Hi to all.
This is my introduction post (clearly) and so I can only assume it will be quite rambly. Please, I hope you will read it through anyway.
Right, then. My name is Dan and I'm 'from' Chicago. I put that in quotation marks because I'm a bit of an odd-ball and my history of being 'from' anywhere is a bit strange. I was born in Ashqelon, Israel where we stayed until I was about 15 months old. Then we came 'back' to Chicago (via London, for about a month), and I have lived in and around the Chicago area (though leaving frequently for short-ish periods of time) for the past 24 years. (For those of you keeping score at home, I'm 25 and a half, or so).
I will be FINALLY making the plunge this September and coming to the UK on a (somewhat) permanent basis, on a student visa. I will be doing an M.Litt at St Andrews as a foreign-enrolled student. (I know St Andrews has a lot of US and Canadian students in via exchanges through home universities, but I'm coming over directly through St Andrews, on my own. Very adventurous, if I do say so myself).
I just stumbled onto this forum/website now, though I wish I had found it earlier (like last year or the year before) because then I would have been able to come over sooner. I was originally supposed to be over for the 2010/2011 school year (would've been cool to have been there during the Royal Wedding and all that), but I had issues getting my visa in time. Then I was over there this past year/summer, after doing pre-gradschool-fieldwork in Spain, but had to come home due to lower funds than expected and a series of family emergencies. I am currently preparing to come again this coming year, as the University has been nice enough to hold my place for me. I'm sure that I will be using this forum/website often as the resource that it is.
I'm not sure, however, if I'm going to be your traditional/stereotypical American expat because, since I've travelled a fair amount, and was born abroad, I've never really considered myself 'American'. Chicagoan? Yes. American? Not so much. I know its really just semantics to most people, but really, its significant, for me. That said, I'm sure much of the advice and things I read on here, as well as the community, will still be relevant.
Also, part of the reason I'm coming over as an independent foreign student is because, if the UK government will let me (and if I can find a job) I hope to stay in the UK (probably) when I'm done with school. And whilst I am certain that I will feel homesick and miss some of my American things/ways of doing things, by and large I am ready, willing and excited to integrate and assimilate into British (generally) and Scottish (specifically) culture. My biggest worry, strangely, is being prematurely judged because of my accent. This may sound silly, but I'm pretty good at accents and languages, and maybe, hopefully, after 5 years or so, maybe I'll sound a bit less 'American'. But anyway, that is really neither here nor there as that is really a small, inconsequential thing.
I'll just tell you a few more things about myself, and then I'll stop talking as I'm sure I've rambled enough.
Like I said, my name is Dan, I'm 25 (and change), from Chicago but born in Israel, I like music, sports (all of them, both American and British ones, though I've never understood cricket. I assume its sort of like baseball, but not really...?) and consider myself a Chicagoan more than an American. I like music (all types), sports, like I said, reading, writing, travel, learning new languages and going on adventures/exploring. I will be starting an M.Litt course at St Andrews in September, wehre I will be studying Mediaeval History (with material culture). I hope to be an archaeologist and historian, and I want to teach at a college/university. I've been to Britain and Europe a few times, but never for more than 2 or 3 months at a time. Whilst its too early to tell, I have a feeling some of the things I'll miss the most is going for aimless drives in teh suburbs, chicago-style food, and my mom's (mum's haha) chicken soup when I'm sick.
Nice to meet you all.
