As I sit in class, study for test, ride my bike, lay in bed, my mind is consumed with two thoughts:1. Will I get the SMART Scholarship?
2. Study Abroad! Where should I go while I'm there? What should I do? What should I pack? Should I stay after term and travel?
Well first of all I should probably explain what the SMART Scholarship is. It's a full ride scholarship with a healthy stipend, a summer internship, and a guaranteed job straight out of college.It's pretty much the holy grail of scholarships. I made it to the semifinalist round and got selected for a potential scholarship by the Army Corps of Engineers. After a misleading call from a lady at the Army Corps headquarters I was under the assumption that I had unofficially received the scholarship. But due to some apparent budget cuts I was not selected in the first round of recipients. To be honest I couldn't have been more disappointed. I already had so many plans built on receiving the scholarship. In particular I had planned on it being the primary source of paying for my study abroad. But all hope has not been lost. There is a second round of up to 70 possible scholarships. This means there could be 70 or there could be 0. I won't know until around April 15th whether or not I receive a scholarship through the second round. I don't know which is on my mind more. What happens if I do get it, or what happens if I don't.
Now that the sob story is out of the way its time to talk about the exciting stuff. I am going to spend 4 months in the United Kingdom. I will have so many opportunities to do and see new things. The hardest thing now is to pick what to go see. Of course I can't see it all, but I wanna try. Ideas are constantly running through my head of things to do. Right now I'm reading through as many travel books and websites as I can. But I don't just want to see all the big name tourist spots. I want to experience the quaint little towns outside the big cities, the scenic overlooks that aren't on the walking tour. I am by my own admission a planner. I love having a perfect plan laid out of what I'll do, when I'll do it, and how I'll get there. But maybe the way for me to have these experiences is to ditch the plan and go where the moment takes me.
