Advertisement
Published: August 5th 2007
About a year ago, I made the sporadic decision that I needed to travel. Taking a luxury trip to somewhere wasn’t exactly easy, seeing that I am a poor college student. So what did I do? Well I took a few hours looking at all the abroad programs that were offered. And I fell madly in love with the idea of a semester at sea. The scholar ship, had a voyage taking place September 2007, it offered the chance to go half way around the world in a period of four months. It offered courses in communication, which is my field. The only problem was that I needed to make a decision right then and there, because the deadline for that voyage was coming up. I went to see jenny. Jenny is my sister in law, and no matter how she feels on a subject that relates to me, she always tells me what I need to hear. So she said “you need to go.” So taking her words to heart, and not really thinking of what I was getting into I sent in my information.
Before I got accepted, my boyfriend at the time would to tell everyone that I had applied. And I remember listening to him speak of it. And it always felt surreal, as if there was no way he could actually be saying that I was planning on doing all that. There was no chance that was me. But it was. It is because in January the scholarship sent me my letter of acceptance. Shock. My dream just became a reality. I was going to travel half the world in four months.
So here I am less then 40 days to go. It has been a real adventure and I haven’t even stepped on board. I let Flagler know that I was leaving for my abroad program, and they handed me a 40 page packet to fill out. The packet took me my entire semester to get done. I had to get my passport renewed, and the day I took the picture I was def. not at my best, luckily and unfortunately I no longer look like my passport picture. I did get financial aid to cover about $9,000. But that only paid for less then half of the total cost of the trip. So needless to say I am now an expert at filling out loan applications, because I had to take out a nice $20,000 loan to go on my voyage. I got immunizations for every possible thing that is recommended by the U.S. health department. and because Orlando is probably one of the worst places to get anything done I had to travel to Seminole county. If I would have gotten them in Orlando I would still be waiting for an appointment. I also had to get a physical and blood work, I had absolutely everything checked. I am healthy!
So about a week ago Sara (my friend who is practically my sister) and I chose my shore excursions which include:
Jeep safari in Portugal
Spend a day with indigenous Indians and see a waterfall in panama
Work at a banana plantation in Ecuador
A lagoon cruise and snorkel in Tahiti
Black water rafting in new Zealand ( which is on my 21st bday!!!)
An animal adventure in Australia
Tai chi work out in china
Acrobat show in china
Learn to write Chinese in hong kong
And hike in hong kong
After picking all my excursions I noticed on my voyage web site that my trip had changed to January 2008. I have all my airline tickets, my school already thinks I am leaving and I am already in the mind set that I will be gone in a month. So I was completely flipping out. Unfortunately, it was the weekend so at that point nothing could be done. First thing Monday morning I called, and they fixed the problem.
Now I am completing my student orientation which is a series of questions to waste my time. I have five sections to complete all of which have at least ten questions. The worst part is, I have to complete it before august 1, so I do not have a lot of time. I am also still working full time, so little details like finishing my orientation, and making sure I get my visa for china and Australia, seems impossible to do. And if my trip around the world isn’t enough I leave in a week to Medellin, Colombia for two weeks, on a vacation with my mom.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.397s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 6; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0518s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Nyrla
non-member comment
Yay!!!
After bugging you for so long, you are now an official blogger!!! I loved your first entry and can't wait to follow you through your adventure. Are you ready to rock that boat, I mean, that ship? This is an experience of a lifetime and I am so happy for you. I will be here waiting for every new entry to laugh with you and/or about you. You are a funny writer BTW. Ps: How cool that you are spending your 21st in New Zealand?!!! Be good and Bon Voyage! Love ya Ny