And So It Begins...

Monday, September 20, 2010. The adventure begins.

2:00 pm: Siodhbhra,  her mom, and her little sister pull up to my house. My mother feels compelled to take a "first day of school" picture in front of the Oleander plant. After that, we say goodbye and head off towards LAX.

2:45 pm: We arrive at LAX, Siodhbhra's family comes in with us and hold our (probably overweight) carry-ons, while we check in. Then we head off to security. At this point, things are starting to get rather real. We're getting closer and closer to the point of no return, where we are completely committed to heading off to London.

We also recorded this fun (and terrible) video:

5:20 pm: After a delay, we are finally allowed to board the plane. The seats are tighter than normal, but Siodhbhra and I are next to each other so its fine.


6:10 pm: The plane takes off and we both have a minor freak out. There's definitely no turning back now.


Nine and a half hours later, we land at London Heathrow Airport. With the exception of a rather annoying young girl behind us, the flight was relatively uneventful. We had to walk hither and yon from the plane to get into immigration where Siodhbhra and I had to separate because she's all special and has an Irish passport. The line for EU nationals (like Siodhbhra) was a lot longer than the line I had to go in so for a few seconds, I thought I had lucked out but it turns out that Siodhbhra's line went a lot faster than mine because all she had to do was give them her passport but I had to give them a passport and my fingerprints and what not. After we got our bags, we met up with Siodhbhra's uncle Noel who ever so kindly picked us up from the airport. His daughter, Ruth, also met us there so that we would have two cars to fit our bags and us. As someone who has had to drag her bags through the London Underground, I was infinitely grateful.


It was about a 45 minute drive to the house which is in Morden. As soon as we arrived, Noel made tea. This (the Noel making tea), I would soon learn happens a lot. It made me feel so much like I was in England. The combination of the flight and Noel meant I had something like five cups of tea  since leaving the States. And also that my transformation into my father is nearly complete.


I have to say that I was a bit nervous about staying with Siodhbhra's family, being an outsider, as it were. But everyone I met was absolutely lovely. They are so nice to take us in, give us food, and beds to sleep in, and of course tea and are just very nice people. It has definitely set the trip off on a very good note.

Until Later!
Kathryn

And a Girl in Kent

Our glorious and wonderful friend Angelique is heading off to England on Friday for a study abroad programme. We therefore have offered her a guest spot in our blogging adventure. So without further delay, we give you Angelique:

Katie and Siodhbhra have been gracious enough to offer me recurring guest spot on this lovely blog, as I too am bound for England this fall. So, you may ask, are you attending LSE? Are you also an international relations student or even at least into political science? Well, um, no. Unlike my esteemed colleagues, I am a biology student attending the University of Kent for a semester long study abroad. While they are writing theses and taking classes on game theory in London, I shall be cramming advanced immunology and forensic DNA analysis into my brain over in Canterbury.

So what can you expect from me on this blog? Obviously some geeking out over science, probably some tired rants about how stupid it was to take only bioscience modules and live in a dorm again, and some of the highlights of Canterbury and UKC campus. Also, look forward to the epic search for a good Indian restaurant somewhere in the university area so I can get my ethnic food fix. All in all, it’ll certainly be interesting to spend my last semester as an undergrad gallivanting in a country where words ending in 'ise' now end in 'ize' and pants are underwear.

At least I’m already used to thinking in metric and Celsius.

P.S. - If you care to read more of my individual adventures in Kent, in addition to other random and nerdtastic topics, I’ll be posting entries on my LiveJournal. I can found at http://foxp3.livejournal.com/

And there was much rejoicing

With 32 days until we leave for London, two major hurdles have been overcome.

First, it appears I have a job. (Cue excited happy dance) This is awesome on many levels because 1) It means I will be able to eat the entire time I am in London. And that, my friends, is very important and 2) It is a job that is actually somewhat related to what I am studying. The firm is called Monitor Quest and they do risk management and security consulting, something that could be useful for an International Relations manager. We still have details to finalize and what not about what my position/ pay/ start date ect. is, but those are just minor things.

Secondly, the friendly UPS guy showed up at my door today (in California, where I am now) and after like, 5 minutes of trying to confine the dog, he gave me an overnight package which contained... drum roll please... THIS:

Woo Hoo! A student visa it's all shiny and pretty and lets me stay in the country until January 30, 2012. And it lets me work up to 20 hours a week (good because, see first part of the entry). And those little black marks don't exist on the visa, I just don't want to advertise my passport number to the world.

Siodhbhra doesn't have to have one of these because she was lucky enough to be born to Irish parents and is therefore a dual Irish and American citizen (technically a tri-citizen because every citizen from an EU country is a dual citizen with the EU). And is therefore aloud to study in any EU country without a visa. So she will just have to gaze at the shiny sticker from afar.

The last thing that needs finalizing is housing. We submitted our application and hopefully should be hearing back from the International Students House soon. And I have to move out of my room so my little sister can take it over. That should be fun. But things seem to be falling into place.


Kathryn

Updates!

I know it's been a while but I thought I would update you on our progress.

It is 66 days until we leave for London! (Cue hyperventilation now)

We have navigated the labyrinth that is the LSE website to apply for housing, and get single rooms, which are far too expensive (plus, I will be denied the pleasure of annoying Siodhbhra at any hour of the day) so we are in the process of looking for other options. We have an idea, but fall back ideas are always welcome.

I found out that I have to take a test in the beginning of October regarding my "knowledge of international relations". This should be interesting, because I feel like I know basically nothing on international relations. ("But, Kathryn!" I hear you say "Why are you getting a Master's degree in it?" So that I can actually know something about it, that's why.) To this end, I got a letter recommending that I read one of two books and a "selection" of something like 8 books. What the heck does "selection" mean? Is it British for read all but one or read two or three?

I'm also looking for a job, which can be kind of difficult from 6,000 miles away. I am thinking I might be able to talk to some people during AirVenture, which is a HUGE airshow starting in a week and a half that I am working at.

This whole process is getting very interesting with me in Wisconsin, Siodhbhra in Beijing, trying to coordinate with people in London. Welcome to the globalized world!

Kathryn