Panic Attacks & Excitement Freak-Outs!!!

One week…one week…one more week!!!

The thought of only 7 short days is ALL that lingers on my brain.  I woke up this morning with nothing but shear panic thinking about all the things that I still have to get done.  “Go to the bank, finish packing up my clothes that just went through the wash, be sure to charge my iPod, CRAP…don’t forget to find those adapters!”  My life for the past two weeks has been nothing short of random spouts of anxiety followed by happy bursts of excitement (it’s better not to ask.)

As the thought of finally fulfilling my childhood dream of visiting London nears closer, I can’t help but wonder why my panic attacks are ultimately outweighing my excitement!?  Perhaps it has something to do with my passport scare?  Long story short, my parents and I thought that rather than just having misplaced my passport (it was lying underneath my father’s desk in his study) that it had actually been lost or stolen when sending it to the British Consulate in NYC.  Well, imagine our relief when we finally did find it; literally all I could do was laugh at the fact that it was safe in our house the entire time.

Problem Solved!?  I think not.

Due to this unfortunate incident, my Visa application was delayed by a few days now and we had to resend everything back to the British Consulate.  I am still waiting for my passport & Visa’s return and I must admit, I am extremely terrified that they won’t be returned to me on time :(.  All I can do is hope for the best and have been trying to think positively about the whole situation, but its still a huge distraction knowing that the key to my leaving the country is in someone else’s hands.  But…for now I’m just going to continue riding out those positivity vibes and pray for the best!  That’s all a girl can do before entering on one of the biggest adventures of her life; especially when its finally becoming a reality!

Learning Footie with Stuart

I spent an hour after my cognitive psychology learning some of the basics of Aussie Rules Football with Stuart. He showed me how to bounce, hand-ball, and kick the footie (the ball). I would never play this game as it is played professionally; as I value my health (it’s an aggressive game with no protective clothing). However, I would like to be able to play a game of recreational/touch footie by the time I leave.

I don’t know when I’ll be coming back. Ideally I would like to get a job with Apple corporate and move here to work. One way or another my goal will be to return within 3 years of graduating college. I know that I will miss the friends that I have made here and the friends that I will make before I leave. It’s hard for me to think that it will be at least a couple of years before I see Chris again after I leave here. He’s been a great friend since I met him last semester.

That being said, it will be easy to keep in touch with my friends here on a regular basis with the Internet. Even if we are on opposite sides of the world. I also intend to read The Age or The Australian (local newspapers) on my Kindle every morning when I get back; as a way to keep in touch with Australia.

Song I was listening to as I wrote this: “Je Te Vends Mon Âme” by Kyo.

Gillard Wins!

The election was decided today. Gillard won! That makes this “new-Australian” rather happy. I would not be in a good mood right now if Abbot had won. This means that Labour won and not Liberal. Hopefully the next Australian election that I am here for will be one which I can vote in. Election is mandatory here for citizens. If you don’t vote, you get fined. I think this makes for a better system. This way the votes are a better representation of the country’s population; rather than it being voluntary to vote like in the United States.

Tree Adventures

Today I tried to to go to Yarra National Park. I then decided to go to Dandenong National Park when I realised it wasn’t possible to get to Yarra easily by public transport. Once I got to Belgrave I went to the visitor’s centre to get directions. After making a phone call to make a reservation I changed my plans yet again. I was now going to do something I had wanted to do since I got here: Tree Adventures. This obstacle course in the trees is located at Glen Harrow Park in Belgrave.

After putting on a harness, gloves, and a hat I was given instructions on how the zip lines and safety lines worked. I then made my way up a ladder and got my first taste of the zip lines. I soared from one tree to another on a steel cable. I made my way through the second and third level courses; making my way through obstacles and across zip lines. The real adventure was level four. This was the most difficult and the highest. About halfway through I decided to stop and catch my breath and enjoy the view. I was 15 metres (45 feet) above the ground at this time. After a few more obstacles I got to the end: the biggest zip line. It was exhilarating soaring through the air, it was almost like flying; which is probably why I liked it so much. It was two of the most amazing hours of my life…which makes me wonder how surfing is going to feel. I have a meeting tomorrow morning with someone from RMIT’s Surf Club.

Footie Ball

Last night I went to a dance club with some friends from RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). It was the first night that this club was open on a Friday so there were a lot of people there. I met someone from one of my classes at VU (Victoria University). I also ran into someone I knew from a youth organisation I’m volunteering for. I had this moment where I felt really good. Here I am, only been in Australia for roughly two months, and I can run into people I know.

