Entry Clearance!

It is official. I have the money, I have the tickets, I have housing and finally I have my Visa! I will be living in Deans Court, one of the older residences at St. Andrews, and by old I mean REALLY old. The main part of the building was built in the sixteenth century... yeah. I don't have many details about it, other than it is small, meaning 50 so prostgrads, but the rooms apparently tend to run large, sweet! Some even have fireplaces haha.
So that is exciting, but even more exciting is that the UK government will let me stay in the country. I officially received my Visa via UPS today!!! I must say, my picture is pretty fantastic haha. So now, there is nothing left for my preparation but to somehow decide what to pack.
As so many of you know, I LOVE to pack. Its sort of my thing. When mom dad and I went to Europe, i packed like a month before. China, same deal. Well, nothing has changed with me... I did a pack job last night with the MAX clothes I would take, and hey not too bad, my entire wardrobe fits in 2.5 suitcases. Good thing I've got some high quality bell hops coming with me :-p Mom and Dad will be packing in one suitcase, and I get their others haha. Parents rock.

Well, I could keep blabbering on and on about what I plan on packing, but lets be honest, you have better things to do.

Until next time!

Tor

Well, we've got tickets...

So I am getting closer and closer to actuallly going to Scotland. I am officially on vacation until I leave. Although I'll miss my paycheck... I have so much to do, I'm glad I left work now to have two whole months to work on getting my life in order. Speaking of getting things in order, Dad and I went up to St. Albans VT yesterday to get my "biometrics" done at a US homeland security office for my Visa. Basically it was a picture for the database and fingerprints. So after the 2.5 hour drive, I was at the apointment for all of 12 minutes. So after we were through, Dad and I spent the day in Burlington which was fun. Now that the UK has my "biometrics" I get to send out my Visa application and documents tomorrow, so I will hopefully get my Visa soon!!
Other than that, we are officially going to scotland, whether or not i can stay will be up to the UK Government by giving me the Visa, but we booked our flights! We leave from Boston on September 14th! I'm really getting excited, but there is still so much to do... but honestly, I'm excited to do all the packing stuff too. Once I have a guarentee of my housing and I have my Visa in hand, I'll be way less stressed.
Well, guess thats it for now, another fun filled blog update :)

Cheers!

Tori

Gradschool Ho!

Good god I'm actually going to grad school.


I've wanted this crazy plan of mine to actually start for so long, that now that it is happening, I'm sort of freaking out! I'm so excited to be going to the University of St. Andrews I can't even express, but I'm also in shock that all of this is really happening... Okay lets be honest, I'm not so excited about the paperwork, the visa applications and outrageous amounts of loans... but overall I can't help but smile every time I think of Scotland.


Figuring out all the logistics though has been a bit crazy. Between communicating via email with the school due to the time difference, trying to find my way through loan apps and answering five million questions for getting my Visa, my head is spinning. That aside, I've already started to plan what to pack, what bags to pack in, I've bought a few new electronics (totally necessary for keeping the fam updated) and I've already started to agonize over what books I must leave at home. I have also started to plan weekend trips to London to see my friend Jess, and perhaps ventures to France to see a few young friends abroad and then hopefully I'll be spending Christmas in Vienna with another college friend. I can't wait for all the adventures I'll be going on. Just hope my damn ankle will be right-as-rain by then. :-p


Travels aside though, the nerd in me is excited to get back to class. I'm so glad I took a year off to give my brain a bit of a break. Up until a few months ago I was pretty happy just chillin at home, working, enjoying Vermont, but it got to the point where I was sitting at home after work saying to myself "OK, isn't' there a paper I should be working on? Do I have a book I need to frantically finish for tomorrow?" That's how I knew I was ready to go back to school to get my masters. I'm so thrilled I'll be going to classes, I'll be taking books out, staying up late, getting hand cramps from writing notes and of course getting far too behind on laundry to be healthy.


So I guess this is my first official blog post... I can't believe I actually got a blog. Hopefully this will make keeping everyone posted on my crazy adventures in Europe/Scotland soooo much easier. :)

'Til next time, to quote Tracy Ulman...

"Blogs and Kisses!"