no more snow---

time for some sun & sand!

here i am on the beach! we spent the day at paradise island, had a beer on the beach & now we're back in the room re-grouping and showering before dinner. we got some wine/beer to drink in the room so we don't have to pay a ton of money for drinks at the bars, which are wayyyy overpriced for college girls on a budget. we are going to try and find a fish fry restaurant we heard about for some dinner. i'm feeling very relaxed today and its actually really nice to not keep checking the time, to wander around without a schedule and to just take it all in. the girls i'm rooming with, caitlin & mckendree are super nice. we had a really relaxing morning, with a simple continental breakfast in the lobby and then just meandering around nassau.


here is our very first glimpse of the mv explorer, our home for the next four months. it was so surreal to see the ship in person, i got goosebumps. to think off all the work it took to get here and now i just get to enjoy it.


here is a better picture of the ship, taken from our lovely island shuttle. its bigger then i expected, but it still looks tiny next to the carnival ships!




heading out! xo
*if you click the pictures, they will open & you can see them nice & big :)

in the bahamas!

i'm here! i'm in the hotel with my nice roommates, just hanging out. i made it here with no issues, we landed here early. aside from the babies/families surrounding me on the plane, the flight wasnt bad. customs here was really relaxed too, and i found my bags quickly. i waited at the airport for about an hour with a girl i met on the flight and took a cab to the hotel together. we then walked around nassau and savored the last sun of the day. the island is gorgeous and i definitely want to vacation here. we got some dinner and drinks at senor frogs, where we watched some cruise ships come and go. the explorer isnt here yet, it'll be making it's entrance at about 5 am. we then headed back to the hotel and hung out for a bit while waiting for my roommates. we walked around area briefly and decided on senor frogs for tomorrow night, which will be crazy.

off to bed!

love & miss you all!

1 day, 17 hours til the ship leaves nassau!

here we go--

i leave for the airport in a little over an hour.

yikes.

i got to see a bunch of friends last night, which was nice. packing is all set! my bags are zipped and hopefully are not overweight. if they are, i plan on taking out my textbooks and putting them in my carry-on, though that is getting heavy as well. i think i've done everything, and i hope i have enough clothes!

i'm too scattered this morning, so i should go.

my plane leaves at 12 and i should be in the bahamas around 330 or so. then i'm checking into the hotel and waiting for my roommates to arrive. i think i'll probably nap until they get there, or just relax in the room. hopefully they'll want to go out when they get there-- i feel like we should.

i'll try to post on here as much as possible, but the internet will prove to be a challenge.

i'll miss you all! email & keep me posted on your lives!


heading off to jump in with both feet & praying it'll be worth it, though i know it will!


just a few HOURS til the bahamas
& about 48 hours until i'm on the mv explorer!



* by the way, its currently negative 9 degrees here. and its 68 in nassau!!

bermuda, bahama, come on pretty mama....

just SIX days until i'm on a plane for the lovely bahamas and 80 degree weather!!
(which is making the snow and temperatures in the twenties much easier to deal with.. :D )


i entered a lottery for morocco's trips last night and decided on a student planned safari in namibia, which i'll get more information on tomorrow. i have a big long list of things to do tomorrow, so here's hoping it all gets done; it has to!

it's beginning to look a lot like..

christmas!

i'm working on my christmas spirit, i'll find it somewhere, i swear. maybe a little christmas music will help. we're snowed in and trying to decorate. we've gotten about 4 inches of snow in the past 3 hours.. oh boy. and more snow on the forecast for sunday. i have lots of organizing to do in my disaster of a room, so i'll take any distraction i can get. made a great present for dad for christmas, more about it when he actually gets it.

29 days until the bahamas where it is 80 degrees today, 31 days until embarkation!

i have a place to stay in the bahamasss! yayyy!

such a relief to know i will have a place to stay. i met a girl through facebook and we've been messaging for over a month now. she's from colorado and she seems really nice. she booked a 3 person room for us and a friend of hers from school. i'm nervous because this is quite the leap of faith to stay with two random girls in a random hotel in the bahamas, but i'm confident that we will make the best of the situation. and now i'll get to know more girls before i get on the ship!

i really really need to put my requests in for the field trips i want to do, but i am making myself wait until tonight. i am going to be conservative in the trips i choose, as i know i will make friends and be able to register for more trips once i get on the ship.

everything is starting to come together, so very quickly.

40 days until the bahamas &
42 days until i set off around the world!

a whirlwind of a weekend

what a hectic, crazy, emotional, fun, and exhausting weekend.
brandon's junior ring weekend (jrw) @ pc-- two nights of party clothes, dancing, and friends;
and poppa's 90th birthday celebration at home, with family from across the country.

i am so grateful that everyone was so accomodating to me (and to brandon). my family was understanding and i got to see aunts & uncles & cousins, albeit breifly. i wished i could have been in two places at once. jrw was a great time, and i'm so glad we made the last bus!

SAS update
-- all of my forms have been sent and are accounted for! YAY, no more paperwork!

-- the field trips have been posted on the semester at sea website. i have NO IDEA how i am supposed to pick my trips. there are so many amazing offers. i just have to choose wisely in the first round of selection so i don't blow my budget before i make it to the ship.

-- i'm looking at hotels in the bahamas. and i need to book a room as soon as possible, as they will only become more expensive the longer i wait. i suppose i'm only hesitating because i would rather not stay by myself, though i don't know anyone who would be able to share with me. i posted on the facebook group asking if anyone was interested in sharing a room and i'm not sure if anyone has responded.. i should check.

-- on a sad note, a student died on semester at sea's fall voyage. kurt leswing was hit and killed by a drunk driver in hong kong. i still have shivers down my spine everytime i think about the horrible accident. i am sure the ship community is struggling right now, and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and all who knew him.

-- i go for more shots on wednesday! technically, its a shot and then a round of typhoid medicine for a week.

-- hopefully my lovely sister collected names & emails for me at poppa's party so i can get my email list all set up and crossed off my gigantic list.



off to clean up, unpack & head to class.

70 days and they will be flying by. i couldn't sleep when i realized-- that 2 months! where has the semester gone! i can hardly believe that i am getting so close to this trip, which has been in the works for about 7 months now!

today & this weekend's to do list

-get my remaining immunizations (on monday..)
-send in the last of my SAS forms (on monday, after the shots.)
-figure out why i got an email saying i haven't paid. i'll be calling financial aid and home and SAS and back again. i thought i had sent everything! i have a feeling they are waiting on a single piece of paper. i'm not sure which one. and that is annoying.
-FIND A PLACE TO STAY IN THE BAHAMAS. i have to stop procrastinating on this one.
-save money. where the heck is it all going?!
-hand in housing forms. the release & petition to return. (monday..)


and there is lots more than that to take care of.

like, what to do in each country! i dont even know where to begin.

i booked my flight!

as of about 5:30, i booked my flight to the bahamas!!

i'll be leaving january 17, from laguardia and i have a direct flight to nassau!

this is so crazy! everything is moving from dream-land to reality. a whole summer's worth of stress, spreadsheets and talking about the trip is quickly turning into action. i have an appointment at our health services to talk about my immunizations on monday, and hopefully by then i'll be brave enough to send in my visa applications too.

i am so grateful to all of my family and friends for their support. i never would have been able to apply if it weren't for everyone cheering me on the whole way.

i am so lucky to be where i am and to be afforded this opportunity. i know how much of a financial strain it is for my family and in this economy, and am so grateful that my parents have been willing to work it out. --thank you, from the bottom of my heart, mom & dad <3 --

this trip will truly be a once in a lifetime experience.

stay tuned :)