I have a host family?

Verlaine, Belgium. An hour from Brussels and thirty minutes from Liege.

The funniest thing is, it's exactly what I wanted. I hoped, in the back of my mind, that I'd be placed near enough to Brussels that I could visit it multiple times, but I would still be in the French part of the country. And Liege, is the first city in Wallonia that I ever read about, and the one that convinced me I'd be applying to the right place. It's karmic synergy. It re-convinces me I'm headed to the right place.

Everyone I sell cookies to or tell about my exchange says to me, "Belgium! Where are you going to be?" And all I can say is, "I'm not sure yet - but I do know I'll be in Wallonia, the French region."

Now I can finally tell people everything.

I have my flights, and my host family, and I'm well on the way to making enough money.

Everything just makes this feel realer and realer, and it's absolutely terrifying and unbelievably thrilling.

Travel & Logistics

Woke up this morning to an email from AFS telling me I'll be leaving the US at 8 am on August 23rd. That's a Thursday.

I have to be in New York the day before, and then, eighty four days from today, I will be departing for Belgium.

Finally, it feels 100% real :)

dolla dolla bill y'all

May hath begun—and I’m kicking my fundraising efforts into high gear.

AFS ain’t cheap. Actually, that’s even an understatement, I’d say. Tuition for ten months in French Belgium is $13,500, and I’ll also need another $1,000 for my expenses DURING my exchange. So $14,500. I’ve never even dreamed of spending that much money on a single thing--but I truly understand the value of the experience I'm about to begin, and I'd do anything to have it. (As long as it didn't involve breaking the law or losing limbs.)

But fortunately, I’ve already managed to knock a huge chunk out of that. Through AFS, I’ve received three scholarships, and I personally have saved a little over $1,000 working at Ben Franklin and MindFair Books in Oberlin.

I’m down to $10,625.

That’s still a lot, but it’s some how relieving to know that I’m even the littlest bit closer.

A single mother raised my brother and me. When I was four, my mom decided to start her own business—a bookstore. In 9/10 situations, I don’t considered this a hindrance, but in this case, it sort of is. We’ve never had a lot of money, or anything. But the #1 thing I admire about my mother is the way she never lets anything keep us from getting what we need. When I needed $200 to go to Columbus for Model UN, she got it for me.  When I needed braces, she figured out a way to pay for it.

But $10,625?! She’s not just going to find that for me, you know? I have to raise it. I’ll have all the help I need, but I’m going to have to find it for myself.

My plan, very simply, is to work my butt off.

First of all, I’ve kick started a baking initiative. I’m going to be all over the place, selling people cookies. (Today’s were peanut butter… a little over cooked which bothered me, but eh. Tonight I’m making sugar with M&Ms.) And, maybe popcorn, too—but that plan’s still a work in progress.

I’ve also got fundraisers coming up: “Postcards from the Underground” and a tea.

I’m sending out a fundraising letter to everyone who might want to give me a little money—whatever they can give. That’s amazing.

Lastly, though: Sponsor and AFSer. AFS offers an option where student can use their blog to raise money. We just have to get people to check out our blogs, and people can simply donate. It’s safe—the money goes through PayPal and is directly applied to my account. 

 To sponsor my AFS program now, please click the ChipIn! button.

Thank you so much<3

j

I'm in.

I was accepted... AFS accepted me for an year long trip to Belgium...

It's really still pretty surreal to me. I've wanted this more than I've wanted anything in my life. And I really never acknowledged the possibility that I wouldn't be going. But at the same time, I don't think I ever really realized how crazy the whole thing is.

I'm going to be gone... for an entire year. Away from Victor, and my mom and Karen, and Pepper. And all my friends... And downtown Oberlin! Black River, Ben Franklin, Agave, Gibson's... And Oberlin High School! I'll be going to school somewhere else. Will where ever I'm placed in Belgium have anything like Ben Franklin? Or a place like Agave?

I still can't really quite imagine it. It's still not really real to me, even though I now know it's happening. A part of me wonders if it ever really will become real... Maybe when I'm on the plane, maybe during my first shower in Belgium. Maybe the first time I try to sleep over there. I know I won't be able to. I know I'll cry, and wish Pepper was there to cuddle. It might be my first day at school, or walking around the new town or city or neighborhood with my host family. Or I might spend a year in Belgium expecting to go home the next day. As much as I hope I acclimate well, I still sort of hope I don't get used to it. I want to absorb everything--and be constantly looking for things to do, because I know I won't be there for long.

When ever something stresses me out these days, I just remind myself that I'm going to be in Belgium next year, and none of the petty Oberlin stuff is going to matter or even be relevant. (Petty Belgium stuff will be. Sigh.) I'm resolving to not get too involved with anyone or with any long projects--because I don't want another thing to miss or be held back by. But I think my motto for the time I'm in Belgium is going to be sort of the opposite: Learn everything you can. Meet everyone you can. Do anything you can. Don't get bored. Don't miss out. Because this whole thing has one big time stamp on it. When I come back, I want to miss everything and I never want to get over it. I'll get comfortable, but I won't take a single thing for granted.

Hi, everyone!

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