By Kelsey Rogers, Asst. Living & Arts Editor
As the semester comes to a close, students at Susquehanna University need to look ahead. Next fall will be here before we know it. This means that we need to plan accordingly for our GO trips, so hurry up and quickly decide where you want to spend your time at for three to 14 weeks.
The time has come and gone for GO applications to be submitted, and I just wanted to tear up because the process was truly insightful and as smooth as it could possibly be. I would (and will) apply again in a heartbeat.
Thankfully, I did get the experience to apply multiple times because the application does not save automatically. Even when you do think it saved, it turns out it didn’t and you get to start the process all over again; what a rush.
The questions asked in the essay portion are clear as day, melting my nerves away. Since it’s never clear whether or not I should answer with a few sentences, I felt inclined to write a novel about why I’m so interested in a country that I just decided ten minutes ago to apply for.
All while, people who submitted only two or three sentences will receive a confirmation straight away, even though they have the mental capacity of a loaf of bread, but that’s just fine. The waiting process makes everything so much more exciting because it possibly means that I’ll have to do it again.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the part where I had to explain why I wanted to study abroad without mentioning travel reasons, family reasons, or fun.
Ignoring the fact that I am required to go abroad during my time here, I wrote that the main reason why I wanted to go abroad was to scam some European men into wasting their time and money on me. Although, I guess that would fall under the category of “fun”, so let’s hope that my application doesn’t get denied.
What else could I have put? “Oh, I’m very interested in doing an actual tour of Italy, not like the one you order at Olive Garden, but the real deal.” I suppose that me wanting to consume as much food and wine as possible would also be a sufficient answer.
If you’re applying for the spring semester, good luck. Those who applied in the fall will receive confirmation eons be- fore you do, so you get to sit and twiddle your thumbs for weeks while wondering if you’re going to have to make living arrangements in case you end up being at
Susquehanna for another semester while you were supposed to be across the globe. Questions? Look no further, because they will “tell you later” or “cover it in your GO class” which is sometimes a random mush of 25 students who are each going to a completely different country. Every foreign country operates exactly the same, so once you get sent off on that plane into the unknown, you will be fine. Just smile real wide and say that you’re an American and people will get you to where you want to go.
Going abroad is quite the adventure and here at Susquehanna, I feel as if I could take over the whole world. Now that the ever so easy process of begging to be selected for the next shipment into the abyss is over, I get to wait and ask my friends over and over what they put as their written responses. Did I mention that I submitted my application at 11:59 p.m. Bon voyage.
