How This Car Will Live in Japan!! - Tuition Fundraising

Yo Laura again. The tuition for your foreign exchange program, I think, that will be the most talked about and stressed thing you will discuss with your family, friends and fellow exchange buddies. So I will be talking about different ways you can fundraise.

Well for every AFS program there are different prices for each program, Asian Programs are more expensive and require a high GPA, Latin america are cheaper but none the less have a high price.

There are many ways than one to fund raise and here they are:
Yard Sales: Ask your friends if they had anything they didn't want or need and sell them to your neighbors.
Raffles: If you or your friends are talented you can sell your talent like a painting by selling tickets for maybe 1.50 and which ever ticket gets picked they get the painting. But remember to be willing to talk to people and get the word out to sell tickets.
Local Clubs: If you have any in your area arrange to meet with them and talk. Explain what your goals are, how this will affect your future, and how your experience might be useful to the club.
Yard Work: Ask your neighbors/friends/relatives if they'd be willing to pay you to mow their lawns.This can also apply to cleaning houses, helping to weed/garden or even fix things like computers or bikes.
Tutoring/Babysitting/Working: Working and getting your own money is great and worth it.
Donation Jar: Ask local stores if they are willing to set up a donation jar for your trip. Most may say no but keep trying.
Car Wash: If you have a lot of friends $5 per car can really add up.
Asking: Going door to door and asking for donations may sound a bit ridiculous but if actually works.
Talent Lessons: If you have a talent for classes like math or music you can give lessons to people who want to learn. If you play guitar you can look up guitar lesson price in your neighbor hood and price your lessons 15% below to get a good amount of people.
Fliers: Post at local elementary schools and junior highs. Public posting is expensive. Don't forget things like Craigslist.
Fundraising Dinners: Have a public dinner, inviting many people for free food and give a small speech about your opportunity. This can end up bad or good but you may be able to raise more money than you may expect.
Recycling: Collect bottle caps, bottles, cans and exchange it for money
Craft: Make hand made T-shirts, toys or other cool products to sell st festivals or other events
Webs Sites: Making a Kickstarter, indiegogo or Gofundme accounts are good ways to get the word out. Also making blogs and posting your information on Facebook or other socializing networks are helpful was to bring in more sponsors. Making FaceBook Events make your friends aware as well.
Scholarships: Getting an AFS Scholarship can really help cut the price of your tuition.

Warning: Remember to always explain what the money is for and why its a good opportunity. Just because of this more people will donate.

How This Cat Will Live in Japan!! - AFS Application

Laura again! What'sup? So today I will talk about the AFS application, so if you want to sign up, here is instructions to do so.

To apply for an AFS program you should first do your research on where you want to study abroad. Choose three places, First through third choice so you have a back up plan. To let you know you need to pay $75 for the application but you can also pay only $25 if you get the promo-code when you attend an online information session. The application is online not paper documents that you can mail in. There are documents that needs to be printed and filled then scanned and uploaded onto your application online...so lucky for those who have a scanner. If you have any scholarships you are applying to there will be a place to upload it once you notify AFS which scholarship you want to apply for. If you are in a family with financial problems you can also apply for the FAST applications. Also an in home interview is needed to complete your application...it's not a big deal you get a very nice volunteer who asks very simple questions, this is just to get to know you better as a person so they can search for a compatible host family for you when you go abroad. Once you finish your application you need to send in a $900 deposit and no this is not an add on this is deducted from your tuition fee. The application is fairly easy to fill out but give yourself about 2 months or more to finish it before the deadline.

