I must admit that I am slightly embarrassed that it has taken me nearly three weeks to update this blog, especially since I committed to posting at least once a week in my last post. Even more embarrassing is that I had to have my mom guilt trip me into writing what you are reading now. The realization hit me today that this is the first true piece of writing I have ever done voluntarily without academic instruction, guidelines, or due dates. The absolute freedom of a blog makes the task of writing seem slightly daunting. From now on, I am going to set Saturday as my blog update day and do my very best to hold myself to it even when I am experiencing a severe case of writer's block (which is almost all the time!)
I have learned so much both about the details of my trip and fundraising these past few weeks, so this post will be a bit lengthy. First about my trip (itinerary link to come soon!),
The places I will be going to include:
- Strasbourg, France
- Heidelberg, Germany
- Brusels, Belgium
- Luxembourg
- Paris France
- European Parliament
- Chambre of Commerce
- Court of Human Rights
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Deutsche Bundesbank
- German Stock Exchange
- European Court of Justice
- NATO Headquarters
- Paris Economic Development Agency
- Louvre
Progress had been made on trip preparations. The trip will run from May 4 through May 23. This past Thursday, the program became full at 22 students with a mix of both graduate and undergrads. I have all my paperwork completed and my passport is ready to go. All that is left to be done is to get a doctor to sign my "o.k. to travel" papers, and I will be ready to jet set!
Now on to what's really been on my mind, dolla' dolla' bills ya'll!
Trip costs have been locked down at $2,925 for the program and $1,022 for the round-trip flight. I paid $410 for the deposit, a payment of $500 was due this week, and the remainder of the trip balance ($3,037 for those of you that are math challenged) is due on February 7. Ahhhhhh! That is less than three weeks away!
Thanks to the holiday card response from my wonderful family and family friends I have raised $1,060 which is truly amazing! On another happy note, the old bank account I am using to store this money already had $261.20 in it before this all started. Hooray! This brings my running total to $1,321. Some additional money is expected to come in the form of a $200 pledge from a family member, a $500 IEF scholarship, and a $300 stipend for an extracurricular Jewish education class. That money would put me at $2,321. Over halfway to my final goal!
I still have plenty of money left to raise before February 7, and luckily a handful of ideas left on how to do so. This experience has taught me so many important lessons about the work involved in raising money, and I plan to share this knowledge and advice with you all in my next post!
Until next time
Peace, Love, and Paris ~ Naomi
So many places!! All of which I would like to go to someday. For now, I shall live vicariously through you. XD
ReplyDeleteBtw, how did you set up that donation account thing? I wish I had known about that for my trip last summer, but I know a couple of people it would help a lot. I think I'll send you a facebook message about it.
This is Brianna, btw. Not sure if you know my Kilica username. Yup.
Good luck! ^_^
Hi Brianna,
ReplyDeleteFirst let me say thank you for the donation! You will be getting a pretty card from me.
Second, the donation button was pretty easy to set up. I just made a paypal account, linked it to a bank account I don't use as my main one (so I don't accidentally use France money to pay bills!) and there is an option once you have an account to create a donation button. They give you a script and you just paste it into the blog. The thermometer I got off another website and can share with you as well.