ad·ven·tur·ous: (adj.)

Willing to take risks or to try out new methods, ideas, or experiences


Involving new ideas or methods


Full of excitement


Hello! My name is Autumn Cassidy Christiansen, and hopefully this time next year I will be learning and living in Spain! This blog will be my way of sharing my travels abroad with everyone who's interested.

I’ll start out with a little bit of boring information about myself. I am from the small-ish town of Flagstaff, Arizona, located in Northern AZ about an hour from the Grand Canyon. I’ve lived here my entire life with my mom, dad, younger sister and our two dogs. I attend a small school called Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, where I take a variety of classes ranging from core subjects like English and geometry to art classes like modern dance and creative writing. I’m a sophomore, and just turned 15 last November. I consider myself an artist, dancer, runner, musician and explorer.

I started thinking about foreign exchange at the beginning of this school year. Traveling has always been a big dream of mine; I’d just never really had the opportunity to pursue it. At first my parents had a mindset very similar to Vernon Dursley’s when Hagrid told Harry about Hogwarts (well…not that severe of a mindset, but still). It took quite a bit of research and persuasion to convince them that this was something that I really wanted, and was prepared to take full advantage of. I presented them with ideas I had for fundraising, and scholarships I could apply for. And, thankfully, they saw that this was an experience that would help me grow as a person and enrich my understanding of the world. Since then, they have been nothing short of supportive.

So here I am. I have applied to go to Spain for 10 months with an organization called the American Field Service, or AFS. One of AFS’s main goals is to spread peace through international and intercultural learning. Information on the Spain Program can be found here: http://www.afsusa.org/study-abroad/high-school-abroad/display-program/?destination=75&category=1

I chose Spain for a variety of reasons mainly based on language and culture. It’s always been a dream of mine to become fluent in another language, and as I have been taking Spanish classes all of my life, Spain seemed like a good place to put what I’ve learned to some use. And from what I have heard and researched, the culture and atmosphere of Spain is very open, festive, and immersed in the arts. As an aspiring artist, this certainly piqued my interest.


A few weeks ago, I found out that I had received a scholarship through Global Leaders Financial Aid and a state-specific scholarship aid program that will cover $4000 of my tuition. This was really great news for my family, but it does mean that we are still going to have to fundraise a large sum of money. We have several plans for this, including having bake sales during First Friday Artwalk downtown and selling notecards with art done by yours truly. I am very confident that I will be able to raise at least half on my remaining tuition.


Thank you for taking an interest in my adventure, I'll be sure to update this blog every time I hear more from AFS!


Adios!
Autumn Cassidy