course approvals

good news --
yesterday i finallyyyy received my course approvals. i had submitted my forms in early october and they were just in my mailbox yesterday. i am very lucky, in that the course i am already registered for was approved. i'm sure it would have been a mess if i'd had to change classes. so, i will be able to take 'nutrition around the world' and complete my unh general education requirements. this means that all my classes senior year will be major/minor related, yay!

i have a LOT of work to do, as far as my trips go. i get so caught up in the details! i wish i could do everything. my big booklet should be here today, so i can really dive in and decide what i'm doing.

friday is the mandatory unh abroad 'orientation' for students who are going to non-english speaking countries. should be interesting. 3 hours of lectures, most likely.

all of the little things i signed up for this semester are piling up quickly, so i should head out and tackle things now, while i have a few hours.

61 days, 7 hours. oh my.

FDP's, IFP's, Indy's, etc.

fdp's -- faculty directed practicas. field trips designed and organized by professors according to their interests and the goals of their classes. we are required to take approximately 2-3 FDP's per class, and to journal about them.

ifp's -- international field programs. these are the trips organized by SAS from beginning to end. there are day trips, tours, and long excursions as well. these can range from $20-1600, and include meals, airfare, admissions, 5-star hotels, etc. i will be doing a few of these, but my budget is not made for those high-end trips.

indy's -- these are independant trips planned by students, for students. there are several indys in the works on the facebook group, including a roundtrip to the taj majal and a sleepover on the great wall of china. i will be traveling independantly, so i look forward to meeting all these people who i have been exchanging messages with online.


all of the fieldtrips for this spring have been posted.
that means, i have a lot of decisions to make.

i'm hesitant to start deciding what to do because the idea of endless opportunities is much more exciting.

i am starting to put together rough ideas of what i would like to do in each country so that i can begin deciding which SAS trips to do, versus independant group trips, etc.

i know already that i will be heading to rome when we dock in italy to meet up with my wonderful friend amanda who is going to be studying in florence next semester. when i start to think about the two of us in rome, i get so excited! i can't wait. and i know that a familiar face from home will be exactly what i need after my first few weeks on the ship.

i'm off to google, about.com, and research things to do!
then classes, i suppose. :)

---63 days to go---

countdown

67 days + 8 hours..

i've got SO much to do!

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!

YAY OBAMA!!

hopefully there will be some sort of coverage of his inaugaration while we are on the ship in january, because that's something i wouldn't want to miss.



t-minus 75 days.

vaccines & more

i got my tetanus-diptheria-pertussis immunization today,
and i'll be getting my typhoid pills & polio vaccine next week.

i also mailed the veryyy last of my forms to SAS!
it's such a relief!
hopefully that's the end of the running back and forth around campus from office to office.

this weekend is my poppa's 90th birthday party and brandon's ring weekend.
i'm so excited to see some of my cousins and to be back at pc again.

then it'll be back to reality as the semester is going by so quickly.
thanksgiving will be here so soon, and then the semester will be nearly over.

this weekend, i'll be getting all my family's addresses to add to my contact sheets
so that i can send emails and postcards accordingly.

off to get some work done..

76 days + 21 hours..

is japanse mickey different than american mickey?

i want to go to tokyo disney!

i got the idea from a friend who's sister is in taiwan on a fullbright scholarship. she's going to tokyo disney for their winter break! i've been looking online and the tickets are about 5,800 yen. (~60 USD) and its not to far from where the boat will be when we dock in yokohama.

there is also a hong kong disneyland, which is accessible by train. and according to the currency exchange website, it would be cheaper. about 350 hong kong dollars (~45 USD).

i'm looking into it, and hopefully other people will want to join me!

78 days + 5 hours. YIKES!