Where's Your Head At?

The title of this post is a song title from the Basement Jaxx (they started out in South London, so they're good in my book).  It has nothing to do with Paul McCartney.  While I'm sad that he hasn't turned up at the front door of the ICLC to reconcile his differences with Bill, I'm glad that he hasn't sent me a cease and desist order.  There's always a silver lining.

Today I'm talking about getting your head into London.  This is most appropriate for the students getting ready to come over to London.  Unfortunately, the students who have recently left London are having the opposite problem.  I just hope everyone remembers which way to look when crossing the roads and that they don't get caught out calling the subway the tube.

Being strapped for cash before fall break isn't a position anyone wants to be in.  If you're interested in traveling, have a look at budget airlines (but remember that they charge for any and all 'extras').  I'm a fan of comparing flights on www.skyscanner.net.  Sign up to voucher websites (Living Social, Groupon, Voucher Cloud to name a few).  You may also have a look at www.moneysavingexpert.com, it's great for restaurant vouchers if you fancy eating out in London.

Pay attention to what's going on in London.  The Olympics will have ended and the Paralympics will be starting to get under way when the fall students arrive.  The House of Lords may be peopled by elected rather than appointed peers.  Bob Diamond and Jeremy Hunt may be in jail (however unlikely).  Sign up with Transport for London (TfL) for their email updates of the weekend tube closures (weekend closures email link on the right).  Look at Europe and the world more widely, too.  London is a heaving multicultural metropolis, so be aware of the issues.  Is Greece leaving the Euro zone?  How will that affect Germany?  Will there be a power change in Syria?

And finally, choose a side.  I mean a football side.  Choose Arsenal if you want to do well in Bill's class.  Choose Chelsea if you don't.

I'm wearing a Charlton Athletic apron, scarf and hair clips.  I have Charlton Athletic pens in my hair, and I'm holding the team mascot, Floyd the dog- all birthday presents from Bill.  Total cost- under a tenner.

-Claire

Celebrating 100 rather than 40 for a change

I've just spotted that this is our 100th post.  I'd like to say that my delay in putting this up has been because I wanted to attach importance to our 100th, but that's not true.  As so often happens, I have been a bit stumped for ideas.  And then our first student of the spring semester arrived (yes, already!), and I had an idea!

I'm going to make comparisons:

• Last year at this time we still had Fall 2010 students stranded at the ICLC due to adverse weather conditions at Heathrow.  The Fall '11 students mostly left 2 weeks ago.
• 53 students just returned to America.  125 will shortly be arriving.
• Last year's Doctor Who Christmas Special had Catherine Jenkins.  This year it has Bill Bailey.
• Last spring we had one visiting faculty member from the home campus teaching at the ICLC.  This spring we have 3.

I'm going to state some little known facts:

• Keith Moon is posthumously developing an interesting relationship with the ICLC.
• Kenneth Branagh is the ICLC's bizarre watchman.
• We aren't sure, but there's compelling evidence that Bill may live in the ICLC.
• Jack Hrkach believes in Elsie.  So do the rest of the staff.

I'm going to dispense some advice:

• If you can't carry it, you've packed too much luggage.
• Toiletries are heavy.  Buy them when you get here.  Similarly, so are peanut butter and mac and cheese.  Eat like a native for a few months!
• Make sure your money is in your checking, NOT your savings.  If you are drawing from an ATM you will not get a choice to take from your savings.
• Keep up to date on what's happening here.  bbc.co.uk

Spring 2012, we'll see you soon!  Fall 2011, I hope you're missing us already!  Spring 2011, the sandwich press is safe!  Fall 2010, what were you doing at this time last year?

-Claire

Some Thoughts on Getting Ready

I hope you don't find this cheeky, but where I would normally write a new blog post about getting our incoming spring 2012 students thinking about money (accessing it abroad, forms to carry it, paying rent, etc.), I'm going to direct you to a blog post I wrote on this very subject last June by clicking here.

Instead, let's take a quick look at the pile of things on your mind right now.

• I got my visa!/I haven't gotten my visa yet!/I have my student visitor letter!/I haven't gotten my student visitor letter yet!

As I think I start most of my emails, that's great news if you have your visa!  If you haven't already let us know that you have it, please email the London Center.  If your visa is a work in progress, there's no need to start sweating.  Let us know if you have any questions about the process.  Student visitors, if you should have a student visitor letter and don't yet, contact International Programs.  They should have everyone's letters.  These are only needed for students who are not getting visas and do not carry an EU passport.  If you are getting a visa you should not have this letter.

• I've heard about my work placement (internship)!/I haven't heard about my work placement!

Some people know where they will be working some don't.  It's the nature of the beast.  Some sites take longer to get back to our coordinators than others.  Some students' fields of interest are difficult to find placements in.  All I can say is that our coordinators want to find the best fit they can based on the forms you filled out on our website.  And our best advice is to be open minded.  Placements are easier to find, and often provide more work for students to do, at smaller companies rather than large.  Placements are also harder and harder to come by in the current climate.  Unemployment seems to be spreading like plague.  Work placements are part of the cultural exchange of studying abroad, so even if the work isn't exactly what you had in mind, there is always something to be learned from every experience, even if the lesson is that this isn't the kind of work you want to do.  For the most part our students are happy in their placements, though, so again, please don't sweat this.

• What do I pack?

Very good question, start with the practical aspects.  What is the luggage/weight limit of the airline?   Research this so that you aren't surprised by surcharges at the airport.  What's the weather like?  If you ask me, it's a cold winter here in London.  It's not a snowey Ithaca winter, but it's chilly and windy.  How much should I pack?  You're coming over for 4 months and will have the ability to do laundry, so don't weigh yourself down with your entire wardrobe.  Bring what you wear to class (aside from pajamas, no one really wears those out of the house in London like they do in college towns) and bring something appropriate for your work placement.  Bring comfortable shoes (some people swear by their rain boots, some say they were a waste of luggage space), most classes utilize London and don't spend the entire semester in the classroom.

