I got my letter!

SO today, I finally got my acceptance package from YFU. It was full of information on my exchange trip and now I can finally get some things done... hopefully. I am soooooo excited! Here are some pictures :)

There were a bunch of other papers too, but they weren't that important. It's going to take FOREVER to read though...... >_< I am actually kind of .... sad? I heard from other people that the World Traveler Handbook was a cool book and stuff. But mine looks nothing like what other people's looked like. So I am wondering if they ran out of books and had to just print one normally or if this year, everyone got the "boring" version lol. Well either way, I can't wait to read it and find out the answers to a bunch of my questions :D

I haven't made a Vlog about my acceptance package yet... but I will and it will be a lot more detailed than this blog post so stay tuned to my Youtube account too.

**UPDATE**: New Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VjWM8sc-cg

So much to do...

Since I am leaving in about 28 days, there is so much to do, but I can't actually do anything yet... My current To Do List:

• Set up bank account and debit card
• Complete and turn in Visa form (yes I am not a U.S. Citizen)
• Buy/make host family presents
• Decide what to pack
• Pack
• In-state orientation
• Dinner with scholarship sponsors
• Finish the school year
• Study for finals
• Study Japanese
• Maybe buy a laptop to take with me to Japan
• And do whatever else I forgot to put on this list

There are a couple other things that I didn't put on the to-do list because they are unimportant.  However, the  important things I did put on the list are not really being completed either. I can't set up a bank account and debit card until my parents talk it over and make a final decision. I can't fill out my Visa form until YFU gets back to me and answers some of my questions and that won't happen until the next business day (tomorrow). I can't prepare my host family presents yet because I don't know who my host family is yet and I have to wait until my in-state orientation because they will give me more details about it then. I can't decide what to pack yet because I am still waiting for a lot of info from YFU since I haven't gotten my acceptance package yet (snail mail is soooo slow....). I can't start packing because I don't know what I need to pack yet. I can't go to my in-state orientation until June 4th. I haven't started preparing for finals yet because they are still a couple weeks away and I am suuuuuch a procrastinator >_<   I haven't made much progress studying japanese either because again I am such a lazy procrastinator..... Lastly my parents haven't bought me a laptop yet because they don't even know if they want me to bring one to Japan.

Basically I am probably going to be super rushed trying to get everything done in the last week..... oh boy and the week before I leave is finals too..... hmmmm wonder how my grades are going to turn out this year :P But fortunately, I am used to being a procrastinator and I always do everything last minute so I have gotten pretty good with crammed schedules. Anyway, wish me luck with all of this stuff. I will keep you guys updated!

Oh and one more thing. people always ask me about how to get started as an exchange student and how to apply to an exchange organization. So here's a link to my Vlog on Japan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ1CBiWzWew

I hope to get another post up tmrw.... IF I get my acceptance package from YFU that it. I am trying to be patient but frankly I can't get any preparation done until I receive it soooooo I really hope I get it tomorrow! :D :D

HEY! Self Intro and Some Other Info

Hi everyone! My name is Hannah and I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship to go to Japan as a foreign exchange student this summer for six weeks.  I am going throughout a program called Youth For Understanding (YFU) and my scholarship, the Japanese Business Society of Detroit, pays for the whole price except $1000.  Without a scholarship, the exchange trip would cost about $7500. I am super excited!!!!! There's going to be so much to do and I hope to document all of my adventures in this blog. I also have a Youtube channel where I will post Video Blogs. You should take a look at that as well because it will probably go more in depth on certain topics and once I am actually in Japan, there will be videos of my actual experiences :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hannah2Nihon

I will try to update as much as possible... but who knows what the situation will be like in Japan? My host family might not have WiFi (which would suck soooo much) or I might get extremely busy. But I will try my best to tell everyone what's been going on.

I leave for an orientation in California on June 17th but before that, there will be soooo much to do, like going to my in-state orientation, buying host family gifts, having dinner with my scholarship sponsors, etc. I will post on all of those events and hopefully give you guys some good advice on foreign exchange trips :)