The Before nerves

Day by day goes by and I realized time is ticking away. I turned in all my paper work to the Knowledge Exchange Institute as known as KEI. That is the program I decided to go with for studying abroad. They focus on your major and I had liked that. I got all my paper work in for my Benjamin A. International Scholarship. I must say I have not gotten over the inital fact that I actually got it. I am just waitng for someone to say it was a mistake, but I know when you work hard for something the award is sometimes breath taken. I have been trying to prepare myself for this trip by stdying Spanish words everyday. It could just be sitting at the computer and learning a new word or looking in my Spainsh-English dictionary. Anything that will help me I am trying to suck up. I also got GRE exam books to take on my trip with me. I know for a fact that when I get back to Coker I wil not have a chance to study like I need to and take the GRE in ample time. I am just so excited about everything. Sometimes I find myself dreaming in Spanish this is crazy. Well untill next time Beunos Dias

The before experience

My name is Eryka Sandridge and for those who know me I attend Coker College. I recently just been granted the opportunity to study abroad for an entire year in Guayaquil, Ecuador for the 2010-2011 school year. I have developed this site to allow my fellow peers, family, and staff to follow me on my journey as I go through the ups and downs of studying abroad. Feel free to leave comments and communicate with me as this is all for you. I would like to explain to a few people whom may not know how to go about studying abroad. My biggest advice for you would be to talk to your study abroad advisor, and if you do not have one go to one of your foreign language teachers and express interest. After that the real fun begins. I would like to take the time to say thank you to the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship staff, because without them this study abroad experience may not have been possible. Check out there website, they give scholarships to undergraduate students that decide to study abroad for a certain amount of time. I have just been granted a $5,000 scholarship and cannot be more blessed to receive it. I have all these nervous feelings about leaving the country, but I am prepared to see what the world looks like from a different perspective. I do not leave until August 24th, but I will be giving advice on how to meet deadlines and how to mentally prepare yourself for such an experience. Until then Buenos Dias!