J'aime Montreal! Really, I LOVE Montreal! I'm seriously considering moving here...or spending some time here. This city is A-mazing. The architecture, history, people and general ambiance of the city is hard not to fall in love with. The streets are consumed by young people walking or biking to and from anywhere and everywhere. I have been inspired and have walked to and from almost every inch of this city. I also learned the metro system today. This place is just so user friendly! It's funny to think that I had such a misconstrued idea of what this place was going to be like. Being from South Florida you grew up with an almost negative perception of what Quebec is like because of the "snow birds" that flood our cities and beaches each winter. This place could not be more opposite than what I thought it would be. But I guess that's my first lesson on my journey to becoming a global citizen...don't assume you know what a country/city/region/person is like until you've experienced it first hand.
My parents and I arrived here Wednesday around noon. It was my birthday so we ventured out of our hotel to Viex Montreal (Old Montreal) for some lunch and birthday drinks. First mission...find Poutine. Poutine is a Canadian specialty made of french fries, gravy and cheese curds. yum yum yum! Aaand may I add, the dairy products here are absolutely delicious! There's a certain freshness and creaminess that just does not compare to anything I've ever had. I have been smothering my toast with locally made butter just to savor the taste!
POUTINE! A must have if you are in Montreal!
Well, I would love to tell you more, but you'll have to wait. It's 2:30am and I have to wake up early to board the ship in the morning! I will finish this post later. Tomorrow we set sail! aaah!!!
Good morning! It's finally here! My 26th birthday! Oh yeah and that other thing...you know that trip where I'll be traveling around the world. haha. The last couple of weeks have been a whirl wind! Emotions all over the place, lots of planning and lots of quality time with family and friends! I had my birthday/going away party over the weekend. It was a nice way to close out my time in S. FL.
I asked all my guest to donate kids' tooth brushes and school supplies instead of giving me presents. The turn out was overwhelming and the collected items will be donated to orphanages I will be working with in Ghana, South Africa, and India. I got so much stuff I had to bring an extra piece of luggage!
Speaking of luggage...packing was a bitch! No, really. I never imagined it would be so difficult, but when you have 4 month's worth of stuff it's kind of hard staying within airline regulations. I packed and unpacked about 10 times. I had to leave a lot of stuff behind, but oh well.
It looks like walmart exploded in my room! This is everything I took with me.
Well It's now or never...ready for the trip of a lifetime. First stop...Montreal!
The great rapper Notorious B.I.G. said it best; "Mo Money, Mo Problems."
Let me elaborate. Even before I applied to Semester at Sea I knew that I would definitely apply for the "Diversity Abroad" video essay scholarship. It's the only way that I would ever be able to afford this trip. The scholarship basically asks students to make a video and describe how a deep understanding of diversity makes us all more effective global citizens (check out my video essay below).
I'm proud and happy to say that I applied and I won one of the 5 scholarships paying 60% of my costs for the voyage.
I remember it was a long miserable day and I was driving home from night school when I found out the good news. I screamed and yelled and cried tears of joy while the cars beside I'm sure took me for a crazy person. It was one of the most exciting and happiest moments in this process and in my life.
That moment was tainted about a month later when my home school found out about the scholarship. They readjusted my financial aid and in turn I had federal money and state money taken away because of the scholarship. The disturbing part is that I did not have enough money to cover all my costs and money was taken away. To add insult to injury later on I was informed that I would not be receiving other financial aid that my home school had advised that I would DEFINITELY be receiving. I LOVE my home school and they have been amazing in every way, but they really screwed the pooch on this one!
Long story short I was 4 1/2 weeks away from the trip and finding out I was now $6000 short of what I originally thought I had. I panicked. I remember my stomach being in knots and my heart in my throat. All the hard work and sacrifice of working 2-3 jobs for the last 6 months down the drain. At this point I had already paid for visas, received vaccinations, and started packing. luckily I had copied SAS on all of my correspondences with my home school's Financial Aid Department and also had copies of documents where they listed incorrect information. Semester at Sea was gracious enough to help me out a bit and I'm grateful to them for it. If it wasn't for their generosity I would have had to cancel the trip. Although they weren't able to give me the $6000 they gave me enough to go.
I've had to completely rearrange plans and will be "Ballin' on a budget" but I'm looking forward to a change of pace and living a minimalist lifestyle. Everything happens for a reason and because of this I have been propelled to do more service trips while in port which will be more rewarding than anything I could ever pay for with money.
I write this not for sympathy but because I want future SASers to be aware and stay on top of their paper work. If your school has a consortium agreement please be sure to ask (and GET IT IN WRITING) what they are agreeing will transfer over as far as credits and financial aid award goes. If I hadn't been stalking my accounts like a crazy ex-boyfriend I may have noticed these things going on when it was too late. So make sure to keep everything in check and don't let anyone or any circumstances stop you from achieving your dreams.
