Four Weeks until departure!


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North America » United States » Washington » Renton
February 21st 2012
Published: February 21st 2012
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I got notice today that the program is down to 4 participants. In this case they are saying it will either all be sharing one apartment or two people in two apartments; that would mean a single room which would be awesome. Saturday is our orientation so I’ll get to meet the three other participants.

As far as activities go while we are there, they are trying to match us with another group to cut costs and make sure we get as many experiences as possible. We don’t get our activity schedule until we arrive in Florence which I’m a little bummed about. More because I want an idea of the schedule and time off for independent travel more than knowing what the activities are, although I do want to know that as well. What has been mentioned are cooking classes, wine tastings, football (soccer) matches, and the ballet.

Something that has been warned about and I find myself falling prey to is getting so wrapped up in planning and the excitement you let your current studies suffer. I’m a bit behind in my reading for my current classes. Why do I want to read about biological anthropology and art history when I can read about all the awesome things to do in see in Europe. Making plans is much so much more intriguing! To be fair to me these classes require more than my previous classes have, but I’m going to have to push to raise my grade up to an A, currently I’m at a B.

On to my visa issues; the program is less than 90 days which is within the no visa required time frame. I want to stay an additional month to travel. I have been emailing with the Italian Consulate and they are telling me that since my program is less than 90 days I cannot get a student visa. With that being said they don’t offer tourist visas because they figure 90 days should be enough. I’m not sure what to do; they haven’t responded yet to my last email, I hope they can give me some direction and help.

This week is going to be a busy, which is good and bad. I have two lab assignments due for bio Anthro, which are always time consuming; an appointment with a consultant at the Rick Steve’s Travel Center to help me with an itinerary for my travel month and the Euro pass, orientation for the program on Saturday, theater tickets to Beauty and Beast at the paramount also for Saturday; which I have to leave the orientation early to make; and my regular classes.

Yikes, I should probably sign off and get to work!

Kelly

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