First Benchmarks

Flight: purchased.

Housing: applied.

Loan forms: received.

All that's left is to finish filling out the loan forms, accept my housing when it gets here, receive my CAS and apply for my Visa, get my loans straightened out and into a bank account, pay tuition, and... essentially... do a lot of waiting! There are a lot of hoops to jump through before this blog can get underway, such as the ones mentioned above but today definitely sealed the deal and made the coming year solidify in my mind.

I bought a one-way ticket to the United Kingdom; something I've kind of always wanted to do since I visited England back in 2005 (when I was but fourteen!) for a week and a half or so. Just a one-way ticket that shuffles me around from Baltimore, to Boston, to Dublin, and finally landing me in Glasgow. Glasgow. My home for the next year starting September 8th, 2013. Of course, this is far later than I wanted my arrival to be; I have friends headed off to Edinburgh and Dublin in late August and I know I'll be sitting and twiddling my thumbs just waiting for my departure date! My program does not officially start until September 16th, too. 

There is a definite lack of communication sometimes between Glasgow officials and myself; I want to know certain things so I can do them ahead of time, as early as possible... if I've learned anything from living four months in Egypt it's that I have to initiate everything when trying to get things done! I've begged for my loan forms (and got them) and now I guess it's just a matter of time before I have to nag about my CAS!

In the meantime, readers, I suppose I should explain the purpose of this blog. I will be writing in this as often as possible with updates on the moving progress as I lead up to September 8th, and even more so (hopefully) after I get there. I want to not only explain and write about my studies and research, but also about my adventures. I endeavor to take advantage of any opportunity to travel within and out of Scotland while I'm there, to England, Wales, and Ireland, most probably, and particularly through the University's international student office. And who knows where in the UK my research will take me: crossing my fingers for the Isle of Iona!

Let's hope for the best as the paperwork gets underway.

In the meantime, check out my program's page on the Uni website right HERE and bookmark this page or submit your email for updates as we begin to prepare for a year in Glasgow!