Hi everyone, I am 17 years old and I come from Derby in England. My Dad is an Engineer at the local Rolls Royce plant. About a mounth ago he applied to go on a 2 year placement in a new plant opening up in America. He applied along with 127 other people and out of them, only 4 get selected. After 5 interviews, he has been selected to go. We have not yet decided whether or not to go yet and if any member of our family doesnt want to go, we will not go (Along with my mum, I also have a brother and sister). So far however, everyone seems to like the idea and the longer it goes on, the more likely it seems.
The plant is situated near Petersburg in Virinia, however we will probably be living in Chesterfield since weve heard some pretty dodgy stuff about Richmond and Petersburg (Does anyone come from this area and can you tell me what the area is like).
I have just turned 17 last week and have just left school about 5 weeks ago in England but ive heard that you go to school for an extra year in America, is this true?
So, thats about it, anyone got any comments/advice.

NuKedUFirst

Canada3139 Posts

August 04 2010 18:49 GMT

American schools range from K-12 I believe, start when you are 5, finish when you are 17.

Buy alot of guns.

Edit: BTW good english accent = lots of ladies

micronesia

United States24497 Posts

August 04 2010 18:51 GMT

Yeah there are thirteen years of typical public school where students end at 17 or 18 years old. I don't believe you'd have to partake of that since you already finished your program in England and are over 16, but obviously you'd want to look into your options. I rarely go south of Washington DC on the ground (fly over the region occasionally) so I can't really give you any specific advice but I wish you and your family luck and hope that other people here can give you some nice insider advice.

edit: A lot of people from abroad come to the USA for higher education so could this be good/convenient timing for you if you choose to do this?

unit

United States2621 Posts

August 04 2010 18:56 GMT

ah i hope you dont enjoy driving fast...because virginia will destroy you for that...i hate virginia speeding laws...T.T

welcome to america, if your going to college there are some good schools around like virginia tech which cover any possible major you could ever hope to want ^__^

once again...dont drive fast in virginia ^__^

and there are some DC lans every once in a while that you should check out

ZeaL.

United States5955 Posts

August 04 2010 18:56 GMT

From a quick googling, I believe that you can choose not to take the last year of high school if you can prove you have an equivalent degree from the UK (sufficient number of GCSE's?). If you can't I think there's a GED test you can take to prove that you have a high school graduate education level. I can't tell you what richmond/petersburg are like but Charlotte is not too far from you and its a really fun college town, and you're also pretty close to virginia beach which is nice.

N.geNuity

United States5111 Posts

August 04 2010 18:57 GMT

Did you do the sixth form or A-level or w/e those things are?

If you did then I doubt you'd have to go to school here. You can probably just apply for college/university based off of that

Otherwise I got no idea. Maybe you'll just have to enroll in a public school for a year and graduate there. This type of stuff surely has happened before. Best of luck.

Megalisk

United States6095 Posts

August 04 2010 18:59 GMT

Practice your american vernacular. For example "your mate" is "yo nigga", and so on. Good luck friend :3.

On a serious note, the transition from England to USA shouldn't be too bad, I don't know much about moving countries, much less moving across the ocean, but I'm sure you will adjust fairly easily, good luck my nigga.

Cain0

United Kingdom608 Posts

August 04 2010 18:59 GMT

I get my GCSE rusults on the 24th of August, but I think ive done pretty well with them so that should be OK.

semantics

10040 Posts

August 04 2010 19:07 GMT

On August 05 2010 03:59 Megalisk wrote:
Practice your american vernacular. For example "your mate" is "yo nigga", and so on. Good luck friend :3.

On a serious note, the transition from England to USA shouldn't be too bad, I don't know much about moving countries, much less moving across the ocean, but I'm sure you will adjust fairly easily, good luck my nigga.

Not sure how much yo nigga and sup nigga flies out side of cali's bay and LA. On the bonus side America is tons bigger so there is only like 5 more things to see haha most of it is vast emptiness, but if you're on the coat tons of things to do.

Tabbris

Bangladesh2839 Posts

August 04 2010 19:13 GMT

#10

On August 05 2010 03:59 Megalisk wrote:
Practice your american vernacular. For example "your mate" is "yo nigga", and so on. Good luck friend :3.

On a serious note, the transition from England to USA shouldn't be too bad, I don't know much about moving countries, much less moving across the ocean, but I'm sure you will adjust fairly easily, good luck my nigga.

For the love of god dont dont this

Cr4zyH0r5e

Peru1308 Posts

August 04 2010 19:15 GMT

#11

I would recommend you to take the senior year at a highschool in the US anyway since for people who have not been living in the state for at least a year university costs rise exponentially (at least in California, not sure how things work in Virginia) [def. look in to that]. It would also give you insight in the college app scene from other students (note this is usually done in november) Even if you don't meet the deadlines you can go to a community college and 1a2a3a your way to a 4.0 gpa and then apply to a big name school. ^^

At least that's how I did it, except I fucked around in community college( don't do this) and didn't get into UC Berkeley ㅠ_ㅠ.

Hope this helps ^^ Good Luck

excess1ve

United States359 Posts

August 04 2010 19:22 GMT

#12

hey man i live in fairfax, virginia, go to school at JMU in harrisonburg and visit friends frequently all around virginia, if need someone to help you around just send me a pm

QuanticHawk

United States32026 Posts

August 04 2010 19:24 GMT

#13

Start smoking and keep asking people for fags. Throw people off with your crazy accent

semantics

10040 Posts

August 04 2010 19:28 GMT

#14

On August 05 2010 04:24 Hawk wrote:
Start smoking and keep asking people for fags. Throw people off with your crazy accent

"Man i could really use a fag in my mouth right now, there is nothing quite like the taste and texture"

hoborg

United States430 Posts

August 04 2010 19:29 GMT

#15

On August 05 2010 03:49 NuKedUFirst wrote:
Buy alot of guns.
Edit: BTW good english accent = lots of ladies

Welp, the best advice is right here in the first post. Get a ruger 10/22, it's cheap to shoot and fun.

Cain0

United Kingdom608 Posts

August 04 2010 19:48 GMT

#16

On August 05 2010 03:49 NuKedUFirst wrote:
American schools range from K-12 I believe, start when you are 5, finish when you are 17.

Buy alot of guns.

Edit: BTW good english accent = lots of ladies

Thats good news then