Hello! My name is Belinda and I am spending my junior year of high school studying abroad in Morocco through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad Scholarship!
On April 12th at approximately 3:33 PM, life as I knew it was forever changed. I got an email titled "YES Abroad Program in Morocco", at that moment I shrieked! I was shocked, I couldn't believe it! I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing. Just to be sure, I opened the email to find this:"Dear Belinda,
Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a Finalist for a 2013-14 Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad scholarship for study in Morocco!"As you can imagine, I was ecstatic. All that was running through my mind was "Oh-my-freaking-gosh, I can't believe I got in!!" And from that moment, my life has been a blur of talking about going to Morocco, researching about Morocco, filing paperwork, meetings with counselors and administrators at school, and so on.
The funny thing is, if you had told me six months ago that I’d be studying abroad, I’d never believe it! I am incredibly excited and grateful for this unique opportunity. First and foremost, I want to thank God, as well as my family and friends who have supported me and prayed for me every step of the way. Y'all are truly a blessing.
I am excitedly looking forward to next year and the life-changing journey I am about to embark on. I plan on utilizing this blog to document my experiences during my year abroad and keep everyone updated on what I'm doing. In a year, I’ll be able to look back on this post and reflect on how I’ve changed and what I’ve done. But first, on to Morocco!
~Belinda
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| Rabat, Morocco |
