From Idaho to New Zealand

Hello!

My name is Skylar Corley, and I live in the nice community of Eagle, Idaho. I am sixteen years old and about to start the junior year of my high school career at Eagle High School, home of the Mustangs.  This summer came in went with a blink of an eye. I can't believe it is coming to a close, but this makes it the perfect time to tell my family, friends, and others about my future plans for this upcoming year.  At the beginning of this summer, I applied to study abroad in either New Zealand or South Africa for six months through the American Field Service (AFS) intercultural student exchange program.  In the end New Zealand was chosen to be my exchange country between the months of January- July 2012.

My parents are supporting me in making this experience of a lifetime a reality and I plan to take full advantage it. While in New Zealand I will be diving in head first and will be completely immersed in the Maori culture.  I want to learn everything I can about this foreign country, for example; their school systems, their government, their basic way of life, their perspectives of the world, their perspective of the United States, their family units, and their morals and values . While on my exchange I also want to teach/share with the locals about the United States of America. I plan to teach them as much about America as I learn about New Zealand.   An interesting fact about New Zealand is they require all foreign exchange students to complete a certain amount of community service hours during their exchange. I plan to fully complete those hours and more. I have been so blessed and I feel the need to give back as much as I can.

One of my objectives is to raise some funds to help with the costs of this amazing experience. My goal is to raise $3,000 USD dollars to cover a small portion of the total of the expenses.  I am working to raise funds by babysitting and doing other little jobs whenever I get the chance, but sadly I still need a little more help to make this dream come true.

To help bridge the gap in funds I will be running a weekly blog during my entire New Zealand experience. If you would enjoy reading my blog during my exchange student period then I would greatly appreciate any level of donation you feel appropiate (no amount is too small). I know that times are tough, but I hope that if you feel you may benefit and/or would enjoy reading my blog then please consider contributing some modest funds to the cause. Just click on the ChipIn! gadget on  the top left of this blog to help me with my journey by making a secure non tax-deductible donation. My blog link is  http://skylarmichelesblog.blogspot.com.

Thank you so much for your time and generosity.

Skylar Corley