"Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me." -Carl Sandburg
I had no idea that the the morning of my eighteenth birthday would prove to be one of the most influential days of my life--and in a way I never expected. This was the morning that I attended my first Critical Language Scholarship info sessions. The 60-minute talk spoke of languages I had never heard of: Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, and Azerbaijani just to name a few. If accepted into the program, you would be given the chance of a lifetime: a 8-week trip to study one of the 13 Critical Languages in its native country. Yet it wasn't easy to nab such an experience--only 12% of applicants were accepted. As a undergraduate freshman who had spent less than one month on a college campus, this statistic seemed daunting. I remember thinking, "There's no way they would pick me." But I still wanted to apply--it was good practice for next year's application cycle!
Over the next two months, I busied myself by preparing my application. I met with the advisers from my university's scholarship office, asked my friends to read over my essays, and wrote, re-wrote, and re-wrote my application. I had chosen where I wanted to study: Indonesia. I had visited Indonesia twice before, as I had relatives in Jakarta, and had a unexplained desire to return and learn more. Moreover, the Indonesian program had no language prerequisite--so I, a complete novice, was eligible to apply. November 15 soon came and went, as did my application submission--and I soon became distracted with everyday life, not expecting much to come from my attempt to join CLS.
You can imagine my surprise when I not only made it past the first round of selections, but was actually selected as an alternate for the program in February! Me--who had been in college for less than 3 months when my application was submitted, who had no collegiate language training, nor any formal linguistics plans in the future--made it to the final round. And after another month and a half of holding on my last thread of hope for CLS, I was promoted to finalist in mid-April.
So here I am now. Less than 2.5 weeks from departure. Sometimes I still can't believe I am actually going. I never in a million years thought anything would come of my application. But I guess this comes to show, opportunity may only come once, and nothing bad will ever come from trying.
Labels: applications, CLS, Indonesia: Summer 13, my story
