Mairi & I have been living in the Holiday Inn Center City (not City Centre FYI) in Charlotte, North Carolina for 10 days now working with IBM and loving every minute of it !
Firstly, my flight from Philadelphia to Charlotte was delayed by around 3 -4 hours (which meant that Mairi had enough time to claim the King Sized bed) due to thunder storms and I was papped on the sofa bed after about 20 hours of travelling ! The hotel is pretty good, with breakfast (and lunch if you steal from breakfast) and small dinner buffet through the week however, Mairi and I have to sit in the corridor to use the Internet as our room does not get a good signal. Mairi has been nicknamed "Bits and Bobs" by one of the staff after she asked him where the nearest super market was to buy some "Bits and Bobs". Our rooftop pool has been offlimits this week due to the Glasgow-esque weather which should hopefully pick up as I have been telling everyone in Scotland about the glorious sunshine and they will become suspicious if I don't come home with a tan !
Our Manager Steve and his wife Julie picked us up from the Airport (although I arrived at about 12.30am) and have been so supportive and helpful. They have shown us around Charlotte, taken us out for a welcome meal and even brought us gifts for out arrival. Working at IBM is completely different to what I thought - the Office is so quiet and calm and everyone wears casual clothes. We have our own laptops, IBM logins, IBM swipe cards to enter the building, IBM telephone and extension numbers. My personal project is still in the beginnings but I have begun a Project on how much IBM is saving by using high tech Video Conferencing equipment instead of employees travelling across the world for meetings.
The people in Charlotte are all so welcoming and helpful, however some people do struggle to understand the "Glasgow Patter".
Next point, the accent:
Update end of next week !