Logistics

The process of applying to the University of Brighton began last fall, when I first arrived in South Korea to complete a second teaching contract. I applied to four schools, the Universities of Brighton, Durham, and Newcastle in England, and Bond University in Australia. I got into all four, though there were some paperwork hassles I had to go through with Brighton and maybe one more, which meant it took forever to get my acceptance there.

I was extremely pleased to find that none of the schools charged an application fee or required me to take the GRE or any other standardized test, as American schools do. Also, with the exception of Bond, all the schools are significantly cheaper to attend, even including the fact that I am paying a much higher tuition fee than local students. This summer I was awarded an international scholarship worth GBP2000, which covers nearly 20% of tuition. Suite. I do lament that I have to borrow the entire sum of my education costs, which became pretty hefty once the school's loan officer added the accommodation fees and a grand for flight and books, not to mention the $500+ I paid for the student visa, but I guess that's (literally) the price I pay for adding the experience of living in Europe to my life.

Thus far, what I've accomplished is acceptance to the school, an award of scholarship, issuance of a student visa (that gets its own entry later, jeez), an offer of accommodation, joining of the student website, and sort of beginning working on the suggested preterm reading list. Before I get there, I need to enroll online, submit a photo of myself to the student website for my student ID, register with a local doctor, maybe join a bank if I can do it remotely, and finish reading two or three books or articles from the reading list. I also have to pack, which is a major endeavor, considering that not all the boxes I sent home from Korea have arrived yet (a pox on ground delivery!), and I want to go through all the stuff I left here so I don't have to wear all the same clothes in England that I did in Korea. I think I have a lot of clothes.

Europe will be the fourth continent I've lived on, and I have a quest to live on all six major continents, and Antarctica too, if I can manage it (it's possible. I've czeched). I'm about as excited as I can be to get to England.