A Rather Uneventful Update

So, since its been 2 weeks since my last post, I think it's time for an update.


Sunday evening my time, I faxed out the acceptance form with my credit card number. I then waited patiently up until Wednesday which would have been Thursday in Tasmania. Since I wasn't really expecting a reply over the weekend, I figured that either they would need to reply the next day, hopefully confirming that they had received my payment, or it wouldn't be until next week. So as not to bother them, I instead sent an email instead to our own coordinator, in case emails were again being sent to TRU and not directly to me.


The next day I got word that we, the prospective UTAS students, had some mail in the office from the University. That got me quite excited so I hurried over to pick it up. unfortunately it was just the same forms and information that the email had included, although there was a Welcome Guide booklet with some basic first timer info which was neat to flip through.

Elliot browsing through the UTAS Welcome Guide booklet

So anyways, no actual news as expected came over Friday or Saturaday, but my online statement for my credit card did show as having had a transaction from the University go through, which I took as GREAT news! then on Sunday evening, or end of a Monday work day in Tas, I got another email... and it made me a bit worried.
The email's subject was "Follow Up Campaign" and it starts out "Dear Student, Thank you for your interest and application to the University of Tasmania. We look forward to welcoming you to the University of Tasmania in 2011.
Blah Blah Blah or some more awesomeness about the university.
The next couple paragraphs are all "If statements":
If you have an English condition....
If you have a condition on final academic results....
If you have an Offer without any further conditions we look forward to receiving your acceptance.
Please scan and email the Degree Acceptance Form and evidence of remittance to...
If you wish to defer your program..."
However, I had none of these conditions on my form other than to pay the amount for the heath coverage. Also the form I filled was not called "Degree Acceptance Form" and I had faxed it like the form asked. So I sent them back what was hopefully a polite but questioning response, asking if I had missed something or if something was wrong. The next day I got back a response saying that they did have everything and that this email was just a mass email that seems to have confused some of us future students. Currently they are still waiting for a receipt number to send me so that my VISA can be applied for.


So thats whats new in the paper work stage...not much


Meanwhile I baked three batches of banana chocolate chip muffins from a recipe found off the internet. They turned out super yummy. The recipe is rather plain, so for the first batch I added 1/2 tsp vanilla and a handful of chocolate chips, one batch I just added the chips, and the other I added vanilla, used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, white chocolate chips instead and garnished the tops of some with walnuts. All of these turned out delicious and I definitely recommend the recipe, which is included for my mother's sake since she wanted a copy but I told her it wasn't necessary to print it.

Also...I got a little excited again and found all the supermarkets and large stores in the Hobart area. I now have links to 5 catalogues from 5 stores on my computer...so I can keep up with the deals! I have yet to apply for accommodation on campus. Since the price per week is more than I wanted I've instead joined a roommate/ house search site and am scouring the nearby neighbourhoods for a better deal I'd feel more comfortable with. Hopefully this Easy Roommate site is trustworthy and will get me some responses to the emails I've sent out.


So that kinda sums up all that has happened, or rather not as the case may be. Hopefully more news will be coming, especially now that I am FREE, from school for the next couple of months.

Meet Elliot

Although accepted by TRU, an official acceptance from the University of Tasmania was required before I would know that I was good to go. This was a slow agonizing couple of weeks. I had many people asking if I had heard anything back yet. It was slightly worrisome as I had no other plans for the coming months and a VISA that needed to be applied for before I could even book a flight.

One of the events offered to study abroad applicants was called Seeing Faces...Trading Places. I had decided earlier that I would attend this and be able to meet some of the others also on their way out of the country. I was surprised when everyone seemed to have heard back from their respective universities all ready. I later found out that just two days before, an email from the University of Tasmania had actually been sent to TRU with official acceptance and that this email just hadn't been forwarded yet. At this event I also met the one other student that had applied to the University of Tasmania, it was nice to know that I wouldn't be the only one going even if we are in two different departments and don't travel together.

Anyway, I left this event very relieved to have received official acceptance! In the end I was glad to go anywhere, and excited to start planning this next phase of the adventure. Two days later (today!) was the mandatory meeting on Risk Management. Some useful pieces of information came from this 6 hour seminar, although the most exciting thing was definitely receiving my new travelling companion.

Elliot the Moose

(until a possible name change in the future)

Unfortunately I didn't realize he has a war wound. I'll have to sew his foot up so he doesn't start to leak any of his innards.

Elliot's hole is the dark spot to the left of the flag

We were given our new companion in the hopes that we'd photograph them in new locations as we studied abroad. The photos can then be uploaded to the TRU Study Abroad Facebook page and admired there.

