Gap Year at a High School in the US - Our progress and your questions answered :)

Oh well they will tell you if you have or not it's possible that they're still deciding, but who knows

Ooh right that sounds cool, but it has been confirmed as Lynchburg VA now

Oh well they will tell you if you have or not it's possible that they're still deciding, but who knows

Ooh right that sounds cool, but it has been confirmed as Lynchburg VA now

Culver Academies, IN

OOOH YAY! That's the one you wanted right?? That's so good! I'm so glad

I won't be at the induction day (I'm actually on holiday in America ) but my dad will be there

It is indeed!! It has insane equestrian facilities which is rather fabulous.

I have not read that far down the email yet, read the first paragraph and then accidentally deleted it off my phone so I need to get home to read the rest hope you enjoy your holiday

That does sound really really cool I'm just excited that this is actually happening a few months ago I had no idea!

Hahaha, yeah it's the 4th of July (independence day ) and parents are welcome etc...

Also, probably going to change the name of this thread to a sort of blog style thing... is that alright? Kind of feel like you have joint ownership of this thread

Same ahaha, I have wanted to do it ever since my dad told me about how he did it when I was like 11 ridiculously excited

Thank you haha, I'll put that in my dad's diary and then hopefully he will be in the country and able to come!!

Go for it! I'm definitely gonna have to do a blog about next year, just hoping for non-restrictive internet filtering now

Hahaha well you had time to prepare at least

Yeah that'd be cool, I heard as well that we get each others contact details when in America haha but idk about that

Yeahhh! Even if just for my family it would be cool to do
reallly realllllly hoping I don't have it restricted

Oh yeah ahaha, I have been making plans for my year in the US since then, although some of my 11 year old self's plans seem a little impossible

Well I was just a right little stalker and found the girl who's at Culver this year on tumblr and she doesn't seem to have restricted internet so hopefully it'll be ok!!

Haha I can imagine what stuff is there near to Indiana?? From what I remember its near to state New York and New England but also Chicago! You're in a good position

My town has rail links with New York, DC, Philadelphia and a few other towns - they take a while but 86 dollars to go to NY seems a bargain

Alsooo my school has unlimited internet useeee and they allow laptops, can't WAIT!

A lot of cornfields I'd imagine!! They're 2 1/2 hours north of Indianapolis and 2 1/2 southeast from Chicago, but it looks like you'd need a car to get there, the town is 1300 so no rail links by the look of it I'm kinda jealous of you in Virginia - you're so close to DC! I've always wanted to go to DC but hurricane sandy screwed up my trip there

Apparently my school does too which is good, but it's uniform or "reg rec" all the time, and reg rec is school logoed clothing bought from the school store, so like you can wear your own (unbranded and nondescript) jeans but then you'd have to wear a culver hoody or whatever which seems a bit steep but hey, I'll deal, I'll probably end up spending a lot of time in muddy jodhpurs anyway so it's not like I'm worried about "fashion" (it would be nice to wear my own clothes though... But hey )

Hahaha oh wow yeah I looked it up it's quite far from places I'm kind of lucky in that the town I'm going to is a decent size (not too big not too small)! It will be nice to go to it and one of my old friends who I have not seen in years is in North Carolina which is like 2 hours away, might be able to get to her wedding! Crazy

Oh right that sounds pretty decent considering I have to wear a blazer (except on Fridays )... I mean you get to wear casual stuff as well outside of lessons but still

The school looks decently relaxed though in terms of like computers and being free to do what you want but I'm not allowed to remove roof tiles

Ahh that'll be nice! Yeah I've got friends in Indiana who moved there when we were seven, so it might be kinda cool to go see her, and I'll probably end up spending Thanksgiving/Christmas in Ohio so it's nice to not have to fly out there, glad I didn't end up in the South

They all seem pretty relaxed in terms of when you have to be in uniform and when you can wear "reg rec," I have friends at boarding schools over here who are in uniform all day every day except for sports and Sunday afternoons.

Culver's website is pretty useless, but it looks like whilst CMA is crazy strict, CGA is much more relaxed

Oh that's cool! Yeah I think I might go home for Christmas - I know it seems a bit pointless but mehh I really like spending it at home with the family and it'll be a nice chance to see everyone - also because trains to New York are quite cheap I can get a cheaper flight to NY and go on the train down to Lynchburg

Wow yeah that does sound strict... but I mean a BLAZER? I have never worn one before Oh so are you going to a girls school? I hadn't realised - or is the military academy like right next door? Sounds cool

I think my dad is itching for an excuse to spend Christmas in Ohio, so I'll be with the family, if not at home

My school is uniform Kindergarten through Year 11 so I'm not to bothered by the thought of uniform I have had plenty of practise wearing a blazer!

They're on the same site and have classes together and eat together and have the same headmaster but are separate schools, I don't really understand

Hahaha oh right that is cool tbh, I'd love to experience it in the US but my family will not be coming out (they've never been before )

Yeah I mean I've been used to uniform but standard state school jumper and polo shirt not blazer and tie especially not looking forward to it in 30 degree heat

Oh that sounds a bit weird sounds like they do basically everything together but sleep, and that would be in separate dorms anyway so whatever! Maybe sport or something but even that would mostly be done separately anyway - except in equestrian

Who knows

Ahaha I was kilt & blouse for a very long time, though it may take a bit of adjusting to get back into wearing a uniform after two years out of it! Indiana doesn't look like it'll be too mabd heat wise... it gets down to -10 and a couple of feet of snow in the winter though :/

Yeah I think it's also to make the distinction that boys is miltary and girls isn't, so in that way they're quite separate (thank god!!) however internet rules are looking to be stricter than I thought - internet is filtered and whilst everyone gets a laptop of their own, it is school provided I'll see I guess, I'm definitely going in with the impression that if it's truely awful I can get on a bus to Cleveland (perhaps not the attitude to have, but I don't want to be stuck there for a year if it turns out to be awful, which hopefully it won't but, contingency plans )

Also, how are you getting on with visas? I'm thinking that I might wait until after A Levels to apply, just because you have to go down to London for an interview and I'm not feeling doing that in the middle of exams...

Kilt... and blouse I had to swear "business wear" for the last two years but I never went blazer so yeah Ahhh -10? Virginia only ever gets to about freezing (generally a bit above) so not toooo bad, and it gets to 30+ in the summer

Oh that's annoying My school has unlimited internet and I can use my own laptop (although they turn the internet off at 12 ) not to rub it in or anything... I guess it's good you have a backup as I am pretty much screwed if I don't like it but I mean, I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it or at least bare it if it gets bad... I don't think it will get to that though...

I've applied already, it is SERIOUSLY arsey because you literally have to answer about 50 questions, upload a very specific photo, fill in your details twice, passport details, two people to verify, ESU details and school details etc... then you have to phone them and book an appointment for an interview... its a lot of work so I thought I'd get it done before exams start, interview in a couple of weeks. The other reason is because they take your passport for a few days and I'm going on holiday soon after exams so I cannot really do with that bother...

X

Yeah my school was strict on uniform ahh jealous ahaha, think Indiana peaks at mid 20s in July so I won't be there anyway!

Ah, should probably get started on that then... But I'm not going away until late July so hopefully it'll be ok! Eurghhh that sounds like such a massive pain though; and I thought getting into Russia was hard!!

also did you school send you your I-20? Because mine haven't and I've emailed them and phoned and they seemed to ignore the question and just answer the other questions I asked both times which is a little worrying...