planning because it is fun ;)

all right, this will make me sound very odd but I actually enjoy planning...there, I said it. My favorite part about making my dreams come true is all the planning.

for this particular goal which I am still working toward it required alot of planning! First I looked up requirements on the website of the Exchange program I would be attending which is as follows:

"-Female
-Age 15 through 19 at enrollment
-GPA of 3.0 or higher (preferred).
-In good health.
-Maturity to adapt to new environments.
-Minimum of 6 months formal or self-study of the Japanese language
-Enjoy a telephone, language check of your basic Japanese skill--Don't panic!"

Then of course there was the application form which required an essay

and a letter from a teacher/director of your school saying you would benefit from international study-abroad

Next I ordered everything in order of what should be done first. Seems very simple yet alot of people don't actually do this and end up overwhelming themselves.

so first of all:

first: GPA, Before this time I had no purpose in life at all. I didn't get the point of school or getting good grades and therefore, i DIDN'T have good grades. this newest goal has given me the drive to buckle down and improve my grades and I started right away. I am now almost at a 3.0 (2.9) and will have a 3.0 by the end of the semester!

Next: 6 months of Japanese. I had already began my Japanese study so this was easy but I DID calculate how long it would be till I would have studied for 6 months (happened to be in January of 2009) and just continued with what I was studying.

After the 6 months were over I began filling out the application form. Starting with a letter from a teacher and ending with writing an Essay (only 200 words about how mature you are basically)

I physically wrote down the order which I needed to do things in for this trip and that helped quite a bit when I became confused or felt overwhelmed at everything I needed for this trip I could just look down at my checklist and get right back on track.