Boel Jeevers is in Florida!

Well I'm now here safe and sound in FLORIDA! This is a pic of me in the hotel room now before I leave. I've just had a great breakfast at Denny's just down the road from the hotel - best pancakes I've ever had!

Will put more on here later...

Last night at home!

My passport / VISA arrived today :) And Mum and I went to Bradford IMAX to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I don't care what people say about it, I still think it was great. Of course it's not the same as reading the book, and they have to cut stuff, and of course Hollywoodise it a touch but it's still a great film to watch. I can't wait to see it again and digest it a bit more!

This is my last night at home before leaving for Florida as I'll be in a hotel tomorrow night so that it isn't a crazy early morning drive from Anna's house... just a crazy late night drive to the hotel instead!!!

Still haven't started packing. Miffed that my camera is sold out in all of the Curry's in the country apart from 2 stores. So tomorrow is going to be a really busy day!

How Exciting!

Well it's been a while since I gave an update - as most people that read this are family you already know what's been happening regarding the VISA, flights etc.
It took a long while to get everything through from Mayo, but I eventually got an appointment at the embassy which was on Thursday this week. Everything went quickly and I was approved for my VISA. Now I have to wait for the courier to bring it to me in my passport.
The fact that I currently don't have a passport until they return it was a bit scary, and I didn't want to book flights until I heard more from them, but then when I saw an even cheaper flight tonight I just had to go ahead and book! I was so excited, and now I've put my money where my mouth is and bit the bullet - the tickets are booked!
Now with less than a week before I go, finally I can think about what I need to take, and get all those other last minute things that mean that this will be a very busy week! But as well as all of that, at least I have the opening night of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to cheer me up even more on Wednesday!
Things are finally coming together and getting close!!! Florida here I come!

How wrong I was!

So much for the "So I expect by the end of this week that I will be able to go ahead and get an appointment at the embassy" - rubbish! Still not had a whiff of the VISA paperwork and there are now only 48 days left! It took me about this amount of time for my mission to get an appointment at the embassy... scary!

Anyway, the good news is that (1) I have finished my exams! No more for about 19 months! and (2) I have found out what lab I'll be working in and which project domain. I'll be researching the neurogenetics of Parkinson's disease, working with Dr Matt Farrer, who happens to be English :) I'm quite excited for it all now. Matt sent me over some papers to start my reading up on it all, so I will start on them next week.

The last couple of days I've had a much more relaxing time, sorting things out in my room, playing violin and rehearsing with orchestra, watching a French film, shopping, and spending time with friends (thankfully they still recognise me after my hermit status during exams!).

Getting close...!

Looks like it's very close to being able to apply for my VISA. There's been a few bits of paperwork related to the VISA application that have gone back and forth, and I FedEx'd something for the first time! (well that sounds all amazing, but the university actually did it instead - glad they paid for it!!). So I expect by the end of this week that I will be able to go ahead and get an appointment at the embassy.

With all of this paperwork I'm getting a lot more excited about it all. We've all been Facebooking away discussing this and that. And I've found some flights down to £579 which is a lot better than the £800 I had previously seen.

Exams start tomorrow morning...
I've got 4 crazy days ahead of me, but I think I can relax more with my final exam a week on Wednesday and so I'm going on the stake YSA baptism temple visit on Saturday with them. Should be great.

Visa Delays

I emailed Mayo Clinic about the fact that we haven't been able to even start our Visa application from this end or get an appointment at the embassy as we have to wait for the papers to come through from Mayo. I got a reply today explaining that there are a lot of extra things that they now have to do from their end due to recent changes in the Visa application protocol, so they are working on that and then eventually can send us some paperwork to send back to them which they will send from their end.
They are a little worried themselves, so at least I'm not the only one...
Meanwhile at the end of T-7 days until my first exam I'm having to get into the revision mode to force my brain to remember all of these facts and principles that I have covered in the last 3-4 months! I can't wait for it to be over! But I know it will be a great feeling when it is!!!

I think should just change my postal address to Edward Boyle Library, University of Leeds, Leeds.

More Paperwork

I've been getting an email every couple of days now with new bits of paperwork to get completed within one or two days. It's been a nice enough break from studying in the library or at home to just be able to get that much closer to going to Florida! Apart from Saturday afternoon when I then started to go through all of my immunisation info... probably wasted too much time on that considering I hadn't done any study up until then and had loads I still wanted to do. Looks like this week is going to be spent even more in the library!

It's nice to have Sundays as a break and to not have to think about study or work. Best day of the week :)

We've started more Facebook contact between the 6 of us, and we're hoping to meet up before we go away. Should be fun.

Exams start 2 weeks tomorrow (that's scary!), but last only 1 1/2 weeks then I'm mostly free!