"[Anticipation] might be the best part."

In the style of Woody Allen (a refernce which I do not understand, but am includeing for you in case you do get it), the first speaker said that the preperation to leave could be the best part, because reality rarely lives up to expectation.

Along with that advice, we should "use this experience as a launching pad."

We had a general overivew of the Balkans (well part of them, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia at least). This was to give us a worst case senario of what could happen and to give us some of the history of the area.

The history part was interesting for the rest of the Balkans, but he didn't really mention anything that I didn't arealdy know about Macedonia. BUT, he did for some of the people who had never thought of going to Macedonia until the Fulbright offer.

The worst case scenario in Macedonia/this area of the Balkans is if the Albanians rise up together to form a "Greater Albania."

Which is not plausable , by the way.

After a delicious lunch, we went to our country sessions.

These were run by a full time staff member of either IIE (student) or CIES (scholar) but mostly the returning students/scholar talked.

We answered all of our questions in the first two sessions and didn't really need a third session, but had one any way.

We learned some important cultural things:

-If you are invited out for "drinks" in Macedonia, do not order food. This is seen as rude to eat when someone else is not eating. On the flip side, if you are invited for "food" order something becasue if you are not eating when someone else is, it is also rude.

-You can buy good summer clothes there, so pack mostly for winter. And pack dark clothing.

-most people have 2 phones, because they do not want to have to call people on their non Tmobile/ VIP pohone becasue that costs more. So we might need to get two phones. (I am not sure about this one yet, but we will see)

-You can call a taxi company and order a taxi with food, and they will charge you for the delivery, and the food, but no real upcharge. (good thing if you happen to get sick apparently)

-Arrive 10-15 minutes late. If you are on time, they will not be expecting you. And will not be ready for whatever you are early for.

Also, we found out that we will get some money for language training, through reimbusrment, to start or continue language training in our host countries.

That is most of the info. Stay tuned for an interesting inclusion in our packet as well as an introduction to my fellow Fulbrighters (will be later when I recieve the picture from Jen.

See you around the globe!

Orientation Day One

Getting up 4:15 am is only worth while if you have travel plans. Or in my case are going to DC for Fulbright Orientation.

Arriving in DC at 9 am without being able to check into the hotel until 3pm = interesting idea.

I traveled with Adam, a student from IU who is studying Russian and going to Moldova (yes, they speak Russian in Moldova. Moldova is here.) His wife drove us to the airport and dropped us off, and will pick us up on Friday night when we get in.

When we arrived at the hotel, the rooms were not ready but they were willing to place us on a list where they will call us when the rooms were ready. Or at least Adam was put on the list.

My reservation was cancelled.

Yup, my reservation was cancelled. The Fulbright commission cancelled the reservation. It was with a English Teaching Assistant (ETA) to somewhere (they provided us names and where people were going, and emails). I have no clue why it was cancelled, but the hotel felt bad, so they gave me one of the first rooms available.

I dropped off stuff and then headed out to the Smithsonian National Art Museum, which is only a few blocks from the hotel. I couldn't do the entire museum because I was feeling a bit out of sorts because I donated blood the day before. So, I decided to come back to the hotel and just relax and look over the stuff that they would give us.

They gave us a lot of good info (more to come in a separate post).

We had a dinner reception with yummy pasta and a gazillion deserts. I also got to meet all of the people that are going to Macedonia (once again, in a different post). We also meet the returning students who gave us some advice.

Then, we stayed almost 30 minutes past when the official end time was and the hotel staff as nice as possible kicked us out!

See you around the globe!

PDO!

As part of the Fulbright, my travel to the PDO, my hotel while in DC, food while at the PDO, and $100 for food not covered while at the official PDO (they cover breakfast and lunch). So as a note that is $100 for three days. July 20-23, 2012 is the PDO at the Renaissance Hotel near the convention center in Downtown DC (Mt.Vernon St/Convention Center stop).

Since I will be in Bloomington at Indiana University studying Macedonian at the time of the PDO I will be flying from Indianapolis to DC. I'll leave at 7:25am and arrive at DC Reagan at 8:59 AM. Check in at the hotel is on average at 3pm, but check-in for the PDO is from 12:00pm-5:30pm. So hopefully, I will be able to check in early/ at least get luggage storage at the Renaissance. Then maybe I will go explore (maybe. might be a nred and study over the materials that I should be doing at IU.

The Program:

Wednesday July 20
6 - 7:30 pm          Opening Reception
7:30 pm               Evening Free

Thursday July 21
8-9 am            Continental breakfast
9-4:15 pm       Sessions (including lunch break)
4:15 pm          Evening Free

Friday July 23
7:30-8:30 am    Continental Breakfast
8:30-2:15pm     Sessions (including lunch break)
2-2:15 pm         Evaluation and Closing

Then I have until 6:30pm at which time I will be on a flight back to Indianapolis. Then drive back down to Bloomington.

Sounds like fun! Who knows what other info will be coming in soon!

See you around the globe!