Advice Needed – Firm is moving me from Texas to Dublin, Ireland

It’s level 1 – it’s not exactly difficult so just go ahead and do it. 

British English @Maverick‌? Is that what they speak in Dublin? Didn’t sound much like it last time I was there!

Hahaaaa @ommthree very funny. Yes there’s certainly some regionalisms, but in business you’ll need to spell in Queens English.
Actually, I think Christine raised some very important points here in terms of terminology and usage, so, just to help your transition to Ireland and the UK, please see the below guide:

DISCLAIMER: THE BELOW IS INTENDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THOSE EASILY OFFENDED OR LACKING A SENSE OF HUMOUR SHOULD NOT CONTINUE PAST THIS POINT.

Sports:
American Football: Entirely unknown in Ireland and the UK. Misappropriation of the word football to a sport not involving feet is seen as laughable, as is the fact that a “touchdown” does not indeed actually require the ball to be ‘touched down’ anywhere. But we guess that football sounded better than “Catching Whilst Running” and touchdown was better than “crossing a line while cheering”.
Nearest equivalent: Ummm, none.

Baseball: Again, virtually unknown and certainly not covered on the TV.
Nearest equivalent: Rounders, 95% match. A game played by high school (11-16 year old) girls.

Basketball: Known, but not widely played outside of the council estates. Some limited TV coverage, but not with any consistency as 99.9% of the populous have little interest.
Nearest equivalent: Netball, 90% match. A game also largely played by 11 to 16 year old girls at school.

Nascar: Absolutely lacking any understanding in Ireland / UK due to the lack of any corners which actually involve braking. Most of the guys in any pub (see public house later) will tell you “I could do better than that lot”.
Nearest Equivalent: Touring Cars or Formula Racing, 70% match. A racing format which does actually involve corners of varying left and right dispersion and tightness. Thus requiring the drivers to both accelerate and brake, as well as steer.

You may like to try the following as alternatives:
Football (you call it soccer): A game involving 11 men on each team, played over two halves of 45 minutes each. Only feet are allowed and handling the ball is considered a foul. This is the most popular sport in the UK and Ireland, and indeed, the world itself. The object of the game is to score more goals that your opponents.

Rugby: This is a game upon which your own American Football was originally based, however it does not allow the significant advantages of: A) Forward passing, B) Excessive body armour, C) Noggin Protectors (Helmets). The ball must also actually be touched down with pressure in the scoring zone and simply crossing the line is not enough. Serious injuries are common.

You may also come across Gaelic Football, which is like rugby but with rather more violence involved.

Common Terms:
Public House or Pub (USA translation: Bar). A place to go and watch the above mentioned domestic sports, while drinking real ale (not fizzy lager) and probably ending up in a fight for no real reason.

Well Oiled (Translation: Drunk). What you’ll probably be when you leave the pub, having been goaded into drinking 5 more pints of beer than you originally intended.

Copper, Old Bill or Rozzer (Translation: The Police). Probably best to avoid these if you have been in a fight in the pub. Otherwise, generally quite pleasant people, keeping the community safe.

Gun (Translation: Gun) Unknown to most in terms of owning and certainly is illegal to do so. Unlikely you’ll come across one unless you happen to mistakenly join a paramilitary group.

Bird (Translation: A woman). Perfectly acceptable term between a large group of drunken males, however considered quite offensive to the opposite sex (unless of low standards).

…. I can keep this going if you want but my fingers are getting tired…

Adding to @Maverick‌’s list, a very important one:

Pants:

• In US, it means a garment worn over your legs, which includes shorts, slacks, jeans, etc
• In UK/RoI, ‘pants’ means underwear. When referring to legwear, use the term ‘trousers’.

Pissed:

• US: Angry
• UK/RoI: Drunk

🙂

Well played there @christine‌ 
At the risk of turning this into an ongoing (uk / roi term) “pissing contest”. Try also:

USA: Jelly
a conserve or spread for toasted items
UK/ROI: Jelly
A set, sugary fruit flavoured dessert used to keep small children quiet.

USA: Fall
The third season of the year
UK/ROI: Fall
To fall over and potentially hurt oneself. In the UK/ROI it is normally customary to accept that this probably happened because you are an idiot and not because you need to sue somebody.

Not to keep this going any longer, as it should eventually die as all threads do when reaching their conclusion. However I happened to meet a guy (American) at my sons new school yesterday, and ironically as we’ve been discussing this, his aim is to create a dictionary or reference material guide for Americans of US-UK translations. One of the reasons being especially due to the fact that in US English, you have a singular word for each and every thing, whereas in British English, we often use a word to have multiple different meanings that are very diverse, especially when it can be on one hand, very good and on the other, very bad, depending on context. Maybe I need @christine‌ to help me on this if the project ever kicks off!

Glad to chip in @Maverick‌! 😀

A colleague of mine had to postpone his candidacy in the CFA program for medical reasons and that was quite difficult. CFA Institute basically told him that he needed a very good reason, as they normally don’t allow you to postpone your registration after you’ve already paid. In this case, he got a signed note from his doctor which eventually allowed him to take the next session, but I’m not sure whether they will allow you to postpone your exam date. I guess you can always ask. 

Is there no way of moving to Dublin after the CFA exam?

I changed my test centre without any difficulty, so I think you could do that. Not sure what the deadline is though. That said, you may find that Dublin is a bit too distracting for studying. Enjoy the Guinness!

From what I’ve heard from a few sources, @ommthree is right. Changing the test centre is easy enough, but the date is very difficult. I hope that your study can keep up with the disruption and move, I wouldn’t want that added pressure.

However as ommthree also alluded to, Guinness as a distraction is quite formidable (I went to Ireland for St Patricks once, I don’t remember most of it!) and secondly, you will have to cope with the need to learn to spell in British English. Quite a shock to the system I’m sure! I love the way the forum underlines all of my perfectly correct spellings 🙂 

Digressing even further… (sorry @Qu33qu3g‌)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmrg3owTRE

Changing your test center will not be a problem, but I’d be surprised if CFAI allows you to defer your exam. Keep the test center change deadline in mind (Oct 13 for Dec 2014, see our calendar) and hopefully by then you have a better idea of where you’d be.

@Maverick‌ I’m pretty sure it’s your computer system that’s underlining – not our forum… I don’t see any underlines on my screen 🙂

@christine‌ How bizarre, my computer is set to British English. I think the most amusing thing I’ve seen in recent years was Sarah Michelle Gellar on the Jonathan Ross talk show in the UK. He said something to her and the next exchange went something along the lines of:

Sarah: “I’m sorry Jonathan, I’m not sure what you’re saying, I don’t understand your Language”

Jonathan: “Funny that, I’m speaking English 🙂“

Anyway, we need to poke fun at the US for something, you guys always typecast us as villains in Hollywood films and suchlike. So… we’re digressing massively from the subject. Sorry  @Qu33qu3g‌