The online application has instructions on how to fill out each page correctly.
Okay now getting into the application: (Remember to complete this with your parent(s))
Cover- For the cover all you have to do is upload a picture of yourself which will be used for your international school ID and will be the first photo your host family will see. Also some basic information will be needed.
Personal- This part is basically more in depth questions about you. This has: CANDIDATE'S LEGAL NAME, ADDRESS FOR MAILING PURPOSES,  PASSPORT INFORMATION: FOR VISA PURPOSES, FAMILY MEMBERS, INFORMATION ABOUT PARENT(S)/GUARDIAN(S), INFORMATION ABOUT PARENT(S)/GUARDIAN(S) AT A DIFFERENT ADDRESS, EMERGENCY CONTACT, OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS IN THE HOUSEHOLD, AFS CONNECTIONS, PROGRAM PREFERENCE, and COUNTRIES OF PREFERENCE.
Placement- This part also asks many questions about you. This mostly ask questions to help search for a good host family for you. Talks about: MEDICAL REQUIREMENTS AND HEALTH RESTRICTIONS, DIETARY REQUIREMENTS, RELIGION, SMOKING, and LANGUAGES
Health Certificate- This part include a document that you need to print and get it filled out by your pediatrician. There are 3 forms, the third form is not needed if you have never been to a therapist.
Self Intro- This part you have to talk about more personal stuff like your interests and than you have to write a letter to your future host family.
Photo Page- For this page you need to upload 8-12 photos of your friends, your family and you taking part in your favorite activities. You should remember to put captions on the bottom.
Parent Statement- This is another document that needs to be filled out by your parent(s) and a letter by your parent(s) talking about you is needed.
Academic Record- Another document needs to be printed out to be filled out by your school guidance counselor.
Participation Agreement- This is another document that needs to be printed and filled out. But only pages 1-5 has to be uploaded onto the application.
Consent Form- This also needs to be printed, signed and scanned to be uploaded.
Letter of Recommendation- A document that needs to be printed. This is a letter that needs to be written by a teacher or counselor recommending you to the program.
Passport- This page is to know you have a legal and up to date passport and for visa purposes. You also need to upload pictures of your passport.
Scholarship- Any scholarship you applied for will come up last, you need to go to AFS scholarship page to look up the scholarship you want/need and upload the documents.
In-Home Interview- Once you feel you are almost done or already done with your application you need to notify AFS about your interview. This interview is needed for your application to be finished. An AFS volunteer will arrange a date that is convenient for your family and the volunteer. The interview only lasts for 15-20 mins maybe more if questions are asked.
FAST Application- Financial Aid for School Tuition (FAST) application. There is a fee of  $38 for this application. You'll need to fax tax information which will take a week or so to verify and than you will be contacted if you qualify and if you are qualify for a merit-based scholarship.
$900 Deposit- In one of the blue panels at the top of the page says Payments (when you have already started your application) and on the side when you open the page it says Make a Deposit Payment and make the deposit of $900 to send in your application.

I hope this is informational to anyone who is interested. If you have any questions please comment I will answer as best as I can. Thank you for reading.

How This Cat Will Live in Japan!! - Why I Want to Study Abroad/How I Found Out About AFS

Hello! Laura here! ^^ Some of you guys were wondering why I want to study abroad and found out about the AFS organization. I will talk about each separately, this may be a lengthy post but bare with me. ^_^

Well as many of you know I want to study abroad in Japan. Ever since I was little I loved Asian countries and I still do. It first started with the Indian culture and clothes, than I started moving East loving china...but than I came across this tiny country off the coast of Korea, Japan. As I found out more about it I asked more question and did more research. My passion started off with anime and manga, my cousins and uncles showed me but I didn't like them as much until I was in 6th through 8th grade where there were other kids my age that liked them too. Anime and manga sparked a light in me that I wanted to draw and perfect my skills which I believe I did. After 6th I thought about the weird language in the anime I was watching, Japanese, and thought how cool it was, I started by mocking them. When I was in 8th grade I began serious Japanese studying in the summer which was very difficult. Once I was in 9th grade I was wondering why cant I go to Japan and experience everything it has. I researched in school about Japan and how I can live there for a while and came across studying abroad. I don't want to study abroad off of the information I gathered from anime but because I love the opposites I have with Japan, the culture, trends, traditions, lifestyle, history and much more, everything about japan grabs my attention.

By the end of my Freshmen year, I began looking up more information about studying abroad and one day when I was one YouTube an advertisement came up stating "Do you want to be an exchange student? AFS Exchange Program" At first I was like this is a scam....but than I clicked and checked it out, I showed my mom she told me to do my research and I did. I requested the catalog and did more research in school during my 10th grade with my counselor and my mom. I talked to many of my favorite teachers about it. My mom was hesitant but she helped me out. I drew pictures and sold my drawing for funding. I got in touch with AFS asking many questions and attended many online information sessions which really helped and at the end of my sophomore year I signed up for the program when I knew I was serious about it. I am almost done with my application meaning I am getting closer to my goal.

How This Cat Will Live in Japan!!

Hi, Laura Here! ^^ Well I just want to say if I were an animal  I consider myself a cat...meh who knows though. Well here is this page I am making to let you in on my journey as I make my way to my dream of being an exchange student in Japan. I put the title as "How This Cat Will Live in Japan" because...well...I want to be unique instead of just writing "Laura in Japan" or "Gaijin in Japan" or something like that. I hope you have fun with this....I am not good with technology and still learning about the blog thing....soooooo I really don't know if I am doing anything right with this...but hey I'm trying ^^''' But please follow me on this adventure. I will tell you about everything I'm doing from filling out my application, placement, fundraising, orientation, departure, etc. All the works! So thanks for reading...I'll figure this stuff out soon with the blog.