The Whitsundays

I would like to begin by, once again, apologizing for the ridiculous delay in getting anything done. I have been busy traveling, studying, and soaking up my last few sweet days in this country. I have, however, been able to get my Whitsundays video done. You know... just 3 months late.

Here is how my Whitsundays adventure went down:

For the Easter weekend, Sharkies (the student travel agency on JCU's campus) set up a live-aboard sailing trip to the Whitsundays. For the reasonable price of almost $600, I got to spend a day and night in Airlie Beach, 2 nights and 3 days aboard a diving sailboat, and got transportation to and from Townsville. Mama and Papa were wonderful enough to grant me the money for this adventure for my birthday, so I got to enjoy for free.

We left Friday morning and somehow made a 3 hour bus ride south a 4 hour one. We stopped twice, once in Bowen just to take pictures with the giant Mango. In case you weren't aware, Australia is famous for its giant things. If you don't believe me, check out this website: http://www.bigthings.com.au/

Once we finally made it to Airlie Beach, we checked in at Magnum's Hostel and had a quick bite to eat at their in-house bar. Then, we went exploring. We stopped in at Opal's at the recommendation of Sharkies and bought jewelry and learned to played didgeridoos. I'm going to re-recommend this place if not for the quality of jewelry and didge instruction, then for the quality and total hotness of the man that works behind the desk there. For real, you don't want to miss him. He was probably one of the best looking men I've seen in Australia, which is both sad and true.

That night, after dinner, instead of going and partying it up in the hostel, I went to bed. I would like to take this time to mention some things about hostels:

Not all hostels are created equal. There are dodgy hostels, nice hostels, party hostels, and quiet hostels.

If you like your sleep, and you prefer to do it without the presence of bedbugs, then I suggest you stay in a nice, quiet hostel. If you like to party, stay in a party hostel. An excellent way to pick through these qualities is by google reviews. I have found all of my hostels this way, and so far, what people have said has been completely true.

Anyway, back to Magnum's. Magnum's is a nice, party hostel. Great for drinking and meeting people, terrible for sleeping. Such was the case that first night. Most of the group including myself, was exhausted, and the loud music thumping in conjunction with the wealth of Germans and Scandinavians running around outside made sleep impossible. Our aircon also kept going out... very inconvenient considering the temperature was still only making it down to about 25C (78F) at night. I managed to get some shut eye in before our early morning of repacking to prepare for the boat.

We stopped by Airlie's Saturday morning markets and did some shopping. I am such a sucker for markets. I ended up buying some more jewelry and some wine and jam, which I had to figure out how to store in my luggage so it wouldn't get destroyed during transportation. Believe me, where ever you travel, you should take less so you can return with more.

After a lunch of sushi, we boarded the sailboat and headed out to sea. It wasn't long until we were docked at a nearby island, diving on its fringing reef. Here's a quick lesson on the Great Barrier Reef:

The present day Great Barrier Reef formed 8,000 years ago, at the beginning of the inter-glacial period, when sea levels rose with the melting of the ice caps and glaciers.

The Great Barrier Reef formed on the continental shelf, and stretches from New South Wales all the way north to Papua New Guinea. Ten thousand years ago, one could have walked on dry land from Townsville to the outer reef (and we're complaining about the sea level rising now!).

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is composed of the barrier reef, as well as a slew of fringing reefs found around most of the islands - which are actually mountain tops like the ones found bordering Australia's coastline today.

The fringing reefs, while hardy and resilient, are not at attractive as the barrier reefs. Enjoy them for what they are, and don't be disappointed when the visibility sucks or the colors aren't everything you expected them to be. Look in the nooks and crannies. You're likely to find a friendly Lionfish like I did.



Can you spot him?

That night, we did a second dive, this time without the comfort of daylight. It was my very first night dive. When we landed on the sandy bottom, we played with the luminescent plankton by stimulating the water. When I shined my torch (flashlight) around me, I saw thousands of little red eyes looking back at me - they were those of hundreds and hundreds of tiny shrimp. We even got to assist the huge cod in hunting by shining our lights on the little fish in front of it, and watching them ambush. It was super cool! Throughout the course of the weekend, we did 3 more dives. I saw my first huge Maori Wrasse and Blue Spotted Lagoon Ray. For those who are on the fence about SCUBA certification, DO IT. Do not miss out on what the reef has to offer. A few of my friends here dived recently for the first time, and they wish they would have done it the whole time. It's an expensive hobby, but if you can at all afford it, do it.

Our trip to Whitehaven would have been wonderful, if it hadn't been for the torrential rain that soaked the place and left behind a dreary mist. Whithaven Beach has consistently been rated one of the top beaches in the world for its swirly aqua blue water and softer than baby powder white sand. This was not the picture I enjoyed. On the walk up to the summit of the island to the famous viewing plank, my legs got covered in mud as my flip flops flipped the thick goo from the middle of my back to my ankles. The spitting rain covered up a few of the tears that fell from my eyes as I realized that my Whitehaven dream had turned into a huge disappointment. We got to the plank and tried to make the best of the bad situation by taking pictures before walking back down and dawning our stinger suits to go play in the ocean. Sharon, Laura, Beth, Rajana and myself bounced around in the waves and talked about our homes and lives and the such. For 5 glorious minutes, the sun came out and the entire place lit up with blue and white. We managed to get out a handful of pictures before the clouds once again returned. To avoid this situation, here is something that I wish I would have known when traveling in Australia:

Go south during the summer and north during the winter. The warm weather in the south is beautiful, and the sun will be a welcome sight after the non-stop rain of the wet season in the north. During the winter, the south goes cold, while the north experiences nothing but sun, pleasantly warm temperatures, and practically no humidity. The south/north dividing line is the Sydney/New Castle area. Believe me, this is amazingly valuable information.

Islandive, the company we went through, was awesomely good to us. They fed us delicious food, gave us hot tea and coffee non-stop, and briefed us on anything you could want to know about the Whitsundays and the sea critters. I can't recommend sailing with them more. Just make sure you do it during the winter. They are classy people.

As we sailed back into port, the sun came out (of course) leaving us only one last thing to do: drink. Sharon and I enjoyed Pina Coladas from the top deck of the sea-side bar while listening to Missy Higgins. We grabbed all of our suitcases after enjoying a final few minutes in fantasy-land, and hopped back on the bus to go back to our real life academic lives.

