Classes, MORE financial aid and Visas

The past few weeks have been like any other week; BUSY! On may 24th at the glorious hour of 4am I register for my semester at sea classes, a few days before that, as you know, I received information about my non-existent financial aid. Lastly, on Tuesday this week I submitted my visa application.

Registering for classes was super easy. They had us register for our Global Studies course first. After that you went back into registration and selected the rest of your classes from one list of all the classes offered. I was able to register about 3 minutes before the majority of people. I honestly dont know why the site just showed that I could register so I did. Since I got in early I was able to get all of my classes and there was no lag from all the people doing the exact same thing as me. After I registered I received an e-mail from SAS confirming the classes I had registered for. Till about 4:45am everyone was posting their schedules to the facebook group to see who they would have classes with.
Most people were able to get all the classes that they needed. One girl, who I will have Science of Love with, almost didnt get all of her classes, but she was able to work it out with her home school and with SAS. She's a senior so it was even more important that she get to take classes that actually count!
In the end the following is my schedule for Semester at Sea Fall 2012:

A means that the class will meet on "A days" and B means the class will meet on "B days". Im kind of curious about how we will know which days are A and which are B.
I haven't seen anyone in the facebook group that I have Personality in Culture with. I really really hope it doesn't get cancelled!

Yesterday I got some decent news about financial aid. I received a need based grant. It's a lot less than what I was expecting, but I am going to go through the appeal process since there are financial circumstances of me and my family that are not reflected on my FAFSA. If I dont get an increase in the amount it's ok, but I dont see how it could hurt to explain to them that what the FAFSA says is not reality. I am grateful that I did received some aid.
I am still waiting on the consortium agreement to be made between my home school and SAS. I sent the agreement to them a month and a half ago!
Either way I know financial aid will not cover this trip. As a result I will be applying for a student loan from Sallie Mae for the full cost of this trip. I can always give them back money that I dont need, but the application process can take about a week and then it takes them a little time to send the funding to the school. I am absolutely not happy that I have to take out a loan for this experience but I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't go because of money. Life is about experiences and this trip is an experience many people won't dream of. I am okay with going into debt for this experience.

Finally, everyone and their dog spot has had trouble with VISA applications! I think the most difficult part of the application process is Travisa's global reservation form. Travisa has you basically place an order and pay for all of your visa's and their services all at once. They ask for basic information about you and information about your passport. They also ask when you are leaving the United States and when you will need your passport back. The next step is the confusing one. Travisa has several locations and where you send your visa USUALLY depends on where you're from. However if you are with Semester at Sea you send your completed application to WASHINGTON D.C. the Travisa processing location there will then do all the foot work of getting your visas. When I filled out my global reservation form I was asked to send my completed application to San Francisco, but after discussing this with other people from semester at sea we were able to find out that no matter where you're from you send your documents to Washington d.c., but you complete your application as if it was going straight to the other processing location. Each location has a difference policy for what needs to be included and yellow fever cards. I thought that I didn't need a yellow fever card till later, but Travisa called and told me I will need a yellow fever card now rather than later. As a result my visa application for Brazil is on hold till I get that done.
The process of filling out the visa applications wasn't very difficult because semester at sea gave us samples of what to fill out.
In all, the visa's are an expensive pain in the butt!

It's been awhile

So I realized it's been awhile since I've posted something here.

For the past few weeks I have been in the midst of finals and moving from Spokane. My brother and I drove up in my 2004 Volkswagen New Beetle from Spokane to Anchorage. We did it in 4 days and had no disasters happen. So I am pretty proud of myself for that.

About 2 weeks ago I sent in my application for a work study position. I have been offered at least an interview for every single job I have ever applied for so I wasn't at all worried about getting work-study.
The e-mail for work study went out today and so far it looks like I haven't received any financial aid. My consortium agreement hasn't even gone through yet and I sent that to them over a month ago.

I mentioned before that financing this trip will be the hardest part. I was right. With every rejection of financial aid it seems more and more likely that I will be completely screwed come August. I dont know if I will be able to actually go. If I can't go, I can't go back to Gonzaga because I have already received an approval for leave of absence. Even if I could get it removed all the classes I need to take are full. It would be a waste of a semester.
So the options are to go and spend over $25,000 completely in loans, not go and waste my time at home, or get my leave of absence revoked and waste my time at Gonzaga. OR I could beg every person I know for money so that I am not completely buried up to my ears in debt.

