....I am SOO excited!!
Back in December while I was at uni, a lovely lady called Jesse hijacked our lecture for 5 minutes. She handed out some flyers and and gave a really quick description of some volunteering work that was to be happening over summer. I was the first student to take a leaflet from her,trying not to snatch, I took it & must have read it word for word about 10 times ..I was almost wetting myself with excitement.
Anyway, the next day I managed to sneak out of a lecture 20 minutes early so that I could make the 'talk' she was giving at 1pm - I was there in a flash & sat right at the front of the class and after half an hour I had made the decision that no matter what was involved -I WAS GOING!!
I filled out my application in Olympic medal time & handed it straight back - she said it may take a few days to get to their office in London and then possibly a week before I may hear some news back (this was dec 7th btw!) ...so when I was in the library just 2 days later, I almost gave some poor guy a coronary when I let out quite a loud squeal! ...why? ..this is what I had just read...
'Dear Rachel,
After reviewing your application we feel that you would make a valuable contribution to the VESA program and are looking forward to having you on board this summer as we travel to Ecuador, Africa and the Fijian Islands.....'
After reviewing your application we feel that you would make a valuable contribution to the VESA program and are looking forward to having you on board this summer as we travel to Ecuador, Africa and the Fijian Islands.....'
...I could not believe my eyes! I was nearly in tears! - It wasn't finalised by just the e-mail though, I then had to print off the agreement/contract thingy, sign it, pay the £200 deposit and then e-mail copies of these back ..PRONTO! They told me there was between 30 - 40 places available and my place now depended on who's payments they recieved first! I logged into paypal in the blink of an eye and clicked 'pay now' faster than lightening.. I have never handed over money so quickly in all my life! I almost had a nervous breakdown! lol
So understandably, It was an agonising wait.. I checked my e-mails multiple times a day to see if they had e-mailed me back but each time there was nothing! :( - I little part of me started to feel a bit miffed as I thought the other applicants had had the same frantic reactions to the e-mails as me, replied faster and had beaten me to it. However, the e-mail finally came..
'Dear Rachel,
We have received your £200.00 deposit and have secured your place on our;
Fiji Islands Discovered No. 6:
July 23rd through to August 7th 2011...'
Fiji Islands Discovered No. 6:
July 23rd through to August 7th 2011...'
Now I really was beside myself!! I had applied for all 3 destinatons Fiji, Africa & Equador as I didn't mind which one I was chosen for. During the 2 weeks between the e-mails though I had secretly hoped for Fiji having read lots of info on each place, so was absolutely over the moon when I had got it..and on the specific date I had chosen too!
The hard work starts here though, I have to raise £1,249 for the trip & then flights & insurance etc is on top of that, so in all this trip is going to cost around £2,000. The majority of this will come out of my own pocket ...OUCH! ..and the rest will come from sponsorship & donations (hopefully!)
So, I have now recieved all my fund raising information etc, I am ready to get started. I am waiting untill January is almost over before requesting sponsorship from family, friends etc as I understand that the festive season has cost people quite a bit and the need a few weeks to recover! lol
I will be posting more about this and my fundraising in weeks/months to come but for now, this is it! ..Thanks for reading!
Rachel.xx
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This trip is organisised by VESA - Volunteer Eco Students Abroad
