sh-k-boom, sh-k-boom

Hello, my lovely readers! It’s been awhile. Real life has been somewhat insane, so I finally learned there is life outside the Internet. Who knew?

Things have been happening crazy fast in Study Abroad-ville. After finding out I received a scholarship for airfare from my university, I was finally able to book a flight. Back in my younger, more naive days (read: in July), I thought I would buy a ticket in August. Months went on, and the paperwork built to a climax before I got the go-ahead from my adviser.

This is really happening now!

I’ve also registered for classes. Again, I had no idea how naive I was back in July when I was complaining about OU’s registration system. To apply for classes at UU, I had to comb through an Excel spreadsheet listing the classes I could take, cross-reference that with the highly unreliable UU search engine, and fill out a PDF. I had to insert my own text fields. I made my text red. I was kind of irritated at that point.

Though I won’t find out until later this month what I’ll officially be taking, I registered for Dutch Present-Day Society, Brazilian Film, Macroeconomics, and Journalism. Cross your fingers that I’ll get into all of them!

My residence permit application is complete and will be on its way shortly. I got the distinct privilege of driving to Edmond (a 45-minute trip) to the local Motophoto to get a picture taken. This is not a joke: the application came with five pages of directions about the picture. I made the cashier swear she’d retake my picture for free if my application gets rejected.

For my application, I also got to get a notarized letter from my credit union explaining credit unions; apparently, they’re not common in The Netherlands. After the notary typed up the letter, she shook my hand fiercely and told me to be safe a few more times than normal. I thought nothing of this until I mentioned it to my friend, who knows the notary. It turns out the notary, a band booster, is deathly afraid of windmills and frequently bursts into tears on the band bus when passing wind farms. Because The Netherlands is so famed for its windmills, she fears my death, according to my friend.

When my life becomes a sitcom, make sure that anecdote is included, will you?

My housing situation is almost finalized, thank goodness. My saint of a father went to deal with the bank to transfer an ungodly amount of euros. I don’t even want to think about how much money my parents had to spend on my deposit—suffice it to say I’m grateful.

I’m at the point now where all I can do is pay people money and wait to hear back from them.

It’s a pretty good place to be.