From Hickville to Heidelberg

Blog is moving!

2010-11-11T12:55:00.006-06:00

Hey all! My blog will be moving to sidsgermanyblog.blogspot.com very soon! Make note of the new address and be sure to bookmark it once it has changed. As always, thanks for reading!

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Accepted!

2010-11-08T15:10:00.001-06:00

I finally received my acceptance letter from Schiller International University in the mail this weekend! Good thing it came so quickly! I will email them today to inform them that I will no longer be attending their school (not because I am just now receiving my acceptance letter, but because I cannot get enough classes to transfer back to Oklahoma State University).

I had to take Timo back to the airport this morning. It would have been much sadder if I didn't know that I was going to get to see him again in less than two months. We went down to Oklahoma City yesterday and did some shopping. I got a few things for Germany! We had dinner at Olive Garden, and in the middle of our meal, the lady sitting at the table beside us belched really loudly. Everyone around us thought it was Timo at first, but then the lady started cracking up and admitted that it was she. It was really funny, and she and her husband were both really embarrassed. Some of the people at the other tables were laughing so hard that they were crying! I had a great time spending the week with Timo. I asked a lot of questions about Germany, and I've learned a lot. I have a much better picture of what I will experience in my time there. I'm concerned that I'm not going to learn as much German beforehand as I was hoping. I have been assuming that most Germans will speak enough English that I won't really need to speak German, but I'm starting to realize that this probably won't be true. Hopefully I can buckle down and learn a lot more of the language before I leave in January. Seeing Timo again has made me a lot more excited but also a little more scared. My trip is becoming much more realistic, which is a little scary. It is really starting to sink in, but I'm getting really excited!

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A Surprise Visit

2010-11-05T01:01:00.001-05:00

About two months ago, Timo and I decided it would be cool if he could come back and visit for a week or so. He was able to get things worked out, and we decided to keep his visit a secret. I picked him up from the airport last Friday, and we surprised our family at my younger brother's football game. Everyone was really excited to see him again! He is on fall break this week, so he will have only missed two days of school (last Friday and this next Monday). He will have only been here for ten days by the time he leaves, but he has been able to see a lot of his old friends from school and do a lot of other cool stuff while has been here. We have gotten to play tennis several times, and he will have seen two of my brother's football games (Timo and my brother are the same age). I'm also taking him to the OSU football game this weekend. I think we will go shopping in Oklahoma City on Sunday (things are much cheaper in the United States!) and then spend the night there so that we don't have to get up early to go to the airport. It's weird that the next time that I see him (after this week), I will be in Germany!

It's been really good for me to see and talk to him in person again. I have had the chance to ask a lot of questions about what to expect when I go to Germany, and it has made me even more excited! Less than two months until I leave!

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Enrolled!

2010-10-20T16:49:00.002-05:00

I'm officially enrolled in my classes for next semester! I figured out what sections I need to be in last night and wrote down the call numbers. I had to get up at 7:00 to make sure that I got into the classes before they filled up, and I almost slept through my alarm! I set my alarm for 6:50, but I woke up a few minutes after 7:00. It took me a little while to figure out why I had set my alarm for that early. I logged into the student self-service web site and typed in all of the call numbers, but when I clicked submit, it said there was an error. I had checked last night to make sure there were no holds on my account, and there weren't, so I had no idea what it could be. I logged out and then logged back in, typed the call numbers back in, and it worked! I enrolled in Managerial Accounting, Marketing, Management, Business Law, and Business Communications. I also enrolled in Composition II, but I am going to drop it. I just wanted to make sure that I had a spot in that class in case I change my mind and decide to take it. Managerial Accounting, Business Law, and Business Communications (and Comp. II) run the whole semester long (January 10 through April 29). Management starts January 24 and ends March 25, and Marketing starts March 21 and ends April 15. I'm glad that Management and Marketing are shorter; there is only one week where I will be taking all five classes, but I will still be getting 15 hours of credit. Germany is getting closer! Two and a half months away!

