Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Reyna's in Ireland Blog Page

Hey, all!

I just wanted to do a quick post to notify you all about the slight change to my blog page. I have created another blog specifically for my time in Ireland this summer! It's called "Reyna's In Ireland," if you couldn't guess that by the title of this post already.

Anyway, I will be posting on that blog all about getting ready to go and everything that comes with that long and strenuous process!

Passport

I will be applying for my passport soon because I have to get that done. I am preferably going to do it early next week because I just don't have the money right now. Passports cost $165 for the whole thing! It's a bit pricey if you ask me. However, they are good for 10 years, so I suppose it isn't too bad.

Scholarships

I am applying for as many scholarships as I can find for the summer. I applied for one last Friday that was basically a MEME creating contest for study abroad. The first place prize is $1,000. I hope I get at least 1st, 2nd, or 3rd because they are all money prizes, which would be awesome! There is another scholarship that I am working on right now; it is called the Gilman Scholarship. The Gilman is basically for only Pell Grant recipients, but it helps those individuals be able to study abroad, which I think is awesome. I would love it so much if I was able to receive that scholarship. However, a scholarship is not earned if there is no work done. Thus, I have been spending much of my "down time," which is very scarce, working on that application and the essays that it requires.

I also had to take out a loan because I wanted to make sure to have the money to go on this trip. Studying abroad is definitely easier to get financial aid for during the regular school year. Trying to go in the summer, I received only $50 in financial aid from the government. I suppose that was all that was left after everyone else received theirs. Oh well, I still get to go!

Don't forget to check out my new blog!! There is a link at the top of this page that says "Reyna's In Ireland." Click on that, and it will direct you to that page! 


Thanks for checking in here!!


~R

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Update!!!

Applications

I have not posted on here in a long time.. Since sometimes last semester. Anyway, I had sent in my initial online application to Study Abroad in Ireland through the USAC program. Since then, I have also applied to the International Programs and Services here at Michigan Tech because I was supposed to do that first anyway. A few days ago, I received an email in regards to my application. It began a little like this:

"Congratulations! ..."

I didn't really even have to read the rest of the email to know that I had been approved for the trip. Then, about 5 hours later, I received another email in regards to the finalization of my application to the one I had talked about last semester, and it began something like:

"Congratulations! ..."

Now, I know I am going!


Paying for Ireland

Now, it is time to begin thinking about how I will be paying for this trip.... It will cost, overall, around $9,000, which is fairly expensive for myself, a poor college student.

BTW.. I have found that almost all college students are poor here.. Well, besides the ones from Asia that I have seen driving the newest Chargers and such.. CRAZY!

Anyway...
I turned in my Summer 2013 application for Financial Aid, which I have recently learned that summer aid is a first-come first-serve basis. I am hoping to at least get a little bit of aid. That would definitely be nice. However, I do also have a couple of back-up plans. I am going to be applying for a scholarship called the Gillman Scholarship. That scholarship mostly goes to students who want to study in high-demand areas of the world. However, my study abroad person here at Tech told me I have a chance still of getting it.. I just have to make myself marketable. There are two portions of the application. The first is an essay that talks about why I want to study abroad, and more specifically why I want to study abroad in Ireland. The second part of the application deals with another essay. However, this second essay is a proposal for a project. The follow-up project requires the recipient of the scholarship to come back to the United States and promote study abroad and cross-cultural awareness. I think I would be pretty good at that because of my major and being so submerged into another culture.


Other Shenanigans

Other than all of the hectic stuff that deals with applying and getting things around to study abroad in Ireland, I have also been up to some other things.


Classes

I have some pretty crazy and kind of cool classes this semester:

-Botany (The study of plants)
-Botany Lab
-World Cultures (It is basically a history class that requires weekly papers on movies that we watch on Fridays, which is pretty easy)
-The Copper Country (Mostly about the mining industry and how the area of Houghton/Hancock/Keweenaw became what it is today)
-History of American Architecture (I love this class)
-Beginning Bowling (Fun)
-Beginning Snowboarding (Not as much fun... I keep falling and hurting myself, and the t-bar tried to kill me..)


Volunteering

Unfortunately, I have not been able to go back to the Carnegie Museum to assist Elise with the Synagogue information. My schedule is too crazy to even fit in an hour to steal Chris's truck and drive to the Museum on Wednesdays. However, I have told her that I would be willing to do any research she might have that I could do over the weekend at the Library Archives and such.

Work

I've been trying to work as much as I can. I do not work on Mondays because of my classes, but I do work the rest of the week. I work 2,3,4 hours at a time during each of my shifts during the week. It is becoming difficult this semester to balance work and school. I do not seem to have much of a personal life except for sometimes on the weekends. I like to spend a little time with Chris on the weekends, but I don't always get a whole lot of time. However, I did rearrange his room this past weekend, which was Winter Carnival!

Winter Carnival!!!!

Winter Carnival was this past weekend!! I took some pictures that I have posted to my facebook page, which you can see if you are my friend. I will be posting more pictures soon as well! During Winter Carnival, there were a lot of things going on: broomball, the Snow Ball Dance, Statue building (month long/overnighters), music playing out of snow speakers, people visiting campus, children on campus (weird), etc. There was so much going on! OH!!! BTW... There was a 36 hour tetter-totter-a-thon as well. :) It was epic. They literally sat there tetter-tottering for 36 hours straight! It was a win! haha

Anyway, I went out onto campus about 3 days out of the five.. I didn't feel like freezing every single night. I figured that might make me sick. However, I did go to see Brian play his broomball game on Saturday, which got cancelled because the other team didn't show up. Kind of made me sad, but Chris, Larissa, and I stood there and watched them goof around on the ice of the rink. It was actually pretty entertaining.

I also held a movie night in Allison and I's room one night. I invited Larissa and Hannah over to watch Pitch Perfect because they had not seen it yet. Rachel, my RA(Resident Assistant), also ended up joining us because she heard a movie and walked in the room. I invited her to stay and watch, and she did. It was really funny to watch her reactions to all of the different parts of the movie because she thought it was supposed to be a children's movie. Yeah, not so much... haha I do know, however, that she loved Fat Amy's character.

BTW... Pitch Perfect is my new favorite movie. :) ...and the Mister bought it for me. <3 I love him. :) haha


Yeah... 

So.. I just wrote a crap ton of stuff for you all to read.. Anyway, time for my American Architecture class and then meeting up with Miss Ashlee Hughes afterward because she is in town for the NMU vs. Michigan Tech Hockey game tonight. I didn't get any tickets to go to it, but that's okay because I would be tempted to sit in the Northern crowd with Ashlee while wearing Michigan Tech stuff. haha Probably not a good idea... ;)

Anyway, I've got to post this so that I can get into class now..


I hope you are having a great winter!


~R


P.S. Don't be shy! Post comments if you'd like! I will try to get on this blog more often.. I will be using it in Ireland too!! So.. Stay tuned this summer!! :D