[Kumiko]

Hello, I'm interested in attending High School in Japan for an "academic year" (10 months) and was wondering how much extra money I would need straight off hand.

The program I've applied to costs $5000 (including application fee), and I'm estimating about $1500 for a plane ticket. My Japanese friend said that she thought it would cost about $500 total for a school uniform, books, and other supplies. So my total is $7000. I will be getting a monthly allowance of about $300 during my stay as well. I don't know where I'll be staying, though.

Should I have another $1000 too? I've raised about $6200 so far and will be raising to my estimated total in the coming few months... What advice do you have for me? Are my estimations correct do you think? And is there anything I have to get in order to be prepared?