So yes...I will be over using that pun as much as I possibly can! So first here is a little "story time" about my situation:
This past Monday, April the 6th was one of the most anxious days of my life. On our Facebook page for YES-Abroad, one of the head honcho guys posted a post saying that notifications might come out that day. I had a feeling that they would come out that day and Kate(Ghana) was so sure that I was wrong that she said she would send me food in the mail.(I'm still expecting that food to come in the mail, Kate, if your reading this) Our group chat exploded with excitement and worry when two people received a Bosnia notification at around 2 pm Eastern a Time. Then in somewhat alphabetical order, more countries were realized. All countries were released except Malysia, Oman, Alternates, and Rejectees. Then a wave of rejections went out. It was sad and scary to know that i won't be able to see some of the friends I made at IPSE again. I checked my email and was shocked to nit receive a rejection email. It was now about 5pm, over 3 hours of nothing for me and I decided to take a shower and surely when I returned to my phone there would be an email. Unfortunately, no email.a couple of us still had no email and it was very anxious still waiting. I looked through the chat and saw that the Alternate Emails came out. I was very shocked still to find no email. I assumed that there would be another wave of Rejections and Alternates. Then the head honcho guy posted that there was a problem with the Oman notifications and they would be released tomorrow morning. Then I was notified that my friend got Malaysia. I checked my email and nothing. The chat was still exploding. Then I went to check my email and say that it had one email. I was saddened because I knew I had to been rejected. And there read the beautiful message that I would be going to Oman! The head honcho guy tricked us! I was in awestruck, as I still am now.
Now that you know my situation here is an intro of myself!
My name is Georgie and I am an outgoing, adventurous, teenage girl headed off to Oman for her Sophomore Year of Highschool! That's right! I'm leaving my small Christian town in PA where everyone knows everyone, there are negative degree winters and humid summers, and I can easily connect with people in the street, I will pack a suitcase and head off to the land of desert and camels, intense dry heat, and Islam. I will try my best to learn as much Arabic as possible and immerse myself into the culture of the Omani people. I don't think words could describe my excitement to live my next year in Oman! I just can't wait to honestly take a selfie with a camel no matter how cliché that is.
So YES-Abroad is the scholarship I will be funded by and I will be going with AMIDEast as my program to Oman. This amazing scholarship will be funding my whole exchange along with a crap-phone and a monthly stipend. I honestly could not be grateful enough for this opportunity to live out my dream of understanding the Islam culture in Oman. PLUS... PDO(the Pre-Departure Orientation) falls on my birthday also! Talk about a serious
Along with YES-Abroad I applied for 2 other scholarships.
CBYX Scholarship to Germany through the State Department which I was an alternate but I turned down for YES.
Speedwell Scholarship which is a local scholarship to Central PA and coastal South Carolina to a non-English speaking country through AFS. I was a finalist with this scholarship to Bosnia which I turned down for YES. The decision was hard to make to choose between two very different and equally amazing countries and programs but I ended up choosing Oman as it will be a once in a lifetime country.
These are only a few of the amazing scholarships to choose from so feel free to look them up if you are thinking on going on exchange!
Next time I will write it will probably be either the end of the school year or at PDO or when I get more information on my exchange.
Till next time when I know how to say bye in Arabic!
~Future Exchange Student to Oman
~Georgie
