Edinburgh

While in Mexico back in April we were inspired by a New Zealand couple to evaluate our life plan. Prior to our trip, we had abstract plans about where our life was headed but nothing concrete. This couple from New Zealand, on holiday for 3 months after living in London for 5 years and on their way to Sydney to start life again, inspired us to take a hard look at our life and goals. What we came up with was a desire to move abroad, specifically Scotland.

We got back from that trip to Mexico very motivated to make our move. After doing research into visas, we found that the only visa that would work for us would be a student visa. We started doing research into some schools and, along the way, we both fell in love with the idea of being students again. But, realistically, only one of us could be a student while the other supported both and we drew straws and Mike won. So, Mike applied to Edinburgh College of Arts and we waited.

Mike received notice yesterday that his application to ECA was unsuccessful due to capacity issues. Apparently, ECA reaches capacity during Round 1 applications and Mike was applying during Round 3. After a little sadness we brushed ourselves off and started to strategize our plan B.

Since the student visa is our only way in, we're going to still try for a fall 2008 start date. International students have until 6/30/2008 to apply, so Mike is sending an application to approximately 10 other art colleges, including a few traditional universities with fine art programs. If those schools are at capacity as well (highly unlikely for the traditional universities, I think) then there's always the Clearing.

If Mike hasn't been accepted by any school by 7/1 his applications are sent to Clearing, which will allow him to take a spot given to someone else who has either declined the offer or withdrawn after accepting. All this to say, even with this set back, we're still on track with our plan. We won't give up the fall 2008 date until 9/1, when most classes start. After 9/1 we'll focus on fall 2009, which would allow more time to plan and budget and maybe even visit (for the first time) the place we hope to live for the next 5 years. Some would say fall 2009 would be the more prudent/realistic/practical goal, but those people don't know us very well.