Tuesday, August 27, 2013

1 Month

So today is the one month marker until I fly out of here and start my adventure. I'm not going to lie I'm kinda scared to go. I am also excited. I keep trying to focus on all the exciting things and stuff to keep me from freaking out.
But it kind of caught me off guard I knew it was coming up and yesterday I was even talking about it. but then I found it was suddenly here.
Good news I got my visa today too! all of that work and trouble just for a sticker in my passport. annoying.
The next 4 weeks are going to be a wherlwind of cleaning (my room is a mess) before messing everything up again to pack, doctors appointments, work, and to do lists. Sounds like fun huh?
I think my biggest challenge with packing will be to pick out which shoes I will take... sucks that I can't take all of them.

Also! I will soon be posting my address and how to post mail to me if anyone wan't to send me things. I believe packages will be different from letters and things that will fit in my mail box.
Which leads me to say I can't take much to decorate my room so I want everyone to send me Postcards. That way I can put those on my walls instead!

Friday, August 16, 2013

Archy- like Archaeologist

Get it? It's a Pun its Punny. LAUGH!

Anywoo. For those of you who don't know, although I don't know why you would be reading this is you didn't, I am going to York in the UK for a year. A whole year! This is where I'm going to keep everyone informed of my adventures and doings.

So a little bit of background information as to how I came to be in this position. After graduating from Wooster I knew I would need to go to graduate school and get my masters if I really wanted to do something with archaeology. I applied to Ohio State, Texas State and California State LA. In my search I came across York and thought to myself, "hmm that would be fun." and for fun I applied there as well, since there was no application fee I had nothing to lose.
Early on I heard back from York stating that I was accepted under the condition that I got my one more letter or recommendation in. That was a piece of cake and I shortly was awarded an unconditional offer. This is where things got complicated. I still had not heard from any schools in the U.S. and REALLY wanted to go to Cal State LA. Partly because of the program and partly because it fit nicely into my plans for life. Unfortunately I was ultimately rejected from every school I applied to in the U.S. This made me feel a little bit like I was forced into going to York but I still thought it would be an adventure.
To make a long story short. I grudgingly started the process of getting ready to go to York I scrounged up the money got a passport and started the visa process. In the months that these processes to place I slowly got more and more excited about my year abroad.
While the process is not quite complete I am about 4 weeks away from departure. I am still terrified about going to a foreign country on my own for a year, but I have 2 "friends" who I met online who are also studying in York and have been going through the same roller coaster I have. One of them is actually a good friend of one of my friends from my field school in Kampsville and is living next door in the same house as I am and studying my program. It's going to be great fun.

So in a few weeks I will be off to the United Kingdom to feed my brain full of stuff. Wish me luck. I will keep you posted as best I can of my adventure!