Time's up!

Deadlines are both a very good and very bad thing. A deadline is a great way to let you budget your time wisely and prepare, yet impending deadlines are terrifying things that can cause a lot of stress.

I'd like to think I'm usually pretty good with deadlines. I get things done ahead of time, and make sure I'm not pulling all-nighters. I don't wait around until the very end.
Yet currently I've got a few big decisions to make that I'm definitely still deciding on and have been for awhile now. There are also some deadlines that are a bit out of my control.

One of the biggest deadlines approaching is the end of the school year. I've got about 48 days left until the end of the school year, and that's both a good and bad thing. I'm excited to move out of my apartment, and already thinking about when I'm moving things. I'm thinking hopefully by deadweek I'll only have my bed, some clothes and food in the apartment. Plus, I'm excited to not think about assignments or exams.
With summer brings the upcoming need for a job. I've been applying for jobs since January (which is how I got this internship), but I still haven't gotten anything that I could do for the summer. Plus, wherever I get a job is where I'm going to live. If I get a job here, my sister said I could stay at her place during the summer because her lease is full year. If I get a job at home, I won't have to pay rent though. The biggest problem is just having a job.

The current reason for the job search (other than, y'know, being a good thing to have) has to do with studying abroad, where my other big deadlines lay. The two big decisions that have been looming are:

• Where I'm living
• When I'm leaving

I would love to stay in independent housing. You're in the city where you want to explore. With homestay, you're 45-75 minutes out of the city. However, I found out that independent housing is about $6500 more. Yeah.
Yes, my parents are helping me out a bit, but even then I don't think it's enough to cover it. If they weren't helping me, I'd still need $3000 for basic program costs. Use that money for exploring? Or use it to live where I want to live?

That connects with my other issue: when I'm leaving. Some advice that I've been given is to travel around while I'm over there, possibly going early or staying later. If I go earlier, it'll be sunnier, but I feel like I'll have less of a grasp of what I'm doing. If I stay later it'll be cold and wet, but I'll be able to meet up with people more easily/know what I'm doing. Plus, I need money to travel around. Which will be easier with a homestay but... See? It's one big crazy circle.

Luckily, I have a mandatory meeting for the program on Monday, so hopefully that'll clear some stuff up. It's with other people who are going to be there, so maybe I'll get to know what they are doing.

Trying something new today. Going to try running after dinner. Yeah. I don't know how this is going to work. I was just super hungry! Geez, I've been hungry all of the time lately.

Do you have any upcoming deadlines?