Finally, I received an e-mail with warm greetings from St. Ambrose University explaining what I need to do to start my application. It's great to have a feeling that something you've been dreaming of it's happening in a blessed way.
I had to answer a lot of personal questions, send a lot of documents proving funds to support myself in the States and pay the university costs (Accomodation, health insurance, etc.), my official exam used in the selection process at UESC, a copy of official university transcripts to date, my passport photo page and an official letter of proficiency from my university.
Every single time that I look at some pictures of the university I get happier and more and more excited about it. It's a huge curiosity to exploit a new culture, food, friendship. I caught myself thinking of how I will be doing when I need to go to the library, buy books, go shopping, or any presentation in class! How exciting is that!
In this moment full of mystery, some frightening feelings come out. Will my classmates and I get along? How about my roommates? How can I spread my energy, culture and happiness and receive theirs as well? I know that I must be myself but with caution so that I can better prevent any offensive and bad situation for both sides. Everything I know is that I feel myself in complete state of excitement, eager to experience everything, see all my old American friends again...
On the process of going abroad, it's not so easy. You have to be informed and get to know as much as you can to prevent any occasional problem. Financially speaking, I still have to keep my money under control in order to have enough "dindin" to pay the university and do a lot of things I want to do and have some fun, of course!
My mother has taught me something really newsworthy: if you have a goal that involves an amount of money that you still don't have it, you must abdicate some things to conquer others. As I am a homebody person, it's contributed a lot! I am not saying that you have to suffer as you are saving up money, but you need to establish your priorities.
Meanwhile, you must be organized, trying to plan everything in advance. I am not an expert in traveling, then I've been googling some doubts I have, asking my classmates who went to Davenport, looking for the best and the most effective and efficient ways to make this dream easier, cheaper and nicer!
I NEED TIME TO PLAN!
I am a very active person, I study/work about 14 hours daily during the semester. This last one, I was involved with two monitoring projects, teaching four class weekly of Portuguese and Spanish, attending seven subjects of my major, being a worship leader and a sign language interpreter on Sundays! I know, I am kinda crazy, but, at least working with all of these things is not a burden and I have much fun doing everything. It's obvious that I feel overwhelmed, but by the end of the semester (LOL)! Mercifully, I finished the semester with excellent results, high grades, and happy (the most important feeling)!
Well, going back to the previous point, we need to be careful and understand that we can not embrace the world, so I had to leave most of my extra-activities to focus on what is before me and it's about to happen: my exchange program! It's not easy to leave a group you love working with, but it was necessary. I am thankful for all my coordinators who understood my necessity and are supporting and cheering for me. ( PS.: be careful with superactivism that blinds us to see more important things around us such as family, friends and even ourselves).
Undoubtedly, this semester will be extremely important. That is the moment when I starting finishing up my exchange internship project and my syllabus, first classes that I intend to use during my Portuguese class in the States, I'll have to get to know more about the university, complete all the requirements of it. In short, I need to organize my schedule step by step and comprehend what my priorities are right now. To win a battle (achieve our goals) we need strategies! So, make yours too, start acting and go for it!
Concluding this post, everything is doing great and I want to let you two last considerations:
Keep dreaming
Keep working towards your dreams!
God bless you and see you soon with more news intended to inspire and help you in some way!
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