How to move around the world...

Some people have asked me if I'm ready to go.  Well, that's a loaded question...

To get to this point, I needed a "team" of professors at the University of Otago who agreed to see me through my dissertation.  We worked together to develop my research proposal.  After the proposal was approved by a committee, I then had to be accepted by the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine and accepted by the University of Otago.

It's all fine and dandy to get accepted into school (this was my first acceptance after 20-something applications, so you'd think I'd be psyched), but I needed $$.  I turned to the U.S. Department of Education, batted my eyelashes, signed on a couple  electronic dotted lines and voila! I had access to student loans.

That's not all that's involved in moving to New Zealand to pursue a PhD. No way, Jose.  Before I could submit my application for a student visa, I had to have a medical exam.  Apparently, they don't care much for folks who bring TB and syphilis into the country.  After having a little bit of blood drawn, nearly fainting twice in the lab hallway, and sipping down two juice boxes, I proved that I am squeaky clean.

It didn't take long for my visa to arrive (maybe 2-3 weeks?) after I "lodged" it and then I found accommodations on campus.  I'll live in the postgraduate dorms for a year and then move off campus  after that.

That's the big stuff.

I'm currently in the process of figuring out what the heck to pack.  My road bike is a must.  I can use it to explore New Zealand on rides and I can race (Hellloooo Ironman New Zealand 2014!).  Besides that, I need to start figuring out what clothes to bring.  It worries me just a smidge that everyone suggests (okay, they strongly suggest) that I bring warm clothes.  Other musts will be the laptop and camera.  Everything else is just nice to have.  I think.  A lot of websites offer advice to study abroad students who will be back home in three months, not three years.

I'm also starting to say my goodbyes.  A few weeks ago, I wrapped up my last shift as a pharmacy technician at Binghamton General Hospital.  This past weekend, I trekked six hours to visit college friends in Massachusetts.  Tonight, I enjoyed a heated game of trivia as my farewell party with my awesome coworkers from the Broome County Office for Aging.  Tomorrow, I will teach my last private swim lesson.  I'm working at my full-time job until the 17th, so my evenings will be busy visiting local family and friends.

I'll continue looking for loose ends that I should tie up, like my cell phone plan, alerting my credit card company that I'm going overseas and anything else that I notice.  In reality, I only need to worry about things that I absolutely cannot get over there before my next trip home.  There are very few things that I can't live without in New Zealand (road bike) which makes packing way easier.

New York to New Zealand

I'm a little surprised that so many people have no idea where New Zealand is.  I'm a little more surprised that they think it's a tropical paradise like Hawaii.  So, to help those who are geographically challenged, I present to you... a map.

According to www.geobytes.com, it is 9,233 miles (14,857 kilometers) between Binghamton, New York (home) and Dunedin, New Zealand (school).  According to my flight itinerary, it's going to take 30 hours to get there.  I forgot to mention that I really, really don't like to fly. 

How did this happen?!

I am moving to Dunedin, New Zealand in less than three weeks.  It wasn't on my bucket list.  I didn't have a crazy dream telling me to go to New Zealand. Nothing like that...

In fall 2004, I started applying to PhD programs.  I was a psychology student and saw myself working with people who needed help getting healthier.  My vision of the ideal career was fuzzy, but I thought by becoming a psychologist I could gain useful skills for counseling people to better physical health and well-being.

By early 2010, I had completed a masters degree in nutrition, submitted well over 20 applications to doctoral programs, interviewed at one school, and found myself on the wait list at two schools.  Each year between 2004 and 2010 lead to multiple letters of rejection, but also pushed me to explore new options for next year. 

That summer, I decided to contact a researcher to inquire if she would be accepting a student for the next fall; she developed the intuitive eating questionnaire I used for my master's thesis research and I thought she'd still be researching the topic.  "No," was the response, "but I know someone in New Zealand who is conducting similar research."  Not being a shy gal, I emailed the professor in New Zealand.  My background in psychology and nutrition complemented the work they had begun on middle-aged women's eating behavior and she was willing to discuss the possibility of me coming to New Zealand to study nutrition at the University of Otago.

In 2011, I interviewed at a program in North Carolina for the second time, found myself on the wait list there and at another school and finally received what I came to refer to as the "Thanks, But No Thanks" letters.  Game on.  The next several months were spent putting together a research proposal, applying to the University, securing funding and obtaining a visa.  Once the visa arrived, I booked a flight that afternoon.

And now you have the short version of how this adventure began.