Following my Dreams!! In England :3

[ashmeister]

One of my other posts talked about how scared I am for the future after a more than horrible break up. But now I feel like I'll be able to follow my dreams. And my number one dream for a long time has been to move to England.

I know London is the number one city everyone knows of (which is funny because I live in London Ontario right now ) so I think there might be a good place to start things.

Right now though I'm in my last year of high school in Canada and my family doesn't really have enough money to just send me off to school on a whole other continent, so here's my question:

Does anybody know of some kind of program (maybe having to do with schooling or anything else) that would help me go to England like I've always wanted <3

I want to go to school to become an Art Therapist which is strange, I know, but art is sometimes the best way to express yourself when things get hard.

That means I'd be doing half programs in art and half in psychology and I do quite well (high 80s, low 90s) in my high school art programs if that makes any difference!!

Also if I weren't able to get any type of funding how much do you think it would cost to live in an okay part of London? (I do Canadian dollars :P)

[Jas]

Look into scholarships if you want to combine education/moving, but I'm going to be honest - if there's not enough money to send you off to school, there's probably not enough money to consider living there either. It's much more expensive to be a student from Canada there than it is for someone who lives in England (I have a friend at oxford and another at the university of birmingham) .... it's probably WAY more plausible for you to start university here and do a year abroad during your second (but probably your third) year.

By the way, not strange at all to become an arts therapist. A challenging field to do well in, maybe, but if you're passionate about it, a very cool career. (And a rewarding one - my arts therapist in one long term hospitalization was one of the best people I've ever met.)

As far as living costs:
Flatsearch in London (keep in mind that bizarrely they do per week rent, instead of monthly): http://www.gumtree.com/flatshare/london
Currently GBP->CND is 1 = 1.59 but there is a converter here for your ease: http://coinmill.com/CAD_GBP.html#GBP=1
I'd figure out what you can afford and then take a look around. Keep in mind that if you're not getting any type of funding (and you probably aren't) that you'll probably need a job and since you're under 21 it seems to be a different minimum wage than if you were 21+ (and either way it is less than in Ontario, with a higher living cost.)

I'm not trying to dissuade you, really. Actually, I'm planning on moving there in a few months so I'm the last person to say it can't or shouldn't be done. I just think you need to think about what's possible and how you're going to make it happen...