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.