Memories I am afraid I'll forget

Day 62, Connections, Fulbright

I did not get much sleep tonight either, as I had an early morning dissemination meeting at 6AM. Could not be happier to see friendly faces once again and boi we had so many things to discuss, the meeting took a whole hour. I love these gatherings because if you are closer to some of the team members, you just stay until after the official part is over and keep talking and chatting. That is what happened this morning, too.

Then I went straight to work. I had a lot to do, as today, it was the deadline I gave to my thesis workers to submit their works. Plus, I was also expecting a bunch of emails in other aspects as well. Anyways, I needed to work here, too, right?

A bit after 8, I went to the uni to have a meeting with Parinaz, the international director at SJSU. She was so kind, and we had a wonderful and inspiring chat about her PhD topic, the research collabs we can work on, the way I can help to find her way into the European higher education research group (ENIS) I was part of and possible future collaboration between SJSU and SZTE. One hour went by quickly and we said goodbye inspired and with full of plans. Have I mentioned before how much I loved the Bay Area? Yes, I have.

Second meeting, 11AM: With an Indian master's student, volunteering to help me with my research and find me additional subjects to fill in my survey. To put it shortly, it was the second amazing chat of the day, parted with plans to meet up.

Third meeting, noon: My LinkedIn exploded a few days ago. If you are not using LinkedIn, please start today and thank me later. Once I shared a post about SJSU being an exemplary institution hosting Fulbright scholars, I got friend requests from complete strangers. Well, not totally complete strangers, but other people from the Bay Area, who were either Fulbrighters reaching out and chatting with me online, or SJSU researchers in the area of higher education. We had just set this meeting today with one of them the day before. I met Kyoung, an amazingly open-minded (surprise!) person, on campus, who turned out to know Ági's (my Fulbright mentor's) host, Brent, and were working with Parinaz on a research project. How small the world is, right? Nope, it is only the Bay Area. We quickly got to the point where I invited Kyoung to Szeged, so that I could be her Fulbright host in the internationalization topic she is researching. It would be my pleasure to do so, as giving back to your Fulbright family is a duty you happily fulfil. She, in return, invited me to their hometown, Oakland, so I'll reach out to her once I'm back from the East coast.

What a blast I had, and it was only 12:30PM! While talking to Kyoung, the Golf cart pep rally started, so I just arrived at 7th street plaza just in time for the free hotdog, chips and boba event. I intended to buy lunch, but now I did not need to. Yaaay free staff at SJSU! While waiting in line for the boba, I ate my hotdog (surprisingly delish) and while I was sipping my boba, I had a fun conversation with my hubby. On my way back home, I knew I had a lot to do, so I mentally prepared myself for long working hours, which I unfortunately did have.

Before immersing myself in work, I joined Susie, John and their two friends for cookies and ice cream on the deck, a fun conversation I was more than eager to have. Right then and there, this nice man had a suggestion for me reaching out to more people in the Bay Area and suggested Susie to call in to Stanford, as alumni and ask for contacts for me. It was really bugging me how I had not thought of this before! I mailed Susie my wish list of contacts and was silently praying for luck and of course, good connections. Would you bet on me now? What do you think? Would I get in somehow? I now have a way in to Berkeley (via Brent, Ági's host), but my heart was for some reason rooting for Stanford. This is a thing I cannot really explain other than an inkling, a feeling, and a wanting. Cross your fingers for me now.

26 October 2022