A Bit of Advice

As someone who has won a scholarship to study abroad, I feel like I am (somewhat) qualified to give future applicants some advice. This post is really just advice for people applying to YES Abroad and CBYX (those are the two scholarships that I applied to and won), but I'm sure it can be applied to others, including NSLI-Y (I never finished that app...oops!), as well.

When filling out your application, make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to write your essays and host family letter. I recommend writing one at a time. It may also be helpful to have someone look over your essays. It's not something that I did, but most people do so. In addition, be sure that you are honest in your letter and essays. That might sound obvious, but please make sure you do that because some people try to make themselves look better on paper, which doesn't really work out well for them.

Teacher recommendations are just as important as the part of the application that you fill out, so be sure to give your teachers plenty of time to complete them. Just like you and I, teachers get busy and forget stuff from time to time, and you don't want them to forget your recommendations!

Once you are done with your application, you will wait a couple months to hear about your status. If you a a semi-finalist, congratulations! The next part of this process is the interview. In my opinion, it's the most nerve-wracking part, and I'm sure that pretty much every other applicant will agree with me. The most important thing to do during your interview is to breathe and try to pretend that you're just having a conversation with the interviewers. (I do admit that it's kinda hard to do when they're writing things down and looking for questions to ask though.) If you read some of my previous blog posts (CBYX - YES), you can see that I definitely was not confident once I was done either interview. However, I won both scholarships, so they couldn't have been too bad! Anyway, just be sure to answer each question truthfully and to the best of your ability. There will be some hypothetical questions, so don't get thrown off by them!

Along with your individual interview, you will also have a group evaluation or two. I personally liked the evaluations for YES Abroad better because they were more fun, but the CBYX one wasn't bad either! The evaluators simply want to make sure that you can work well with a group of people that you don't really know. Don't be shy, but I wouldn't suggest completely taking over the whole thing either.

After the interview, the only thing left to do is wait. I definitely suggest trying to keep your mind off of notifications until the day it actually happens. It's really hard to do, but it helped me focus on my ACT. In case you don't know, YES Abroad notifications started coming out while I was taking the ACT, and I had no idea until I was finished! I'm glad it worked out that way though. I don't think I would have been able to focus on the test if I had known that I could have gotten a notification at any time.

I should probably end this before I continue rambling about my acceptance...you can read more about it here.

That's all for today folks! Once again, feel free to contact me with any questions.

Selamat tinggal!

How I Got Here

It's only been about three months since I wrote my first blog post, but so much has changed. I went from submitting my applications and simply hoping that I would get accepted into CBYX or YES Abroad to winning both scholarships and getting my top country for YES. Now that I have officially chosen to go to Indonesia, it's crazy to think that I will be there in just four months. That might sound like a long time, but it's not. These past three months have absolutely flown by, and I'm sure that these next four will be no different.

I remember when I truly decided to study abroad. My decision wan't really triggered by a particular event, but it is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I just wasn't sure that I would study abroad in high school. In fact, I didn't really think it was possible. I honestly never thought that my parents would let me move across the world for an entire year. Being the youngest girl in my family, my dad is understandably protective of me. At first, he was pretty much completely against the idea of me studying abroad. Despite his apparent opposition, I kept bringing it up last year, which was also happened to be the same year that I became friends with a pretty awesome YES student from Pakistan. Somehow all of my study abroad talk prompted my dad to allow me to apply for CBYX and YES (my mom was totally fine with it as well), and now my parents are letting me move to Indonesia for 11 months!

Here's an awesome map of my new home! 

The wait for my finalist notification was hard, but it was totally worth it. The three weeks between IPSE and notification day seemed to drag on, and I'm so glad that I got good news in the end.

I'm planning on writing my next post about advice for future YES Abroad and CBYX applicants, so look out for it in the next week or so. If anyone ever has any questions for me, please feel free to leave a comment!

Selamat tinggal!

P.S. I'm attempting to write a lot now because I want this momentum to carry on and hopefully make me write at least one or two posts a month while I'm in Indonesia!

It's Official! (I said yes to YES!)

That's right, I have officially accepted the YES Abroad scholarship for Indonesia. I'm super excited about my decision, and I'm also really excited for the CBYX alternate who will now get to go to Germany. From the beginning, I wanted YES more, but I know that Germany would have been amazing too. I just feel like Indonesia is the place for me. I honestly can't even describe what it is about Indonesia, but I just know that I am supposed to go there.

Since my last post was so short, I'll tell you a little bit more about my finalist notification. As (I hope) you read, we all thought that notifications were going to come out on April 11th. However, they did not. I'm actually really glad that they didn't though. I highly doubt that I would have been able to concentrate during my ACT! The next day, April 12th, I woke up early to drop my brother and his friend off for a track meet and take my ACT. When I finished with my test, I went outside to call my parents and let them know that I was done early. As I was waiting for my dad, I realized that I had TONS of Facebook messages from a group chat that I was in with some other semi-finalists. I was kinda confused, so I asked them what was going on. They told me that rejection and alternate emails were being sent out and that two of my friends had been rejected. I don't want to sound overly dramatic or anything, but my heart seriously started racing. I checked my email, and there was nothing there. I told my friends that, and they told me that was a good thing but to check my spam folder just in case (there was nothing there). By the time I could see my dad coming down the street to pick me up, I was freaking out. As far as we knew, only one person had received a notification, and it was for Bosnia. When I got in the car, my dad told me that I had a package from the State Department waiting for me at home. That could only mean one thing..my passport finally came!

