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.