This financial aid stuff really needs to work out at this point =/

First trip through Canada in my Bug. This trip we didn't take any pictures. We were on a mission.

Its getting real!

Class meeting times have been posted! Wooohooo!!!!! The comedy workshop class that I was going to take was cancelled sad day. So my class schedule is looking like

Science of Love: A day- 8am to 9:15am
Global Studies: A day- 9:20am to 10:35am
International Marketing: B day 1:05pm to 2:20pm
Personality in Culture: B day 2:30pm to 3:45pm

I think I like that schedule B days I can sleep in and A days I get done pretty early. Oh A day and B day means what days classes will meet since we don't have class in port. It just wouldn't make sense to have class as Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday and Thursday.

I have been talking to other future SASers on facebook and I have to say talking to everyone is so much more fun then studying for finals! A lot of people want to take science of love, but I think the class being at 8am will turn a few people away. I already have class at 7:30am so that's absolutely no big deal.

Also, information on travel documents and inoculations has been posted. I can't really do anything about all of that right now because I need my passport to go home in 2 WEEKS! I just hope it's not going to be as complicated as I think it's going to be.

So life is hectic and crazy and will stay that way until.....who am I kidding it will always be that way!

TIME ZONES!

My Hero

The night of April 16th my great grandmother Helen passed away in her sleep. I was very close to her and terrified this would happen while I was on the ship. She was 97 and 3/4 years old. Yes we expected it would happen soon, yes she is no longer in pain and yes she is happier now. All of that doesn't change the fact that I will miss her greatly. She has been a part of our family for a very long time. She was our family matriarch and now that she is gone, there is a void. She was my hero. She was the one who inspired me to do better and be better.

I want the world to stop right now and remember her. I'm sure that's how every one feels when a loved one dies. There are so many things to do before I get to say good bye. What will happen once I do? Will I forget her? I doubt it. Will I live my life differently? I don't know.

All I know is this, today I have to get my scholarship over nighted to Virginia. I also have to reschedule and cancel many commitments I had made. I have to go home. I have to be with my family. I have to say good bye. After that, I know the world will continue marching on and embarkation day will arrive. I'll go on this trip and GG will be watching me protecting me and guiding me.

I love you GG. I am so happy that you aren't in pain any more and that you have been reunited with the people you lost. I know you're laughing and smiling with them now. We miss you and we love you.

Rest in Peace.                                Me and GG at my last orchestra concert

30 Days and Fundly

I am now at the point where I have less then 30 days to complete all the paper work that I have to do for semester at sea. As of today, ALL yes all my possible courses have been approved. The only thing I am nervous about is when the classes meet. If any of the classes I've had approved meet at the same time I won't have the number of credits I was expecting. I'm hoping that we will find out when classes meet before the end of May.

Tomorrow I am sending off the form to create a consortium agreement between SAS and my school. I am also working on obtaining a couple scholarships. I am also requesting an extension on the scholarships and grants I received from Gonzaga for when I return for the Spring semester.

As far as school goes I have MASSIVE amounts of work to do before finals. I really only have 1 final to take this semester but I have presentations and papers for every single class.
I also need to do some repairs on my car from it being broken into, but that, I hope, can wait till after finals.

I have almost completed my non-sponsored study abroad approval form. I just need to get the paper signed at this point.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog! I love coming back and seeing that more people have checked it out. I have created a Fundly account where you can make a donation for my trip. This is mainly for my family and friends who would like to support me, but of course all donations are welcome.
To my family: I will be having my birthday while at sea. Also sending packages or mail to the ship can be very expensive. If you want to send me a gift for my birthday at sea, please just donate at fundly. It will be cheaper and will really allow me to get out and see the countries I'll be going to. If you want a souvenir for donating let me know which country or countries and I will be sure to find something for you!
Access fundly by clicking this link, http://fundly.com/thelostrainbowtrout?preview=true, or clicking on the word Fundly above.

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!