Soon enough, Mt. Stuart was in the distance. The Whitsundays had at least been an interesting adventure, even if not a perfect one. And I got to know some really great people who have ended up being my friends, and that's what it's really all about. :)


Quick Edit:

If you're interested in how to play the didgeridoo, please check out the video below for a free lesson! Courtesy of the hot guy at Opal's in Airlie Beach!

Packing: My Final Review

Now that I have reached the end of my journey, I think it is a good time to discuss packing; what I did wrong and what I did right.

I'll just put it out there plain as day... I over-packed. I thought I hadn't, but I did. To my defense, I thought I would get to do more traveling than I ended up doing. Here are some things I didn't need:

*Note: These things go for Townsville and North Queensland, in general. This may not fly with the Southern folks.*

I didn't need that 2nd pair of jeans. One pair would have been quite enough.

I didn't need that 2nd fleece pullover, either.

Out of the 3 dressy outfits I brought, I only needed one. In Townsville, it is perfectly normal and acceptable to go out in jean shorts and a cute top. It's hot as hell here most of the year, and so people dress for it. Sorry dudes, but y'all will need to wear pants when you go out. I love being a chick. ;)

I could have brought about a quarter less tops. The bulk of what I wore was t-shirts and wifebeaters. So, I wish I would have left most of the cute American Eagle-type stuff at home.

My dance shoes and sheet music were a waste for me to bring. North Queensland is... how do I say this?... uncultured. This is not a place of art, it is a place of sun, swim suits, and sport. I didn't find it hard to accept, though. Relaxing next to the rockpool on the strand is a pretty nice alternative to dance class.

I ended up not needing the sheets that I brought. University Hall provides sheets when you move in. I can't say the same for everywhere else, but to anyone moving into this hall, that's one less thing you have to bring. However, bringing my fleece blanket was a wonderful idea. It does get chilly (chilly being about 68F) here at night the last two months, and the fleece blanket I brought has been perfect.

Now, here are some things I'm glad I did:

I didn't bring any dive gear. I considered buying a mask/fins/snorkel set before I left and bringing it, but I'm really glad I didn't. I found a super cheap set here (all 3 for $60), and while they're not top of the line, they have served me very well. And I won't feel that guilty if I have to leave them here for lack of space in my luggage when I leave.

Speaking of dive gear, here are some great places to buy stuff:

Anaconda Outdoors Store: where I got my mask/fins/snorkel
Big W: great for cheap stinger suits, they run $30.

I didn't bring a towel. Once again, University Hall ended up providing one for me to bathe with. And for a beach towel, I suggest Big W.

*Note: Do not shop at K Mart. You'll want to because it's something you'll recognize. But K Mart's prices are about 1.5 times that of Big W for the same thing.*

I brought enough shampoo and conditioner to last me a few days when I initially came. During the crazy trip in Melbourne, you won't really have any time to shop, so make sure you bring enough for that portion of the trip.


I spend several moments everyday now contemplating how I'm going to get things back home. I bought A LOT of stuff, and I'm not even done shopping. I have no idea where I'm going to put some of it. I've accepted that I'm probably going to have to ship some of it and may even have to pay a luggage fee. Only time will tell!

I can't believe I only have three and a half weeks left in this country... but that's for another post. I probably won't have time to edit anymore videos before I leave, but I promise one or two more of these. All of the videos will get done within 10 days of my return to the US. Promise!

Two Months Worth of Adventures

I can't apologize enough for taking so long to get this done. Mid-term assessment time came around and I suddenly had no time to do anything fun. I even spent my 21st Birthday writing a paper. But here's a recap of everything covered in this video:

The Barbeque:

"The Group" as it has come to be known, was just in its infancy when we were all invited over to Tim's for a genuine Aussie barbeque complete with Roo and Goon punch. It was decided immediately that Kangaroo is some of the best meat money can buy with a taste similar to steak, but leaner. The goon punch was pretty good, too. For anyone out of the loop, goon is boxed wine... pretty much the only affordable alcohol here in Australia. It's disgusting, but if you mix it with some juice and sprinkle in some other alcohols, it can be pretty good. After some swimming and cane toad catching (see picture below), things got pretty crazy. The blokes left us ladies alone in the house while they went to get pizza, during which Tim crashed the car. When they got back, we were pretty much swimming in a pool of goon punch on Tim's floor. Not a pretty sight... but awesomely fun nonetheless!

Crystal Creek:

Probably one of the most amazing weekends of my life was the weekend I discovered Crystal Creek. For those of you in Missouri who have been to Johnson Shut-Ins... Crystal Creek is WAAAY better. It's like Johnson Shut-Ins on steroids. We splashed around in the cool crisp water and jumped from awesome heights into the wells. We slid down the naturally smooth rock slides about a million times and just relaxed in the calmer waters.. all while looking out over the lush, green mountains and valleys that surrounded the area. That night when we came back, we took a walk over to the Ross River where we skinny dipped and swung from the tree rope into the water. We almost got caught... but I'll just let Tim tell the story. The next day we went back to Crystal Creek to have our fun all over again. This time, though, we stopped on the side of the road to steal some sugar cane, and then spent a considerable amount of time figuring out how we should eat it. Much more tasty, was when we stopped at Frosty Mango on the way back that evening. To say that the ice cream there is amazing would be an understatement. I had fresh Mango ice cream that was to die for. We continued our gluttonous adventure by stopping for huge pizzas that were the most American I've been able to find. Big, greasy, and full of toppings, just the way we like 'em. :) I'm not sure how I could have stuck anymore adventure in that weekend. It was absolutely amazing, and I spent it with AMAZING people.

My Biology Field Trip:

My field trip to Pallarenda Beach was full of academic discovery. We took a profile of the tidal zone, found lots of animals, and dug many holes. It was the first time in my life that I had seen wild sand dollars, hermit crabs, and bivalve siphons. I was pretty excited. This trip ended with an epic math fail. Damn subtraction.

