This week was certainly a rough one! Australia had to take a backseat as school finally has reared its ugly head. Psych project? See ya later 4 days... and those are 4 days I can never get back! Meanwhile the rest of my life was waiting on hold....
But I was unpleasantly reminded of all that is left on my To Do list when I woke up in a panic at 9am and couldn't fall back asleep because my mind was racing so fast that I was convinced there weren't enough days in this week to catch up. So out of bed I went and started digging back into this list: First up, figure out travel arrangements. Dates, locations, prices... ugh. HELP!!! This process is turning out to be far more complicated than what I originally thought. Back in August, when my uncle was so excited to help me get a "complimentary" plane ticket from a friend, I thought, "Yessssss. Check that off my list. Just one more thing I don't have to worry about! Or pay for." El wrong-o. Seriously. Turns out, it would be easier to pay $1,500 for the group flight to Australia just to ensure somebody is waiting for you at the gate. But is $1,500 worth my 'peace of mind'? Guess we'll find out. I have 10 days to have my ticket in hand. Yea. No pressure.
Next up, loans!! All of my teammates, if you will, must have gotten a little busy. I sent out an email to two people concerning applying for extra loans... and have yet to hear back from either of them; a week later. My biggest fear at this point is to apply for loans and be denied because of a simple mistake that could have been avoided. Sianara, Australia. Sianara Emily's sanity. I wish just ONE of them would email me back with a simple, 'yes, apply for that amount'. Do I wait until they get back to me? Do I bug them again? Do I just apply with my best educated guess? I don't know... but I do know that I need to apply pronto if I want any chance of completing this journey... 2 months is not a lot of turn around when it comes to the government loaning you money. But I'm sure ya'll have experience with the governments speedy services...
This week I also received a facebook message from a friend. It was about 5 lines long and when I was finished reading it, I was certainly wearing my sad face. The message was from Jen. Jen is the girl that was originally going to Australia... then changed her mind... and about a month ago decided that she was going!! I was soooooo EXCITED!! She got her passport, talked to my study abroad advsiors, financial advisors... the whole nine yards. And gosh, I was pumped to have somebody to share this trip with. In a way, have a partner in crime to experience their culture with, yet still feel free to talk about 'home' with. This short message explained that because of life circumstances, she just couldn't go. And I get it. Life happens. But I didn't realize just how crushed I would be that she wasn't going! On the bright side, this does open up the door for me to branch out and create a 100% fresh start; meet all new faces, and create brand new memories and experiences. It is a bummer that the little bit of home I was taking with me, is now staying home.
On the upside, I thought I was only half way done with my struggles with classes. But turns out, I should be all set! Please understand that should is the key word. BUT if there is a problem, I won't find out until I'm already in Australia, days before classes start. So at that point, they could tell me they lost all of my luggage and I'll be staying in a tent until June, and I'd still hug the messenger just because I'm in Australia.
But seriously... for the record: Please keep your fingers crossed they don't lose my luggage.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
From 'suggestion' to 'accepted'
So, somebody failed to tell me that I needed to take a semester off, prior to studying abroad. Wow, this has taken over my life. It seems as if I get no homework done! Ever! I'll have a couple hours and sit down with every intention of starting final projects or research papers. By the time I finish responding to emails, completing "To Dos" off of my Australia checklist, check my facebook (just for a hot minute), make the necessary phone calls to coordinators and advisors, respond to more emails that just came in, and organize my day... there is no time left to do anything productive concerning my classes! Whew. It's work!!!!
This whole idea started when my old roomie, Alyce, walked into my room with a brochure about studying and completing an internship in Australia. After 15 minutes, my mind was made up. This was something I was going to do. A week later, I had started the application process and was planning to do a summer long internship during the Summer of 2008. Long story short, plans fell through. Well, not totally. Just postponed. Until now!
Last semester (Winter 2010) I sat down with the Hospitality and Tourism Management department head, Paul Stansbie. The entire goal of the appointment was to lay out my exact plan for graduation. Done. Then, I mentioned a little something something about the possibility of Australia. He then got all kinds of hyped up and was so excited to tell me that Sydney has a college that caters to Hospitality ~ International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS - I use this abbreviation ALOT). Which is actually kind of perfect because it caters to my minor as well (Business Management). He gave me the contact info to the Regional Director and told me to do some digging.
Steve Luther and I then wrote pages and pages of emails to each other in a few short days. What a blessing he was!!! This is veryyy overwhelming. He broke it down into things I could comprehend then gave me options and outlined the next steps I should be taking if I was really serious about the process. And away we went.
