Steps to Studying Abroad

Getting ready to study abroad has been exciting, stressful, time consuming, money consuming, and most of all exciting! So I thought I would just go through the process of all the things you have to do to study abroad.....
Step 1: Pick a country......For me it was between Italy and Australia. Italy won because it was cheaper.
Step 2: Pick a program and organization.....research the program find out what classes they have and if those are the classes you want/need. So I picked Viterbo, Italy through USAC because I liked the classes they offered. I don't need any of them at all.
Step 3: Apply......easier said than done. So the application I filled out was the easiest part, but then I had to get my transcripts from both colleges I went to; so MCC and Rio Salado(which they are only official if not opened but my dad opened the one from MCC so I had to order another one, which everytime it costs $5), write an essay about why I want to study abroad and what it would mean to me and also give them $300 which if you didn't get in they only give $200 back and keep $100 for themselves. I know totally messed up right?
Step 4:Wait.....It takes 2-3 weeks to find out if you have been accepted or not. It took mine 2 weeks and of course I got accepted. And I got all this information and what the next steps were that I needed to do.
Step 5: Apply to a university......so your credits will transfer. My USAC organization told me to apply to University of Idaho which is totally random. Well then I had to figure out if I was applying as a degree seeking student or a non-degree seeking student. Well this all depends on if you are getting financial aid through the school or not. So I was planning on it so I applied as degree seeking which meant I had to order more transcripts.
Step 6: Wait....again.....I had to wait to get accepted to University of Idaho before I could go any further with my process. So this took about a week I think to hear back and yes once again I got accepted.
Step 7: Get financial aid.......so this was a whole other process in itself, fill out a fafsa, talk to the financial aid office at U of I, send them paper work of some kind.....get approved for financial aid.
Step 8: Buy your airplane ticket.....I think this was the easiest part.
Step 9: Apply for a visa......this might have been the most stressful of all! First thing is first fill out application(which I did wrong and had to re-do thanks to my bff Cassie who likes to read the fine print) Next get ten million papers that I had to fill out notarized. Get a statement from your bank saying you have enough money to make it over in Europe for 5 months.(I did this wrong and had to re-do as well) Then, make copies of everything including my passport which I left at kinko's for like 3 hours(I think I almost started crying from being so frustrated and mad at myself). Next get visa photos where you look like a criminal, no facial expressions all face features must be showing and then glue those onto the visa applications. Finally make sure you have the exact envelope they told you to get and make sure everything is in the correct order and mail it off. Oh and your original passport goes with it. (which you know is just a little scary)
Step 10: Pay $800 to secure your spot.......This was not stressful for me, my parents took care of it for me. So I take what I said on step 8 back, this was the easiest part.
Step 11: Wait ever so patiently......I have to wait until December to find out if I got approved for a visa and I have to wait until January to go to Italy and get my financial aid from U of I.
So there you have it my million and one things to do before I even get to live in Italy!