It felt like just a few moments passed since I was staring at the statue of Dante in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, Italy until I was curiously looking at the gates of the beautiful Sterling Library in New Haven.
Author: Fulbright Schuman
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Back to the Pack
It has been twenty-five years since I was a Fulbright Scholar at the North Carolina State University – home of the wolf pack! At the time, in what seems like a lifetime ago, my husband and I, both graduate scholars from newly independent Croatia went to Raleigh, NC. We were both at the beginning of our careers, eager and fortunate enough to be there.
It’s 4 AM on a Saturday in December and I’m anxiously maneuvering a little Hyundai out of a dark driveway in the Bay Area. I’m not a morning person, nor a great driver, and this all feels a bit adventurous. As with most things Californian, there’s an app involved, allowing me to rent a good neighbor’s car for the day to drive to Lake Tahoe, where I am eager to go skiing.
It has been 173 days and 18 hours ca. since I landed in the United States for my Fulbright-Shuman experience. Such an experience. I never expected that my “cultural ambassador” duties would have been so intense. But let’s say: an extreme pleasure. Luckily enough, my project on Privacy and profiling had me ended up at the MIT Media Lab, i.e. a melting pot of cultures, backgrounds, races, and minds from all over the world.
“We must account for them.” My co-presenter Laura and I turned away from our lunches to see an older man not so subtly gesturing his hand up and down in our direction. After seeing the look of confusion on my face, Laura laughed and said, “He’s talking about us – ‘the younger generation,’” signaling air […]
The Fulbright-Schuman program affords grantees the incredible opportunity to live and work in (up to) three different countries within the European Union during our 9-month grant. While this presents unique logistical challenges and the need to become an expert packer, those difficulties are more than balanced out by the benefits.
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Kiel: Germany’s Naval City
One of my favorite things to do after work in Kiel was to grab a share bike and cycle along the Kiel fiord. I loved seeing the cruise ships anchored in the harbor, the citizenry enjoying pleasant strolls along the Kiellinie, and students rowing or practicing water polo. Kiel bills itself as Europe’s “sailing city” […]
One of the unique aspects of the Fulbright Schuman fellowship is its stipulation that scholars divide their time between at least two European Union member states. I spent the first half of my fellowship in Kiel, Germany; and the second in Athens, Greece. Shortly before I left Kiel, one of my German friends warned me […]
In my immediate family, I was the first and still the only one who obtained a Bachelor’s degree, moved outside our hometown, and stepped foot outside North America. For the latter, that did not occur until I was 29. I have become a fervent traveler since then, in some ways making up for lost time […]
Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. – Lucius Annaeus Seneca – Roman Stoic Philosopher The Roman Philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca almost 2000 years ago described what the spirit of Fulbright simply is today: exchange of ideas, knowledge, culture in order to enhance vigor in our minds and our life. To receive […]