The Stage is Set

Hey everybody! So, the reason for this blog is glaringly obvious. Or not? My name's Anna, and I'm from San Jose, California. Currently, I am a Junior at Independence High School, and I am seeing.. about a month of school left. Of course, that's only the start. This summer I won't be in the Bay Area. Oh where, oh where can this teenage girl be instead? Why, Okinawa, Japan of course! Well, why you may ask? Last year, summer of '08, my friend, Jimmy Ly, applied and received a scholarship to study abroad in Japan. After he came back, he encouraged me to apply for the program, which I did.

Re-cap of the last five months!:

I sent my application in around January. At that point, I was feeling pretty down. The moment I dropped my application in.. let's just say I was having second thoughts. I constantly started worrying about how I could've made a section "better" so that the people picking scholarship winners would see that I stood out as a candidate. It was just a whole big mess the first week after I sent my application in. To be honest, I was a nervous wreck! I started dreaming about going to Japan, seeing my host family, receiving my long-waited for letter from YFU.. All these things were whirling in my head.

Then came February. In February, I got a call from a YFU volunteer, calling to ask if I had time for an interview. Why of course I had time for an interview. I was pulling my hair out waiting for that fated call! How could I NOT be ready? I was born ready. Not really. I remember my mom dropping me off at Starbucks, at 8'oclock. Right on the dot. I honestly was scared I'd be late.. and lose my credibility as a responsible student! Good thing Starbucks was so close to my home.. Yeah, anyways, I got through the interview, and after, I started talking with Elizabeth (my interviewer) and I learned that she also had studied abroad. It wasn't in Japan though, it was in Germany, and she recently had joined YFU as a volunteer. The interview was really relaxing and Elizabeth was a wonderful interviewer!

So. My application sent in.. my interview over with.. it was only February! What do I do, what do I do? I have to wait until late April/early May to receive my letter! That's three months away! Honestly, this whole period inbetween February and April.. There was a lot of drama going on in my life. Hey, at least I was busy right? After waiting for three months, I received an e-mail from YFU about a Pre-Departure Orientation, which made me start thinking about my application status. (Not like I wasn't already thinking about it day in and day out...)

I came home from school on April 28, and checked my mail. Nothing! It was going to be a long week, I thought. I went to my room and started on homework, but I decided I was thirsty, so I went downstairs.. lo and behold, my sister holding a large white envelope with YFU and my name on it! I literally screamed. Screamed. When I saw the package. I had been awarded the Okinawa Peace Scholarship! Although it is a partial scholarship, only 10 people are awarded the scholarship every year.. 10 people nationwide who applied to YFU. I am one of the 10. I feel so accomplished, right now!

The only thing that needs to be done right now is for me to pay the rest of the tuition ($2000) and to start taking my finals for all my classes. I'm hoping I'll be exempted from most of my finals because.. I JUST WON A SCHOLARSHIP! I don't think so though. Haha, I'm just so excited. I'll update when I get any information on my host family, or where I'll be staying, which will in turn give me information on which school I'll be attending while in Japan. Oh yes, I've also been on a forum for students who are on exchanges and students who are about to go on exchanges. I've made some friends, and I hope to see them all at orientation. I'm so excited, I can hardly wait until May is over!

Well, that's mainly all I can blog about for now. Just a little (coughcough) self-introduction about myself and how I came to find YFU and my terribly terribly long wait for my letter. I cannot fully convey my feelings of anxiety. It is impossible. But now, the wait for that is over, and now, I'm just anticipating when I leave for Japan. It's going to be a fun summer, where I get to explore a new side of me, and you're along for the ride!