Hi, my name is Tippi, I'm 15 years old and I'm from Germany. I've always wanted to go to the USA and I'm so happy I'm currently here. Being an exchange student means living with a host family, going to American High School and trying things you wouldn't normally do in your home country. I've been here for a month now, and that has been the best month of my life. My life in Germany consisted of going to school and watching TV in my room. I don't even know if you could call that a life, it certainly didn't feel like it.

Back in Germany I have my mom, but because she's the only family I have, I've always felt a little lonely.

I've been living with my host family for one month now, and it really feels like simply being part of a family I love, is one of the main parts that has been missing from my life before. Just thinking about leaving them so soon breaks my heart. I also found so many good friends here already that I wouldn't trade for the world. I finally feel like I found my people. I tried out tennis, even though I've never played before, and I've had so much fun. I went to a football game with my friends and it was awesome! We don't have any school spirit in Germany, so all of this has been such a fun and new experience. Also one of my favorite things here so far is the food. I definitely have been missing out on life by not having tater tots or Costco cookies in Germany.

Now the sad part: When my mom booked my exchange year, we chose the one semester option, so that I'll be leaving in December already. We chose that option because I was simply scared, and I've never regretted anything more. There is an option to extend and do a whole year, but it costs €3000, so including the transactions fees of gofundme and after converting it to usd, I would need $3600. Unfortunately neither me or my mom have that amount of money right now, since my mom already had to take a loan to even make going here possible in the first place. I have to have the money within 30 days and I am really desperate. When I told my host family that I couldn't afford staying we all started crying and thinking about them hitting up a few casinos or buying 100 lottery tickets, but I feel like gofundme, after a lot of people told me to do it, is a little more reasonable than that.

The funds will be used to extend my exchange year, so that I can stay here the whole school year. I will get to experience prom, more time with my friends and host family and so much more. I would really really appreciate it if you could help me out. I am not exaggerating when I say that just by donating a little bit of money you could change my life.