About Me: Paraguay, Here I Come!


        My name is Amanda Thomas and in August, I will be leaving Colorado to study abroad with AFS in Paraguay for a year (10 months). I will be spending my Junior year of high school in Paraguay, where I will live with a host family, will attend high school, and will learn about the amazing culture there while sharing my own.

    I have wanted to travel abroad since I was 5 or 6 years old. My mom came to the United States as an AFS exchange student from Chile when she was in high school. Since then, my family has been involved with AFS and it has always been my dream to study abroad as well. Even outside of traveling as an exchange student, I have always wanted to travel the world and experience as much as I can. We live in this huge, complex, unique, and beautiful world; and I want to see as much of it as I can. From this experience, I hope to gain memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life and become more open-minded about different peoples and cultures.

    With great gratitude, I will be going abroad on 2 scholarships: the AFS- Colorado Rockies Merit Scholarship and the Dawn Fest Memorial Scholarship. During my exchange, I will do my best as an ambassador of my country. I also look forward to becoming an official AFS volunteer upon my return where I will give back to the wonderful AFS Colorado Rockies Team that has helped me and other students so much.

    I am so excited and happy to share this experience with all of you. I'll be updating periodically so you can follow my adventures. I have already attended a local orientation where I met the other students from Colorado. I still have no information on where or with who I'll be staying with. I'll be sure to update when I have more info!

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