DONATIONS

I have raised about $2500 so far this summer.  I have sold cupcakes at one of my church’s Fellowship Suppers.  My parents’ Sunday School class hosted a Spaghetti Luncheon for me and from that alone we raised almost $2000.  My church, Aldersgate United Methodist, has been really generous to me.  They have been supporting me throughout this endeavor to be an ambassador.  However, my plane ticket, visa, passport, and expenses such as school uniforms and the Customs fee are expected to cost between $5000- $6000 so I am still looking to raise some more money before I leave.  If you would like to donate money to support my trip, you can take it by Aldersgate UMC which is located at 1207 West Dixon Boulevard in Shelby, NC 28150 OR you can email me at emmainparacatu@gmail.com to inquire about donating.  If you have any questions you can also email me there as well.  I want to thank everyone who has helped to support me and I look forward to being able to represent Shelby, NC in Paracatu, MG in the following year.  

July 26, 2012

Updates on things that have been happening with my exchange;

1. I do indeed have my business cards, blazer, and pins to pass out next year
2. I leave in two weeks (16 days to be exact)
3. I cannot wait to get on the plane
4. I’ve never been on a plane (except when I was 5, but that doesn’t really count)
5. I graduate high school in 8 days
6. I am already planning what I will be wearing when I leave

Life has been hectic lately, but its great knowing that so many people have worked so hard to help this happen for me.  I don’t think I can ever properly convey how thankful I am.  Being gone for 11 months may seem daunting at first, but I am really excited to get it started.  I know I’ll miss my family and friends; but it won’t be the end of the world.  It’ll be the start of a whole new part of my life.  My English class is nearly over, and I almost have all the documents that I will need to board the plane in a few weeks.  The hard part is now, the waiting.  The anticipation for what will come is making me more thankful for what I have now and helping me appreciate all the people that I surround myself with. 

Ohio

This past weekend was orientation for all outbounds in my Ohio-Erie district.  There were about 90 kids total leaving the United States to go someplace else.  9 of which, including me, will be going to Brazil.  It was hosted by Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.  It was really nice, we stayed in the dorms with no air condition but we were always waling somewhere, eating, or in an air-conditioned room together.  We get to see many presentations.  One was solely on Culture Shock and we learned about the 4 stages of culture shock pertaining to exchange students.  We also learned about Reverse Culture Shock, what will happen when we come back to the United States.  Another presentation was on safety.  This presentation was about how the rules that we have are put there to keep up safe.  In both of these presentations there were video clips from Ace Ventura and Outsourced.  Both of them were really funny.  I watched Outsourced when I got home, and it was great.  We also played this awesome game.  I can’t really talk about the rules and because someone who wants to be an exchange student could see it.  But this game was really great and lots of fun.  That Friday morning, district 7680 got our blazers (Erin, Hailey, Natalie, and I).  And we also got the pins that we will be passing out in our host clubs and to other exchange students that we meet.  The drive up to Ohio was not bad, we had two Rotarians that were willing to answer all of our questions, Dale and Vinny, and they were pretty good drivers too.  The drive back to North Carolina was good too.  We also got the option to ask the rebounds, people who had gone on exchanges before, questions and hear about their exchanges.  It was really interesting to hear how different everyone’s story was, even if they went to the same place.