You WILL get there.
Let me start off by telling you that I am reporting live from my bed, in my wonderful host family's home, in MADRID, ESPANA.
Now, let me also tell you this. It. was. Hell. And. A. Half. to get here.
My advice to you:
-KEEP WITH IT.
-Keep some sort of faith that all will work out...even when shit hits the fan. It's going to hit the fan...accept it now.
-Stay ORGANIZED.
-Keep in touch with your Study Abroad advisor. Because you will forget that thing that you weren't supposed to forget.
-Make lists. Make so many to do lists.
-PERSISTANCE PERSISTANCE PERSISTANCE.
-One more time for the homies in the back, DO NOT GIVE UP.
-BREATHE
-Have a folder on your phone of the place you want to go, make it your back ground, give yourself a reminder of what you are working towards.
There are going to be so many things go wrong. But it is going to be worth it I promise you.
PICKING. THE. CLASSES.
I don't even know how to open this can of worms. But here goes....
First, you pick a country, then you pick the school, fall in love with the school, fantasize about eating Crepes outside your first period classroom, hype your mom up about how perfect the school is, and then find out that not all 5/5 classes will work. Back to the drawing board. Rinse. Repeat.
Don't worry. My drawing board went from Melbourne, Australia, to Ecuador, to Costa Rica, to Granada Spain, to Madrid Spain.
STUDY ABROAD PRO TIP:
If you are working at trying to fit this puzzle piece in where it just does not fit, its probably because that is not the right piece in the first place. Let me tell you, I tried for 6 months to get Deakin to work out for me, and you know what, it just was because that is not where I was supposed to go. And now here I am. In Europe for goodness sakes. Not that it was easy to get here, but it just wasn't a new struggle every day, ya know. If it is not working out, and I mean REALLY NOT WORKING...then try something new, don't give up, but just try something new.
Most recently, I, Michelle Anne Manganello, did not have a confirmed place to live until January 2nd. I left on the 4th. The company I was going through took their sweet time on the email game, let me tell you. IM TALKING ABOUT YOU ADRIAN. I had to wake up at 4 am to talk to this company to have a misely 5 minute Skype call that had NO useful information whatsoever. Everything that was covered in this Skype call at that ungodly hour, was the same bologna information that I knew way back in October (now being the beginning of January). I did not get any word from this company until January 2nd. TWO DAYS BEFORE I LEAVE. Do you understand the stress of having to answer all of your relatives' questions, NO AUNTIE I DO NOT KNOW WHERE IM LIVING YET, YEAH STILL DON'T HAVE MY VISA YET EITHER OKAY COOL EVERYTHING'S FINE EVERYTHING IS GOOD. Things were not good. Lol I digress. Thank the Lord...... my friend found a homestay that I could go in on with her.
F'REAL GUYS: www.homestay.com
YOU WILL SAVE SO MUCH DINERO I'M TELLIN YOU.
Back to the fun stress.
There was this really fun point in time where the Consulate General of Los Angeles (I live on Oahu, and fun fact, the closest Spanish Consulate General is in Los Angles, California.) WELL. The CG of LA thought they could play a real fun joke on the poor study abroad kids. It goes like this: If you are a STUDENT of Hawaii, you need to report to the Hawaiian district of Consulates. ($800 trip to San Fransisco) BUT San Fransisco wants to play that "we don't have any appointments for two months, and it takes a month to process" game.
Love it.
I am from Connecticut, so even though I live in Hawaii, and should report to the SanFran Consulate, there was a CHANCE that I could just try the New York one. BUT these consulates need IN PERSON appointments. So if you are like me, and live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and cannot afford a $1,500 weekend trip to the Big Apple, then here we are, in THE BIGGEST PICKLE I'VE EVER BEEN IN *read in Brian Dobson's voice* {for those who lived under a rock in the 90's, Brian Dobson narrated The Sandlot.} ANYWHO
So here is what you do.
Here is the number of the New York Spanish Consulate. +1 212-355-4080
You are going to need to call them about 77,646,309,326 times within these next few months. I would memorize it now, folks.
You may need to whip up a few tears. I'm sure it won't be too hard because at this point it is probably mid term week and you have had it up to here with the issues that have come up in trying to get abroad.
Now, just explain the situation. And BAM! They are cool with you sending all of the paper work to them via MAIL. AND if you send a prepaid self addressed envelope, then you can just have them mail it back to you.
EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY.
Can we just have a really quick round of applause for The Spanish Consulate General of New York (THE REAL MVPs LET ME TELL YOU). *
And you will want them to tell you that it's going to be fine, and they will. If not, find someone who will, hell, I will tell you that it will be fine.
IT WILL BE FINE.
*There is a really great anecdote about my trip to New York to get the Visa, but it is most definitely not anything I want to blog about. But if you would love to know, feel free to message me for the inside scoop.
