My heart is palpitating. I walked down the street to the British Consulate to drop off my visa application, rather than spending money to mail it in. They said, "Nope. You must FedEx it so they will have a tracking number in the mail room." Grr. So, I walked across the street to the FedEx shop and spent $17.00 to mail the package overnight. They received the package on Wednesday morning. I'm SUPPOSE to receive an e-mail of receipt from the consulate and have YET to receive anything. Seriously, I'm freaking out! They said it takes 5 - 6 business days to process, so if I don't receive anything by mid week next week, I will REALLY be freaking out! They certainly don't make it easy for you to check up on the status of your application. They give you a number to call, but it's $3.00 a minute with a $12.00 minimum. NOT cool. I've never heard of anybody doing that before. Everything is so cold with the lack of a human connection and I don't like it at all. ha. (My saying lately has been, "Life is all about the human connection.")
On another note, renting the apartment has continued to be a struggle. A lovely couple from South Carolina dropped by last night to have a look at the property. They were wonderful! BUT, again, my place was the first place they looked at... which isn't good, I don't think. There was another guy droping by this afternoon around 2pm, another lady tomorrow morning at 10:30am, and another on Wednesday evening. I can feel it. It's getting closer and closer to the end of the apartment battle.
The car. Interesting story. I have received SO many e-mails and phone calls about the car. Had a few people scheduled to come take a look over the weekend. I was excited because I just KNEW it was going to be sold soon too. Today, my friend here at work sent me a text message and I mentioned the car. She started asking a load of questions and I asked, "Do you know anybody who would be interested?" She replied, "Yes, actually my boyfriend needs a car. He's been using his parents car when he needs it and it's getting a little messy." He happened to be in the area, they met me in the lobby, we walked across the street, and it was sold! WOO HOO! He's going to give me a down payment tomorrow when we take it to the mechanic for an inspection and then on Thursday he will give me the rest. What a relief!
Lastly, I received an e-mail from the University. They were in the process of setting up an internship for me. She came back with 6 different companies that are interested in interviewing me... three of which are Islamic windows to large financial institutions. I couldn't believe it! I had mentioned working in Islamic Finance to her and she delivered! The other three are just investment firms, but either way, I will be so happy to go to any of them. I'm finally going to receive the experience that I need to get out of the IT industry. Phew.
As people always say (and I need to constantly remind myself), "Everything will work out in the end." As long as I keep my head above the water, it'll all be good.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
23 November 2007
Well, not much has developed since the last posting. I'm still waiting on the advising office to help me with approving a few other courses. Still haven't turned in my visa application, but plan to do so on Monday (wanted to wait until after the holiday). I still haven't sold my car or rented out my apartment. There have been several people coming through to look at both, but no cigars as of yet.
Otherwise, this long holiday weekend is dedicated to going through all of my stuff and deciding what to keep and what to throw/give away. I also have a few boxes so I can start packing the stuff that I do want to keep.
Yesterday, I went to my friend Dawn's house for the Thanksgiving feast. It was three of us girls (including Elcin) cooking all day and just lounging around drinking wine and champagne. It was so nice! Elcin is one of the first people I met when I moved to Chicago. She moved here from Turkey when she was 18. She's such an inspiration to me! Not only did she move here from a foreign land, she also moved here alone. That's such a scary/risky thing to do at such a young age! She's managed really well so far and will graduate from her University at the end of June.
Ok, so Elcin claims to have a 6th sense. Over this past Summer, she read my fortune after having a Turkish coffee. What you do is when you've finished drinking the coffee, you turn the cup upside down, make a wish, and wait for it to cool off. Once it's cooled, she will look in the cup to see the story the coffee grains will tell you. She mentioned over the Summer that she sees lots of boxes and that I will be moving. Of course, at that time I told her, "Girl! I'm not going anywhere!" Boy was I wrong! I completely forgot she had told me this. She also said I will be married with children in 2008. I don't believe that for a second!
Last night, we decided to do another reading. Dawn's reading was very cool to hear. One thing Elcin saw was Dawn praying and she had lots of angels around her head... and the angels were giving her two children. Dawn's wish was to have a family.
I decided to make a note of all of the things Elcin said about my fortune. It was all positive, luckily. I had asked for any negative news, if she saw some. So, here is a listing of some of the things Elcin said:
- She saw lots of fishes in my sea (fishes = men). But underneath the fishes, she saw one dolphin, meaning that I would have a relationship with one of them. He will be either British or Irish and he will be tall and average sized (not skinny or chubby)
- I won't be living in the dorms for long. She thinks I will be moving in with one of the guys?? ha
- I will take 5 trips - 2 with the same guy, and 3 with different guys
- My best friends there will be guys and they will take me out and show me everything
- I will meet a LOT of people - both men and women
- She saw me visiting a lot of families and having lots of dinners at peoples homes
- I will be going to a lot of house parties
- I will be very successful in London (that was my wish)
That's all I can remember. So now, it will be very interesting to see how much of this will come true! :)
Until the next time...
