Hello! I wasn't going to introduce myself, but there was a poem that made me think perhaps there were friendly people here.
I am seriously planning to move to the UK for a year for a postgraduate degree. I had been thinking about studying in the US or Canada, but the more I looked at the logistics, the less it seemed it would work. Then I spent a two-week vacation in London last November, which reminded me that universities exist in places other than the North American continent. Coventry has a program in my field which is as good or better than the US-based ones. Better still, the US courses were all part-time and thus took two academic years, while they offer a full-time course over one calendar year. There is nothing close to my home in my field so I am going to have to move house regardless of where I go; the thought of moving away from my family and friends for one year is more appealing than moving for two.
The final element after the finances and logistics was the weather. I know people joke about England having horrid weather, but I'm from Oregon. It felt a bit nippy and maybe a touch more likely to change quickly, but otherwise just like home. I took a train trip around the US and Canada for a month after finishing my undergrad degree in 2005 and I remembered being shocked at the things I missed about home. Rain and gray skies was something I feel unsettled without. (The only university within two days' drive of home that has a possible program is in San Diego. I ruled it out partially because I would hate the weather.)
I have a handful of English friends, none of whom I know well but all of whom I have spent at least a couple of enjoyable hours with in person. So though I'm terrified by the idea of leaving my social network behind and needing to overcome natural introversion to make new friends, I am confident that I have people who like me at least well enough to have lunch with every now and then.
That might be enough to lessen the homesickness, right? I've never actually experienced homesickness. I was the kid who got sent to summer camp and cried when she had to go home. When I moved to live at my university (other side of my home town), my father started leaving messages on my roommate's voicemail. "Hi, this is Angela's dad. Just calling to make sure she's alive... We haven't heard from her in about a month." That did stop, though, after my roommate scolded me soundly for mistreating my parents and I started returning phone calls more often.
Aside from the two-week vacation which was almost entirely in London (an afternoon in Bath and an afternoon in Cardiff notwithstanding), I went to look at the likely universities last March, which is when I settled on Coventry. I only spent a day in the city, most of which was on the campus. I've got another trip scheduled for February when I'll spend more time learning the important things like where the library and post office are, how to ride the bus (found the How-To guide, btw, and laughed because I'd had to learn all of that the hard way last November), and whether the postgraduate accommodation is really as close to campus as it looks on a map.
So while I'm absolutely terrified about moving away from home for a year (and to a foreign country, no less), I'm also looking forward to it and wishing the time would pass more quickly. I'm planning to apply for the 2012 academic year so that I have time to get my financial life in order and sort out all the various and sundry bits like who'll be renting my house or who will look after my cats while I'm gone. I'm passing the time by doing any of the research I can think to do ahead of time, including some things that might turn out be a waste of time or might be useful... I liked soccer well enough in school to enjoy PE, but never well enough to play, so I figured I'd start that and use it to both get in shape and have something to talk about. Never hurts to have conversation starters, right?