Today I went to the shopping centre up the road to browse in the bookstore; because I love discovering new books to read (even if I have enough on my Kindle to last me a lifetime). After browsing in the bookstore I went to the AFL Store after finding it in the store directory; which are large touch screens. I have wanted to buy an AFL (Aussie Rules Football) ball. So I now have one sitting on the shelf in my room. I want to try finding a book or a website on the rules of the game. I’ve never been into sports, but this will be a way for me to bring a piece of Australia and it’s culture back home with me. A piece that I can share with my friends by teaching them how the game is played instead of just showing them videos.

Welcome to Madrid/Getafe, Spain

I’ve only been in Madrid for 5 days and it already seems like at least a month has gone by! I’ve been running around trying to get everything sorted out and settled before my official classes start on Tuesday, September 7th, and already there have been so many road blocks and new experiences and exciting people. I will try to condense everything so as not to bore you with pages and pages.

I want to start by describing the week before I left for Madrid and the first day I arrived just because I think the preparation before the storm is an important part of the study abroad process.

I’m not your traditional study abroad student. Most people chose to go to places that they’ve never lived in before. I chose to go back to my first home. I was born in Madrid and lived there with my parents and family until I was 6 and I’ve been living in Poughkeepsie ever since and visiting Madrid once every couple of years or so. To me this is an experiment. Since I was very young I always wondered who I would have become had I stayed in Madrid my whole life and now I have this amazing opportunity to live in Madrid for a year. Though I am fluent in Spanish and have family as a sort of safety net in Madrid, leaving the comfort of New York was no easy task. For the entire week before I left I was a complete nervous wreck, and the day of my flight I was so nervous I felt physically sick and couldn’t eat or sleep. It was a complete shock to me that I was so afraid of going back to a place that I have loved for years.

But going back to Madrid this time was completely different than it was when I was a kid. This time I was leaving my best friends, my boyfriend, my family, my town, my college, my bands, my life. And this time I would be in Madrid for a whole year which for the most part would be dedicated to studying economics at la Universidad Carlos III. It isn’t going to be a complete vacation!

When I landed in Madrid I was reintroduced to my old home as an adult. My first thoughts…. am I going to be able to find an apartment? How expensive will it be? How hard are the economics classes going to be in this university which is ranked on of the best for economics in Europe? I’m going to have to get a European phone! How am I going to get a bank account? etc, etc, etc….

So far I’ve succeeded in only one task…. getting a cell phone. But I’m well on my way to get everything else settled.

Since this exchange program between New Paltz and UC3M (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) is completely new, there are no precedents. Thankfully, there are 3 other economics majors from New Paltz who are on the adventure with me and we’ve been helping each other out at every step.

Currently, I am sharing a hostel room with Jules while she, Madeline, and I look for an apartment. The fact that this hostel is absolutely beautiful and has the best shower I’ve ever been in (for only 21 euros a night per person) hasn’t been giving us to much incentive to hurry the apartment searching process. Although, it has been uncomfortable not having a fridge and not really being able to buy groceries. (The hostel name is Carlos III for those of you interested in visiting Getafe)

Since the university is in Getafe, a small city/town 20 minutes south of central Madrid we haven’t exactly decided whether we’d like to live in Getafe near the school or in central Madrid near el Parque Retiro, and all the famous museums, and night clubs. We’ve talked to some of the European exchange students in the ERASMUS program and most of them have opted to live in central Madrid. We’ll be seeing 3 apartments tomorrow: 1 in Getafe, and 2 in Madrid so hopefully we like at least one of those. There is a train that runs from Atocha in central Madrid to Getafe that takes about 25 minutes. By the way, if you’re wondering why we didn’t decide to live on campus… it costs almost $900 a month, while living in an apartment will give us a lot more space for less than half the price!

So although our economics classes don’t start until Tuesday, we started our Spanish language immersion program yesterday. It’s 4 hours a day of Spanish class for 2 weeks!!! It’s a bit intense but I really like my class and my teachers. I’m in the intermediate 2 class with all German speaking students. It’s pretty interesting hearing Spanish in a German accent. We have two teachers for the class and both of them are AWESOME! They only speak Spanish but they are really funny and very animated and passionate.

That’s probably the biggest difference I’ve noticed in Spaniards so far. They are all very animated when they speak and they all have similar intonations and hand movements. Some “Madrileños” can seem rude and harsh when you ask them for help, but a lot of the people I’ve met are really accommodating and will help you a lot. We met this guy Antonio at a rental agency in Getafe who was very charismatic and clearly was THE guy to know in town. As he was showing us around town people in the street would say hi to him and stop to talk. He was quite the charmer and very helpful. We also met a character in Plaza Mayor where we stopped one night for paella. He was our waiter and he called himself “Magic Luigi” and apparently teaches salsa classes in Madrid and has a record coming out. I’m not sure how much of it we believed, but he was funny nonetheless…

And then there’s the man who works at the front desk of the hostel who plays Spanish guitar and sings during his night shift! I brought my guitar so I’m thinking of joining him one night before we move out.

