Seattle misses her hag :( ...

Seattle has now come to grasp a loss that is wrenching her very soul. Well, when I say Seattle, what I mean to say, really, is me. My dear Julie has boarded various planes, broken her back from the weight of her carry-on, eaten airport food, and watched attendants flail their arms. Her departure has left me thinking about my study abroad adventure that I am about to embark on: and I am freaking out. 

Now I know that this is real. 

It is a scary thought. But I think I am up for it. For now, I will simply enjoy the rest of the summer with my beautiful friends and enjoy whatever left I have of Summer 2008. And what's left of Seattle.

Hurdle #1 Down!

     The race against time in this contest of preparedness just got a little more exciting: I got my loan! A turn of fate actually forced me to follow a different path that was not originally planned. I had applied for a study abroad loan in June. After cutting through much unwanted red tape, my application was finally completed and submitted. A week goes by as I collect the needed documentation to finalize approval. After submitting those, I wait. The normal turnaround time is about 13 days. P.S. What the hell?!? Nantrala, right? I know. After waiting the whole 13 days, I get an email explaining that there is a missing document. I submit this (however grudgingly) and wait the promised 1 business day to approve it. I then called 2 days later to confirm the receipt of the faxed document only to hear that it will take another 6 business days to process it. WTF? At this point I am as tired as a triangle neck scarf on a hipster listening to Sufjan Stevens. Those of you who know me know that I stress. 

     

     And I stress big time. 

     

     So, I stressed and went to campus (for the free internet) in an attempt to figure out my life. I decide to apply for another loan as a back-up. Here is where the magic comes in. I call Wells Fargo and inquire about their loan products. I talked to Jared (and later Zach; both of whom sounded incredibly attractive) and explained my situation via nervous underbreath. They were very understanding and helped me fill out the loan application over the phone. After that, I went online filled out the co-signer portion and faxed the promissory note the next day. That was it! All it took was one afternoon, patience, a fax, and some copy and paste action and voila! a check was mailed to me the next day. I know that this is not the forum for third party adveritising but...Thank you Wells Fargo! (however, I am hard-pressed to believe that the convenience was surely motivated by their desire to close a deal. And fast.) 

      SO, financial crises averted. I am now fully financed for the Fall semester abroad. 

Now all I have to worry about is getting my passport back from the consulate in time. That one may be more a a harder hurdle to overcome. More here as the story develops.

Toodles.

Pre-Funk for my International Affair

Preface: This is the first attempt of mine to document my life in any way, shape, or form so please excuse my lack of wit and spellbinding story-telling.

SO. 

After months of thinking about the notion of study abroad during my transitory sophomore year, I finally decided to take the leap and commit to the darned venture. The formalities were extensive; besides the normal application, refs, researching the overall feasibility, and financial nightmare, there were the many emails, meetings and stresses dealing my school's study abroad office. All that aside, the acceptance came in and the adventure began. Well, started anyway.

Summer is the transition between academic periods. It is the time of youthful vitality and love-laden walks in beautiful areas with beautiful people to fawn over. It is also the time of peak anxiety and worry. Summer is in full-force yet I am not. I do not have a job (no one is willing to hire someone for a month), I live like a boy scout at camp who likes it, and I scour Seattle for free internet, free food (or at least, cheap food), and boys. My taste of vagabond bohemian life is sated. I do not know whether I am full or simply eating for the sake of filling a void...  I am having loads of fun though. Hanging out with people I care about living a relatively stress-free life is nice. 

For me, the mere recognition that international travel is in my very near future is more than enough mental fodder to last three new sets of pants. I am scared shitless. Things aren't coming together as smoothly or as quickly as I had hoped. The only loan that I applied for has yet to be approved; essentially this means, that as of now, I am unable to finance my time abroad. I have since sent in my passport to have a residence permit affixed inside; this, again, has yet to be returned, which means I am unable to actually travel anywhere. Difficult logistics and unforgiving time constraints add up for a very hectic internal dialogue of incompetence and self-efficacy. Not to mention the hardest hurdle I have yet to leap over: deciding how much of my wardrobe to pack.

Yet, it seems the preparation is building up to a terrifying frenzy, a frenzy that will either give me a heart attack or simply push acne to greet the beautiful people, the latter of which, I feel, is worse. My Catholic upbringing forces me to consider these musings from the perspective of "let things be and they will come together" type of thinking. One that allows the individual to deflect all anxiety on a higher power effectively placing all causality on something unknowable. Have faith, I am telling myself. As of late, this is a difficult concept to grasp. Scary thought. This blog is the first step I suppose. We shall see what the gods have in store.

In the vein of 11:11;

Starlight, starbright, 

first star I see tonight, 

I wish I may, I wish I might, 

have the wish I wish tonight...

Oh God, help me.