Torrid
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Posts posted by Torrid
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Question: Does anyone know how long we have to accept or decline if we are offered a Fulbright?
I think it may depend on your individual country? I know for Germany ETAs, for example,we have been asked to respond by April 17 as to whether we will be accepting the grant.
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Yeah, I was just thinking about that yesterday. I'm in tornado alley too! Hopefully we won't get too bad of weather. ..
So last night I was going through my German grammar book, reviewing prespositions, and I started feeling overwhelmed. And then I tried watching some German TV online. Even worse. I started getting that "Oh god, what was I thinking" feeling.
Then I remembered that my brother inlaw, who is from Iraq, uses "by" for just about every prepostion, and I will be ok if I don't always remember my prepositions. Lol.
Still though. I haven't had to use German in forever. X.x
Starting to consume German media will help you a TON though, especially if you already have a decent grasp of the grammar. My biggest weakness with the language is less reading or writing and more just being able to immediately comprehend spoken German and respond to it. Movies, music and TV will definitely help with that (well, maybe not the responding part as much...)! If you need any recommendations for movies or music let me know
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Update for applicants to Spain:
IIE is hoping to hear from Spain this week.
Immediate notifications will be emailed once the names are released.
Good to hear -- I had been wondering about you!
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The Generator Hostel/Hotel by the Hbf. So far I'm a big fan of it, and an even bigger fan of HamburgCongrats, I love Hamburg! Which hostel are you in?
And congrats to everyone else who has found out for all countries!!! It's hard to keep up with the thread since all I have here is my phone and intermittent wifi, but I love seein all the news here and can't wait to meet the other Germany ETAs!
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I am sitting in a hostel in Hamburg and happened to check to this forum. Immediately ran to check my email and lo and behold, I GOT IT!!! It's so crazy that I'm in Germany right now, and in 5 months or so I'll be back. I cannot even believe it.
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I wish I were the Oprah of Fulbrights. Because then YOU would get a Fulbright, and YOU would get a FULBRIGHT, and EVERYBODY GETS A FULBRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You make me so happy sometimes.
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Since there are a lot of German ETAs waiting around, I would be interested to hear what others have planned for their side projects as well!
I talked about starting a student journalism project at my school. School newspapers are surprisingly uncommon in Germany, given how standard they are here.
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Well damn it, now I'm really jealous!! Where are you going in Germany?
I'll mostly just be around the north, Göttigen/Hamburg areas.
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I don't know much about the full grant program, or about host affiliations, and the person who I'm about to reference did a Fulbright like 10 years ago or something...so definitely take all that I'm about to say with a huge grain of salt.
Anyway, one of my professors said that after you are accepted into the program, what you do doesn't really matter that much. Not to say it doesn't matter, but that they figure you're motivated enough to do something, so if your plans change somewhat from your proposal (in terms of what your project exactly entails) you're not going to be penalized. It's more for you, and for the experience...and most projects usually change once you start working on them regardless (perhaps this is more true for a humanities project like she did, but still).
Point being, I would assume that they would have some flexibility with your project, if not also the location. I don't know how much information they gave you in the original e-mail and/or if/when they plan to send you more, but I would definitely try to contact someone and let them know that there are other labs you might be interested in working with, and if so, what would be the best way to go about that. They can't help you if they don't know!
From what I knew about my friend who did a full grant in Budapest, this is very true. He had a ton of flexibility to do as he pleased; all he had to do was write up his research at the end of his grant to basically prove he did SOMETHING.
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So. jealous.
Where are you going?
Incidentally... Germany!
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Dear Germany,
Please send ETA's their emails in the next couple of days. If I have to wait another two weeks, I may as well call in sick to work, because I won't get anything done. And I'm pretty sure I'd have to get a doctors note for a leave of absence, and I don't think doctors write notes for things like this.
Love,
Me
Good thing I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow....
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Long time lurker here...was made an alternate to Germany. Anyone have any clue as to how many alternates there (or have been in past years)/how many have ben pulled up in past years?
Hard and fast figures are difficult to come by, but you can reference previous years' spreadsheets here to see if people were moved from alternate to accepted, and how long it took (you can view past year's results via the tabs at the bottom).
Additionally, those of you who have found out, please take some time to update the spreadsheet so we can provide more accurate data for future would-be Fulbrighters!
