advice?? future aspirations

Hiya,

im soon to qualify as an adult nurse in london, UK (this Sept). I am hoping to gain employment in cardiothoracic, neurosurgery or renal before applying to study paeds nursing in March for 2009 which will be 2years long. Then I hope to go to Australia for 6months to work as a nurse & travel before applying to gain employment and immigration into the USA. California is one of my main places of interest (along with seattle, chicago and Florida). Ideally I hope to specialise in A&E (or emergency nursing as its known in america). I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice? Here in the UK, i will earn £19,999 (approx $40,000) and it will only increase to approx £26,000 ($52,000) as I still want to remain a clinical nurse, we get hardly any further study opportunites (except medicines administration, iv care and mentorship) and when we do study days are not included in our shifts (so effectively we are doing them in our own time) Housing here in London is extortinate - as a single female i would have to get a bedsit (i dont know if you have bedsits in USA but its a flat like house where your bedroom, living room and kitchen are all together) or a 1 bedroom flat for approx £250,000 ($500,000) which would leave me in debt for years, also travel expenses to and from hospital, food prices and general prices of things (ie dvds, make-up, etc) are all way above what you guys pay in dollars. Anyhoo (sorry about the long story) I was wondering if you give me info on the following:

*What could i expect to earn as a nurse in California?
*what are the further training opportunities?are they expensive?
*what are the opportunities for adult or paeds trained nurses? I have particular interest in ER, cardiac, renal, neurosurgery (adult & paeds) and rare disroders &/or learning disabilities (children)
*what are housing prices like in Cali? and how much are taxes? is there public transport? cos i can't drive
*what is schooling like in america? as i amy have kids when i move and our education system is a lot different i think
*are there any public funded hospitals in Cali? as im really passionate about our NHS here in the UK (even tho its being ripped apart fae the crappy government)
*what are the shift patterns and nurseatient ratio here i work 12-13hour shifts 3 to 4 days a week and we have approx 8-12 patients per 1 nurse (depends on the ward) and we get 5weeks holiday a year

AND im really sorry if this sounds stupid.........................BUT what are nurses expected to do in terms of clinical skills?? sorry its just i heard fae some nurses who have worked in america that they didn't get to do as many skills as they are expected to do here in the uk (ie removal of chest drains post cardiac surgery was one example a nurse said she was'nt allowed to do). Its just i dont want to lose valuable skills that i learn as a student - cos here we have basically taken over things that doctors would normally do, only our wages have not been increased to represent this

Thank you for your help,

hope to maybe work with some of you in the future

Leanne xx