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Insurance and Passport Pictures

2010-10-11T13:16:00.000-05:00

The study abroad office didn't seem to mind that things didn't work out the way we had planned. I went in today and filled out the application for the insurance package and got my passport pictures taken. One of them had to be used for my insurance card though. I don't know if I will even need the other picture, but I might need it for my visa application. If I end up needing more, I think it only costs $2 to get more. I can pick up the insurance card anytime tomorrow. It only cost $75 for everything I will need, and I can use the card to get discounts at some places, although I'm not sure where. It feels good to be making progress!

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Flight Booked

2010-10-10T19:59:00.001-05:00

I booked my flight today! I will leave January 3rd from Oklahoma City and fly to Washington, D.C. and then arrive in Frankfurt the next morning. I will leave Germany on May 24 and fly to Chicago and then back to OKC. I booked my flight through a site that gives really good student discounts, so it was about $300 cheaper than the normal sites. I think I will go to OKC Sunday night and spend the night at my aunt's house, and then she will take me to the airport Monday morning (the 3rd). I've read a couple articles about the possible terrorist attacks, but I'm not really worried about it at this point. Timo (my host brother) said that it isn't a big deal, or at least it isn't in the news very much.

I emailed the study abroad office, so they will know tomorrow morning that I'm not going to Schiller. Hopefully I will be able to get my passport pictures and buy an insurance package from them this week. I need to look at the visa stuff again to see if there's anything that needs to get done soon.

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Cleared to Enroll

2010-10-06T17:59:00.001-05:00

I met with my regular advisor yesterday and with my honors advisor today, and I have been cleared to enroll in online classes for next semester! I can enroll starting at 7:00 AM on October 20 (two weeks from today). I will have to get up early (my classes don't start until 10:30 every day), but it will be worth it. If I waited, the classes could fill up, which would mess the whole plan up. I will take Managerial Accounting, Marketing, Management, and Business Law for sure. I think I will try to CLEP out of Comp. II again. I can't take that test until October 29, so I will probably enroll in it anyway and then drop it if I pass the test. I really have no desire to take that class, especially online, so I am really hoping to pass the CLEP test. If I do pass, I will have to decide if I want to take another class or not. I still need six hours of electives, so I could take anything I wanted. I was planning on taking Business Communication, but they waive that class since I'm in the honors college. I could still take it and count it as an elective if I wanted to. There is a five-hour German course offered online, but I think I've decided not to take it. It would take up a lot of time, and I would still have to take another hour to finish my electives. I would probably end up taking a three-hour course anyway, so I don't want to waste my time taking a five-hour course when I only need to take a three-hour course. Plus, I'm learning German with Rosetta Stone, and it would be pointless to take the class if I only learn what I have already learned. I guess I will enroll in the four classes that I know I am going to take, Comp. II, and an elective, and then based on whether or not I pass the CLEP test, I will drop Comp. II, the elective, or both. Some of the classes are offered as either normal or half-semester courses, so I also need to decide how I want to schedule my semester. Oh, I will earn the general honors award after this semester (the first of three chunks to getting the full honors degree), and I can't get any honors credit while I am in Germany, so I think I am going to be done with honors after this semester. I'm actually kind of excited to be finished!

I'm going home this weekend, so I will book my flight then. Hopefully I can also find out if our insurance will cover me traveling abroad. If not, I think I can buy a supplemental package from the study abroad office. I will email them soon about that and also ask if I can get my two free passport pictures. Oh, and they still don't know that I'm not going to Schiller, so I should probably tell them that too. It's been a while since I've looked at visa stuff, but I will probably need to start gathering stuff for that as well. I don't have to apply for it until I get there, so it's just a matter of getting all of the forms, documents, etc. that I need. I also thought about books today. I think I will buy them from OSU at the end of the semester (I will know which books I need by November), but I don't know if it would be better to pack them in my suitcase or ship them. I will worry about that later. I think that's it for now! Less than three months until I leave!

