Any Knowledge is Good Knowledge

Hola chicos y chicas!

Friday was a good day for my study abroad adventure. I have a country guide in my ISA portal! It has a million useful details and I am so happy to have it. I received an email that told me that it should be available after the form due date, April 10th. I can't really say if it was there before or if it was just set up, but either way, I am glad I got that newsletter. The only disappointing this was this little bit of information:

Approximately two weeks prior to your departure, the following housing information will appear in your student portal account:

• Housing assignment (information on your homestay)
• Housing list (a list of all students and their respective housing assignments)
• Student contact list (a list of all participating students' email addresses)
• Final letter regarding airport pick-up
• Participating student flight information

Really? I have to wait a whole additional month before I find out my housing information. Well, that's unfortunate. I have to look on the bright side and be happy that I have my guide book. I am thankful to not be lost in the world! From what I was able to see so far, there are details on almost every question I could have from internet and phone access to the addresses for popular restaurants to a small dictionary of words that I should know. I know that I will be studying this obsessively as soon as school lets out. It is nice that my program starts June 3rd, exactly a month after my last day at Central, so that I have time to dedicate to preparing. The dictionary has words for food and cooking, so my goal of learning to cook authentic dishes is in progress!

As promised, here is a picture of my plantain adventure. The actually turned out pretty well in the end, even though it required 3 hours of prep time. While in Atlanta two weeks ago, I was watching a cooking show where plantains were cooked. If you attempt to make fried plantains, boil them first until the peel starts to split! The skin will turn black, as seen in the picture, but removing the peel and cutting the plantain becomes much easier, and they seem to cook better. I thought I got a picture of them frying, but I can't seem to find it. Also, I used vegetable oil at first, which was a mistake. They kind of have the consistency of potatoes, so it's best to not make them taste any more like it. Tomorrow, I am making empanadas for my other Spanish class, so we'll see how those turn out. I might take pictures of that, too, stay tuned for the next post.


I know I promised last time to talk about the flights and buying supplies, but I'm going to start with the application process. SO MANY FORMS! About 20 things from Central and then when I was accepted to the ISA there were 15 more. Meeting, doctor's appointment, shots, forms, running all around campus.... that's what it takes, and it was a bit overwhelming at first. Lots of list making helped me. A couple pointers: make sure you order your official transcripts ahead of time (office on 2nd floor of Warriner), making doctor's appointments way ahead of time because some shots have to be started about six months in advanced, and take everything one step at a time once you've made a timeline. I didn't get as many shots as I thought I needed though, that's one thing that surprised me. I'm in the process of buying supplies, so I'm going to hold off on that, but I did get $5 off from amazon today and my roommate gave me hers. I'm excited to use those! Booking flights is tedious and I actually ended up booking the flight that I didn't want for the way back. I booked a flight to Boston and from NYC to the DR on Priceline and then booked my flight back through Expedia. I'm just worried about my flight back and transporting myself back to the airport. 


But for now, I have to run away from a fire drill.


Hasta luego!