Now, let me also tell you this. It. was. Hell. And. A. Half. to get here.
My advice to you:
-KEEP WITH IT.
-Keep some sort of faith that all will work out...even when shit hits the fan. It's going to hit the fan...accept it now.
-Stay ORGANIZED.
-Keep in touch with your Study Abroad advisor. Because you will forget that thing that you weren't supposed to forget.
-Make lists. Make so many to do lists.
-PERSISTANCE PERSISTANCE PERSISTANCE.
-One more time for the homies in the back, DO NOT GIVE UP.
-BREATHE
-Have a folder on your phone of the place you want to go, make it your back ground, give yourself a reminder of what you are working towards.
There are going to be so many things go wrong. But it is going to be worth it I promise you.
PICKING. THE. CLASSES.
I don't even know how to open this can of worms. But here goes....
First, you pick a country, then you pick the school, fall in love with the school, fantasize about eating Crepes outside your first period classroom, hype your mom up about how perfect the school is, and then find out that not all 5/5 classes will work. Back to the drawing board. Rinse. Repeat.
Don't worry. My drawing board went from Melbourne, Australia, to Ecuador, to Costa Rica, to Granada Spain, to Madrid Spain.
STUDY ABROAD PRO TIP:
If you are working at trying to fit this puzzle piece in where it just does not fit, its probably because that is not the right piece in the first place. Let me tell you, I tried for 6 months to get Deakin to work out for me, and you know what, it just was because that is not where I was supposed to go. And now here I am. In Europe for goodness sakes. Not that it was easy to get here, but it just wasn't a new struggle every day, ya know. If it is not working out, and I mean REALLY NOT WORKING...then try something new, don't give up, but just try something new.
Most recently, I, Michelle Anne Manganello, did not have a confirmed place to live until January 2nd. I left on the 4th. The company I was going through took their sweet time on the email game, let me tell you. IM TALKING ABOUT YOU ADRIAN. I had to wake up at 4 am to talk to this company to have a misely 5 minute Skype call that had NO useful information whatsoever. Everything that was covered in this Skype call at that ungodly hour, was the same bologna information that I knew way back in October (now being the beginning of January). I did not get any word from this company until January 2nd. TWO DAYS BEFORE I LEAVE. Do you understand the stress of having to answer all of your relatives' questions, NO AUNTIE I DO NOT KNOW WHERE IM LIVING YET, YEAH STILL DON'T HAVE MY VISA YET EITHER OKAY COOL EVERYTHING'S FINE EVERYTHING IS GOOD. Things were not good. Lol I digress. Thank the Lord...... my friend found a homestay that I could go in on with her.
F'REAL GUYS: www.homestay.com
YOU WILL SAVE SO MUCH DINERO I'M TELLIN YOU.
Back to the fun stress.
There was this really fun point in time where the Consulate General of Los Angeles (I live on Oahu, and fun fact, the closest Spanish Consulate General is in Los Angles, California.) WELL. The CG of LA thought they could play a real fun joke on the poor study abroad kids. It goes like this: If you are a STUDENT of Hawaii, you need to report to the Hawaiian district of Consulates. ($800 trip to San Fransisco) BUT San Fransisco wants to play that "we don't have any appointments for two months, and it takes a month to process" game.
Love it.
I am from Connecticut, so even though I live in Hawaii, and should report to the SanFran Consulate, there was a CHANCE that I could just try the New York one. BUT these consulates need IN PERSON appointments. So if you are like me, and live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and cannot afford a $1,500 weekend trip to the Big Apple, then here we are, in THE BIGGEST PICKLE I'VE EVER BEEN IN *read in Brian Dobson's voice* {for those who lived under a rock in the 90's, Brian Dobson narrated The Sandlot.} ANYWHO
So here is what you do.
Here is the number of the New York Spanish Consulate. +1 212-355-4080
You are going to need to call them about 77,646,309,326 times within these next few months. I would memorize it now, folks.
You may need to whip up a few tears. I'm sure it won't be too hard because at this point it is probably mid term week and you have had it up to here with the issues that have come up in trying to get abroad.
Now, just explain the situation. And BAM! They are cool with you sending all of the paper work to them via MAIL. AND if you send a prepaid self addressed envelope, then you can just have them mail it back to you.
EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY.
Can we just have a really quick round of applause for The Spanish Consulate General of New York (THE REAL MVPs LET ME TELL YOU). *
And you will want them to tell you that it's going to be fine, and they will. If not, find someone who will, hell, I will tell you that it will be fine.
IT WILL BE FINE.
*There is a really great anecdote about my trip to New York to get the Visa, but it is most definitely not anything I want to blog about. But if you would love to know, feel free to message me for the inside scoop.
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