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It's Official!

2010-09-19T00:51:00.005-05:00

I went home this weekend and had a long discussion with Mom and Dad, and they have officially endorsed my plans to go to Germany! I must admit, I didn't have the same reaction I was expecting to have. I figured I would bubble over in joy, but my reaction was more of a combination of happiness, contentment, satisfaction, relief, and guilt, which really surprised me-guilt is the last emotion that I was expecting to feel. A lot of things came up in our discussion that made me reevaluate my motives for going. I guess I feel like this is an incredible opportunity that few people get to experience, and I am very thankful to have parents that will let me take advantage of it, but at the same time I know I will never be able to pay them back for it. I tend to ask for extravagant things, and I very much enjoy having extravagant things, but I always feel bad when people spend so much money because of me. I've had a little bit of time to let it sink in, and I am beginning to get really excited again. It is such a relief that all of the work that I have put into researching this trip has finally paid off. I told Timo and his family that I was coming, and they are very excited about hosting me.

As of right now, here is my plan. I will leave in January and arrive a few days before classes start. I will take either 15 or 18 hours of online classes from OSU. I'm planning on taking Managerial Accounting, Marketing, Management, Business Communication, Business Law, and possibly Composition II. The homework is all turned in online. My tests have to be proctored, so I will probably take those either at the University of Heidelberg (the oldest university in Germany) or at Timo's high school. I haven't looked into that much, so I'm not sure how it will work out. I am supposed to apply for my visa at least three months before I leave, and I am supposed to turn in my application in person to the German consulate in Houston. However, I was told that since I am a U.S. citizen, I can turn in my application after I get to Germany (U.S. citizens can be in Germany for 90 days without a visa). I'm not sure where I would go to turn in the application, but that would be much more convenient than taking an extra trip to Houston (especially on such short notice). I have three and a half months to figure it out though, so I'm not really worried about it. I don't think that the application will be too hard-it's just a matter of getting a lot of paperwork (proof of insurance, bank statements for the previous two months plus a notarized letter saying my parents are supporting me financially, a letter from Timo's family saying they will host me, a letter of recommendation from OSU, etc.). I am planning on returning in May in time to see my younger brother graduate from high school. Based on my discussion with Mom and Dad, I don't think I will be able to go back to Germany in the fall should I desire to do so.

I think that the classes will cost about $1,000 more than my scholarships will cover, and the plane ticket will cost about $900. OSU will refund us a little bit of money for "fees" since I won't be using the things that the fees pay for. One advantage of taking online classes from OSU instead of going to Schiller (I still haven't gotten my acceptance/rejection letter from them-ridiculous!) is that I will have more flexibility, which means that I will have more time to travel around Germany/Europe. I don't know how much traveling I will get to do, but it will be nice to be able to take a few days off if I need to. I still haven't told the study abroad office that I won't be using them anymore, but I need to see if they will still give me my two free passport pictures and if I can buy an insurance supplement from them if our insurance doesn't cover traveling abroad. Other than that, the next step is to book a flight! I leave in three and a half months!

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A Significant Change in Plans

2010-09-07T21:55:00.006-05:00

I really should have written a post last weekend, but I've been kind of busy. A lot has changed since my last post. I got my course-equivalency form back from the study abroad office on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. After looking over it, I thought it looked like there was one class that would transfer for sure and about six or seven others that might transfer. I took the form to my advisor the next day, and it turns out that only one class that was offered at Schiller's Heidelberg campus would transfer, and I could have taken one of the other courses as an elective. Two classes from their other campuses would transfer, but I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't have been offered at the Heidelberg campus, although there is a possibility that I could have taken them online.

I was pretty depressed for a couple days because I had gotten so excited about going and my plans got shot down in what seemed like an instant. The only thing that made me happy was thinking about all the things that I wouldn't have to miss anymore: two of my sisters are having a baby in January, my 20th birthday, March Madness, the SPUD volleyball tournament (of which our family team is the two-time defending champion), the Super Bowl, The Office, etc.

