Instituto Santa Isabel

So yesterday AFS notified me that they had finally found me a school! I kind of already knew that I would probably go to my host sister's school.

Angeles, my host sister, goes to Instituto Santa Isabel. Its an all girls Roman Catholic School. The nuns and plaid skirts. All nine yards. I'm actually somewhat relieved that I will go to my host sister's school. I think it'll help that she's there and she'll be able to help me make friends a little easier... Well I hope :)

The school is about 3 or 4 block from my host family's house! I'm pretty excited because currently I go to a public school. I've always gone to public school. I think a private religious all girls school will a very interesting experience. I also think my spanish learning will progress better in that environment. I feel that it'll be easier to make closer friends quicker. From what I've heard, all girls schools are just all around nice because for some reason... When you take males out of the equation, all the drama disappears, and you become closer with people because you don't have to worry about all the petty little high school things that are... Well definitely at my current school.

66 days till I leave Cleveland to fly to Miami. Then on to Argentina! Yo estoy muy emocionada!

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Host Familia!

Yesterday I received an email from AFS Argentina saying that they had found me a host family!

I am over the moon with excitement! I will be living in Formosa, Argentina... Which is in the far north of Argentina. It borders Paraguay. From what I've read... Formosa sounds amazing! It sounds like a very art influenced city, with art galleries, and museums... Also clubs :)

I seriously am in shock that I HAVE A HOST FAMILY...
My host family is a mom, Silvia, a dad, Luis, and a host sister Angeles... Angeles is 11 months younger than me, so I'm very excited because we'll be fairly close in age!

I also have their email now... But I think I'm going to wait a week or two to email them because I want to have my Spanish teacher, Mrs. Shively, help me with the grammar. I know my Spanish isn't going to be very good when I first get there. I also know I'm going to make a million mistakes and I need to learn how to not be embarrassed by my mistakes!

(Above is Formosa in the green)

Wish me luck with the first emails...
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Accepted FINALMENTE!!

Hola!

So in the last two weeks, AFS USA and AFS Argentina have accepted me! I am over the moon about it! Now we know that... IM GOING TO ARGENTINA! Ayyyy!

Currently I will have to wait awhile to know about my host family and where I'm going but I'm very happy that everything is falling into place :)

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Application Submitted!

Today I finally submitted my AFS application! I'm getting really excited for it! Here were my choices:
1. Argentina
2. Costa Rica
3. Chile
Wish me luck on being accepted!
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So close... Yet so far away

Okay so as I said in my last post I haven't even finished my application for AFS yet, and Argentina is 8 months away. That's a long time, but a short time too. I mean I keep realizing how fast life goes by. For example in 2 weeks I will be half way done with high school. I seriously think thats CRAZY! Every day I become excited of the idea of living in another country! It really sounds like amazing experience. Having spanish 4 for 85mins every day this semester, just makes me want to speak spanish even more. ¡Yo quiero hablar espanol todos los dias! I will be probably sending my application in to AFS in a few weeks :) I'm crazy excited to just even send it in! jaja I just hate knowing that once I send the application in, that I probably won't know about where I'm going for awhile... I'll probably check my email 50 times a day! I'm just excited for this summer in general because it is the last summer before a wild ride in my life :) It's pretty sad... At the end of June all the AFSers that I have met this year will be leaving the US to go back to their various countries! Every year this chokes me up even if my family isn't hosting! These people have inspired me to want to go abroad and take advantage of an amazing experience. They're all fantastic people and I'm happy I had the chance to meet them! Well cross your fingers for me that everything goes well with the application!

Besos y abrazos,

Chandler

The Chance of a Lifetime

Hola! I'm Chandler, a 16 year old girl from Ohio in the 10th grade. I am applying for AFS, an exchange organization, to hopefully go to Argentina, Chile, or Costa Rica! I am hoping to go on this program in February of 2012, for the year spring program. A main reason for me wanting to do AFS is to become fluent in Spanish. I have fallen in love with language :D ES MI VIDA!!!!! I know that even if I’m placed somewhere that they don’t speak spanish, my experience will still be one of a life time. The last year of my life I have envisioned this and slowly I am getting closer to achieving that dream. Spanish has taken a roll in my life, I want to major in the language in college. Everything about it makes me happy (except the preterite and imperfect differences jaja and the subjunctive, but who really likes those?). The way the words roll of my tongue, listening to music (Juanes, Camila, etc.), the people, culture, life style, are all things I want to learn. I know I sound crazy cheesy haha but hey its the truth! My family has been involved with AFS since I was in the 6th grade when we hosted for the first time. Since then we have hosted 3 times, and I have met some pretty amazing people from all corners of the world. When they tell me about their countries, I just want to travel there. I think doing a year abroad will change a lot for me. Hopefully I won't be as scared of doing certain things after this experience. I know it will open doors to me that I could never even dream of. I want to experience daily life in a spanish speaking country, meet new people, and learn spanish! 

Me and my best friend, Megan

Me 

I am applying for AFS in a matter of weeks. Cross your fingers that I get accepted and everything goes well :) Gracias! Adios… hasta luego (see ya later)! (6 WEEKS!) :) Btw I just got my new passport! Its way better then the last one :)