GRADUATION!

I am officially a high school graduate! I had an amazing four years at my high school, and my graduation night was fun and very nostalgic. I was mentioned a few times in the various speeches, one for leading my team in mock trial and another for bringing the experiences of my high school as far as Belgium! (I definitely had the coolest and most exciting future plan mentioned).
Also: I found out that my Pre-departure orientation is in the beginning of June! I’m very happy to have found out and RSVP’ed and am awaiting that day when I can update again!

Update

I have ONE week of high school left. I graduate on May 16th.
I still haven’t heard about my Pre-departure Orientation, but I’m checking my email every day.
Also, check this out!!!

I’m officially added to the AFS Student Blog!

AFS Blog

afsblog.org

I’m now a member of the AFS Study Abroad Blogging Network! How exciting!

(Or at least, I’ve been accepted and am awaiting the day my name will be put under “Belgium”!) 
I’ve added a click-through link and a link on my sidebar if you want to find more about the AFS Blog, as well as blogs from people around the world

Aww

My AFS advisor (also named Nicole) called to congratulate me on getting accepted to AFS Belgium, so sweet!
She commented on how fast acceptance was, which goes to show my “wait time” was no time at all. Also, she asked about my boyfriend, Jack, and what our plans were now that I’ve been accepted. We’re one of those weird couples who planned to break up, but she just wanted to make sure I was thinking about it if I haven’t already, and maybe it might affect where I’m placed. I’m sure it’d make me more difficult to place if I was constantly worrying about a boyfriend and his social life 5,000 miles away, I wouldn’t want to put him or my host family through that!
Anyway, I’m just waiting and waiting (although I really haven’t been waiting very long at all and am just spoiled by how quickly AFS Belgium accepted me) for a host family to accept me. Maybe I’m antsy because it’s spring break, but either way, all I can think of is La Belgique!

ACCEPTED!

Just wanted to share the BEST NEWS EVER with you!!!!

As I explained earlier, there are two layers of acceptance. I’m through both of them! I didn’t have to wait very long after being accepted to AFS USA, less than one week (which probably isn’t typical)! Now I’m just as anxious to learn about my future host family hahaha
I’m extremely excited and grateful for this opportunity AFS is giving me. So many emotions are going through my head right now. I’m excited, nervous, anxious, worried, thrilled, and more! 
I hope I can update soon about more fun outbound things (maybe my host family or a pre-departure orientation!) 

À bientôt, j’espère! (See you later, I hope!)

Full Application and ACCEPTANCE into AFS-USA!

Hi everyone!
It’s been a while since I last posted, but in that time I can assure you that all I’ve done (related to AFS, anyway) is agonize over my application, hoping I didn’t forget any detail - or include any that would make me unable to go! - but now I have news.

I submitted my application about three times, and got an email the next business day saying I’d forgotten to do something. So after trial and error, I finally submitted it for the final time and paid my application deposit fee. The next day, I checked my email on my phone in class (who cares if we aren’t allowed to use cell phones in class? It was worth the possible violation in my opinion) and saw that 1. My application was sent off to be reviewed, and 2. I was accepted into AFS-USA!

For those of you who don’t know, there are two layers of acceptance needed to go abroad. The first one is being accepted by AFS-USA, which basically means you are allowed to leave the country with AFS and go to another country, all while representing the United States and AFS-USA. That’s where I am right now. It says I’ll have to wait 4-6 weeks to find out if I’m accepted to AFS-Belgium, my first choice. I’m just hoping it’s sooner rather than later, waiting is the worst! Hope to keep you updated soon,

Nicole

At-Home Interview

Thursday night, I had just gotten home from mock trial, and had a missed call with the most wonderful message from one of the local volunteers, Kathleen. We decided to schedule the meeting for Friday.
She brought along her host daughter, and it made me feel more comfortable and allowed me to ask a lot of questions I’d been wondering about.

I was asked “Why Belgium?”, “Why AFS?”, and “Why do you want to study abroad?”, which all seemed to be easy questions. I was also asked about my home life, my personality, what I’m interested in, and if there was anything that would inhibit placement, like an allergy or a fear. I was asked what I would do in various situations, like if my host family and I had a conflict.

My parents also made sure to ask about AFS’s policy about emergencies, which she explained that if there was an emergency, the local volunteer in my country would tell me personally, so I wouldn’t have to be alone when I found out the news. She also said that if I had to immediately fly home, I could, and I could maybe even come back depending on how far along into my stay I was.

It was a great experience, but made me feel really anxious to want to be accepted already! I had Jack, my boyfriend, there with me, as well as both of my parents, and it made me feel wayyy less nervous. My advice is to be as calm and honest as possible, because the volunteers are there to do all they can to get you a proper placement.