Ever
since I can remember, I've known what I wanted to do. When I was little, all I
wanted was to be a teacher. I played school every day, and made endless plans
on how I would pay my way through college. (My mom still talks about my plans
to open my own beauty salon to earn the money to make it through Harvard.) Then
it became a lawyer. I decided I would defend the people--representing those who
needed it the most. After I moved past that, I wanted to be "pediatrician
that specialized in neurology." I would earn my undergraduate degree from
Dartmouth or Princeton, then go to medical school at Johns Hopkins, after which
I would join the Peace Corps. and work in Africa. Today, I couldn't tell you
exactly what I want to do in the way that I could when I was younger. I'm
pretty sure that I don't want to go Ivy League, and I can't see myself becoming
a doctor. Some days I want to be a Diplomat, or a UN Peace Keeper. Other days I
want to dedicate my entire life to relief work. It changes, but one thing has
always remained consistent: My desire to help people, and the goal of becoming
a valued citizen of a global community.
That's
a phrase I use a lot... "Valued citizen of a global community." In
general, I think there's a huge disconnect between cultures. People understand
the terrible things that happen in developing nations because of religious or political differences, or how awesome the
chocolate is from certain parts of Europe. But we don't get it. We understand
that in Italy, family is a huge deal. But we don't get it! Unless we're
Italians, or have been Italians, we can't possibly fully understand Italian
culture. And how could we be expected to? Italy is literally more than four
thousand miles away! We can't just walk there and see, and consequentially,
most of us won't ever make it. Even from this place I sit in Northeastern Ohio,
I can't really fathom the complexity and diversity of the world.
But
I want to be a student of that diversity, and I want to start now.
All
throughout Middle School, I had this idea in the back of my mind about studying
abroad. I didn't have a plan; I didn't know where I wanted to go. It wasn't
like my ideas as a little girl--it was in the back of my mind, simmering on the
back of the stove. When I started my freshman year of High School, I thought
that I wanted to go to Spain or Italy. Then, in the winter, I was messing
around on the internet, probably on Tumblr, and I saw a picture of Aurland,
Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, and it all made so much sense. My junior year, I
would go to Norway. I read about the history of Norway, and I looked at
pictures of Norway daily. When I started working last spring, I saved as much
as I could get away with, and became far more frugal than I ever have been. Last
summer, I bought a huge mason jar, and implored my friends to dump their loose
change into what I dubbed "My Norway Fund," when they came by my
house. (Big thanks to Eleni, who faithfully added change, as well as my Big
Homie, Kenny, who always gave me the change leftover from his Snapple
purchases, and my brother Victor, who oddly enough have a collection of pennies
that he gave me.) I saw connections to Norway everywhere, and I credited it to
karmic synergy (which is pretty similar to the concept of "destiny,"
but really has to be explained in person).
Then,
my mom gave me a copy of "I Was A Teenage Norwegian." In the book,
Peter Dublin writes about his journey has a foreign exchange student to Norway.
Between the things written in the book, and the things my brother's Swedish
friend who came to stay with us for several weeks this summer told me, I
realized: I don't want to be Norwegian. I do want to see Norway, and I will,
one day. I'm interested in the history, and I will read about it. I want to take
a trip to Norway, I don't want to make a move there. So I was without a country
I wanted to go to anymore.
In
Middle School, everyone took Spanish for a third of the year in seventh, and
half the year in eighth. I liked Spanish a lot. I was in the Spanish club, and
I enjoyed trying (and failing) to speak with my teacher in seventh grade, Mrs.
Soto. So in High School, I selected to take Spanish. But in order to have Mr.
Russell for history(if you aren't familiar with who Mr. Russell is, I can explain
is briefly by saying "the best"), I had to take French. I
compromised. And I realized that I really love French. (On an interesting side
note, this year, because I'm taking French II, I can't take Mr. Russell's
African American History class. Isn't that something...)
When
the Norway thing fell apart, I concluded I would go to France or Belgium, or
somewhere I could speak French. After conversations with my mom and friends, I
also concluded that I would leave for France, the second semester of sophomore
year. That was it. I started my application, and the Norway Fund was renamed the "No Way" Fund.
Fortunately,
however, I missed the application deadline.
I'm
absolutely positive now that a full year in Belgium is what I what I want to
do. I'll learn French, eat fries and live in a country with a monarchy. (A
really cool monarchy, too! If you haven't read my About Me, I love monarchies.
Fully aware of how weird that is.) I'm not going to go for only a semester, and
come home with having had half the experience. I'm going to do my exchange
100%.
When
my AFS interviewer came, she expressed concern that my expectations for my trip
were too large. I think that most of the reason for this is my "becoming a
citizen of a global community" thing, and it's true, I do want that. But I
don't expect this to suddenly happen while I'm in Belgium. I want Belgium to be
the first step towards a life of working towards it. A lot of the reason why I
want to go to Belgium is because I'm a little bit antsy. I've been in
essentially the same spot for sixteen years, and I don't want my legs to fall
asleep. I want to go, and have fun, and meet new people, and learn a new
language, and eat new foods, and celebrate holidays differently, and see
different trees every day than the maple right next to my house! I expect
Belgium to be enlightening and changing, but I also expect it to be challenging
and frustrating, and I know I'll be sad there sometimes, and mad, or happy. But
I want to go and be challenged, and frustrated, and happy and mad and sad.
Honestly,
I do think I have the necessary qualities to become a successful foreign
exchange. I think I'm good at going with the flow. I'm opinionated, and I have
a strong personality, but I'm still flexible. I'm also confident, and
fairly outgoing. I've had a year and a half of French, and I'm always trying to
speak French with my mom (who is fluent) and trying to learn. I'm enthusiastic,
and I'm a tryer. Even if I'm not sure, I'll try it.
I'm
several steps away from submitting my App, paying the application fee, and
passing the point of no return. When I do, I'm going to start fundraising like
crazy. I promised myself that I won't let money be the reason I can't go, but
I'm going to need everyone's help!
Thank
you so much for reading :)
Sincerely,
Julia
