Dayton student will spend a year in Hungary

In her quest for knowledge, 15-year-old Nori Richarz will spend her junior year going to high school in Hungary.

"I'm pretty excited," she said. "I'll be learning about a whole new country and I can inform people about it when I get back."

Raised in Dayton, Richarz will leave the United States for the first time Tuesday when she begins her journey to a foreign land.

"I'm going to be gone from everything I know for a year," she said. "But being in one place is just boring."

Richarz is going to Hungary as part of the American Field Service, a student foreign exchange program. It began in World War I as an ambulance service and expanded after the war into an exchange program aimed at promoting peace and understanding throughout the world.

"I hope to gain another language skill, explore further academics, learn about and understand another culture, meet new and interesting people, make new friends and have fun doing it all," she said in a letter.

Although she said she is excited about the challenge of learning a new language, she is also a little apprehensive.

"I've bought a few books and it seems kind of hard," she confessed.

But the straight-A student's greatest obstacle may be a physical one.

Richarz was diagnosed with type-one diabetes nearly eight years ago.

"I'm kind of nervous about it," she said. "But I've pretty much lived with it my whole life, so I think I can handle it."

Richarz leaves Tuesday to attend a cultural orientation in New York before heading for Hungary.

The program will cost more than $6,000 not including airfare or personal necessities. Along with other fund-raisers, Richarz held a yard sale Friday which will extend into today.

She has raised about $1,100.

IF YOU GO

What: Yard sale fund-raiser

When: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. today

Where:160 Six Mile Canyon Road, Dayton

YOU CAN HELP

To help with trip expenses, send donations to 160 Six Mile Canyon Road Dayton, NV 89403.