Exciting News

Big changes are happening here. The biggest would have to be Derek's news and plans for the future. He's been accepted into a PhD programme in Electrical Engineering at Glasgow!!! We're really excited about it and about the future. He'll be one of two PhD students building a better version of an existing laser (just his type of thing!) for a professor who happens to be the partner of a fellow British History One Tutor. The tutor, a postdoc and fellow Canadian, and I had bonded over our similar backgrounds and having partners in physics, and she kindly remembered to mention Derek's continuing job hunt to her boyfriend, who then mentioned the PhD positions he had going on one of his funded projects (because as a scientist his research has commercial applications worth investment by the private sector as well as the government). It's a funded position with a research stipend, so thankfully he won't be hit by an annual tuition bill of £12 950 (about $20 000 CAD)! But there's a lot to do before he can start in July.

First, he has to get his ATAS clearance. This has something to do with giving the UK government confidence that he won't use his acquired knowledge and skills for bad purposes. It takes about 20 business days to get clearance, so we're stuck waiting on that. Next are the UK Visa issues. The Border Agency has changed the rules for acquiring a UK student visa since we got ours less than two years ago, so no information on changing Derek's specific class of visa exists online anymore. But then again there might not be an issue with his visa -- we're still figuring that out.

Next comes the logistics of starting school in another city. We don't have a car, nor are we going to get one (do you know how much petrol costs here?!), and we're agreed that we don't want to leave Edinburgh -- our friends are here, I'm still studying here, it's so much more beautiful and peaceful... So we're doing the next best thing to make Derek's commute easier -- we're moving near a train station in town. In the past three weeks we toured five flats, found the perfect one (and some some awful ones), put in an application, arranged to get out of our current lease early, found a new tenant to move into here (a fellow history PhD from Canada, one who doesn't mind the cold), and got what I think is the perfect flat. It's located about 7 minutes away from the train station and is a top floor flat in a new-built complex. There's a grocery store around the corner, and the building is back in a quiet family-friendly area with dead-end streets and pedestrian paths. Two of the flat's four windows face the South (therefore natural light and heat!), the ceilings are a normal height, we have a separate fridge and freezer (a necessity for us) and we'll have two of the most coveted items that one can find in an Edinburgh flat: double-glazing and gas central heating. Any heat we use won't be flying out of drafty windows anymore. In other words, I'm going to be warm!!!

Everything has been happening so fast! We're picking up the keys and signing the lease in two days, and a week from today we'll be fully moved out of this place with the help of a friend who has a car (it's too far to walk everything this time around!). So if I don't write again for a week or so, you'll know why. Wish us luck for a smooth move!