Spring 2013?! Already? Yep!

I didn't get anything done this week, and life outside of school wasn't too crazy. However, one of my roommates who was in Vegas had her tires slashed. Yay logan neighborhood in Spokane, WA. I am honestly highly frustrated with the Spokane police department because I rarely see them in this area, even though this is the area with the highest volume of crime. The city eliminated the department that took care of property crimes. Genius right? "Our city is so perfect we don't need a division to take care of property theft or damage." I bet within the next year they will reinstate that division, at least as a deterrent.

This week I didn't do anything for Semester at Sea. I had Exams and papers and I was still recovering from surgery. Also the Hunger Games came out and I had to go see it which sucked up about 6 hours of my time. It was worth it though. I laughed and I cried, twice.

This week I will be meeting with my advisor to discuss classes for Spring 2013. Registration for the Spring semester will probably occur when I am somewhere off the coast of South America. Such a curse, I know. I have no idea how I will register for classes. SAS only gives us so much internet included in our tuition, and I have heard that it is unreliable and slow. Classes at Gonzaga can fill up in 5 minutes. Also that whole leave of absence thing affects registration for classes. So many things to consider. This meeting is very needed. Hopefully we will figure it all out, and it won't be too hard to register.

Yeah, registering for classes here will be a HUGE burden on my life.

Spring, Surgery and Scholarships!

Well spring break was last week. Before we all start cheering for spring break, I had surgery over spring break. On the bright side, my mom came down to Spokane to help me out with my recovery. I am so incredibly thankful that she was there for me. I don't think I would have been able to take the proper care of myself for that entire week without her.

During spring break I intended to send SAS a copy of my passport, and a 2x2 photo. I didn't get to that though. I was so out of it from having surgery I honestly didn't do half the things I wanted to or needed to. Instead, my mom and I ended up brainstorming for scholarships. I will be applying for the Presidential scholarship and the merit scholarship. The Presidential scholarship covers FULL tuition. It would be absolutely amazing and so helpful to be a recipient of that scholarship. Obviously they don't give out a lot of full tuition scholarships so it is highly competitive and I will be editing my essays over and over and over again. The merit scholarship is worth $500-$5000 and not as competitive. It also doesn't have as many requirements. I think it is more likely that I will get a merit scholarship, but I also think I have a chance at receiving the Presidential scholarship.

I recommend for all potential and accepted semester at sea students should think about funding the experience sooner rather than later. Get to it!

Financial Aid Part 1

Well let me start by telling you what's been going on recently. On Thursday a friend of mine from high school died. It was the first time anyone that I knew was killed. Honestly it was his fault, but that doesn't change that I will always remember him as a fair, kind, loving teddy bear. We all lose our way sometimes...
Also my car was broken into on Monday. They broke the driver's side window reached in and stole my GPS and my Ipod.  I shouldnt have left those items in the car.

My poor beetle that was broken into =(

OK so now that I have that out of the way, I have begun the process of financing this amazing trip. I know a lot of people have looked into this program and thought there's no way I could afford that. I'm honestly not sure I can at this point. However, when applying I asked myself is it worth it.

Am I willing to spend that amount of money for 1 semester?
Am I comfortable with taking on extra debt?
Do I believe that this experience is worth that amount of money?

The answer to all of those is yes. I think it is absolutely worth it.

I ended up getting deck 2 outside. That makes my initial cost $25,195. That cost includes tuition, room and board, health insurance and course related field directed programs, trips that are for class. I haven't decided how much to budget for SAS trips. There's 1 at this point I know I want to do and will be expensive, a safari in South Africa. It has been on my bucket list for awhile so I can't pass up the chance to check it off my list.

At this point I have met with my financial aid advisor at my school to let them know that I will be doing Semester at Sea. My advisor told me that SAS and my school will enter into an agreement where my federal financial aid will be applied to the trip and I will pay my school which will be applied to SAS. I know a few other people have done this and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Paying my school can be  hard at times because they have a huge fee for paying online and for awhile they didn't even accept visa! I know right, VISA!

I'm contemplating different ways to fund this trip. When I know exactly what kind of financial aid I will have, Ill tell you about all my ideas.  I really hope that the financial aspect of this trip will work out.
I can't allow money to be the one reason I dont do this!