Rock Climbing:

Ryan decided to take a bunch of us to a gym in Townsville to go rock climbing. We spent a few hours scaling up and down the wall. Actually, I'm pretty sure the majority of us spent most of the time on the ground sitting or doing hand-stands while watching Ryan and Rayna own the wall. While I was at the gym, I got a job there teaching Zumba, and Ryan got one supervising the rock wall. I'd say it was a pretty productive day! After we left the gym, we went to the Riverway swimming pool. The pool was beautiful and amazingly, it was free. Ryan got in trouble for climbing trees (what, the walls weren't enough?), and then we went to Dominoes for all you can eat pizza. I'm pretty sure all of us had enough pizza for 4 people each. So much for all those calories we burned throughout the rest of the day!

Bowling for Ryan's Birthday:

For Ryan's 23rd birthday, he wanted to go bowling, and so we did. We all had fun nicknames (mine was Pinky), and spent a lot of time bowling like crazy people. The first round, when I was bowling seriously, I bowled the best game of my life... 68! I was super proud. Ryan drove Sharon and I on his motorcycle (at different times, of course!) which was TOTALLY awesome! We ended the night drinking and watching Disney movies. Pretty sweet, if you ask me!

Well, those are only a few of the many adventures I had over the last few months that have yet to make it onto my blog.

It's coming!

I am currently working on the new video blog. It should be up by the end of the week. You'll be able to see things like: rock climbing, bowling, Crystal Creek, a biology field trip, and more! Thanks so much for your patience as I work around my busy uni and travel schedules to get these done!

I'm Defying Gravity

I have been listening to this song a lot lately. Gotta love it.

Defying Gravity - Wicked

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm threw with playing by the rules of someone else's game

Too late for second guessing
too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes...
And leap

It's time to try defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you can't pull me down

I'm through accepting limits
Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But til I try I'll never know

Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love
I guess I've lost
Well if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost

I'd sooner buy defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down

Unlimited
Together we're unlimited
Together we'll be the greatest team there's ever been
Galinda
Dreams the way we planned em
If we work in tandem
There's no fight we cannot win

Just you and I defying gravity
With you and I defying gravity
They'll never bring us down

...

I hope you're happy in the end
I hope you're happy
My friend

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately
Everyone deserves the chance to fly
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I'm defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down
Bring me down
Ahhh!

:)

Orpheus Island

I spent this last weekend playing around in what almost anyone would consider to be paradise. I know, my life is rough. ;)

Orpheus Island Research Station is located on National Park land in the Great Barrier Reef. Only the small station and a resort where guests fork over $2000/night are on the island. And at this point in time, the resort is closed for renovation... leaving my academic group the island to ourselves.

After never falling asleep Thursday night, I started getting ready at 3am. I then ate a quick Nutella sandwich, met up with some other girls from Uni Hall, and made the trek over to the bus stop. The bus arrived late, making our professor nervous, but we were on the road by 4:45. On the bus to Taylor's Beach (north east of Townsville), I wistfully stared out the window, while almost everyone slept. I watched a sunrise hidden behind a blanket of clouds begin while we rolled into the parking lot. I ran flat out to the bathroom to put my contacts in. Then, tragedy struck. My right contact was TORN. My mind raced with, "This is the 2nd time in my life I will have seen coral, and I won't actually SEE it!" But, I reminded myself that there are "no worries" and went on with my day. I walked with some others over to the servo and bought some chips and a Monster energy drink, which I skulled in order to make it onto the boat on time. The boat ride over to Orpheus was AMAZING. It was, without a doubt, one of the most intense experiences of my life. The boat was small and fast, and it catapulted itself over the wave crests. If it hadn't been for the death grip I was exerting on my seat, I would have flown in the air and landed again on the bottom of the boat with a thump.

As we pulled up to the island, the only thing that could have made the experience more perfect was the Jurassic Park theme song playing in the background. The lush, green forested hills fell seamlessly into the calm, teal waters below. The only dent in the background was the low-lying dive house and the sign that said, "Orpheus Island Research Station, James Cook University." We all hopped off the boat, grabbed our stuff, and went and made ourselves at home in our new rooms.... followed by breakfast number 3.

By the time the final boat arrived, it was 10am. We had a quick meeting, and then went on a hike around our corner of the island - Pioneer Bay. At one point, we went and climbed a very large boulder that looked out onto the endless ocean, and I had one of those life moments where you feel really insignificant in just the right way. The picture I've included in no way does that view justice.


After the hike, but before dinner, I got to go snorkeling. I had just stuck my mask in the water when, BAM!, a massive stingray swam right underneath me. And I do mean, massive. The rest of the snorkel was cool, despite the poor visibility. I saw little electric blue fish and aqua colored corals. Even though I only had one eye!

We came back and had a dinner of burgers, hot dogs, steak, and ice cream. After which, most people went straight to bed. I tried, but to no avail. I had only 3 hours of sleep that night.

Most of Saturday we spent profiling the Bay. I saw black-tipped reef sharks, crabs, a spider conch, and lots of microatolls. I also got roasted... again. At least it was only the very tops of my shoulders this time! After we got done with our work, we went for another snorkel. This time, our professor took us over the clam beds, which I didn't know at the time. But as soon as I started snorkeling, I swam over top of clams that must have been hundreds and hundreds of pounds, and 1-2 meters across. And some of them had up to 10 clams in each bed. It was amazing to swim down and run my fingers along the insides of their "lips", which were fluorescing green, purple, and blue from their zooxanthellae. They felt soft, yet firm. It was absolutely incredible.

That night, after a dinner of Coconut curry made with fresh coconuts from the island, we got to work on our paper. We were there for school, after all. My small group was perfectly constructed with 2 city planners who knew everything about dumpy leveling, and 2 biologists (the other girl marine) who could handle the biological data. At the end of Saturday night, we were leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else.

Sunday morning started beautifully. The sun was shining... everything was hopeful. We took the small aluminum boats over to Iris Point on the side of the island. We went on another hike through the forest to check out some rocks. Our professor thought it was HILARIOUS that we were walked through the hot forest, evading the stinging plants, got super sweaty, only to come upon rock. My professor, after egging me on all weekend about how lame Missouri must be, asked me, "Do they have rocks in Missouri?" My only response was, "Why yes, we do happen to have rocks." Believe me, it was hilarious.

