Hello, my name is Zyaja Huggan and I am planning to study abroad with AFS programs for 4-8 weeks this summer in Chile. While I am there, I hope to learn more Spanish and eventually speak it fluently. I am excited to experience a different culture and live with a host family.
One of my futures goals is to become multilingual. This journey will push me further towards this goal. I think being able to speak another's language is important. Since English is a universal language, native speakers of English have the luxury of not needing to learn new languages to travel. However, I feel that it is in some ways discourteous of us to not learn or attempt to learn to speak other languages. I went to Mexico last summer and everyone there spoke English, even the native Spanish speakers, and I felt that it was ungracious to travel to another's country and expect them to speak your language. It is their country after all. I understand that it is not possible to learn every language in the world but to know a few would be amazing. Learning another's language allows you to connect more with them.
I hope I can teach others the language when I come back and teach that learning languages is not only beneficial but important. Hopefully my journey encourages other people to go on their own journeys' and strive towards their dreams.
To fund this journey, I have been applying to different scholarships, planning to do fundraisers, and lastly reaching out to all of you. I have joined the AFS Sponsor an AFSer program, which is an online fundraising tool provided by AFS-USA to allow potential contributors to make easy, secure, and non tax-deductible contribution to my AFS program fee. Any small amount of donations will help towards this trip.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I would appreciate it if you could share this message to anyone else who you think might be interested in sponsoring my experience.
To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account.