Happy New Year!

Already 2 weeks in to the new year.  I wish you all had a productive 2011 and I wish you all have an excellent 2012.  I know I will.

This past week I sat down and started planning out the next 14 weeks of my life in order to get everything done needed before heading to the carribean.  When you actually sit down and start planning something like this, 14 weeks is nothing.  Before I know it I'm going to be on a plane for 12 hours heading to a tropical paradise (I say this as I haven't associated the carribean with 60-80 hour school/study weeks yet)

I've learned many new things when it comes to traveling/moving outside of the U.S.  For one, a student visa isn't as easy as I thought it would be.  After being on the island for over 29 days I need to have filed paperwork for a student visa in order to stay on the island.  This paperwork requires certain vaccinations be up to date, certain diagnostic tests come back negative, as well as a police background check to make sure you aren't a criminal.  All which must be completed before you leave for St. Kitts.  Not an easy feat to accomplish with only 14 weeks left before I travel, but I'll get it all done.

I should be hearing back from my new student advisor within the next few days.  It's nice that an institution like this pretty much holds your hand through all of the miscellaneous shtuff you must get through so that you can focus on the studying portion of your stay.  This includes finding a place to stay, figuring out where to get groceries(and when), class scheduling, book and supply purchasing, etc.  So it sounds like as long as I show up and pay attention, and possibly soak some of the information up like a sponge, the next 40 months shouldn't be as bad as people say.  On the plus side, I am in an island paradise whose mean temperature doesn't drop below 70F.