The next part involves me rock hopping for a half hour to get to our transect point, where it started to rain and became ridiculously dangerous for us to be doing the work we were doing. I honestly can't believe no one broke their ankle on the slippery-as-ice boulders. There were lots of awesome biological moments to make up for the hard work, though. We saw a thousands and thousands of sea cucumbers everywhere in the shallow tidal pools. There was a huge conch, about a foot long, that was slugging itself along the algae that plagued the intertidal area. Crabs scurried everywhere. The coral that lived on the microatolls was highlighter colors. Blue, green, fushia, pink, purple. Clams fountained water everywhere. Polychaete worms were slithering around in the sediment. We found an electric blue sea star at the main reef's edge. I'm absolutely positive my eyes lit up like a child's at everything. There is no doubt in my mind now that I'm going to move to a tropical environment once I have the option.

After braving the freezing rain in nothing but my swim suit top, and rock hopping back to the beach, we got to go for one last snorkel. I swam in and out of the towering corals after the bright green and blue parrotfish. It was absolutely amazing.

That night, I feasted on lasagna. It was one of the best meals I've had since I've been in Australia. The joy of the dinner was short-lived, however, since I had to then go and write an essay to turn in before the next morning.

*Insert section where I talk about writing an essay until 2:30 in the morning*

We woke up at 5 on Sunday, and cleaned until just right after the 1st boat left at 7. Naps on the beach and a marathon of Cougar Town followed until our boat left at 9:30.

Before I knew it, I was back to reality in Townsville. Of course, nothing finished off a great weekend like sleeping for 10 hours Monday night. I have a refreshed love of Australia, that's for sure!

Enjoy the second video showing off my living arrangements! It's a bonus!

Reef HQ & Billabong Sanctuary

In the first couple weeks of school, I visited Reef HQ and the Billabong Sanctuary - both in Townsville. Here is some videos I took of the awesome stuff I saw. I apologize for the lack of content at Billabong. My camera's battery died right after the crocodile show.

My Weekend at Alligator Creek

Oh... where do I even begin describing my weekend at Alligator Creek?

The trip started on Friday afternoon. Sharon (the blonde chick in the back of all my videos) and I skipped our last lecture so that we could make it to the campsite before nightfall. Actually, Sharon was supposed to have gone grocery shopping with the guys before I joined, but that fell through, as would most everything else throughout the weekend. Note: I am laughing at this, so please read this as something of a dark comedy.

So, we leave at 4 and head towards the grocery store. We bought lots of stuff, then headed back to Ryan's to pack the cars. The cars were so packed that you couldn't see out the back window of the SUV or the sedan. We left at 5:30, a full hour and a half after we intended. We stopped along the way of the 45 minute drive to get some gas. While we were getting gas, we realized we had forgotten a lot of food-stuffs... and the camping permit... and so we had to drive across the street to the grocery store. In doing so, Ryan lost the gas-cap which he had left on top of the car. Things were remedied when he bought a new gas-cap to go along with the new bag of groceries. Then we expected that we would be on our way.

We got to the campsite around 7, while the sun going down. This would not have been a problem until we noticed that the lantern was no where to be found. As one group made progress on the Taj Mahal, Tim and I headed back to Ryan's to break into his house and grab the permit and lantern. While we were driving back, we got a call and subsequent text message telling us to grab about 12 more things. We found everything they asked for, including a tight rope, bed linens, and guitar tabs, and came back. Upon our return, Tim noticed that his back was missing. That's when we had a flashback of seeing his bag on top of the car that Ryan drove to go get cell phone reception. A bag worth several hundred dollars disappeared into the great abyss of Alligator Creek park.

Things were decent again, for at least a little while. We ate our fill of kangaroo and beef steaks, and had a few beverages before bed. Unfortunately, my insomnia ran rampant, and I didn't get a wink of sleep. This was a bad omen for the next day.

Woke up at the crack of dawn to find that the turkeys had attacked a lot of our stuff. They ate the Tim-Tams, spread the trash around, and just made a mess in general. After an awesome breakfast of bacon, omelets, and toast, courtesy of Ryan, we decided to go for a swim. We happened to be swimming between 10 and 12:30, during which time, we also laid out on white rocks. We may as well have shoved ourselves on a shish-kebab before doing so, because we got ROASTED.
After our swim, we came back and made noodles for lunch before headed back out to the creek again, this time fully covered in sunscreen. We played as it got dark and came back for dinner. Kangaroo steaks again! I love my men. They definitely know how to please a lady.
I slowly came down with a mild case of sun poisoning. My head began pounding and my body began shivering uncontrollably. As everyone got wasted outside, I laid in bed with Sharon and pondered life while trying to ignore my pain. It didn't help that we ran out of potable water, which left me (and everyone else) dehydrated.

I will not be taking the time to describe the drunken debauchery that took place that evening. I will say that we almost witnessed a British chick stone (Jesus-style) her boyfriend. It was pretty crazy.
I rolled out of bed at 8:30ish to find that the turkeys had caused at least 4 times the destruction as the night before. After shouting explicatives, I picked up all the trash and put it in one spot, then sat on turkey duty until everyone else woke up about an hour later. We drove to the outskirts of the park, bought water, powerade, and breakfast fixings, then drove back. As soon as the sun hit my skin, I winced in pain. When we went to swim that day, I wore a shirt and spent the entire time hiding from the evil sun in the shade.

At some point, Tim's flip flops broke. Thus, Tim had nothing left but his shorts and shirt that he came in, and a dinky yellow toothbrush that he bought at the corner store.

By the time we left, I'm pretty sure that everyone was done with nature. I know I was. I can only take nature for 2 days at a time. After that, all I want to do is shoot everything and drive a bulldozer into the woods.

I did see some pretty cool animals, though. I saw wallabies for the first time... heaps of them. I also saw a gowana and 2 different Littoria caerulea, or the Green Tree Frog. I also saw 2 Kookaburras up close. All of these experiences were awesome.
All in all, it was definitely memorable. The creek was beautiful, and delightfully chilly. I had a wonderful time with all of my friends, and everyone took all of the set-backs like champs. I definitely recommend Alligator Creek, if you find yourself in Townsville. Maybe take a slingshot, though. It's always turkey season.

Rewind: O Week!

I apologize for the massive delay, but I finally have my computer back up and running!

Above, you will find just some of my adventures from O Week.

Here are a few explanations:

Sunday: There was a kickoff to O Week that involved a crazy motivational speaker and a Polynesian show with fire and drums. Unfortunately, the fire tossers had a hard time not dropping their instruments and a rain storm interrupted, sending most people running for the hills. The drummers were really amazing, though! The rhythms and the singing were almost hypnotic... gave me goosebumps!

