Hello Friends, Family and Fellow Students,

I'm starting my blog.  This is my first post of many posts to come to share my experience for my study abroad in Finland.  I will be sharing with you photos, interesting facts, daily life and tips.  Please be patient with me for I am still learning (ancora imparro).

In exactly three weeks I will be arriving on Finnish soil.  I decided to partake in the study abroad program that the University of Wyoming offers.  In the Fall of 2012 I was ready to get out, so I went to the UW study abroad page, and started poking around.  I didn't want to commit to a full year or semester so I narrowed it down to summer programs.  I also selected programs that would be a direct exchange so that I would pay UW tuition, a financial decision.  Then I further filtered it to English speaking courses--not that I'm opposed to new languages, in fact I love languages, I just figured for such a short time it wouldn't make sense to learn a new language.  Once I had it narrowed down that far I looked for programs that would be interesting and would potentially be related to my major.  And voila! A Summer in Human Sciences in Jyväskylä, Finland was chosen.  It met all my criteria.

That selection leads me to here and now.  I jumped through all the hoops, filled out numerous applications and have become very skilled at paperwork.  In the next few weeks I still have some final procedures and processes to complete but will be closer to Finland.

If you are considering studying abroad, make sure you start preparing early.  There is a lot to do.  Make sure you stay organized, I have a blue folder full of all my information.  Make sure you have someone to re-convince you to do it.  It is overwhelming and scary.  I've gotten cold feet a few times and I'm really glad I had my most favorite sister there to tell me to snap out of it and remind me this is an outstanding opportunity.

More posts to come...