And there was much rejoicing!

I GOT INTO GRIFFITH!!! MASTER OF ARTS AND MEDIA!!! WOOT! :D

Ah, enough shouting but this truly is glorious news! I had given up on hearing anything this week and then suddenly I got the offer in my inbox. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted and I can finally start planning the trip for real. But now it is bedtime, I have to get up in... let's see... 6 hours and 20 minutes. Oh joy.

Good night!

Scared to death

No news from Griffith yet. What if I don't get in? Will they even notify me?? What if Mari now accepts her Griffith offer and we end up in completely different cities??

I hate this.

Problems have arisen!

Well... this whole week has been a right pain. It began very nicely with both Mari and I getting offer letters from Monash and Mari also getting one form LaTrobe. Then the bad news hit us. Mari's offer lapse date from Monash is one week from today so she pretty much has to accept it now and pay for the first semester right away. If Monash had been our first choice it wouldn't be a problem but since Griffith is the one we want to go to the most, it's a bit tricky. Just before I left work today Mari sent me an e-mail saying she'd gotten into Griffith but I haven't heard a thing from either Griffith or LaTrobe. What if Mari now skips Monash and I don't get into Griffith?? My Bachelor's degree is a bit of an odd one so they're probably having a hard time deciding if I have the necessary qualifications or not. All this stress is killing me! I really would like to hear from Griffith right away!

What if I end up in Melbourne all alone??

A little history

Since we've gotten this far on the way to beginning our studies in Australia I thought I might just give a little background on the whole process.

It all began when I started thinking about going abroad after I finished my first degree (Bachelor of Engineering, Media Technology). At first I considered going to London but then Mari who had long been thinking about Australia suggested that I come with her Down Under. So I went and spoke to Kilroy Education and started searching for appropriate courses and universities to apply to. During this time I was still working on my degree thesis and desperately trying to get it done on time. Luckily, I survived that struggle and got my degree a couple months ago.

Finishing my degree was, however, not the only thing standing in my way of Australia. I also had to take an IELTS exam to prove that I had the necessary English skills to attend a postgraduate course at a university in Australia. That was one hell of a stressful thing to do. The speaking part of the exam was especially nerve wrecking, but again, I survived it and even got a fairly high overall score of 8.5 out of 9.

After getting the IELTS results and having my degree certificate (officially) translated into English (bloody hell that was expensive!), oh and writing three different personal statements, I was ready to send in my applications.

A little over two weeks has passed since that time and both Mari and I have already gotten one offer each. It seems our plans are actually coming together and we can now start getting ready for the next step, but that is a whole other story, and a long one at that.

Quick update!

I got an offer letter from Monash University today! And Mari got one from La Trobe!

Still waiting for Griffith though... The one we both really want to go to!

Premature planning?

Guess what I'm doing? I'm looking at Internet, Pay TV and mobile phone service providers in Australia. Perhaps it's a bit too early, seeing as we haven't even been accepted yet... But these are important things and I don't want to be unprepared. Alright so maybe the Pay TV one is a bit unnecessary but it'd be nice to have some cool channels to watch.. Like CMC (Country Music Channel) and Sci Fi. But I'm gonna have to speak with Mari about that one since we're sharing the costs... Hopefully she'll agree to an Internet package with a fairly big download quota, I'm gonna need to get my Doctor Whos and Torchwoods downloaded!

Anyways I'll just put this useful link here for my own benefit:

http://youcompare.com.au/ - compare Internet, Pay TV and mobile phone service providers.

What is this supposed to be??

I guess I'll start with an introduction. My name is Mikaela but people call me Kela. This blog was created for the sole purpose of writing down memories and stuff about my (so far only planned) year/years in Australia. It's exactly two weeks since Kilroy Education sent the applications to Griffith University, La Trobe and Monash. Starting a blog about it already might be a bit too optimistic but hey I'm allowed to be a little optimistic, right? Deep down I'm terrified of something not working out though... But I'm trying to stifle those feelings...

I'm not going alone though, my friend Mari is coming along with me and if she wants she'll be able to write here as well. We might be posting in three different languages, English, Swedish and Finnish all jumbled up.

Anyways, that's enough of an introduction. Now lunch!