Saturday, June 27, 2009

Departure Date Announced!

Hey all,
I just got home from spending a week on a mission trip to Grand Rapids. When I got home I knew I had to check my e-mail. AFS travel & logistics sent me an e-mail with my departure date and scheduled flights. For orientation I will need to be in Miami on July 29 at the Embassy Suites Hotel Miami International Airport. After orientation I will depart from Miami in the evening of July 30th on a flight bound to land in Santiago, Chile the next morning. From there I have a lay over until the afternoon when I will get on a flight headed for Asuncion. The entire trip from Cleveland to Asuncion is 6200 miles.
32 days until I leave. So much to do, so little time.
That's all for now.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Paraguay Conference Call

Today I received an email with information about my upcoming Paraguay Conference Call. The meeting will allow me to talk with former AFS exchange students who have traveled to Paraguay and they will be fielding questions from all of the students who are going. Glad to hear some news from AFS because it has been very quiet from their end lately.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Dude I'm Not In Paraguay.

Well not yet anyway.

Hi my name is Phil. I set up this blog to share my experiences as an AFS exchange student to Paraguay. I will be staying in Paraguay for one full school year. So far I have been accepted into AFS Paraguay, but I am still waiting to find out details such as my departure date and who my host family will be. I'm getting very excited as the (still unknown) date draws nearer. I do know that I will be leaving sometime near the end of July.

As you may or may not know my original plan was not to go to Paraguay. I originally tried to go to France but their lack of a gap year program made it impossible so I changed my plans and started the application process with hopes of being placed in French speaking Belgium. After that fell through due to a lack of available space AFS asked if I would be willing to go to Paraguay. I figured why not? It's sure to be a learning experience.

One interesting part about this exchange is that I speak very little Spanish. I took 4 years of French in school expecting to be going to either France or Belgium and don't regret a moment of it. I have been trying to boost my Spanish a bit before I leave so I can at least get my point across. ¿Dónde esta el baño?

I plan on posting many pictures here for your enjoyment as photography is one of my hobbies. I recently took the plunge and got myself a new Canon Rebel XSI DSLR camera and I will be taking it with me to doccument my trip.

Thats all for now. I'll keep you posted as we get more info.
-Phil-