Any and all guidance...

[ladyariande]

Okay, here it goes. I have just plundered LJ for all it's worth on communities and I hope this one can offer me wisdom, guidance, a little sanity (or helpful insanity - I'll take that, at this point

Comments

[choptliver]

The loan is between you and your US lending institution. Talk to them, they;ll know what they do.

Your university will have advice on housing.

What you can't do without is a fairly personal matter. However, I had a friend who did a year in Dundee, and assumed she could get a nice, wooly, Scottish sweater for the winter when she got there. She discovered that they're mostly exported, and the ones available there were prohibitively expensive.

[thaumata]

Yeah.. my mom thought she would buy an aran sweater when we went to Ireland, not realizing that it'd cost about $120 USD in the end. The exchange rate is killer.

[ladyariande]

I had wondered how much bulky winter wear to bring... I guess a lot! I don't want to buy a lot of clothes while I'm over there.

[choptliver]

No, just some good layers. I got a cashmere sweater which is light weight and thin, but might be the warmest thing I have ever owned. That under a jacket gets me through in Cambridge. I know it's colder up north, but still, two thin cashmere sweaters, a thermal undershirt, and a coat would probably still do.

[thaumata]

You will get some good advice here but I also wanted to tell you to try uk-yankee.com. Their forums are full of americans living in the UK and very active

[ladyariande]

I will check out the link. THANK YOU!

I am excited about Edinburgh, but I fear the cold. I am from Virginia where the weather is not necessarily as temperate as, say, California, but it's certainly not a cold state by any means! I get cold easily so I plan to bring a heck of a lot of warm clothing. Alas, poor tanktops, I loved you well...

I was wondering about the baking supplies. I adore baking and make a lot of things like bread, cake, cookies, etc from scratch. It's not the middle of nowhere, so I figured I could get the same supplies... I guess no pumpkin pies though =(

[whitiglil]

Bring your tank tops!!! They're great for layering!

[whitiglil]

Also, they have chocolate chips, but they're called something else, if I'm not mistaken. I've found them in Sainsbury's, I think. Heck, I even found butterscotch chips!

[ewigweibliche]

The loan will be facilitated with your US loan company. No worries there. And your school will be thrilled to get the money.

As for housing, contact your school, but don't count on them. They may be fab. Mine was not. I'm out in rural Wales and there is no such thing as Craigslist. It's all word of mouth where I am. Edinburgh may have online searches - so google to your heart's content. If that doesn't bring anything up, contact the Student Union, there's usually an office that can help, probably even an international students office and they'll know where to direct you.

As for American items, I don't eat a ton of processed food, so I don't miss much as far as items go. However, I do have guests bring me green tabasco and emergencee (both of which you can get over here if you hunt for it and then it's expensive) and annie's mac and cheese. I'd say go without a lot and experiment! You can always have people send you a care package. Mostly I miss American diner breakfasts, and you can't bring that with you!

[ladyariande]

Velveet mac and cheese owns my soul... I may be having care packages of that sent to me regularly by family, friends, and boy to keep me in steady supply! =)

[southernmyst]

I was accepted to a graduate program in 2008 at the University of Manchester. I didn't go, but hopefully some of what I learned can help you.

Have you gotten your student visa already? If not, do you have the official acceptance letter from your university with the JACS code? You'll need both to apply for the visa; certain JACS codes require more clearance - probably not Celtic Studies, but who knows with these immigration nazis. There's a bunch of other stuff involved with the visa; if you haven't already, read here1) I got a pack of information, eventually, from the school to tell me what to do about the loans. You'll need to work with both the school and the loan provider, because you'll need to know whether the loan provider is to pay you directly and then you pay the school, or if they'll pay the school and then the school gives you any excess (for cost of living), and if the latter, when they give that to you. If you don't get it all at once at the beginning, from whichever body, you can't count on having however much the

[southernmyst]

3) That's very personal, but things to consider (for all of this I'm going to assume you're here for just one year, or at least that you'll go back to the US annually

[whitiglil]

For the US Keyboard, I just change the settings of the UK ones to pretend it's US, since we kinda know where they keys are on the US ones anyway.

[southernmyst]

It's the different shapes of the keys that get me, particularly the enter key. I'm forever hitting #, which doesn't have the manners to remap as enter ;-)

[intendent]

Fortunately, I have an online job that I can take with me, which will be very helpful...

Be very careful about this. You'll need to research if it's allowed under your visa. I know that students aren't allowed to be business owners, for example, and there are other things they can't be but I don't know off the top of my head (I'd ask on talk.uk-yankee.com)

2) Edinburgh, in general, is pretty safe. All the areas around the campus will be mostly student-y areas.. if you have any specific areas you're wondering about I can get you an answer. (my husband is Scottish and from Edinburgh.)

3) Don't bring baking sheets or other things for the oven as they are often really small compared to US ovens. Beds are also slightly different sizes. The only thing I bring back when going to the states are vitamin b12 (bc the 'script stuff isn't as high a dosage as what I can get at walmart), lint brush refills, a certain type of plaster I love, and junk food. lol. you can find just about anything you desire, promise. :)

[ladyariande]

I didn't think the job issue would be a problem. I just tutor for an online company. They have people working for them all over the world. It's a great job to take overseas because they need people working 24 hours. I would only be working 20 hours a week, which I believe is allowed for students. I hope it's not a problem! I was banking on that income to help me pay for the little things! =\

I haven't had a chance to look anywhere specific for accommodations. I don't even know where to start. I'm hoping to locate some websites advertising for flatmates and find a halfway decent female who won't kill me in my sleep that I can get along with...

Question: Do you know what is considered a decent price range for flats? I want somewhere decent, but not super expensive and I have no context for what I should consider too expensive and what would be a good deal. Any general advice would be helpful.

[intendent]

I'd really ask on uk-yankee. They are far more knowledgeable about if it's okay to do certain jobs or not :) I'm on a spousal visa so I can do whatever I want (roughly) so I don't know all the details on student visas..

I'll ask the husband for websites when he gets home and prices! I only know St Andrews prices and it's killer here!

[intendent]

Okay, I asked the husband and he isn't really sure about prices because he's never looked. However he cautions against places like the Grassmarket. I caution against places near Ocean's Terminal because at night the area can be a bit .. seedy. Most of New Town and Old Town should be fine, though. If you find a few places and want someone to look over them for their safety my ILs (both lived in Edinburgh for the past 30+ years) would be willing to look at listings and tell me if they are good places to live or not :)

From my limited knowledge I'd expect to pay between £300 and £500 per month for a room in a 2bedroom flat. However depending on the area (e.g. how close to the university) the prices may go up quite a bit.

Gumtree and Rightmove are good places to look for places to live.