Getting Ready to Go

As a student, getting ready to go on a Study Abroad program is full of following other people's directions. I get periodic emails from the Center for International Study which are helpful, and today they sent out an "online orientation" which had three parts. The first part was on Culture Shock, the second part was on Health and Safety, and the third part was specific information about Ireland. It is all very general, but the little quizzes and one screen pages made it easy to navigate and quasi-interactive. I thought the online orientation was quite a good idea, especially for students who might not know about culture shock and who don't know (!?) that having sex with strangers while drunk is not a good idea. I have much more specific information that I would like to know like how do classes work, will I get the classes I want, and who will I be living with, but it would appear that these more specific issues are covered in the orientation once one gets there. As a confirmed Control Freak and Obsessive Planner, I'm annoyed at the level of Mystery surrounding certain specifics, but I also understand how Chillin' is a good quality to cultivate at this point. I soothed my planning OCD by reading that the dorms give a person a duvet but no pillows or linens and promptly going online to Campmor to order a lovely Egyptian cotton sleeping bag liner and large compressible Slumberjack pillow, both under 16 ounces, mind you. So I can deal with the requisite ambiguity if I know I have soft cozy sheets and a comfy pillow.