Torrid

Nice username! Haven't actually seen that movie, but generally a fan of Til Schweiger

One thing that might be helpful, if someone were willing to compile this information, would be to list countries who have already heard back (off the top of my head -- Indonesia, Colombia, Peru; not sure if they're all both Full and ETA?). It might also be nice if you could keep this first message updated with this information as notifications roll out. That way, people can use the first post as an at-a-glance way of seeing who has been notified, and people can turn to the spreadsheet for more specific information. My two cents!

Madison is my current base -- wouldn't want to live here forever, but a nice place for young people. It is snowing again however...

And on the subject of splitting threads -- I personally am fine with what we have here, the mix of casual chatting and intermittent notifications; I'd rather not have multiple threads to check. That would also make it more confusing for people with questions to know where to ask, and increases the likelihood a question wouldn't get answered because people won't see it unless they are checking both threads. I don't partake in much of the casual chatting, but it doesn't bother me... it doesn't really take that long to scan posts quickly to glean whatever useful information there is; if all you're interested in knowing is if anyone new has been notified, it'll be pretty obvious at first glance -- if you don't see anyone mentioning it on the most recent page, chances are nothing new has happened. This group is so hungry for news that I think we'll all latch on to whatever we can get

I had never before watched HIMYM until I came to Germany, where all the college students I knew were obsessed with it (my boyfriend included). I finally started watching it over there just to not feel so left out!

hahahahahaha every time I do that I regret it because I don't have the patience to sift through all their tweets.

No worries -- I have pretty strong political opinions myself and have done campaign work, so I get it

If it's not too presumptuous, I think it would be prudent to suggest we steer clear of any sort of political discussions 'round these parts... Wouldn't want to disrupt the camraderie we've worked so hard to build over these last several months.

This was true for years past but they changed it this year (I e-mailed the commission to be sure and this was confirmed). So all you had to fill out was the preference for Bundeslaender.

It's weird, because I have a solid job right now for someone right out of college, and, financially, leaving this job to teach english for 10 months doesn't make a lot of sense. I think my parents especially wonder if this would be a smart move. But I just can't bring myself to care... this is what I want to do, plain and simple, and I don't really care if it's not practical. I'm too young for that kind of thinking

I don't post much anymore but I'm always keeping an eye on things

Can't believe the first round of acceptances is out... Congratulations to all who were accepted, fingers crossed for alternates, and hugs and warm wishes for those who were not selected. For those of us still waiting... I am now officially on red alert and will be constantly checking my e-mail between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. every day. ahhhhh!

Not worried per se, since it's not like I fear retribution or anything like that, I'll just feel kinda bad because it won't be a good time for me to leave the project I'm on right now. I'm sure everyone would understand, but it would deifnitely significantly inconvenience multiple people and that does worry me a bit :/

I told my mother that starting tomorrow, I'll be on red alert

Yeah, that's pretty much where I was coming from -- generally international internships are seen as so lucrative/sexy/exciting that there are a lot of groups out there that will hook you up with them, for a fee, and there are plenty of young people out there willing to shell out the cash for the experience. The unpaid internship situation in the US is bad enough, the idea of paying someone to land me an unpaid job in a country where I will have pay $1000k+ in airfare to get there, plus living costs... yeah, just leaves a sour taste in your mouth. Hence, my curiousity as to whether AISEC was all that it presented itself to be -- it may well be, I have no grounds to mistrust it; I just have a general mistrust of organizations with similarly stated goals.

I had never even heard of AISEC before now; just did some internet research. Is it a legit organization? It almost seems too good to be true, like somehow there's a pyramid scheme wrapped up into it or something...

The DAAD is a wonderful insitutiton; I got a scholarship from them to study abroad during undergrad. Definitely a worthy alternative to the Fulbright.

I have wondered this as well...

Well, I have shoulder length blonde hair! It's not really multicolored though, just blonde. But not bad for your first psychic experience

hahahahahahahahahaha awesome.

Your username makes me hungry for some hazelnutty chocolate goodness

That is awesome! I can't believe you found out so soon, but I'm very happy for you!

In regards to the second round.

FYI, my FPA just passed this along. Nothing ground breaking, but a tiny piece of official information to tide you over: "No news yet from Fulbright, but I did receive the following message today concerning the date of notifications: In the coming weeks, Fulbright U.S. Student selection decisions will start coming in from the host countries. Because Fulbright requires additional review and approval of selected panels by the Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, applicant notification will begin in early March and continue through April and May. The first notification of selection, alternate or non-selection status will be issued by IIE in an email to the students. As was the case last year, we will copy the FPA on the email so that you will know the decision at the same time the student does."

Bless you