I just bought my plane ticket! It was a little more stressful than it should have been, but when you are spending so much money on one thing it's to be expected. I purchased an ISIC card as well which will give me discounts to museums and historical sights among other things.

I'm expecting the before travel parts of my trip will be the most stressful. Getting on the plane will be stressful because I have never gone through that process before. Then after I arrive in London I have to get transportation to Bath which I expect will be a stressful experience as well. See, it isn't the actual travel that I worried about. It's the before and after. The traveling part is just sitting and being bored of staying in one place is not stressful.

I will be arriving around 8 am so I will have time to play with to get everything arrange. Research will have to be done on where to purchase tickets so I am not a bumbling around like a fool.

I got Chinese the other day and finished my meal off with a fortune cookie. I've always found the fortunes to be fun, but this one just seemed awesomely fitting.

England might not be the exact place the fortune cookie would like me to go, but I think it's east enough.

I will be buying my tickets soon. I'm just waiting for the prices to go down a bit. I should have it purchased by the end of next week.

I will not be shadowing in a classroom while I am in England. The cost of the the visa outweighed the experience I would gain from only three or four visits in the class. I will be able to go into a classroom once hopefully twice while I am there.

I am over the stressful parts now. There isn't much left to do, but wait and pack when the time comes.

I just received an email for the Gilman Scholarship. I did not receive it, so I will have to look around and see if I can find other scholarships to help with the costs. I have the summer to start looking. Hopefully it won't be too late to apply for scholarships.

Now all I have to do is buy my ticket and figure out my class room shadowing. I just received an email about it and I have to decide if I just want to go in one time or regularly. If  I do it regularly I have to get a visa which is around $500. I will most likely be shadowing regularly because I think it would be a good opportunity for me.

I was accepted to the college in Bath a few days ago. When I sent off my application I still had the inkling feeling that I might not be accepted which was a dumb thought, but I'm sure I am not the only person who has sent off their application with that inkling poking at their brain. My worries are gone now though I still have work to do. Housing survey, proof of insurance, and a some such information still needs to be sent off to the college. This is the easy stuff though, just fill in the blank, with no weight behind except the possibility of getting a bad roommate, but that is doubtful.

I'm still waiting on a response for my Gilman scholarship. Fingers crossed.

I did some travel research for class last week which I was grateful for.  I had  only focused on how I was going to make my way across the ocean and hadn't thought about how I would get to college once I was on English soil. When I hit things like this I wonder what things I am ignorant about that I don't know I am ignorant about. That is what my study abroad class is for, so hopefully I have learned everything that I need.

Also looking at train routes, stops, and line transfers was slightly overwhelming. I am so used to having one vehicle that I am in control of to get from point A to point B. Having to get off and on in different places and find where I need to go is going to be an interesting experience that I expect will have me at an above normal stress level, but  challenges build character.

When I went to print my application off yesterday I discovered that there was more that had to be finished before I could send everything off. I was in a mild state of panic for about five minutes before I had went through all the steps I needed to do to get it all done. I trekked across campus getting all the papers to the write people and asking all the questions I needed answered. My adventure finally ended when I got all the papers I needed, cash to pay the postage and headed up to the mail room.

 Oddly it wasn't as much of a relief as I thought it would be to finally have my application sent off. I haven't had my "I'm going to England" moment  yet, and I thought sending in my application would give me at least an inkling of that moment. I expect that moment will hit me full force the night before I  leave and my brain will be buzzing so much that I won't get a lick of sleep.

It should take about a week for my application to get there so hopefully it will get there by the April 7th deadline. I sent them an email with scans of my application and transcript yesterday so that they will at least know that it is finished.

Now all I have to do is wait for replies from my scholarship and application.

I just submitted my Gilman scholarship application. I think it's more nerve wracking than relieving though because I keep thinking I missed something even though I when through it, and then I am thinking that I won't get it. I can't worry about it now. There would be no point. I know whether I got it or not in lat May.

Now I just need to apply to the school. Still waiting for the recommendation letter. Then I have a few minor things that I need to do.

I think I might shadow in a classroom and a visa is required for that. If I do shadow I think I would like to do it for an hour at least everyday, so that I can keep up with what is going on in the class. It was always so confusing when I observed in a classroom only once a week. I never knew what was going on and it made it hard to help students when they needed it.

The idea of helping in a classroom is exciting and that fact that it would be in a different country is even more exciting. Hopefully the shadowing works out. I'm not completely sure how I can go about it. I will have to figure it out.

My essays for the Gilman Scholarship are in the editing stage, and I've just ordered my transcript. I only have a few things to fill in for the Gilman and I will be done with it by Tuesday next week. It will be a relief to finally have it finished after working on it for almost two months.

I still am waiting on my second recommendation for my college application. I'm going to ask If I can get it earlier so that I can send it off and not have to worry about it any longer.