About Me... Oct. 20, 2012

While on a slow run for exciting blog posts, I've decided to tell you a little bit about myself and the People To People program, so you can have a clearer picture...

Well, my name is Nola (obviously). I'm a teenager living in a totally confusing and exciting world. My mind is as open as the ocean horizon. I love writing things. I am working on a novel (24 pages in so far). Reading is my second favorite thing. I work hard on almost everything I set forth on. I have been blessed with meeting such fantastic and supportive people throughout my life time. Each one of them said "Aim for the stars, cause that's where you're headed". Well... maybe not that exact phrase :) But I believe them. Singing and acting are a gift to me. They are my goals in life. I sing everyday, and practice once a week with my singing teacher, Molly. She has a beautiful voice, and I am honored to be able to learn with her.
Downsides I have? Some... No one is perfect. Perfect doesn't exist. I have experience with bullies (Suck!) and I always try to help my friends make the right choices. They have once felt like nothing, almost self-harmed themselves, felt depressed, and always told me "You don't understand!". But I am with them anyways. I have helped my best friend (IN THE WORLD) through a really tough time with stupid and ignorant people. I truly feel that everyone in the world: Girl, boy, gay, transgender, Asian, black, white, musician, football player, nerd, goths, Christians, Pagans, Muslims, ANYONE. They all deserve happiness. I know this all kind of sounds fake, but it is true. <3 for all

People To People (PTP) is an educational program that brings teens, young adults, and community members through all walks of life and people who live elsewhere, showing us world tolerance. Essentially, they believe that by doing this, world peace can begin. We can start understanding the beliefs of others and really have some logic before we make such horrible decisions based on our small environments.
Showing young people the world in different ways than a classroom can give a better hope for the future. My trip will be going to England, Ireland (North and South), Scotland, and Wales. In Ireland, we will be having a stay-home family, with a few other kids from our group. We get to see what their daily lives are and learn about their ideas. In England we will be touring around London, getting to ride the London Eye, visiting beautiful castles, and we all learn about the history in these awesome places.
Now I can't remember everything planned, but I am excited for this one thing we get to do... we get to climb down a castle wall in either Scotland or Wales. Just to add some fun:)
Some people question this programs safety and care. Well so have we. We attended a meeting on the overall trip in September. Only 1 person has died during their trip, due to health issues (diabetes, I think). Each instructor are trained for the Heimlich maneuver, C.P.R, and trained professionals stand by during any dangerous activities. There is a PTP guide for every ten kids. Each guide has a tracker in their cell phones, just in case they and other students get lost. Every meal, room, and activity is paid for. But we have to pay tuition to go, plus another $500 for an airport fee thing.

Why I made this blog? Well, you all know I need to pay BUNCHES of money for this trip. No it's not for school. No it's not cheap. And no, it won't be easy. But the total $7000 I need is going to be worth it. I made this blog to show you my progress, to fundraise for this amazing trip. I want to learn and expand my education outside of a boring classroom. My mom says that traveling is a great way to learn about anything. First hand is always the best, right?
Thank you for supporting! Please visit my facebook to see pictures, funny little things, post messages to me on my wall, and track my progress their as well while I enjoy a journey over see's.
PS: Donations over paypal are now excepted!
Thanks for all your help:)

Bangor Airport Mall craftshow review - Oct. 7th 2012

Yesterday was a success! I raised about $70 or more. Also i met some new people who were glad to help fund and learn my story. Everybody was really nice. We were in the dead center of the hallway and right next to us was a man who was paralyzed from the waist down. All through the day we had chit chat when we weren't talking to other people. The man was also raising money for his group for disabled adults. He could only feel half of his fingers, and he broke some things in his hand that didn't allow him to pick up things in certain ways and couldn't move as freely as we can.
I also talked to some people who had been on trips like mine. Mainly for school trips, and they bought some stuff to help out. A lot of the venders around us came around to shop to. One or two people I know came back twice. I handed out my blog cards to them too. I checked my page views today and I have 26 views for it! That's pretty cool just to start off.
The little kids there were so cute! They bought some of the brownie pops and brownie in a cone. I had to eat a few brownie pops, from my step aunt, as well. The dipped brownies looked really good. And the Pretzel treats WERE AWESOME!
The money I raised, again, goes straight to my tuition. I, personally, had about $300 and I need $400 to apply for the spot. I only need about $30 or less to make the first goal. The application is just that much closer, and as soon as I get my allowance, I am home free!

