The to-do list is slowly shrinking...

Ever wondered what it takes to move countries for a year and bring your cats along?

A LOT OF ORGANIZATION.

Operation Purge and Pack made some impressive headway over the last week or so. I have successfully culled my wardrobe down to only what I'm bringing with me (with the exception of a few items which I'm hanging onto for sentimental value). Half of my dresser is empty, ditto closet. No more piles of clothes laying around waiting to be sorted. I threw away a few bags of stuff that was too old or beat up for donation. The rest went to Goodwill.

I made some headway with storing books as well. I loaded up ten of these with most of my bookshelves:

As we use up more litter I'll finish up the books. The first ten are already living in Mom's garage. The empty shelves make me feel trés accomplished. Not to mention my brilliant re-purposing of litter buckets. Mum was also kind enough to buy me half a dozen plastic bins to store my movies and any other miscellany that I have room for. I have a box of those big black trash bags for storing pillows/blankets/etc in. I'm even working on a list of my furniture to determine what's going where. I am all over this shit.

Operation Brit-Kittehs is also cranking along nicely. I'm making final preparations with both the airline and the customs agent who is going to make sure everything runs smoothly once we arrive at Heathrow. The customs agent is going to cost me around $700, which is a vast improvement over the $4000 I was quoted for the whole package. I still have to buy a kennel, but I've got it narrowed down to a few choices. My main point of frustration is that the size I want to get is 1/2" too wide by the airline's standards. The next smaller size just doesn't look comfortably large enough for my two big boys, so I'm going to talk to the airline and see if I can squeak by with that extra half-inch before I actually buy the thing. Unfortunately the industry standard sizes are all pretty much the same (er... obviously), so I might be stuck with something a bit less comfortable if the airline gets sticky about it. If it has to happen, I'll just make the space as comfy as possible for them. Hell, maybe they'll even feel better in a smaller, cozier space.

Operation Gief Citizenship hasn't changed yet. I'm checking my email obsessively in hopes of getting some news soon, but there's still nearly two weeks before I have to start worrying. Which doesn't stop me from worrying, of course.

Cool, now I can check off "update blog" from my to-do list.

Operation Update Blog is a go!

Operation Study Abroad update will commence in T-minus three... two... one... BLEEP!

In spite of the universe throwing roadblocks all over my plans, things are coming along nicely. BRING IT, UNIVERSE. I CAN TAKE IT. Just let me knock on this wood right here and cross all appendages and also go hunting for a four-leaf clover...

One of the big things that happened since last we spoke is that I sent off my visa application. My passport is currently hanging out at the British embassy in New York, where it will hopefully return to me soon with a nifty little card or sticker or something indicating I'm a temporary citizen of the United Kingdom. So far the only news I have is that they received it and thus I can stop fretting that the USPS dropped it somewhere in Salt Lake City or Miami, never to be seen again. My only real worry for the application is all those fields I had to mark "unknown" in the "Father's Information" section; it held me up once before, I can only hope it doesn't delay things this time.

The saga of Operation Brit-Kittehs continues. I contacted some transport companies, and after one quote back at $4000 (FOUR! THOUSAND! DOLLARS!), I decided to just go back to plan A. I cancelled my Delta flight (got about half my money back, which I count as a win after all the runaround I got) and booked with Iceland Air instead - after calling everyone ever associated with either Iceland Air and/or British Customs to make sure they were really going to allow my cats on the plane and then back off it. As of right now I just need to choose a kennel for the boys and attempt to weigh them so I can get that info to the airline, then book with a company right at Heathrow that does Customs clearance for pets; not for free of course, but presumably for considerably less than FOUR! THOUSAND! DOLLARS!.

Much less exciting is the beginning of Operation Purge or Pack. (Yes, every aspect of this will now have an "Operation Official Name" tag. The visa application will henceforth be referred to as Operation Gief Citizenship. I make my own fun.) The roomie was kind enough to loan me a ginormous suitcase for the duration of my stay, so I decided to practice pack. Yes, I know. It's insane. I'm comfortable with that.

I've got about four trash bags full of clothes to donate, and I haven't even gone through my dresser yet. Once the clothes are done, step two will be tackling the general crap that I keep in piles because it's my stuff and I don't know what else to do with it. Some will be boxed up, most will go in the trash.

