T-Minus 9 Days...

until South America!

I had a great week! I finally finished my thesis WOOHOO!!! I got it signed off by both Dr. Chau in Huntington Beach and Pytell at the university. I had really good talks with both about future plans and my upcoming trip, Dr. Chau gave me a little journal to use for notes and stuff which will come in really handy. Anyways, I printed my thesis on the official cotton paper, made 3 extra copies of it, and turned it into the university. As long as it all passes on final review, I should be heading up there next week to pay for the binding fees and I am 100% done with my masters degree!!

What else.. picked up my passport from the Brazil consulate and mailed it to the Surinamese embassy in DC in order to get their visa. I saw my old friend Josh from high school while I was in LA, I hadn't seen him in 2 years or so. Packed up most of my room and prepared most of the documents and stuff for my trip. Got a fleece sleeping bag and toiletries so I have basically everything I need. Also, I got my Colombian and Peruvian currency from my bank so I have some cash when I first get to these countries. I finished Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad; both were really good books. I am going to start The Jungle by Upton Sinclair next.

I have been having a really good time with my sister and niece, my niece cried yesterday when I left for work lol shes adorable. I only have two more days with them which is sad, but it has been a good visit. Yesterday we all went to Brendan's in palm desert and hung out which was a lot of fun.

Thats about it on my end. Things are good, starting to get ANXIOUS! Take care

Family from Illinois

My younger sister and niece are out visiting for about 13 days, I picked them up from the airport on Wednesday night. Madi (my niece) is adorable and as you can see loves playing xbox with her uncle! She is so ridiculously cute, it makes me sad they don't live closer and I know I am going to be sad when they leave.

I had a lot of fun in SD; played some tennis, hung out with my buddy and his girl who just moved to Point Loma, my other friend Mike, and got to have dinner with another friend who I haven't seen in a bit. It was a nice relaxing trip.

I heard back from AEON finally, didn't get offered a position. No big deal there, just glad to finally have heard back from them. I got my Yellow Fever vaccination tuesday, pick up my passport tomorrow with my brazil visa, and will mail it off to the Surinamese embassy for their visa. I finished the last books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, which was a great read, all 7 books. Now I am reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, which is really good and disturbing so far.

I got my waterproof shoes and money belt in the mail, checked both of those out and they should work perfect. My dad had a poncho too so I will be borrowing that. All in all the last purchase I need to make is a sleeping bag and as much as I hate walmart, I think i'll get it there just because they sell them so cheap.

Thesis is finally nearly done. I did a second review with the university and have met all university guidelines and standards for formatting which is nice. Yesterday I went through the pre-pages, chapter 1 and chapter 2 just editing it. I found about 8 sources in my document that weren't in my references, it appears that in all the different drafst, my reference list got out of touch. Just fixing some small spelling and grammer errors too. I am going to do Chapter 3 and 4 after I finish writing this.

Still waiting to hear back from Dr. Pytell, which is making me nervous, its only been a little over 2 weeks. However, I found out that I need to turn the cotton paper copies into the university by this upcoming thursday and I need to coordinate meeting with Dr. Chau in LA to get him to sign off on it. Hopefully he gets back to me by tonight or tomorrow..

Anyways, hope everyone is well; oh ya I wrote a second travel-related post on my other blog so go check it out!

Sunny San Diego

Hey all,

Hope everyone is doing just grand. Things are good here, just hanging out at work for another hour then heading down to San Diego. I haven't been down in a while, so it should be good fun: see some friends, play some tennis, maybe hit up the beach?

My little sister and niece will be here in 3 days, really stoked for that! I know my niece is going to look huge compared to a year ago (she's 1 and a half). Pretty exciting times this last week. I finally got my copies of the journal in which I got an article on arms control in West Africa published. Been doing more preparations for my trip, which includes buying a money belt, water proof walking/hiking shoes, testing out my backpack (passed with flying colors), finished buying the rest of my flights, and I dropped my visa off to get my Brazil visa. I need to go pick it up on August 23rd, then mail it off to get my Suriname visa. I still need to take care of my Yellow Fever Vaccination too. Talked to my main job and got the time off, still haven't notified my second boss yet I should probably get on that...

