Our globe is getting
smaller as our communications expand. The world is becoming increasingly
interconnected on all levels: information, technology, economy, agriculture...
But we're still so closed
off. We, especially we Americans, aren't really coming to understand the people, the humans, behind
the pictures and articles we encounter in our daily Internet adventures. We
know intellectually that there are other people and ways out there, but can we
really conceptualize them? Do we really know?
My name is Taylor Chelak. I
am currently a senior at Riverton High School in Riverton, Utah. I have claimed
an avid interest from a very young age in our world and its places, people, and
cultures. Yet I still know nothing.
Until I actively seek to
visit the places whose pictures leave me in awe and to become friends with the
people whose culture I admire, I will remain ignorant. I can't truly appreciate
our world until I step outside into it. Until I feel it, live it.
So that's exactly what I'm
going to do.
This coming March, I will
be leaving with AFS Intercultural Programs to live for a
year in Japan. I will be staying with a host family there and attending
Japanese high school, encountering all kinds of new and unimaginable
experiences and emotions.
And what good would it do
for anyone if I kept it all to myself? This blog will follow my adventures
before, during, and after my exchange, sharing my experiences of being an
exchange student and the emotions and thoughts connected to coming to
understand another language and culture.
No doubt it will be
entertaining, if nothing else.
The tuition for this
program, though, is a very steep $14,000. To help me make it to Japan, you can
contribute directly to my tuition through the "Sponser an AFSer"
widget on the side. This is an online
fundraising tool provided by AFS to allow potential sponsors to make easy,
secure, and non tax-deductible contributions to my AFS program fee. Your
contribution won't be used for entertainment, snacks, or souvenirs-- it only
goes to making my experience possible.
I hope to
get some other fundraising projects up and running, as well. In the meantime,
any purchases of Blue Monarch soaps are also contributions to my program
expenses. These are handmade soaps thoughtfully crafted (by my very own
mother!) in small batches from beneficial, natural materials. They work wonders
unlike any commercial soap can, leaving your skin soft and refreshed while
coming in unique, interesting, adorable designs. It's also a gift idea ten
times more thoughtful and appreciated than any Bath and Body Works or Yankee
Candle will ever be. You can purchase some of this goodness online at bluemonarchsoap.com.
Any contribution, no matter
how small, will be a tremendous help. And if nothing else, please just stick
around, read, and share. I want to share my experience to benefit, in any small way, those beyond myself.
To
sponsor my AFS program, please click the "Donate Now" button on the side to make a non
tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account.
