Two weeks to go!

Two weeks to go and we will be living it up in SU! How exciting is that? Very if you ask me! Sorry updates have been slow, everything has been happening all at once now the time is coming a lot closer! 

Our flights have been booked and we officially head over for a year in America on the 23rd August flying from Manchester to Philadelphia and then from there to Syracuse! 

These past couple of weeks have been so busy with everything going on, I've even had the chance to speak to my new room-mate who lives in LA! How wicked is that?! I always said from the word ‘go’ that I wanted to be friends with someone from LA so that I could hopefully visit one day. :D Now my room-mate is from Los Angeles! Instant Bestos ;) if you ask me, haha! 

So far a few messages have been sent between us and I cannot wait to get out there! Judy, our surrogate mother, has been messaging us too, she is so excited to meet us which excites me too! 

Our courses have been selected for first semester, I have chosen to study - Arts & Ideas, Economic Ideas and Issues, World Cultures, Public Service Practicum and Sociology of Families. So far with my schedule the way it is, from what I've kind of worked out, I haven't been given a Place on the Arts and Ideas course, However theres always next semester to apply so I'm not too disheartened by it! Anyway, who would be with a room-mate from LA! ;) 

I've done most of the sad stuff now like saying goodbye to my friends from home as i know, with work and everyone going on their own little holidays and adventures, Im not going to see them before I start on my big adventure, but as sad as it really is saying goodbye, its only nine months.. and I know I'm going to have the best time ever! :D 

Mum and Dad have booked their flights so I've always that to look forward to as well as Graeme has booked time off work to come visit too! So already, for those wanting to come visit, December is fully booked, sorry! 

Anyway, sorry it was short this time but with emails to be sent and bags to be packed! I better go, i’ll blog again soon! 

Thanks for reading! 

Visa time!

After a lot of emails, skype calls and telephone calls back and forward from America and London, it was time for myself and Joanna to have our first adventure out of Lockerbie as Syracuse Scholars! We were off to London! It's finally time to make it really official and get our visas since its only 2 months until we become SU bound!

Day 1 - 1st June 2015. We met at Lockerbie train station around 9am for our train arriving on time at 9.11am. we then had to change at Cralisle before heading to London Euston. We met Claire as we got off the train and together headed to the underground. Within minutes of being in London we had set eyes on a celeb! Mathew Horne who playes Gavin, in Gavin and Stacey! Total buzz for a big fan of the show like myself, however i dont think he was much of a fan of my "OH MY GOD ITS GAV, HI!" reaction i gave as i noticed him. Once I had calmned down and got over the fact that he totally ignored us, we got on the tube, heading to our hotel, along the way having a lovely chat with Claire about SU and the exciting times that lie ahead of us. Claire had set out a fab dialy plan for us with maps of the uderground and places where we would need to be over the next four days. We got to the hotel, checked in and then Claire took us through the plan she had set up for us :) 
Myself and Jo then took s few hours to look through the maps and all the exciting things that we were going to be doing in the big smoke in the hotel room with a bit of classy Jezza on in the background before finding out where the stations were where we would need to be going in the morning. We took a walk and fouind them straight away - top students or what! Our first day was topped of with a great night at Pizza hut - which was so close to our hotel! :D :D - and of course you cant forget the ice cream factory!

Day 2 began with an early (for us students ) 8am start. Last night i posted on facebook that we were in London and thankfully my Uncle had noticed and wanted to meet up with us so this morning we were meeting him at Queenswater Station to go for a coffee and a well overdue catch-up before our meeting at the embassy. Starbucks was on him! :) After a lovely catchup we said goodbye and joined the longest queue ive ever seen, outside the embassy. A young woman mjst have overheard us chatting about going to America and asked if we were going to do camp america as she had done it years ago and was heading back over to do it again as a teacher this time. We spoke for ages - she was so chatty and lovely, didnt quite catch her name though hense the 'she'. We got inside through security - who had a slight me;tdown with my insulin pump, however, we got there! I was ticket number L115 and Joanna was N508. We walked upstaors and joined everyone else waiting to get there visas, it was honestly like going into a cattle shed! Anyway, us girls did what we do best and spoke away to pass the time, Joanna was called up first and my number was a couiple after hers. There was no problem with mine and i was told to just sit down and wait for my number to be called again for our actual interview. Joanna however, hadnt brought any other photos with her - to be fair we didnt realise this was necessary, i was just lucky enough to have some with me! - so we were stuck, We needed to find £7 from somewhere, we had came with no money, no phones, nothing! Literally our folders with our paperwork and the clothes we had on was all we had with us! Disaster! Joanna went and spoke to the girl that we had been talking to earlier and explained what had happened and asked if she had any money with her, she did,  however it wasnt quite enough, i couldnt believe this! Lucky enough a kind guy sitting infront had obviously over heard the conversation Jo was having with this girl and kindly gave her money to go and get her photos taken - what a LAD! Anyway, Joanna finally got her photos, both our numbers were called, a while after eachother i must say and our visas were both accepted! Thank God! We were actually going to America! We headed back to the hotel - first time on the tube ourselves (eeeekkk!). Arrived, no bother, at the hotel, collected our things and headed to the shops! A celebration lunch was defo in order so Pizza Express this time! Dough Balls! mmm. A fab couple of hours round the shops meant we could go back to the hotel, have a wee facetime and phonecall home, put come crappy TV on and relax a bit before popping to Sainsburys to stash up on food beofre Hollyoaks and Made in Chelsea - both of which i dont watch! - Planning for tomorrow has began! We are on form! 

