Life in the Foreign Service can be exciting, culturally instructive, and fun ? but the first six months spent settling into a new community can be a personal challenge which is simply another part of the job.

So says the new US Acting Consul General Antoinette Boecker, who arrived in Bermuda about a month ago.

Ms Boecker replaces Karen Emmerson, the former Acting Consul General, who returned to Washington, D.C. to take a position at a different division of the Department of State. Ms Boecker will serve as the US Acting Consul General until the US president names a replacement ? which, according to Ms Boecker, will probably not happen until after the November election.

Once a permanent Consul General is named, she will assume the post of Deputy Principal Officer during her assignment in Bermuda which is expected to last for three years.

Like many people in the foreign service, Ms Boecker has lived in extremely diverse locations since joining in 1991. She has served in Seoul and Pusan, South Korea; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Riga, Latvia before coming to Bermuda.

Ms Boecker said there is a bidding process when applying for different posts within the foreign service, where applicants submit a list of ten international locations where they would be willing to serve for approximately two to four years.

She explained that the bid list has to be diverse ? they cannot submit requests from only one geographical region, for example, and at least every eight years they must serve in a post considered ?difficult? on the basis of factors such as increased danger, isolation, or health risks.

However, once assigned, you are obligated to go. ?That makes you very careful when submitting your bid list,? chuckled Ms Boecker. Each posting has its benefits and its own unique set of challenges.

Ms Boecker?s first assignment in Korea, for example, was technically not classified as a difficult posting, but seemed so at times since she was not given training in the Korean language and was therefore unable to communicate with the average person on the street.

The most challenging aspect of her third posting in Riga, Latvia was the country?s lack of infrastructure. ?At the time, in 1997, the country had only been independent of Soviet authority for about five years,? she said.

?There wasn?t Western standard housing, they were still building infrastructure, and we couldn?t count on getting the foods we needed. But it was a fascinating place, mainly because of its developing character.?

The posting in Bermuda is typically highly bid, and Ms Boecker said at least 27 other people bid for her current posting. ?I?d never visited Bermuda before, but I had heard wonderful things,? said Ms Boecker. ?I like that it?s close to the US ? I have some older relatives, and I?m no spring chicken myself, so I feel more comfortable knowing that I can get home quickly if I needed to.

?It?s also nice to be more or less in the same time zone as my family and friends,? she added.

Despite renovations to the US Consulate in Bermuda following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ms Boecker said there are no unusual concerns about security in Bermuda.

But she noted: ?Ever since Bali, the Government had to be more formal about security, even in places like Bermuda where there is no evident threat.

?Unfortunately, terrorists are looking for soft targets in friendly countries because the places where you?re not expecting terrorists are the most vulnerable,? she added.

When asked what she found to be the most surprising aspect of Bermuda thus far, Ms Boecker replied: ?The roads! The roads surprised me ? they?re really, really narrow, and I?m frightened when I see a pedestrian walking since there?s not even a shoulder.

?I don?t think I?ll go walking on the roads any time soon!? she laughed. Ms Boecker noted that Bermudian-style greetings were somewhat similar to the friendliness she associates with her upbringing in the southern US.

?Although I don?t know everyone here, it?s clear that everyone else knows everyone, which reminds me of home,? she said. ?It?s the bigger cities where everyone becomes anonymous.?

Originally from a small town named Seguin in Texas, Ms Boecker spent most of her professional career as a professor and administrator at William Marsh Rice University in Houston, Texas. However, after several years at the same institution, Ms Boecker decided to move into the foreign service, motivated by ?the possibility of adventure? inherent in such a post.

?There?s an exam offered every year, and at first I took the exam just to see how I?d do,? said Ms. Boecker. ?It was a challenge, and I wondered, can I pass it?

?I did, and the exam was later followed by an in-person interview, a writing sample, and some role-playing to see how you interact in a group setting.

?It?s followed by a background check to see if you?re vulnerable to any security risks,? she added. ?There?s also an extensive health check because people may be sent into difficult, dangerous, or unhealthy conditions.

?But I decided to do this because after working at the same university for so many years, I didn?t want to retire and wonder what would?ve happened if I?d taken that opportunity,? she noted. ?I?ve been doing this since 1991, and it?s been a good 12 years although I still hate the moving.?

Ms Boecker noted that the most difficult part of regular relocation is having to go through the process of familiarising oneself with the environment by finding, for example, a good doctor or hairdresser.

?It?s also difficult getting yourself into the larger community. It takes time, it takes going to organisations you?re interested in,? she said. ?There?s generally about six months where you get to be pretty resourceful, when your network is not as fully attached as it will be later.

?You have to build friendships and build relationships, but that?s really the fun, wonderful part of foreign service life,? she added. ?After you get settled and make some friends, then you can begin to enjoy the country.?

After the initial settling-in process, Ms Boecker plans to enjoy her assignment here in Bermuda during her free time by exploring some of her leisure activities such as choral singing, scuba diving, gardening, and walking with her canine companions, Misty and Beau ? hobbies which were sometimes difficult or impossible to pursue in some of her other postings.

After her term in Bermuda is finished, Ms Boecker said she might like to pursue a posting in South America.

Regardless of her next location, she?s very pleased with her experiences in the foreign service thus far. ?I?ve been so lucky,? she said. ?I?ve had such diverse, wonderful postings which have been so very different from each other.?

It seems for Ms Boecker that the possibility for adventure has been realised.