When I woke up on Saturday, I was lying there thinking about what this next year is going to be like, and of course, that includes AFS. I felt the urge to check the site to see if I could start applying, so I did. When I saw that it was available, I wanted to start applying right there, but I figured I should probably shower first.... You know what they say, don't apply dirty. (they don't think they actually say that...)
So I stated my preliminary application, which was simply your basic information, your parent's basic information, and program preference. I filled all of the boring stuff out, then got to the bottom where it asked about your top 3 programs. I filled in Italy for the first one (duh), but I could not decide what to put for my second and third choice. I have never really thought about going anywhere else other than Italy. After some thinking, I decided to put New Zealand, as my second choice. Why you ask? Have you ever seen New Zealand? WOW. I'll put a picture on here, it's amazing.
For my third choice, I really had no idea what to put. My options were Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Ghana, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, and Russia. Last trimester, I took a Holocaust Studies class, and in turn learned a lot about central European countries, one of which being Austria. So that is what I decided to put, Austria. It is close to everything in Europe, and me being a history lover, I will love seeing all of the WWII stuff. I'll put a picture of Austria below as well.Of course, these are simply back up programs. With me starting literally as early as possible on the Italy application, I don't think being accepted will be a problem.
After I submitted my preliminary application, I received an email about where to go from there. It basically just told me where to go to do my application, and what else the site offers for me. It also mentioned setting up a mandatory in-home interview. I have known about this, but never actually thought about doing it. Everything has become so real. ANYWAY, I was told to email the leader of the AFS chapter in Minnesota. It was actually kinda funny, because when I first started looking into AFS back in March, I had been in contact with him. I emailed him to set up the interview, and he seemed to remember me, which was cool. He is going to do the interview himself in a couple of weeks. I'm really excited!
The application is HUGE. I'll post a screenshot of the page below, so you can see what kind of hell i'm in for the next couple of weeks. Because of my eagerness, I have already finished everything that I can do alone! Written my letter to my host family was really cool. I have no idea who they are, but felt like I was writing to someone that I do know. I printed of about 17 pages of forms that have to be filled out by certain people, and hope to get them done by the end of this week. I really want to submit this application.... ugh.
Also, last week I finally applied for a passport! I had to drive 15 miles to Glencoe to get it, twice, in terrible Minnesota winter weather. But hey, I got it.
I guess that kinda wraps it up. I'm sure the next few day/weeks will be very eventful, so I'll try to post as much as I can.
http://www.gofundme.com/2l4m2c
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