Getting Ready to Be On My Way

Only 23 days till I leave for the Bahamas! Time has really flown by and I cannot believe that my ship is about to set sail! I have been preparing for over a year and now it hardly seems possible that I have managed to get everything done.

This program seemed like an impossible dream for me when I first learned about the cost and all the other challeges involved. But I have to say, especially to anyone who might be considering this program, or programs equally expensive, dont get discouraged! You can make it work if you try hard enough. I simply refused to take no for an answer and even when people were saying it wouldn't be possible or pointing out various flaws to my brilliant plan, I just kept filing the paperwork, filling out the forms, and making it happen. So there you have my inspirational two cents for the day...

For Christmas I got tons of gear and gadgets for my journey. A nice big LLBean Backpack, squishable sleeping bag, mini crank flashlight, travel sized everything, external hardrive, and my parents even surprised me with merchandise straight from the Semester At Sea Store! So now I have a little plush, MV Explorer, Baseball hat and T-shirts to aid me on my journey! There are only a few last minute provisions that I need to get, and then I have to pack it all up.

I still have not gotten my Passport back from the document company which has had me worried but I called them and I think everything will be alright. Soon I have to get my final two shots, making the grand total of needles stuck into me for this trip eleven. Yuck. But its worth it not to get polio, yellowfever, or typhoid.

It will be sad leaving home and everyone I love. I'm going to miss UNH, T-halls bells, and Lord Hall! However, I know that everyone is completely behind me and wants to see me achieve my dream of traveling around the world.

Everything Must Have A Beginning

This week, the Spring 2007 voyage of Semester At Sea pulled into the San Diego Harbor. I thought the end of thier voyage would be a good time to start blogging about the beginning of mine. Hopefully I am not jinxing this by starting a blog before I am even positive I will be going...

This trip has consumed my thoughts ever since my mother told me she heard something about a study abroad program that took you all around the world. After finding the website, it took me half a second to fall in love. I decided on a voyage and endless preperations have been in the works ever since.

The one and only downside I have found to this trip is the cost. Money Money Money. When all is said and done the cost of this one semester will excede the price of a full year at UNH... by quite a bit. This is the only reason I am cautious to say that I will definitally be on that boat. But I am extremely determined, and if I must take out a loan. Fine. So, this summer will be filled with work, work, work. I hope to get two or three jobs. When I tell my plans to my friends, they scoff and say

"I'll get one job, I want to relax and enjoy my summer."

A valid desire to be sure, but I have enjoyed summer in New Hampshire for the past 19 years. I will relax when I'm sailing around the world on the MV Explorer...