Airline Tickets and More

Its been awhile since I last posted. Things are moving along here. I applied for some scholarships back in March and am hoping to hear back soon. I also am moving through the financial aid process, which is difficult to say the least. I am getting really tired of people arguing with me on whether or not they loan to overseas schools (they do- the customer service reps just don't believe it). Hopefully I have it all sorted out now (since I haven't gotten any urgent emails in two weeks from the financial aid office, I feel like maybe it is a positive sign).

In June I have to apply for my student visa to stay. They changed the "scheme" this year for students applying after March 31st. So while before it was pretty straightforward to get into the UK if you were a US citizen, now it takes everything but your first born to get in. I have to apply online for the Visa, send in original transcripts, my itinerary, letters of sponsorship, and recommendations. I have to prove that I have enough money to survive there for the year and pay for school (roughly $20,100) and they would prefer if that money is in my account for at least a month- because we all have $20,100 extra laying around, right???? My student loan letters should work for this but here's the rub- from the point at which I receive that letter, I have one month to complete the process. If it was just an online application that would be easy enough, but I have to send in an application, get an appointment with a visa certification centre and get my finger prints and a digital photo taken. These appointments take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks to get- but your visa application is not done without them..... So you have a month and the appointments to finish the process are 6 weeks out.... welcome to the UK. Brilliant!

So you might have caught in that long explanation that I need an itinerary to apply. I am happy to announce that as of this weekend I became the proud owner of a one way ticket to Manchester for September 10-11th. I will fly from Seattle to Philadelphia first, where I will have a four hour layover (better to have a long one than too short of one I guess) and then from there to Manchester. I will be arriving around 12:45am west coast time, then I will get on a train and ride to Edinburgh. The best part, it will be 8:45am Edinburgh time when I get there so I will be trying to stay up for the day. Afterall I have to get acclimated to the time if I am going to start school the following Monday.

Well that's what I got for now. I will update as I know more.

Love, Kristie