Ok. So this is my very first blog. Things may be a little shaky for both of us at first. Hang in there.
I am a 33 year old full-time college student. Yes, I said 33. Call me a late bloomer. Call me a procrastinator. Call me someone who takes her time figuring out exactly what she wants to do before jumping in. I vote for #3.
I am currently attending San Francisco State University in San Francisco, CA. I am a Biology major, not sure what I am concentrating in yet, but at least I got the Biology part down. However, one thing I have always wanted to do is travel, and now SF State has provided me that opportunity.
"Study Abroad! It's easier than you think!" This is California State University's slogan splashed across their International Programs website (http://www.calstate.edu/IP/). "Easy" is not the word I would use to describe it. You really have to want it to make it through the mountains of paperwork, essays, letters of recommendation, scholarship applications, meetings, etc. You really have to be a special kind of person to be able to pick up and leave the comfort of your friends, your family, your pets, your job, your own cozy little personal bubble. But if you really want it, you will have the motivation to make it happen!!
But then...there's the money part of it. If you are like me, your parents don't have a lot of money. Maybe they don't even have jobs right now. You don't have a lot of money. You have to work and take out loans just to go to school. This was a major dilemma for me. How do I make my dreams come true when I barely have enough money for rent? Should I really quit my job and go half way across the world to study in this time of global economic crisis?
Well, only you can decide what is right for you, but for me, the answer was scholarships. The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship program, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. The leaders of this program at the Institute of International Education wholeheartedly believe in the importance of international cultural exchange. American students need to be exposed to the ways of the rest of the world in order to keep up with international affairs and compete in today's global economy (please go to http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program for more information about the Gilman International Scholarship program).
Furthermore, the Gilman Scholarship program focuses on selecting students who would not get the opportunity to study abroad, such as those with financial need, minorities, students with disabilities, and students in less popular fields of study. I, being a very broke Biology major, was one of the students chosen to receive the Gilman International Scholarship this year and now I will spend next year studying at the Universität Tübingen in Tübingen, Germany!!!
So thank you Institute of International Education and Gilman Scholarship, thank you David Wick and Maria Flores (the most amazing study abroad advisors!), thank you friends and family, thank you all for the support and courage it has taken to jump into this study abroad program...Deutschland here I come!!