That concludes all that has occurred to date. To accept my official acceptance, I am required to pay for my health insurance to UTAS and fill out a form before they'll send me any more information. I'm planning on doing this tomorrow which should be their Monday. I was given the option of mailing it snail mail or faxing it so a fax is what they will receive. I also had to decide between sending my credit card number ( which will cost 2.5% extra plus the exchange rate) an international money transfer (about $30) or an overseas bankdraft. I think I'll go with the credit card as 2.5% on $429 is only $10 more and the exchange rate at the moment has us just above. After receiving some more information from them, I'll be able to apply for a VISA and then book my flight.

Other plans for the time being involve practicing my cooking. I know how to cook and I'm sure I would survive just fine.  But as I live at home, I get spoiled with a mother who regularly makes my dinner and brings me a bowl of soup at the first signs of a snivel, hence my cooking skills haven't really been put to the test in a while. I'll also be able to find some recipes I feel comfortable making and can get a copy of rather than attempting to scan the internet for some type of dish that uses the ingredients I have on hand. And who better to learn from than my mother, it'll be an excellent way for me to learn the trade secrets...or actually just the recipes that are passed from generation to generation and lack a scripted copy.

Starting Fresh

So with the Southern Cross University no longer in the running, and my second choice unavailable, that left two other options for universities in Australia. (Since planning on going to Australia earlier, I never picked classes for a winter semester and decided that leaving in the winter in Canada allowed for more class options due to it being the start of the school year in Australia. Thus I really wasn't interested in going to another country since two semesters would likely mean a winter and a summer session and that meant very limited class options. Not to mention languages aren't my forté)


Charles Sturt University with campuses in Wagga Wagga or Albury-Wodonga was a university I had thought about when deciding on my top three. However I hadn't made it my third choice as it wasn't as simple to find the classes I needed. Upon reviewing it once more I came into the same difficulties finding it would be better suited for a natural resource science student than myself. My other option was the University of Tasmania. I had noticed that this university was brand new to our list of options and made it my third choice on my application due to the wide variety of classes offered. However due to it being isolated from the rest of Australia wasn't all that appealing. Faced with the decision of picking one of these two universities, or not going at all made me realize that my choices were very limited and I couldn't be as picky as I wanted.

So the University of Tasmania it was. At least I could find enough interesting and academically qualifying classes. Although, the accommodation was the priciest I had seen for Australia, not to mention the extra cost of flying to the campus in Hobart from the mainland. But as decisions needed to be made, I couldn't dwell on the circumstance too much. I selected courses and got re-approved for them and then submitted this new information towards my study abroad package. Surprise, surprise, later that same day my decision was approved...almost like they had been waiting for me personally.

Ready? Steady? PLAN!

Since sometime last year (late 2009, early 2010) I've been thinking about studying abroad. A friend of mine asked me to accompany her to one of the meetings that fall, and while I only thought it would be a neat possibility, she seemed much more keen on the idea. There were a couple hitches that made me wonder if this would be the right choice for me. First, as I'm a science student, the number of locations that offer transferable science classes is really quite limited. I also felt that as many of my classes were two-part continuation courses over the fall and winter semesters, that it would be too challenging to break them up or find another very similar class elsewhere. My other holdup was that it looked like I may be extending my time at school by another year. Somehow I got over this, and accepted that finishing my degree in five years with an awesome experience abroad was better off than finishing in four years and possibly not being able to travel at all. As for the classes, its been decided that I'll focus my time abroad taking the couple of electives needed in both non-science and third year level. This also means that my workload is drastically reduced as I am no longer pressured to take five classes plus a couple labs each semester.

Of course, before deciding all of this I found something that made me change my mind. One of the universities that TRU has an agreement with was in Lismore, NSW, Australia - the Southern Cross University. For some reason I kinda fell in love with the aerial picture of their campus, and decided that I wanted to go there. I even decided that two semesters would be better than one, and henceforth all my planning began.

I don't know what it is about this picture but I fell in love with the campus because of it.

Over the summer I worked out spreadsheets for my costs that would occur each week, checked out all the accommodation options and costs, the local supermarkets for food pricing, any information I could find about the city of Lismore as well as countless other useless facts. This was not only overkill, but totally pointless it turned out since I would not be attending this University. :(

Anyway, as soon as school rolled around again, I asked one of my professors and a Girl Guide leader, who teaches in another department but whom I've known for quiet a while, to be academic references for me. I thought the earlier I tell them then the less hurried they'd be once midterms started up. I also had to pick out as many classes that I could that were reasonable choices to use as electives. This actually worked out simpler than I thought, as instead of finding a direct transfer to one of TRU's classes, made-up transfer classes were used instead. The day the application was due I collected the letter from my professor, who had planned on handing me this on the last possible day for whatever reason, and excitedly submitted the package.

About a week later I got some rather disappointing news. More students than expected had applied to the Southern Cross University, and while I may have beaten them at a placement with my GPA, I wouldn't be allowed to go for two semesters. That sucked!