this is what being paralyzed by IRRATIONAL FEAR feels like

[bedlamsbard]

Fact: I am less freaked out about my finals than I am about starting Dust 18.

Fact: I would rather study than start Dust 18. (This should be a good thing. And yet...)

Fact: I feel an urge to switch up my icons. Some of them are very dark. I feel spring-like. Coincidentally, Dust 18 is about the beginning of spring. Strangely, it is December. (Although it feels very springlike here in lovely New Orleans. Love you, New Orleans!)

Fact: I have studied, somewhat, for my afternoon final on Friday and my (OH GOD NO) Japanese final on Monday. I have not studied for my morning final on Friday or my morning final on (OH GOD WHY) Saturday.

Fact: I am pretty sure my Japanese final is going to kill me.

Fact: I have not yet completed the Christmas shopping. The Christmas shopping requires me to go to the Quarter. I may not be able to go to the Quarter until Tuesday, after my finals and before I leave New Orleans. Unfortunately, all my friends will already be gone by then. Um, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be raped and murdered if I streetcar on down by myself, but I am still working on convincing the lizard-brain part of me of this. Also, Christmas shopping. Must do.

Random: Peter Jackson provides an interesting update on Temeraire. Large-budget mini-series? SIGN ME UP. (I like the first four novels fine. I have major, major issues with Victory of Eagles that I don't think I've ever gone into on here, and...I don't really want to read the book again to do so. Naomi Novik has said she may do as many as four more, and I have to admit I really wish that it would end with VoE. Partially because I had issues out the wazoo with VoE.)

Fact: I shall probably not get a chance to read the huge pile of books I hae checked out of the library before break. *sad*

Fact: Am desperately worried about getting application done for Junior Year Abroad in time. Am considering just doing spring semester at either Royal Holloway in England or the University of Sydney in Australia. Partially because of the worry of getting the application done in time to go abroad in the fall, partially because I'm really uncertain about getting academic references -- I don't talk in class, guys, I'm not sure my professors know who I am. The professor I would ask is on sabbatical this year. Also, my major? I haven't actually taken any classes that qualify for it, although I have four next semester, so that...doesn't look good on an application. It will look better if I go about declaring for a double major in Classical Studies, because I have a stronger background in that than I do in MEMS, but I haven't done that yet. ...also I may have screwed myself by declaring for medieval studies, because most programs require you to have 3-4 classes already taken, which counts me out unless I'm applying for, I think, spring.

(Looking at course listings at Royal Holloway: ahahahaha "Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, 1955-1968" is not available for U.S. students. I assume they expect us to already know all that information, or at least not to go abroad and study our own frakkin' history.)

*blinks* Wait, does the academic year in Australia begin in February? So theoretically I could do a whole year abroad in Australia, although I'd miss first semester of my senior year at Tulane. Also a plus: Sydney actually has a medieval studies program, so I could single in on one field of study rather than just history classes; the U.K. universities look really inconvenient that way. I find these two features very attractive. *thoughtful* I really do want to go abroad for a full year and not just a semester. I wonder if it's going to be a significant problem to miss first semester of senior year, though. I wouldn't think so, but -- for that amount of money, it's nearly a semester's worth of tuition to go abroad than to stay at Tulane for a year, I could do another semester at Tulane in fall 2012 if I had to, although I don't think the credit thing is going to be a major problem, since I came in with sophomore credits. And if I do the 4+1 program, even though I'd rather go away for grad school...hmm. *muses* This is probably the sort of question I should ask the nice people at the study-abroad office. My mother will probably just tell me to do whatever I want. I have given up on caring what my father thinks, as he wants me to go to a non-English-speaking country and also thinks my major is utterly useless.

Downside: Australia is not England and there is no aella_irene. But there is an ineptshieldmaid! Also, the weather is better. I am not entirely rational when it comes to this point. See: Tulane over Wellesley.

Okay, now that I've successfully procrastinated both studying and working on Dust 18...

ETA: I like the University of Melbourne's website. I guess I should look at their academic programs...

Comments

[ineptshieldmaid]

Academic year at USyd begins in March :) Sometimes it might begin on Feb 28 or something, but usually the first week in march. And we usually finish around the 18th November, if that helps your planning at all :)

[bedlamsbard]

*looks at calender* Right, but the orientation for international students begins mid-February, so. And international students are advised to arrive two weeks ahead of time in order to secure accommodations and settle in. Hmm. I think I have to talk to the Study-Abroad Office to figure out if I'm allowed to go abroad for part of my senior year. I wouldn't see why not -- um, except that I have to do a senior thesis, but...

