Try something new!

         Ciao a tutte quelle belle lettori là fuori!!! Todays that type of day that you realize, "I spend entirely too much time on the internet." Think about it for a split second will ya? .... Do you ever find yourself waking up in the morning and going straight to your; Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tango, Kik, Blog, Email, Tumblr, Netflix, Skype, Instagram, SnapChat, Gruveo, YouTube, Vine, OoVoo, Facetime etc.? Yea, even though I am a teenager and practically made for the internet, I find myself not having enough time in my day for anything else! P.S. I really do not use all those websites, one I want to try in Italy is Skype. I know, its easy, but it looks difficult! My 3 sisters are almost pros at these websites, especially Pinterest! I personally have no idea what to do on Pinterest...just post interesting pictures?

        As I said before, I spend too much time on the internet. I really do hope I am not the only one! But, while abroad I will find myself in a completely different culture that does sports and camping as leisure activities, not movies. It seems kinda strange to me when I think about it... I will be overseas in a completely new world, with experiences waiting to happen at any given moment! My normal will seem unworthy over in Italy. Now please if you were in my shoes, how strange would that be for you? Pretty strange if I do say so myself! Anyway my point is to say that what I do everyday in the USA will be different, I won't be getting up on Facebook anymore before I am even out of bed. I even think I will be seeing less of Facebook every day..... Crazy, it seems like such an American thing to do, sit on the internet all day long!

So as this entire revolution occurred to me, I realized it kinda relates back to my, "What happened this far" blogs. Let me explain. While I awaited an answer from both Speedwell and AFS USA I would find myself constantly on the internet. I would be sitting in Class checking my phone every other half hour, praying that I would get that simple little email that would say, "You're accepted!" Really it was not that hard to ask for, was it? Just say yes to everyone :) it would be quicker! So anyway, I was always on my email throughout this time... well not exactly, It was my mother's email (THANK YOU MA!) and she would get messages *all the time.* Except for the AFS one that I wanted, she would get loads of messages from random senders. Every single time I would see a message about a new email, my heart would jump, "Could this one be my letter, oh please let it be my letter!" I would sit and beg my phone for it to be my letter actually...Lame right?

What I should have done during those months of waiting was a hobby. If I could go back to the beginning I would tell myself to be patient, that AFS would not forget about me! But of course, I didn't have myself then to guide me through it all. It was really like April-Mayish that I got my acceptance from Speedwell Scholarship and AFS. Both I have so much thanks for! Even today my lovely sister Yvette wants to Study Abroad!

Now the only other strange thing I went through was really where I was going to go. My top three were: France, Italy,  and Spain. As we all know, I got Italy! But you all should know I didn't know any italian before this summer. I have two years of French down though! Really, the more languages I can master, the better! I might even want a job that includes languages. I know one of my big goals when I come back from Italy, is to learn Chinese! (I mean, they kinda run the world)

So that pretty much sums up my exciting beginning.... well exciting to me at least. :) So, when you leave my blog today, think, how much useless time do you spend on the internet each day? Those hours can take you places, even Abroad!! If you're going to spend your time on the internet anyway, do something useful with it, read an article, research, find new scholarships for college, or spontaneously apply to Study Abroad... Why not?

Till my next blog ~ XOXO Brystal ~

What Happened Next . . .

        Last week I told you that my deciding to study abroad was quick, and happened within a day. I just so happened to look upon some AFS papers, and they changed my life. I signed up that night - it was a Monday, and my application was due on Friday at midnight. Could you imagine changing your life at a moments notice?

        For those who have never experienced the "application process" let me enlighten you. It is the trickiest, longest process a teenager will ever go through. I am almost sure it is more intense than sending college applications! (Even though I have not done that yet, oh well!)

        So, you have different sections to complete. First you need to fill out an online paper about yourself and family. This one is all personal and remotely easy. The second paper is also fairly easy, it's your placement paper. Also your parents need to complete many consent forms so you can go...

        Personal I think that the application process was made difficult for myself, because of medical papers. They gave us three that a doctor had to fill out, so when we found out about them, we basically had to beg our doctor to let us see him as soon as possible! 

