Counting Down the Days

I came home from the interview very confident. I felt I had interacted well, while also proving to him that I really wanted this. They had told us it would be about 10-14 days, but not to panic if it wasn't there on the 14th day. Of course you tend to think there is a very small chance it will be there early, so I started stalking the mailman on the 7th day. The days were long, and they only got longer when I didn't find the letter in that day's mail. Saturdays were the worst, because when it didn't come then I knew I had to wait until Monday. Then came Thankgiving, taking away yet another mail day.

Finally the big day came. It was two days past the two weeks, but I'm sure the holiday had something to do with that. The big envelope with the Mickey ears on it stood out very clearly in the mailbox. I assumed a packet so big could not possibly tell me I wasn't accepted. I opened it to find out I was accepted, that I would be a lifeguard, and that my program would run from February 8 until May 25. The arrival date was later than they had originally told us, but either way, I was headed to Florida.

After filling out all of the necessary paperwork, it was time to prepare. I had two months, but I had a lot of work to do. I started by contacting as many professors I could who might consider giving me credit. I also sought independent study. I found a Politcal Science professor willing to sponsor an independent study for me for four credits. This was great news, considering I only had to read selected books and write papers on each one. The more I wrote, the better my grade. I was also lucky enough to find a Business Studies professor who felt the program was worth two credit hours, if I included a 10-15 page paper on a business topic at the end. This was perfect, considering I now had my six credits needed to avoid financial aid troubles, and I also avoided taking too much work with me.

Medical insurance was still an issue. Many phone calls to the company did no good at all. It didn't matter that it was an educational internship, they wanted 12 credits. My parents were very concerned, and we spent a lot of time discussing it. I found out from some alumni that they too had trouble with insurance. It turns out that many of them took their chances while down there with no coverage. My parents finally agreed to let me go, but warned me that I would have to be very careful while down there.

Once I completed the fall semester I could think of nothing but February 8. I decided to pick up an extra job to pass the time, and to earn some extra money for the spring. I think the one thing that kept me sane in December and January was a message board created by another Spring 2000 CP Ronnie. She spread the word, and before we knew it, there were at least ten new messages being posted each day. We tried to help each other with different questions, and some great alumni even offered us their expertice.

Some of us became rather good friends, even though we had never met before. We would meet in the chat room several nights a week, and I sometimes found myself chatting with them most of the night. Everyone updated each other on their countdowns for each individual arrival date. It was great having them to share my excitement with, considering my friends weren't going and that made it tough to talk to them about it much.

As January came the message board slowed down since many people were starting their programs. My arrival date was the very last one, so again time moved slow. But the extra time did allow me to make more money before leaving.

My friends from the message board and I planned dinner at Rainforest Cafe on February 8. I even made plans with a guy named Jeremy from Chicago to meet before checking in. Since we had the same check-in date and room preferences, we thought it might be possible to room together.

I began the long task of packing everything I would need for the next four months. I was lucky enough to be driving my car down, so I could pretty much bring anything I wanted. This included my TV, VCR, stereo, computer, and more. Now it was just a matter of waiting for February 6 to come, and I would be on my way.