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

Where is the time going? (92 Days!)

Today's date is May 25th and for any fellow voyagers or for returning readers to my blog, this day a fairly significant day. Today I registered for class on board the MV Explorer and today is also the final deadline to submit application for scholarships and financail aid through ISE. This particular day marks a very big step in my journey toward Semester at Sea.

I woke up early today to register for classes. This was a whole ordeal (just as t usually is on my home campus of Appalachian State). I woke up at seven thirty to make sure I was up and ready to attack the classes I am dying to take before they had the chance to fill up. I do this every semester because classes fill up fast no matter what your major is or where on the map of academia you are studying. But at eight o'clock there was no course registration to take part in. in fact, there wouldnt be for another hour and a half, thanks to the many on the ball students who were eager to register for classes on what is likely to e the best semester of college, period. Yes, the students brought the registration site to its knees, were it begged for mercy before being consumed by students. This wouldn't have been so bad if I hadnt had to be at work at 9:30. Dont worry dear readers, I registered and made it to work on time, but man, it was a close call.

This whole ordeal also posed an unexpected pleasure; after the initial problem at eight, I decided to go check out the Semester at Sea Fall 2011 Voyage facebook page (a page I turn to often to see my fellow voyagers, share excitement, and check for information). I realized I was not alone. For the next hour and fifteen minutes I watched and participated in what I can only describe as pure hilarity; the kind of hilarity that only ensues when a large number of highly stressed out college students get together online. Here are some of my favorites from the morning:



It made me realize how excited I am to spend three months around the world these people.

On a more serious note, today is also the last day to turn in applications for financial aid. This is a major source of stress for me. I have had all my stuff turned in for some time now, but I am sincerely concerned about paying for my voyage. Any well wishes and good karma sent my way would be most appreciated.

The last scholarship I turned in was for the Diversity Abroad Scholarship (that pays HALF of the tuition for the program). I worked really hard on my scholarship video essay submission (which can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jV9kDOJfrk&feature=channel_video_title ).

All in all, the voyage is getting really close and there are only a few things left to tend to.

Till next time :)
Mal

It's Summer Time! (111 Days!)

Well, it is done. My last semester as a sophomore is complete, grades are posted and I am officially a junior. This past semester has easily been the most challenging semester of college I have yet been crazy enough to undertake. Yesterday while I was on the phone with my mom she patiently listened to me as a stressed out about my final grades. She listened to me say how I would never ever take 19 credit hours again, and the laughed at me. Upon hearing this declaration my mom said "Yes you will". I hate to admit when my mother is right, but I imagine, now that grades have been posted and I didn't fail any classes, she will be right. I came out of this semester bruised, beaten and with significantly less sleep than a person should have, but with 4 A's, and 3 B's. The semester was hard, but ultimately worth it, like all things that are difficult.

I am both relieved and saddened by the close of this year. It has been one of the best years. I took fun classes, learned a ton, met awesome people and had a great time. I have to admit that I will miss my lovely roommate, Rebecca. I wont know what to do with myself without her zaney antics (though my dishes will be cleaner). I hope I'm as lucky with roommate assignments on semester at Sea as I was this past year with Rebecca.

In other, somewhat more stressful and relevant news, today is the day that the Presidential Scholarships are announced. If everyone could do me a favor and send me some helpful vibes and nice, happy thoughts my way, I could use them. For real.

So, it's now summer time, which means sun, sleeping in, and summer music. Summer also means the last of the major Semester at Sea preparations are beginning. VISA applications should be sent out within the next week or so, we register for classes May 25th, and Financial Aid will be announced and posted on June 3rd. It's crazy to think how much closer I am to Semester at Sea and how quickly the summer will fly by.
Since I will have more time now for sleeping and cultivating my sanity, you all can expect more frequent blog posts. Semester at Sea is just around the corner and I cant wait to make it into this last home stretch.

Until next time!

The Spirit of Exploration (130 Days!!)

Today is the 41st anniversary of the landing of the Apollo 13 mission. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I am a huge space nerd, and specifically am a NASA fangirl. The picture on this blog is of me at the Kennedy Space Center a few summers ago. I love NASA. I love the spirit of exploration and excitement that encompasses the projects NASA has put forward in the past, and has done within my life time. Having lived in Florida for much of my young life, I know the feeling of staring up wide eyed at the sky as I watch a tiny spec of light disappear into the sky. It is a feeling that I adore, and as the NASA program comes to a close, I am truly saddened. I think that we have a lot to learn from NASA, and specifically the Apollo 13 mission. The Apollo 13 mission has been described as a "successful failure". Though the ultimate mission of landing on the surface of the moon was not reached, I feel like we, as a fellowship of humanity, learned something even more valuable. The value of trying. That attempt, to launch humans into space, and then to fail is intensely brave. The fact that we brought back those men, alive, after all of the hardships that were faced, shows the true ingenuity of the human spirit. And ever more than that, is the fact that even after failure, we went back, and tried again.

I feel very similarly about my upcoming voyage. I am filled with the spirit of exploration, the need to leave my bubble and explore, the same pull that has us going to space. I am sure that at times while I am abroad I will have problems. I will fall short of the perfection I demand of myself, and I have issues. But the important thing, the thing that I have learned from the Apollo 13 mission and NASA in general, is that when I fall down, that I must get back up and try again. Instead of crawling back into my comfort zone, I will get back up and try again.

Speaking of attempts and getting back up, I sent off an very important scholarship application a few days ago and I would really appreciate some good Karma and lucky thought waves coming my way. I'll know on May 6th if I have been awarded the scholarship, so any pleasant thoughts would be awesome. Thanks in advance :)

In other news, I am a mere 2 weeks away from the pure bliss that will be summer vacation! The next 2 weeks will be hard, I have homework stacked up to my eyeballs and I may go crazy under the incredibly heavy workload that I now find myself under. But summer is so close, I can taste it!!

The next steps of my journey are going to be the VISA applications (which I printed off and am now looking at with an expression akin to those found on shocked LOL cats faces). They want to know everything about me and the form are super long and a bit pricey. I'll keep you all posted on the continued progress of the never ending paperwork that is my journey to Semester at Sea.

So... back to the never ending parade of homework that will be my next two weeks.
Until next time!