I refused to let my plans fall completely apart so quickly, so I started looking at alternative options. I discovered that I could take online classes from OSU and that my scholarships would most likely count towards those classes. I went and talked to my advisor today, and she said it seemed like a great plan. I then went to the financial aid office to make sure my scholarships would count, and they told me that they would! So basically, I will be able to go to Germany and take my classes for free (with my scholarships). The only extra expense will be the plane ticket, which will be about $1,000.

If I had gone to Schiller and taken the classes that would transfer, I would have gotten behind in my studies because I would be taking classes scattered around my degree sheet instead of taking classes in the "business core." I really need to be working on the business core so that I can move on to the next section of classes when I get back. With the online classes from OSU, I will be able to take any combination of Managerial Accounting, Marketing, Management, Business Communication, Composition II, and Business Law this upcoming semester. It turns out that I probably should have taken Comp. II and Speech this semester, but they will get taken care of at some point. There are enough classes offered online that I could go back for a second semester if I wanted to, but if I did that, I would have to take Statistics over the summer because I can't take the other courses until I have taken Statistics. If I do end up taking Statistics over the summer, I will probably go ahead and end up taking Speech as well just to get it out of the way. The other courses that I could take the next semester are Finance, an MSIS course, and a BADM course (plus whatever I decide not to take next semester).

I still am not officially going to Germany, but I am getting closer, even though my plans have changed. In many ways, this makes things a lot easier. The downsides are that I will have to keep myself motivated to keep up with the online classes and that I won't get to interact with international students daily like I would have had I gone to Schiller. As of right now, my next steps are:
1. talk to Mom and Dad (I probably should have called them today!)
2. inform the study abroad office that I will no longer be using them
3. start working on visa stuff
4. figure out who will proctor my tests (I'm thinking maybe someone at the University of Heidelberg, but we'll see--OSU has a bunch of crazy rules about that.)
5. enroll in the classes on October 20 (Some of the classes are small, so I have to make sure that I am ready to enroll as soon as the classes open--I think I have priority enrollment since I'm in the Honors College, but I'm not sure because I think I am quitting after this semester.)
6. book a flight

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Crossing My Fingers!

2010-08-30T16:56:00.004-05:00

Orientation went really well. It was mostly just a lot of information, but I also got all of the forms that I will need for the duration of my study abroad trip. They said that some schools don't post their list of courses online until as late as the week before classes start, and if that is the case, we can just use an old course list. Since Schiller's course list won't be available until October, I used their list from two years ago to fill out my course equivalency form. I turned in the form to the study abroad office today, and I think I was the first one, so hopefully I will know really soon if I will have enough classes that will transfer to make it worth it to go study in Germany. They told us to write down about 20 potential classes, but I thought I would only have seven or eight. I ended up finding 22, so surely I can get at least four of those to transfer. After the study abroad office looks at the courses I wrote down (courses that will be offered at SIU) and finds equivalent courses (offered at OSU), I will have to take the form to my advisor, who will determine if I will get transfer credit for the courses and if they will count towards my major, minor, or neither (for financial aid purposes). After she signs off on it, I will have to take it to the department head, who will have to approve what the advisor did. Then the form has to be taken to the financial aid department, and after they approve everything, it goes back to the study abroad office for final approval. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the week or early next week. This is the last thing that could keep me from going, so I'm a little bit nervous. I'm also more excited than I have ever been! Orientation got me fired up!

Also, I started work today, and I think that I am really going to like it. I was told to bring stuff to keep myself occupied such as homework or a laptop to play movies or stuff like that. A job that lets you watch movies while you work is the kind of job I want.

