First Post!

          Hello everyone!  Well, I'll start off by letting you know who I am!  My name is Colin Gran, and I live in Hutchinson, MN.  I am a sophomore at Hutchinson High School, and am active in groups such as Business Professionals of America, although most of my time is devoted to the AP US History class i'm in right now... Haha!  The point of my blog is to inform you readers about the wonderful craziness of studying abroad in Italy through AFS.  My specific program will send me to Italy for 5 months in 2015, (January-July), where I will live with a host family, and attend one of the many different high schools.  My hope is that this experience will change my view of the world, and open my eyes to a new, fascinating culture different than my own.  Eventually, I will take these experiences and use them to my advantage in a possible global business venture, but that's just an idea :).  My goal in life is to be able to be in a position where I can better my community, and give back to the people that help me get to where I will be.  If this experience will help me get to that position, than I will stop at nothing to make it happen.

          Here's the problem though, I will probably sound fairly familiar...money.  The full price tuition of the program is $12,750.  I am hoping, though, through scholarships and financial aid, that it will be closer to $5-$6000.  My family, at risk of over-sharing, is lower middle class, and cannot pay for the tuition without the help of others through fundraising and scholarships.  I plan to have several different fundraising options planned out for the next year, this blog being one of them.  I have toyed around with the idea of having an Italy themed fundraising dinner at some point, but no concrete plans have been made yet.  On top of this, I hold a part-time position at Shopko, and while this will help, it will not nearly cover all of the tuition.

          So where do you play into this?  Well, this blog is provided to you by AFS as a fundraising tool designed for students, like me, to gain funds that go directly towards the tuition.  Although i'm not quite sure how it works yet, there is a donation button on the page where you can give your secure, non-tax deductible donation. I would greatly appreciate any financial help, but feel free to simply follow along on this long journey to Italy.

          To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non-tax deductible contribution directly towards my AFS program account.

Update:  I do not have the Donate Now widget set up yet, so if you would like to donate, please visit my GoFundMe page.  Eventually I will have the widget set up, so if you would like to wait, it is still greatly appreciated.
http://www.gofundme.com/sendmetoitaly