Begin at the Beginning

This will be the first of many entries chronicling the next year of my life. My Fulbright year. So, to begin at the beginning, this will be an explanation of what I will be doing and how I got here. For those of you who already know- skip this one. If you are interested in applying for a Fulbright or are just curious about what's the what- read on.

About a year ago, a began thinking and planning for my post-Miami years. I will shamelessly admit that my goal was to avoid entering the "real world" (read: job market) for as long as possible. I looked into several options, the Fulbright grant among them. The application was extensive, requiring thorough knowledge of your proposed area of research and country in which your project was to be conducted. After submitting several recommendations, a language reference, a project proposal and personal statement, I went to an on-campus interview. All of these were completed by mid-October 2009. I would not here more until February 2010 at which time finalists were announced. Essentially, all applications went before a board in the United States where initial eliminations were made. If your package makes it through this round you are considered a finalist. In the second round, remaining applications were sent to the country of their proposed study. Therefore, my application went to a bi-national (American and Jordanian) board in Jordan for review. Then, the waiting game. Final selections would be announced as each country's commission completed the decisions. I finally heard of my selection mid-June 2010. From what I understand, Jordan was one of the last countries to announce their decisions.

So, you may be wondering, what does selection mean? Selection for a grant means that you are awarded a Fulbright grant to complete the project outlined in your initial application proposal. For me, this means that from September through December 2010 I will be studying Arabic at the Qasid Institute in Amman, Jordan. After this, I will begin 9 months (January-September 2011) of research. Essentially, I will be taking courses at the University of Jordan in the International Relations faculty in an effort to compare and contrast the way the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is framed and taught. While this is the initial plan, I am anticipating that my project will change some through the research process.

In summary, 13 months of Arabic, international relations and general adventure beginning in 20 days.