To my friend Ruben – Andrew Kim – Fulbright to Bulgaria 2019
While living in Bulgaria, I made a friend named Ruben. He lived in Kazanluk, about a 30-minute bus ride from my host town, Stara Zagora, at the time. Ruben and I became friends through my student Yoan, who knew Ruben through a family connection. Originally from Portugal, Ruben was spending a year in Kazanluk with […]
Indelible Impressions – Fathima Banu – USA 2005
It was a dream come true when I received a call from the United States India Education Fund (USIEF) to attend an interview for the Junior Research Fellowship. I was on a roller coaster ride full of excitement coupled with trepidation as I was to travel for the first time in my life, on my […]
Airport Friend – Melvina – Fulbright to USA 2008
Sometimes in life, the wrong gate leads you to the right destination. It was middle December of 2008, my first winter in the US. I was traveling to the East coast with my housemate. We were very excited at the same time sleepy during the flights. The night before the flight, we still had final […]
My Fulbright Experience – Raymond O’Donnell – China 2018
“I just want a salad,” I muttered under a breath of mixed anxiety and exhaustion; a thirteen-hour time difference wasn’t something a young-20-something year old could fake an effort through. “我要买沙拉” “Whoah yo my sha-rah.” “Wǒ yāomǎi shālā,” she said, emphasizing each tone which I had mistaken as intonation at the time. I had no […]
A Fulbright Fellowship Opened My Eyes to the World – William Krantz – Turkey 1974-75
My Fulbright Fellowship in 1974-75 to Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in Turkey was the first time that I traveled abroad. Owing to limited funds, my wife and I traveled via bus from Munich, Germany, to Istanbul. We went through the former Yugoslavia without any problems. However, we were pulled off the bus in Bulgaria to […]
Sandy (Sandra) Grubb Chapman – Pakistan 1975
Pakistan today is so inhospitable to Americans that our state department discourages travel there, but things were very different in 1975. Our little group of teachers on a two-month educational tour led by Dr. James Sheaffer of Chadron State were treated like honored guests. The governors of three of the four provinces welcomed us to […]
From potatoes to French fries, a permanent exchange – Elio Leturia – USA 1990
Not one but four times I applied for my Fulbright award. Only one from 14 annual awards was given to the communication and arts fields’ candidates. Imagine how intense the competition was! I recall jumping in the air when I received the congratulatory letter getting the Fulbright. Perseverance had paid off. I had just applied […]
ENJOY! And Aftermath In Phnom Penh – Debra Carney – Cambodia 2009
My 2009 Fulbright Specialist project at the National Institute of Education (NIE) was enlivening, enriching, and likely unrepeatable now. Although I had provided faculty and staff development in Cambodia previously—at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and at Social Services of Cambodia—I had not taught before at NIE, and I was their first Fulbrighter. NIE […]