It becomes real

Tomorrow.  It becomes real tomorrow.  That's when we have our first Fulbright Scholar Training.

In the past, this was done in person.  That must have been great - getting to meet other people planning similar exciting things, feeling the group buzz, being inspired.  I've talked with Fulbrighters from past years who have spoken of the very special connections that developed in the training sessions before they posted to wherever they were heading.

Yep, in person training must have been awesome, but that's not what's happening tomorrow.

It's a sign of the times, no doubt.  Both the technical times ("we can") and the budgetary times ("we must.")  Our training is going to be virtual.  The Fulbright Virtual Pre-Departure Orientation (VPDO) is what they're calling it.  It provides essential administrative details pertaining to Fulbright grants, as well as practical information and resources to prepare for living in our host countries and region.  It includes a large amount of information about what to do, how to prepare.  Lots of forms and descriptions and admonitions in a great portal.  It's fun to anticipate as I click around it.

Tomorrow, we have our first online discussion during a webinar.  I'm really excited to hear all about what's in store! Excited for the opportunity to connect with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), sponsor of the Fulbright Program.  To hear about the program.  To learn about what needs to be done - what shots we need, how to get our visas in order, and how to prepare for the opportunity of our lives.  And that's going to be wonderful.

Yes, I wish that we could all meet together.  I know that the ECA folks, as well as the folks from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) which administers the programs, all wish this too.  There is, after all, something to be said for being real, not virtual.  But it's terrific it is happening!

I'm also really lucky.  I know that my Program Officer is an amazing young woman - and I'm quite keen to meet her in person.  I'm hoping that can happen when I am back in Washington, D.C. for the User Experience Professionals Association meetings.  And then, it will be really Real.  And then, as the old Skin Horse in the children's tale, "The Velveteen Rabbit, " observed.

"Once you are Real, you can't become unreal again.  It lasts for always."

(And you can't really become only virtual again either.)

So I'm looking forward to our training tomorrow - virtual though it may be.  And I look forward to the time that it all becomes really Real too.

And I'm so glad to have so many friends and colleagues - who are all Real - joining me virtually for this journey.

The kindness of strangers

Wow - Fulbrighters are amazing!  Today, I spoke with Jackie*, who worked for an NGO called Amigos de las Americas in Peru, and current Fulbrighter working in Mexico City.  She worked in Panama City before going to Mexico on her Fulbright.  She gave me all kinds of great practical advice and offered to introduce me to a number of her friends who are still there.  Such generosity!

And she is not the only Fulbrighter to give me suggestions and advice.  Jolie*, who is the friend of someone who replied to my post asking for any information people could share about Panama, spent over an hour on the phone from a coffee shop in town, where she could charge her cell.  She runs a remote eco-lodge and conservation center in Western Panama.  As we talked, it was pouring rain and I thought I could hear tree frogs in the background.

As my circle of contacts is starting to become wider, I'm finding myself getting increasingly jazzed and excited about this adventure.  And finding out about other folks who have also had Fulbrights.  For instance, famed glass artist Dale Chihuly went to Italy in the 1960's on a Fulbright to learn about glassblowing.  In this video, he talks about his experiences as a Fulbrighter and the impact it has had on his life and art:
http://vimeo.com/66925067

And perhaps you have heard of the spoof of "Gangnam Style" by a Fulbrighter in Beijing, "Laowai Style"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7Dp5X5WOf2Q
As creator Jesse Appell says, he wanted to show how a foreigner ("laowai" being one word for "foreigner") could live like a native. "I like the idea of trying to erase ...preconception[s] by having some of my lyrics be about 'I'm the kind of foreigner that doesn't drive a BMW, but drives instead an electric bike.' [I like] showing that foreigners live like Chinese people," he said. More of his comments here:
http://eca.state.gov/fulbright/story/us-student-uses-gangnam-style-depict-daily-life-china

While I was watching videos, I came across one by Anicia Peters, one of the amazing young women I have been working with on a Women in Technology project.  Anicia is from Namibia, and received the International Fulbright Science and Technology Award.  She is studying at Iowa State where she is pursuing a Ph.D.  and is actually working at Intuit this summer, so I hope to get to see her! You can check out her story at:
http://vimeo.com/23795617

And there's even a video by Blake Scott who was a Fulbrighter in Panama in 2008 - 2009.
http://vimeo.com/17892307

So, as the excitement builds, I am exploring and learning and thinking about what this experience can be.

*In the interests of privacy, I'm not using last names for Fulbrighters whose names are not already public.

First steps on a journey-of-a-lifetime

To begin:  This site (An Excellent Journey) is not an official Fulbright Program site. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State or any of its partner organizations.

But, of course, that is not really the beginning.  For that, we must go back to the summer of 2012 when a call came out on CHI-ANNOUNCEMENTS for applications to Fulbright to go to the Technological University of Panama to teach and do research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).  I leapt at the chance to apply - in part because a Fulbright had always a dream, in part because I have always loved the challenge of traveling and living abroad, and in part because this was, quite literally, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a non-academic in HCI to have a Fulbright experience.

Fast forward to March.  After 5 of the 6 moves our family has had since we sold our house in Minneapolis in May, 2012, I was exhausted but glad to be in the Bay Area, albeit in temporary housing.  David had started his new job at Google, and I thought back with nostalgia to the time we had spent together as partners in Dray & Associates.  It was a challenging readjustment, what with being in a new place, being alone all day and working as "support services" as well as "professional."  

But just when the rain and isolation were really getting to me, I heard from the Fulbright Commission that I had been selected to go to Panama as a Fulbright Scholar.  Needless to say, there was much happiness and celebration as a result!

This blog will, on a random schedule, describe my journey of preparation for this opportunity of a lifetime, and of the actual journey.  I look forward to sharing these journeys with you, and welcome your reactions and suggestions.  So join me!  It'll be a wild and wonderful ride!