Tuesday: Toga party. I wish this night had gone better for me. One of my friends, Jeff, had an allergic reaction to what he was drinking and had to be taken to the hospital. Then, an AJ (Army Jerk) got handsy in the club, and I had to leave. But looking back, at least my toga looked pretty cool. Haha!

Wednesday: Uni Hall's initiation ceremony. It was a night of hazing at its finest. Overall, I didn't participate other than as a spectator. They piled us all on a bus with our chef's hats on and took us to a bar they rented out and gave out unlimited supplies of alcohol. The "tits of terror" and the "mask of pain" made their appearance. These instruments of alcohol distribution are just as terrifying as they sound. I fell asleep that night to the sound of people spewing over their balconies and in the bathroom. Not exactly the most soothing of lullabies.

Friday: I had a lovely introduction to Bludgers. Bludgers is what the Uni Club (yes, there's a bar ON campus) becomes on Friday night. It's a really laid back and chilled atmosphere where a live band plays. It's held outside on a really large patio where people sit and sip on $4 basics. I have since made this time of week a habit.

Saturday: Kegs on the Lawn. Yes, Uni Hall threw us a kegger. This was by far the most fun I had during the week, probably because it took place in the middle of the afternoon. For just $10, I drank unlimited goon punch and beer (which has become a rare luxury here in Australia due to its price), and then got involved in a huge mud wrestling fight. It took several hoses and 2 showers to get everything off! The only thing I regret about this fiasco is that there are no pictures of me muddy! The one I included is me post-alcohol consumption, but pre-mud wrestling.


Sunday: Went to the Strand with a bunch of friends, 1 of which ended up in the hospital because of an allergic reaction to his lunch. Other than that, we had a good time laying out and swishing around in the rock pool, eating fish 'n' chips, and going with another friend to go watch some Ultimate Frisbee! :)

While I did have some nice moments, in general, O week wasn't really my... thing. I'm sure it would be for a lot of other people. The outlandish alcohol consumption and being yelled at all week as a "fresher" by some people who are only 18 failed to tickle my fancy. Not to mention the insane heat and lack of air conditioning which made me crankier than usual, anyway. In the end, I managed to survive, and I did meet a lot of people and make friends. So please, don't let my less-than-sparkling review of O Week deter you, everything does get better, and someone else may have enjoyed it far more than I did. And O week isn't treated the same by the different dorms. By the way, a dorm review is coming up in the near future.

Now, there's just a half hour left until my 21st Birthday! I'm gonna go call my Mom!

Killed the computer... whoops.

Okay, so I didn't kill my computer, but I did put it into a week-long coma. I accidently deleted the varible folder instead of the log, like I had intended. Now, I am waiting for Apple to ship me some disks so I can reinstall my operating system... At least I'm pretty sure that's what the guy said. Fortunately, he said there's a 99% chance that I haven't lost any data. Until then, I'm surviving by doing all of my work in Uni Hall's beautifully air conditioned computer lab.

There won't be another video blog for 10 days or so due to this minor technological hiccup. But I'll try to make it really awesome to make up for the delay. :)

Let me fill you in on some cultural differences between the US and Aus, because they do exist. The biggest adjustment I've had to make personally is the general lack of precision in Australia. Let me explain - if the Australians tell you a number, you can be sure that they have rounded it optimistically by at least 20%. If they say it's only a five minute walk to the liquor store, you can be sure that it's more like a 30 minute walk. If something costs $15, they'll tell you it's only $7. During the week, the busses run about 5 minutes late and during the weekend, they may run about 5 minutes early. And when I took a taxi this last weekend with my friend, Sharon, the driver estimated that it would only be $15 total. It was $20. I originally found this issue to be incredibly frustrating, and still do to a certain degree. However, now that I know to expect it, I'm more prepared to deal with it.

Another cultural difference that is to be noted is the Australian love for alcohol. Now, people told me of this before I came, but I guess I always passed it off as an exaggeration. They were NOT exaggerating. People here, in general, love to drink. Any amount, any night, anywhere. As an individual with a very low alcohol tolerance who only occassionallly consumes, I have had to get used to people asking me why I don't want to drink, and why I don't want to get drunk. Thankfully, everyone is generally pretty cool with the whole thing. At least they were after "O week"...

"O week," or orientation week was an insane whirlwind of social obligations that involved loads of what we would consider in America to be blatant hazing. Here, there is no Greek system like we have on our University campuses at home. Instead, their dorms, which they call colleges, work like a fraternity system. Our college, Uni Hall, thinks themselves to be better and above George Roberts or John Flynn. And in order to be accepted into Uni Hall social life, you almost have to attend a multitude of drunken events where the "fossils" pressure the "freshers" to skull (or chug) their drinks. Also, during the duration of the week, you must wear a chef hat (or bandana, or bib, or bucket) that displays your name. If you don't follow this rule, the fossils may write your name on your forehead in permanent marker. Lucky for everyone who had to endure the permanent marker, the humidity level in Townsville allowed for easy removal of the marks.

Moving on, the other major adjustment has been in the area of dining halls. At home in the dining halls there are countless options at every meal. Everything is fresh and yummy and there is always desert. You can come and go during most of the day as you please, and if you do get the munchies while it's closed for a main meal, you can go to the take-out and grab pizza or sandwiches there. There is NOTHING like that here. There are 3 meals during the day, each with only one option. You can have a bowl of cereal and toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and whatever the dining hall staff slops together for dinner - and I do mean slops. Dinner 9 our of 10 times is awful. They tried to feed us ravioli one night that starving Indonesian children would have turned down. Most of us try to compensate by digging into the covered up cereal while trying not to get caught. Oh, and if you miss a meal - they only allow an hour and a half for each one - you're just SOL.

Just so I don't make this sound all bad, the difference I have enjoyed most is the philosophy of "no worries." I'm a person who typically has their panties in a bunch, or knickers in a knot for my Aussie readers. Things are just laid-back here. This sterotype is one of the major reasons I chose to come to Australia, actually. Knowing myself has a very stresed individual, I wanted to be forced into a society that's more chilled out than myself. Everytime I feel overwhelmed, I just remind myself that I'm in Australia, and that I need to do as the Australians do. It really has helped me take a few deep breaths when I've needed them.

