Who am I?

My name is Katie Grundy and I'm a 16 year old girl from Ohio. I'm going to be a junior in high school this year. I ride horses and do swim team in my high school and I love sewing and baking goodies. :)

Hey, what is this dream of yours?

I really want to study abroad in Japan for a year starting in March 2014. :)

Why?!

I think Japanese culture and the language is soooo awesome! I also think this is a great opportunity to travel and be adventurous while I can. I believe that being a tourist in a country is not the same as living with a host family and going to school in a foreign country. I want to see what Japanese life is really like by living like a native person.

What do you expect to gain from this?

I really want to be able to be semi-fluent or fluent in Japanese and make new friends. I've always had a knack for languages. Right now in school I take French (my 4th year in it) and I learn it very quickly. This is the same for Japanese. Not only do I learn languages quickly, I love speaking and writing them! So, the future career I want to do is to be a translator. I want to know so many different languages, and Japanese just happens to be one of them!
Also, learning how to adapt to change and breaking out of my little shell wouldn't be a bad goal either! :)

How much is all this?

Well, the tuition alone is $14,000. Plus plane tickets, school uniform, (it could be free or not depending on situation) and spending money for everyday life... that adds up to about $20,000. Quite expensive right?! Therefore I need your help. I need help raising the $14,000 for my tuition. For me personally, it's very hard to finance into something like this. My mom is already working longer hours just to help out and my dad is retired, so we're always tight on money. The little donation box I have on my blog goes straight into my tuition account. If you would like to donate, go right ahead. :) The program that the donation box is, is called Sponsor and AFSer.

What will I give in return?

My experience that will be posted on this blog. I will post what I will be doing before, during, and after my experience in Japan. I will try my best to update the blog as much as possible to keep you up to date.

Wait, what is Sponsor and AFSer?

This is an online fundraising tool provided by AFS to allow potential sponsors to make easy, secure, and non tax-deductible contributions to my AFS program fee.

What have you done so far to help raise your tuition?

I have applied for a financial aid scholarship, but got nothing unfortunately. :( Although, on the bright side, for the AFS Japan program there are two types of scholarships offered this year. One full, and two half scholarships. I will be applying for both of them so hopefully I can get one or the other.
Other than the scholarships, I plan on writing a letter to different major companies and asking them to make a donation towards my tuition. Also, I have a job. Even though I can't work as much during the school year, every penny from it counts! ^_^

To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account.

Thank you so much for taking some time and reading this.

-Katie
ケイテイ