Ticket. Check.

Financial Aid at Bond University finally completed the proper training through the US Department of Education to secure financial aid for all US students. A strenuous process on their end but they assured me I am good to go for September term. With that I booked my ONE WAY ticket to Australia via Air New Zealand. $600 one way, $900 round trip? You can't beat that (anyone want to come visit?)!

I'll be flying out of Seatac airport down to LAX for a 2 hour delay and from there I have a layover in Auckland, New Zealand for 5 hours before jetting off to Coolangatta, my final destination in Brisbane, Australia (see video). Needless to say I'll be spending 18 hours in the air and 24 hours total traveling from point A to point B. I contemplated staying longer in New Zealand to see the sights and sounds of Kiwi nation but figured I might as well finish my journey and fly back later on holiday.

It feels weird though, a ONE WAY ticket. AH! I'm waiting for approval to apply for my student VISA and then from there register for classes. I'm hoping to pick up a language class on the side, preferably Chinese but am also willing to learn Arabic (if possible). Overall things are falling into place with a little more than a month left. I'll update you all as time comes near.

-H

Grrr. President Obama

In what I thought would be secured and ready to go by July, I have come to find out that President Obama has made things a bit more difficult.

Because of the new education reform act, the US Dept. of Education must travel to the foreign universities and educate the financial aid department on the proper steps and systems to secure financial aid for American students. And because of this, it has delayed mine.

No worries, I'm still set to start semester II down there come September. My goal is to fly out Aug 18th, no particular reason why except it is the middle of the week (low airfare). That way I have plenty of time to secure lodging and get settled in before classes start (unlike last time).

Almost out of Pullman. I put in my two weeks at the bar yesterday and my final day at AT&T is June 30th. So just in time to squeeze in a few iPhone 4 sales and head home. I'll be looking for a part time job, nothing too hectic or hard and DEF not dealing with customer. Preferably night guard or something of that nature. So if you hear of anything, holla!

-H

Bond University

I will be studying at Bond University in Brisbane, Queensland right on the Gold Coast. It's not too far from the tourist city of Surfer's Paradise and def. not too far from the beach (LOVE IT!).








Classes start Sept 13th and run until the end of Jan 2012. My VISA will allow me to be in Australia from beginning of July 2010 to end of March 2012. Needless to say I won't be heading over until mid August, but will be exhausting my VISA expiration until March 2012. =]






Bond University is a private school and much different than Griffith University (where I studied back in 2007). The campus is AMAZING, near the beach, and they specialize in business and human social sciences (psychology, criminology, law, etc). So it's essentially a perfect fit for me.



Semester runs from Sept 13 - Dec 18, and then Jan 17 - Apr 26. Then do it all over again.

Up and running!

Hello and welcome to my NEW BLOG for Australia. Give me a moment while I get things organized...

Cheers!

Hardy