Jack is Back!

A day that I have been hearing about since sometime in the year 2000 has arrived.  Yes, Jack Hrkach, the first to arrive of our two visiting faculty this semester, is in London, and he's here for a long stay.  As Bill said, the eagle has landed.

Before I was a Theatre History student of Jack's, I remember discussing his move to London.  This is something he has had on the books since before I met him.  As a Brit-o-phile, Jack has been taking students to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival almost every August since 2000, he took a sabbatical semester to teach in London in the fall of 2005 and brought a group of Honors Students to London last March.  He is now taking his terminal sabbatical and spending his last two semesters as an Ithaca professor teaching in London for the fall 2011 and spring 2012 semesters and helping us organize our 40th anniversary Ruby Juby celebrations.

Claire, why do you know so much about Jack's travel history to they UK?, you ask.  Yes, I was a students of his, yes, Jack is avid about keeping in touch with alums, but more importantly, I helped him fill out his visa application to come over here and teach for the next year.  Student visitors, entering the UK should be pretty straight forward for you.  You have your acceptance letter from Rachel Cullenen, you will have a Student Visitor letter from the ICLC to show the Border Agent when you arrive, and you should have some sort of proof of funds to show that you can support yourself while you are in the UK (as you will have no right to pick up part-time work).  Easy-peasey-lemon-squeezey.  Thus far entering the UK hasn't cost you anything (I don't count your tuition to Ithaca in that statement).  Students coming in on Tier 4 student visas, you've had a slightly more rigorous and expensive process, having applied for your visas before you can come over to the UK.  But once you have that you're good to go.  You had some hoops to jump through, and timing was of the essence, but most of you have been approved and I'm hoping to hear from the others soon.  Whoop!

Jack's arrival in London last August.  That's the enthusiasm of someone excited to be in London!

Jack's visa application to work in the UK was a little more labor intensive.  We spent an hour and a half on Skype working on the application together and cheered loudly when Jack emailed to say that his application had been approved a few weeks later.  Partly because I have a lot of responsibility about immigration issues and partly because I remember Jack planning this extended stay in London since nearly time immemorial, I was so pleased when he finally made it over.  Luckily none of our fall 2011 students had to resort to packing him in their suitcase to get Jack over for the year.

Linda Heyne, when you arrive in London in a few weeks I think Bill's secret code for you will be, the German classical scholar and archaeologist as well as the long-time director of the Göttingen State and University Library has landed.

-Claire