What else.. oh I rebooted my old travel blog http://worldswerver.livejournal.com/. Also, I listed it on the right side of this blog. That is the blog that I will be updating as I travel and to start it off, I am doing a series of posts on how to prepare for a trip. I still haven't heard back from AEON and its been 3.5 weeks, not sure if that is good or bad but it is what it is. OH! other good news: my thesis has been approved by Dr. Jones and Dr. Chau, so I am just waiting to hear back from Dr. Pytell and if he gives it the green light I am in the clear wahoo! Also, my dad got approved on his bid for a house, so he is a new homeowner! This means I need to pack all my crap up for him because he will be moving in October while I'm gone. It will be really weird to come home to a new house, but I am excited especially for him, he has waited a long time for this.

Well, thats about it. Don't forget to check the other blog for travel-related posts and information! 23 days and counting!

South America

Well, I finished my itinerary and travel map!

You can view the travel map here

And you can download my itinerary here.

Hope you enjoy!

Planning my great escape

Now that this trip has become a reality, I have gone into plan mode. Boy, I sure like to fit as much in as I can. I have a crazy ambitious itinerary and I hope I can fit everything in. Well I guess its my own fault for trying to see the whole continent in just two months. At some point, I would like to take a trip where I just go and meander at my own pace, that was the goal of this trip initially, but the bottom line is South America is just massive and there is no way to meander if I want to fit all I can in.

I have nearly completed an excel spreadsheet with all of my information as well as a travel map showing my journey. I'll post both of those when I finish (probably later today). Also, I am going to post a few blogs about how to plan for a large trip, what you need, what you should bring/do, etc. About time I put this blog to good use no?

At any rate, I emailed my thesis out to my committee and Dr. Jones, here is hoping there is not too much more that needs to be done. Still have not heard back from AEON, no big deal there as they said 2-3 weeks and it will be 3 weeks on this upcoming wednesday. My little sister and niece will be out for 2 weeks on August 18, really excited about that. I saw Inception last week, that movie is brilliant. I highly recommend everyone go see it, there is definitely something for everyone in it.

Oh and also, I am going to revive my old travel blog over at http://worldswerver.livejournal.com/ for this trip. I need to see if there is a way I can post pictures in the text like you can with Google blogger, otherwise I might have to make a new one or something. Anyways, I'll post those things a little later on tonight.

Los Angeles Dreams

I'm trying to come up with some catchy titles to mix things up, how do you like it? haha. Well, I am currently in Hollywood staying with my friend Matt. Last night we hung out with my friends Kendra and Stephanie for a bit, then hit up a couple bars down here.

Not too much new to report.... finished my last teaching class, got my first draft of my thesis back, oh and I am going to South America for 2 months... haha ok ok so maybe I do have a few new things to talk about. I fly out to Cartagena, Colombia on September 8 and fly home on November 4 from Bogota, Colombia. I'm really excited as I wanted to do this trip in the spring and it will by far be the longest trip I have ever taken. 2 whole months?!? its going to be amazing.

Yesterday, when I drove down to LA I bought Footprints' South America 2010 handbook, this is the 86th year they have done it and by all accounts is the best guide book for S. A. Now typically I just research where I am going and kinda write the things down I want to visit. However, the fact of the matter is I am going to be visiting roughly 10 countries with different languagues,visas, currencies, etc and it just made more sense to have 1 guidebook to have that knowledge. I still have been doing a lot of research and such, but this will be extremely useful to have on the ground.

Today I am just going to work on my thesis. I am finished with both Dr. Chau and Jones corrections for the first 2 chapters, about 2/3 of the way through the chapter 3 corrections, and haven't really started chapter 4. I worked on it the last 2 days as well and feel that if I work hard today and tomorrow I should be able to finish by tomorrow night. I met with Dr. Pytell tuesday and he seemed very relaxed and confident that I would finish, which makes me happy.

Aeon called both of my references, so I could potentially hear back from them between today and next wednesday. Got on a torrent program, so I got Rosetta Stone with 20 languages, about 20 cd's and about 7 movies in the last week lol.

So ya lots of planning to do, I need to get my brazillian and surinamese visas, figure out how much time I want to spend in each country and all that jazz. Hope everyone is good!