Great big beautiful tomorrow!!! (59 Days!!)

I just receive some AMAZING news from my wonderful Student Services Advisor, Kestrell. After an appeal, explaining my personal financial situation, the financial aid director has awarded me an additional $2,500 to my need based grant, bringing the total to $7,500!!!!! This leaves me with a balance of $1,385 left!

Dear readers, I cannot tell you how happy this has made me!! This voyage is real!!!! I am going to go Semester at Sea, it is no longer a leap of faith, it is an actuality! I am really going!

The first thing I say every time one of these wonderful occurrences has happened for me is this "I am going! I'm really going abroad!!" (usually while jumping up and down or hugging my mom to the point that she cannot breathe... or both). Every day this voyage feels more real than the day before. It's a feeling I never think possible, and then, like a miracle, it just gets better. The feeling pulses through my body and elates me even more than I thought it could just the day before.

More than anything, I want to say how wonderful the people who are at Semester at Sea are. They are truly wonderful and I cannot say enough nice things about them.

Just as a kind of side note, the title for today's blog post comes from a Walt Disney World ride called the Carousel of Progress that was a mantra for much of my middle and high school careers. I thought it was fitting for today's outburst of joy! Here's a youtube version of the ride in 2 parts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3eJHvO83_s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbFUggYn89E&feature=related

PS- Sorry for all the exclamation points in today's post. I just can't help it!

2 months away!! (60 Days!!)

Semester at Sea is a mere two months away. I can't believe that. I cannot understand how time can pass so fast. Was it really only January that I got my acceptance after near death on the uphill slope of stadium drive? Did I really survive the semester? Have I really sent off for my Visa's and begun drafting packing lists?
Is this real life?

Yes.

Unfortunately for those people I live with, work with, or see on a regular basis, Semester at Sea consumes nearly all of my waking thoughts (and sleeping thoughts now that I think about it). I carry around a notepad in which I write down Semester at Sea thoughts; things to pack, forms to fill out, things to write about, or just words like '60 DAYS!!' or 'OMG EXCITED'. I'm afraid of talking to people, for fear of going into an over-excited, never ending explanation of what I am doing with Semester at Sea and how I am preparing and where we are going. It's a problem, but one I think all of the prospective voyagers are experiencing.

The really exciting things about my planning process are how it is quickly coming to an end. I am making final arrangements to get to Montreal! Which is great! I decided to take the train. It will be less than half the cost of flying, and I get to spend a day in New York City with my Big Brother from high school, Andrew! This news is particularly exciting to me since I have never been to New York City, and want to attend Columbia University for Law School someday in the future. Then I get to continue on to Montreal and spend a few days at a hostel and exploring a city that is has a very large french speaking population! Finally, a chance to immerse myself in a language I love!

As for the Diversity Abroad Scholarship, I am sad to report that I did not receive the scholarship, but I did receive a couple other scholarships and I think I have most, if not all of my voyage paid for. I am confident and excited.

Until next time,
Best Wishes,
Mal!

A Leap of Faith (81 Days!!!)

Because of the way the Diversity Abroad Scholarship decision has affected the awarding of my financial aid, tomorrow I take a gigantic leap of faith. Tomorrow I send in the VISA applications. The applications for VISA's into Ghana, India and China are due on June 11th, the day after I will receive my financial aid award. I've had the applications filled out for over a month now, but I have waited to send them in because I wanted to know if I will actually be going on this trip, something that my financial aid award was going to determine. But, because of the somewhat jumbled schedule I, and the the other finalists are finding ourselves in, it is time to take a leap of faith and hope that the universe will provide the appropriate path and means to do this.

The VISA's cost a total of $515, an expense that my wonderful grandmother has offered to pay as a reward for good grades this past semester. Aside from my grandmother and a few other smaller expenses, I am paying for this trip solidly on my own. The trip will be expensive, but I am certain that I can pay for it. This is just the stress talking.

This entry into the blogland I have here for my voyage is in no way meant to be seen as a cry for help or a pity party for one; but instead just a catalogue of my emotions as I move forward. The stress is begining to set in, and set in big style.

So, tomorrow I take a leap of faith.

5 more days until... you know... Friday, June 10th.

Getting the Chills (82 Days!!!)

So... now for a REAL blog post...

Today, as I was driving home from work I decided to play the K'naan song that seems to be iconic for my voyage, called Waving Flag. Sitting in the drivers seat of my car, driving the winding roads back to my house through the Appalachian Mountains, I couldn't help but get chills. For the first time this voyage is starting to feel real.

Not only is the voyage beginning to feel so real I can almost taste and touch it, but thanks to the voyage, the rest of my life is starting to feel like something more than a plan or a thought bubble that I have over my head like a comic strip; it is instead beginning to feel like my life. The K'naan song has a line the says 'When I get older, I will be stronger, they'll call me freedom, just like a waving flag'. Someday I hope to be an international human rights lawyer working to be stronger, working to help the people in the world that get forgotten, who are hungry and neglected, and who are often taken advantage of. The song made me feel like I can do all these things, and that feeling, which is helped by my voyage, is the best thing in whole world.

So, here are some of the details about the Diversity Abroad Scholarship. I received the email saying I was a finalist yesterday (it was a day of much squealing). The email stated that, since I was a finalist, I would not be receiving my financial aid awards yesterday, as was planned (and as everyone who wasn't selected as a finalist did). Instead, I will find out about the Diversity Abroad Scholarship as well as all the other scholarships I applied for (which was every single one) on Friday, June 10th. Now, anyone who doesnt know me wouldn't know the following information: I am borderline obsessed with Josh Groban. I find his voice and his music enthralling and the work his foundation does with Nelson Mandela's 4664 organization, as well as a number of other charities, inspiring. He is a reminder of what talent, compassion and passion can do for the world, and I have tickets for my mom and I to go see our very first Josh Groban concert on Friday, June 10th. Friday, June 10th, the same Friday, Junes 10th as the day I will find out about my scholarships.
I think I may explode with happiness and stress before Friday, June 10th.


It is an honor to be selected as a finalist for the Diversity Abroad Scholarship, an honor that is still setting in. I am a firm believer in Karma and the power of positive thinking. To thank to universe for the wonderful honor I received yesterday I decided to find a way to put that kindness back into the world. When I walked into Wal-Mart yesterday I noticed they had a Red Cross bus outside. In my traditional way of paying-it-forward I decided to donate blood. I can only hope that my actions reflect my belief that we can all make the world a better place.

As a final word before I go listen to some Josh Groban music, I ask that everyone reading this send me some love, light, pleasant thoughts, good karma, prayers, or whatever it is that you do. I thank you all in advance, and you can expect to hear from me soon.

<3

Joy!!! (83 Days!!!!)

I am so happy right now I don't know what to write.

I got this in the good ol'inbox today when I got home from work.

Dear Mallory,

Congratulations! You are one of our Diversity Abroad Scholarship Finalists!



More tomorrow when the joy and stress subsides.

:D