Dear Scotland,

Excuse me for a moment while I visualize my future.

Sigh.

Okay, now that that's over (hold on a second, I need to look at it just one more time) -- Alright. For real. That lovely photograph, which of course is not mine and is courtesy of the Scottish expat blog Dear Scotland, is of the main building of the University of Glasgow. Obviously looking a tad more like a scene from Braveheart than the place I will be attending school, but it's the sort of silly thing that keeps me totally amped. How could it not? Seriously. Just look at it. I'm going to give myself a panic attack any second.

Reality has started to set in, however. Of the good, constructive kind, though. I've got about eight scholarship applications (and counting, hopefully) that cover a slew of university-specific and national scholarships and bursaries. I'm trying to get whatever I can to help alleviate the ridiculousness that constitutes grad school tuition in general, plus that whole "international rate" bugalloo, and the annoying-but-understandable British immigration rule that requires every single penny that I'll need for the following 12 months already in my bank account the moment I hit the tarmac. And then there's that pesky conversion rate from the dollar to the pound, which has marginally improved since I studied abroad, but that's mostly due to economies in the rubbish bin all over the place, and not just ours anymore. Boooooo!!!

But more to the point, a couple of the national scholarship applications have opened (with deadlines extending into May, so I've got plenty of time to work on these), and I'm doing my best to get whatever I can out of the way early. This is my second time round the scholarship application carousel, and I intend to do it right (or better) this time around. Let the self-aggrandizement commence! Ha.