Visa: Quite Here. Indeed.

My visa was finally approved today! Now that the issue is resolved, I would like to point out that I use the word 'finally' liberally in this situation, and have been doing so since I initially applied. Finally suggests that I've had to wait a long time. While it has felt like an eternity, I must admit that the British Consulate in New York only received my application materials last Wednesday (Sept. 3rd).

Now this is only partially a result of my ineptitude. I've had all the materials required for my application since the beginning of August-- all except my unconditional offer letter. As my initial offer was conditional, I received that letter first. But after some bribes, accessing off-shore accounts in the Cayman Islands and doing some things I'd never like to do again, my offer was made unconditional. Unfortunately, Notts never sent my letter. After countless phone calls to an innumerable amount of faceless Brits who said 'brilliant' a lot (very hot), I got someone to send it to me. One week passed. Then another. Yeah. Eventually, I hit a breaking point and contacted admissions again and requested that they simply send it to me as a PDF. Wow. That took all of twenty minutes. Lucky for me I received the email after the post office closed on the Friday before Labor Day! FUN! Needless to say it didn't get out until the Tuesday after Labor Day, and I proceeded to lose all the gray hairs I acquired over the course of the previous weeks.

Now I can breathe a sigh of relief, however brief, as one task is replaced by another. The next task? Going to school for an entire year away from family, friends and familiarities. This is what I wanted, though. A challenge-- an opportunity to get my ass kicked by school and life for a while.

There's going to be a lot to miss here in the States. People, places, food and my bed, most importantly. But I'll save the whole list for later.

In closing, HOORAY FOR ME!

PS- My flight is booked and ready to go-- I leave Philly Monday night and arrive at Heathrow early Tuesday morning.