The interview (peer review) went smoothly on Saturday. There were three teachers ( one ESL, one French and one Spanish) there who basically wanted to get to know me and their questions were mostly what I expected.

Now, if I am not accepted into the program, they will let me know by January; otherwise they start looking for a "perfect match" in Spain. I will not hear from them til May...a long time to wait, but definitely worth it if I can get to live in Spain again! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Good for you!

And, of course, we will all keep our fingers (and toes if t hat helps) crossed for the exchange to work!

I just received notification that all Fulbright exchanges with Spain have been cancelled for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years. They did not explain to me why they have been cancelled, but as you can imagine I am devastated. I was SO looking forward to it and all was going so smoothly.

Oh, esperanza I am sooo sorry!

We were all looking forward to hearing about your adventures...

MadridMan: Please, don't censor this posting.

Esperanza writes: I am truly sorry to read that, Esperanza! I know you had your appointment with the Universidad de Duesto and your lodging in Bilbao all secured.

You say: "all Fulbright exchanges with Spain have been cancelled." No other Country?? California's Orange County Community College withdrew from the "semester in Spain" programs recently, giving Spain's withdrawal of support for G.W. Bush's war in Iraq as the principal reason.

This is a Political thing! Bush doesn't like Zapatero Rodriguez or the current Spanish Government; the feeling is probably mutual. This is an underhanded way for the Bush Administration to let Spain know the Administration is not happy with Zapatero. And Fulbright Scholars are the 'pawns' in this match!

The Fulbright Program (named for a former Senator from Arkansas) is a Federal Government sponsored program (i.e., someone in Washington, D.C. is in Control). Those people will undoubtedly say that this is a Budgetary decision; but you know as well as I that the U.S. wastes more in Iraq in 1-day than the entire Fulbright program costs in a year.

Eddie, yesterday I got a response to the email I wrote to them asking for an explanation. All they say is that it is because of budgetary restraints. Reading your post really made me sad and then it made me angry! As you can imagine, my whole family was so psyched to be able to go to Spain for the entire year!

I am still trying to figure things out for the summer though...my daughters want us to leave the day after school ends in June and return the day before classes begin in Sept...sounds like a great idea, but we just have to figure out how to do that financially. The dollar-euro conversion is really putting a damper on that plan. I am still thinking about the class in Bilbao for the month of July. That would be fun...but I am not certain yet that Bilbao is the place to spend the entire month of July.

Wasn't the Fullbright Scholarship an issue during the last USA Presidential debates? Maybe it was some OTHER scholarship program??

Seems to me the Bush Administration was stating how they're now giving more funding than ever to the Fullbright program and the Kerry side was stating that while the Bush Administration's claim may be true that the overall number of Fullbright Scholarships offered was seriously cut. Anyone else remember this from the debates??

esperanza, I'm so sad to hear your news. I know you were really looking forward to this opportunity - A REAL LIFE-CHANGER! So sad. So sorry.

MadridMan

Esperanza, have you ever thought about doing a house exchange? Other than air fare, you can keep your costs pretty much what they would be if you stayed home. We've done it many times. Feel free to ask me about it if you're interested in how we did it. That's a real shame about the Fullbright. You might try private foundations for grant moneys. There may be some other way to finance it. Good luck!

Update to the story: I just got notification this week that they found me an exchange in Argentina, if I want to accept it ( and if my school finds the exchange teacher acceptable)! I have to really think about this since my plan was to be in Spain, but I want to make the right decision. It is an exciting possibility!

I thought I would ask if anyone knows about the city of San Salvador de Jujuy in the northwestern part of Argentina? Has anyone been to that area recently? Does anyone have any information they can share with me as I am making my decision. Do you think it is a safe area? I will have my 10 year old daughter with me, so I need to find a good school for her. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts. I would appreciate any ideas or recommendations.
Thanks! Esperanza