First step: to complete Grand Valley's study abroad application. That consisted of alot of basic information and essays. Things like: Why are you interested in studying abroad, What are the qualities of a good ambassador, and then the kicker ~ Based on your knowledge of current events in Australia (in which I had no knowledge...), what is the most important current event that will potentially affect you? Wellll... lemme see here?! After hours and hours of sitting in Biggby. 1st application - submitted.
I was accepted three weeks later, on July 9, 2010. Which just happened to fall on the same day as my second date with Dustin. Guess it was time to break the news.... as our relationship developed, my plans with Australia halted for a few weeks. During those few weeks, financial struggles started to arise concerning studying abroad. I met with a number of people in both the study abroad office on campus and the financial aid department. Our conclusion: this trip was still possible. I kicked it into gear, spent a few more hours in Biggby, and finally completed my AustraLearn application. This was the big one. The one that mattered. Longest 9 days of my life...
Thursday, October 21 I was accepted into the International College of Management, Sydney. I got a phone call at 5pm from Rebecca Oihus ~ my coordinator through AustraLearn. Basically, she is the middle man and decodes alot of the information and makes it comprehensible for me by breaking it down; into my most disliked "To Do" list ever!!! (that'll be the next blog. Oh man!) Her and I joke because we usually have our weekly email with me asking a questions. Or on the really bad weeks, an email and a panicked phone call.
It is unbelievable how many people and resources it has taken for me to even get this far on the process. I'm still three months away from leaving and have had countless people selflessly donate their time to my cause. And not only that, share the same excitement and extend incredible amounts of encouragements to me. Yet another one of the ways that reminds me what a life-changing adventure this is going to be.
But let's not get too ahead of ourselves... I still have a 21 hour flight ahead of me. And those of you who know me, know that flying is not exactly my forte'.
This whole idea started when my old roomie, Alyce, walked into my room with a brochure about studying and completing an internship in Australia. After 15 minutes, my mind was made up. This was something I was going to do. A week later, I had started the application process and was planning to do a summer long internship during the Summer of 2008. Long story short, plans fell through. Well, not totally. Just postponed. Until now!
Last semester (Winter 2010) I sat down with the Hospitality and Tourism Management department head, Paul Stansbie. The entire goal of the appointment was to lay out my exact plan for graduation. Done. Then, I mentioned a little something something about the possibility of Australia. He then got all kinds of hyped up and was so excited to tell me that Sydney has a college that caters to Hospitality ~ International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS - I use this abbreviation ALOT). Which is actually kind of perfect because it caters to my minor as well (Business Management). He gave me the contact info to the Regional Director and told me to do some digging.
Steve Luther and I then wrote pages and pages of emails to each other in a few short days. What a blessing he was!!! This is veryyy overwhelming. He broke it down into things I could comprehend then gave me options and outlined the next steps I should be taking if I was really serious about the process. And away we went.
First step: to complete Grand Valley's study abroad application. That consisted of alot of basic information and essays. Things like: Why are you interested in studying abroad, What are the qualities of a good ambassador, and then the kicker ~ Based on your knowledge of current events in Australia (in which I had no knowledge...), what is the most important current event that will potentially affect you? Wellll... lemme see here?! After hours and hours of sitting in Biggby. 1st application - submitted.
I was accepted three weeks later, on July 9, 2010. Which just happened to fall on the same day as my second date with Dustin. Guess it was time to break the news.... as our relationship developed, my plans with Australia halted for a few weeks. During those few weeks, financial struggles started to arise concerning studying abroad. I met with a number of people in both the study abroad office on campus and the financial aid department. Our conclusion: this trip was still possible. I kicked it into gear, spent a few more hours in Biggby, and finally completed my AustraLearn application. This was the big one. The one that mattered. Longest 9 days of my life...
Thursday, October 21 I was accepted into the International College of Management, Sydney. I got a phone call at 5pm from Rebecca Oihus ~ my coordinator through AustraLearn. Basically, she is the middle man and decodes alot of the information and makes it comprehensible for me by breaking it down; into my most disliked "To Do" list ever!!! (that'll be the next blog. Oh man!) Her and I joke because we usually have our weekly email with me asking a questions. Or on the really bad weeks, an email and a panicked phone call.
It is unbelievable how many people and resources it has taken for me to even get this far on the process. I'm still three months away from leaving and have had countless people selflessly donate their time to my cause. And not only that, share the same excitement and extend incredible amounts of encouragements to me. Yet another one of the ways that reminds me what a life-changing adventure this is going to be.
But let's not get too ahead of ourselves... I still have a 21 hour flight ahead of me. And those of you who know me, know that flying is not exactly my forte'.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Faith. Love. Australia.