All in all, the craft show went well. Made some new friends, made some funding improvements, and had a lot of laughs. $70 is just that much closer to my goal, and I can't wait to do this again! 
Sorry I didn't post any pictures, I took a bunch but they are still in my camera so I'll try to post them tomorrow! Thanks for supporting my journey!

End of craftshow baking, Hello actual craftshow! - Oct. 5th 2012

These are the dipped brownies on a stick we made this week!

We are trying to go all halloween and Autumn theme here



Also these are some peanut butter pretzel treats.
I had one and it was AWESOME!

Friday afternoon and home from school.... Cooking a whole bunch of pretzels for the craft show TOMORROW! It starts at around 9 in the morning and ends at 4 pm. I will also have a little donation jar for people who want to donate directly. My step aunt is making some treats too that I can't wait for...

It's a long weekend for me (Thank you Colombus Day!) so after all this, I think I'll take a bubble bath and watch a movie. All of the food was decorated on the kitchen table and it will look really strange having barely anything on it. Haha.

My facebook wall is finally up, as some of you know. I am still deciding on a picture to put up, so if you have some ideas, go comment on my page Nola's Journey and let me know. Some other stuff might come up but it's just the one with no picture :(

All week my two Maine Coon Cats have been driving me crazy. They jump up on the table and try to lay or sleep or lick everything. DON'T WORRY they never got the chance to since we covered everything with tupperware and bags and boxes. But at the end of the day, they were really snoozy and cute:)

Oh and in this post, and this post only, I'll give out all the details of this craft show, and I hope to see you there. Okay so the craft show is being held in Bangor, Maine, tomorrow only. It is at the Bangor Airport Mall and from what I heard, it gets PACKED with people during their craft shows, so I'd get there early. I have no idea where I will be placed but we ordered a space against the wall, so look along there. We have the treats in the pictures above, and more pretzel desserts, Cake pops, whoopie pies, and if you have a peanut allergy, Don't panic.We took extra percaution to make the peanut treats completely seperate, on seperate days, for that reason, (my cousin has a bad peanut allergy and I feel bad for her when she can't have really good stuff). My mom made lemon bars, and we were deciding on a few other surprises....

So see you there and wish me luck!

Treats for Saturday! - Oct. 3, 2012

For all of you who are just curious as to what I am doing, let me sum it up... Over the summer I was invited to travel on a trip with an educational group called People To People (PTP as I refer to it). This trip is starting in July 2013 and this blog/facebook/gmail/paypal/youtube account is going to help me spread the word to raise money. This blog keeps u up to date on may daily/weekly progress. Here is some of today.....
Today I decorated like crazy! My mom and I made little peanut butter pretzel treats with candy's on top. I would love to post a picture of them, but my camera wasn't working with me :( But once everything is done, I'll take a total picture for all of you!
Let me tell you, there is a LOT of goodies we are selling this weekend. There are chocolate dipped brownies, Pumkin and Classic whoopie pies, haystack candy (a messy ball of nuts and I think pretzels covered in butterscotch! It's good:), my pretzel treats, and dipped preztel rods. Plus a relative of mine is going to make a few of her FAMOUS CAKE POPS! I am so excited!
Just so you all know, every single dime I profit goes straight towards my fund. No iPhone 5, No new TV, no personal use but this trip. I know some people don't believe people raising money that say they are using it to help, lets say, injured animals. But sure as hell they only send a few cents to those animals and the rest goes to other people's pay checks. NO! Not for me. I promise that if thise all goes well, I will be sure to post many pictures of MY REAL TRIP with my REAL 'PEOPLE TO PEOPLE' FRIENDS! :D
We are going to sign up for some more of these craft shows, perfect time for the holidays! Hope to see you there, and if you need location and time details, I'll give you this: It is this Saturday the 6th of Oct. and it begins at 10 AM. I won't give out personal location details yet since lot's of stalkers live out there unfortunatly! But check out my facebook and I'll give details through message to everyone!

Thanks!

~Nola

The starting line

This is where I start on this journey.  I was invited to participate in a student ambassador program called People to People. It's an educational travel experience that will take me to Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England in the summer of 2013. Here is the itinerary. Check out all the cool places we'll be going!

I know that this trip is not only for fun.  Traveling to different countries creates an understanding of the world beyond our own town or state or national borders.  Travel increases our tolerance of each other as citizens of the same planet.  It inspires the imagination and feeds the curiosity.  It will deepen my connection to the history of this part of the world too!

 

• PROGRAM FOCUS: Myths & Legends
• ACADEMIC FOCUS: Architecture, Art, Earth Science, Geology, History, Political science

So join me on this journey - Nola's Journey - as I work on projects that will aide in funding this trip and learn about where I'm going and how you can be a part of it!