high jump coach

I was notified on March 11 (finalist for ETA Italy) and still haven't received the grant authorization documents or found out which city I'll be posted in. Got an email from the Italian commission March 25th that confirmed the total $$ figure (matched the figure listed online), and assured me that I'd be notified of my posting as soon as a decision was made (they made it sound like I'd get an unofficial heads up before the official grant documents came through). The waiting is frustrating (anxious to start looking for places to live!), but I have my fingers crossed to hear something this week.

I'm not sure, but it's definitely something I was planning to look into. The citizenship process via jure sanguinis is actually pretty simple (but tedious) as long as you don't have to go hunting down your family's original Italian vital records. I have all those documents, so really it would just be a matter of dropping off a folder and paying a fee (300 Euro at my local consulate). The hold up in the states is that for a busy consulate like NY it can take 2 years to get an appointment just to drop off that folder (btw to make that appointment they made me call a phone service that cost $3/minute)... and then another 6 months to a year to have it reviewed. But if I am able to apply in Italy, I'm pretty sure I could do it during the Fulbright. There are ~16 listed Fulbright commissions that prohibit dual citizens from receiving awards (Germany I think?) but from everything I've read so far Italy seems to allow it.

Somebody had suggested to me that I might be able to get it done faster over there than waiting for the consulate in NY. I haven't seen any concrete info. on the process, but I also haven't really started looking very hard yet. In any case I was definitely planning to finalize my application packet (I have all the documents, but I need to translate some of them to Italian, and get Apostilles affixed) before I go. Would definitely be nice to get it done sooner rather than later - there's a good chance I won't even still live in NY by November 2017, in which case I might have to get an appointment with my new consulate...

Thank you! I was actually hoping for something exactly like this. It's too bad the grant period stretches over 2 calendar years, but even 300 euro is dirt cheap next to a comparable US plan. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this is that I actually have an appointment for a citizenship application with my local Italian consulate, which would possibly make this a moot point for me. But I made the appointment last November, and the earliest they will see me is November 2017...

So, the faculty told you deferral was a possibility when you applied, but now the graduate school is telling you otherwise? Have you spoken with faculty since receiving the Fulbright award? What did they say? So you've already lived abroad in your Fulbright country, or was it a different country? Do you think there would be an opportunity to apply to a research/study Fulbright during your grad program? I'm having a similar (but not quite as torturous) dilemma myself. Wait listed at an awesome, fully funded MFA program in the Midwest whose acceptance rate is <2%, but was also awarded an ETA in Italy for next year. I have another Master's degree already though, and I've always wanted to live abroad (never have) and become bilingual. Removing prestige (in my field) and the corresponding implications for my young writing career, Fulbright seems to be clearly more in line with what I actually want to be doing next year. But it would still be very tough to say no to such an exclusive grad program (been kinda hoping for a deferral all along, but doesn't seem likely). My rule of thumb: go with the choice that genuinely excites you more. If you can't figure that out, ask your friends/family. Sometimes the right decision is painfully obvious in the way you speak about the choices to your closest friends and loved ones. This is actually why I applied to Fulbright in the first place. I was so certain more graduate school was the next step for me, but a close friend told me I sounded way more excited about possibly moving abroad than I did about more school. Didn't take long to realize she was right.

I'm a finalist for the Italy ETA and have been wondering a lot of the same things. I just did my taxes yesterday though, and did actually end up paying ACA penalties for the end of 2015 (my health insurance from grad school ran out in September, it wound up deducting like $80 from my refund). Turbo Tax took me through a bunch of different scenarios to see if I qualified for an exemption from the penalty, and one of the questions was whether I lived abroad during the period I didn't have qualifying healthcare, so I don't think it's something we need to worry about. If you're worried about the period between the end of your Peace Corps term and start of the Fulbright, I'm pretty sure you're allowed 2 uncovered months in a calendar year without incurring any penalty (you might also qualify for Medicaid during that period, which is free). What really confuses me is this language of continuing your existing coverage. It just seems to make zero sense for someone who isn't covered through school or their parents. When I called my insurance provider to ask about coverage overseas, they all but laughed at me over the phone. Seems like any US-based insurance plan that would cover routine medical care abroad for a period of 9 months would be way more expensive than just paying for the care outright in most EU countries. Every American I've spoken to who has seen a doctor while traveling in Italy has been shocked at how inexpensive it was for a visit/prescription/etc. (even without travelers' insurance). I'm kinda expecting to hear more about health coverage from the Italian commission when the official grant documents come through. I'm hoping they'll have some info on health plans for foreigners on visas (if we need one beyond the Fulbright emergency plan).