It has been a while since I have posted so I thought I would briefly recap what I have been doing to prepare for my trip! In May I received the student handbook and piles of paperwork that must be returned to the college. There was a pretty extensive health examination that I had to go through which included things like blood tests and a chest x-ray. While there are a lot of forms, many of them are fairly simple to fill out.
Applying for the Italian study visa was a little less easy. There was not a qualified Italian consulate where I live so I had to drive to another city to have a visa appointment. While there is still lots of time before I go, I thought it would be good to start on applying for it because I will be travelling a bit in the summer. The people at the consulate were really friendly and helpful so while I was a bit concerned that we may have forgotten forms or documents, it all turned out fine!
I expected a packing list from the college, however they did not provide one. Fortunately, I am in a Facebook group and the current students compiled a nice packing list. I have been gradually finding and buying some things that I might need so at the end of August I will have everything already and not be stressed out about finding last minute items! Given that I cannot bring absolutely everything with me in my luggage, I will probably buy a number of items once I am in Italy.
Besides that I have just been getting more and more excited about going! I had the wonderful opportunity to meet a current student at the college and asked her many of my questions! This weekend there is an orientation with some other students going to different UWCs and I really look forward to meeting everyone there! While I still cannot believe this is happening, every day it just gets more and more real. I have narrowed down possible courses I want to take and extra-curricular activities I would like to do however I will make my final decision once I arrive in Italy. It is hard to believe that in less than three months my life will radically change!
-S
vitamin sea at uwc adriatic 