A Tout A L'Heure!

Well, I am finally leaving to go to France! I would like to take this time to thank absolutely everyone who donated money and/or helped me fundraise. You are all so wonderful, and I appreciate it so much! Without all the support from you this would not be possible. I sincerely thank you.

I had a Bon Voyage party the other day. Family and friends all came to wish me good luck and happy travels. The cake was made by Tom (thank you Tom!) and it was beautiful and delicious. Also thank you to everyone who came to the party, it was a lot of fun.

Fun Facts About France

The departure day it swiftly approaching. So to prepare myself I've been learning about many things about France.



Here's a list of a few things I've discovered:



*there are more pets in France than there are children



*women were not allowed to vote in France until 1944



*cave paintings in Lascaux are estimated to be over 15,000 years old



*cotton candy is called barbe a papa "dad's beard"



* it's rude to put your hands in your lap during a meal, French (and it seems Europeans in general) find this really strange



* there are over 500 varieties of cheese made in France



[information found at culturegrams.com]

Success!

Well the dinner was nice. I had a lot of fun putting on the whole thing. I have to thank my mom for all her help and all the time and hard work she put in to make this work out so well. (Thanks mom!) We served dinner and dessert, had a cake auction, and drew a winner for the floorcloth. (Cindy Rines drew the winning ticket.) I would like to thank her for all her help in the kitchen. I decorated the cake(s) on the left by putting the Eiffel Tower on it. My friends helped out and we all had a good time.

Fundraiser Dinner

Friday May 29th

5:30pm-7:00pm

I will be having a spaghetti supper at the Wiscasset High School in the cafeteria.

It will be $7.00 per person 

or

$25.00 per family

Spaghetti, bread, salad, and dessert will be served. There will be a cake auction and the floorcloth is going to be raffled off. The winner will be announced at the dinner.

Host Family!

I am very excited to announce that I finally have a host family!!!!!!!!!

They live in France right near the border of Germany. The couple is in their 30's. They seem really friendly and fun. They have a six-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son.

I will definitely give more information about this later!

Also, the fundraiser dinner and floorcloth raffle will be May 29.

Floorcloth Raffle

My mother and I painted this floorcloth by hand and we are raffling it off at several different locations as a fundraiser for France. It's dimensions are 8' 5" x 5' 6.5" Listed below are the places and dates of where the floorcloth will be displayed for anyone interested in buying a raffle ticket.

Avalon Antiques       Rte 1                        Wiscasset          3/14 – 3/22

Wiscasset High School                             Wiscasset          3/23 – 3/26

On Board Fabrics                                      Edgecomb          3/27 – 4/4

Wiscasset Middle School                         Wiscasset          4/6 – 4/10

Kindred     Main St. Center Building      Damariscotta    4/10 – 4/18

Floor Magic and Tile    Biscay Rd.          Damariscotta    4/18 – 4/25

More businesses will be posted for the month of May. The drawing will be on June 6th.

Tickets are 2.00 each, 6 for 10.00 or 15 for 20.00

Hello! Welcome to my blog. My name is Yvette, I am sixteen years old and a sophomore in high school. I am excited to say that I am going to be a foreign exchange student for my junior year. I am going to France for the year through the AFS program.

Reasons to go to France

I want to go abroad to become fluent in another language and become more independent as an individual. This is such a wonderful opportunity. I think I will gain a better understanding of the world and different cultures. I hope I can share my own knowledge with those in France about the American culture.

The cost

I need help financing my AFS experience, because money is hard to come by right now, as I am sure many families know. I have several ideas for fundraising already and will post about them once they are started. I would like to personally thank AFS for rewarding me with a $1,500 Global Leaders Scholarship. This money combined with my own contributions and contributions from my parents have helped defray the cost. The amount left for us to raise is about $6,000.

How you can help

Any donations are greatly appreciated, I have a fundraising goal to get 2,000 people to donate $2.50 each through this site by clicking the ChipIn button. If you would be so kind as to forward this blog to your friends, families, and anyone else that you know of who might be interested in sponsoring my AFS experience that would be very helpful.

Contact

Also if anyone needs to contact me, you can leave a comment below or e-mail me at yalexandrou@wiscasset.k12.me.us Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy reading about my fundraising and adventures in France!

Sincerely,

Yvette