Wait, hang on, Tulane is still charging you Tulane tuition? Tulane tuition is TWICE AS MUCH AS ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. *distracted*

[ineptshieldmaid]

This being Sydney, I would advise you arrive a MONTH before hand. Rental market sucks. Or apply to one of the colleges (I recommend Women's College. It has its ups and downs, but it has considerably *fewer* hazing practices than most of the others). Applications for first semester (march) close in around october, but I'm not sure if there are special provisions for exchange students.

And yes, you pay your home university fees. That's the international deal. Thus, Australian students on exchange don't rack up ridiculous US student fees, we just collect a HECS debt same as usual.

[bedlamsbard]

Hmm. *debates* I like the idea of still doing a year abroad even if I'm coming in in February. Also, weather. (Me, shallow.) The main reason I'm worried is that I don't really have a strong basis in my field of study if I apply to go in Fall '10, and I'd have a much better one if I apply for Spring '11.

*sulks* My tuition for this year is something around $40,000 U.S. Add in room and board and it comes to about $52,000. ...so, yeah, ridiculous US student fees.

[ineptshieldmaid]

Weeelll... *I* think you should come to Sydney, obviously. Except, on the other hand, ENGLAND. No sane medievalist comes to Australia over england... Although, if JP's still around, you would definitely *love* his crusade history courses. He's a tactics and logistics man. Also very close to retirement, sadly.

Room and board will cost you a fair slog in Australia, too. K and I are calculating on 16-18 000 $AU per person next year, in a three-person share house, sharing groceries, and with student discount on transport to and fro (int'l students currently don't get discounts on public transport). We're figuring that's CHEAPER than college, although by how much I can't remember 'cos, well, I didn't pay the fees. Rental prices and price of groceries are going up steeply by the year, too.

[bedlamsbard]

Main problem being that if I don't file my papers on time, the number of schools I can go to in the U.K. goes down substantially, because only a few will take students just for spring semester. Term. Whatever. *flaps hands* Also...Australia! I've never been to Australia! I hear it's very pretty.

*squints at forms on website* Looks like on-campus room and board for an international student is about $19,000 AU? And then another $6000 for things like public transport and paper and entertainment? Estimated. Gah, why is the U.S. dollar so weak right now?

[ineptshieldmaid]

That calculation sounds about right, yeah. :) [For what it's worth: DO NOT GO TO WESLEY COLLEGE. I would also disrecommend Johns or St Andrews, although I don't know as much about them, and I really know *nothing* about Sancta. But, knowing you to be an introvert, not all that into drinking or sport and so on, and not a fan of The Rape Culture in general, DO NOT GO TO WESLEY COLLEGE. They're rough, sports-oriented, big on hazing, and tanked up on alcohol. And remarkably sexist, given that they're the oldest co-ed on campus.]
As well as colleges, there's Sydney University Village. Fair bit of alcohol happens there, too, but I gather theyr'e a lot less snobbish than the collges. International House I've also heard good things about, but the food is notoriously SHIT.

[bedlamsbard]

Duly noted. *nods firmly* There's off-campus, too, but...I am not eager to do off-campus housing even in New Orleans.

[ineptshieldmaid]

As an ex-college student, I have mixed feelings about on-campus accomodation at Sydney. On the one hand, I still think of it as my *home*. On the other... yeaaaaah. It's lovely not to have three big beefy guys from the John's football team lining up outside my door threatening me because I yelled at them to be quiet or go away.

[bedlamsbard]

Gyah. Yeah, I have been fairly lucky about on-campus housing here at Tulane, but I know a lot of the other dorms are much, much louder. I had bad experiences when I did summer programs at Stanford and Brown, though.

[kayloulee]

While Amy's reccing SUV, you probably need to know that not all SUV types of accommodation have cooking facilities. Some of them (not sure which, never lived there) just have microwaves and kettles, not even hotplates. But I think that the proper apartments have proper kitchens. Also, apparently it is very expensive to do laundry there. My friend sjazzmreow lived there for her first year of university and she still grumbles about the laundry situation.

[kayloulee]

Hey you <3, in case you don't know JP's retiring from teaching after 2010. He says, anyway.

[ineptshieldmaid]

That's what he SAID in 2007, too.

[kayloulee]

Hah, yeah, I remember. Hence the italics.