Once I got home, a few more people had been notified of their finalist status. One of my friends even found out that she was going to Bosnia! Because that day was Global Youth Service Day, I did not have much time to do anything before my event, so I quickly got changed and ate some food. After a little while, I decided to check my phone. Another one of my friends said that she was going to Indonesia, which was my top choice. Even though my mom pretty much told me not to check my email until after my Global Youth Service Day event, my sister persuaded me to do otherwise. As soon as I refreshed my email, I saw an email titled "YES Abroad Program- Indonesia." Not gonna lie, I started completely freaking out. I jumped up and down and screamed. Not only had I received the YES Abroad scholarship but I was also awarded the scholarship in my top choice country. HOW CRAZY IS THAT. Even as I write this, I still cannot believe it. When I finally calmed down enough to open the email, this is what it said:

Dear Victoria,

Congratulations!  We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a Finalist for a 2014-15 Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad scholarship for study in Indonesia!  The YES Abroad program is funded by the U.S. Department of State, and administered by the YES Consortium, led by American Councils for International Education in partnership with AFS Intercultural Programs (AFS), the American-Mideast Educational and Training Service (AMIDEAST) and the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN). American Councils manages the overall operations of the YES Abroad program, and the program implementer in Indonesia is AFS.  Please understand that your assignment to the YES Abroad program in Indonesia is subject to your fulfillment of all medical, placement, academic and visa requirements, and the ability of the overseas partner organization to place and enroll you as a student.

Many outstanding students applied to this prestigious program, and final selection was extremely competitive. Your demonstration of personal and academic excellence indicates you have the potential to become an outstanding youth ambassador for the United States. You and your family should be extremely proud that you have been selected as a YES Abroad scholar.  The YES Abroad program is an excellent opportunity to begin your global exploration and to gain a stronger understanding of international affairs and U.S. relations with Indonesia. You will have the opportunity to learn the language spoken in the city where you live, enhance your personal and cross-cultural communication skills, and forge lasting bonds with new friends and mentors.

During our first conference call, we were notified that everyone going to Indonesia will be departing for New York on August 18th. That's exactly 4 months from today! That honestly seems so far away, but I know that the time will fly. Just thinking about it is crazy. I will be done school in a little under two months. I really want to make sure that I value and enjoy the time that I have left here. These are my last few months as a typical high school student. When I get back, I will only have about a month before my freshman year of college starts (we get back in July). One of my friends and I have decided to make a summer bucket list. I'm not sure what will be on it, but I'm excited for this summer! 

Going back to YES, I guess I should mention that the national pre-departure orientation (PDO) will take place in a little over two months. It actually starts on my birthday! 

I really need to finish my history notes, so I have to go now. I'll write again soon. Hopefully I will have some additional information! 

INDONESIA (I got a yes from YES!)

I'm currently writing this in the wee hours of the morning of Friday, April 11th, which is the day that we believe finalist notifications will come out for YES Abroad. I personally have been super busy this past week and will continue to be super busy until next month. Thankfully, the fact that I have so many other things to worry about has kept me from really worrying about my YES Abroad status...until now. I know for a fact that I am not alone in this. So many other semi-finalists have said the same thing. Even though I already know that I will be studying abroad next year, I still have no idea which continent I'll be on. With that being said, I know that YES has chosen the right people for the program. Whether I am one of them or not is a different story. However, I can truly say that I believe that everyone I met at IPSE would do really well on the YES Abroad Program. Still, there are only 65 spots. I'll finish this post when I find out my status!


As I'm sure you can now tell by the title, I AM A YES ABROAD FINALIST FOR INDONESIA! I am beyond excited. I can't even put this feeling into words! Now the only thing left for me to do is make sure that I can definitely graduate on time and still go to Indonesia. Wow, it's so crazy to think that I actually won the scholarship and got my top choice! That's almost unheard of. I'm sorry that this is so short, but I'm too excited to write anything else!

Just Some Thoughts

As always, I have been thinking a lot. As I write this, I am lying on my bed and thinking. Tomorrow begins the last 45 days of my American high school career. I've brought it up quite a few times since finding out about my CBYX finalist status, but now I feel a little bit bad about it because my parents also keep bringing up the fact that I will not have a real graduation. I mean, I will be graduating in the same year that I am supposed to, but I will likely not be back in the U.S. in time to take part in the graduation ceremony. I completely understand where they are coming from though. I have worked so hard for all of these years, and I won't even have a graduation at which I can give my speech. At the same time, I am extremely excited for whatever lies ahead as a embark on a solo journey on the other side of an ocean or two. I know that I made the decision to study abroad for a reason, but the gravity of the decision is really hitting me right now. If I had not chosen to take a scholarship to study abroad for my senior year, I know that my mind would be filled with just as many "what ifs" as it is now. As hard as it is to stop thinking about those what ifs, I am trying my best. I know that God has a plan for my life, and I know that He is leading me to things greater than I could ever imagine.

I guess what I am trying to get at in this post is that I think I am feeling the way that one feels at the end of high school. The following song always makes me think of that. I always thought that I would listen to this on the last day of my senior year, but it looks like I'll be doing that a year early.

I know it's old, but take a listen! 

I'm sorry that this post has been a little bit sobbish (that's obviously a word now :P ), but I just want to make sure that I'm real on this blog. Exchange is definitely not all fun and games, though there's plenty of that! I'm sure that other exchange students have felt this way, and I just want future exchange students to know that it's okay. Yes, if you're studying abroad for your senior year of high school, you may not be there for prom, senior skip day, and graduation. However, you will have an entire YEAR of amazing experiences to learn from and enjoy. I just hope that someone will find this post helpful in the future. I should probably go to bed now..I'll write again soon!