study abroad in Europe

I have made up my mind that I am going to Paris for 3 weeks over the summer to do a summer abroad program, now I just have to convince my HIGHLY overprotective parents of that. But I have a game plan.

Education is the most important thing to them, and so if I go in from that angle, that I would be able to take 2 wonderful enrichment classes, one being Drawing, the other being either International Business, Photography, or Fashion, and would give me a better understanding of those topics, that may work. Also, I would say how exellent it would look on a college application, and how I could use my experiances from this for the perfect college essay. Also, I would let them know how much knowledge about what college is like I would gain. Another thing I would certainly have to include is how wonderful and educational this experiance would be for me from a cultural standpoin. I would get to see the beuatiful city, many many, many, mueseums such as the Louvre, and ecperiance another culture, which is very important to me. God, i hope my parents can let go and calm down about my growing up and trying to gain indepepdence long enough to let me go on this summer abroad program. Be praying for my sucess! I am a great argue-er, I pray to God I am good enough to convince my parents JUST THIS ONE TIME!!!

Carley Clement

I saw that there is a foreign exchange club at our high school, and next year, since I will be a sophomore next year, I’m eligible to do a foreign exchange. I would want to do it over summer vacation for sure though. I was thinkging about if I did do it over the school year, which semester I would want, and I wouldn’t really want to miss either. I mean, first semester you get back and everyone forms new friendships and I would miss Christmas and Thanksgiving, which I CAN NOT imagine missing. Also I would miss all of fall, which is my favorite season. No, first semester would not bode well with me. And second semester, I would miss everyone leaving and summer vacation beginning. I would miss spring and I would miss finals, which would probably be a bitch to make up, plus I would miss prom and all the end-of-school dances and events and such. The countdwon to summer is awesome, and I would not want to miss that. And of course, one full year is too long. I would want to do it over summer becasue I wouldn’t miss any school, and that would just be the perfect time to go.

I was thinking now about where I would like to go. Italy would be tops for me, because I adore Italy and everything about it, so that would be awesome to spend the whole summer there. Another top contender would be Sweden, since I am of course Swedish and want to go and see where my ancestors lived and such. I also want to learn to speak Swedish some day, so it would be good to go and start picking up some of the language; same for Italy. Another place I would really like to go is Ireland or England, because their culture and livestyle really interests me, and there would be no language barrier there, so it would be perfecto.

I can’t wait for next year to come so I can prepare for a foriegn exchange!

Carley Elizabeth