That's about it for Operation Study Abroad news. I know I'm not updating that often, but that should change as I get closer to my takeoff date... which is less than seven weeks away now. Stay tuned for more updates!

The Perils of Operation Study Abroad

Every time I think I've gotten things taken care of and under control, another wrench comes flying in.

Things that have gone wrong, and how I've managed to work them out:

I was told I couldn't/shouldn't bring my cats.
When I told my Study Abroad counselor that I planned to bring my cats with me, he just stared at me blankly before informing me that no other student he knows of has ever brought pets along. I smiled and assured him that I'd be the first then.

I learned the intensely complicated procedure for bringing my cats.
Microchipping, vaccinating, examining, getting paperwork signed by not only vets but government officials (the Food and Drug Administration of all things), not to mention finding an approved route and airline and dealing with the cargo situation and proper kenneling and the $200-400 fee. All of which has been going swimmingly: microchips and vaccinations done, arranged the rest with the vet and planned to shop for kennel, found an airline that was supposed to be pet friendly... more on that later.

I was told it would be difficult to find a place to live (see above re: cats).
This was actually a major concern, since I wasn't sure what I could afford for rent, how to find someone who wouldn't mind the cats, etc. Then one day my lovely friend who already lives in London came along and offered her guest room for reasonable rent. Solved! That's one I'm so very grateful I didn't have to work out on my own.

When I had my financial aid meeting, I found out I'd be getting about 1/3 of the money I thought I would.
This was one of the worst moments. I came really close to actually passing out from shock in the financial aid counselor's office. After I recovered and started pulling my brain back together, I knew I'd have to find someone to help me cosign a loan so I would have enough money. I started calling family members and eventually landed one who agreed. Sorted! Or so I thought...

Because I later found out that said family member could only sign for half the amount I need.
While anything is good, realistically the loan needs to be the full amount. Even with the visa which gives me the ability to work while I'm there, I'd probably be scrounging for food within two months. So I dialed up my courage and asked a friend if they would cosign for the full loan. Wonderfully, they said yes. Sorted again!

I got a call yesterday informing me that the airline I booked my ticket with (KLM, but really Delta) has abruptly changed their pet policy so that no pets can be transported in the cargo hold.
Because I have two cats and they both weigh around 17 pounds, they can't be in the cabin with me. Which means they won't be traveling with me on that airline. This is so intensely frustrating because I was quite happy with my non-stop flight (for the kitties' sanity as well as my own) and that's the only non-stop from here to London. The flight was also extraordinarily cheap because I got it through this student travel website, so the additional $200 to cargo them was tolerable. Now I'm faced with a few possibilities: Delta may be dicks and refuse to refund me for the flight, which means I'll have to potentially pay an extra $2000 to have them shipped by a company that specializes in pet transport. The other possibility is that Delta won't be dicks and will refund my money, meaning I'll have to get another flight altogether, this one including a stop somewhere that will make it more stressful for all of us. Not to mention the flight will probably cost double what I paid for the Delta flight because I'm not sure if I can trust the student travel website to get me a on a flight which allows pets. I'm seething about this because it was all sorted, but thanks go some arbitrary policy change on the part of the airline, it will most likely end up costing me a hell of a lot more than it was going to.

Alright, let's try to shake it off for now. Shake it off. I said shake it off, dammit.

Some of the things that have gone right:

I got into school, got really good grades, and got accepted to the program.
Study Abroad isn't why I decided to go to school. But it's a massive bonus. And my grades are all mine, something for me to be proud of.

The visa process has turned out to be infinitely less complicated than I first thought.
This is partly because I read too much into it and assumed the worst. The money part of the process, which I was sweating over for months, turned out to be not only far easier than I thought, but even somewhat unnecessary. All I need is a letter from my home school saying I'm being offered X amount of money and I only need it "just in case" since it doesn't actually have to be turned in with my application. As of now I have the two main things I need, which is a special number from my host school and the aforementioned letter from my home school. The application itself has to wait another week before it can be filled out due to this 90-day thing. But all in all, pretty easy (if not cheap, at around $450).

I've managed to jump over every hurdle thrown in front of me so far.
As horribly frustrating as all of those things in the first list are, there's always been a way to get past/around/through it by doing the work or swallowing my pride or putting my head down and plowing through. I think I have to thank the meds for some of that... I know damn well that I would have spun right into a fatalistic depressive episode during a few of those hurdles without it.

