Pre-Departure Orientation

So today I had a pre-departure Orientation meeting at WOU. And this morning I was checking my email with twenty minutes before class and had an email from the Study Abroad office that pretty much said “Hey! We think that you aren’t actually going abroad because you haven’t filled out all these forms that we never told you about!” And I was like uhhh what? So I emailed back and was like I was planning on going to the meeting but I didn’t know about these forms so I haven’t done them. I would be more than happy to do it by the end of the week. But I have class all day today until the meeting so I can’t possibly get them done! But luckily she was okay with it and I had a little more free time today than I thought I would so I got a lot of them done. But it was a bit stressful to say the least. I was blind sighted more than anything. But the ladies in the Study Abroad office are pretty nice so it all worked out okay. I also learned that the course equivalencies are back with the exception of one so I need to make an appointment with them to sign up for classes. So that is exciting! The only problem is that now everyone who was at the meeting today is going to try and do it all at the same time… But that’s okay I will be around this summer too. But it would be really nice to get it done soon so that I could know what I was doing.

The meeting today was pretty good. I had thought that it was going to be really boring and more of a “let’s all meet everyone else who is going abroad!” but not necessarily anywhere near where you are going… And we did that but it went pretty quick. They covered a lot of important information like packing, finances, transportation, insurance, how to travel by yourself, how to find health information, whether to do this and that. It was pretty good. PLUS! They had it catered with free food! So that was like a special bonus treat. I remembered when I got there that one of the guys in my French class is going to Angers, France. So we sat together and talked about France stuff. They gave me a folder with my name on it with a bunch of information about culture of France and general study abroad stuff. I learned that it is really smart to use freezer bags to pack shirts because you can condense them and they take up a lot less space. But they have to be clear or else you run into customs trouble. Also they say to get a good pair of walking shoes and break them in now. So it’s a good thing that I am on the ball with that one! I was really excited when I got out and have been getting more excited as of late. But then once I got to my car to go home I realized that I had locked my keys in the car… oops. That was a bit of a buzz kill. But I got it figured out. 

I am really excited though and still a bit nervous. I also applied for an ISIC card which is like 22 bucks but comes with some more insurance and is required to have to leave. But I guess that it also gives you some discounts at different places… like Target and Macys! Woot woot! Overall a little hectic but informative day :-)