Any and all guidance...

[ladyariande]

Okay, here it goes. I have just plundered LJ for all it's worth on communities and I hope this one can offer me wisdom, guidance, a little sanity (or helpful insanity - I'll take that, at this point

Comments

[southernmyst]

3) That's very personal, but things to consider (for all of this I'm going to assume you're here for just one year, or at least that you'll go back to the US annually):
* Medicine: Definitely bring any prescriptions with you; if you can confirm they're widely available here, perhaps you only want to bring a few months' supply to tide you over til you can get that sorted. Me, I'd bring a full year's supply of anything I was prescribed, because otherwise I'd just worry endlessly about it.
* Over the counter medicine: Check on anything you regularly take, to see if it's available here. You may need to employ the internet to decipher names for you - even the drug name itself is different in the case of acetaminophen/paracetamol. Sainsburys, Waitrose, Tesco, Ocado, and Morrisons are some supermarkets; Boots is a drugstore; look them up online and see if they carry any OTCs you want. You should have access to pretty much every supermarket in a city like Edinburgh, I'd imagine.

* Health and beauty needs: Again, check to see if what you want is available here. If you're tremendously picky about any given thing, bring a full supply with you; sometimes the label's the same but the formulation is different.

* Keyboard: If you're bringing a laptop, then you've got this covered; else, can you type on a UK keyboard? I can't. A US keyboard is on my list of "must-haves". Of course, I'm sure others adapt quite easily.

* Clothes: If you can, I'd bring any serious winter wear or wet wear (including an UMBRELLA - you would not believe how much time it took me to find a decent umbrella, they're all crappy ones meant to last an hour) you already have with you, because that's undoubtedly cheaper than buying new here. If you don't have it, and it's extra baggage charge, I'm not sure which way would work out cheaper, so then it's down to how much money you have now versus later, and which you're most comfortable doing.

* Orthotics: Those arch supports in the foot section of health & beauty in the US that cost about $6-$10? They're closer to £30 here, same (lack of) quality. Bring those if you need them.

* Glasses/Contacts: If you wear either, definitely bring a spare pair of glasses just in case.

Really, that's all I can think of. There are import stores for food that can be imported (shelf-stable food); look at American Soda and American Sweets for an idea; in my experience they all tend to stock about the same stuff. If there's anything that jumps out to you as missing that you'll miss, bring a few if you have space. Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about that sort of thing; I'd just buy it from the import store if the urge struck; pretty much everything thaumata listed is readily available from them (pumpkin is seasonally available from the ordinary supermarket Waitrose, as well as the import stores). Shipping from the US is expensive, with the first pound costing about $24 last I checked, and about $3/pound after that.

As you start working on that loan stuff, remember that today, the 29th, and the 2nd are all holidays here, so you may not get answers from the school; many people are taking vacations at this time, as well.

Hope all that helps. Best of luck to you!

[whitiglil]

For the US Keyboard, I just change the settings of the UK ones to pretend it's US, since we kinda know where they keys are on the US ones anyway.

[southernmyst]

It's the different shapes of the keys that get me, particularly the enter key. I'm forever hitting #, which doesn't have the manners to remap as enter ;-)

[whitiglil]

Ahhh, I'm on a laptop, so I don't really deal with that too much. Too bad, right? hehe!

[ladyariande]

I was wondering about the medications. I am on a daily migraine med. My neurologist said he'd check on the availability for me, but I'd really rather just bring it, if I can, since it's only three dollars a month to buy it in the states... Probably a lot more over yonder.

I have a laptop and an iPad, so hopefully I won't have to navigate too many crazy keyboards. Wow, there are so many little things you don't even think about!

Thanks so much!

[southernmyst]

Aye, just bring that with you, provided you can get it. Tell them you're going abroad for a year, that usually helps.

[intendent]

medication is free in scotland :)