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Yep. That's fairly common. I actually worked at a former Catholic boarding school run by a religious order. They offered me an apartment in their convent (yes you read that correctly) for 200 euro a month. It was a terrific situation. Frau Maria even did my laundry every Wednesday at 8am. It was a little embarrasing when I had to hand over my "unmentionables."
I actually had NO contact with my school prior to orientation, so the Kommission does a fantastic job of making sure you're settled before you head out of Koeln.
Hahahahaha that is fantastic.
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It has now gotten to the point where I have at LEAST one person ask me on a daily basis whether I have heard anything.
I'm like, if I had heard, you would know!!
Haha, I know. My boyfriend asked me today if there was any news and I was like, "Really? Really? You think I'd just be sitting on that all day not telling you?"
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Hello all, longtime lurker here. Just wanted to let you all (and future applicants) know that Laos ETAs heard of their application status around 11 am EST today. I was selected as an alternate. Congrats and good luck to all!
Thank you for letting us know, and I hope you hear better news soon. Good luck!!
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I will say in my personal opinion that it makes sense to me to pursue a CELTA/similar qualification if you don't get the ETA but still want to teach abroad, but it doesn't make much sense to me to want to pursue it as a complement to your ETA placement. If they give you the Fulbright, they clearly have some confidence in your ability to complete the responsibilities of the ETA despite (presumably) not having any formal teaching experience; moreover, they won't throw you in without any guidance whatsoever. Orientation sessions should prepare you at least a little for what to expect.
Also, it's my understanding that as a Fulbright ETAs, your role is more of a cultural ambassador than as a language teacher. I think it's less important that you know how to teach English grammar and more important that you're comfortable leading discussions on American political culture. For people whom I have known who have completed similar programs, this was always the case. They're leading discussions more than they're teaching lessons.
Someone with more background in Fulbright ETAs can feel free to correct my if my impressions are incorrect, but I don't know that it makes sense to shell out thousands of dollars for a variation of a TEFL certificate if it's not necessary for the position and you're not even sure that's what you want to pursue post-Fulbright.
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Well, March Madness is starting today -- hopefully that takes some of the edge off waiting for people?
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I wonder why Germany is not included with the other Europe/Euroasian countries, but with South Asia - anybody know?
My guess is it just has to do with the size of the programs. Germany has a huge number of grants compared to most other countries, so it probably made sense to break it off and lump it with another region that made sense based on program sizes. I doubt it's scientific beyond wanting to evenly distribute responsibilities to program officers.
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Ha! March 18th-22nd she's out of the office!
Hahahahahahaha of course.
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Congrats, congrats, congrats India folks! Very happy for all of you.
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So I'm a bit confused about the sequester... Does it only affect ETA programs? Or do the cuts extend to full grant programs as well? It seems like they would apply to all, but this email implies that maybe teaching programs are the only ones impacted?Anyway, I don't understand...
More importantly: Congrats to all of those who were accepted for the UK!! And my heart goes out to the alternates - I've been there before (for a different region, however) and I know how awful it feels...
I don't even know that you can conjecture that ETA programs are being directly affected by sequester based on that post, because the program Mathlete was referring to is one specifically for educators (i.e., full-fledged teachers) to go abroad, not would-be TAs. It's an entirely different program, although I have no idea if sequester would be affecting all Fulbright programs equally or if only certain programs are affected.
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FINALLY SOME NEWS.
Congrats, GenderandDevelopment, and sorry to hear that, Anon314 -- fingers crossed for better news soon!
Shameless plug for the notifications thread -- I'm just excited we can finally put it to use!
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I'm leaving for 10 days in Germany next week... I had thought for sure I would hear back before I left but now it feels like everything is still up in the air. sigh.
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Fulbright 2013-2014
in The Bank
Posted
Yes; that's how it worked for my study abroad as well. You have 90 days upon entering to apply for the visa. You can apply for a visa ahead of time, but I most definitely would NOT. There was one girl in my study abroad program who did apply for the visa before she arrived in Germany, and when she arrived the Stadtbuero folks had no record that she had ever applied and received a visa, so she had to redo the paperwork and pay the fee a second time.
Also, I sent my acceptance e-mail to AMERICANPROGRAMS@fulbright.de and guenter.jacob@kmk.org; I got a response back from Katharina at the Fulbright-Kommission.
Have you joined the fb group yet? These questions might be better asked there; less chance of things getting lost in the shuffle.