A quick post for today: it's been an insanely busy week.
No, I do not have ABBA on the brain, as the title suggests. I found out yesterday that Berea beloved is paying $1800 toward my trip! Yay!!
Honestly, it's more than I anticipated, and I'm so excited! It's kind of crazy...after all the hype wore away of me getting accepted, it occurred to me: holy crap, I actually have to pay for this thing now! Lol. =D
In other news, after waiting WEEKS and praying earnestly (me on behalf of her), Kelly got accepted to go to Scotland this week! She'll be attending the University of Stirling in Stirling and taking a healthcare class and something else. YAY!! I'm so happy for her! Also, two friends I've met this year are also going to London roughly the same time I'm going!!! We've already talked about meeting up when we're all there!
Like Kelly said the other day at dinner, "It's going to be a good summer."
Oh, wait...another updated countdown...here we go.......94 days!!!!! :)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Thank you.
An hour and a half. That's how long I waited today at the International Center. I even missed my 3-o-clock class; which, if you've known me for longer than 18.2 seconds you know that I HATE missing class! But cooperative professors are awesome!
Man, once you get accepted to an abroad program you HIT THE GROUND RUNNING with so much stuff to do!!!!!!!!! Regardless, time is not important. God provides! My first payment ($400) arrived to the office in Colorado this afternoon! w00000t. :)
Now I can just breathe...the first major monetary hurdle is out of the way. Soon I will be booking my flight (eek!), making another payment, etc etc. I also sent in my credit approval form this afternoon, which means soon I will know what classes I'll be taking!! I'm amazed at how fast everything is happening; I just got accepted not even a week ago! It's so exciting! :)
I would like to devote this final paragraph to thanking anybody who reads this, my friends, those who wrote me references (ESPECIALLY those!), my parents, my church, for supporting me and praying for me. Also, for those who have shown me undying cooperation throughout all this...woah. That's like a lifetime of IOUs. While things are going smoothly now, this process is FAR from being over! But please know that I hold all of you in the highest regards and even the smallest bit of encouragement and excitement on your part builds me up more than this blog can even put into words! <3
So thank you. :)
Man, once you get accepted to an abroad program you HIT THE GROUND RUNNING with so much stuff to do!!!!!!!!! Regardless, time is not important. God provides! My first payment ($400) arrived to the office in Colorado this afternoon! w00000t. :)
Now I can just breathe...the first major monetary hurdle is out of the way. Soon I will be booking my flight (eek!), making another payment, etc etc. I also sent in my credit approval form this afternoon, which means soon I will know what classes I'll be taking!! I'm amazed at how fast everything is happening; I just got accepted not even a week ago! It's so exciting! :)
I would like to devote this final paragraph to thanking anybody who reads this, my friends, those who wrote me references (ESPECIALLY those!), my parents, my church, for supporting me and praying for me. Also, for those who have shown me undying cooperation throughout all this...woah. That's like a lifetime of IOUs. While things are going smoothly now, this process is FAR from being over! But please know that I hold all of you in the highest regards and even the smallest bit of encouragement and excitement on your part builds me up more than this blog can even put into words! <3
So thank you. :)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Money and wake-up calls
Not going to lie...today's been a pretty rough day. Not just on the abroad front but on a personal front as well.
Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to talk about my $400 payment that's due on Friday. Well, today I went in to the international center and shared my current predicament. I'll be going back in on Wednesday because the abroad adviser was out of the office, but I emailed him and let him know what was going on. I also emailed Katiana (my abroad coordinator based in Colorado) and also shared my predicament; that, basically, I'm poor and I just don't have $400 laying around and that I also feel that one week in between getting accepted and then needing to make a payment just isn't enough time to get a sum of money that high together. She agreed; she also mentioned that there isn't really a "deadline" but that the longer I delay my payment the longer it will take for my application to get processed. Basically, the rest of my application won't be reviewed until that payment is made. She also mentioned that the reason EuroLearn makes the student applicant responsible for the payment is to confirm their commitment to the program (which I agree with).
Having said this, I will be making my first (and definitely not last!) trip to Financial Aid on Wednesday (I'm book 9-5 on Tuesdays, unfortunately) to discuss taking out some sort of loan. I just pray that the funds will get there on the designated time. See, that's the thing about this whole trip. Now that the official adrenaline overjoyed high has worn off, it just sort of hit me that I actually have to pay for this thing. But I just have to keep thinking that the money is not important; I can't put a price on this amazing opportunity that God has given me. An opportunity that I will probably never get again. I can't be bogged down about the money because there's going to be so many opportunities and experiences for me once I get over there.
