The beginning of the road...

Hi everyone.

So I've been encouraged to capture my journey to Europe for the next three months so here goes my first attempt at blogging. What is blogging some say, let me tell you, blogging is a form of journalling or writing a story about an event. Because I will be experiencing many different things in the next three months I want to make sure I capture everything. Mum tells me I have to take heaps of photos. Which I do not do much off so maybe if I write it would remind me to take photos.

Austria was my mum's brain child it came after a conversation we had about experiencing a different culture by going abroad. Mum has always said I have to be open to trying new things and to challenge myself. So we took the leap and applied to STS NZ. We asked Mr Google to find us an exchange program and then narrowed it down to the Waikato and found there was a STS local branch in the Waikato.
We arranged a time and met with Trish. Funny enough we were sitting under the Te Aroha mountain in the Ironique Cafe answering Trish's questions when the lightbulb went off. I live in the country and I love to travel and I became excited about doing an exchange. I was also very scared of the idea of been away from home for three-six months. The more we heard about the different experiences the more we got interested so we applied. Trish recommended Spain or Italy as another option. But we chose Austria for its richness in music and because music is my strength we decided to stick with Austria. At the time I had also started learning how to yodel and that too was the deciding factor. Mum wanted me to go and experience and learn different variations of yodelling. It didnt take long for STS to get back to us and mum paid the deposit for me to be able to go. Then came the planning and the hard work began. Given it was Summer 2018 we took the opportunity to kickstart our fundraiser locally.  

Trev from Paeroa Carboot Sale 2019

I was pushed to go busking to raise funds for music equipment which changed very quickly to raising funds for exchange abroad. Carboot Sale was our first busking experience. Then came the Whangamata Twilight Market and would you believe it I made over $200 in two hours in Whangamata. On average I would make over $100 at a busking gig.

We found people to be incredibly generous. Our spots grew to Waihi Underground Market and soon enough I became the "Busking kid on a mission to raise funds for my Exchange Program to Austria".
In January this year I met Libby and Patrick at the Waihi Underground Market while I was busking. They came up to me and asked if I would sing at their wedding, which I did and they gave me a good donation for my time. Libby too was an exchange student in her school days and spent time in Germany. So she too understood what I was doing at that time.
This was my first donation. I had never sang at a wedding before and that was my first experience. It was incredible the venue was in Bowentown out by the beach. I remember that summer's evening because it was a formal European party and they had me this "brown kid" singing country songs for them whilst they danced the night away. Libby's dad is a retired lawyer that actually worked with my mum alot so we were surrounded by Judges and lawyers that was supercool.
As part of my fundraiser I set a target of $5000NZD. This was to help with my personal spending, travel insurance, school fees and bus fee to and from home in Austria. Throughout the year I have performed in many different spaces and received donations, sponsorships and a scholarship to help me achieve my goal.

At the time the goal was to make sure we could afford to pay for the exchange and mum was committed to finding ways to cut down the cost. I have been very lucky to have met Annie and Trevor through the Carboot Paeroa, Lorraine at Thames Treasure Market, Monique and Kim at the Waihi underground market, along with many country music supporters who have continued to follow me in my journey.
In September 2019 I reached my target and I am officially 4 weeks away from my trip, I want to say a major thank you to my entire Family for supporting Mum and I and a big thank you to everyone who has sponsored me in any way. I am super excited to have an opportunity like this and I will use it to my advantage. I hear quite a lot that skiing is a very big thing in Austria so I am super keen to try that out.