Monday, December 22, 2008

Full app...

Today I am sending out my full application!!!!!!!!! I have checked it over about sixteen times, quadruple-checked every form I uploaded, and my application is complete. Except for the application fee. Last year, the fee was $500, which also acted as a deposit. However, now it has gone up to $900... It will be refunded if I get the Germany scholarship, so I am praying with all my might that I can be one of the 50 scholarship recipients. However, I have been doing some math in the meantime... If I forfeit my allowance for the rest of the year and pool it with the money I have in my savings account right now, I can pay $442.45, which is almost half of the fee. My parents agreed to pay for the other half (for now, anyway... I'll get to paying them back at some point, but hopefully I'll get that scholarship and I won't have to!), so now I've started mathematicizing the rest of the money. That is, in case I don't get the scholarship. But I'm going to. (Positive thinking- my mom has been trying to feed me positive energy books for years, so I'm going to use it.) Anyway. The total cost to go to Germany is $12,000, a combination of the cost of the program and their suggested amount of spending money. If I get the scholarship, excuse me, when I get the scholarship, I'll only have to raise $2,100 (the approximate equivalent of 1500 euro). So if I can get my parents to contribute my allowance from September (when I leave) until July (when I return), I can subtract $352. Plus, I can subtract my half of the application fee, because the fee is basically a down payment on the program. I have $1344.14 in my CD at the bank right now, which leaves me with $9,861.38. That's still a lot of money. I need a job. Pronto. Or a scholarship. Or both.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Germany application!

Yesterday, I miraculously FINISHED MY GERMANY SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION!!! And it was a day before the deadline, too! There was a mid-application crisis when I found out that my history teacher had sent her reference form to the wrong place, so I panicked and begged my English teacher to fill the form out and give it back TO ME, and he gladly did it, even though I gave him two days because I had been notified so late. So he gave that back to me promptly, and my guidance counselor filled out her forms, and I finished my essays, and sent it in today, on the deadline! Of course, after all the panic and confusion, I found out that the deadline had actually been moved to December 23, which would have given me another week, because of all the power outages in the Northeastern area. Oh well. Maybe I'll get priority since I sent mine in earlier.
For my full application, I only have to finish my host family letter, which is almost done, get my doctor to sign the health forms (this is the fourth time I've had to return the forms to her office. It seems that she forgets something crucial every single time.), and convince my mother to write the parent's letter. Plus come up with $500... that might be the most difficult part, since I've only got about $200 in my savings account (and $1300 in a CD). Whew, I really hope I get that scholarship, that would definitely help out my financial situation. In the meantime, I have a trip with my chorus tomorrow to New York City to do a workshop with Broadway performers and then see them perform in a matinee of Mamma Mia!!!!! And then after that I have four more days of school before winter break!!!! I'm so excited!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

More Applications....

It's December!!!!! The season of snow, family and friends, baking (well, not in our house...), shopping, homework overload, holiday stress, and general fun and excitement. And applications. At the moment I am filling out FOUR different applications. I can only imagine what the college application must be like. I have a couple years before that, though. My mom was flipping out because my guidance counselor was expressing her worries about my missing the junior SATs and how if I didn't receive grades while I was abroad, colleges might not like it.
1. My first application is the full application for my foreign exchange program. You know, essay for the host family, all the medical and public release forms, photos, passport info, etc., etc. I'd say I'm 3/4 of the way done- I still have to finish my host family essay and get Mom to start hers. And I have a doctor's appointment Thursday to get my pulse and respiration tested. Fun stuff.
2. I'm also working on an application for a FULL SCHOLARSHIP to Germany. Germany wasn't even on my list before, but then I read about the scholarship and started looking into Germany, and it sounds like a pretty fly place. I've had to ask several teachers to be my references two or three times, because I have so many applications requiring recommendations right now. I'm amazed my teachers are even agreeing to do them.
3. I've been going to the same Mass Audubon camp in New Hampshire for the past four years, and last summer I was a "leader-in-training". For the second-year leaders in training, they require you to fill out an application, which includes more references. And a resume. My family members are all talking about how they didn't make a resume until after college. I don't have much to put on it, other than my participation on the crew team... I haven't really worked anywhere before.
4. The fourth application is small and doesn't require any references, but it's a job application for Cooper's Corner, a little grocery store in Florence owned by my friend's dad. A job would definitely be helpful in the funding of this trip in case I don't get the scholarship.
Oh yeah, and the day before Thanksgiving, I RECEIVED MY PASSPORT IN THE MAIL!!!! I was so excited. It's so pretty and I can't wait to get it stamped! I only handed in my application about a week and a half before, so it came really fast.
More later... I have two tests to study for, Spanish work, a poem to memorize and analyze, and a chapter to read in my history textbook. Gross.
Oh, and also, I confirmed my winter craziness by getting a part in the musical!! Most of my friends are in the general chorus, but I got the part of "second woman panhandler". I had to ask one of my friends to explain what a panhandler was. Apparently all the tiny roles like those get a line or two, and then just sing with the chorus, which is great for me, because it means I don't have very many rehearsals, but I still get to be in the musical. Now I just have to register for the ERG TEAM!! Ciao!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Full Application & Scholarships

Wow, it's amazing how fast October flew by. We're halfway through our first semester over here in Northampton, and so we've kind of got a fresh start. Crew ended a while ago, and so I've had a lot more time after school to do homework, although recently I've found myself working more on my application and less on my homework. Oops. Although next week I'll be auditioning for the school musical, which rehearses a couple times a week, and then in January I'll be joining the indoor rowing team. Plus today I'm biking over to this café in Florence and applying for a job, because this foreign exchange ain't gonna be cheap. So I'll definitely be busy this winter. I've been applying for scholarships like a crazy woman- I just applied for AFS's main scholarship, the Global Leaders Scholarship, which included three merit scholarships and a need-based scholarship (financial aid). The merit scholarship forms I gave out to my history teacher, my English teacher, and my crew coach, and I made my dad fill out the financial aid... what do I know about taxes? Anyway, that scholarship can get me anywhere from $700 to $3800. I'm aiming for the $3800, needless to say. I also recently discovered another scholarship, the Congress-Bundestag, which awards 50 full scholarships each year for students living in eastern states to go to Germany. At first I skimmed over it because I wasn't initially interested in Germany, but as I researched, it actually sounds like quite a fun place and I've added it to my list and printed out the application for the full scholarship. That would be mucho-grande helpful in this whole shenanigan.
On my lengthy to-do list is apply for a passport, finish my Germany scholarship application, write the letter to my host family, and get my parents to write a letter to my host family. I think the last one will be the hardest, especially since my mom comes home to our shell of a house and would rather lay in bed reading and eating chocolate than doing anything else. Oh well. Maybe I'll bribe her.