On somewhat of a personal front, I am so incredibly grateful for my friend Brandi. I swear I would be going insane if she wasn't with me today. Today I saw my midterm grades, and to be frank, they're the worst round of grades that I've received since I've been at Berea. If you really want to know them you can just ask me, but I won't bore anybody with the details. But all the stress of bad grades and money that I don't have just cumulated this afternoon, and I had a mini meltdown, so to speak. But Brandi just stayed with me and my foolishness and told me not to worry. I don't even think I know the extent to which words just impact people. After my meltdown I realized something huge for me: Up until now, at midterms, I've done ok. But this semester I've slacked a little. To be honest, these grades are a wake-up call for me. Normally I've just shrugged them off. But not this time. Next May I'm GRADUATING. That's it. No more second chances.
Also, I found the UK grading scale for all college classes. An 80 or above is an A. An A+, to be exact. I was excited about this at first. I relayed this information to several friends, but someone told me, "You know, Holly, you're going to have to work twice as hard to get that." I was like...crap. You're right. Part 2 of the wake-up call.
I know that the above blurb has nothing to do with my trip. I just felt like sharing that with everyone. Be grateful for the people in your life.
I can definitely feel God testing me and my faith through this. He's done more incredible things in people's lives and I know that this is just a temporary trial that is preparing me for something so wonderful! :)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and monetary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. -2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to talk about my $400 payment that's due on Friday. Well, today I went in to the international center and shared my current predicament. I'll be going back in on Wednesday because the abroad adviser was out of the office, but I emailed him and let him know what was going on. I also emailed Katiana (my abroad coordinator based in Colorado) and also shared my predicament; that, basically, I'm poor and I just don't have $400 laying around and that I also feel that one week in between getting accepted and then needing to make a payment just isn't enough time to get a sum of money that high together. She agreed; she also mentioned that there isn't really a "deadline" but that the longer I delay my payment the longer it will take for my application to get processed. Basically, the rest of my application won't be reviewed until that payment is made. She also mentioned that the reason EuroLearn makes the student applicant responsible for the payment is to confirm their commitment to the program (which I agree with).
Having said this, I will be making my first (and definitely not last!) trip to Financial Aid on Wednesday (I'm book 9-5 on Tuesdays, unfortunately) to discuss taking out some sort of loan. I just pray that the funds will get there on the designated time. See, that's the thing about this whole trip. Now that the official adrenaline overjoyed high has worn off, it just sort of hit me that I actually have to pay for this thing. But I just have to keep thinking that the money is not important; I can't put a price on this amazing opportunity that God has given me. An opportunity that I will probably never get again. I can't be bogged down about the money because there's going to be so many opportunities and experiences for me once I get over there.
On somewhat of a personal front, I am so incredibly grateful for my friend Brandi. I swear I would be going insane if she wasn't with me today. Today I saw my midterm grades, and to be frank, they're the worst round of grades that I've received since I've been at Berea. If you really want to know them you can just ask me, but I won't bore anybody with the details. But all the stress of bad grades and money that I don't have just cumulated this afternoon, and I had a mini meltdown, so to speak. But Brandi just stayed with me and my foolishness and told me not to worry. I don't even think I know the extent to which words just impact people. After my meltdown I realized something huge for me: Up until now, at midterms, I've done ok. But this semester I've slacked a little. To be honest, these grades are a wake-up call for me. Normally I've just shrugged them off. But not this time. Next May I'm GRADUATING. That's it. No more second chances.
Also, I found the UK grading scale for all college classes. An 80 or above is an A. An A+, to be exact. I was excited about this at first. I relayed this information to several friends, but someone told me, "You know, Holly, you're going to have to work twice as hard to get that." I was like...crap. You're right. Part 2 of the wake-up call.
I know that the above blurb has nothing to do with my trip. I just felt like sharing that with everyone. Be grateful for the people in your life.
I can definitely feel God testing me and my faith through this. He's done more incredible things in people's lives and I know that this is just a temporary trial that is preparing me for something so wonderful! :)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and monetary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. -2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Not sure if it's starting to sink in yet...
Friday, March 4 was only 2 days ago. Already I've started tackling my to-do list. Despite this it still seems so large. I still feel as if there is so much I need to know and that there is not enough time to do it all. But as I was talking to Kelly and Jen earlier today, Kelly so wisely reminded me that "God will provide".
Tomorrow I will be meeting with the International Center to...figure out how I'm supposed to cough up $400 by the end of the week! Ha! Should be fun. I am praying that somehow everything will work out, because, let's just face it. I'm a Berea student. I don't exactly have $400 just lying around.
God will provide. :)
I just counted the days until my trip on my calendar (yes, I literally just flipped through my calendar and COUNTED). 114.
One hundred and fourteen days. The countdown has officially begun. God be praised!
Tomorrow I will be meeting with the International Center to...figure out how I'm supposed to cough up $400 by the end of the week! Ha! Should be fun. I am praying that somehow everything will work out, because, let's just face it. I'm a Berea student. I don't exactly have $400 just lying around.
God will provide. :)
I just counted the days until my trip on my calendar (yes, I literally just flipped through my calendar and COUNTED). 114.
One hundred and fourteen days. The countdown has officially begun. God be praised!
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