Australia Studies Centre

For you newcomers: Hi. Welcome to my blog. This blog has undergone a few changes over the past two years that I’ve had it. :p But I’m liking my new layout and look, so I think I’ll keep it this way for a while. I used to just write my stories on this site, but now I’ll be adding a lot more than just that… since I’m trying to go to Australia and study abroad next semester, this is my way of letting people know what I’m up to. :p

For you oldtimers: Welcome back! Long time no see…? Or something like that… Basically, ya. I never had much use for this blog, but seeing as how I’m trying to go to study abroad in Australia next semester, and how I usually forget about keeping up with people once I leave them, this is how I’m (hopefully) going to let everyone know how I’m doing.

For those of you who are just now finding out that I’m trying to get out of LeTourneau, yes. I’m trying to study abroad (through Best Semester) in Sydney, Australia. I’d be attending the Studies Centre there, (NOT the state school (AUS)), and the fall semester is July 21-November 20.

I guess maybe I should back up and explain a few things as well… Like why Australia and not Han Dong where most of Letu students go…

So… I really like art. Like, a LOT. My senior year of high school consisted of the required two semesters of English and Bible… everything else I had was a Fine Art of some kind (or a study hall or practical art: sewing (don’t you DARE laugh! It’s not as easy as you’d think!)). The Fine Arts classes were Choir, three art classes (Drawing, Ink/Paint, and Clay), and photography. Now I am at LeTourneau University, which is primarily an engineering and aviation college… Devoid of almost all fine arts… Yes, there is a Jazz Band, and yes, there is a LeTourneau choir… and also the clubs like the LeTourneau University A cappella Singers. But I don’t play any instruments. And the LeTu choir and A Cappella singers… well... Let’s just say they’re not up to par with what I had in high school. :p There are zero art classes as well. I have been starved of art for the past TWO years!

Han Dong did not have any fine art classes that I could see or was interested in. However Australia did. :) which is why I picked ASC. Now, I could have just taken some art classes at like Kilgore or Tyler or even over the summer from UTA or TCC in Arlington. But I didn’t want to. TCC is a community college, and neither Kilgore nor Tyler are liberal arts colleges, (although they do have fine arts programs…) My main reason for going abroad to ASC is to be in an environment where I can basically immerse myself in the art-world. At ASC, I will be taking classes where I will be surrounded by other students who are striving to better themselves in their fine arts. We will be able to share in our struggles and strengths and to encourage and help each other. That kind of community does not exist at Letu. If it does, (and you are a part of it) then I have missed it completely and I apologize to those whom I may have offended or overlooked.

So… when I first talked to Marta about studying abroad, we got a little confused. She thought I wanted to go to the Australia state school, (AUS), which is part of the exchange student program. There weren’t any students from AUS that wanted to come here, so I thought about giving up on the whole idea. Then a couple of weeks later I decide to ask Marta again if there’s any news about the program. Still no one. :p so I give up again. THEN, for some strange reason, I double check with Marta about what the heck she’s talking about when she says AUS… Cuz I had talked with another student on my floor about going to Australia, and she said that she had the same problem with the lack of exchange student to take her place. … that is, until they got the colleges straightened out. That’s when I found out that there were two colleges in Australia that Letu students could go to. So after sending Marta an email asking which school we’re talking about, we figure out that the school I want to go to is ASC, in Sydney, which is an art school, and through Best Semester, which does NOT require a student to come to LeTourneau to take my place. SO! I ran to Marta’s office and got the paperwork that I needed to start the application process. :)
That was about a month before spring break. The week I got the paperwork I was busy with… I can’t remember what actually haha.. (my life has been so hectic!) I think that was the week that I talked with my advisor’s about what classes I can take in Australia that will transfer to my degree audit. The week after that I started running around campus finding all the teachers and faculty that I needed to sign the Approval for Study Abroad form. That took about two weeks, cuz I had to wait for someone to get back from a retreat that they were on over the weekend…

There were about 20 different signatures that I needed to get. In different buildings… and they weren’t in order either… and the faculty weren’t always there when they SAID they would be there… I also had to register for classes here and get all of my holds cleared before I could get a couple signatures. Also, my advisor and I had decided that I would take about 20 hours… 11 of which would count towards my degree audit. I had to fill out SO many forms to get that done the week before. AND talk to four or five different teachers to get their approval and signatures for those credit hours I would take in Australia. I even had to get a signature to take 20 hours (cuz 19 was the Letu limit for study abroad programs) Turns out… ASC only allows their students to take 17 hours max… they recommend 16-17 for exchange students, and I’m not really sure what the minimum is for their regular students… but even 16 hours is a challenge for them… (YIKES!) Soooo… I changed my schedule around to 17 hours, only 6 of which would I get transferred to my degree audit, and got that approved by Marta and by my advisor and the financial aid. So after getting that headache finished, I got ALL the signatures that I needed the DAY before Spring Break. :D

I got home the next day, and immediately started the online application to ASC. Got halfway through, and had to do laundry for traveling to SC.

That’s a whole other story to tell at another time! Ask me about my hitch-hiking adventure sometime ;) it’s great. Or ask JimmyFreakinStewart, Josh Heidorn, or Ian Sipley. They can tell you ALL about it. :p

So I get back to school… and I had 11 days to finish my application (due date was April 1st). Well… the week I got back I had a book to read and a paper (or three) to write by Tuesday night. On top of finishing the application. I was so nervous about everything that I was literally having nightmares and night terrors about not finishing the application, not getting in, not finishing my book and then the paper. It was terrible. I don’t ever remember actually sleeping those first three nights back (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night). And that weekend I was also planning on painting the mural for Penn2. Apparently, some people on the floor didn’t know about that. So there was a little argument/fight/quarrel at Saga during lunch on Wednesday. (or was it dinner?) but basically, I ended up having to leave for a few minutes to cool down before I said something I would regret later on. Things eventually got straightened out later, and Penn2 came up with a design that I agreed to paint. So I sketched the design on Friday from about 3-5, break for dinner from 5-6:30ish I think, then back to sketching till around 8. During the break I also played Frisbee, then went and played MORE Frisbee after finishing the sketch. Then a bunch of us went and played sand volleyball. This was when I screwed up my foot somehow… After Volleyball, we went to wal-mart to buy the paint. That was fun too at like midnight :p we were all SO tired, and my foot was hurting SO bad.

