berlino

Though I am not yet in a graduate program, I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Fulbright research grant to spend the next year abroad. As I prepare, I am thinking about what I may need to bring. Do people have suggestions about items or tools that may be useful to bring for conducting field research? This could be utterly mundane ("don't forget paperclips!") or specific brands of technological tools. The research will primarily be conducted through interviews, ethnography, and archival work. So far, I have thought of a mobile scanner, an external hard drive for backing up files, and a flash drive. What else should I be considering?

Same with Bahrain, they axed CLEA.

Congrats fellow MENA folks!!! Now I'm wondering if there are any other Fulbrighters for Bahrain..seems like there's quite a crowd for Cairo!

Just found out that I received a full grant to Bahrain! Large manila envelope, postmarked May 2011.

Okay, so it looks like Georgetown is a go for the fall (I wasn't certain before, was contingent on aid). Now I'm wondering too about housing, especially since I will also be in DC for the summer. How do people intend to go about that search?

Does that mean someone contacted you about changing?

I actually took the placement exam already, because I was considering taking the summer sequence as a refresher (though I ultimately decided to save money and just work), and I was placed in intermediate. Which is fine by me, I'm somewhat rusty, so I'll definitely be glad to start intensive classes again, no matter the level. Out of curiosity, what's your background? I'm coming directly out of undergrad, having focused on the politics of the Gulf.

Almost certainly Politics, though I'd like to do some Culture and Society coursework (my interest is on identity).

I'm hopefully heading to Georgetown in the fall (Arab Studies)--I'm waiting to get final notice about financial aid. But I'll be in DC for the summer too. What's your intended concentration, Crimson?

That's strange to me--why would budgetary issues be delaying MENA notifications so significantly, whereas a large number of other countries have been able to notify?

I haven't emailed him, unfortunately (to say that I'm pessimistic about conditions in Bahrain is an understatement). If you'd like me to, I can, though I don't want to just bombard him with the question of when decisions will be released.

Appreciate the update! With the timing, was he specifically referring to Egypt, or to all MENA countries? I don't really mind waiting, especially since hearing in May is much better than simply being denied due to security...my largest concern is I simply need to make a graduate school decision by the end of April...no idea how to handle that, if a Fulbright comes through afterwards.

There, I got access to the spreadsheet, and corrected it. Looks like no Middle East notifications still.

I'm the other Bahrain (full grant) applicant, and I haven't received any notification (nor did I edit my status on the spreadsheet). When I emailed Jermaine Jones, he was only able to tell me that the Gulf countries have historically notified towards the end of April, and he had no idea if that would hold true this year. I would be absolutely stunned if they were willing to send Fulbrights to Bahrain right now (and my professors are telling me that there is no chance in hell). For ETA applicants who would be successful, it seems easy enough to simply redirect them to another country, but since research proposals are specifically tailored to a country, I don't see what IIE would do for those applicants when the security situation is bad.

I was accepted to Georgetown MAAS, but waitlisted for merit aid--a bit of a downer, since it's going to be impossible without aid.