Pitt versus Semester at Sea

Today, I started to feel a little burnt out. I have had 6 meetings this week with professors and my advisors to ask them about ideas and any resources they might know about to help fund my trip. Things are not looking up in Pittsburgh for me... why? Because Pitt now hates Semester at Sea apparently.


As of March 2010, the University of Pittsburgh no longer recognizes the Semester at Sea program as a study abroad option (even though Pitt used to sponsor Semester at Sea when I was in high school) and therefore makes it difficult for students to transfer their credits from their voyage. In addition, Pitt will not process any of my financial aid for next semester. So the aid I have received from Semester at Sea and whatever I can fundraise I am using to pay for this trip!

It seems that everywhere I turn to ask a question about whether or not my credits will transfer, or how to get out of my housing contract, or who to talk to about having to re-apply to Pitt for my senior year... people say "Oh I can't help you with that" or "Talk to Janet about that". And then when I go talk to Janet about it, she sends me to someone else. I am starting to get frustrated!!! 

I understand why we can't receive financial aid from Pitt to attend another university. The economy is awful and it makes sense that they don't want to give us money that won't be going back into the circulation at Pitt. But why on earth do they have to make it so difficult for us to transfer our credits back? Thank god for Sue Crain and my poor advisors. They have all given me the (under the table) permission and approval of the courses I am taking for credit. None of them can say that its guaranteed that they will transfer, but no one has lost credit yet... Doesn't make much sense does it?

I won't give up though! I found a few more scholarships to apply for today and after talking to my parents today I feel positive about the efforts I have been putting in to fundraise.

I go home Friday for Thanksgiving break, and there I will continue my search for money! Wish me luck!!!

My first blog post EVER!

Hello everybody! Today I have connected myself more than ever to the online web community by creating this blog, a twitter account, a Facebook group and fan page! All of these efforts are for my goal of raising as much money as possible for my Semester at Sea study abroad voyage next semester!


At any point if anyone has any advice or suggestions to off about fundraising for my study abroad don't hesitate to let me know!  


A little bit about my study abroad venture: I will be living on a boat (practically a small cruise ship) next semester and on the voyage I will be visiting a total of 11 different countries all across the world! The countries I will be visiting are the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Vietnam, Singapore, China, Japan and then we end our trip visiting Hawaii followed by our final port San Diego.


Yes... This is for real, and yes I am a lucky girl to have this opportunity! I am super excited about the trip/nervous about being away from home but nonetheless I will make the most of it.


As you can probably guess, this program is not cheap. Thankfully I applied in early January, and I was able to then secure myself the cheapest cabin...but after that the cost of the program is around $22,000. That price doesn't include any trips that I will take while in the countries. 


So here I am doing everything I can think of to fundraise for this trip of a lifetime. My goal is to raise as much money as possible so that I am able to experience all that I can fit in to this trip. I have a lot of plans for when I come home, the main plan is to share my experience with as many people as possible while emphasizing the importance of becoming more globally aware.


The hard part about fundraising for this trip is how to explain to people that I am not just going to use the money I am fundraising to spend frivolously in the countries I am visiting. I want people to understand that this trip is for me to get out there and absorb as much information as possible and learn from the people I meet so that I can bring those experiences back to the U.S. and share them with others. One of the biggest problems I see in my every day life is a lack of tolerance and understanding of people who come from different backgrounds or who have different perspectives on things. When I become a teacher, I feel that it will be my job to help others understand the importance of gaining a global perspective in order to combat the idea of intolerance.


I could go on and on about what this trip will do for my life and how I want to use it to help others... and I probably will in later posts but for now I am off to bed. I need to rest up for another day of phone calls, essay writing, and hoping!


TTFN!