NSLI-Y Program.

Applying to College
821

<p>Congratulations to all of you who survived the interview! Doesn’t it feel great? :D</p>

<p>Small bit of advice I think might help: Go back to reality and forget about this entire experience until something arrives in the mail, through the phone, or in your inbox randomly one day. Seriously, it’s not worth the stress and anger you will find yourself experiencing if you hover over the “Refresh” button and await to pounce on an email. Again, that may sound harsh and you might want to call me something inappropriate (keep it to your head, do whatever you need to relieve stress ONLY IN YOUR HEAD), but in the end it will help you keep your sanity around much longer.</p>

<p>For all of you who are still awaiting doomsday (aka interview), don’t sweat it. Go eat a cookie. Or 38927359.</p>

822

<p>Chewydog- Thanks for the advice, I may just do that… :)</p>

823

<p>Did anyone’s interview go /bad/?</p>

824

<p>My kids thought their interviews went well but I wonder if they will be at a disadvantage because of their first choices of languages. D’12 asked for Korean but that seems to be the choice of most of the Asians in our area (They already speak Mandarin and now want to learn Korean). S’14 asked for Arabic but the beginners go to Egypt and who knows if there will be any programs in Egypt next year. D’12 gave Mandarin and “any” as her other choices. S’14 gave Mandarin and “any” as his other choices but I am getting the impression that alternate choices may not be considered for summer programs.</p>

825

<p>The Arabic programs next year all seem a little sketchy right now. It is hard to project which countries will be stable. I am glad I am not the parent of a NSLI student in Cairo right now.</p>

826

<p>Actually, all the NSLI-Y students, and all the AFS students in general, have been sent home from Egypt this week. Poor kids. How disappointing!</p>

827

<p>The Cairo evacuation was handled very well and communication with parents was excellent. The decision to evacuate was made overnight from Saturday to Sunday, so the students had one day to pack. On Monday they left their families and were taken to a hotel near the airport. On Tuesday they flew as a group to Istanbul. Today they arrived at JFK and will spend 24 hours doing re-orientation, before they fly home tomorrow. I’m sure it is heartbreaking for many of them, especially those who had bonded closely with their host families.</p>

828

<p>My son is going through the screening process to do Arabic over the summer. I hope they are able to find a secure venue in time. Civil unrest seems to be viral in the region right now.</p>

829

<p>I made a last minute decision not to put Arabic (replacing it with Korean), because I’m Hindu and my mom didn’t feel was safe or something. I thought it was irrational then, but now I’m really thankful. Glad all the NSLI kids are okay over there!</p>

830

<p>So what are the summer programs like? Like what do you do?</p>

831

<p>You have daily language lessons, live with a family,and go on cultural excursions,</p>

832

<p>Do you guys think there’s any chance that there will be a summer program for Arabic?</p>

833

<p>^My interviewer said they might be sent to Morocco instead.</p>

834

<p>Eh, that’s definitely better than nothing, but I hope we get sent to Jordan - if I get in, that is. I really want to go to Jordan</p>

835

<p>The irony is that the recent events make it all the more obvious that having more Americans with deep cultural understanding of Arab world is imperative, but at the same time, it is riskier to be there.</p>

836

<p>So is everyone done with their interviews? How’d it go?</p>

837

<p>amazing. we chatted like old friends and she told me almost every detail of her life and told me i was an excellent applicant.
how about you</p>

838

<p>mine was good but it seems like everyone’s was so :\ idk.</p>

839

<p>I feel the same way- mrbh12.</p>

840

<p>There is a growing NSLI-Y conversation at Exchanges Connect:
connect.state.gov, join the NSLI-Y group on the left hand side</p>