Now that I've been accepted, and it's all I've been able to mention for the past few days, I decided that I should take a good look at my pre-departure information online. As I was doing this, of course, I couldn't help but notice that in the sample budget for my program the tuition rose, and that was not the only thing. I was so shocked and upset because, essentially, the entire budgeted amount rose by about $5,000. I was so angry and upset, and I couldn't believe that this would happen to me; I had searched and searched to find an affordable program so that when I told my parents I knew what I want to do, I could tell them that it wasn't crazily out of reach. This threw a wrench into my plans. And when I looked at my bill, it said it didn't owe nearly as much as the sample budget showed, so I was severely confused. I immediately called CEA and spoke with a very friendly woman in the financial aid department about it. She explained that because I applied when I did, I was not affected by the increase in tuition to the company, but that I may have to budget more money toward general life expenses in Buenos Aires. I thanked the lady for her explanation and called my mommy, who was about to sit down to dinner. Like any good mother, however, she could tell by my voice that something wasn't right (I can't believe I'm that read-able!). Anyway, she assured me that all would be well and that I could still go to Argentina. So, for now, my trip is quite safe and I didn't start this blog in vain! Haha. I just thank my lucky stars that I applied when I did because a day or two later could have cost me a few grand. I guess I should also be thankful that I just got recruited to a new job, and I that I will be able to save myself a few hundred dollars to spend on who knows what (food) in Argentina.
Additionally, a strange thing that I learned from my pre-departure information... when Stephanie was preparing for France (http://grenobletwentyten.blogspot.com) and Holly for London (http://cttolondon.blogspot.com), they both went through somewhat complicated processes to get their visas in order. Instead of driving to Atlanta like Stephanie or having an issue with shipping like Holly, I just wait until I get to Argentina and get a tourist visa at customs. Then, when I'm at school I apply for an addition student visa, and I'm all set. Whew! So much for worrying about that one! (Although I'm sure it will be a ton of paperwork anyway, haha).
Just to finish off, I want to apologize to all the people that put up with me and my endless chatter about how awesome Argentina is going to be. When I'm procrastinating on work, it's what I google. I can sit on Wikipedia and CIA World Factbook for hours just reading about Buenos Aires and Argentina (and all the cool places I can go!). So, yeah, sorry guys! Slap me when I get annoying!
But! Fun fact: Iguazú Falls, on the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, has a falling rate of 350,000-400,000 gallons per SECOND. Think about how it would feel to shower under that. Haha.
Paz y amor,
Caroline
I'm sorry for just now reading these posts (how many months later? haha), BUT I appreciate the shout-out and am glad your visa process is seemingly simpler (I don't know how Argentina is with paperwork, France is notoriously bad), but hopefully it will stay that way, and you won't have to deal with all of that while you're also trying to adjust to a new environment :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't know if I told you this at the time, but the whole thing with your not being affected by the increase because of the day you applied sounds like some destiny to me :)
And I'm so glad to hear that you're taking your excitement and turning it into learning about your future country; I feel like you're already getting everything you can out of this experience, and the best part hasn't even started yet! You're going to come back a completely different person, and from the way it sounds like you're channeling your emotions, you're going to come back so informed about the culture and the language and the country and even yourself. I'm so excited for you!