OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS     

As the tiny monkey came in for a close-up, I realized I recognized him from last time I was here. My sister stared in amazement as he came within inches to take the peanut delicately from my hand. The preserve was about an hour from home by moped, and a gorgeous ride through the mountains. After more than half a year, I had become accustomed to such extraordinary sights like wild uncaged macaques but it was a first for my sister. I took her up the trail away from the main entrance to feed some of the shyer inhabitants. Among them was an gentle old macaque with only one arm and one leg who never joined the fracas at the bottom of the hill but would gently take sweet potatoes from you with his remaining hand if you ventured up the mountain to his territory. It was a long satisfying afternoon both for us, and the macaques who my sister bought bucket after bucket of food for. I don't know if it was the monkeys that sealed the deal or not, but my sister has since decided to move to Taiwan too! I look forward to visiting her, and the friendly macaques...

My main recommendation is: start early. It takes time, organization, and persistence to complete the application. It is very involved and if you are serious about this grant, pay close attention to detail and get all the pieces together in a timely fashion, don't rush.What helped me most was to meet and discuss the application with someone who had already gone through the application process and had been awarded the grant. I arranged some meetings where we sat down to have some coffee and discussed the application and grant proposal. If possible, see if they have time to look over your grant and maybe even give you some advice. I was lucky that the student who had received the grant even let me look over her grant and use it as an example.My time here in Chile is going well. Its been almost four months now so I am finally used to things in Latin America. I think like most, I was a little culture shocked at first and needed some time to get used to being in a new setting and among people of a very different culture. Even myself being fluent in Spanish, I was a little lost in all the Chilean slang that people use here. Thanks to my lab mates however and Chilean TV, I am finally able to communicate with others much easier and can have good conversations with the people.

The summer here has been beautiful and I have tried my best to enjoy some of it when I am not working here in the lab. I have been usin g the past few months to organize my field work. My lab mates are extremely nice and welcoming. I was invited to attend one of my lab mates weddings after being here for only 48 hours! It was extremely fun and it was a great way to get to know my co-workers here in a more social setting.

The people and culture here are great. I have gotten to know numerous artisan fishermen who help out all the marine scientists at our university. Since the universities don't have their own vessels like in the U.S. we usually are able to make a trade with the fishermen. We give them a little money for their time and they take us out on their boat so we can dive and get our work done. It's a great exchange and a great way to get to know some of the local people who have been fishing all of their lives. They are extremely helpful and even give us some fresh fish as a gift from time to time after a dayof working together.

I was lucky enough to have already made contacts through conferences with people who were interested in working with me, but professors at SDSU can serve as a great resource if you need to find someone. Fulbright scholarships are not only prestigious for the recipients and their institute, it is also prestigious for the host institution so people shouldn't be afraid to contact a potential collaborator that they have no connection with.

The short answer is that it is absolutely worth it. I'll give you a short accounting of the more significant experiences since I got here:

*Arriving in Zurich during the Euro Cup, being able to walk around and drink a beer in public, and walking around the worst neighborhood in Switzerland at 2 am and it was still safer than Old Town at night.

*Arriving in the small historic town of Fribourg for my summer language training and taking in the view of the old city walls and the cathedral.

*Learning German for 10 weeks with 16 other students from 13 different countries

*Spending a day in Gruyere, enjoying the chateau, cheese, and the incredibly rich cream

*A class trip to the Murten See, for a walk through vineyards and a swim in the lake.

*Spending a day in Bern at the open air zoo, that opens up to river walk  where you run along with the animals.

*Returning to Bern to see the farmer's market, the clock towers, and the  artisan crafts.

*Moving en masse to Zurich, with my new friends, arriving at my apartment and enjoying a view of the entire city from my balcony.

*Starting my research in the office with panoramic views of a mountain.

*Spending time in the mountains above Zurich.

*Having my first tastes of homemade Swiss dishes like fondue and raclette.

*Traveling to Geneva and walking past Kofi Annan on the street.

*Traveling to Lugano and experiencing the Italian part of Switzerland.

*Discovering a cousin living in Switzerland

*Making a traditional Thanksgiving meal for my Swiss friends

*Making a traditional Thanksgiving meal for my Swiss friends

*Having two Christmases with Swiss families

*Getting to Paris in an hour by plane, and seeing the sights.

*New Year's eve in Paris with champagne and foie gras (not something I'll be eating again).

*Seeing the sights in Rome, the Vatican, and Venice.

*Attending my first Swiss wedding.

