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duskvamp

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duskvamp

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Hey guys, sorry I've taken so long to reply! I started my new job on Wednesday, excuses, excuses... And as luck would have it, my green card arrived on Wednesday also! I'm hoping that the letter it came with will be good enough proof of where I live as it's an official government letter. We're going to try again at the bank tomorrow and *fingers crossed* they'll let me open an account.

Even though the immigration officer told me that my Alien Registration number is "basically" my SSN, I did some research and found that not to be the case and that I could apply for my own SSN. So I went to the Social Security Office on my day off and they're sending me one out in the mail.

It's been a stressful 2 months but hopefully this whole palaver will be over with soon. Thanks to everyone for your help and advice, I did read them all at the time, I'm just terrible at getting round to replying! Sorry!

Now to get college courses and finance sorted!

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duskvamp

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#2  Edited By duskvamp

Some of you may remember me from the forums, though I've been MIA for a good while as things have been so busy this last year!

This January I moved to Illinois to be with @wrighteous86 :) It was a long, long process but we finally made it! The only problem is that I can't open a bank account, get a drivers licence, state ID or apply for anything that needs multiple forms of ID.

All I have is the visa that was stuck in my passport with an Alien Registration number, which I was told by immigration is basically my SSN, but everyone asks for proof of address. Wrighteous86 and I tried adding my name onto the electricity account, but they also need two forms of ID to even do that! I don't have my green card yet, I was told that it could take three months to arrive… I'm lucky that I at least have Wrighteous86 to support me, I'd be pretty stuck if I moved out here by myself!

Does anyone have any kind of advice or options that we may not have thought of? Thanks!

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duskvamp

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@zoozilla: @wrighteous86: Hey, way to downplay Cardiff! "but as a tourist, there's not too much. A few pretty cool castles, and Dr. Who stuff" who doesn't love castles and Dr Who? Plus we have dragons!

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duskvamp

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#4  Edited By duskvamp

My cheeks ache after listening to that song again, I had the biggest smile on my face through the whole thing! Thanks @drewbert, @vinny and @snide (if you still come by here) again, it was so unexpected, but amazing :) Is it weird that I actually find that song "romantic"?

Thanks to everyone for your support :) next step, me moving to the US! Scary times!

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duskvamp

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I'm interested to see how this goes. I gave up on my guitars a few years ago and keep meaning to get back to it, I was thinking of selling them before moving to the US, but after watching the QL it's made me really want to try it out.

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duskvamp

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#6  Edited By duskvamp

In some parts of the US you can get a licence without even having a driving exam?? Now I'm not so shocked by the amount of cars I saw on the roads there that had been in accidents.

I passed the theory, hazard perception and driving test first time with very few faults. I improved my confidence on the roads by driving around a lot practically every night with my mum, so I could get used to the roads without them being too busy and daunting. My instructor gave me a tip for parallel parking, I think it was when the back of the parked car comes in to line with your rear passenger window start to turn in.

Now I'm wondering if I'll have to take another test when I move to the US.

Good luck!

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duskvamp

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@slag: Okay thanks, I'll have a look into getting in contact with some professors, thanks for all your advice!

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duskvamp

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@dcam: Thanks I'll have to check that out! I always wondered if there were any exams like that online, like with my exams now I can find past years exams to download and practice on.

@slag: I'm hoping that I'll find it less stressful having more frequent exams spread across the year. The stress piled on at the end of the year trying to revise the whole year and knowing that if you do bad now you'll just have to wait til next year to try again is awful. Plus I hear that you get your results a few days later, whereas here we have to wait over 2 months to get our results and then pay to get our papers back a further 2 months later to be able to see where we went wrong. I'm really hoping that the community college I'll be going to will have classes that I can then transfer to a university. Funny you mention Zoology because that is what I originally intended on studying in the UK, they have zoology classes at the community college I'll be applying to, so I shouldn't take them?

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duskvamp

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#9  Edited By duskvamp

@raven10: I'll be finishing with 2 A levels and 1 AS (the first year of a 2 year A level) as you're correct about organic chemistry and it helped me fail my first year and have to re-sit it. I've been told that going straight to university, if I'm able to, would be more expensive and that it might be better to instead take 2 years of classes in a community college that will transfer to university and then 2 years in university. I think I would probably be a full time student because I don't want to prolong my studies any longer than I already have. I'm still not certain on career choices yet, so I don't know if I'll be taking any graduate degrees yet, plus the finances make that less of a possibility.

@towersixteen: That sounds like a really good program, I hope the community college I'm looking at going to will have something similar.

@epicsteve: In the UK the very most that any university can charge is £9000 a year. College, like community college tends to be free or have a small enrolment fee, mine being £15.

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duskvamp

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@humanity: College (not university) in the UK is quite similar in that it's like an extension of high school, since we finish high school at 16 you can't go straight to university so you have to go to college or "sixth form" to get the qualifications for university. In my current college your attendance has to be above 90% or you can be kicked out. I spoke to an International student advisor while I was visiting this summer and the fees are crazy, even if I were a resident they'd be high for me as I only had to pay £15 to enrol in college here. I've been saving and saving and selling all my stuff, my game shelves are looking rather lonely these days. So you've studied in Europe?

@colourful_hippie: I hate that I'm going to have to take maths and english again, I'm terrible at both and dropped my maths class last year because it actually made me break down in tears!

@nasar7: I've always wondered about that because you're right, in the UK if I take a biology degree in university then all my classes will be strictly biology. So in the US could I theoretically take "easy" non-biology related subjects just to earn credits and raise my GPA?