Study Abroad & a Second Degree!

Okay, so for those of you who are my new readers, Hello and welcome. You have stepped in to a crazy, chaotic and amazing life of Me, Nikki a college student at Oklahoma State. I have an amazing boyfriend, Cole, who helps me to achieve things I never thought I could do and my adorable little dog, Peaches, who cuddles me the best she can. My blog is about my life and my co-blogger's life, Ashley, a wonderful wife, mom and awesome consultant! Together we make this blog and make everything happen, while it may seem that we dont always post every day or few days, let me assure you, WE ARE BUSY! And here is a little insight to my latest bit of busyness.

I'M GOING TO SCOTLAND AND FINLAND in 6 months!!!!!

Well now that kinda said it all..sorry I was to excited to not do it! Now let me explain why I am going and how I am making it happen! I am a Hotel & Restaurant Administration major with an emphasis on Back of House (I have my Culinary degree). I came to OSU wanting to gain more knowledge of how the rest of my industry works and how each part runs. Since I have been here since last August, I have heard about study abroad and a program called FIPSE. Through the program, I will travel to Scotland for a year to go to school, do my internship, then I will travel to Finland to the Turku University and study for one semester, where I will take classes and learn Finnish, eventually get my degree from Robert Gordon University in Scotland. You ask, what will your degree be in? Well here from OSU my degree will be a B.S. in Hotel & Restaurant Administration and my degree from RGU will be a B.A. in International Hospitality Studies. Now how did this program come about? Well amazing professors from all 3 universities put together 121 page document to submit to all the countries involved about what we would be doing and asked for funding. So now, when I first heard about this program, I thought to my self, who cares how much it is, I want to go! Well, I then realized I needed to care when I started seeing how much other programs cost.

So how am I doing this whole year and a half trip? Well the wonderful US Government gave a grant to the college help us pay for some of it, $15000 total per student to be exact! And let me say THANKS to them, this covers my tickets there and home, my apartment and bus passes while I am there and even some food if I eat cheap. Not to mention, I pay normal OSU tuition and fees so my semester price will be the same as it is now, except no parking permit fee, no meal plan needed and less books since they dont use them. But yet, how will I cover the rest of my food and travel if I want to go somewhere and the all important souvenirs?!  Well my friends, this is where scholarships come in to play. Since I am going abroad for over a year, I have access to so many scholarships others do not, PLUS there is an HRAD scholarship set up just for FIPSE, meaning that it could only cost me about $2000 to get this second degree, that will not only change me as a person, but it will open the door to so many different jobs for me!

Now what does this mean for me and Cole? Nothing! Except we will be getting phone cards, I will get a cell phone in Scotland and Finland, lots of Skype, Imessage and FaceTime. Plus, I have already started to save for Cole to come over and visit since he has never been. I must say, I am one lucky girl to have a man by her side that understands how big of an opportunity this is and that it is life changing. While he is not fond of me being gone for so long, he does support me fully and I am so greatful! I am so excited to go and have him come over after a semester and meet up with me and me show him the UK..I LOVE THE UK..it is one of my favorite places in the world!

Now, what will happen to the blog you ask while I am gone? Nothing, they have internet and I fully plan to continue reviews and giveaways (done by Ashley, unless someone wants to ship to Scotland). I also think that you will all enjoy my tails of travel and school in the UK and Finland. With all this said, I can not wait to see what is in store for me in AUGUST! I am not exactly excited about the 15 hour flight, but the experiences will make up for that! With all this said..I must get back to scholarship applications, paperwork for visa's and figureing out what the heck their phone plans mean!

Hope everyone has a great week!