My Indianapolis Experience II (July to October 2016)
I relocated to Indianapolis for three months. It makes a difference whether you visit a place as a tourist or you really live and work in a foreign country. Much more things have to be organized and a lot is new and confusing. I remember that I was looking for about ten minutes or more for the ignition lock when I picked up my rental car at the airport before I realized that there is a button to start the car and the key isn’t needed. At the gas station: E85 - what is that? And it is not available!
Driving is fun. Americans are so relaxed in traffic, you can reach every spot by car and usually there is enough space to park your car.
Having arrived at the apartment (D) you receive your key from a small locker box where you need to know the code.
The weather forecast predicts 64 degrees Fahrenheit for tomorrow, but what does that mean in degrees Celsius? It’s as simple as that: °C = (°F − 32) / 1.8, you just need to divide 32 by 1.8 in this example. All right?
However, in general many things seem to work more simple and in a very pragmatic way in the US. I enjoyed to simplify my life. The washing machine gives you three options for temperature: cold, warm and hot, but your label says 30 or 40 °C. Stay on the safe side and use cold.
The hot plates of the oven look like an immersion heater which has been compressed to flatness but they get hot really rapidly.
And you have to deal with 110 instead of 220 volts. Some of your devices work with this voltage, some do not. It was a good idea to buy a transformer upfront and to bring it with me. If you are used to brush your teeth electrically your manual tooth brushing capabilities are dwindling.