Showing posts with label study abroad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study abroad. Show all posts

Finally!

Today I finally sent in my $1000 deposit to confirm my spot on the Fall 2009 voyage of Semester At Sea! I should get my room assignment within the next couple of days! It also gave me a list of all these documents that I need to have filled out and send in. It is kind of weird thinking that is actually going to happen! I mean it is on of those things that i have talked about for so long and it seems like it is far away, but it really isn't. I mean 280 odd days may seem like a long time, but I know it will go by quickly! One more hurdle down - only about a trillion more! 

What are you Thinking SAS?

So I was holding out that SAS could have a better Spring 2010 itinerary, but it turns out that it is almost worse than the one that I have. It ends in freaking England! Are they trying to make it even more expensive than it already is?? They say it is good because it allows for independent travel afterward, but how the hell are students going to do that if they have a shit ton of luggage from the voyage? Ship it home? Do they realize how crazy expensive that is? I think I was even more bummed becuause they are not going to Africa. That makes three voyages in a row not going to Africa. So they choose to go to all the EU countries on the Euro...again are they trying to make this as expensive as possible? No offense, but what attracted me to this program was being able to go to countries that would hard to plan a trip to ie India, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. Now we are going to lovely places like Italy, Greece, and Turkey. All very westernized and very expensive countries. Maybe I should rethink this whole thing and just go on a summer voyage. I don't know the whole thing is really frustrating because you are spending all this money so you might as well go where you want to go, but that is not going to happen. BOO SAS!!

WTF???

So I am pretty upset with Semester At Sea currently. First of all, I really didn't want to go on the Fall 2009 voyage because I would have much rather preferred to go the Southern route and hit Namibia and South Africa. But whatever - I am still sailing around the world and I'll take Egypt. But now with this new monkey wrench thrown in I might wait until Spring 2010. The brilliant people at SAS decided to change the itinerary for Fall 2009 and it blows!! Here it is

Fall 2009 Itinerary/Calendar

Destination
Arrive

Depart
Day
Date
Time
Halifax, Nova Scotia, CanadaDepartFriday28 August1700
Casablanca, MoroccoArrive

Depart
Saturday

Wednesday
05 September 

09 September
0800

2000
Dubrovnik, CroatiaArrive

Depart
Monday

Friday
14 September 

18 September
0800

2000
Istanbul, TurkeyArrive

Depart
Monday

Friday
21 September 

25 September
0800

2000
Alexandria / Port Said / Sharm El Sheikh, EgpytArrive

Depart
Monday

Saturday
28 September

03 October
0800

2000
(Transit Suez Canal - Thursday, October 01)
Chennai, IndiaArrive

Depart
Thursday

Monday
15 October 

19 October
0800

2000
Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamArrive

Depart
Monday

Saturday
26 October 

31 October
0800

0600
(On-ship time is 2100 on Friday, October 30)
Hong Kong / Xaimen, ChinaArrive

Depart
Tuesday

Sunday
03 November 

08 November
0800

2000
Kobe / Yokohama, JapanArrive

Depart
Thursday

Monday
12 November

16 November
0800

2000
(Cross International Dateline; Add One Day)
Honolulu, Hawaii, USAArrive

Depart
Thursday

Saturday
26 November

28 November
0600

2000
San Diego, California, USAArriveSunday06 December0800


Umm Canada and no Guatemala and not to mention now ending in California?? The real kicker is now we are traveling EAST! Not WEST! that means we will lose an hour of sleep every night rather than gain one. The other thing is that we are only visiting 8 countries! (9 if you count Canada, but I'm not) What happened to the 11-12 I was promised! This is so lame. If they don't update it again soon, I will probably wait until the next spring. On the plus side of that at least I would have more money saved up. 

And speaking of money, not only has SAS blown this itenerary, it has also boosted its prices by $4,000! Now the cheapest cabin is over $21,000. I have yet to break the news to mom and dad. I don't see that being a happy conversation. Gah this is so aggravating. Good thing I changed majors and it has now forced me to be in college forever so I have the option of going a different semester. Mom would probably be happy because then I would not be gone pretty much the entire year - spending a semester in Orlando that is. I guess (hope!) everything will work out. Or maybe I should just wait until the spring iteneary comes out and then make my decision. That sounds like a good plan. I'll go with that.

