Introductions all around

Good Morning! 

          For starters I want everyone to be well aware that this is my very first blog ever, I've never spent any time reading other peoples blogs and never had one of my own before. Don't hold me to a very high standard and I apologize if there is any gibberish that makes no sense or it puts you to sleep. I'm very very sorry! Hopefully that wont happen. 
            
           Since this is the introduction post I should probably give a little background on myself and why I've started a blog. This blog is meant to keep all my friends and family up to date on my daily life, travels and all other adventures I have while in Ireland. 

            I'm guessing a few people that will read this have been kept in the loop and know exactly where I'm from, where I've lived and why I'm going to Ireland. But of course not everyone is privy. I've spent my entire remembered life in Washington state. Only lived in two different towns in Washington. So you could say I haven't seen a whole heck of allot. Which never used to bother me and as much as I truly love Washington and the north west, I want to see more of the world. At first that meant moving two hours from home to go to college for Radiology, while in college I decided I wanted to move to another state after graduating. Then while working on a project with two of my good friends and classmates, I got the idea into my lil brain to move to Ireland and work as an xray tech. And so the story begins!! 

              The first step to getting to Ireland was to be approved to work there. The process of being approved  is quite a long one, heads up to anyone out there that wants to work in a foreign country, it takes a lot of paper work and patience! First off  I had to be approved by the Irish Institute of Radiography and Radiation Therapy ( aka IIRRT) to work as a tech. I requested an application for validation of my qualifications and soon received two large packets in the mail, form A and form B. They required extensive details on what classes I had taken, what tests and how the tests were given, my grades, our clinical experiences, any licenses I had and work experience. Not only did they require both forms to be filled out in a very specific manner but they also needed notarized copies of all my licenses, certificates, my diploma and U.S. Passport. Several letters from my instructor and the papers had to have the school stamp on them. 
                I started the process of the paper work before graduating in 2012, but wasn't able to submit the papers until a year later due to the fact I first had to pass my U.S. registry and receive all the documents from our government to make copies for Ireland. After submitting the packets the first time they were returned, Sent them a second time and they were returned...again. After the fourth time of resubmitting the papers with the necessary corrections or added documents they finally accepted them for review. The review process could take four to six months and lucky me it took six months for to hear back from them. But it was worth the wait since they approved my validation, making it possible for me to work in Ireland.

                 Since receiving my approval from Ireland things have gone from a long and painful hurry up an wait pattern to gone in 60 seconds! About a week after receiving my approval letter I applied for two jobs in Ireland, one in Galway and one in Dublin. I was contacted the next day via email from a recruiter in Dublin. Having a contact in Ireland has been a God send. He lined me up with a work visa  for new graduates and helped lay out the paper trail I would have to follow. Compared to the packets of papers I had before it wasn't to bad, but figuring it out on my own would have been another story. So I was back in the position of having everything in the air, things were happening but with no set job, no 100% guarantee of a job and no set leave date it was a mix of knowing, yet not really know what was happening.

                   In the mean time I've had to prepare my life here in Washington for being totally turned up side down. My lease was just coming to an end, which was great timing! I'm still in the process of cleaning and packing. Had to line up a temporary place to crash once my lease has ended since I have no leave date, that was actually pretty easy. Thankful I have friends that are willing to open up their homes and lend me a couch/bed. But of course it couldn't be that easy! Not only did I need a place to stay but so does my cat, my dog, my reptiles, my newly purchased car and all the furniture I plan to keep. It has been a to do list that never ends!

                   I feel like this post has brought everyone from two years ago when this all started to current day and moment! There are job prospects in the works and once I have more information, like a leave date which would be nice not only for you but also for myself to know,  at that point in time I will make a new post.

Cheers!!
(Gotta get used to their slang!)