Study Abroad: a brief introduction to a long process.

After a good two years of preparing with advisers and planning classes, I'm finally on my way to studying abroad. When I was a freshmen, the first place I thought of going was Germany, because I'd been there just a few months prior, and was eager to visit again. Sadly, the Journalism School here at MU doesn't support any programs there. Next, I thought, France! But I don't speak french, and frankly, I had no desire to become near fluent in a year and a half. Then Brussels! That program was in English. Perfect. So Brussels it was for a long time, because it was a political reporting program, one which would hopefully mimic my career as a political reporter here in the states.

After I was accepted to my Broadcast sequence, I chatted with Emily, the study abroad adviser. She showed me a program in Aarhus, Denmark. It was not an internship program, but rather a semester at the Danish School of Media Journalism. Not only was it a very exclusive TV program, it was one of the cheapest programs we offered, second to only Hong Kong. Nothing against Asia, but I was pretty set on spending some time in Europe, and Hong Kong was an advertising program. I've since looked into the city of Aarhus, and it looks like it's going to be really great. It's akin to Columbia in that it's a comfortable distance from Copenhagen, but is still a city with a lot to do and a good place for a school.

So I applied. It was a long application, but the Friday morning when I finally turned it in, all 50-something pages of it, it was a sigh of relief.

A few weeks later, I met with the Danish Exchange students here at MU, and now I'm in the process of applying for a student Visa, and getting plane tickets and all that goes into leaving the country. Classes start February 1, and end June 5, but I've been told most people take a little while to have a vacation after with their classmates. I haven't contacted anyone I'll be in the program with, but there's only 14 others, and I don't even know where they live now. I'll be excited to finally meet them. All

things considered, even though I have about 70 days until I see Denmark, I have a lot to do still.

(Photo: Me with my completed application: Courtesy of Laura Xiao.)