YES!!!

Today I finally got the e-mail that stated I was officially academically accepted to Semester At Sea. Now that does not guarantee me a spot on the final voyage. Still, that is one less hurdle. I still have to fill out some more paperwork and send in my deposit to hold me spot. I am so excited! Everything is coming together.

Oh and I got the job too!

Waiting and Hoping

As of today, Semester At Sea has officially received all of my paperwork and information. This includes the online application, my transcripts, and a disciplinary clearence form from WKU. I should have my official acceptance in a couple of days (assuming that I get in). Gah, now here comes the hard part - waiting for the decision. This and I am also waiting to hear if I got the job at Walden Books. It is all just so exciting!

Quickie

Just thought I would pop in for a little update. I am officially back at WKU and loving it. Sorority recruitment pretty much took up all my time for the first week I was up there. I love all my little Pi Chis and it was a joy getting to work with all of them. I really don't believe they realize what an amazing job they did.

But classes have started and all are looking good - with the exception of Intro to Finnance, which is going to be the death of me! Boo accounting and finnance.

I have also made another decision about this lovely blog. It have decided to dedicate it directly to my journey with SAS and the Disney College Program. So there will not be any updates until there are updates with that.

But speaking of these items there is an update on SAS. As I strolled into the Study Abroad office to chat with Ms. Scott, she introduced me to someone. Well that someone turned out to be one of my professors from SAS! He is going on the same voyage with me and has done many previous voyages! His name is Martin Steneckey (could be spelled wrong) and the best part is that he is going to be at WKU ALL semester, which means all I have to do is find him and pick his brain with all my questions! I was beyond excited! I mean how cool is that!? He even invited me out to dinner with him and the Academic Dean for the voyage when she comes into town. I hope everything works out!

SAS has officially recieved my transcript and application. Now all I am waiting on is for WKU to sned in my discplinary clearance form and then a decision will be made about my acceptance to the Fall 2009 (and 100th voyage) voyage of SAS. Gah! I already I can't wait.

yes i am a nerd

peace

Semester At Sea Update!

YAY!!! Yesterday I officially applied for the Fall 2009 Voyage on Semester At Sea!!! I am so excited!!!! Hopefully everything goes according to plan! Here is a slightly more updates schedule!!!! (ok so I went a little overboard on exclamation marks!!!!)

Destination
Arrive

Depart
Day
Date
Time
Nassau, BahamasDepartFriday28 August1700
(Transit Panama Canal - Tuesday, 1 September)
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala 
(Antigua/Guatemala City)
Arrive

Depart
Friday

Sunday
04 September 

06 September
0700

2000
Honolulu, HI, USAArrive

Depart
Wednesday

Thursday
16 September 

17 September
0600

2400
Yokohama / Kobe, JapanArrive

Depart
Saturday

Wednesday
26 September 

30 September
0800

2400
Shanghai, China / Hong KongArrive

Depart
Saturday

Thursday
03 October

08 October
0800

2200
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet NamArrive

Depart
Sunday

Friday
11 October

16 October
0900

0600
Chennai, IndiaArrive

Depart
Thursday

Monday
22 October 

26 October
0800

2000
(Transit Suez Canal - Friday, 06 November)
Alexandria, EgyptArrive

Depart
Saturday

Wednesday
07 November 

11 November
0800

2000
Istanbul, TurkeyArrive

Depart
Saturday

Wednesday
14 November 

18 November
0800

2000
Dubrovnik, CroatiaArrive

Depart
Saturday

Tuesday
21 November

24 November
0800

2000
Casablanca, MoroccoArrive

Depart
Sunday

Thursday
29 November

03 December
0800

2000
Fort Lauderdale, FL, USAArriveSunday13 December0800
And just another little update this will be the 100th voyage of Semester At Sea...that is pretty cool right. The theme is the Globalization and the Post American/Flat World. That is like perfect for me! Gah!! I am so excited!