Okay, it's time to get some actual work done. Much more will be revealed in the next blog!

My B&B in Sorrento!

Here's a quick (and unedited) tour of my bed and breakfast in Sorrento during my Orientation about 2 weeks ago. It was a very pretty place! Enjoy!

Australia... The Most Expensive Place Ever?

As I previously mentioned, Australia has shown herself to be INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE. Seriously, anything you buy is twice as expensive here as it is in the US, and the tiny bit of strength our dollar has over theirs does not at all make up for the difference. Here are some things I have purchased in the last few weeks that have shocked me:

Liquid Detergent: $15

Bottle of soda: $3

A "$5 Footlong" at Subway: $8

A snackwrap at McDonalds: $4

Any bottle of beer will be at the very least $7

Notebook for school: $4 (that was the cheapest price)

4GB flashdrive: $40

A shot of standard alcohol: $6

Package of 3 mechanical pencils: $5

One slice of pizza: $4

Scissors: $7

Bus ticket (one-way): $2-4

These are just a few examples. Fortunately, Australia has no sales tax and you don't have to tip anyone. That's because the minimum wage in Aus is $15. That's right, America... double ours. My coordinator, Cat, told us of an American student last year who worked as a dishwasher, and at overtime on the weekend, could make as much as $40/hour. We pay the Mexicans how much for the same job?

There is one thing I've saved TONS of money on - Textbooks. NONE of my classes require me to buy the textbook. All of the professors have said that they see no reason to make us purchase a book that we're never going to open, especially when we are going to be tested only on the material from their lectures... which comes from the book. So, what is normally a $500 - $600 expense is now obsolete. And here's a quick tip - don't print out your syllabi before your first day of class, your profs will give them to you. I did print them out, and now I'm down almost $15 worth of printing costs. :-/

Another thing which is the same price and in some cases, significantly cheaper is SCUBA certification. I almost wish I would have waited to get my certification until now. For just about $200 (compared to the $250 I paid), you can get your open water certification. Although, I must say, $50 was worth not having the stress to do it before field trips started.

Basically, I'm getting at the fact that it may be better just to purchase the essentials before you leave and make room in your luggage, because your money will fly out the window once you're here. Just a warning!

My First Week in Oz!

Follow me from St. Louis to Townsville, and a few exciting places in between!

This documents my flights to Australia, my time in Me

lbourne and the Melbourne area, and my flights to Townsville... including our near-death experience!

I cannot say enough good things about my first week in Australia. Arcadia treated our group very, very well.

After saying good-bye to my family, I happily left a cold and snowy St. Louis, Missouri afternoon and flew to an even colder and snowier Omaha, NB, followed by a mountain-less Denver, CO, and finally made it to LAX. As we landed, I saw the Quantas planes with the Kangaroo, and for the first time, it really hit me what I was doing. I actually cried. I couldn't quite decide why I was crying, either. I felt excited, but overwhelmed and intimidated and anxious. I had no desire to go back, but to go forward would be a huge adventure and like it or not, it was happening. I then gathered my luggage and walked almost 15 minutes from the Southwest terminal to Bradley International. I breathed in the stuffy LA air and even though I was sweating like crazy, I enjoyed the polar change in temperature from home. As I checked my baggage at Quantas, the attendant gave me a "G'day!" and I'm absolutely positive that the smile painted across my face made me look like a fool. By a crazy coincidence, I found one of my Arcadia mates in the LAX mess with whom I had been corresponding over facebook for the last few months. We ate McDonalds and tried to chill despite the roller coaster of emotions. We went through the security mess, which took about 45 minutes to go through, and made it out to the other side right in front of our gate. We met a bunch of other Arcadia kiddos, and got on our plane.

After just over 30 straight hours of travel (I timed it), we landed in Melbourne and were gathered by Cat and Lyndon, our coordinators for the week. They guided us to St. Kilda, a little area of Melbourne right on the beach with a creepy clown

theme park, and an awesome beach. I also had my first legal drink... at $8 for a bottle of beer!

Then, it was off to Sorrento. We stopped to see wild Eastern Grey Kangaroos, which was super awesome, and we settled into our new digs right off the beach. I'm pretty sure the group got pretty sick and tired of hearing me repeat, "Oh my God... We're in Australia!" But I didn't want to ever want to take one moment of my new reality for granted. That evening, we went on a night-hike up a mountain to a lookout and I saw more stars than I've ever seen in my life. We found the southern cross in the sea of stars above us. I've only seen the Milky Way once or twice before that night, and never had it been as brilliant as it was then. We hiked back to our hotel, and finally, after being awake for 48 hours, I fell asleep.

Over the next 2 days we participated in a lot of meetings on Australian culture and tried Vegemite and Tim Tams. While I don't think I'll ever be eating vegemite again, I'm pretty sure I have developed a lifelong addiction to Tim Tams. We went to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful rock pools, went into town and ate some pizza at $9 for a personal pan, and searched high and low for internet. To the people coming to Australia, internet is NOT EASY to find. And when you do find it, you will pay for it (and it's not cheap). Free WiFi is an almost unheard of concept here. As is central air-conditioning, but I'll get to that more later. We went on a night cruise and had fish n chips to mixed reviews (I really liked it). We saw more Kangaroos, Seals, and endangered birds before going back to port.

The next morning, we drove into Melbourne city, got cell phones, and ate sushi. By the way, Australian sushi is not like our sushi. Here, they don't cut it into slices, they leave it in a whole roll. And you pour the soy sauce into the roll and eat it like a wrap.

That night, we had our first taste of goon (boxed wine) and I had heaps of tastes after that. The ladies ended up pretty intoxicated, and so our group walked around the city looking for a club to go dancing. We walked for an hour and a half and finally decided on a club whose name I can't recall, and neither can anyone else. We danced until 3:30 in the morning. And then came back to our hotel for a few hours of sleep.

Australians dance WEIRD. They do a shuffle thing and no one touches one another. We Americans remedied that. :)

We sat in the airport for a few hours and slept while waiting on our flight to Townsville. During our landing, our plane experienced a lot of turbulence right before the landing and with just meters to go before we touched down, our pilot sped back up and took off again. It was so crazy! When we finally did land, we were a little shook up, but no worse for wear. All of our luggage made it and we walked out into the hot, sticky, steamy, rainy sauna that is Townsville, Queensland. We had dinner that night downtown with Cat at a Mexican joint and once again realized the insane expense of things here in Australia. My quesadilla meal that would have been $9 at Chevy's, was $22 at Cactus Jack's. I've come to expect that things will be twice as expensive here as they are at home. I will also address this more later.

