So as I sit here tonight, I'm thinking about all I have left to get before my amazing trip this summer. For those who don't know, I'm studying abroad for about a month at the very beginning of this summer through the Texas A&M Marketing Dept. It is the biggest and longest running study abroad program at Texas A&M. I think the program has been running something like 25 years or more. And like I also mentioned, it is the biggest study abroad program at A&M with 75 students going annually. Basically, the premise of the trip is that we travel to 6 different European countries to sight-see and be tourists. The "study" part of the trip is minimal, we just have to attend many business presentations that companies have arranged for us in the various places we travel to. For instance, when we travel to London at the beginning of the trip we have meetings with British Parliament and Harrods Department Store. :) So even the study portion of the trip doesn't seem too too bad, huh?! Other businesses we meet with that are notable include: BMW, Audi, Apple, Bloomberg Media, Swarovski Crystal, and Johnson & Johnson... among others.
Also, before the trip we are placed into groups of 4 assigned to research and then create a presentation over either a city we plan to visit on the trip or a business meeting we'll have. My group members are Caitlin (who is also my roommate), CJ (who I credit for getting me interested in the trip in the first place!), and Ben (who is super business savvy and is one of only 17 guys going on a trip of 61 girls, ha). --Ben is a good friend and went to high school with my boyfriend, Brad, for all you curious minds out there. Our topic for our presentation and paper are the cities of Nice, France and Monte Carlo, Monaco! I'm so excited. Both of those cities are amazingly gorgeous and so picturesque. Our 2-page research paper was due April 8th, because Doc and Dr. Mac want to compile all the different papers, along with individual headshots, cultural and historical information, timelines, and other stuff. Our group got our grade back on our paper already... we got an A :) Now we just have to try to get together and meet amid finals week and prepare our presentation for the trip. We shall see how that works out ;)
I've been in the process of buying the many things I need for my trip, and I still have many things left to do. I still have yet to get foreign currency exchanged, or change my iPhone to international, or buy skype minutes, or call my bank and let them know I'm going to be out of the country... and the list goes on and on unfortunately. Luckily, 3 of my 4 classes finish up within the next week so I'll have about 2 weeks of my time to devote solely to packing for my trip and making sure everything is accounted for.
I am still uneasy about the current volcano situation in Iceland. I know that now European airspace is slowly getting back to normal, however, I just really hope that Eyjafjallajokull doesn't re-erupt.. or worse her sister volcano about 12 miles away. I read an article yesterday in which an A&M professor was quoted as saying that whenever Eyjafjallajokull erupts, her big sister, Mount Katla has erupted in the same year, and the eruption is always more fierce. :/ So that's not pleasant news. I just want to get over to London, and then the volcanoes can do their thing because we're traveling by charter bus between all our different destinations, so air travel won't matter at that point. :) I have forked over a lot of money for this trip already, and I will not let some moody volcano ruin my plans!
I am so excited for this opportunity to see many places that are so different than Texas. So many of my friends are studying abroad this semester and are absolutely loving it. It's my turn for a little foreign exploring! Our last study abroad orientation meeting takes place this coming Monday night, and then the next time we meet as a group will be at IHA for our flight to London on May 14th. I plan to keep everyone updated on this blog as frequently as possible. We are required to write daily journal entries for our class which I plan on typing and hopefully just copying into this blog as time allows.
21 days,
-Amanda
