SUU Nursing Students in Brazil

 A word about travel dates.  We will be leaving on Tuesday, May 2 - which  means we will be arriving in Florianopolis on May 3.  If you choose to purchase a cheap ticket that takes you all around the world with multiple layovers, you may need to leave earlier than that in order to arrive on May 3.  The point is, you need to arrive in Florianopolis on May 3.  I don't care what time.  As long as everyone is there, having had a good night sleep, ready to go the morning of May 4.   We are planning to leave Florianopolis on May 11 and return to Home Sweet Home on May 12.  There will not be any activities planned on May 11.  You can take whichever flight you want.  The last activities we will have will be planned for May 10.   The Study Abroad office is not letting me, SheriDawn, and Sierra purchase our airline tickets until after January 15.  We will hopefully be getting them soon after that and we will let you know j...

 So the question is, what kind of clinical experiences will we have in Brazil? The answer is: It's a work in progress so I'm not completely sure.   I can tell you what I am working on.  I am fairly confident that we will be able to get these.  But some of it has to do with cooperation with other entities so I can't promise anything yet.  I should know more as the time gets closer. There are a couple issues.  One is that Florianopolis is not third world.  Some places are eager to get any kind of medical volunteers because the need is so great.  Floripa is not like that.  That makes it a little difficult.  The other is the language barrier.   I am planning some experiences with the nursing faculty and students of the program at the Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina.  That is one of the universities in Florianopolis.  I visited the faculty when I was there last spring and they were super nice and showed me all a...

 Okay.  SheriDawn and Sierra and I have been talking.  We think that there may be some room to take spouses/significant others.  Perhaps.  It all depends on how many people we have sign up for the trip.  If we get 20 people then there won't be any room for extras.  But if we get 10-19 people then we would probably have room.   A couple issues.   The cost of the trip fully applies to the spouse as well as the nursing student.  That means if there are two of you coming, the trip cost is $3041.00.  Also, if the spouse/significant other is not an SUU student, they will need to pay an extra $200 fee to the Study Abroad office.   You also need to consider what they will do on the trip.  We will be doing some clinical nursing activities which they may or may not be able to participate in.  They probably would not be able to participate in the lab simulation but they would (probably) be able to participate in t...

 This whole post is about getting a passport.   YOU NEED A PASSPORT.  THE END. Do not put it off.  The government is taking a long time to do things these days and I do not want you to be left out because you put off getting it until April.   Have I used enough italics in this post?   I think so.  Get your passport.

The application for the trip is live!  Please visit  https://www.suu.edu/studyabroad/programs/ to sign up. Their website is a little weird, you have to search for the program.  Under SUBJECT, enter "Nursing" and then under COUNTRY, enter "Brazil" and then it should pull it up as the first option. The deadline to sign up is January 15.  When you apply, you are required to pay $300 (so we know you are serious about going) which gets applied to the cost of the trip.   SheriDawn and Sierra and I met today to talk about the trip.  We are so excited and can't wait to see who signs up!

 Okay, let's get down to the nitty gritty.  How much is this trip going to cost?? Well, that depends.  The trip is listed by the Office of Learning Abroad as costing $1520.50.  However, there are a few caveats to that. Numero Um.  The more students we get to come, the less the cost will be that you have to actually pay.  There are certain fixed costs to the trip, and the more students who are paying for those, the less the trip is for each individual student.  Right now, the trip costs are based on ten students coming.  If we have less than ten students sign up, it is doubtful - although not impossible - that we will be able to go.  For every students over ten that goes, however, the cost goes down.  The maximum number of students that can sign up is twenty.  If we have twenty students, the cost will go down for each student by a few hundred dollars. ****INSERT*****  Okay the Study Abroad office says that this is incorrect inf...

 I just became aware that SUU publishes a journal every year called The Global Review.  I'm not sure how this has escaped my attention until now.  I encourage you to go to the website listed below and read it their latest issue.  It's great.  It makes me all excited to do our own trip.  I've never participated in a student trip like this, much less led one, and I am nervous.  Reading The Global Review calms those nerves. When we are on our trip, I am going to have you participate in writing some reflection pieces.  I will do them as well.  Journaling on a trip is always a valuable experience.  I am a huge journaler.  Whenever I go on what I think will be an important trip, I get a separate book and keep a journal of the trip aside from my regular journal.  I really like to read those trip journals and relive my experiences.  So be prepared, there will be some enforced journaling during our trip.  I am going to try to ...