Guess what?! This girl is heading to Rome!
About two weeks ago I was accepted into my schools study abroad program. I will be studying the American University of Rome in... you guessed it, Rome, Italy! And I am leaving in three months! I have a funny story about how I got this point and how I am not prepared at all.
Are you ready? Let's get started.
So, to start off, I applied to do study abroad with my school around mid January. Now before then I had heard that it was really easy to get accepted into my schools program because no one was really applying to study abroad, unless your applying to the program in London. The program in London is very popular because not only is it one of the fashion capitols of the world, they also are very similar to the United States so it would be easier for people to adjust over there.
So due to hearing this rumor I thought I was really going to get in. I was buying books, applying to scholarships, applying for my passport etc. But once I got that email saying that I was denied, well waitlisted, I was heartbroken in all the sense.
Fast forward about 9 months later, I had forgotten about studying abroad and I was just trying to get myself together in order to have a successful semester. Midterms was rolling in and I was studying in the student area of one of my school buildings. Something told me to check my email, and I did. When I opened my email and I saw an email from the study abroad coordinator (I had totally forgotten what her name was for that second) and I thought it was just a general email about study abroad in general. But, once I actually read it I almost fainted.
Hi Jasmine,
I hope that your semester is going well! I’m reaching out because we recently had a spot open up for the Spring 2017 study abroad program at the American University of Rome and I wanted to offer it to you. Are you still interested in participating? If so, please let me know and I will put you on the list. I know that this is a big decision and rather sudden news; please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions that you may have before making your final decision. I do need to let AUR know if you’ll be accepting the spot or not as soon as we can, but of course this isn’t a decision to be rushed. Please be sure to get back to me with your decision by Thursday, October 20 at 4:00pm and, as I mentioned, don’t hesitate to reach out before then for clarification on any part of the process.
Congratulations!
That's when I realized that I had about three months to get everything together. Passport, visa, housing, plane tickets; three months. Let the scrambling begin...
