26 February 2012

An Introduction

Hei! My name is Alexa Zelensky, and I am from Ketchikan, Alaska. I am a senior in Ketchikan High School, and I'll be deferring college for a year to go on a gap year exchange to Finland from August 2012 to Summer 2013.

For the longest time I've dreamt of going on an exchange to a foreign country, and now AFS has presented me with that ability. On 13 February, I was officially accepted to AFS-USA, and as of today, 26 February, I have been officially accepted by AFS-Finland to be one of their exchange students in the school year of 2012-2013. I want to go abroad because I want to experience everything the world has to offer. I know that Finland is only a small fraction of the world, but it's definitely the fraction I want to see most right now! To me, Finland is very mysterious and very unexplored- in the past I never thought too much about it. And so when I was picking countries to live in for a year, Finland was at the top. Why not learn one of the hardest languages on the planet? Why not live in such a unique place? Why not immerse myself in a culture that is so vivid and so alive?

When I go abroad, I hope to grow as a person. I hope to learn things that I wouldn't learn otherwise, and I hope to meet some amazing people! But to fund such exchanges like this... it costs money. Which is why I've put a chip-in widget on my blog in case anyone would like to donate to my cause. I'm also working at the local pool raising money, and I'm trying to think up some good fundraising ideas, but this widget is a great way to start on all of this.

If you'd like to help me fundraise my exchange, please click on the chip-in button! I greatly appreciate all the help.


5 comments:

  1. Sponsor Alexa! She is seriously amazing and will do great in Finland!! =]

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  2. Quite often when one goes out into the world they find themselves.

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  3. Great that you choose Finland. I'm Finnish,so I'm glad of your choice.(:

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  4. Hi Alexa - or moi as we say here in Finland! It's great you chose to come here and I wish you a nice, amazing year full of surprises and new experiences.
    Finns are very kind people but we don't talk with strangers, so if nobody says hello to you in the morning or something like that don't get nervous. When you make friends with Finnish girls or boys, you usually get a lifetime-long friendship. Friends are very important to us but it's not easy to make close friends. Although I think you will find good friends, so don't worry! I think you'll have an amazing year with the Finnish food, friends and the nature ( and have a happy Christmas...!) ;)
    I hope that you'll feel like home here! It's nice that you wanted to know us Finns better! :)
    With love, a Finnish girl from Turku:)))
    Onnea vuodellesi! Wish you luck for your year 2012 here! :)

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