum, in comparison to others. (I know it's probably a terrible way to decide, but otherwise it was too close to choose )

Confirmed that I'll be graduating today, and now I just need to start looking for a job and accomodation for the coming spring.
What are good resources to find work besides Craigslist? I'll need to find good places to find accomodation too I guess!
Is it normal in the States to apply for work and accomodation for quite a few months ahead? Or should I maybe consider looking and applying maybe a month before I move?

[BrianTH]

I'd start the process of looking and applying well in advance--the right opportunities might not show up immediately, but I don't think it will hurt to get started.

[onwardandupward]

Sorry if this has been covered before, but are you clear on all the work/visa requirements in the U.S.? If you're not a U.S. citizen, you can't just come, find a job, and go from there - you need to first find a job that will sponsor you with an H1B visa, etc., which is not simple to do. You also can't come on a visitor's visa and then get a job - visitor's visas are non-working visas. Again, apologies if you have this already figured out.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by onwardandupward

Sorry if this has been covered before, but are you clear on all the work/visa requirements in the U.S.? If you're not a U.S. citizen, you can't just come, find a job, and go from there - you need to first find a job that will sponsor you with an H1B visa, etc., which is not simple to do. You also can't come on a visitor's visa and then get a job - visitor's visas are non-working visas. Again, apologies if you have this already figured out.

Read the first paragraph of the OP's first post:

Originally Posted by sheezymaneezy

Hi all, I'm 22 and am graduating in a few weeks in business. I'm from Australia, and have lived here since I was born, but because I am graduating, I basically get a no-questions-asked 1 year working visa.

[sheezymaneezy]

Pretty much what Hope re-quoted
There are numerous companies that are connected with places in the USA. So I pay a certain amount of money to the company, and they basically sort everything out for me if possible (or asked).
I'm really only using them to help me get the VISA with no dramas, as they become my sponsor (I think this is how it works).
But yeah, I've got it sorted.

Since I'm looking at jobs, are the industrial areas outside of the inner-city? Or any of the more blue-collared jobs? I may consider this kind of work if it's close by, as I find physical stuff more enjoyable than office stuff.
But if it's far enough that I need to public transport or whatever that is time-consuming, I'll look into just the areas within walking distance of the hub of the city (where I plan to live).

[Hopes]

When we say if you're willing to take anything until you find something appropriate, we're talking more about restaurant or retail work.

Most manufacturing jobs are in the surrounding suburban towns like New Kensington for example.

If you chose to go that route, you should live in the town where the manufacturing job is located because transportation would be limited.

You can easily find a general labor job in landscaping or construction, but you'd need to have transportation for those jobs since the work location changes day to day.

I highly recommend finding an apartment with a month-to-month lease so you can move to a different area once you find the job you want.

At the very least, find temporary housing for while you look for a job.

When I moved to a different city without a car, I lived in a hotel for the first three weeks until I knew where I would be working.