• When do I register for classes?

I promise that's a work in progress.  It is a very busy time in International Programs and Rachel will let everyone know as soon as she can.

• Where will I live?

Bill has sent out details for a couple student housing options which can be prearranged (Foundation for International Education and Anglo American).  Please drop us an email if you would like more info about these options.  Another option is a home stay.  This means living in a family home somewhere in London.  You often have your own room, and depending on the arrangements this may or may not also include some meals.  As usual, email the London Center if you would like more information.  If you plan on flat hunting during orientation week start thinking about a housing group.  Some students have already started posting on our Facebook group, this is a great forum to get in touch with most of your spring 2012 ICLC classmates.

• What am I forgetting?

If you would like an ISIC card, do this through OIP as the one you get in America before you arrive comes with insurance.  Plan your budget before you get here.  Rent is advertised by week but usually paid by month.  To figure out your monthly rent multiply the weekly amount by 52 (weeks) and then divide that by 12 (months).  Your deposit is also about 4-6 weeks more of rent (this should be returned to you at the end of your stay).  During fall 2011 our students' rent ranged from about £110-170 per person per week.  Familiarize yourself with the terms Council Tax and TV Licensing.  You are full time students so you are exempt from paying Council Tax, but YOU MUST APPLY FOR YOUR EXEMPTION.  Anywhere that has a television has to buy a tv license.  This fee keeps the BBC commercial free, and not paying can lead to a fine in excess of £1,000.  It can be paid monthly, or the landlord/estate agent may have already paid it.  It is important to know where you stand, because TV Licensing doesn't care if you plead ignorance.  You can't do these things before you arrive, but they may be foreign concepts, so we are raising awareness early.

This on top of finals, and probably loads more thoughts are circling in the developing whirlpool of your mind.  Please don't stress about any of it!  Stay aware of everything going on.  Read people's Facebook posts on our group page, read our emails, read the news.  We want you to find your feet in London as soon as you hit the ground.

-Claire

PS- The fall 2011 group wishes you well in their new adopted city and sends this message to you:

Tenterhooks- a True Story

If a person is on tenterhooks, they are in a state of uneasy suspense or painful anxiety.  This originates from the hooks or bent nails that hold cloth stretched on a tenter (thank you, dictionary.com).  On a side note, a tenter is a frame that cloth is stretched on so that it dries evenly.

The reason I bring up tenterhooks is because I was thinking of the excitement of getting ready to come over to London.  I know that you have packing to do, flatmates for find, money to sort out and summer jobs to wrap up, too.  But I remember being in your position.  With all that going on, I just wanted to get on the plane and come over to London!  My anxiety wasn't painful and there wasn't really any uneasy suspense, but I was waiting impatiently for that departure date to arrive.  I was so ready to be in London!

Everything I'm about to relate truly happened.  You can ask my mom.

There are only a few highlights of my own departure and arrival in London as a study abroad student that flash across my memory.  I knew what I wanted to pack, and I had everything laid out in organized piles in my room at home.  Of course I knew that they needed to be in a suitcase to get them over to London, but there they sat in my room until around 2am the morning of my flight (I think I was leaving O'Hare around 10am to connect to my transatlantic red-eye from Newark later that day) when I panicked and chucked my neat piles into my duffel bag and backpack.  I think I spent a lot of time sitting on my duffel, struggling to get it closed, and not a single moment of that night sleeping.  Another memory was my arrival at O'Hare.  My mother came with me to the check-in desk, and while I was waiting I was going through the checklist I had been sent.  I had my acceptance letter to show at the border, but I had completely forgotten to ask my parents to write me a letter of support to say that they would help me financially, if I needed.  So, very quickly, while waiting to check-in, my mom scrawled a note on the back of Bill's big summer quiz, which used to be posted to students in a big pack of papers (only some of the questions have changed in the last decade), to say that she wouldn't let me go broke while abroad.

This next bit now causes me to shudder, since immigration is now a large part of my job.  When I arrived in London I hadn't really slept on the flight and I hadn't slept a wink the night before, so I was perhaps a little loopy from lack of sleep.  One thing I do know, there were two border agents at the desk I approached, the trainer and the trainee.  As a result I received a thorough questioning from the trainer who seemed to be setting an example.  I was baffled when I was asked my mother's maiden name, because she didn't change it when she got married.  Then, more importantly, they asked me how much money I had.  That was a much easier question, knowing the contents of my pockets.  "$5," I said.  "$5?" he asked.  "Yes," I said.  No problem, I hit that one straight out of the park.  He just stared at me.  "Anything else at all?" he asked.  "Nope," I said, still batting 1,000.  "You're telling me that you've just flown over from the USA with an empty bank account and no credit or debit cards?" he asked.  "Oh.  Of course I have those.  I thought you wanted to know how much cash I had on me."  Batting 500.  And I completely forgot to show him the note from my mom (though the state of it would probably just have attested to my disorganization even more).  Batting 0.  He rolled his eyes and stamped my passport, and I entered the UK.  In my defense, I hadn't had much sleep, but I'm not here to make excuses for my moments of delinquency.  I was a bit of a numpty that morning.

Me as a study abroad student.  I'm the one in the middle

The moral of my story is this: no matter how ready you think you are, get some rest and don't panic.  The upside is that I'm able to bring experience to my job. 

-Claire

PS- I'm pretty sure it's not usual to be asked your mother's maiden name at immigration.