On the tenth while having lunch with dad and Kristy I got a phone call that my flight had been cancelled just hours before my original was was supposed to board. My heart dropped because I just knew it was all too good to be true! However, the flight they put me on instead actually worked out better because there was a shorter layover and I arrived in London an hour earlier than planned. That part was only minority stressful.
The real stress came with the student visa ordeal that began in Huntsville and did not end in London... (deep breaths) I was told by both the UNA Office of International Affairs and my host school in Schmalkalden that U.S. citizens do not need a visa to study in Germany; however, Delta did not feel the same, resulting in a costly change of my return date to an earlier date to accommodate the six-months-only-without-a-visa rule. After I settle the visa thing with Schmalkalden and the airline then I will be able to move my date back to where we had originally planned it, which will again be costly but unavoidable so life goes on.
The UK Border patrol lady- now she was something else. I was already nervous about the visa thing and was pretty convinced that customs wouldn't allow me to stay, and while yes, she did let me in the country, no she was not pleasant about it. I was given the FULL inquisition about everything small detail of my life basically. She asked me whether I'm staying with family or friends, and by default I already call Joe's family my family, but TECHNICALLY they are just friends. So saying family and then changing it to just friends sketched her out, then she didn't understand why I would stay for so long with people I only met in February and I had to explain my relationship with Joe in detail, and then she wanted all the information about when I'm leaving for Germany, followed by endless questions about what I'll be studying, how I am recieving money for it, and why exactly I thought I could do all that without a visa... Leading back to my original statement UNA AND SCHMALKALDEN BOTH SAID I DO NOT NEED A VISA FOR GERMANY.
Proof from their Office of Intl. Affairs:
By the absolute grace of God, she let me in the country. I do have a lovely "must leave in 6 months" stamp on my passport though. I feel like I'm on some sort of British watch list now! It was definitely not an enjoyable 12 hours of traveling, but it has all been worked out the best that it can be right now and it will be all completely worked out soon.
It was totally worth all the hassle when I saw Joe waiting for me with flowers in his hands. I'm so excited to be here for the next couple of months! Helen, Mark, Ollie and Joe took me to Wetherspoons for lunch where I enjoyed my first British meal of the most British of foods- fish and chips. It was nothing short of amazing! We walked around town for a bit (in the rain) so that I could buy a few things I needed. Petersfield is such a cute town, like it was taken right out of a fairytale. I'll have lots of pictures up soon!
Here's in of the town square:
Here's my fish and chips:
Alabama folks like to think OUR weather is weird and unpredictable, but I've decided now that Alabama has nothing on England in that department. The weather here changes here so often that Mark was saying "If you don't like the weather here then just wait fifteen minutes and it will be something else." It was so true: in the blink of an eye it goes from pouring rain to sunny and warm to cold and cloudy to drizzly and wet to hot as hades. Keeps things interesting at least!
In the evening I experienced Tescos, which is their local market, with Joe, Ollie, and Ollie's friend Ben, and got all sorts of sweets. Not one healthy item was purchased, but it was my first day so it's semi-acceptable!! I just really enjoyed looking at all of their products because of course they have all these different brands and foods, and even the brands that we do share are boxed and bottled differently. So that was all super interesting and the boys just looked at me like I was crazy when I said, "I CAN'T WAIT TO COME BACK HERE!" They're like... it's just Tescos.
So that has been the highlights and lowlights of the last 48 hours. It's been crazy and stressful and fun and now I'm jet lagged as I sit here writing this at 7:30AM local time. Needless to say I am very excited to see more of Petersfield and obviously to spend lots of time with Joe and the family, excuse me, FRIENDS.
Thanks for reading,
Bethany
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