Orientation Day

Welcome to my first blog entry! Today was my Global Intersession Orientation makeup session! I attended because I had been previously engaged in Connecticut over Thanksgiving Break. Nov 22nd I was doing a Level I Fieldwork at Thriving Kids Therapy with Erin Rose, OTR/L. I had a fantastic time, but was concerned that I couldn't make the orientation. No worries, there are two makeup sessions, and since today is a Monday schedule at NYU, it was convenient for me to start preparing for my study abroad experience.

Orientation consisted of receiving a complimentary Steinhardt luggage tag and a folder with valuable information within. Amongst the packet were several sheets of paper. They included information about booking the flight, what vaccinations were necessary, what the hotel address and contact information is, how to apply for a tourist (not a student) visa, what vaccinations you’ll need, what kind of weather to expect (70-80 degrees), what school policies there are (don’t drink, do drugs, or have guests over), what the exchange rate is, how much to pack (one suitcase), how to get financial aid, how to not look like an American tourist, etc. The most important documentation we were given was the visa letter, which will be included with the tourist visa application. That takes approximately 3 days to process, according to the Ghana consulate website: http://www.ghanaconsulatenewyork.org/

After Orientation I had passport photos taken ($12 at Walgreens at 14^th Ave & 4^th) for the visa. I also scheduled an appointment with NYU Health Center to get stuck in the arm with the Yellow Fever vaccination (and my flu shot for the year, while I’m at it). A note about this – insurance doesn’t cover it. NYU wasn’t able to get me an appointment until Friday (and only then because of a cancellation). They informed me that other doctor’s offices may not be able to get me the vaccination if I shopped around. Which, I did – CityMD at Union Square will give it, but it costs $150 to administer. NYU Health quoted me $105, so I’m waiting the extra few days to save the money. If time were a factor, there is the option to look elsewhere.

I’m going to be uploading photographs from my trip to my Instagram account, which can be found at this link: http://www.instagram.com/outofambrosia/ . I’ll also be # hashtagging the entries with the following: #SteinhardtGhana #DisabilityGhana and #NYUAccra. The Global Office is having a photography contest, and in exchange for my photographs being used to promote NYU’s program, I could win a $50 bookstore gift certificate. It’s easy to upload to Instagram versus uploading to Picasa or another site, and I’ll put a link to my IG account at the top of the blog page.

I also booked my flight today via Delta airlines and paid approximately $1000. This was done in a rather unique way – my father transferred some SkyMiles to my account to the tune of 1 cent per mile; he used approx. 160,000 miles to pay for the trip in total. The $1000 results from the fees incurred from transferring SkyMiles and taxes. It’s actually a very good deal; for the round trip we were expecting to pay 2/3rds as much as we did. If I sign up for a Delta credit card I can waive baggage fees, also, and save another $100, according to Dad.  Following this, NYU had me fill out a survey to let them know when to pick me up at the airport.

First class meets Friday the 13^th from 4:00 to 6:00.