Wakefield Scholar, at your service...

So, five minutes ago I discovered that:

the Managers of the Wakefield Fund have awarded you a scholarship of 8,000 GBP for the 2011-12 academic year.

Which means that I'm getting just over $12000 to study at the Cambridge Institute of Criminology!!

Aside from the huge difference this will make to my finances when I'm over there (i.e., I won't be living below the poverty line), this also means that I'm a legitimate student. Since securing the personal loan, I've been worried that I was just forcing my way into Cambridge and that it wasn't really meant to be. 'Buying' a place at the university didn't sit well with me. But now that I've got a scholarship, especially one offered through the Institute I'm studying at, I'm a real, bona fide, earnt my place, student! No matter the value of the scholarship, just the fact that somebody else at Cambridge thinks I should be studying there (so much so that they're willing to sponsor me to do so) makes me feel so much better about the experience. And 8000 GBP will go a looooooooooong way for this seasoned student.

Thank you Priscilla Wakefield and your forebears:

Wakefield Scholarships are awardable each year to persons intending to pursue a course of advanced study or research at the Institute. Scholarships are awarded from the benefaction of Mrs Priscilla Mitchell (née Wakefield) in memory of her brother, Captain Edward Roger Wakefield, and also in recognition of the historic work of her forebears, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Daniel Bell Wakefield, William Hayward Wakefield, and Arthur Wakefield in the development of New Zealand, South Australia, and Canada in the nineteenth century.

Also, did all my biometrics for my visa today, so now have to send my passport via Sydney to Manilla. A little worried about sending my passport in the mail, especially since they don't accept registered post, but I'm sure it will be fine. It will have to be!

But no time for boring visa thoughts - shall do a happy dance in my office instead...