I can apply!

I called BUNAC yesterday and asked the nice lady a bunch of random questions, the first being "when do you think I'll be able to apply?!" She said, "Oh, we just got clearance from the Australian government." Never mind that they were going to send out an email to let me (and presumably others) know that it was time to apply. But I can send in my application - or as soon as I drive up to Waterford to get my reference form from Stuart, since apparently the US Postal Service can no longer be trusted to get a simple envelope thirty miles. We'll see if my application gets to Connecticut...

I also asked the BUNAC lady if I should get my plane tickets now or wait till Step 2, the visa application step. She said to wait. I'm getting antsy. The student travel agency helped me find a really great set of flights for cheaper than I'd found on my own, plus a two-week stay in New Zealand on the way back AND my one-week stay with my cousins in Hawaii on the way there! So I'd really like to nail down that flight... Sigh.

It also occurred to me to ask about the medical insurance. She said it covers basically emergency care but not preventative. So, no check-ups, no teeth cleanings, no pre-existing conditions (like allergies). Then we got into a discussion of whether ragweed grows in Australia (it sounded like she'd never heard of it, which made things more difficult). We determined that it did, so I've got to remember to get more allergy medicine before I go!

Austramerica

I've started having the headlines of the Australian newspaper Herald Sun emailed to my inbox, just like the New York Times and Washington Post have been for a couple of years now. It's very interesting to me how America-centric the Herald Sun is, with stories about Wall Street, Naomi Watts, the Minneapolis bridge, and an Australian musician who left for LA to "break into the American music market," all in today's headlines. As an American Culture major, I'm very interested to learn how America is viewed by another English-speaking country.

On another note, apparently this season of MTV's The Real World is taking place in Sydney. I missed last week's episode, which was the first, but hope to catch it this week. I don't have high hopes though; it is still the Real World, but I'd be interested to see what they show of Sydney and Australian culture.

Ah, logistics...

So I finally got around to looking up flights online... and eyeing my bank account... and crying a little... Okay, it's not that dire. $1,500 (not including airline miles that I will probably also use) is a lot of money, it's true, but it's better than a lot of what's out there. Plus, the cheapest flight configuration that will also allow me to visit my cousin Laura and her family in Honolulu is about the same as the cheapest "direct" flight to Australia (without stopping for fun long-lost cousin time in Hawaii - but still including about 4 or 5 stops over two days), so that might actually be a possibility! It would be so nice to see her and her family, whom I haven't seen in probably four or five years.

I had been wanting to get a job before spending any big money (plane tickets, application fee, visa fee, etc.) but some things might be coming together on the job front, plus I have the time to mess around with these things now, so I figured I might as well at least start to look into them. I ended up spending the better part of Friday morning on the airline websites and then dug out the application, which I'd printed out a few weeks ago and which I need to send in at least 8 weeks before departure, which is actually coming up. Good thing I looked at it - I need an employer reference! Good old Stuart comes in handy yet again. I swear I abuse his brotherly love sometimes ;)

I also emailed an old high school friend, the one who told me about this program in the first place and got me thinking about it, with some practical questions. In my surfing for traveler's insurance, I came across the STA website. I'd been stressing a bit about booking these flights on my own since I might just try to cobble together three or four flight segments, without using a site like Orbitz - mostly because, by booking on the airline's actual site, you can get more flexibility and options if you have to change something, and also because it is sometimes cheaper. Booking separately would allow me to use my airline miles, too, for a segment of the trip. Those sites are incredibly handy for general research, though! Anyway, the point is that I might try to use STA for booking my flight, and might get an IYTC (like an ISIC), since I do still qualify. STA also offers to help you get a visa and find work, so I'm going to call them tomorrow and have a nice long chat!

It seems like things are starting to come together, at least a little bit!