Alright, blog post #1. As you all probably know, I've created this blog so that you can all effectively stalk me while I'm abroad in Brisbane, Australia, studying at the University of Queensland, St. Lucia. But, I've also created this blog with the vague notion that maybe I'll get into the habit of it while I'm abroad (for your benefit, of course), and then when I get back I'll keep doing it. A girl can dream, right?
As it turns out, preparing to go to a foreign country for six months is alarmingly complicated, especially when you have to deal with an "organization" like University of Washington International Programs and Exchanges. Some of you may already know, having gone through similar stresses yourselves, but for those of you who don't, this is approximately what it took to get me to this point:
1. Apply to the program. I did this approximately a year and three months ago. I asked a lady at UW IPE if I really had to turn the application in by the March deadline if I wasn't going to leave for over a year, and she said yes. I bribed two teachers with chocolate so that they would write me hasty letters of recommendation, and got the application in. Whew.
2. Interview. I rocked the crap out of it. Awesome. Adviser promises me that assistance is readily available.
3. Get accepted to program. I'm not sure when I actually got accepted to the program. I'm not sure because my adviser failed to send me the necessary email letting me know that I had been accepted. I sent said adviser a few emails, but got no response. After my beloved roommate, Russell, turned in his application and got called in for an interview for the same study abroad period nearly six months after I had (March deadline my ass), I got annoyed and sort of stormed the office. Email arrived shortly thereafter.
4. Apply to the school. Easy enough. I am told that it will take approximately a month for the offer to arrive.
4.5. Adviser calls. He needs an updated transcript, because the one he has is from a year ago (surprise). Spend the morning stalking through Schmitz Hall, hunting wild transcripts.
5. Receive offer. Two months later, email arrives. Whatever.
6. Accept offer. Fill out forms for accepting offer and for Overseas Health Care. Fax number does not work. Mail them instead. Have to await reply before application for visa.
6.5 Fill out double enrollment form by deadline.
7. Receive acceptance. Um...what? Why is this not here? Visa applications are suppose to go out with two months to spare, and I only have a month, and I don't have a Certificate of Enrollment so I can't apply, and omg omg omg....
7.5 Acceptance. Whew. Now I can....
8. Apply for/receive visa. Less than a day to process. Australians are efficient, apparently.
9. Enroll in classes. Don't get me started.
9.5 Discover double enrollment form. Crap. Apparently, adviser did not deem it important to tell anybody in the Australia/New Zealand exchange programs that this form was necessary. Whole group finds out about it at IPE meeting, two weeks after form deadline, which I couldn't attend due to class. Fortunately, awesome roommate Russell is far more competent than adviser, who is possibly the devil. Must get physical, turn form in and apply for expensive fee waiver in a matter of days. Succeed. Last hurdle jumped! That means that it is...
10. Time to go! Except I still don't have OSHC, because UQ is apparently as bad as UW...crap.
So that's where I am now. Excited, nervous, and fighting with my adviser to figure out what the heck is going on with my health insurance. I leave in approximately 13 days, and I'm pretty sure that time is going by far too quickly and I am actually not prepared at all. There are about a million other things I still need to do, so instead I'm watching CSI. Responsibility!
The next time I post, I will be on the other side of the globe. See you then. :)
Anxiously yours,
Morgan
