Apologies for the lack of posts, I've been extremely busy and working at a summer camp doesn't leave too much time for internet activities. Working at Interlochen for the third summer in a row has been lots of fun, but, as always, full of the little challenges working with high schoolers is guaranteed to have :p
It's also been a bit of a challenge to work on preparing for moving abroad in less than a month-- I'm leaving on August 22! It's so soon. There has been lots to do- loans, visas, registering for orientation, and more. I'm so glad I sorted out my housing in March! Doing this from a little cabin in the woods, with somewhat shoddy internet, has been another experience altogether.
I've been sorting out the financial stuff in order to get my visa, so June and early July was spent on federal loans (which can be used for international graduate programs, that's exciting) and private loans, and working with the international financial aid officer in Glasgow. After that was sorted out and I had officially accepted my offer, I was issued a CAS, or Confirmation for Acceptance of Studies. This is a document issued from your university confirming you will be a student, you've accepted an unconditional offer. It's also necessary to apply for a Tier 4 Student visa to the UK.
Next was my visa application, which took a bit more time than I expected. This was mostly because I've traveled a lot previously, and I had to record every trip to the UK in the past 10 years, every other international trip in the past 10 years, and all my prior passport information (I'm on my fourth passport, so that took a while as well). And this was all on the first page! I submitted my visa application last week, and paid the fee online (FYI, if you're planning on applying for a student visa, realize they cost several hundred dollars, so plan accordingly. And your credit card account may be locked for international transactions, so watch out for that, oops.)
The next step is a biometrics appointment at an approved office, which I'm going to tomorrow. This is pretty much the visa people taking my photo (outside of my passport and extra passport photos) and taking my fingerprints and other information. I also turn in my passport and other documents at this appointment. In Michigan, the two location options are Grand Rapids and Detroit. I'm going to Grand Rapids as it's two hours away from Traverse City as opposed to four, like Detroit. It's slightly frustrating that I have to leave camp and my job for a day, but I have to do it! The Glasgow international student support team say it should take around ten days to two weeks for turnaround, but I'm not sure I trust them. We'll see how long it takes for me to get my passport back!
Last week, I also registered for International Student Orientation! I'm pretty excited. It starts on Sept. 8 and includes several sessions that I think will be pretty helpful for adjusting to the university and the city itself. U of G has a lot of really cool activities available as well, such as tours of the city and a Scottish culture night, and three tours into other parts of Scotland during the weekend through Student Tours Scotland. I signed up for two of those trips as they're only £15 each for a day trip: one to Loch Lomond on Friday Sept. 12, and one to Callander and Killin on Saturday Sept. 13. (You can click through the links to see descriptions and photos from past day trips, Scotland is really, really beautiful).
I am also now "friends" with the International Society on facebook (it has a person profile page as opposed to a likeable organization page, something I've noticed British unis do for different things), and ISoc has been doing all kinds of amazing day trips during the summer months as well, so I'm excited to get involved with that group and see even more of Scotland! Additionally, my mother and I are flying out on the 22nd so we can do a weeklong tour of Scotland before I start to settle down. I'm quite excited and it will be nice to spend some time with my mom before university life starts in earnest.
On the whole I'm getting quite excited, but also somewhat nervous! There's not much time left for me to start getting ready, and the idea of packing for 12 months is a daunting task. But I'm sure I'll manage! I'll keep everyone updated :)
It's also been a bit of a challenge to work on preparing for moving abroad in less than a month-- I'm leaving on August 22! It's so soon. There has been lots to do- loans, visas, registering for orientation, and more. I'm so glad I sorted out my housing in March! Doing this from a little cabin in the woods, with somewhat shoddy internet, has been another experience altogether.
I've been sorting out the financial stuff in order to get my visa, so June and early July was spent on federal loans (which can be used for international graduate programs, that's exciting) and private loans, and working with the international financial aid officer in Glasgow. After that was sorted out and I had officially accepted my offer, I was issued a CAS, or Confirmation for Acceptance of Studies. This is a document issued from your university confirming you will be a student, you've accepted an unconditional offer. It's also necessary to apply for a Tier 4 Student visa to the UK.
Next was my visa application, which took a bit more time than I expected. This was mostly because I've traveled a lot previously, and I had to record every trip to the UK in the past 10 years, every other international trip in the past 10 years, and all my prior passport information (I'm on my fourth passport, so that took a while as well). And this was all on the first page! I submitted my visa application last week, and paid the fee online (FYI, if you're planning on applying for a student visa, realize they cost several hundred dollars, so plan accordingly. And your credit card account may be locked for international transactions, so watch out for that, oops.)
The next step is a biometrics appointment at an approved office, which I'm going to tomorrow. This is pretty much the visa people taking my photo (outside of my passport and extra passport photos) and taking my fingerprints and other information. I also turn in my passport and other documents at this appointment. In Michigan, the two location options are Grand Rapids and Detroit. I'm going to Grand Rapids as it's two hours away from Traverse City as opposed to four, like Detroit. It's slightly frustrating that I have to leave camp and my job for a day, but I have to do it! The Glasgow international student support team say it should take around ten days to two weeks for turnaround, but I'm not sure I trust them. We'll see how long it takes for me to get my passport back!
Last week, I also registered for International Student Orientation! I'm pretty excited. It starts on Sept. 8 and includes several sessions that I think will be pretty helpful for adjusting to the university and the city itself. U of G has a lot of really cool activities available as well, such as tours of the city and a Scottish culture night, and three tours into other parts of Scotland during the weekend through Student Tours Scotland. I signed up for two of those trips as they're only £15 each for a day trip: one to Loch Lomond on Friday Sept. 12, and one to Callander and Killin on Saturday Sept. 13. (You can click through the links to see descriptions and photos from past day trips, Scotland is really, really beautiful).
I am also now "friends" with the International Society on facebook (it has a person profile page as opposed to a likeable organization page, something I've noticed British unis do for different things), and ISoc has been doing all kinds of amazing day trips during the summer months as well, so I'm excited to get involved with that group and see even more of Scotland! Additionally, my mother and I are flying out on the 22nd so we can do a weeklong tour of Scotland before I start to settle down. I'm quite excited and it will be nice to spend some time with my mom before university life starts in earnest.
On the whole I'm getting quite excited, but also somewhat nervous! There's not much time left for me to start getting ready, and the idea of packing for 12 months is a daunting task. But I'm sure I'll manage! I'll keep everyone updated :)
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