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Progress is Hard to Come By

2010-08-26T22:41:00.011-05:00

I can't believe it's been two and a half weeks since my last post! I wish I had something new to say, but there isn't really anything new to talk about. Timo was finally told that the list of courses wouldn't be available until October, but they told him that I could send them a list of courses that I will need to take so that they could look at it and give me some feedback. I emailed a list of eight courses to the email address Timo gave me, but the email address was invalid. I changed the spelling, and still, it did not work. I tried probably seven or eight different combinations and spellings, and none of them worked. I called the main campus in Florida the next day to get the email address. I was given the email address of the Heidelberg campus director, who would "be able to answer any questions I might have," but it was a weird name, and I was on my way to work (and therefore could not write it down). I sent the email to the address that I thought was correct, but it wasn't. Again, I tried different spellings of the name, but with no luck. I called again on my lunch break (with pen in hand) and got the correct email address. I sent the email to the campus director, as well as to the admissions department, explaining how important it was that I hear from them before school started. I am about to finish my first week of school, and I still have not heard from them.

I decided to go ahead and drop two of the classes in which I was enrolled this semester. I was originally enrolled in 18 hours, which was more that I wanted to take anyway, and I am pretty sure that both classes I dropped (Composition II and Speech) will be offered in Heidelberg. I have no desire to take Comp. II anyway because I feel like I already know how to write, but if I end up needing more hours to take in Germany, it will be nice to have a class available that I will get credit for taking. The classes I'm hoping to be able to take at Schiller are Speech, Comp. II, Statistics, Managerial Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing, and Principles of Business Law. If I can get seven or eight classes to transfer (the study abroad office reviews them beforehand to make sure I will get credit for them), I will probably try to CLEP out of Comp. II (since I can only take six courses at SIU).

I was planning on taking more than 12 hours this semester, but I am happy with the light load, and I was able to get my work schedule straightened out, so I will be able to work a little bit during the week (I'm a bank teller). I also got my school schedule worked out so that I will finish the general honors award this semester. I am taking two honors courses and contracting another (I am enrolled in a "normal" section of the course, but I will write an extra paper and get honors credit for the course). So far, my classes have been alright. A couple of my classes have a lot of busy work, but I think I will really enjoy some of them. Human Heredity and Financial Accounting are my favorites so far (I love my accounting professor). Macroeconomics is boring, but I like the professor, and I don't think the course will be too difficult. I very much dislike Intro to American Studies. I don't think it will be hard, but it is definitely not a class that I will be looking forward to attending.

I turned in my study abroad application on Monday, so I am officially signed up to study abroad through OSU. I sent my application to Schiller about a week and a half ago. The study abroad office would have sent it for me for free (as part of the study abroad application fee), but I thought just maybe I would hear back from them before the end of this week (the drop/add deadline), but I haven't heard from them yet, and I'm not getting my hopes up.

The study abroad orientation is this Saturday. Hopefully it will answer a lot of the questions I have, and I think it will give me a more concrete idea of what I can be doing. One of the big things that I will be able to start working on soon is scholarships. Unfortunately, I won't be able to use the scholarships I am getting from OSU while I am studying in Germany. The study abroad office offers a $750 scholarship for semester-long programs, so I'm hoping I will get that. The school of business also gives $100-$500 scholarships, which can potentially be matched. I will probably start looking for federal study abroad scholarships before too long, but I don't really know where to look. I will have to see if the study abroad office can point me in the right direction.

While I have been waiting, I have started learning Deutsch with Rosetta Stone. I've also been practicing my violin for a wedding in which I will be playing on Saturday (after orientation). Also, my football tickets came in today, and I am very, very excited! This study abroad thing better work out because I did not buy basketball tickets, so if I want to get season tickets, I will have to buy them later at full price. If I would have bought football and basketball tickets together, I would have gotten a discount. Well, I guess that's all for now. Hopefully I will have more to share soon!

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No News is Bad News

2010-08-09T22:31:00.006-05:00

Hey everyone! Sorry that I haven't posted any updates yet. Not much has been happening. My meetings with my advisors and with the study abroad office went really well. Right now, I am waiting for a list of courses that will be offered during the spring semester from Schiller. As soon as I get that, I can rearrange my schedule for this semester and start filling out paperwork (applications etc.).

