Help Lucas with his college fund

Hello!! My name is Lucas and I'm about to start college this fall. I just turned 18 in January and I'm pursuing my undergrad in international affairs to achieve a career in humanitarian aid. I have the privilege of being able to study in Rome, Italy with a scholarship that covers my full tuition through my university.

For some background on myself:

I spent the past year as an exchange student in Sofia, Bulgaria on behalf of Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES Abroad). YES Abroad is a highly-competitive full scholarship exchange program for high school students or recent high school graduates. I graduated in a year early at 17 in 2021, and worked hard to obtain this scholarship to spend my "substitute senior year", or gap year, internationally.

This experience taught me a lot about myself and the things I love the most, including being immersed in an international environment, hence deciding to continue my education internationally through an American institution abroad. I applied to 7 schools across Europe and was accepted into all with merit scholarships. I chose my university in Rome because of the full-tuition scholarship provided, along with the internationally and historically rich location and offerings on campus.

I discovered my passion for human rights and advocacy at home in Vermont as someone who became very vocal in my community about bettering our school's mental health systems for our youth, along with advocating for suicide prevention. I participated in a couple of summer camps for global issues and youth leadership and felt right at home in these spaces. I want to pursue a career in helping disadvantaged people, whether that be working in food security, refugee displacement, or access to education in my country and around the world.

As for the reason I'm running this fundraising campaign:

Although I am gifted with this full tuition scholarship, there are a lot of costs that come with being independent. Things have been tight financially since my father passed away from pancreatic cancer when I was 16. I am a first-generation college student, and although navigating the college admissions process alone was challenging, I came through successfully. However, for me to continue with this success and fulfill my father's dying wish to follow my dreams, I need to be sure I have financial stability.

Housing for this semester alone is $5,000. Along with this come the costs of airfare, health insurance, medication, a meal plan, visa/permit fees, in-country transportation, class fees, and other general living expenses. All of this together seems very overwhelming, and I'm doing my best to save what I can to help me stay on my feet when I start school in September. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of savings and I've already spent half of them on a few of the things listed above (fees, insurance, airfare).

In the meantime, I've been working a full-time job this summer to set aside some money before I'm off to school. I plan to work with the career center at my university to find work when I arrive in Rome, however, due to visa work limits, language barriers, and job availability, I am unsure of when I will be able to start working. As an alternative, I am a musician and I've had success in the past with busking to make extra cash, so I have plans of continuing this there with my ukulele and singing.

To conclude, all proceeds will go towards my living expenses as listed above. I will continue this fundraiser and give updates while I am abroad for all donors to see. I am beyond appreciative of any and every donation provided, as it greatly assists me in continuing my success as a passionate young adult. Thank you so much in advance!!