What to Expect?

Having returned from Georgetown, I now face the fact that I am only days away from moving to London. The whole moving to a new country/continent doesn't bother me that much, nor does the new school/style of education. My biggest worry is the social factor. Who will I hang out with? I've made friends here who are going to LSE, but I wonder if I'll actually see them that often when I'm over there. Or will I hang out with only Georgetown kids? That seems to defeat the point of going abroad to me.

Whenever I go on Facebook and see yet another new gallery of my friends in other foreign countries, I can only help but wonder if I'll have pictures like these posted. Will I suddenly create these friends who will want to go to Amsterdam, Wales, and Scotland with me? Will they want to watch a match at Emirates? Or will they only be into hitting the pubs? I guess I can only do my best to make some friends and not worry too much about it.

Another question I have is whether or not I will actually care or do much schoolwork. But that's a less important issue...

Hash House Harriers

Hashing is the activity in which you run in a group, following a trail left by the "hare" (imagine Hansel and Gretel). Then, once you done running, or sometimes, while you're running, you drink beer. It's a running and drinking club, basically. I enjoy running, and the idea of a "drinking club with a running problem" sounds cool, I imagine this will turn out like my Dad's hiking group, a bunch of weird, eccentric old people with a strange superiority complex trying to stay in shape while having fun with like minded people. Hashing sounds awesome enough that I just might have to check one of these out, especially because it seems like a really British thing to do.
At the same time, living so close to Regent's Park, I may just stick to running there. But if that becomes repetitive or boring, it may be nice to get out and learn about some new routes like I did with the tri team at school. And there's beer afterwards! Running the city has always been my favorite way to learn about a new city, so hashing may be a good fit for me.

I just wish there was an LSE hashing club (kennel) so that I could run with people my age. At least that way, I'm meeting people my age.

Visa: Go

Today, September 2nd, 2009, I finally received my UK visa. And of all the days to have it, for today I had my wisdom teeth removed. It's not like it's some grand coincidence, but I had imagined me staring at the UPS package tracking site as if my visa had a GPS tracker on it. I imagined running to the door and signing for my visa and passports. But instead I has high on nitrous oxide, lying in a bed looking like a chipmunk.

But when I got home, the package was waiting. Anti-climatic, but it really should be. All the worry was unnecessary, but hindsight has good eyesight or whatever. Anyways, now that this is done, my mom is finally comfortable buying me a plane ticket over there, and more importantly a peacoat. Labor Day sales, here I come.

But here's my real question: What if I hadn't gotten my visa? What would I have done then? It's too late to try to return to Georgetown as a junior, as classes began last week. I instead imagined going to the UK anyways and living the life of an illegal immigrant. Or would I have had to take the year off and live at home and find a way to get my tuition back from Georgetown? Thank God I didn't have to resort to any of these scenarios.

Another thing I also wonder is this: If for some reason I couldn't go to England, would I still care about football (soccer)? Would I still look forward to watching Top Gear on TV? What would I tell my friends? It's a horrible scenario, where I can see only one positive emerging (aaspacio), but that's an entirely separate issue.

Now I actually have to worry about what life in London will be like. Damn, that's exciting. I can actually look forward to my time in the UK without those stupid, unnecessary worries.

Still Waiting...

I'm still waiting for any indication from the British consulate about my Visa application. I sent it a couple weeks ago, so it could come any day now or in another month. I have no idea.

Other Shit

Edinburgh looks cool. That is all.

Visa Application Sent

Last Friday, I got my biometrics done. A simple fingerprinting and passport picture later, and I was able to send my entire Visa application. So, this morning it was sent to the British consulate in LA. I wonder how long it will take to hear back. For some reason, I'm nervous about not getting a visa.

77 Days...

It's 1:40 AM on a Friday morning and I don't want to sleep. It probably has something to do with that article I read a couple hours ago saying that "night owls" operate best around 9 PM and that no matter what strange measures they go to in order to become morning people, they will always remain night people, like vampires. So, why fight it? Having woke up at 11 AM today/yesterday, staying up this late isn't a big deal.

Enough on that, a few days ago, Tuesday I think, I received my Welcome Packet from LSE. It included all the documents I had to sign and send back to London, including my course selection and a picture form for my ID. Of course I messed up my signature so it looks like my 4 year old cousin tried to write my name.

I've been lifting a lot recently, still hoping I'll be big enough to play rugby when I go over there. But, still, I am wondering, anxious and nervous, whether rugby is a good idea. It'll be tough meeting new people and making friends otherwise, so it probably is a good idea, despite my hesitations. I wonder how much bigger I can get in the next 77 days. Still, I'm only 5'7" (around 170 cm), which is short for any position. Then again, I did play high school football, so why should this be any different. Because it's England, not San Jose, duh.

I've also begun the process of applying for a visa. It's a pretty straight-forward process so far, considering I haven't done anything besides typing in some cities and countries into an online form. I did hit a few speed bumps though. But that's another issue entirely, not anything to do with LSE or the UK.

Bored, it's now 1:49, which means I'm 9 minutes closer to England than when I started this post. But still no closer to sleep...