moving to Newcastle

Hi yall,
I'll be moving with my husband and baby to Newcastle in July for my husband to do a postdoc. Right now we're in the thick of logistics - visas, passport for the baby, finding a place to live, selling our house here, etc. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed!

Are there any folks from Newcastle here? We're looking at Jesmond or Gosforth because we want to be close to activities so we can meet new people, but we don't want to live with a bunch of partying students.

I know I will miss my family but so far we've got a long list of people who want to come visit, so that will be helpful. I'm a generally outgoing person (I'm Southern so I think that helps) and have a rather British sense of humor as it is, so I'm hoping I'll be able to meet people. I've been told that Geordies are very friendly!

Any advice to share? I was already instructed to bring my own peanut butter.

Hello!  There's a group of 50 or so of us in the Newcastle/Durham area.  I'll PM you a link to our group.

I don't know Gosforth, but I do know that Jesmond has my favorite burger place which is far more important over here than peanut butter.  You can get American (and in the style of) peanut butter here no problem.  Not so with burgers.  Jesmond does seem mostly students when I go, but I don't know if they party there or in Newcastle. 

I've been here for about a year and I everyone I've met has been friendly and welcoming.  I've not had anyone respond negatively to me being American.  Watch out for that Geordie accent -- especially the men... you'll swear it's not English until you get used to it. 

Everything you need to do to get ready will be overwhelming, but this site is great for both information and empathy.  We've all done it an survived so far!!!!

Thanks for the welcome! I'll join the Facebook group once we make it official (husband has to pass his defense), I'm looking forward to talking with yall!

I've heard the Geordie accent is an interesting one. Somehow I doubt my love of Inspector Lewis will help me out here. I have this super embarrassing habit of picking up other folks' accents (especially when alcohol is involved) so hopefully the Geordie accent will be hard enough that it doesn't happen.

Nah.... you gotta look for Geordie Shore.  Sadly, I don't pick up accents and can't even imitate them if I try.  I think there are a number of accents here in the NE that I didn't even realize existed.  Sometimes I don't even hear the American accent anymore and DH has to point it out for me. 

Definitely join the group and hopefully we'll be meeting you before too long.