LAST MINUTE THINGS

My sister is officially married! Now all that's left is to skip the country and take up residence that doesn't have moderate temperatures all year long...have nightmares about getting snowed in despite the fact that it doesn't look like it snows that much or hard where we live and we'll actually be in the city where I'm hoping they get hold of the elements better.

Things I found out about UK Visas for anyone reading this who has to move from the USA to the UK:
1. Get your diploma from wherever you did your masters
2. Apply to University of choice for doctoral studies
3. Get accepted into that program and receive an acceptance letter
4. Wait for the university to send you a visa acceptance letter to their school
5. If you need them, apply for loans from places in the USA like Wachovia, which is who we went with
6. Apply for your visa on this site: www.ukvisas.gov.uk/--apply under the student visa tier 4
7. Schedule your biometrics appointment at a center somewhat near you (fingerprints..)
8. Make sure through your loans and personal savings you have roughly the first year's tuition to your university to show, 600 pounds a month for the student for nine months, and 400 pounds for each subsequent dependent for nine months (for us this added up to about $41,000)
9. Find a company like the one we were recommended to by a fellow family in the same sitch-- A Briggs who are visa and passport expeditors. I have discovered that our country takes bribes in the amount of currently $175 per passport as well as a $27 overnight fee to get them back to us.
10. Try not to forget to breath while you wait the bureaucratic system out...
The only smooth part of this has been the people at the biometrics center who let us all get our info done at the same time even though we could only schedule one appointment at a time. P.S. the UK Embassy is backed up on visas and it takes awhile for all this to get through there.

We are currently waiting on our last loan letter so that we can send all that down to A Briggs. I'm a little worried as this whole process from beginning to end has come to fruition with this last piece of paper and I'm praying it comes together. I've also packed our first suitcase--all toys as there are things my 7 year old can't live without. It was kind of fun. I like packing but cannot stand unpacking. I'm also wondering about the cold in Aberdeen as it was pretty brisk in April when we visited and here in California we mostly wear flip flops. Trading them in pretty permanently for my Uggs and looking around for warm things for the kids. Toodle-oo.