Howdy!!
So I just bought my tickets, which was actually kind of unnerving because I'm making plans for the second half of the summer, none of which are set in stone. Thus, I didn't have a return date. EVERYTHING everything is over on June 26, which is when the school suggests that we return home, but a lot of the things that I want to do start before then, like between the 14th and the 25th of June, like Breakthrough Collaborative and this summer camp that I'm applying to be a counselor for. But, there is a 3-week period between the end of classes and June 26th, so my exams could be anywhere within those three weeks. If I'm trying to be home by a certain time, I don't want to book a ticket for a date too much later than I can afford to leave. Fortunately, I was able to get round-trip tickets for a little less than I expected, leaving some money in my budget in case I need to change the return date. :-)
The only thing about my tickets is that I still have to get to LA from Nashville or St. Louis which I'm going to try my best to do for like $300. There's some good deals out there, though. Just gotta find them.
So.... passport: check. visa: check. tickets: check (almost). Phone...I'm going to get one when I get there. I've been online shopping and researching. USA need to get on her GSM game though. Hmm...I need some of those vacuum space saver thingies.
Peace Love and SATB
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Alrighty,
I'm in the process of buying plane tickets and sending the rest of my housing money. How do you send thousands of dollars without having to pay hundreds in foreign tranfer fees?? Anyway, I've been feeling like things have been going really slowly, but I know the ball is rolling and I'll be gone before I know it.
I was looking at Google Earth yesterday and typed in my Queensland address. The way it zoomed out so fast from Greenfield, TN and how the globe swiveled to fill my sight with massive blue ocean scared the crap out of me. I'm going to be really far away!! But I'm mad excited, though. It's interesting how you can be scared, but not be fearful, you know? Like, there's a part of me that makes my heart race and my mind starts thinking of bad things that could happen while I'm abroad, but at the same time, it's not even nearly enough to make me rethink my decision to go.
What I'm most apprehensive about is what to expect and I wonder what's going to be the thing that sends me into culture shock. I was thinking about how I wanted the first thing I did in Australia was to buy a sweatshirts from the bookstore. Then I started thinking, what if they didn't have sweatshirts? Me assuming that they have sweatshirts in their bookstores only to find out that they didn't would probably send me into culture shock. Maybe not likely to happen, but just think: it's not knowing that you're nearly ten thousand miles away from home, but little things like no right turn on red that could send you to the crazy house or into a deep depression.
Yesterday, I was wondering to myself, dang, they probably don't have a WalMart (lol) so I GoogleMapped supermarkets in Brisbane and Coles Supermarket kept coming up. I don't think I'll ever be able to explain how excited I was to look through their catalogue and see stuff like Nivea and Coca-Cola and Nestle brand stuff. May seem silly, but between globalization of markets and internet technology, I think I can make it. Like I said in the last post, even 50 years ago, I don't know if I could have done it. Aha! That reminds me: the next thing I need to do is put my phone on the seasonal plan and look for an Australian phone service.
Be easy
I'm in the process of buying plane tickets and sending the rest of my housing money. How do you send thousands of dollars without having to pay hundreds in foreign tranfer fees?? Anyway, I've been feeling like things have been going really slowly, but I know the ball is rolling and I'll be gone before I know it.
I was looking at Google Earth yesterday and typed in my Queensland address. The way it zoomed out so fast from Greenfield, TN and how the globe swiveled to fill my sight with massive blue ocean scared the crap out of me. I'm going to be really far away!! But I'm mad excited, though. It's interesting how you can be scared, but not be fearful, you know? Like, there's a part of me that makes my heart race and my mind starts thinking of bad things that could happen while I'm abroad, but at the same time, it's not even nearly enough to make me rethink my decision to go.
What I'm most apprehensive about is what to expect and I wonder what's going to be the thing that sends me into culture shock. I was thinking about how I wanted the first thing I did in Australia was to buy a sweatshirts from the bookstore. Then I started thinking, what if they didn't have sweatshirts? Me assuming that they have sweatshirts in their bookstores only to find out that they didn't would probably send me into culture shock. Maybe not likely to happen, but just think: it's not knowing that you're nearly ten thousand miles away from home, but little things like no right turn on red that could send you to the crazy house or into a deep depression.
Yesterday, I was wondering to myself, dang, they probably don't have a WalMart (lol) so I GoogleMapped supermarkets in Brisbane and Coles Supermarket kept coming up. I don't think I'll ever be able to explain how excited I was to look through their catalogue and see stuff like Nivea and Coca-Cola and Nestle brand stuff. May seem silly, but between globalization of markets and internet technology, I think I can make it. Like I said in the last post, even 50 years ago, I don't know if I could have done it. Aha! That reminds me: the next thing I need to do is put my phone on the seasonal plan and look for an Australian phone service.
Be easy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)