Dreams vs. Reality

As of yesterday, it is officially 6 months until the MV Explorer will leave from Ensenada (or is it San Diego? That part is still confusing...), and hopefully I'll be on it.  I first set my sights on Spring 2013 when I was just beginning my senior year of high school.  Everything seemed so far away, it was still late 2011, I hadn't even graduated or passed my senior boards, I hadn't even finished my first semester of the year.  I thought I had all the time in the world to get things ready for Spring 2013.  But now it's 6 MONTHS until the voyage leaves, which gives me about 3 months to get all the funding together.  It's hard to push myself to fundraise and write letters and fill out scholarships when it all seems like an impossible dream.  After all, is it really possible for me to get the amount of money I need?  I had renewed hope when I logged onto my account to find that $3000 had been knocked off the overall cost, which I was able to manage by endless research and stalking a past participant whose blog I had followed during her voyage.  But now that I think about it, that is just a very, VERY, small amount of the overall cost...

I keep telling myself that nothing is going to happen unless I try, so that's all there's left to do.  Generally speaking, people weren't very supportive of my trip to Kenya, so I don't think I'll even try to rally people to support this amazing journey, which, if I'm being honest, is their loss.  

So here it goes.  If I write it down then it HAS to happen.  After all, that worked with Voldemort in Harry Potter, so it must work in real life.  I SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT I WILL TRY MY ABSOLUTE HARDEST TO MAKE SEMESTER AT SEA HAPPEN.  As Yoda once said, do or do not, there is no try.  Is that enough fantasy references for one day? I think so.  But really, I promise to try to dedicate at least 1 hour (preferably 2) a day looking for scholarships and other sources of funding.

  The end. Fin. Ciao. Adios. 

Ch-ch-changes

It's been a month since I've officially posted anything, but boy the ball has NOT stopped rolling.  Since the last update, I've visited the ship in San Diego, met with my school's study abroad office, officially paid my deposit, and am a confirmed participant who will be living somewhere on Deck 3 (if all goes as planned).  The more information that is released by SAS about Spring 2013, the better it keeps on getting.  Turns out there's going to be a tester program called Unreasonable at Sea during the S13 voyage, where some of the world's upcoming and leading entrepreneurs will be traveling with us on the MV Exploring, working with students on tacking some of the worlds biggest problems by coming up with sustainable and creative ideas.

Win.

The application process between SAS and Western was a bit of a hassle, but now comes all the paperwork...and finding the funding.  I thought about robbing a bank for awhile, but I don't think I have the chops to pull it off.  But it would make for a really good story when someone asks "So, how did you come up with money for SAS?"  In all seriousness, my summer will be spent working (hopefully), filling out scholarships and receiving them (hopefully), as well as (hopefully) winning the cash prize from the Monopoly game at Hagen.  And possibly robbing a bank.

In other completely related news, looks like S13 is leaving from Ensenada, Mexico now!  Kinda puts a dent in the roadtripping plans, but it could still work out.  It's my goal to say that I traveled the world and didn't fly on a plane.  Of course I'll have to fly home from Barcelona, but I'm not gonna count that one.  Unless I never return...

A Fake Acceptance...

It's been a while since I've updated last, mostly because it seems like I've made a lot of progress without actually having made progress.  Yeah, figure that one out.  I woke up one morning and found an acceptance email from Semester at Sea!  I was over the moon of course, until I continued checking my email and found another one sent a couple minutes later that said I was kinda accepted.  It's almost like an oxymoron.  Accepted, as long as my school approves me.  Which of course means that I haven't been approved by my school yet.
But on to more exciting news, the Spring 2012 voyage returns tomorrow!  And I'm going to San Diego the day after tomorrow the tour the M.V Explorer.  Say you were a yoga fanatic, practiced if almost your entire life, it's part of your daily schedule...part of who you are.  Me seeing the M.V Explorer is like a yoga fanatic going to do yoga at an ashram in India for a couple months.  Yup, I'm that excited.

$1.10

Today I spent $1.10.

On what, you may ask?

Well that is a very good question.

On my Semester at Sea application of course!

I'm happy to announce that I have officially sent in everything required by SAS (and more) to be considered a full and complete application.  HURRAY!  After about two years of researching, emailing representatives, reading blogs of past participants, emailing said participants, and basically everything else under the sun and over the ocean, I have finally (FINALLY!) sent in my application.

And so the process (finally) begins...

If this doesn't inspire me to start fundraising, I don't know what will.  An acceptance letter will inspire, no doubt, but now that I've finally got the ball rolling, I need to keep it rolling.  I still can't believe it's been two plus years since I first looked into SAS.  At first I was convinced that I was going to do a gap year Fall 2011.  But as time went on, I realized that it wasn't really a possibility, so I moved my sites to Spring 2012.  I kept researching, but I got caught up in all my other high school requirements that that voyage slipped through my hands as well.  So then I decided on Fall 2012.  Whoever said the the third times a charm obviously hasn't planned for SAS.  I started planning my voyage for 2012 before they even had an itinerary out.  When the itinerary finally was released, it was disappointing to find that the around the world voyage was replaced with what they titled "Atlantic Exploration"--visiting more developed countries and South America.

Since one of the major reasons I want to participate in SAS revolves around me being able to visit third world/developing nations, Fall 2012 didn't exactly appeal to me in the same way.  So, I decided on Spring 2013.  At this point in time, I was a senior in high school, and Spring 2013 wasn't even close to being released.

But now here we are, February 2012, and there's less than a year until Spring 2013 departs from California.  And the cherry on top of it all?!  An actual real cherry, no sarcastic behavior going on here.  Spring 2013 debarks in Barcelona!  Which means I'll be able to relive my Flamenco glory days and possibly visit Paris, which I've been wanting to do for years.

Let's hope everything is fine with the application process and fundraising.  Spring 2014 just doesn't have the same ring to it...

H2O

Description for an SAS class that sounds totally, amazingly, awesomely like it was made for me.

"Water is the Earths most precious resource. This course introduces students interested in sustainable international development and global issues to one of the major challenges we face today: how to provide safe drinking water to 1 billion people and adequate sanitation to 2.6 billion people who currently lack these basic services? Students will learn the fundamentals of water quality, water borne diseases, and the basic principles of water and wastewater treatment. Our focus will be on how to select appropriate and sustainable technologies for water and sanitation in developing countries."

Learning about water rights and the fight for clean water WHILE traveling the world? Sounds like a dream come true to me!

Testing 1,2,3

Just seeing if I can update my blog from my email. 

Sorry for the lack of interesting blogness. 

My shoes point out my destiny

So here's a little fun fact...

I have a pair of shoes that are from the brand SAS! They're the self titled "Jesus Sandals" that I bought for my high school trip to Spain/Italy, which were then stolen in Italy, and then re-bought for my trip to D.C, which then came back safe and sound in my luggage.

I plan on bringing them with me Spring 2013! My SAS shoes for SAS.

Seems like a perfect fit, don't you think?