Reflections

A friend asked me last night whether I wasn't anxious about the idea of living in Ireland. I had to say "no, I'm not." That came as somewhat of a surprise to me too, but, on further reflection, I have to say I'm really not. I know it's going to be a major culture shock - Ireland is not America, no matter that they're both English-speaking - and I'm going to be starting a new job, finding an apartment, making new friends, etc. But, the truth is I know I can do it. I don't have any real concerns in that regard. The real issue for me right now is just not getting too caught up in all the inevitable hitches to go along with changing jobs and moving country.

Actually, one thought I have been having about Ireland is the strangeness of having so little direct contact with my soon-to-be employer. All the nitty-gritty details are being handled by the recruiter, and a few by the HR department. But, except for the Skype webcam interview I had, there's been no direct communication with the actual unit I'll be working with, and even that whole interview process was managed/directed by HR. That's so strange to me. With psychology jobs, I'm used to dealing directly with whoever the head psychologist is of the unit, mano-a-mano/shrink-to-shrink, with HR only coming in at the end to handle the necessary paperwork. This process, on the other hand, has been much more driven by the paperwork and less by the professional side of things. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely thankful for the involvement of the recruiter and all they're doing (except in some cases, see previous past), but it also feels like they're the guard at the gate. Hopefully, once I have the final contract offer, the paperwork will stop being such a barrier and I'll finally feel like I have access to the unit/program itself.