Getting in contact with Schiller has been a bit ridiculous. When I first started thinking about going, they called me several times, but I could never answer my phone because I was working. When I returned the calls, nobody would answer. I tried emailing them a couple times, but I never got anything back. I finally started calling their main number (instead of the number of the person who had been calling me) a few weeks ago, and I actually got to talk to someone! I asked for a list of courses, and he said he would email me one, but I never got one. I called again, asked for a list, and never got one. I've called again several times the last couple weeks, and half of the time the receptionist transfers me to someone who doesn't answer. I think she does it on purpose because I'm probably the only person in the world who calls them and I always ask for the same thing. I've left voicemails, but I still have no list. I called again the other day, and I got transferred to someone who actually answered their phone, but she told me that I would have to call the Heidelberg campus to get their list (the main campus, which I have been calling, is in Florida). Funny how the most helpful person I've talked to was the person who told me they couldn't help me. Timo, my host brother, has been calling the Heidelberg campus the last couple weeks, but he has had about as much luck as I have. He is going to try calling again tomorrow. We'll see how that goes...

The reason I need this list ASAP is so I can figure out what I am supposed to do this semester. I might be able to take classes in Germany that I am already enrolled in this semester, so if I need to take those classes in Germany, I need to drop those classes here. My advisors told me not to drop any classes until I knew that they would transfer, but I the earliest I would know that is the second week of school, and the drop date is the end of the first week of school. If I have a list, I can go ahead and drop those classes anyway and hope that they will transfer. I'm also trying to work my school schedule around my work schedule. I keep telling my employer that I will know really soon what my schedule will be, but I am supposed to start there in a couple weeks, and I'm still waiting for Schiller to send me a list of courses. I'm also enrolled in a few honors courses, which aren't very flexible since there is usually just one section of those courses. The sooner I get a list from Schiller, the better chance I have at finding a replacement or alternative solution for those courses.

All in all, I'm praying that I can get a list of courses from Schiller soon and that my communication with them will improve. At this point, no news is bad news. Once I hear from Schiller, I have a lot of stuff I can work on, but until then, all I can do is wait.

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Introduction - What is a blog?

2010-07-28T21:25:00.009-05:00

Welcome to my blog! In case you don't know me, my name is Sid, and I am about to start my second year of college at Oklahoma State University. I love Oklahoma (who doesn't?), and I enjoyed my first year of college. However, I have been presented with an opportunity to study abroad this upcoming spring semester. I'm not officially going, but at this point I am definitely planning on it. If I do go, I will be studying at Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany, and I will be living with a friend who stayed with my family while he studied here for a couple years of high school. I come from a town with a population of just over 100, so living in a big city (to me) in a country on the other side of the world seems a bit daunting, but I know that it will be an incredible experience.

So what is a blog anyway? I guess it's kind of like a journal, except that everyone reads it. So really, it's the opposite of a journal. Why did I create this blog? Several reasons. Most importantly, this is an easy (and fun!) way to keep my family, friends, and whoever else happens to read this updated on my trip. International phone calls aren't cheap! It's also a lot easier to tell stories as they happen rather than trying to remember everything that happened after I get home (and repeat the same stories over and over). Plus, I will probably post things on here that I wouldn't think to be significant enough to share once I get home.

I'm hoping taking advantage of a fantastic school schedule (one class a day Monday through Thursday) to see other parts of Europe, and I'm planning on highlighting the differences between our culture and the cultures I will be experiencing. Once I'm in Germany, I will try to post something new as often as I can, but until I get there, there won't be much to say. I will probably post something every once in a while about the progress I make toward actually making this happen. I'm meeting with my advisors and with the study abroad office at OSU in a couple days. After that, I still have to apply to SIU, make sure that the classes I will be taking in Germany will transfer once I return, get a student visa, etc. Hopefully everything will go smoothly! I'm starting to get really excited!

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