Dostoprimechatel'nosti

...Bueller? ...Bueller? We need good news today!

We all must be kindred spirits! Immersion is definitely the best method of language study. The two official languages for my country are Russian and Romanian. I studied Russian for four years in a standard classroom setting and then to acquire Romanian language skills, I spent two months last summer in Romania for an intensive language program. As a result, I am far more comfortable speaking Romanian than I am speaking Russian, despite having a better grasp of Russian vocabulary and grammar. I also second the comment that studying Latin provides a big advantage in language learning, especially when it comes to understanding grammar!

I was wondering the same thing! It seemed like everything was moving ahead of schedule compared to last year, then I noticed that last year several countries had already notified by this time. If I have to wait until the end of April, I'm going to need you all to get some good news soon in order to maintain my sanity!!

Good luck to everyone this week!! I'm hoping that we'll get a lot of notifications over the next 5 days. Fingers crossed!

This makes you my hero!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! It's finally happening!!!

Yes it is! But at least at this point, the wait for us is a maximum of 7 weeks (hopefully we will have the decision much sooner) - we are almost there!! So far, there are 3 of us Moldova research applicants in this thread. Wishing you all the best!!

Have you looked at Taiwan's country page on the Fulbright website? I don't know which Grant you applied for, but it does not list a PDO as a requirement for the research grant and the ETA section explains that the orientation will begin once you are in country. Hope that helps! http://us.fulbrightonline.org/countries/selectedcountry/taiwan

Welcome!! We will all make it through this wait somehow. At least we're in it together.

Very well said! We do, indeed, have no control of the outcome at this point. I keep trying to tell myself that the time will pass by whether or not I spend the coming month(s) obsessing over the final decision. Here's to maintaining our sanity!

Best of luck!! I hope that they notify you quickly after making grant decisions. You might be the first of us to be notified!

How interesting! When I was in Ireland I was told that the signs were in Gaelic so I just assumed that was the spoken language. Good to know.

Did you apply to Ireland? And if so, is your proficiency exam in Gaelic? How awesome!

Good news: Only 8 days until March! Yipeeeeeeeeeee!

My thoughts exactly! But last year applicants also didn't find out the results from the first round until the very end of January. I'm reeeeally hoping things are moving more swiftly on every level this year, since we were notified so early.

Ditto!! To make it worse, I feel like time is flying by...but it's still not fast enough!

Hi!! This is so exciting! No I have not met one other person applying to Moldova. Yes, I submitted and was recommended. Are you applying for research or ETA?

Yes! I was visiting my FPA to hand in some transcripts and the first thing he brought up were the interviews! (I'm guessing the FPAs share information with one another as much as we do) We are both positive that my country won't interview this year, but he mentioned that Greece and Poland are both unexpectedly interviewing finalists this application season.

Thank you so much! It is such a relief and an honor to be a finalist, but at the same time it is such an odd feeling to be in a state of limbo - not knowing what the next year will bring. Congratulations to you and best wishes on the rest of your Fulbright journey!

That information on additional funding is great news! From what I've read in the past additional funding = additional grants, but at the same time there's no way to know how the extra grants would be distributed or if they would choose to increase individual grant packages instead.

Thank you both very much! I will definitely send all the transcripts.

I have a quick question for other Fulbright Finalists. So, the next step for us is sending our official transcripts. The Fulbright website (http://us.fulbrightonline.org/information-for-recommended-candidates) seems to state that they only require the official transcript of the university from which we graduated, but my FPA seems to want transcripts of all institutions from which we transferred courses. What are your thoughts? Do I need to send a transcript from the university I transferred from even though all of those courses are listed on the official transcript of my current university?

RECOMMENDED!! I could die happy right now and have "Fulbright Finalist" etched on my tombstone. My biggest congratulations to everyone else who was recommended, we have a long road still ahead of us. And best wishes on reapplying to all of you who were not recommended this time around!! You are all brilliant!

Kalechip: Firstly, welcome and best of luck. Secondly, is your name in honor of that 85 lb beagle?? If so, that is fantastic!