Before I get into the details of our Fulbright experience I have to say in my “go me, go me” cheering voice that I SURVIVED MY FIRST SEMESTER OF THE PHD PROGRAM!!! My last day of class was on Wednesday (though I still have one class left next week during finals period). It was a rough ride but I’m so glad I did it. In these short 16 weeks (I can say that now that now that it is over lol) I have learned so much academically, professionally and personally. I certainly look forward to having the next semester off to go to Jamaica, but I am definitely eager to keep this grad school ball rolling and successfully completing my remaining two semesters of coursework.
Ok… On to Fulbright! The check arrived in the mail yesterday from CIES for our upcoming move to Jamaica (Thank you CIES). It feels surreal… I have spent the last seven months thinking and planning for this trip and now the time has finally come to take action. I plan to have our tickets purchased by the end of next week as this will give us time to make final decisions about when we will leave and when we will return and who will be traveling with us (as well as clear up some issues I will talk about below). I also plan to start purchasing items we need to take with us but don’t have on hand, like mosquito nets and a small portable coffee makerJ… you know the essentials lol!!! How we will get all of our stuff plus all of these items to Jamaica is still a question though. I just learned that the airline we chose has a one bag restriction. When did that change? I always thought you could put two bags under the plane at no charge. Goes to show how often I fly!! So for the next week I will be scouring the internet trying to find the best flight deals as well as the best deals on the items I need to get. But wait…
Where will this flight be taking us? Well we know for sure we are going to Kingston Jamaica, but that is all we know right now. On Wednesday we found out that there are some issues with assigning me housing and defining exactly what my role will be at the university. It is a strange situation about my status and I am not sure how it developed (though I have my suspicions). So while I know we are going to Kingston I do not know where we will be living just yet. My contact at the US Embassy as well as the department chair (I do not want to post names for privacy reasons but a HUGE THANK YOU to you both) have gone above and beyond in helping me get everything straightened out. On last word, the decision making powers recognized what had happened and are working to fix everything. I am in full confidence we will know something more definite by the end of next week. This definitely does not lessen my excitement about our trip. In fact it makes me more excited seeing how wonderful people have been in trying to help us get everything sorted out. I will keep you posted J
