Good plan. If Paul comes, too, you can cross Belgium off the map and concentrate on us 
Well, that would be ideal, but figuring out how to do it is the trick. Belgium has this really enlightened policy regarding long-term couples which does not require them to marry - only to show proof of the relationship. I am sentimental and have accumulated about four years worth of proof. But the UK does not have that, and I'm not sure how it all works with the traveling-inside-the-EU deal. Long story short, a stay in Belgium might be required... but that'd be good for my Dutch!
Learning Dutch is of course good. I am fairly sure that if you have the right to stay in Belgium, you have the right to stay anywhere in the EU. I may be wrong.
Tuition here is on the whole much cheaper than in the US, though. University of Edinburgh is around 10000 pounds a year for us non-lab people (you are a non-lab person, right?).
10000? That's not cheap. That's very far away from cheap. 
It's not much less than I pay here. (And yes, I am a non-lab person.)
It's not much less than I pay here. (And yes, I am a non-lab person.) Never having researched American Universities, I am only going by what Mary and my students tell me. I talked to one of them about it only yesterday, and she said her American alternatives had been in the 50 000 range. University of Edinburgh is very good, though. At least for some subjects. That may have an effect.
There are scholarships, but they are hard to come by. There are some particularly for Americans, though. And I am sure there are a number of foundations set up, outside the individual university, that help Americans to study here.
*nods*
Well, I am currently studying here. But I don't need a visa, so my case is a bit different.
How does that work? I would think it's because of the EU, but you're Norwegian...
Ah, but I am EEA.
Shitloads. Universities in Norway cost 40 pounds a year. This is insanely expensive in my book.
It's insanely expensive in any book! How do you manage it?
Massive loans that I try not to think about. I have finally gotten around to asking the Norwegian state to actually give me a salory, but I haven't heard back yet.
Living far away from Tor?
And the insane British bureaucracy. Seriously. They take it to an art form. An evil, evil art form.
Having already done a bit of research on the paperwork involved, I believe you.
And the banks are nuts.
Nuts how?
Well, I go by the Norwegian system. In Norway, you can ask to have no credit limit on your bank cards. If you manage to get more money out of your account than there is, that is an error in the bank, and you are not penalised for the overdraft. If you do have the possibility of an overdraft, they charge you a percentage (a high percentage, but still) of the money you have taken out too much. That means that if you are taking out 10 pounds over what is actually there, you have to pay about 1,18 pounds a month interest.
Here, if you do not have said you do not want the ability to overdraft, that apparently means that you want to be punished, as they will overdraft your account anyway, then charge you 6 pounds a day until you pay it all back including the mounting interest, and since they like to inform you by letters, chances are you will not know about it until they have decided a new month has started, and then they charge you even more, and you cannot close the account because bleh. But that may just be Lloyds. Because they are evil. Thank god I am finally rid of them.
5) How did you go about moving your possessions?
I used the university this time. I rented private accommodations via Grant Management last time, and I am NEVER ever doing that again. At least when there is a problem with university accommodation, there is a system for you to fall back on.
Yay, names to cross out. Thank you. 
IFA (salty licorice), gløgg (chistmas drink), marzipan (the danish kind), proper tasting meat (British meat doesn't actually taste anything)...
That is sad.
One nice thing about living in the U.S. is that we love our imports, so you might actually find some of those things more easily here than in Britain. We have an excellent store called World Market which generally has all kinds of candy and alcohol from around the world.
snow?
I like the British way of relating to people, and I miss that more when I am in Norway than the other way around.
That's really interesting. What do you mean exactly by their way of relating to people?
They are polite. They queue properly. They say please and thank you. It feels good. And old men keep calling me "love" and "dear" in a completely non-creepy way.
That must be entirely your choice, I think. Marriage isn't the deal it once was, though. Unless you are a Catholic. If it doesn't work, it can be dissolved. That isn't a very romantic way of looking at it, I suppose, but it is a way.
I am Catholic.
Or was raised that way, anyhow.
And yes, I know. I am a romantic too though. I think that if I were ever to do that, I'd have to draw a firm line in my mind between the civil marriage for bureaucratic reasons and the actual wedding, which would come later, at its own pace.
That makes sense.
*MySmiley*
structured procrastinator
structured procrastinator
/survey: moving across the ocean & international borders. 12 easy questions. (...yes, am joking.)
- 28/11/2009 04:27:21 AM
579 Views
Answers, of a kind.
- 28/11/2009 12:48:34 PM
540 Views
Re: Answers, of a kind.
- 28/11/2009 05:48:04 PM
497 Views
Re: Answers, of a kind.
- 28/11/2009 07:12:08 PM
475 Views
Re: Answers, of a kind.
- 30/11/2009 02:12:08 AM
468 Views
Generally quite true, but let me add one or two qualifications.
- 30/11/2009 02:21:33 AM
450 Views
Here's that ranking, if you're curious.
- 30/11/2009 02:27:37 AM
570 Views
Re: Generally quite true, but let me add one or two qualifications.
- 30/11/2009 02:53:48 AM
467 Views