Alaska-Bound

First official blog post... YAY! First thing’s first: "Why NSE?" Well, I’ve always had a lifelong dream of traveling the world, so I thought it would be a great place to start! I originally wanted to study abroad, but NSE offers students the opportunity to travel within the US (including the territories & some parts of Canada) for IN-STATE TUITION. So of course I couldn’t pass up that opportunity! (Plus, Alaska is super cool and has always been on my travel bucket list).

The application process was super painless from what I can remember (the hardest part being some quick paragraph responses). After that, my school’s coordinator made sure to go through our applications and met with us individually to explain the process and our chances of getting our desired placements. The rest of it was just making sure UofSC could take my classes and double checking my financial aid (and of course, creating this blog). Like UofSC, my coordinator at UAS has been extremely helpful with the process of getting set up. All I had to do was pick my classes out and send him an email to get registered for them! I’m currently working with him to get in touch with my roommates and set up housing.

I chose University of Alaska Southeast because I wanted to travel to a completely new environment and they also have a TON of really cool and specialized classes for my major (there's no way I’d be able to take “Icy Fjords” in Columbia, South Carolina). I’ve also really been wanting to get into more outdoorsy activities and I hear this school is the perfect place for that.

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One month from TODAY, I am going to be on the plane to Alaska. Isn’t that crazy? As far as preparedness goes, I am definitely covered. Aside from my massive spreadsheet of things I still need to pack/buy, my parents are both helping me a lot (shoutout Toni and Donald). We actually already started packing! (It was very cool to watch my pillow shrink in half). I've been told that it rains all the time and the mosquitos are huge. I LOVE the rain so that won't be a problem, but I am NOT looking forward to the mosquitos. Someone needs to remind me to pick up some top-tier bug spray when I get there!!