Japan Application Sent In! Multiple Times! xP

Yea! I sent in my full and complete application for my Japan trip this summer!! Then I got it back with all of the stuff missing xP But I have now sent it in again after collecting the MIA information, and am under the pretense that everything is under way! Give it a week or so and I'll probably get it back again, but oh well, power to the hopeful! xP So now my major task is to get on my fund-raising. I'm a little (or a lot) lacking in self motivation for that part. I have to send out an email blast asking for donations of $5 or so. Get my paypal widget to put on my blog here, and take pictures of my bracelets and get on selling those. Wish me luck on getting motivated!!

Wisdom Teeth. . .

It's winter break! Yay! Or not. I got to get my wisdom teeth out this wonderful break, and let me tell you, I was not thrilled to get them out at all. It actually didn't end up being as bad as I thought though. I got to spend like five days laying on the couch in my family room (living room) and watch chic flicks with my mom 24/7. The worst part was only being able to eat soft foods. At first glance people would think that's great because you get all the ice cream your little heart desires. But that gets tiring really fast, especially when everyone else is eating normal, yummy smelling food. Oh well though. I've made it through and gone back to the dentist so I could get my stitches checked, and all is well! Plus he told me I can eat whatever I want now. . .FREEDOM!!!

I'm Almost There!

Well sort of, or not really. I am getting pretty close to making a dent in my 'Stuff to do for AFS' list. I'm really close to getting to send in my application as well as my scholarship acceptance letter. That will make me going to Japan this summer pretty concrete. All I have left to do is to go get my blood type done, cuz can you believe it? Pretty much nothing on file has it, not even your birth certificate. Way to think things through everyone in charge of that. . . But I'll be getting my blood test done before January so I should have everything sent in before then too. I'm starting to get excited and I've been plowing through my Japanese program with Rosetta Stone, though I still don't think I'm going to get into a language class other than 'beginners'. That's alright though because I feel like I'm going to learn more from living with my host family than going to classes. Well that's all for now on this lovely(not really) snowy/rainy evening. I'll post again soon!

In Case You Were Wondering, or maybe just confused

So if anyone out there noticed that my post made sort of no sense at one point due to the unannounced arrival of the word 'synch'; congratulations! You just got a sneak peak at how special I am :P That word was actually supposed to be 'sync'. I'll do my best to watch out for those special typos in the future!

Type at you in the future!

Megan

In Case You Were Wondering

When my friend Sophie and I started talking about our big idea to go to Japan for a semester I don't think many people took us seriously. But our moms did. Sophie's mom helped us find several exchange programs to look into. Sophie and I both decided that it would be better to do a summer program so that we didn't fall out of synch with our school work and the dreaded Regents tests. We decided that we both liked the AFS summer program because it is 6 weeks long. Once we had our first chat with our AFS interviewer, Happy, - yeah, that's her real name - it was time to talk to my dad.

My dad still doesn't really get why I'm into this program. He's more into sports. But he didn't say, "No", so that's pretty much, "Yes", in my book. I think getting past my dad was my biggest challenge – or it was until we got the price of the trip. Now my next big challenge is raising the money.

My brothers are excited for me to go, pretty much so that I can bring them some cool stuff from Japan. My sister thinks it's really awesome, but a little scary too.

My mom is probably my biggest fan. She has been helping me get all the forms and the application filled out. She helped me think of fund raising ideas. And she's making sure I work on my Japanese lessons. Woot.

Wish me luck on my lessons and fund raising.

Post at ya later!

Meg

Show Me The Money!

OMG! We just found out how much my trip to Japan is going to cost – sort of. The AFS part is $8,300. That doesn't include my airfare to and from LA or the hotel I'm going to need for one night on each end of the trip. It also doesn't include any spending money – and AFS said that Japan is one of the more costly places. Ouch. Looks like I'm going to need $10,000. YIKES! That's a LOT of Money.

So the key word here is FUNDRAISING! I put posters up in my community offering my awesome babysitting skills at $7/hr for one child. Yeah. That's a lot of babysitting time. My other BIG IDEA is to ask for a small donation to my trip – say $5. And for every $5 donation I've got a Thank You gift that my mom and I designed. It's a bright orange rubber bracelet with my fundraising slogan on the front.

My fund raising slogan is "Increase Peace" because AFS is all about global relations and peace. I wanted people who are kind enough to help me get to Japan to have something that would remind them of AFS and of me! So the front says "Increase Peace" and the back says "Megan Rocks Japan 2010". Do you want one? All you have to do is send me $5 toward my tuition goal and I will mail you a bracelet.

Here's my address:

Megan Crane

838 Charlton Road

Charlton NY 12019

Tell all your friends! And thanks!

Hi, It’s Megan!

Hi, my name is Megan Crane. I'm 16 years old and I plan to go abroad with AFS to Japan in June 2010. I chose AFS over the other programs because it offers a variety of trips. I'm going on a 6 week summer trip so that it doesn't interfere with school. I really liked being able to stay for 6 weeks instead of other shorter programs.

I picked Japan because I've always been interested in the language and culture. I really like Japanese animation too. I've been studying Japanese with Rosetta Stone. It's cool but I am sure I will learn so much more when I go.

Living with a host family in Japan will give me a real idea of how people live in another country. I hope I will make lots of friends there and be able to stay in touch with them forever. I also want to represent AFS and the United States responsibly, by being a good guest, respectful of the differences between us.

I plan to bring back the knowledge I've learned from my trip and educate people back home. I have talked to my school administration about giving a school assembly next year to show everyone what an awesome experience I had. I hope that by being an AFSer I can encourage other students to become AFSers in the future.

I am also going to talk with my community library about placing a display in the lobby about AFS and my experience. I hope my display will be another way to educate the community about Japanese culture.

Perhaps educating people about AFS will encourage others to get into exchange programs and build better relationships around the world.