Bumblebee

wrong way

new age

Actually, it's Indiana. I'm planning on using the bike in the Fall and Spring. I know it will be hard in the winter, so those days I'll walk or use the public transportation. I'm currently living in Upstate New York, so I'm used to dealing with ice/snow/very low temperatures. And I'm a European without a car, so I'm used to walking long distances (in case I can't use the bike). We'll see how I deal with the bike situation!

Georgetown University also asked for 500 or 600 words (I don't remember) and I ended up writing 800+. I know! I just had too many things to say and felt that taking things out would hurt my application. I got in, by the way (although without funding)

My stipend is $14,790 to be paid in 10 months too. One of the grad students there told me it's around 1,200/month after taxes. I hope I can survive with that too. I'm planning on not paying more than $500/month for housing+utilities+internet (if you share, it's do-able) and leave the rest for books, food, cell phone plan and a little/tiny egg nest to pay for the plane tickets. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Nice to meet you too, fellow Hoosier!

I will be using a software to help me control my expenses. I'll be cooking my own food. I've been doing it for soooo many years already, since I'm not an eating-out person. I don't smoke, I barely drink and I don't own a car (I'm planning on getting a bike). My big expenses come with the plane tickets. I'm Spanish and plane tickets to go back home in the summer and for Christmas are ridiculously expensive (I think I'll blackmail my parents: if you want to see me, you'll have to pay for my plane ticket). And, most importantly, I'll stay away from Amazon. It's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo dangerous. Specially since I'm a DVD addict. My only luxury will be a data plan for the cell phone. Let's see if I survive!

dress code

cartoon characters

Buahhhhh!!!! There's no Ikea in Indiana! So sad!

china sea

school bus

surf board

dining hall

I did nail my top choice, but without funding. Getting there made me proud, and made my grandma proud as well (I think that it was the first time in my life she told me so, yay!). The only problem is that, without funding, I just couldn't make it, so I turned down the offer (without making my grandma less proud of me, yay!). I ended up in what turned out to be my second top choice. When I applied, I hadn't given it much thought, but when I heard from them I did a thorough research on the program and, to my surprise, it was the perfect fit for me. Plus, they gave me full funding (2 years for the MA and 5 for the PhD), a summer fellowship and told me that I would have the opportunity to work in their summer program in my own home country. I've heard from all 6 schools I applied to: 3 rejects (two of them had already been rejected by me, even if they didn't know it, so they don't count), and 3 acceptances (my original top choice and two with full funding). There was a little family crisis with my decision (my parents wanting me to accept the other fully funded offer), but I stuck to my decision and managed to finally get their support. I guess it was too damn hard for them to see me in the Midwest, instead of the East Coast (where I would be one flight and a bunch of miles closer from home). Anyway, I'm happy I survived this long process. It took me almost 3 months since I had sent applications to hear from the schools. The first school I heard from rejected me (which led me to think that it was going to be the first of a long list of rejections). Less than 24h later, I got accepted in the program I'm heading to, so the depression lasted for only 16 hours. It took me more than a month to hear from the next one (my original top choice). Then, after asking about my status at other school, I was told that my sample paper was missing and that they had told me on Feb. 5th (this was at the end of March already). I never got the e-mail. So I quickly submitted my sample paper. This was the school that rejected me, accepted me without funding and accepted me with full funding all in less than 36 hours. Oh, and they gave me 3 days to respond. After that, two more rejections (from schools I wasn't even considering anymore). One of them, even sent me the rejection letter to my home country (I'm currently living in the US and they're supposed to know it).

Apparently it's true that it's just a "gentlement's agreement". On April 6th I was accepted with full funding at a school and was only given 3 days (that is, until April 9th) to give them an answer. Apparently they wanted to move quickly to the next people in the wait list. I just found it very rude. First, they had me waiting for 2 months after the application deadline (4 months since I had applied), and now they gave me just 3 days to think about the offer. And the way they said it looked to me that I was just another number in a list, not that they really cared if I ended up there. Whatever. I ended up in a better program with people that really cared about me and that have been very nice before and after I made my decision.

group therapy

I'll go back to my home country and renew my passport and my national ID. Then, I'll apply for my visa, attend my brother's graduation (he is just finishing his degree in Civil Engineering), and spend as much time as I can with my family before I move to the Midwest. Oh, and I'll eat all that delicious Spanish food I love and miss soooo much: red beans, gazpacho, chorizo, Spanish ham, Manchego cheese with quince jelly, churros with hot chocolate, fresh fish, empanada, ... well, it's a really long list.

Back up

coffee maker

Good luck with those waitlists! I hope you can get into one of your top choices.

legal action

Don't worry. You're not going to sound pushy at all (well, it all depends on how you ask). First of all, they should understand that it's already mid-April and that you want to know your situation, in case you have to think of a plan B. And, secondly, you're not the first one to ask. I asked a couple of universities a few weeks ago. One replied and the other one didn't (although I received a letter of admission four days later). The worst that can happen is that you get no answer. So go ahead, and call. Good luck!!

Thank you all for your support. At least somebody is supporting my decision! After these last days, my parents have finally accepted my decision (although my father still "teases" me ).

flea market

I don't know whether there is any etiquette concerning the color of the ink you use to sign, but signing in red ink would look weird, since that's usually the color used for grading. I would definitely use black or dark blue ink.