Going Plaid 2: The first week and Fringe

The plane from Newark arrived late so straight after Tom and Eunice (the wonderful amazing glorious family that agreed to house me and love me and take care of me this year) picked me up. We went to their place dropped off my stuff, changed called the family, and immediately went out for the whole day. We went to the fringe festival, got tickets for 3 different programs High Jinx with the Hamiltons, Wedding Band and Silence in Court. The Hamiltons are a celebrity couple, the husband is an ex politician who left politics because of a scandal, and together they started this chat show. They featured guests who were all having shows at the fringe so it was good to watch them first that way we could figure out what was worth seeing and what wasn’t. It was a fun show and from watching it we decided to see one of the featured artists in his little play Wedding Band. It’s a typical wedding and the singer and his mates are making all the preparations to play that night. The main character was great but his friend stole the show, it was funny and simple and sweet.

Next we walked around Edinburgh for a bit, we went all down the Royal Mile. (the road that leads from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace) the road was cut off from traffic and the streets were lines with touists street performers and an endless sea of people handing out fliers for their fringe shows. Then we had dinner at a Californian restaurant. It was pretty good too, I didn’t realize that there could be a wholly Californian restaurant, but I liked it immensely. After dinner they asked me if I was tired yet and wants some sleep, and of course I was too excited, I was starting to feel tired but I couldn’t let that stop me.

Our last show was a great drama. I basically presided over a rape case, and I totally called it. The premise is the audience is the jury, there are no witnesses and no evidence, just his story against hers. You hear them out and you get to cross examine them. The actors and actresses had to be very fluid in their lines and had to be ready to answer our questions. The way the end was done changed each time depending on the verdict, and it was by far my favorite fringe show.

Edinburgh is BEAUTIFUL! I can’t believe how incredibly gorgeous it is, the buildings are all artistic in design and structure and you can tell there is a story and a history in every brick, in every cobblestone. I spent the whole time gawping at the view, it is really just sensational, I didn’t even bother to bring out my camera that first day, I was too much in awe, plus I would have really looked like a tourist. That night we caught a cab home, talked to my parents once more and finally went to sleep.

End of Day 1

On Day 2 I slept in until noon. But each day I began to get more and more on track with the time difference and over my jetlag. Some days we went out, other days I went out with Ross and Julie. (Tom and Eunice’s daughter and son in law) We walked in and out of the closes (alleys) listened to folk music, wandered through Grassmarket (a great part of town) and saw a lot of street performers. My favorite part of that week was going to Camera Obscura with Tom. A camera obscura is a camera or type of pinhole camera placed up high with a 360 degree view of the city, it is projected down into a small room where people can see, but that was just the beginning. This place was 7 floors high with something new and fascinating on each floor. On one floor is a bunch of history, old pictures of Edinburgh when the city was being built and modernized, pinhole camera photos and so much information. Other floors featured optical illusions holograms and play areas like photo booths that morph your face, a make your own kaleidoscope program, an infrared camera, and a mirror image camera. There were also a mirror maze room, a morph mirror room, a tricolor shadow room, a 'leave your shadow behind on the wall' area and so much more. It costs something to go to the actual camera obscura show but I think free to visit all the rest of the floors, and its right on the Royal Mile where the real heart of the city is.

Our last experience with the Fringe festival ended on a somewhat sour note. We went to see a comedy chat show, where people from the festival talked and did bits from their routines. It was completely vulgar. I am usually all for people having a right to say whatever they want, its what freedom of expression is all about, but someone should have warned me what that show was, and I wouldn’t have gone, because I was literally cringing in embarrassment. I was so uncomfortable that I sank lower and lower in my chair and wished I was anywhere else. I knew that Tom and Eunice were just as uncomfortable as me but we didn’t have an easy path to the door and were too cowardly to walk out from the front row. They all used crude language, which in itself I wouldn’t have minded much, but the subject matter was mostly about sex and just gross for grossness sake. We learned our lesson from that show and vowed to never again be shy about leaving a show you don’t like.

I went sightseeing and shopping and wandering around. One day Tom and Eunice said “go off wandering for a bit” they gave me bus fair and set me off. I went over to the west end of Prince’s street, the main shopping strip, walked over to the Scott Monument (my favorite building) and wandered back to the place I’ll be staying for the year. From there I caught the bus back to Tom and Eunice’s house. They were proud that I figured out where to go and how to get there on my own.

The jetlag and pushing myself out into the cold lowered my immune system a bit and I caught a small cold on the last few days. It didn’t move down to my chest thankfully, just lingered in my sinuses. Eunice knew just how to take care of me, she made me soup and gave me ibuprofen and gave me vapor rub to put on my chest within a few days it was gone. She also wouldn’t let me out of the house one day until I had my jacket and scarf on. It’s really sweet the way she takes care of me.

The rest of the week was just me getting used to the city and getting ready to move in. Next post I’ll share my first experience in my new flat and Fresher’s Week.

Going Plaid- Getting Ready

A Year’s hard work has gotten me to this point. It was September of last year when I walked into my international student’s office at my local university and asked about coming to Scotland. When I first asked they said they don’t have, in their school’s study abroad program, a school in Scotland that I could go to. They had programs for Manchester and Ulster and London, but not where I had hoped to go.

That was when I discovered the International Student Exchange Program, ISEP. My University had just begun to provide this program for students and it included two options for study in Scotland, Napier in Edinburgh and Strathclyde in Glasgow. I decided Napier had a better communications program and Edinburgh would be a more ideal setting for me (even though my biggest Scottish crush, David Tennant is from Glasgow.) As part of this program, though, I would have to pay for all my own tuition and housing, rather than exchange with a student in Edinburgh for a lower rate. This meant getting my hands on a considerable amount of money, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I applied constantly for scholarships and in the end I took out loans.

