Plus! I'm sure the UK students have cars. Carpool!! Road Trips!
You guys are staying pretty busy on this thread!
😉
Just a couple of comments in general - being American is not tough in the city at all, or with your fellow students. There does seem to be a bit of a predisposition to take comments from N. American students as a culture shock thing, but no problems with general life. Student life is very much an undergrad experience, which suits most students just fine.
Banks - huge PITA. Seriously, I'd recommend Lloyd's as that seems to be the bank giving the fewest problems to students. Based on my experience, I would NOT recommend Abby/Santander. Traveler's checks are actually a bit of a pain, so if you have an account in the US, you might be better off just withdrawing money from ATMs in the UK or using plastic to charge here until you get your UK account running, but that's just JMO. You will need money, because once you finally get your bank account opened, if you're on student loans you then have to wait until the finance office distributes your check, which actually takes longer than you might hope. You go to the finance office, look at the checks which are in US funds, agree to the exchange rate, then sign over your checks to the school/their exchange broker. They then take a few days/to a week to convert the check and reissue it in pounds sterling. Then you go back and pick up your check and take it to your bank to deposit it. Depending on your bank, it will take 4-10 working days for your funds to be available in your account. Just be aware that things take time and have a way to deal with this.
Don't count on fellow students having cars! Fairly few and far between, but you really don't need a car for daily life. Most students live within walking distance of classes, or bus, or ride bicycles. When the school moves out to Easter Bush, walking likely won't be such an appealing option
😉 but there are currently two bus lines that run to the Easter Bush campus. (see lothianbuses.com for more info, bus lines 15 and 67.)
In our GEP class, the majority (%-wise) of our class is from the US, then UK. We'll join up with the current 2nd years in the fall for "3rd" year, and most of them seem to be from the UK. We do have some classes with 2nd years, but most of our classes are just the GEPs.
The profs are a pretty interesting crowd, and most of them are great. I can't think of one that hasn't been very willing to talk about questions or been approachable if you need help, so big thumbs up on that.
EMS - you really shouldn't have to pay for EMS, the only thing could be finding accommodation/board if you have to travel to complete your EMS. The school doesn't fund you for that, but most people should be able to complete most EMS without having to spend a lot of money. Over your spring break, you will need to do lambing within the UK, and you might have to travel to get to your farm, but most farmers will provide accommodation and food, and some will even pay you.
If there were any questions that I missed, let me know and I'll try to help out!
I fully intend on exploring the countryside and checking out every medieval/Viking thing out there. I'm a sucker for castles and cultural festivals, like dressing up as Vikings and setting one of the viking ships on fire (its called Up Helly Aa) or paint yourself all in red (Beltane festival).