Otherwise, this long holiday weekend is dedicated to going through all of my stuff and deciding what to keep and what to throw/give away. I also have a few boxes so I can start packing the stuff that I do want to keep.
Yesterday, I went to my friend Dawn's house for the Thanksgiving feast. It was three of us girls (including Elcin) cooking all day and just lounging around drinking wine and champagne. It was so nice! Elcin is one of the first people I met when I moved to Chicago. She moved here from Turkey when she was 18. She's such an inspiration to me! Not only did she move here from a foreign land, she also moved here alone. That's such a scary/risky thing to do at such a young age! She's managed really well so far and will graduate from her University at the end of June.
Ok, so Elcin claims to have a 6th sense. Over this past Summer, she read my fortune after having a Turkish coffee. What you do is when you've finished drinking the coffee, you turn the cup upside down, make a wish, and wait for it to cool off. Once it's cooled, she will look in the cup to see the story the coffee grains will tell you. She mentioned over the Summer that she sees lots of boxes and that I will be moving. Of course, at that time I told her, "Girl! I'm not going anywhere!" Boy was I wrong! I completely forgot she had told me this. She also said I will be married with children in 2008. I don't believe that for a second!
Last night, we decided to do another reading. Dawn's reading was very cool to hear. One thing Elcin saw was Dawn praying and she had lots of angels around her head... and the angels were giving her two children. Dawn's wish was to have a family.
I decided to make a note of all of the things Elcin said about my fortune. It was all positive, luckily. I had asked for any negative news, if she saw some. So, here is a listing of some of the things Elcin said:
- She saw lots of fishes in my sea (fishes = men). But underneath the fishes, she saw one dolphin, meaning that I would have a relationship with one of them. He will be either British or Irish and he will be tall and average sized (not skinny or chubby)
- I won't be living in the dorms for long. She thinks I will be moving in with one of the guys?? ha
- I will take 5 trips - 2 with the same guy, and 3 with different guys
- My best friends there will be guys and they will take me out and show me everything
- I will meet a LOT of people - both men and women
- She saw me visiting a lot of families and having lots of dinners at peoples homes
- I will be going to a lot of house parties
- I will be very successful in London (that was my wish)
That's all I can remember. So now, it will be very interesting to see how much of this will come true! :)
Until the next time...
Thursday, November 15, 2007
15 November 2007
Getting things in order is still a challenge. Yesterday, I took a sick day off of work (I really was sick), but I ended up doing a lot of work for the London thing. I posted the apartment and the car up on Craigslist and frantically searched for more classes to take at the University of Westminster. My advising office is being difficult (or, perhaps it's the Finance department) with allowing certain courses to substitute in for my Finance Electives... and the U of W is having problems finding availabilities for some of the courses I have requested. Well, not too many problems, but enough so that they would like for me to list four more classes for them to choose from.
Since September, it is now requested that all students coming over to the UK must have a student visa. It used to be, if you were going to be there for less than 6 months, you didn't need a visa. But now, well, lucky me. I have to fork over $220 that I don't have to their government. I believe the rate changes as the dollar devalues, which is nice (can you detect sarcasim?). It should be a fixed rate not based on the exchange rate fluctuations. I mean, we're students. Who can afford $220 for a visa on top of all of the other costs? Ugh. On top of the costs, the consulate wants to see an acceptance letter, your old and new passport, and your financial statements to prove that you'll have enough money to live. The latter makes me really nervous, since I haven't quite figured all of that out yet.
I'm a little concerned at this point. If I can't find several other classes that are approved from my advising office, does that mean that I can't go? What if, from the perspective of the consulate, I don't have enough money in my account to prove that I will be able to live? If I can't get the visa, I can't go to school or do my internship. What stress!
Since September, it is now requested that all students coming over to the UK must have a student visa. It used to be, if you were going to be there for less than 6 months, you didn't need a visa. But now, well, lucky me. I have to fork over $220 that I don't have to their government. I believe the rate changes as the dollar devalues, which is nice (can you detect sarcasim?). It should be a fixed rate not based on the exchange rate fluctuations. I mean, we're students. Who can afford $220 for a visa on top of all of the other costs? Ugh. On top of the costs, the consulate wants to see an acceptance letter, your old and new passport, and your financial statements to prove that you'll have enough money to live. The latter makes me really nervous, since I haven't quite figured all of that out yet.
