From Germany to San Francisco
After arriving in the US, one thing you probably have to do is find an apartment. For the first couple of weeks after your arrival you will probably stay at a hotel or in an apartment from your employer; either way, you will need to find a place to stay and feel home at — the earlier the better.
I had a very nice place to stay when I arrived, and still, because I knew it was temporary I didn’t really feel at home. So finding an apartment was one of my top priorities.
SSN, short for Social Security Number; that’s the magic number in the US. You get your SSN printed on a Social Security Card. This card is not an ID card though, because Americans are independent and the government is not supposed to clearly identify its citizens. So instead you get a card that just happens to have a unique number on it to clearly identify the person it belongs to, without being an ID card. Do you see the difference between the two? No? Me neither. Either way you need one in order to be able to work. This post describes how to get one.