A Very Lucky Girl

I'm sure most of you know by now that an F4 tornado ripped through the city of Moore, Oklahoma, approximately 15-20 miles south of me and my family yesterday afternoon. I feel almost guilty to have a safe family and an intact house. It's devastatingly hard to find words to cover such a tragedy. People have endless opinions and voice them without thinking (i.e. Westboro Baptist...) and right now words aren't the answer for Moore and the surrounding areas.  It has never been truer that Actions speak so much louder than any condolences. Prayer is important, don't discount that in what I'm saying. But words aren't going to  bring back the perished people. Words aren't going to clean up the damage.  If you're like me you might be broke as a joke. Kevin Durant just pledged 1 million dollars to the relief efforts, how am I supposed to compete with that?  But my measly $25 to the relief and restoration fund at Lifechurch  will certainly be something. And a...

I'm well into the second step of preparing to study abroad, which in my case is saving, saving, saving. I met with a study abroad advisor a few weeks ago to discuss destination options and we came up with three different ideas. Reading, England. Dundee, Scotland. Hertfordshire, England. I'm already in love with the idea and opportunities that Dundee has to offer. I still need to wade through the process of selecting which courses I could take that would match what OU offers for my major. The worst case scenario would be to come back from a life-changing journey, only to discover that my credits won't transfer. I am determined to graduate in 4 years, after all.  That is one daunting sheet of financial math. And unfortunately, I did all of my math right for once. So I have a question for all of those that have traveled and studied abroad. Is this an accurate assessment of cost? What would cut back on expenditures? Obviously, keeping outside travel to a minimum would s...