"Let's Start at the Very Beginning"

... It's a very good place to start.
When I was in my Junior year at Ripon College I took a semester to study abroad in London and Florence. It wasn't an uncommon thing to do at Ripon and since then I have thought about it and talked about it often. About 10 months ago, a year and a half after graduating with my BA in Communication and Theatre, I decided I was ready to go back to school.

Where the heck would I start?

I started googling. I knew what I wanted to do with my degree, I just didn't know what degree would get me there. If I want to be working in an Admissions office for a Liberal Arts College, what should I get my Masters in? Where should I get it from? Do I REALLY want to spend 3-4 years in Graduate School (that answer was a pretty emphatic NO). The first thing that popped up in Google was a website called Study Across the Pond ...

"hmmm ... studying across the pond?

"

I've done that before. Maybe I could do it again? So, I got in touch with a recruiter and she helped me find several schools with programs that would work for what I eventually want to do. The application process went really smoothly and I got accepted to all three schools that I applied to! (What?!?!?!?!)

Next things on my list were picking a program, funding, visas, and housing. I chose Newcastle University up near Scotland. It's no where near London. I am going to be getting my MA in Cross-Cultural Communication and Education. Classes, or Modules, that I am looking at taking are 'The Social Psychology of Communication,' 'Sociolinguistics,' 'Emotional Intelligence and Leadership,' The Management of Change in Educational Organizations,' and 'Counseling, Communication and Culture.' But we will have to see how they will all fit in to the semesters. I will be assigned a tutor who will be able to advise me on my module selections, and who will help me survive them.

International Student Orientation starts tomorrow! I will get on a train at Kings Cross Station in the morning with my luggage and away I'll go! Wait ... am I going to Hogwarts?! Who knows. It's pretty far up there. Everyone keeps saying, "Newcastle! It's really cold up there." I'm not sure what they mean by "really cold," because I'm from Wisconsin. It gets REALLY cold there too.

Stay tuned for more coming soon on my next big adventure! Cheers!