Hello! For those of you who don't get first hand experience with the tears, panic attacks, and angry rants about miscommunication, here's a bit of an update! Still on the American side of the pond, but the departure date, as you all know, is set in stone and the paperwork just keeps getting higher. Thus, we've experienced some slight, shall we call it, turbulence on the paperwork front.
Good news, however! Here's a picture of where my new home for the next year will be:
It's a row of University owned flats. I'll be sharing a common room/kitchen in a similar situation as I did in Gettysburg, with four other flatmates, and I'll have my own bedroom. Looks like I'll take a nice (if not brisk, and mostly pouring down raining) walk through Kelvingrove Park to get to Main Campus.
And now for the bad news: I had a horrible fiasco with my prepayment. At first, they told me my payment went through, but my accommodation contract did not. I couldn't accept my contract, without the screen telling me I made a payment, but it didn't realize that I had. So I called. I emailed. I pushed and shoved and probably only further propagated the pushy-American stereotype and went as far as making an international phone call. Only because they hadn't responded at all, to anything, for many days (who does that!? It was like all of Scotland had taken a siesta). Finally, a response. They let me accept my contract! Buuuut, by then my bank had dropped the pending transaction! So I emailed again. They said forget about it, if they don't get the money, they'll just tack it onto my rent instead of being deducted in advance.
But then, the transaction finally went through. So, at least that's taken care of.
More good news!
I received my CAS (a confirmation of acceptance for studies number, which will allow me to apply for a Visa)!
Bad news: First, they sent it to the wrong email. They sent it to my deactivated, Gettysburg College email at the beginning of July. I had removed that email from my Glasgow account, but it seems they got the message too late, and despite my asking several times if they had sent my CAS, they did not check until ... well until today. And good lord almighty is Visa paperwork a pain! Apply for it online, make sure you have the right financial information, sign up to get finger printed, pay $492, print out many forms and kill many trees, fill out a confusing eight-page blue packet of paper to make sure you know your name and how much money you have, and then send it all away to New York, accompanied by your passport and a myriad of paperwork. And wait.
Not quite at the waiting bit, but I'll let you know how it goes; in the meantime, there's a 39 day countdown going on until I make my way from Baltimore, to Boston, to Dublin, and finally Glasgow. Stay tuned.
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