        Other important docs came from my high school. Transcripts that needed the school seal, letters of recommendation, my current class list. Best part was seeing what my teachers had to say about me. :) Thank you to my awesome French teacher who helped me fall in love with languages! I never would have studied abroad without you! Also thank you Mr. Sassin, you helped me learn what other teachers never had the will to teach properly, Math! It is a tricky subject, but now I excel because you did your job like no other!

        Now there are many other papers we filled out, but the passport papers were probably the most important! Really you can't travel almost anywhere without a passport! I literally received mine sometime in May, so I was a bit late with that.....  This sums up my application process! Even though after a week of cramming in the application, I was almost sure I forgot something! 

        Now if you did read all the way down here, thank you! I am normally not this wordy, but I feel the need to explain what and how AFS changed my life. And how it can change yours; by studying abroad, hosting, donating, volunteering (any really!)

        So the next tricky part of studying abroad was getting the thousands of dollars, over 14 thousand ..... I could not do it alone, I was not crazy! So I signed up for "The Speedwell Scholarship" What I would have done to have 14 grand to do it on my own, funny thing is, now my sister wants to study abroad too! Good luck to you baby sis! Love ya!

        I spent those nights from Monday to Friday multitasking, because I had 4 amazing essays to write so they could pick me to win. I also had other teens like me, wanting that same scholarship. So they had to be good. Even better than good, they had to be breathtakingly amazing! I of course tried my best, and crossed my fingers the entire time! Man was I nervous about submitting them, I was never a good writer. (Emphasis on the blog, lol!

        One of the topics was so new to me, I had NO IDEA how to answer. It was something like, "How do you think an AFS student will represent a ambassador of the world while abroad and back in the USA." I saved this one till last, and got done about an hour before it was due on Friday at midnight. (I could probably answer this one better if I had a second chance, man in a few months you learn a lot. Not just about yourself, but about the world! Try it one time)

        Anyway long story short, I sent my application in on time. Yet I still had to wait for ever to see if I won! It was annoying in school, everyone wanted to know.... If you remember high school, kids want to know the biggest gossip right away. I was asked very often about if I won, where I was going and so on. (I had a list of prepared answers) Funny thing is, everyone wanted to talk about it then, when it was fresh gossip. When I had nothing new to tell them. Now about a month before I leave, people don't care as much, they don't want to jump for joy like I want to. Even if this experience just keeps getting better for me.

        Every AFS blogger has a few of these blogs, where they are ridiculously long, ;) but useful and fun to read *hopefully*! If you want to know more about my beginning, it didn't end here. It really only began by pressing the "turn in" button! Believe me when I say, nothing really ends, you're just led down a different pathway than the beginning one!!!!!!!

Till my next blog ~ XOXO Brystal ~

My Journey So Far

Il mio viaggio è stato un giro sulle montagne russe finora! In Italian this basically means my journey has been like a roller-coaster ride so far. For all those people out there reading my blog, Grazie! This will be a challenge for me, because I have never blogged before!

So to recap what has happened so far, I should start at the beginning. . . . .

I was in the middle of my 10th grade school year in Shippensburg Pennsylvania. It was a Tuesday in January  and I was sitting in my study hall period having nothing to do. Then conveniently, I heard an announcement about a Studying Abroad Presentation  happening that day. So I grabbed my friends and it led to our ticket out of class for those 45 minutes. I would never have guessed then that less than 5 months later I would become an exchange student.

After going to the meeting, I completely forgot about what was said. The only thing I could remember was, "No way am I ever going to be able to pay for this." So when I got home later on, I put the papers in my dresser and left them there. The next time I looked at those papers, it was February.

I went on the AFS page online, and skimmed through the scholarships that could apply for me. I found one that sounded almost unreal because it was so amazing! It was a full scholarship to those in select Pennsylvania areas, who wanted to Study Abroad in 2013-2014. The only problem with this spectacular scholarship was - the application was due that Friday! I applied, and had 5 days to complete the "application process." ....But of course I got it done!

My crazy beginning does not end there! So till my next blog, ~ XOXO Brystal~