Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Croeso i Abertawe| Welcome to Swansea

I made it! After months of prepping and a few mental break downs I am finally here. Wales is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It is so green. I am from Ohio, which is a green place, but Swansea just has this energy that I love. The under current motivates me to walk miles every day. 

I have learned a lot in my few days here. For example there is no such thing as Jaywalking.
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Rexburg, where I did my undergraduate degree, fines you like $80 if they catch you jaywalking. This has been music to my ears. 

Also, because they drive on the left side of the road, I am learning to look left then right before crossing the street. I probably look crazy with how many times I check the road before I cross but I haven't had incidences with cars so:

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Walking is my main mode of transport and it is so nice outside, even with the misty rain, that I don't even care. I have stepped in my fair share of puddles already. I definitely need to invest in better shoes. Flats are not really enough here. Also, I really want to find a bike. It will be faster than walking. And cabs are darn expensive.

Also in traveling, don't use street addresses. The most efficient way to find a place is the post code. Much like the zipcode in the US, but more accurate. Its almost block specific, kind of like a grid system, but British. And is pretty accurate. I have had no problems using postcodes.

Phones are interesting too. All mobiles are 07 numbers. All landlines are either 01 or 02. 03 and 08 are for call centers and marketing things;which makes it really easy to know if its a sales call. Ignore the 03 and 08 calls.

People use the nick name variety of Love, Lovey, my love etc. And honestly, it makes me so happy. If people called me lovey for the rest of my life I would be okay. It is also odd, I think American culture makes us hesitant to use the word love, in any context. It holds significant meaning to us culturally and thus we don't use it that often. So I feel bonded to strangers because they call me love. I know to them it means something different, but it is refreshing.

Something else I have learned is that Welsh people are unbelievably kind. I have had complete strangers help me with my luggage, offer me advice about buses to take and plethora of other things. I hope this continues. They have made quite the impression and it has been a positive one.

I am getting pretty settled in. I already have adjusted to the new time zone. I move into my flat on Friday. I can't wait for this adventure to really start!

Thursday, September 1, 2016

LET THE COUNT DOWN BEGIN!

My life is so important that obviously I need to write about it and share it to my friends, family and acquaintances. Over the past few months a lot has happened. The Olympics where Michael Phelps did his things, my family and I had adventures, and I started preparing for my impending travels for grad school. 
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There is an entire section of the internet and book stores dedicated to travel and how to prepare for it. The stress has probably given me my first gray hair. I haven't looked, to be honest, I don't really care. Gray can be really dignified and is really trendy right so I would "in".
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The visa has been my biggest issue. I had to wait for my CAS.  
C -Confirmation
of
A- Acceptance
for
S-Studies
Basically it is the institution saying"Yes, we are having Sara come study. No, she isn't pretending."

In order to receive a CAS, one must have an unconditional offer from the institution they are planning on attending. My unconditional offer required an FBI background check. It takes forever. Image result for red tape gif
(If you need one by a certain date make sure you submit your paperwork at least 5 months in advance. It takes 11 weeks before you can even check if they received your application.) After my university processes the background check, the rest of the planning was fairly uneventful... until I had to apply for my visa. 

My school didn't email me telling me the required documents for my visa until two weeks ago. That in and of itself made me anxious. Most visas take a while to process. I complied the documents and went to the post office and mailed them. Upon returning home I found I forgot three pages of documents. The next day I overnight-ed them. Two days after that I had an email that told me I had the wrong type of return label and that I needed to pay for the online PDF return label. I wanted to rip my hair out. 
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Today was a glorious day. I have heard back, my visa has been granted. My passport will be returned early next week. My airplane tickets are purchased. Hotel is taken care of for when I arrive.
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I will be leaving the U.S. for the United Kingdom, where I will be living, in Wales, for the next year. I am so excited for this next adventure.