After all the things I've dealt with already, the visa application is what has me trembling in my boots... what if something goes wrong? I'll feel a lot better once I've got the thing in my hand. I'll feel even better once I've got this latest wrinkle with the cats smoothed out. But I won't be able to relax 100% until me and the boys arrive at our new home in south London. When that happens, I'm pretty sure I'll just hug my new bedroom floor for a few hours. Hopefully with my cats trampling anxiously over me every few minutes.

Ah, what a lovely thought to end this report. Over and out!

Let the countdown begin...

Oh hello! (I said that in a British accent, just so you know. Practice!) Today marks 90 days until I leave for London.

I know I haven't posted much lately, but to be honest there's not a lot to talk about yet. I'm in a bit of a holding pattern right now, working two jobs and trying to spend as little money as possible so I can keep my savings account as close to its current balance as possible until I leave. The next step is to apply for my student visa, which can't be done until three weeks from now. That will probably be slightly exciting, so expect a post on that in the near future.

The thing I haven't touched yet is the packing/storage task. Which I could start anytime I want. Except that I don't want to, of course, because UGH, who wants to deal with that? I'm going to force myself to start writing small tasks related to that on my To-Do List sooner rather than later though. Because in spite of the OMG SO MUCH WORK factor, it's going to be one of the most tangible things I can do until I actually leave, which should send me into a lovely spiral of excitement.

Please do leave any advice/thoughts/suggestions for storing/packing your life away for a year in the comments. Although I've obsessed on this subject extensively for months, I'm a fan of advice.

Cheers!

Adventures in paperwork

I've been rather steamrollered by end-of-semester preparation madness, so apologies for taking ages to update.

It's been a crazy few weeks since I got my confirmation letter. The amount of paperwork one must do to study abroad for a year is staggering. I've filled out and signed and consulted and been advised. I'm still not done, but I'm getting there. On top of that I've been trying to keep up with all the homework involved in the approaching finals (week after next OMGWHUT). Thanks to my Very Special OCD To-Do Lists I've managed to pretty much keep on top of things.

Along with all the preparation, I got some awesome news and some terrifying news. The awesome news is that my dear friend who lives in south London offered me her spare bedroom for extremely reasonable rent. Which means not only do I have a place to live, it's cat-friendly and it's with someone I've known and loved for the better part of two decades.

I also bought my plane ticket, which was only $731 for a one-way non-stop flight thanks to a lovely student travel website. This is excellent news not only because I prefer non-stop flights (hell, who doesn't?) but for my poor cats who are going to be in Quite A State during the trip, much less so now that they won't have to take off and land twice with a plane switch in the middle. I unfortunately can't sedate them for the ride (totally not good for them), but I may do so for myself considering I'll be stressing out through the whole flight worrying about them. Hope they have cheap booze on the flight...

Now for the less pleasant news: I found out rather too late that the amount of financial aid I thought I would be getting is in fact going to be about 1/3 of that amount. I think I actually almost passed out in the poor financial aid counselor's office when I heard that. Like, I got really cold and numb for about five minutes and couldn't do anything but sort of mutter in her general direction. By the end of the meeting I'd rallied and decided I was determined to make this work. I ended up calling half my family to beg for a cosigner on a loan, and eventually got a very welcome yes. Also, just today I found out that my wonderful and lovely financial aid counselor had managed to tweak some of my current information to get me an increase in money.

The fortunate thing about the timing of this financial meeting (after I'd confirmed with the Study Abroad office and Queen Mary, micro-chipped and vaccinated my poor cats, told everyone I've ever met, secured a living situation, and bought my plane ticket) was that it didn't allow me to just think "oh well, it was a nice daydream while it lasted." Instead I dug in my heels and starting finding a way to make it work. With some help, I did. I'm a bit proud of myself, to be honest. Things really are changing for me, not only in terms of where I'm going to be and what I'll be doing, but my ability to handle adversity in a positive way instead of just sinking into depression.

I've gotten most of the paperwork done at this point. Now come the more tangible steps, like getting my student visa and consolidating/organizing/packing my belongings to be stored or brought along. I'll be doing the latter with the help of the brilliant Unfuck Your Habitat, who have already achieved the amazing goal of motivating me to make my bed everyday. (No, really. EVERY. DAY. If my mom reads this, she's going to have a stroke.)

Stay tuned for exciting cleaning and packing anecdotes!