Thank you for the advice and support I got in response to my rant about my study choice. I really appreciate it. It was a small and benign choice to make, one that shouldn’t have bothered me the way that it did. Thank you for indulging in my hysteria.
The next day, after I had calmed down, I closed my eyes and decided to continue the subject. Nothing terrible can happen. Once the decision was made, most of my unhappiness disappeared and I could start thinking about other things.
I’m going to be as smart as I can about it by doing everything I can early. I’ve already scoped out an essay topic for the next subject. In fact, I’ll base the topic on some of the issues I’m working on in Shepparton. That’s a bit witty, isn’t it. If I can’t go the library, the library will come to me 🙂
Unfortunately, such was my eagerness to book flights, set up a bank account, get my UK visa, that I’ve jumped the gun. I had set everything up for my arrival in the UK on 27 September. Yesterday, I got an email saying my orientation is on 25 September. It means I’ll have to fly up a few days early.
Does anyone know what might happen if my UK visa starts on the 27th but I arrive on the 24th?
You will have to have your orientation at the airport.
Your visa is for studying there, isn’t it? It’s likely Australians don’t need a visa to visit the UK for short period of time.
So you shouldn’t have trouble getting into the country, and since you only start studying on the 27th anyway, it probably won’t be a problem.
But don’t just listen to me…
Yeah, I think they’re fairly flexible about that sort of thing if you’re a visiting student. At the very worst, you’ll have to enter as a visitor, drop your stuff off, leave the country for a couple days, and come back on or after your start date. I imagine you’ll be fine, though.
I called the UK embassy in Canberra. Sheesh, they charged $7.10 to my credit card before we began our conversation. They said that I would have been turned away at the the airport. I think that in reality, it would have been as Bryan says. I would have had to buy a flight to say, Paris, stayed there for a day or two, then come back in. I guess the $7.10 was worth it.