Welcome to Faith. Love. Australia.
Big things are starting to roll with this amazing journey and it's important to me to start from the beginning: I named this blog Faith.Love.Australia because one of my favorite phrases is: Faith. Hope. Love. If you have those three things as your root system, you shall live a happy and fulfilled life, I think anyways. Well, Australia is my "hope". And has been for quite some time. It is such an amazinggg feeling to know I'm taking a step towards checking the first thing off of my "Bucket List".
I will do my best to keep this updated (ideally twice a week-ish) just to tell you about the big things going on... sights seen, update on classes, new friends/experiences. So read what you want and skip over what you don't care for. I'm extremely far away from home and everybody that I know and love, so hopefully this will make the distance seem just a little bit closer (and maybe give your mind a little vacation to Australia while you're reading!!!). Also, if you are technologically innovative, find me on Skype: faithloveaustralia
The little details are starting to occur to me and really sink in. Like... how am I going to color my hair while I'm there for five months?! Ladies... you understand - Once week 5 hits, you're due! Solution: Whitney is sending me with hair dye, bless her heart!!!! Where am I going to keep my car? Will I still have a job when I get home? Who is going to fish-sit Smooch for that long (and preferably keep him alive!) Starting to set aside things to pack. How will my classes transfer? It is also starting to feel very real that I'm leaving behind the man that I'm crazy in love with and see nearly every day of my life. The sentimental dreams have started and they just feel a little too real for my liking.
Being that this is the first blog, my aim was to keep it short. But I have been working on the study abroad process for nearly six months and ALOT of work has gone into this already. So, we'll start slow. In the next one, I'll start to tell you how my life has become a treadmill and no matter how fast I run I can't keep up with the due dates flying my way! It's so exciting, but has started competing for a significant part of my day!
I am so humbled and truly blessed to have so many amazing people on my team. My support system is unlike any other. And if you're reading this, you're more than likely one of them. From offering to get me the "hook up" on a plane ticket all the way down to words of encouragement like, "Don't worry about it... We'll get you there no matter what it takes." I can honestly say that I wouldn't be as excited as I am, without you. You have made this trip possible and set in the reality of what a life-changing experience this is going to be.
Oh, and it is a very good possibility that I'll come home with a koala bear. So I'll post pictures often, so you can see how he's growing.
Until the next big update... G'day mate!
Big things are starting to roll with this amazing journey and it's important to me to start from the beginning: I named this blog Faith.Love.Australia because one of my favorite phrases is: Faith. Hope. Love. If you have those three things as your root system, you shall live a happy and fulfilled life, I think anyways. Well, Australia is my "hope". And has been for quite some time. It is such an amazinggg feeling to know I'm taking a step towards checking the first thing off of my "Bucket List".
I will do my best to keep this updated (ideally twice a week-ish) just to tell you about the big things going on... sights seen, update on classes, new friends/experiences. So read what you want and skip over what you don't care for. I'm extremely far away from home and everybody that I know and love, so hopefully this will make the distance seem just a little bit closer (and maybe give your mind a little vacation to Australia while you're reading!!!). Also, if you are technologically innovative, find me on Skype: faithloveaustralia
The little details are starting to occur to me and really sink in. Like... how am I going to color my hair while I'm there for five months?! Ladies... you understand - Once week 5 hits, you're due! Solution: Whitney is sending me with hair dye, bless her heart!!!! Where am I going to keep my car? Will I still have a job when I get home? Who is going to fish-sit Smooch for that long (and preferably keep him alive!) Starting to set aside things to pack. How will my classes transfer? It is also starting to feel very real that I'm leaving behind the man that I'm crazy in love with and see nearly every day of my life. The sentimental dreams have started and they just feel a little too real for my liking.
Being that this is the first blog, my aim was to keep it short. But I have been working on the study abroad process for nearly six months and ALOT of work has gone into this already. So, we'll start slow. In the next one, I'll start to tell you how my life has become a treadmill and no matter how fast I run I can't keep up with the due dates flying my way! It's so exciting, but has started competing for a significant part of my day!
I am so humbled and truly blessed to have so many amazing people on my team. My support system is unlike any other. And if you're reading this, you're more than likely one of them. From offering to get me the "hook up" on a plane ticket all the way down to words of encouragement like, "Don't worry about it... We'll get you there no matter what it takes." I can honestly say that I wouldn't be as excited as I am, without you. You have made this trip possible and set in the reality of what a life-changing experience this is going to be.
Oh, and it is a very good possibility that I'll come home with a koala bear. So I'll post pictures often, so you can see how he's growing.
Until the next big update... G'day mate!
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