Hello, I’m Flora and I have … FLORA LUCK.

Having your own brand of luck may sound like I have a breezy life. However in reality it’s more like an exciting adventure, sometimes a seemly impossible adventure. My Saltire summer so far is the biggest case if of FLORA LUCK I’ve seen.

A quick summary of Flora Luck; I tend to have the most unfortunate run of small unlucky things happen, the kind where it’s unbelievable that so many small things out of my control can happen. However the savior to Flora Luck is that the end result always turns out for the best, sometimes more amazing than I could have ever imagined in the first place. I shall explain.

I only received my accommodation 15 hours before flying out, confirmation of a car pending. Not too bad; just had to spend time the night before flying out googling the area and maps on how to get to work and stuff. In my short, 3 day, stay in New York City, I got confirmation of a car then it cancelled and found out my apartment no power but I would get to stay in a hotel for the first two nights. Minor hiccups.

Never did I think I would miss the CityLink Skye bus till I discovered GreyHound; at least however, when the bus is due to leave at 8am it leaves at 8am not 8:40am and you do not require to be there an hour early you pick up your booked ticket.  So half an hour late I miss my connecting bus and poor Christine, the intern picking me up has to wait around. She kindly still took me shopping and introduced me to I love New York Pizza – so tasty.

Sound’s not too convenient but alright so far; until I got the taxi to work on my first day. I asked the hotel to book me a taxi for 8:10am; I wasn’t to be at work till 8:35am and the hotel was less than 10 mins round the corner. That would give me plenty of time; you’d think? My taxi showed but at 8:35am after leaving the hotel car park in the conventional manner – only me and taxi driver in the car;  he did a u-turn back to the hotel to pick up another fare to drop off on the way to my work. A little stressed, now late and very confused by my taxi experience, all I could think was “this would not happen at home”. When I got into work, I apologized for my lateness and explained my story – I was soon told that my taxi experience was not normal here either. Strangely this was not to be my only 3 person taxi experience that week. (The only other taxi ride I’ve had, I shared with the driver’s bride to be.)  

A quick summary of my misfortunes in the first week, and the solutions, will hopefully further explain Flora Luck:

Monday:  I was not able to sign onto a computer at work or have a laptop ordered. National Grid stood me up twice in one day which forced me to evacuate my apartment and back to the Holiday Inn to save me from sitting in the dark.

Tuesday:  My computer was configured but couldn’t get into it. I got power in the apartment, but discovered no hot water or air con.

Wednesday: I got access to my computer and email. I got the hot water and air con in the apartment although I couldn’t seem to work the cooker.

Friday: I got the cooker working. (Pilot hadn’t been lit)

As you can see my luck starts to change for the better and by Friday I have an apartment, with power, hot water, air con (an essential in summer in Schenectady) and working cooker.  I am also feeling settled in at work with a working computer. However as I said above Flora Luck sometimes comes with an amazing edge; and with this long list of unfortunate events in a foreign country it has come in the most fantastic edge more fantastic than I could have ever imagined. My Saltire internship amazing edge has got to be my placement, the people I’ve met and more specifically my manager Mike.

My placement is awesome; I am working on a real design for the new GE wind turbines in a truly international design team where half the team is in the US and the other in Germany. I have been invited to different design meetings and reviews at different levels in the company and the different stages of design to get a feel of how the company works and the whole process of design. I have also been given a super exciting project to work on; although very scary to think my design will base what is going to be installed in the new turbines.

The people I have met are so lovely, kind, friendly and although I have been meeting so many people in such a large company I’ve felt as though I have been welcomed in as part of a small close knit team. Outside of work I have also met some great people and dogs (yes to people that know me well, dogs). Joann, who lives upstairs with Mamas (a dog), is so amazing and took me out shopping, welcomed me into her home and even got me a lovely moving in present,.

Last and certainly not least, Mike McClure my manager has been the best bit of my Flora Luck. He has welcomed me in to GE and his team introducing me to everyone; including his boss and his boss’s boss, and truly made me feel at home. As my car is still pending he has ensured I stay out of the taxis, after my “different” taxi experience before, by organizing a carpool and giving rides when needed. He has also acted as my personal translator not only for GE terms but also American sayings; invited me to different meetings he is attending and a social after work and gathered a list of different things to see and do around Schenectady from the Edison’s. (Thanks for everything Mike.)

So one week’s blog down (sorry it’s so late, another of my unfortunate events) seven to go and I can’t wait to see where it’ll take me.

Flora xxx