Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a great Summer :)
Well, my application is almost finished!! I have a doctor's appointment left (I need my blood type and a TB test) and also I have to get an in-home interview from an AFS volunteer...I'm pretty sure that it will help with choosing a host family for me, so I'm not nervous about that! :) Oh and I also have to pay the $900 deposit, but I already have that money so that's going to be a breeze.
Next, I'm going to apply for the scholarships that AFS is offering. There are 3 (2 half, 1 full) and they are merit-based and need-based. I'm really praying that I can get one because student exchange is not cheap!! Wish me luck.
I'm also praying that I get Japan. If it fills up early that would suck, but I sent in my application the first time super early and all the volunteers keep praising me for that so I think I'm good. I'm just really excited and grateful to have this opportunity.
Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a great Summer :)
Well, my application is almost finished!! I have a doctor's appointment left (I need my blood type and a TB test) and also I have to get an in-home interview from an AFS volunteer...I'm pretty sure that it will help with choosing a host family for me, so I'm not nervous about that! :) Oh and I also have to pay the $900 deposit, but I already have that money so that's going to be a breeze.
Next, I'm going to apply for the scholarships that AFS is offering. There are 3 (2 half, 1 full) and they are merit-based and need-based. I'm really praying that I can get one because student exchange is not cheap!! Wish me luck.
I'm also praying that I get Japan. If it fills up early that would suck, but I sent in my application the first time super early and all the volunteers keep praising me for that so I think I'm good. I'm just really excited and grateful to have this opportunity.
For those of you that haven't talked to me much about Japan, want to know more about it, or don't know me personally:
An article about me in my local newspaper: http://www.thenorthernlight.com/news/article.exm/2014-01-22_funabashi_exchange_inspires_student_to_travel_abroad
About me!!:
I plan to teach ESL or be a liaison/ambassador for the U.S. in Japan when I am older, so I want to start following my dreams now.
I believe that world peace can only happen through understanding each other's cultural and personal differences. We can help by traveling. Not as tourists, but as learners. I want to help make this dream of mine come true by breaking stereotypes and overcoming language and cultural barriers. That's only one of the reasons why I want to study abroad in Japan.
I also want to go to Japan because I'm extremely interested in foreign language and culture, and Japanese is my favorite language. I've been to Japan before and I lived with a Japanese host family for ten days in February of 2013. The Blaine High School wind ensemble went to Funabashi, Chiba (A large city next to Tokyo) to perform in the Funabashi Music Festival (dubbed "the festival of a thousand people") as the foreign guests. It was actually the fourth time that our band had gone, but since I was a freshman at the time it was my first!
I've traveled a lot in my life, but mostly to tropical places such as the Caribbean or Hawaii. And of course I've been to Canada since I literally live so close I could throw a rock over the border, but this adventure to Japan was my first time out of North America. And it was amazing.
Some pictures of my trip:
^ My good friend Yurika and I (She's from Soshin Gakuin, a Christian girls school we visited and played at in Yokohama. They came to Blaine to visit us in March of 2013!)
^ Playing my flute on Tokyo TV
^ Hanging out with other students in Tokyo Disneyland!
My whole life, I've always loved Japanese culture. My dad lived all over Asia for a year while he was in college as part of a study abroad trip, following Buddhism from the spread to the source. He taught me to use chopsticks and to say "konnichiwa" and "arigatou" and "hai!" from before age 5. He also taught me to love Japanese food :)
In April 2012, when I auditioned for the Blaine High School wind ensemble and made it in, I found out that we were going to go to Japan and I was overjoyed! It was too good to be true, I thought. When I went to Funabashi, I never once wanted to leave, and I was heartbroken when it came time to step on a plane and go home to my tiny town of Blaine. But then I realized I had to go back and find myself, so I decided to move to Japan as an exchange student in order to better immerse and surround myself with their culture, language, and people, among other things!
And there you have it! Hopefully I'll hear from you in the future. Ask me any questions you have, please!