Anyway, I’m going to end my first blog on that note, and leave you with some pictures of the beautiful campus of UC3M. No offense to New Paltz, but it is definitely an upgrade :p

I’ll talk more about Spanish food and the culture that I observe on my next blog!

-Sandra-

It’s Finally My Turn.

As my friends slowly dissipate to their respective colleges, I have only had more time to wonder about the semester to come. For a while I was doubtful of whether or not I would actually be able to leave at all- with five days left to go and no visa, it was looking pretty bleak. But all is well now thanks to a very friendly mailman and a not-so-surprisingly ridiculous looking passport picture. (Really though, who doesn’t look sweaty and angry in their walgreens photoshoot)? Anyway, it’s off to Italy in three days, and despite what everyone says about preparing early, I have stuck to my old ways and saved all the packing for last minute. My mom really loves that about me.

So what have I wondered about Italy, you ask? Well, I only get as far as the airport to tell you the truth- as I have never before been to Italy and have never before traveled abroad. Since I’m going overseas, I imagine there will be one of those fancy touch screens on the back of the seats to play with… that should keep me entertained for a couple of hours at least. Then I wonder a little harder, and imagine missing the bus that is supposed to be both the group’s means of transportation from the airport in Rome to Siena (which is approximately three hours long) as well as the on-site orientation. Missing the bus is actually pretty likely, considering my plane gets in at 12:40 pm and the bus leaves at 1:00. Lavina and Mike (my program leaders) thankfully emailed some very detailed instructions on how to find your own ride in case such an unfortunate incident were to happen. We’ll see what happens!

As I really haven’t been able to imagine what the program might be like, I have had some trouble actually grasping the fact that I am leaving. I have wanted to go to Italy for as long as I can remember, and my dad’s side of the family is extremely Italian, so it’s not like this is a new concept for me; I have experienced shades of Italian culture in from I miei Nonni (my grandparent’s), but have no clue as to what I should actually expect. My nonna, (grandmother), is pretty opposed to my plans to travel. She’s a worrier. I heard some pretty stereotypical stories about Italian men that were supposed to deter me from going to Italy- but in actuality they just made me laugh, as her thick italian accent rambled off american words that I didn’t even think she knew. (Enough said on that front).

All in all, I am incredibly excited to leave and experience the culture that I have heard so much about but has (thus far) been unobtainable in full. I can’t wait to meet my Sienese host family, to begin service work, to start classes, and to meet new people… My friends and I have this long running joke that it is finally my turn to travel abroad: almost all of them have already studied all over the world in places such as India, Costa Rica, Israel, and France- and I am the last one to go.

More later.

-Melissa

“Your UK Visa Has Been Issued”

This is possibly the most glorious phrase I’ve ever heard (read). I don’t think it’s possible to describe in words the process I (and my wonderfully helpful father) have gone through in the past few months, mostly weeks, in order to procure this one single, but apparently eminently important, piece of paper. My first piece of advice to anyone planning on studying abroad is to understand the visa application process well enough that you’d be able to explain it, step-by-step, to someone else. My second piece of advice is START YOUR APPLICATION EARLY! Like, many months in advance. This will allow enough time for the many corrections you’re likely going to have to make.

*Anyway*, now that that’s finally taken care of just a mere twelve days before I leave for Huddersfield, I can finally relax and look forward to my trip instead of dread the possibility that it might not happen. The crazy part to me about my upcoming semester abroad is that I really don’t know what to expect. Since this is the first time in many years that New Paltz and Huddersfield are doing an exchange, both the students at the schools and the staff in the international offices don’t have as much knowledge on the programs as they would were they regular, semesterly exchanges. This is both exciting and somewhat anxiety-provoking. I know very little about University of Huddersfield itself, like what the vibe on campus tends to be, what the students are generally interested in, if the professors teach class (which I hear is sometimes optional??) with their underwear on their heads, etc. What I do know is that I’ll be taking mostly psychology classes in addition to one class on British culture, and that I’ll be living in a campus-owned flat with five other international students, including one from New Paltz, which is a converted insane asylum. At relaying this piece of information to my mother, I was given the response “Oh good, so you’ll feel right at home!” She just may be right.

Regardless of knowing or not knowing what to expect, I do know that this has literally been the longest summer of my life—mid/late May-early/mid September—and I am ready to leave it behind. Though it had its definite good, even great, times, my summer was also filled with a lot of stress, getting my heart broken by someone I really cared about, working a much less than thrilling job at Connecticut Muffin (this should be self-explanatory), a somewhat scary visit to New Paltz this past week, and generally not feeling like I did anything terribly productive. I am definitely ready to see what Huddersfield has to offer me.