Timeline

So I have been thinking for the past two weeks of how much of a horrible blogger I am. I’m sorry, I honestly keep forgetting I am going to Malaysia this summer for a whole year. Let’s do a quick timeline of what got me to this point:

April 2012- Rejected from NSLI-Y Russia Summer. On the email I learned about YES Abroad and CBYX

May 2012-  Creep on the finalist for the 2012-2013 because I honestly had nothing better to do…studying for APs didn’t count.

June 2012- I took a break from obsessing over those two programs. I began to study for ACTs and start to finalize my college list. I think this is where I began to write all my college essays.

July 2012- CBYX app was out so I began to fill that out along with all my other college crap.

August 2012- I met some pretty amazing people on a CBYX group and made some fantastic people who I still talk to today. I began to really convince my mom that these applications were worth it. College apps were done and finished and submitted and ooh yeah.

September 2012/October 2012- YES Abroad and NSLI-Y apps were out and about. I finished NSLI-Y within two weeks but dragged to finish my YES app. I was majorly freaking out. I had honestly done about 15 applications by this point. I was burning out.

November/December 2012- Got rejected by NSLI-Y and didn’t give two cares in the world. jk it sucked but I got over it quickly, I still had CBYX and YES to look out for.. I was also deferred by my top university but accepted into my safety. Things were rocky but going good for me. Oh I also had my CBYX interview. Very chill. Very awesome.

January 2013/February2013- Things were going good, everything was calm. Then everyone began getting their semifinalist notifications on the last day of February and I freaked out major time again. Like I always do. But I also got into more of my colleges so life was peachy.

March 2013- I got an email saying I was a semifinalist for YES Abroad and that I would go to the IPSE in Chevy Chase, MD. Life was rockin. I met some amazing people who are really awesome, although all of them are younger than me. I honestly was terrified I wasn't going to stand out or be picked, there were SO many qualified kids.

April 2013- I received my CBYX finalist notification and then four days later I received notification from YES Abroad saying I was going to Malaysia! I hadn’t cried so much in forever. After discussing them with my mom I decided Malaysia was the way to go. Then I paid my deposit to enroll at NYU and submitted by deferral form!

So now it is almost May and I am just waiting on more news a.k.a an email from YES or another conference call. I’m also waiting on confirmation for my deferral.

I know this is long and quite honestly pointless but I promise things will get more interesting once I finish studying and taking all my official AP tests.

A-Malay-Sing

Dear Carmen,Congratulations!  We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a Finalist for a 2013-14 Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad scholarship for study in Malaysia!  

After months of waiting I never thought I would get to read those words. I first discovered this amazing program after failing to make it as a finalist for NSLI-Y. Actually, not failing because I didn’t fail, I just learned so much more about myself and that helped me out a lot the second time I tried. When I first applied to the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad I applied hoping for three specific countries out of the thirteen offered: Turkey, Oman, and South Africa. Malaysia was a surprise, but a surprise that has rattled my whole world and what I expected of my upcoming year. So don't knock something out because it is not what you expected.

As a senior I will be deferring from New York University  I have finally made up my mind and after a lot of thought I have decided that from my two options this is more me. No one is 100% sure of what or where they want to be, so while I might still have my doubts at least I am going to college! The most exciting part of this is that when I return from my gap year in Malaysia I will be spending my freshmen year in Florence, Italy! Yes, that is a tough thing to think about. It will be hard and I honestly don't know what I got myself into but if my mom has agreed to let me go, then I must be ready to do this. Maybe not ready, but prepared. After spending so much time thinking about doing this it seems almost surreal to actually have it in my hands now. 

I know things are going to be hard and there will be times I will want to return home, but I will always give it my best to take a lot from those experiences. I hope to become more than a visitor to my future host community and host family, I hope to become part of their community and of their family.

Look Malaysia!