*Staying up to 4 am with a Swiss friend just talking about differences between life here versus the US.

First thing to remember is that it is a long process and you should always have a back-up plan. I didn't find out until June about my acceptance, and really was not expecting to be accepted that late. Do your homework about the country before applying. It will help you to understand the history, social attitudes, and just about everything. For example, in Slovakia people are quite cold compared to other regions of the world, and I did not realize why until my Slovak friends explained to me about how their culture was always repressed my one empire or another and were always told not to show emotions. Well, this helped me to put things in perspective. Once you are in the country, become friends with locals (this goes without saying any time you live abroad, but it is important). Also, make good contacts with people at either the Fulbright Commission and/or the American Embassy. They will be able to help you out (e.g. getting to see the best doctors if you are sick, helping you to organize travel plans, etc...) For those who want to teach English, decide what level of English teaching would interest you most. All countries put their English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) at different levels of education. For example, Korea has you at the primary level, the Czech Republic puts you in at the secondary level, and in Slovakia you are at the university level. It also helps if you have some sort of Language teaching experience at the level you want to work at. In my experience, I was given absolutely no guidance and has to use my past experiences in teaching to help me adjust to my teaching duties here in Slovakia. Overall, remember that it is a full year that you are devoting to the Fulbright. And it isn't like you will be able to travel every weekend.
There are restrictions to traveling outside of your country which are enforced to different degrees in different countries. However, there are no restrictions to traveling within your country, and it is in fact encouraged for you to do so. Since Slovakia gets extremely cold, I have had to put off most of my Slovak travel until the spring, but now I am getting ready to explore the country.If anyone has any questions, they are more than welcomed to email me at drewfagan05@fulbrightweb.org. I hope this helps!

Ciao,
Drew

SDSU has the potential to have many more SDSU Fulbright Student Grantees studying, researching, and teaching all over the world for all the rest of time to come. I am aware the competition for 2006-2007 Fulbright US Student Grant is now closed and I wish the best to those who have applied. If you all are successful later this year get ready for a life changing experience. It's going to include a rush of cultures and languages you thought you were familiar with because of researching and all, but when you're placed in the local rural community hours away from anyone you can relate to it's going to be a shock. And has been the most extreme culture shock I have ever had on an international experience! This entry will be a few kind words of advice for any of those with the slightest thought applying for a Fulbright grant anywhere you heart desires in the world the next opening competition, which is this May 2006 for grant year 2007-2008. Utilize all your resources at SDSU. The wonderful Fulbright advisor, many, if not most of your previous and current professors, lecturers, different university program staff members, like the International Student Center and Associated Students, graduate teaching assistants, and all the like, are all extremely willing and some times even more excited than you to help and assist in the wonders of an endeavor to experience more of the world. It is quite fascinating really. I visited offices of professors and lecturers I had classes with back towards my start at SDSU as a freshman in 1999 and many of them remembered me and were enthusiastic to help me with my goal of becoming Fulbright US Student Grantee to Malaysia. They all helped with different things. After preparing a draft of your proposal and curriculum vitae or whatever, sleep on it for a while, make as many edits as you can until you can do it anymore and your own work starts to look like some foreign language. After that happens make a bunch of copies, I used hard copies, and visit everyone you know, asking if they can help you out. Even if you don't know the people, but have heard or know they can help, they still probably will. Don't be shy, don't worry, you can do it! Go into their office hours or catch them before or after class and let them know what you're doing and before you know it, you'll have a list of new ideas, amazing letters of recommendation, and be ready to take on the world. You think you can do this all the week before the application deadline? Well, it may be a little hard and you probably won't sleep for that whole week, literally not a wink, so instead I suggest you start researching, contacting people immediately, be aware of the opening and closing dates for the awards, but take your time and be patient during the process and also when it's all over. You want to make sure you have all of your materials sorted out and everything. Once it's all turned in to the different committees and offices and the deadline at the end of the week approaches and passes, forget about it for a while, because its going to go through a very long process that you really don't have control over. You should find out about your status in January and June and be excited as you've ever been in your life. If so you'll be off to some fabulous destination later that year and whether it's SDSU graduation, graduate school, or on one of the new Fulbright Student Grant's to Cambodia or Laos some awesome places here in Southeast Asia it's surely going to be a new and enriching experience for you. Anyway, good luck to all the future SDSU Fulbright Student grantees for 2006-2007, 2008-2009, and beyond. I know the resources, knowledge, help, assistance, and pretty much everything anyone needs to really be successful at anything they want is at SDSU because it< has the minds that move the world!