How to Stay Sane While the Countdown Clock is Creeping to Zero

Alright, this is it. Twenty days till this adventure starts, and I've been worried for a while now. The countdown is nearing closer to zero, and I'm not sure if I'm ready. I have all of these questions about my life that I won't have answered till I'm in country. And I have a long butt plane ride to just think about this. This crazy adventure that's exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Will I make friends? Will I survive school? How am I going to get the full Australia experience? What about drinking? Did I pack my suitcase right? What if I forget something? Will my family miss me? Why did I think this was a good idea? Why does travel have to be so expensive? I could go on and on about all of the dumb questions I have, but that won't help me, I'm only making my self more upset right? I should stop this right?

RIGHT!

I need to stop worrying about the negatives of what could go wrong and start focusing on enjoying the time I have left in America, seeing as I won't be here for a long time. Speaking of a long time, 9 months is a long time. I've never been away for that long. Never traveled alone by myself either. I know how to travel in an airport, and how to keep myself occupied on long flights, never thought I'd be doing it at 19 years old. If you are in the same boat as I am, don't let anyone tell you that this isn't incredibly scary. Oh dear lord is it. But maybe after reading this post, you'll be able to relax about your approaching flight(s).

In order to feel less anxious, the first thing you have to do is to run through all of your worrying thoughts all at once. Sounds crazy but it's not. As soon as you push past all these defeatist questions, you'll feel better. Maybe not at first, you've got to give yourself time to cope with the fact that you're actually jumping on a plane and leaving. Sayonara, au revior, adios, arrivaderci, hasta la vista, see ya later.  This is actually nuts! And you are quite literally the bravest person I know. I know how much guts it takes to do this. You're incredible. Can we be friends? Who doesn't need more crazy awesome friends who have traveled the world and are willing to share all of the best stories with you?

I know it's hard to think of now that you're worried about the flights and school work and such... Maybe you're one of the greats who isn't worried about any of this at all and are just reading this because you like to waste time on the internet, oh I do too!... But when you first hear the language, or smell the great food (or the not so great sewage), you'll know that this is only the beginning, and all of the questions you've had before were pointless. You'll figure this out as you go! And that's the greatest adventure anyone can have!

xxo,
Christina

Steps to Study Abroad

So this whole blogging thing, I'm really going to stick to it! (Two weeks later...) Here I am!!! Back from the recesses of the rest of the internet and here to talk with you all about how to study abroad, the steps you can take to figure it all out!

The first steps to figuring out whether or not you really want to study abroad can be a little daunting. Don't worry, I'm here to help you out! I've come up with some steps that will help you figure out what to do to figure it all out. And here they are: (really wanted to use a colon)
   
1) Does your school offer it?

You have to figure out whether your school offers a study abroad experience, and it may come in many different types. For example, a semester, an academic year, a spring break, a January term, or a summer program. If your school doesn't offer it, but you are capable of going through another school, like I know my home university does, that's the way to do it. My advice is to simply search the schools website and find out what you are most interested in. 

2) Talk to your advisor. 

Mainly to talk with you about what semester(s) would be best for you to study abroad. 

3) Go to a study abroad meeting, or talk to a SA advisor, or both!
  See, and fill out, all necessary paperwork and learn the basics about study abroad. Like cost, term length,  health and safety, accommodation, and so forth. These meetings also tend to be beneficial because they     usually have someone who went abroad but has come back to answer any right away specific questions.

4) Where are you going? 

It's really important that you nail down where you want to go. And it can be hard to think of all the places they offer and just select one, maybe you want to go a full year and select two places. It's all up to you! Hints: think about weather, and cultures, and how far away from the rest of the world you want to be (cough Australia cough) 

5) Pick your university.

Pretty self explanatory, if you have choices, like I did for Australia, weigh the pros and cons of each and then pick the one that's right for you. Take into account that you'll need a university that has your specific course offerings. It's just like selecting your uni that you study at at home. Do you want to be in a city, the country, large school, small school? Really get down to what you want out of your university experience.

6) Fill out paperwork and pick your courses! 

