*back story*
Throughout my entire life, my dream has been to go to Europe. Unfortunately, I've been unable to go because, well, my parents just aren't interested in paying money on me. My mother goes to Finland every summer and my dad goes to Mexico every winter and Hawaii each spring... But, as for me personnaly, I've always really stayed in the house. I've never left the country, only the left the state ONCE, and I've really been deprived of a cultural experience. I've tried getting a job, but I sadly am required to watch my baby brother while my parents work, (no allowance, btw) and not to mention there's school.
In absence of my trip to the foreign world, I've really taken the time to study European culture and language. I'm the top student in my French class (got 104% last term) and I even have studied a bit of other European languages such as Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, German, and Dutch. Now, I'm not at all conversational, but, you know, I know a few words. More than the average the more American, we can say.
Anyways, I discovered that at my high school, a club was going to 100% financially pay for a summer trip to a European country of one's choice. Needless to say, I was elated. All I had to do was sign up, be interviewed, win, and then, BAM, my dream would finally become a reality. Only two people, including myself signed up, as the opportunity was not placed in the announcements and, well, frankly, a lot of students at my school don't really understand the positive benefits of going abroad. I certainly didn't mind, less competition for me.
Now, I knew the other person competing against me. I really don't want to be mean, but I knew that I would be more articulate than her in the interview. We're in French together, and I can clearly remember, during the first day of freshman year, she genuinely was surprised to discover that Europe was a continent and not a country. Even today, she still cannot name the capitals of most countries and she would have trouble identifying any of the nations on a map.
Anyways, we go through the interview, (it was by high school seniors and it was on my BIRTHDAY ) I didn't see hers, but I thought mine went *really* well. There was, unfortunately, I slight drawback. There's a catch, there's always a catch. Our family was expected to host a student from Europe, too. My parents, unfortunately, are not the most open minded people in the world, and I expressed that it would be unlikely at worst and extremely difficult at best to convince my family to host another teenager.
It literally took my family days before coming up with an answer, but, at the end, it was yes.
When I told the group my parents' response, they told me they made a decision to go with the other girl. Now, naturally, I was confused, they automatically explained, "It had nothing to do with your answers, we just went with her because her parents were more willing to host someone and she's been involved with the club for a longer period of time."
I felt so depressed when I heard that. First of all, part of the "reason" was based off of something that I had absolutely NO control over, and I didn't even fully know about what the club did until this school year, and I was involved during that period as much as feasibly could. A lot of the activities they do involve driving, I can't drive because my parents refuse to teach me to get my license, they say they're convinced that I'll steal the car and they don't want to pay insurance, I just turned 17, and my parents have no interest in driving me anywhere, and, plus, the ride space is extremely limited and I've only gotten it once or twice.
However, I think I know the real reason they chose me. One of the main interviewers (there was three of them)sort of got in a fight with me on gay marriage. She went on about a rant about how gay people deserve to go to hell, and I confronted her on that and she was pretty upset. Granted, I probably used some inappropriate language, but it was after a recent gay suicide. I believe that was a HUGE influence on her decision. Also, the other two girls that did the interview are involved with teams (Cross Country and Forensics) of the the one who competed with me for position to go on exchange...
So, what's there to do? Well, sadly, I have to fight, I really have to fight what I believe to be injustice. I plan on sending an e-mail of persuasion to the club the funds the summer exchange trip. Now, here's the ultimate question that I probably wasted too much of your reading time taking: what's the ultimate question that I should ask them?
I don't want to mention the reasons why I really believe they picked the other person because, well, I have no proof and the people in charge and generally very Conservative. Like, I know what to say, but, I don't know what question to say, "May you please give the funding money to me?" That just, doesn't sound right. Please, help. THANK YOU