For now, I am required at my dorm's kegger. Yes, you read that right. My dorm's kegger.

Packing!

Now that we're down to the wire, it's time to get to business! This video outlines what I'm taking to Australia and some offers pointers to guide one in the direction of modest packing.

Here's some extra information that I didn't include in the video:

Baggage fees are a bitch. Heather (see introductory video below) went to Italy this last summer to study abroad and had a $130 fine for being just a few pounds over the weight limit. Check the airlines' baggage policies. Here are the webpages for Southwest and Quantas:

http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/baggage.html

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/checked-baggage/global/en

Arcadia suggested that I just buy bedding once I get there to save weight. When I checked JCU's website, they said that they sell bedding for something like $30 on campus. If I didn't have so much extra weight available, I would take advantage of this offer. Instead, I'm going to take my pink bedding with me.

Apple sells international adapters for their products. 40 bucks gives you all of the adapters you could need for travel and they work with all of their products. Here's the link:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB974ZM/Afnode=MTY1NDEwMQ&mco=MTA4NDE3MDQ

Well, time is ticking away and I am so crazy excited. I'm going back to Columbia on Thursday to see my friends in RENT at the community theatre. If anyone else wants to go, here's their website: www.cectheatre.org

I'm coming back to St. Louis on Friday afternoon and my family is taking me to HuHot for dinner. I LOVE HuHot. I want to give a shout-out to my little brother, Alex, because Friday is his birthday and I'm unintentionally stealing his glory.

I would like to also thank the SCUBA diving community for bringing back the hot pink color that has been missing for at least the last 6 months. When I read my Diver magazine today, there was hot pink everywhere and it made me very, very happy.

5 days!

Eh... What's Up Doc?

Before heading off into the great unknown, it's important to make sure you're wearing clean panties... Or so my mother always told me.

That should be the philosophy behind your health and studying abroad. Make an appointment with everyone. Here's my list and it should be yours, too:

General Physician: Have your ears looked in. Have your knees knocked on. Have your moles looked at! I was referred to a dermatologist after 2 moles arose suspicion. If you are consistently taking any prescription medications, have your physician sign off on them on paper, and carry it with your passport. My doctor also signed a piece of paper that cleared me for international travel and logged it with the university. Ask for a copy and take that with you, too.

Optometrist: Make sure you have enough contacts to last you the whole trip! And ask about some eye antibiotics in case you get a light infection from sleeping in your contacts/swimming/running with scissors. Have your prescription signed for, and keep a copy with you.

Dermatologist: Especially important if you're going to a tropical climate. It never hurts to hear the horrors of skin cancer to put it all in perspective. They also may want to remove fishy looking moles.

Dentist: While getting SCUBA certified, I learned that an unidentified cavity can cause your tooth to implode or explode during descent and ascent, respectively. Awesome, right?

Lady Doctor: If you're prone to issues, ladies, ask for antibiotics. Have those antibiotics signed for, have him/her make a copy. You never know how accessible these things will be in a foreign situation.

Sexual Health: Get tested for STDs before you leave. It's the responsible thing to do. Ladies, stock up on birth control, and have the prescription signed for and copied.

Psychiatrist: I see a lovely woman for my raging insomnia. She gives me wonderful drugs. Guess what she did? She signed for them, and then made copies of the documents. Do you see a pattern here?

Travel Nurse: This is more important if you're going to less economically developed parts of the world, or if you'll be working in remote areas. They'll tell you which vaccinations you should get, based on the area you'll be in.

Now, I am one of the 30-40 million Americans who is without insurance at any point during the year. If you are insured, the list above will be easy for you to complete. However, if like me, you aren't insured, here are some money-saving options.

General/Mental Health: As a student, you have limited insurance that allows you to see these physicians. Tell them you are uninsured from the get-go. They will prescribe you the generic drugs (which are EXACTLY the same as the name-brands). I suggest having them filled at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club, as they tend to charge the least for their medications, but feel free to shop around otherwise. And if you DO need something expensive, ask your doctor if they know any pharmacy in the area with sample packs. These can literally save you HUNDREDS of dollars per prescription.

Travel Health/Immunizations: Ask your general physician or travel nurse for a list of the health clinics in the area. Shop around for the best price on immunizations by calling the different clinics. Mizzou was charging $42 for the Tdap booster, and I got it for free at the St. Charles County Health Center.

Dentist/Optometrists/Dermatologists: These doctors frequently send out promotional fliers in the mail offering significantly reduced prices to first-time patients. Snag these. You can also find such promotions on the internet. And when buying contacts, ask your optometrist whose brand they're promoting, these will often be the cheapest. Buy in bulk!

Lady Doctor/Sexual Health: County clinics and Planned Parenthood are your best options for exams and tests. They charge on a sliding scale, and most undergrads can get exams and medications (including birth control) for free.

*Note* Take enough medication with you to last your entire trip. And if I hadn't made it obvious enough before, have all of your prescriptions signed for and keep the documents with you all the time.

Starting with a clean slate, and being prepared seems like the best idea. I'm hoping that my precautions will prevent me from needing to see the doctor while I'm abroad.... which brings me to my last point...

It's amazing what your travel insurance DOESN'T cover (you will be forced to purchase this insurance one way or another). Check the exclusions clause of your policy. Check it again, and let it be a warning.

In lighter news, I started packing yesterday. Sort of. Well, I carried a bunch of stuff from my room and threw it on the floor in my living room in the same vicinity as the luggage that I had also thrown there. So, now my living room is covered in pink bags and miscellaneous items, like little travel-sized deodorant and travel books. I attached a charming mobile photo of the scenario. My grandmother is not happy, but tolerating the mess... including the one I've made of the dining room table. Preparing for 4 and a half months is a messy business!

Countdown to take off... 19 days!

27 January 2010 Edit: I went to the dentist for the first time in 5 years and I still have never had a cavity. I'm pretty proud of this. My teeth are squeaky clean and my smile is 100% ready for the trip!