This was the most stressful part for me. Mainly because I left campus for a week and when I got back the papers were due the next day, and my advisor wouldn't get back to me, even though I was emailing her almost everyday. (STRESSFUL!) But pick up and fill out paperwork, it sucks, but you wanna study abroad right? So suck it up and get it done! 

7) Where is this money going to come from? 

A big question that should be thought of as soon as you know the exact costs of living abroad, WHO'S GUNNA PAY FOR DIS? (Pardon the terrible grammar, it was used simply for effect.) Are you going to take out loans? Apply for scholarships? Work as much as possible? Do you have any saved? Planning on going into more debt? (This one is my personal favorite.) Figure out your plan from the start to avoid any unnecessary money crunching, although having a budget is very handy. 

8) Book your flights! 

Again, self explanatory, but your flights could be booked through your school and you may even get discounts on group flights, I know I got about $300 off the flight because I was booking through the school. Don't be afraid to work a deal! 

9) WHAT AM I NUTS?! 

You may start thinking to yourself, whoa, am I nucking futs? Who is this crazy awesome person who's decided to leave all comforts and make a complete jump into another culture? Am I going to be scared? What if the plane crashes? All of these questions, some crazier and more irrational then others, are all completely normal. It's okay if you have some worries, and it's okay if you're totally confident and just want to leave already! If you're worried, talk it out to anyone. A good friend is always there to listen and help you to relive some of your anxieties. You can also contact one of your team in country to see if they have any helpful tips to help calm you down as well. Don't contain it all if you're worrying, it can make it worse. If you're not afraid at all, good for you! I was like that my first go around, leaving for Stirling freshman year. But I don't know what it is about this time around, that just has me more worried and freaked than the last time. Maybe it's because I don't know anyone that I'll be going to UQ with, or maybe it's that Australia is so far away and I have to take the 24 hour trek there alone. Who knows? I just know that I'm going to do research about Brisbane and get pumped! 

10) Research the city/ town you'll be visiting.

Read up on some cool places to hang out, or go dancing, grab a bite to eat, so that when you arrive you can have something to explore and discover! I know that for Brisbane the two main things I'm interested in are the XXXX Brewery Tour (http://www.xxxxalehouse.com.au/brewery-tour) and the Lone Pine Koala Santuary (http://www.koala.net/). Look around, search Trip Advisor, and see what is cool about where you're going to be studying! 

11) Pack your bags and jet! 

It's that time, so pack your bags, carefully I might add, and hop on that plane (maybe to LAX, maybe not), and go! See you in a bit! (My next blog post will be all about packing, the dos and don'ts! Make sure you hang around for that, hopefully coming by the end of the week!) Check luggage restrictions for your airline, and make sure you print out all your important documents, that your passport is good 6 months after you leave from study abroad, your visa is in order and on your person, and have the most incredible time!

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it, it really is a cinch to write when it's about something that interests you. So if you guys want, you can leave a comment below telling be all about where you're planning to study abroad, what stage of planning you're in, what your current emotions are about it, and any questions you have for me! Thank you so much, and I'm glad you've read this entire thing! You're going to have an amazing time!

OH! I almost forgot! Here's my youtube video where I talk about this if you would prefer that! Although, I personally like this better, I was more in depth! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SUR4QCT7f0

xxo,

Christina

Introduction to the Madness

So, I guess I should introduce myself, right that's a thing that gets done first, I don't know, I'm new at this. My name's Christina and I'm going to be studying abroad in Australia at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Queensland.

I'm so freaking unbelievably excited for this new adventure. And I just figured starting a blog would be the best way for me to get down everything that happens as it happens. They're not going to be particularly long posts, but they will be full of stuff.

I also have a YouTube channel that you can find me at, here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkppddgcnLjgTJFj53SDQgg. This blog will be exploring the same topics that I talk about in my videos, so if you want to catch up on my videos, there are currently four, I'm not the best at uploading regularly, you can find them at the link. Feel free to subscribe so that when I upload a video you will get a notification when you sign onto YouTube! If you're not on YT I will post links after my blog post so that you can see the newest one I've done.

This is going to be one HELL of a ride! Are you ready?

xxo,
Christina