I had been working on my application all throughout that quarter in between my classes and was ready to submit it by November, but the due date for the application wasn’t until March. I had some time to dream and contemplate and sweat it out before discovering that I was accepted.

Once accepted, this is when the real work began. I first applied for loans; after all, what’s the point in coming to Scotland if you’ll run out of money after the first month? I got together what savings I had and put away all the money from my part-time job to help pay for this.  I got a tip from a friend to try a certain loan company and they accepted right away.  My fees for the year, which included my tuition and housing amounted to $22,000. I already had a little saved and a little more coming from my local university, so I asked the loan company for 23,400 when I could’ve been safe and asked for 25,000.

The company accepted that amount and sent the money to my school, which the school promptly rejected. CSUB said I did not need nearly that much to live on and they were only prepared to accept 12,000. I then showed them that my fees alone greatly outweighed the amount they were prepared to loan me.  I filled out a lot of forms and made a lot of calls to raise the amount to its proper place, and it almost worked. In the end the school settled on 19,000 from the loan company and I stopped fighting that losing battle.

I still don’t understand my school’s decision to only accept 19,000 even though the loan company was already prepared to give me the full amount. What should it matter to the school how much I owe a private company? Surely I am an adult and know exactly what I am doing, and surely I would know better than they do the cost of living the country I’ve been researching for a year.

Despite all this, I was very excited; I had removed another obstacle from my path. My next step was to apply for a visa. Since I would be here for a year I needed the Tier 4 general student visa, which is much harder to get than a simple student visitor pass. I waited very impatiently while the border agency first told me I had not sent the right paperwork and if I didn’t send it within 3 days they would reject my visa. They next told me I didn’t have enough money to live on over here, so I needed to provide proof that I was receiving a loan and was only waiting on the school to give me the money.

While I was still waiting my parents threw a huge going away party for me, in which my favorite local band Whiskey Galore played for me. Family and friends came from all up and down California and brought me gifts and hugs and warm wishes for my trip. It was a wonderful party and I’m glad everything worked out, ( I would’ve been very embarrassed giving all the gifts back if it didn’t.)

More than anything else I was afraid my visa would get rejected and my plans for Scotland would come to a screeching halt. I wasn’t going to give up if it did, but if i couldn’t get approved in the allotted time, then school would start without me and I would be stuck.  I waited for what felt like an eternity, and finally I got the news that I had been accepted.

For the first time I was sure that I was going, and the elation I felt was just incredible. Here was a moment I had been dreaming about. I started making lists of things I would need to pack, things I would need shipped over and things I would need to do once I got there.

 Next on the agenda: arrange a flight and find out when to arrive. As soon as all my family heard about my plans they were all excited as well. My aunt told me she had a friend that was born and raised in Edinburgh and her parents live there still and that I should meet them. I asked if there was any way they might find me a place to stay in Edinburgh for a week before I can move into my flat, and they said you’ll never find a hotel this late, everyone’s in town for the fringe festival, so why don’t you come stay with us?

 I couldn’t believe my luck, here was a family, who I never met, prepared to take me in and show me around the city and generally be there for me all year! My family and I met them (one in person, one via Skype) and we made arrangements and asked tons of questions. In the end they became my fairy godparents, I would have been so completely lost without them.

So I went shopping and packed and bought a laptop, packed, researched everything, and packed some more. I got my flight arranged for the 24-25 of August and it only cost me about $650, really awesome for an international flight.  The week preceding my departure was fun but difficult. There were so many friends and family members I wanted to see one last time before leaving and I had difficulty squeezing them all in. In the end we just had an open house and anyone could see me if they wished.

We departed for lax early the next morning. We went along the freeway singing tunes and having a good time. We stopped for breakfast and Mum had to constantly be doing things to keep the tears from welling up. But she’s been incredibly strong throughout this whole thing, given the circumstances. We got to the airport, got my luggage checked and it was time to say goodbye. I didn’t have much time, by then it was 11 and my flight left at noon.  Several rounds of hugs and kisses later I was heading off to my terminal.

For once going through security was a breeze, I didn’t beep, they didn’t screen and rescreen my things and I was clear to go. I wanted to say a quick online goodbye to my friends but there was no wifi in the terminal. I texted my two besties and boarded my plane.

My first flight was about 5 hours to Newark. This was just after the earthquake and just before Hurricane Irene. On the plane I put on my soft music and my noise cancelling headphones put a mask over my eyes and zonked out. I don’t think I slept deeply for very long, I remember fading in and out a lot. I was sitting in the middle with a guy on either side of me, and we were in the exit row so we had some extra legroom. The guy to my left was a workaholic; he had one laptop on his lap and another on his tray table and was switching back and forth. The guy on my right was a ninja, while I was fading in and out I detected some movement on my right, like he was getting up; by the time I took off my mask he was already in the isle heading toward the bathroom, I didn’t even feel him go past me.

Once in Newark I found out where my next terminal was, had some food, and went exploring. I had a little time so I skyped my parents and tell them I was ok. Boarding began from the second plane, and I found out I had a row to myself. This plane was nice, I got 3 pillows and 3 blankets and 3 screens to watch movies or TV, play games, or listen to music. I played around a little but needed to get back to sleep.  I woke up as we began descent over Scotland; I looked out the window and saw patchwork green fields and a deep blue ocean.

We landed, I gathered my things and set off to begin my adventure.