The Long Drive

As most of you know, I decided to drive myself up from Miami to Wisconsin to drop all my stuff off at my parents house before I left for the scholarship.  This weekends Rotary Scholarahip Orientation was super super fun and I got to meet some of the coolest people ever!!  :-).  AND my sister had her second baby this morning so I got to make up to a very exciting text message! 

After the orientation ended, i took an unexpected detour back down to miami to pick up my furry friend.  Shes doin pretty good....  A little mad at me but I think she will get over it.  Its been raining non stop because I just happened to be driving straight into a tropical storm... No biggie, right?!?!  hahahah.

Well Ive arrived at my first hotel to get a little sleep.....  It smells like smoke, but its clean...  I do think they need to get a new electrition though... Any takers???  :-).

PJ

All I'm going to say is plans changed.....  :-).

Rotary Scholar Orientation

Hey All,

So much has been happening and I am pleased to report that its mostly all POSITIVE!!!  I have almost completed everything that I need to do in order to leave as a scholar.  Here is the list I got from my Scholarship Coordinator of documents that I needed to turn in. 

          Language Exam Score (Berlitz testing information below)
          Proof of Admission to Assigned Study Institution
          Medical Certificate (see appendix of handbook)
          Certificate of Insurance Coverage (see appendix of handbook)
          Photocopy of the identification page of your passport (see appendix of handbook)
          Photocopy of your student visa (see appendix of handbook)
          Travel Option Form (see appendix of handbook)
          Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Bank Information Form (see appendix of handbook)
All have been completed and approved!!! The visa is still pending, but it might be ok for them to give me the first half of the money without the visa being completed.  I'm still working on it to see if I can get the visa from the Chicago Consulate instead of the Miami Consulate.  Cross your fingers!!  :)

I got a 4 out of 5 on my language tests which I was really happy about and it means that I don't have to take additional language classes!!  A 5 means completely fluent, 4 means proficient, 3 required additional classes taken and 1& 2 are failing scores.  Thank goodness for 4!  :)

 

I am currently moved out of Miami and have all of my worldly belongings in my car.  It is quite a site to see.  I would like to share with you what all of my worldly belongings mean for someone who is now planning to drive the length of this country... 

It took me about to days of bringing things downstairs to the street, packing and the bringing more things down, unpacking, repacking and bringing more things down, unpacking....  I think you get the point! to get my car to look like this.  I am also proud to say I got a few battle wounds along the way myself... 

The HUGE bruise on my arm!!

All I have to say is the trunk of my car is very VERY heave and it would have hurt a lot more if the latch on the trunk of my car would have come down on my back.  :)  Go arm, you saved my back!  Small sacrifice to the packing gods!

Currently I am in Tampa at the Rotary Scholar Seminar.  I arrived in Tampa late on Wednesday night.  I would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to David and Lisa for letting me into their home and for being so nice to me while I stayed with them.  I left their house this afternoon to come over to the University of Tampa for the Scholar Seminar.  We had a break from one of our meetings and I decided to use that time to come up here and fill you all in on whats been going on.  So far its been really good.  I will be going to Atlanta next but that won't be until Monday of next week!

I am still struggling to find a place for PJ, my cat.  If anyone would be willing to care for her just for a couple weeks I would really appreciate it.  Let me know if you are interested.

Talk soon!