Buon Natale e un felice anno nuovo! Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Things have been crazy here. At school my counselor and I have been talking about what to do for graduation. I have 24 credits from freshmen and sophomore year and I need 26 to graduate. So I'll have enough credits to graduate this year but I would be missing one required class, english 4. It was decided I would drop my newspaper class and take english 4 online during that period. That way I'll graduate this June! I'm nervous to get it all done and graduate at sixteen but I'm soo excited to go to Italy. Please donate in lieu of graduation money. Grazie!

Fundraising has been going well so far. I've applied for three jobs at Pizza hut, IHOP, and Chick Fil' A. I'm pet sitting for a family friend and have sold a few things on craigslist. I'm also working on setting up a Kickstarter, so make sure to check back for that.

Christmas was wonderful. We went to Christmas eve mass with our friend Grace and then ate IHOP at 2 am. On Christmas day mom dragged us out of bed at 9am (the horror!) and had us open presents. Then we went to see The Book Theif, which is one of my favorite books. It was amazing!! I sincerely suggest everyone go and see it but definitely bring the kleenex, it's a tear jerker. Merry Christmas and I hope everyone has a happy new year!Arrivederci!
To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account

My christmas loot. Thanks everyone!

Benvenuto! Welcome!

My name is Catherine Joy and I will be leaving the great state of Texas to study abroad my senior year of high school in Italy. I'm so ecstatic to learn italian, live with an italian host family, and learn about the incredible culture in Italy. I can't wait to share American culture with my new family and friends in Italy.

I've always wanted to travel around the world. My interest in Italy came from the Lizzie McGuire movie (totally possible to meet your pop star doppelganger right?) and when we hosted my godfather Marco who was from Belluno, Italy. We were introduced to Marco by Olof, our foreign exchange student from Sweden. I'm excited to go and meet even more wonderful people and eat incredible food.

I want to come home after my year in Italy fluent in italian. I want this year to teach me about being a global citizen and help me understand the world around me. I plan to always volunteer with the AFS program because it has done wonderful things for my family and introduced us to so many amazing people.

After high school I will be attending Ole Miss (Hotty Toddy!) and majoring in international relations with a minor in business administration. All to be followed by law school.

The cost of tuition is something I'm working to cover everyday. I've just started my fundraising and am planning on hosting an italian dinner to raise funds. I'm also getting a part time job and all the money will go straight to my trip.

I have joined the AFS Sponsor and AFSer program, which is an online fundraising tool provided by AFS to allow potential sponsors make an easy, secure, and non tax-deductible contributions to my AFS program fee. No amount is too small -- I know that times are tough, but every little bit will help me get a little bit closer to my goal.

Thank you so much for reading this, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could forward it to anyone else you think might be interested in helping me with my AFS experience. Keep checking back here to read more about me and keep up with my adventures once I get to Italy. Arrivederci!
To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account