Well, first things first, the Scottish spell "program" much differently than we do here. So, some of our upcoming posts may have words that are spelled a bit differently. We might as well get a jump start on things with "programme."
I have found out some interesting information about my TESOL programme. The professors have sent their students a syllabus of the programme and it explains not only what my classes are about, but it also gives me the list of books that I need to read (over 50 recommended) and 2009/2010's class schedule so I can get a rough idea of what the schedule will be while I am there.
The good news: According the the schedule in place this year, my classes won't begin until 10:00 am. I am loving this. I will also only have four classes for the first semester and then 2 classes and my dissertation for the second semester. I have a lot of free time in my schedule during the week. I have many afternoons off as well as all day on Friday. Although I don't have classes during this time, I am pretty sure I will be spending much of this time either in Edinburgh's schools or in the library reading my over 50 recommended books. The yearly schedule was also included in this syllabus, but it was very unclear as to when my vacations are. I know that I have about 2 1/2 weeks during Christmas off, but I am unclear on the rest. Irregardless, feel free to come visit anytime!
The bad news: Well, there really isn't any. I do not have tests, just major papers that I have to write including my dissertation. I wrote an almost 50 page paper to graduate from NMSU, so I am not too worried. The programme also gives me a tutor. I do not know if I share this tutor or not, but this person will know everything about me academically and will be there to help me and support me when I need it. I do not know if a tutor is a grad student or not, but I am assuming it will be. I also have an advisor who will be a professor of mine who will help me with everything from school to housing to international questions to whatever I need in Edinburgh. It just seems like I have a lot of support from the people there and that is very nice to think about.
As for our visas, we are clearing up the little details, getting all of our supporting documents together, and will send in our online applications on July 6th. Once we submit them, we print it off, get biometric fingerprints taken and mail in all of our supporting documents including our passport. Depending on when our fingerprinting appointment will be, we hope to have our visas successfully returned to us by the end of July.
Those are our updates for now. We will keep you informed as new information comes to us!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
New, Final Plans
It has been a while since we have updated everyone on our plans so I thought now that we have plans, we should share them. The good news is, we are leaving the U.S. on August 28th. We will be flying to Edinburgh and staying either with friends or in a hostel for a few days before we move into our flat on September 1st. The bad news is, well, there isn't really any bad news. We are not going backpacking before school starts which kind of stinks, but we will have opportunities to make short trips while we are in Scotland as well as after school is out. We will definitely keep you posted on all of that. Although we still have two more months until we leave, I am sure the time will fly by. We have also signed our housing contract this month which means we definitely have a place to live. I thought we had it once we paid our deposit a few months ago, but it is nice to be reassured once again.
As for our current situation, we are still in Roswell. We are professional bums, but do work on occasion. Oddly enough, it has been interesting getting into the swing of having nothing that we actually need to do. We have joined the summer reading program at the library and are picking up books on Scotland as well as other books that we find entertaining. We joined because if we read 20 hours we get a free t-shirt! As young people, not quite out of college student mode, we love free things.
Speaking of free things, we officially have a Skype account. For those of you who don't know what Skype is, it is a way we can talk to each other online for free from around the world. Just go to Skype.com and create an account. Our name that you can find us under is: americanhale. Skype works best with a webcam, but if you don't have one, I am pretty sure you can use it anyway.
We are very excited to be able to talk to you and hopefully see you while we are in Edinburgh.
As for our current situation, we are still in Roswell. We are professional bums, but do work on occasion. Oddly enough, it has been interesting getting into the swing of having nothing that we actually need to do. We have joined the summer reading program at the library and are picking up books on Scotland as well as other books that we find entertaining. We joined because if we read 20 hours we get a free t-shirt! As young people, not quite out of college student mode, we love free things.
Speaking of free things, we officially have a Skype account. For those of you who don't know what Skype is, it is a way we can talk to each other online for free from around the world. Just go to Skype.com and create an account. Our name that you can find us under is: americanhale. Skype works best with a webcam, but if you don't have one, I am pretty sure you can use it anyway.
We are very excited to be able to talk to you and hopefully see you while we are in Edinburgh.
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