So it begins

Nerves set in

Published Date : June 9, 2003

The nerves are beginning to jangle with less than two weeks until I leave.  I have no more doubts about what I’m doing, now it’s just excitement and run-of-the-mill nervousness.  The last time I left for the UK, I had a decent amoung of savings and the safety net of the SWAP program.  This time, I have very little money and no real safety net.  My brother is still in Edinburgh, but I would rather not have to couch surf if I can help it.

Free money

Published Date : June 14, 2003

My graduation ceremony was today.  I’m now the first woman in my family to ever graduate from college.   I not only finished in the Top 5 in my class, but I was also the highest ranked woman.  I’m really proud of myself!  In recognition of my academic achievements, the school presented me with a CDN$500 graduating award.  Nice!  It’s a great feeling to have my hard work pay off and be recognized.

The next week is going to fly by.  Most of the chores are done.  The only things left are to transfer my cell phone over to my mom and sell my car.  Time to start packing and figuring out how much stuff I’m bringing with me!!

I talked to my brother last week, so he knows I’m coming over.  He wants me to stay with him in Edinburgh, but I want to try and do this without relying on him.  I may still end up at his place though!  He’s also letting me take his old mobile phone, so that’s one less thing for me to worry about once I get there.

Not long to go now!

More free money

Published Date : June 20, 2003

Packed and ready to go

Wow! Two days to go!  I’m definitely getting excited now.  My car still hasn’t sold but my Grandmother gave me CDN$1000.  That was a very nice and very unexpected surprise!  I’ve got about GB£650 to play with now.  Apparently my family is more concerned about my lack of funds than I am!

As expected the last week has flown by.  I did a trial run today – my first attempt at packing.  If I bring my sleeping bag I’ll have to bring another daypack, but I don’t really want to do that.  I’ll do another run tomorrow without the sleeping bag and see if that works.  I may end up with the other bag after all.

I started looking at the job prospects in the UK in my field.  I found a pretty good position in Cambridge that I’m going to apply for.  Fingers crossed.

The first step

Published Date : June 23, 2003

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

~Chinese Proverb~

Today was a very long day.  I left Vancouver at 9:30pm last night and pulled into Edinburgh at about 8:30pm tonight.  With the time difference, I think I was up for about 30 hours.

The flight actually wasn’t too bad.  It wasn’t full, so we were all eyeing the centre seats until they closed the doors in Vancouver, waiting to make a dive for them if they weren’t taken.  I didn’t end up with 4 seats to myself, but I did get an aisle with nobody next to me, and a friendly guy in the window seat.

The 9 ½ hours to Manchester passed pretty quickly in the end.  Once we were in Manchester we had to disembark so they could clean the plane, but they made us go through security and then wait for 2 hours.  If I had known ahead of time that we were going to be in Manchester so long, I would’ve just caught the train from there instead of carrying on to Glasgow.

In the end we rolled into Glasgow at about 6:00pm.  I breezed through customs, collected my bags and hopped on the bus into Buchanan Street Bus Station.  I got there with 15 minutes to spare before the next bus to Edinburgh, giving me a chance to relax a bit and take it all in.  I’m back in Scotland – how about that!

Onto the bus for an hour-long trip, and we pulled into Edinburgh about 8:30pm.  It was only a 5-minute walk to Princes Street Backpackers (£61/week), followed by a hike up the 77 stairs to reception. Ouch!  They have my reservation – all good!  Welcome back to Edinburgh.

Starting the Hunt

Published Date : June 24, 2003

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh

It feels very surreal to be back in Edinburgh again.  It has been just over two years since I was last, but it feels exactly the same.  The only difference this time is that I’m here in summer instead of winter.  Even with the sunny skies and warmer temperatures, there’s still the same chilly breeze blowing in off the Firth of Forth.

Today I explored.  I spent most of the day walking around and re-acquainting myself with my former home. It was a tiring day, but a good one.

Tonight I’ll try to track down my brother.  I haven’t seen him or his girlfriend since the last time I was here in 2001.  In addition to catching up, I’m in desperate need of his old phone.  I can’t start applying for jobs until I have a contact number.

I’m going to try to contact John tomorrow regarding the job posting in Cambridge that I found before I left Vancouver.  Even if that job doesn’t come through, temporarily relocating to somewhere like Cambridge might make more sense.  It’ll be much more central for travelling to job interviews (and just travelling in general).  I was hoping to find work in Scotland, but unfortunately, pickings are slim here.  I’m coming to terms with the idea that I have to bite the bullet and move to London.  We’ll see how it goes!

Strike One

Published Date : June 25, 2003

I spoke with John today about the job in Cambridge.  Unfortunately, the job has been filled, but he has invited me down for a tour to help me get a feel for how things work in the UK.  He also gave me a lead on a couple of headhunters who may be able to help with my job search.

I spent the rest of the day wandering around town and visiting all the old stomping grounds.  It was a good day.