Day 3 was another early start as we had classes at SU London! Im so excited for this! Another quick trip on the tube - we've got this down to a tee now! - getting to Faraday House however was not as easy as we anticipated. Map reading is not our greatest skill. This meant that we spent half an hour walking around and asking for directions of poeple - who just like us had no idea ad sent us in the wrong direction half the time. But we found it in the end! We were warmly welcomed by a lovely man on reception before we were taken to an advertising class with around 10 Students in it, all from SU New York who were over here studying for a couple of weeks, along with Brain - a professor from SU New York. They were all so lovely to talk to and were happy to answer any questions that we had about the campus in America. We then joined Matt's drama class. Matt was an american living over here wokring for New York Times giving reviews on West End shows. Part of his job is to interview the stars who take part in these shows and today we had the honor of meeting Dan Burton who was currently staring in 'Gypsy' in West End. After the interview we then got a chance to talk to the students and head to The Apollo Theatre, grab some lunch and ask some more questions about our future uni for the year which got both of us mega excited, which is fab! We then watched 'The Audience' a play about Queeni and her weekly meeting with the PM - some of which i didnt really understand, a great show never the less! A nice sunny walk back to the tube and five stops late we were back at our hotel in time for a quick call home before another adventure out to Pizza Hut where the waitress recognised us from the first time we went - good or bad? A little chill time, a shower and we were set for some more crappy TV! Student life is fab! 

Day 4, our final day in london :(. It was home time and how typical, the onyl day we are allowedd to sleep in is the day im wide awake without an alarm at half 7 in the morning! Finally, an hour later Joanna woke up and we started to get ready. Breakfast in the hotel - which was lovely - before heading baack upstairs to the challenge that awaited us. Our suitcases needed repacked! I swear i have more than i came with? I've no idea where it all came from! Anyway, us keen students managed to squeeze everything into our cases and head to Bayswater station, en route to Euston station, and as per, we knew our way round better than we expected and have ended with an hour to kill on the floor of euston station with people asking me if i have dropped my ticket on the floor because there is one beside my bag. I still pick it up and check every time though! 

Announcement day - Ellen!

I had been awake since half past seven, sitting with my phone in my hand, waiting for it to ring so the wait would be over. The group chat message started buzzing and everyone started messaging asking when we were getting the call and wondering if anyone had been given theirs already yet. I waited (rather impatiently). I kept checking, thinking that all of a sudden my phone wasn't going to ring or light up when they tried to call and I would miss it. of course, that wouldn't happen but you always think of the negatives when you're nervous.

Wednesday 18th Feb - the day that I had far too much on yet all I was thinking about was that one call. I had a curling competition that day too - first game at 10 so I couldn't really hand around procrastinating. I also then had the trouble of remembering what number I had put on my application for them to contact me - it seemed like years since we first filled out the online application - so it was all hands on deck at home too with manning the phones.

Ten o'clock came and I had to head out onto the ice for my first game of the day. My sister came to watch too so she was on phone duty and Dad had stayed at home in case I had put the house number on my application - memory like a sieve, its never good - everyone felt the pressure, I had knots in my stomach and I kept looking at my sister for any sign of my phone ringing but there was nothing, 

The morning came and went and there was no phone call to any of the applicants. All eleven of us were total stress heads. Then one o'clock came. I think that was when the first phone call was made. 

My phone rang at quarter past. I cried before I even answered the phone. Poor Graeme,  giving me the news, having to deal with me crying down the phone to him. My mum and sister thought I hadn't got it because I let out this huge cry when he told me I was successful but then my Dad came through and I gave him a positive nod and he knew exactly what I meant. All three of them were absolutely buzzing - so proud they kept telling me. 

Although I did feel really bad knowing that two years ago my sister was in the exact same emotional state as myself yet under totally different circumstances - sadly she unfortunately never got the scholarship and she was devastated - we all were.

I now knew that I was going but I didn't know who with - the most tense wait of my life! We had made a group chat on Facebook which was how we found out who had got it and when the phone calls were made. Joanna was in another uni interview and missed her phone call - typical! So I then had to go on and play my second match of the day, on a high knowing I was off to America - the concrete jungle where dreams are made ;) - but with no idea who I was going with. Thankfully by the time my game had finished, so had Joanna's interview and the message had been sent - It was lil Miss Barrie who was joining me on this amazing opportunity!

A 'Congratulations' card came through the door and a lot of tears - happy ones of course - was let out over the phone to various relatives. I honestly could  not believe that this opportunity was mine. I knew straight away that I was not going to let it go to waste and I was going to make the most of each moment that comes with the: build up, journey and living life out there.

Dreams really had been made and I wasn't even in the country yet!