Another major life adjustment... I have decided to go cold turkey on my sleeping medications. They aren't as effective anymore. I'm 2 days in and have a total of 5 hours of sleep. Hopefully tonight will be better. We'll see!

A Fun Video Introduction!

Here is my latest entry! It's a video blog! This is just a fun, personal introduction that really has nothing to do with Australia. It's so you know that I'm not just some creepy old man sitting in their parents basement in his underwear. I know, nice vision, right? I'll be adding more stuff about Australia soon!

Backtrack: Finding a program

I realize that I may have gotten ahead of myself the other day when I posted about my pre-departure experiences. I thought it may help to backtrack a little bit and give some advice about finding a program after receiving an email asking for such information. Here is how I arrived at my decision of Semester 1 at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia through Arcadia University (partner program to Mizzou), studying marine biology and rainforest ecology.

Currently, I'm a biology major at Mizzou on the grad school track for marine biology. This was my starting point for most of my decisions.

I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to go to Australia, no questions asked. It had been a dream of mine from my early childhood, probably sparked by the idea of wrestling crocodiles with Steve Irwin or something. In a more adult state-of-mind, I knew that getting some marine experience on the Great Barrier Reef while making connections with the professors and staff, would help me immensely when it comes time to compete with all of the kids who majored in marine biology for their undergrad.

If you don't necessarily have an idea of where you want to study, here are some important things to consider:

Price

Studying at a major university in a well-traveled country is going to be vastly more expensive than a more secluded university in a lesser-known country. For instance, I saw numbers as high as $30,000 for one semester (mine is $20,000) in Australia. Yet, when I looked at programs in countries like India and Korea, just out of curiosity, some of their programs were only $5,000 for the entire semester. That's less than what I pay here at Mizzou! But it's also a gamble with safety and cultural habituation. For the price, you could very well be sacrificing your rights as a woman (gender roles differ to the extent of the law in most middle-eastern countries), or even your life.

Language
For me personally, going to a country that spoke anything but English or French was out of the question. And even French would be pushing it. However, for other people I've talked to, language didn't pose any sort of boundary at all. It really all has to do with what you're comfortable with. Luckily for Americans, basically every other country emphasizes learning English.

Your Major

Before taking the risk of studying abroad, think about your major and how studying abroad will improve your chances of success. The debt you will take on by studying abroad will be monumental in most cases. If once you graduate, you feel you'll be struggling to make money, I recommend foregoing the experience. And make sure that the program you choose will apply to you. Back when I first started looking for programs, I found a summer program to the University of Queensland through the Animal Sciences department at Mizzou. From the outside, it looked great, but once I started doing more research, I realized that none of the credits would transfer to my major... which kind of made the trip useless. So, make sure the credits will transfer in your favor, otherwise you could be spending thousands of dollars so that you can spend a few thousand more by spending an extra semester doing courses to make up for the lost time at home!

The Length of Time You Want to Spend Abroad

There's a couple of options here. Summer and January intersessions normally last 4 weeks. But, you'll spend about 5-7 hours a day in 2 classes. Your weekends, usually starting on Thursday afternoon, will be left open for travel. These are the cheapest programs, about $9,000. Semesters last about 4 and a half months. This is how long I will be gone. You have to take into consideration the hemisphere you're studying in, though. I'm studying in the southern hemisphere where the seasons are backwards, so my program doesn't start until the middle of February, and I come back at the end of June. I had to sacrifice summer school (which I love) and summer stock theatre in order to go on this program. Semesters cost about $20,000. The last option is a year. You'd be gone for about 9 and a half months. It would be a great cultural experience, and for the money, it's the best value; about $30,000. But you would also be missing holidays, and depending on your level of homesickness, it could be a rough time.

*Note: Prices apply to Australia

Other Things To Consider

Climate, food culture, excursions, etc.

Now that you've thought about all of the logistics, it's time to look for a program!

Start with your home school's programs. Go to the international office and ask for programs. Or visit the website. If you go to Mizzou, here's ours: http://international.missouri.edu/studyabroad/

Pros: Home-school programs are almost always the cheapest option. They have also already worked out your course schedule, and how classes will apply to your major.

Cons: In most programs, there's not a lot of structure past that. You could be responsible for your own transportation (flights, getting to and from the University) and travel excursions. It may also be harder to contact someone in the case of an emergency.

If you don't see the country or university where you would like to go, then inquire about partner programs. I'm going through Arcadia University, which is a partner program to Mizzou. They have literally hundreds of options. http://www.arcadia.edu/abroad/

Pros: The advantages to going with a structured-partner program are, to me, worth the extra money you'll pay. They will make sure you have housing, transportation, and they will even plan excursions for you. They are always on call, and will set up required study abroad health insurance for you.

Cons: For the more independent traveler, the structure could be a drawback. And they are more expensive because of that structure.

If none of these options work for you, you can always go through a non-partner program. I'm not quite sure how to go about finding those, but be prepared to be completely on your own when it comes to planning flights, getting yourself to and from the university, and finding housing. I am not a brave enough soul to handle such things. :)

Once you've applied, you can start applying for scholarships. I applied for the Mizzou study-abroad scholarship, Arcadia study-abroad scholarship, Gilman scholarship, and Biology departmental scholarship. The Gilman scholarship is for Pell-grant recipients only. I do have to warn you, they do judge based on your race and where you're going... giving preference to those of minority status and less-traveled to countries. I did NOT receive this scholarship, being a white chick going to Australia. Although, at $5,000 a person, it's worth a shot. The Mizzou and Arcadia scholarships I found by asking my financial and academic advisors. Your advisors will always have tips about applying for scholarships, and may even proofread any personal statements for you. Oh yeah, be prepared to write a lot and ask for a lot of recommendations. For my personal feelings on those, see the previous post. :)

There are lots of country, language, and major specific scholarships out there. Here is the premier website for such information: http://www.studyabroadfunding.org/

If price is something you're worried about, it may be to your advantage to visit the website above and find which countries and programs offer the best scholarships BEFORE you apply to any programs. That way, you'll have an idea of how much financial aid you could receive.

One last note about funding: your current school and governmental scholarships and grants ARE applicable to your study abroad program. Talk to your financial advisor for more information.

This is another website I wish someone would have told me about at the beginning. You can search by almost any criteria and find an excellent list of programs: http://www.studyabroad.com/

Well, 35 days left until departure! I'm SO ready for this!