I'm a little concerned at this point. If I can't find several other classes that are approved from my advising office, does that mean that I can't go? What if, from the perspective of the consulate, I don't have enough money in my account to prove that I will be able to live? If I can't get the visa, I can't go to school or do my internship. What stress!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The beginning
So, I had decided back in 9th grade that I didn't want to live in the US anymore... or that I wanted to have an opportunity to live outside of the US for quite some time. To bring the story forward about 18 years. In September, the decision was made that I will be moving to London in 2009. Then, I thought, what the hell, I'll move it up a little to Summer of 2008 and will do what I can to get an Internship. THEN, while I was in the computer lab at school, I saw an advertisement that said, "Study Abroad in London!" and I just knew it was a sign that I should go. This was in late October, 2 days after the deadline to get in the application for the program. Right when I got home, I decided I was going to fill out the application and then send it over that night along with a note to the Study Abroad office. To my surprise, I received an e-mail back from the office the next day telling me that I could still get in to the program if I could hurry up and get them the other items they needed (transcripts, references, etc.). So, I did. I worked frantically to get in contact with old professors, request the transcripts from the school, fill out the applications for the Universities in London, write a personal statement, update the good 'ole resume, and whatever else it was that they needed for me to do. I found myself spending more time getting things together than I did on my full-time job or school work. It was unbelievable!
Once the paperwork had been submitted, I had received an e-mail telling me that there is a meeting that I must attend at the school. There is where we met up with the Director, Sharon, of the Study Abroad program... and we were advised that we had all been accepted. She reviewed some of the things that we should know before going, and how we should prepare for the trip, and that the only University I could attend based on my GPA was Middlesex University. I was not happy. Middlesex didn't offer any of the courses I needed to graduate. She also said she was leaving for London in a couple of days and asked for us to give her some questions to ask the Universities while she is there. All I wanted to know was if there was wireless internet in the dorms. I didn't really care about anything else.
A few days passed and Sharon got back to us with answers to our questions. I responded to her e-mail to see if there would be any way that University of Westminster would make any exceptions (I figured if you don't ask, you won't know). She responded and said that she would much prefer for everybody to attend University of Westminster and that she thinks that if I write a strong personal statement and have additional references, I ought to have no problem getting in. With the help of my good friend Dawn, I wrote a kick ass personal statement (that I had to do anyway for the Internship), but I just didn't have time to get any further references.
About a week later, I received an e-mail from the University of Westminster telling me that I have been accepted in to the program. Seriously, I thought I was going to cry. I couldn't believe that I was finally going to live my dreams! With this e-mail came more forms to fill out and fax over.
Now, I am not the typical study abroad student. Most students are about 19 - 21 years old, have no responsibilities, and have mom and dad to support them. I, on the other hand, have an apartment, a job, and a life that I am dropping in order to make this move. I am SCARED like you wouldn't believe! Every weekend is spent cleaning out a closet, going through storage, figuring out what to sell and what to keep, putting the car and the apartment up for sale/rent, networking with people in the UK, studying for school, etc. It's exhausting.
As you can imagine, my to-do list is huge. The most recent things that I have checked off of the list have been purchasing the ticket (arriving on December 28th) and applying for my cell phone number through PicCell. The next big things on the list are to figure out the financial situation and to apply for the visa. Ugh. I'm tired.
Once the paperwork had been submitted, I had received an e-mail telling me that there is a meeting that I must attend at the school. There is where we met up with the Director, Sharon, of the Study Abroad program... and we were advised that we had all been accepted. She reviewed some of the things that we should know before going, and how we should prepare for the trip, and that the only University I could attend based on my GPA was Middlesex University. I was not happy. Middlesex didn't offer any of the courses I needed to graduate. She also said she was leaving for London in a couple of days and asked for us to give her some questions to ask the Universities while she is there. All I wanted to know was if there was wireless internet in the dorms. I didn't really care about anything else.
A few days passed and Sharon got back to us with answers to our questions. I responded to her e-mail to see if there would be any way that University of Westminster would make any exceptions (I figured if you don't ask, you won't know). She responded and said that she would much prefer for everybody to attend University of Westminster and that she thinks that if I write a strong personal statement and have additional references, I ought to have no problem getting in. With the help of my good friend Dawn, I wrote a kick ass personal statement (that I had to do anyway for the Internship), but I just didn't have time to get any further references.
About a week later, I received an e-mail from the University of Westminster telling me that I have been accepted in to the program. Seriously, I thought I was going to cry. I couldn't believe that I was finally going to live my dreams! With this e-mail came more forms to fill out and fax over.
Now, I am not the typical study abroad student. Most students are about 19 - 21 years old, have no responsibilities, and have mom and dad to support them. I, on the other hand, have an apartment, a job, and a life that I am dropping in order to make this move. I am SCARED like you wouldn't believe! Every weekend is spent cleaning out a closet, going through storage, figuring out what to sell and what to keep, putting the car and the apartment up for sale/rent, networking with people in the UK, studying for school, etc. It's exhausting.
As you can imagine, my to-do list is huge. The most recent things that I have checked off of the list have been purchasing the ticket (arriving on December 28th) and applying for my cell phone number through PicCell. The next big things on the list are to figure out the financial situation and to apply for the visa. Ugh. I'm tired.
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