Morocco Blog Entry - 05/23/10

I feel good about our fundraising opprunities thus far and what we can do in the future. The car washes have been very successful, probably more so than expected, and next week I will be going to the yard sale to help out with that. I was thinking about how great of an opprunity that will be considering it will be momerial day weekend and Main Street should be filled with tourists. I expect us to make alot of money that day. It is good that we are all working equally hard to maike this happen. It seams like now the kids who were origionally slacking are putting in an extra credit so the work can be spread equally. I do feel somewhat badly because I wasn'e able to make the first two car washes, but it was because I had prior commitments which I could not get out of, and because I went to the yardwork/cooking fundraiser at Mr. Hyer's house and I will be going next saturday I think I am doing my fair share of the work. My one fear at this point is that the fundraisers we are doing won't be enough. I know I cannot afford to be paying the majority of the money for the trip and neither will many other kids. I got a job for the summer and have already started working weekends, but realisticly only a percentage of that money can go to the trip. I have to pay for other expenses like food, gas, and other day to day expenses. I think as a group we will have to depend on group fundraising more than people expect, because all teenagers have these same expenses.

Morocco - Week One

After getting together with my group, I already can tell we are going to be very successful in our fundraiseing efforts. The creativity of the ideas were outstanding, and they were deffinatly ideas that would rais a copious amount of money for our trip. An idea I came up with which I feel could be very fun and profitable would be a student vs staff softball game in the spring, preferably late May. The annual basketball game is always successful and profitable, and I feel this could be even more so. Because of the nice weather and stressful time of year (finals) many will see this as a good way to relax for an afternoon and watch some good softball. We could also do raffels during the game and have other ways of makeing money (selling team memobelia, etc). All of the ideas shared have been very exciteing, and I am excited for them to begin to materialize into tangable events.

First Morocco Trip Meeting

a. Why did you sign-up for this trip?

I signed up for this trip because not only is it an opprunity for me to go to another country and to learn about a new culture, but it is also a chance for me to give to a people who may be less fortunate than we are in this country. As Americans, we have always helped other nations when we can, and this is a great way for me to carry on that tradition.

b. What do you hope to gain from this trip?

I personally hope to gain the experience of another culture and learn how other people live. I am facinated in my French class when I learn about the differences between the culture in French speaking nations and the US, but have never had the opprunity to traval outside the US. Of corse, with French being one of my favorite subjects, I am also very excited to be in a french speaking country and how this will imporve my French.

c. Are you nervous, excited, anxious, etc. about traveling to a very different country & culture? Why?

I am very excited for this aspect of the trip. I have never had the opprunity to learn another culture first hand in this way and I cannot wait to experience this.

d. How do you plan to contribute to the group to help with fundraising?

In order to contribute to the group fundraiseing, I plan to help with every fundraiser I can. I understand that to make this trip happen it is going to need to be a team effort, and I am willing to do my part, whatever that may end up being.

e. Do you see the year of planning, fundraising, and group activities to be a challenge? In other words, are you outside of your comfort zone, or is this something you are very comfortable about? If no, why? If yes, why?

I see this aspect of the trip as a challenge, but I am excited about it. I have never had to fund raise at such a large scale before, so I don't know exactly what to expect. I am excited about this because it is a new experience and opprunity to learn.

f. What are some personal goals you are setting for yourself?
My personal goal is to have every new experience I can out of this project. From the fundraiseing top the actual trip, this is a once in a lifetime experience, and i want to capatilize on every aspect of it and learn as much as I can.

g. Do you have a plan to help raise money on your own? If so, what is that plan?
I am currently working on finding a summer job. Hopefuly I will fine one and will be able to contribute monatarly to the trip through the money I earn this way.

h. What did you think of Wednesday's first meeting?
In the first meeting we had with the people from World Strides, I realized how much of a reachable goal the fundraiseing was. I am excited to get started right away so I can continue to work to our ultimate goal.