That’s an entire OTHER story as well. Come and ask me about it sometime ;) it’s actually pretty funny :)

Saturday, I was up on Penn2 from 10am to 11:45ish, had lunch, then got back to painting from about 12:30pm till 9, working non-stop. FINALLY finished the mural, and we watched a movie, then I went and showered, then went to Sonic with Gary and Korey cuz I completely skipped dinner to finish the mural.

Check out the pics on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=209877&id=563845780

All of that with a hurt foot :p guess what I spent most of the next Monday worrying over? Lol..
By this time, I had two days (ish) to finish my application. While at the same time trying to figure out if my brother can visit me for the MuKappa Goat Roast (Easter weekend at Lake o’ the Pines), and organize a way to pick up my friend Jennifer from the airport on Friday before going to the Lake, and this and that and everything in between. I only had the essay questions left to work on, but they were getting VERY annoying to finish!

BUT! I was successful! I completed the entire online application on Thursday, April 1st. Including getting copies of my passport, transcripts, and certification form (with yet MORE signatures and even a SEAL this time too!) faxed to Australia. In fact, by 1pm that day I received an email from ASC saying that they had received EVERYTHING for my application and that they would notify my on the 19th…

……………………………………

So… It’s Sunday that I’m posting this… (even though I think I started it on Friday.. :p) about a day until I receive the acceptance/rejection letter. I’m so fricking nervous I don’t think I’ll be able to check my email at all on Monday! I literally have EVERYTHING riding on getting accepted to ASC. I haven’t even looked or thought about what classes I would take at Letu if I’m not accepted. I actually don’t think I will come back next semester. I’m thinking that I will stay with my grandma for a semester in Arlington and work on making a “home” there to actually go home to over the breaks. (See blog entry “Home… or lack thereof” (http://pyxieprincess.blogspot.com/2009/03/home-or-lack-thereof.html) it explains everything about home…) I’ll probably take art classes at the University of Texas in Arlington. My grandma or uncle can drive me there, so I’ll commute instead of live in yet another dorm. And I won’t be full-time, so I can get a job as well. (Hopefully :p possibly at the Container Store… they already have my job application actually… the only reason I didn’t go to the job interview is because I was having my wisdom teeth removed that same day :p gotta love scheduling, eh? [don’t you DARE call me a Canadian for saying that. I say it ALL the time, and I picked it up from my AUSTRALIAN friends, NOT my Canadian ones :P]).

So that’s my plan if ASC doesn’t happen. But OH MY GOSH… I’m literally putting everything on the line for this… I could just up and transfer to another school… At Liberty I’d get a free ride. Ouachita Baptist, where my brother Steven is, is cheaper and I got the same financial aid as I got from Letu. I could also go to JBU, where I’d get a lot more financial aid, or I can go to UTA. *shrugs* however, I’d probably change my major to something along the lines of graphic design or something more artistic than my English major (Digital Writing, which is not really developed AT ALL! I’m still trying to figure out why I’m sticking with a major of gen ed classes…). However, with a change of major and transfer, I’d have to repeat at least one year. IF I’m lucky…

So ya.. that’s the whole thought process behind going to Australia next semester.. well, most of it.. there are some parts of it that are NOT going online, because they are personal matters/issues, and there are others involved who, I’m sure, would rather remain nameless, at least, or even better not even part of it. *shrugs* that’s life. Whayagondoboutit? (Translation: what are you going to do about it). But that is most of it. Now I just have to patiently wait until Monday… and check my email many, many, many times that day.. or don’t check it at all until night time… but that would probably drive me crazy. I think what I’ll do is check my email, and when one comes in from ASC, I’ll have my roommate Summer Brown or someone close to me read it and tell me what it says…

For those of you who actually read this entire blog entry, KUDOS!!! And THANK YOU very much for dealing with my ramblings :p yes, I get very long-winded sometimes. And honestly this is the first time that I’ve ever put any of this down to words… so it’s been a challenge for me to write it all as well. (well, technically I TYPED it up.. and I type much faster than I write.. so perhaps not quite as long as I could have taken…) But ya! Please pray for me today and tomorrow as I wait expectantly for the email and act paranoid about being accepted or not. Also, PLEASE keep checking in on me on this blog. Whether I go to ASC or not, I plan to be updating this blog to let people know what’s going on. (I have the tendency when leaving a place to “shake the dust off my feet and wash my hands of people, looking on to the next/new horizon.” I don’t want to abandon my friends at Letu (and others around the world who may also be reading this!) so this is part of my way to keep up with you guys. The link to this blog is on my Facebook profile, so click on it and stuff… if I haven’t updated this in a week, then PLEASE bug me on facebook and tell me to get my rear in gear and update this! I really want to keep up with my blog this time, so please help me by badgering me ^_^

I think that’s all I have to say for now… it is now 2:22am on Sunday morning… (and I’m pretty sure I started writing this Friday afternoon) Josh Groban is playing on my iTunes, and it’s putting me to sleep.. so I think I shall leave it at that.. or, as my good friend Nicole Amper used to say… “Sleep calls my name in the distance, beckoning me to join it in its adventures in la-la land… I must join it… Goodnight.”