The National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, provides merit-based scholarships for eligible high school students and recent high school graduates to learn less commonly taught languages in summer and academic-year overseas immersion programs. (more info)The languages offered are Arabic, Mandarin, Turkish, Persian (Tajik), Korean, and Russian. I applied for Arabic Summer, with Turkish and Persian being my second and third choices. The application included four essays and a bunch of paperwork, and after pressing 'submit' on November 2nd I anxiously awaited to find out if I made the first cut. In mid-December, I found out I had! I frantically ran upstairs and attempted to explain to my host-family why I was jumping up and down. A week after my return from Spain, I had my interview. My interview was on the phone and lasted a grand total of 17 minutes (other NSLI-Y applicants seem to have interviews in the 45-60 minute range, so I was a bit nervous about that). I spent the next month trying to forget about it, but after the first notifications were sent out to the Russian and Hindi programs, I spent the next two weeks having stress dreams and constantly refreshing my email. I wavered between feeling confident I'd get in and resigning myself to a rejection email at the end of April. However, Friday the 14th in the Barnes and Noble in Union square, I checked my email, saw an email from NSLI-Y, and hands shaking opened up the PDF that said this...
I then proceeded to freak out in the cooking section. After a year of thinking about it, and four months of anxious waiting and doubt, I'm officially going to Oman! The other countries for Arabic are Morocco and Jordan, and I couldn't be happier that I ended up in Oman. I still can't believe it, even though I've sent in my official acceptance forms. Although completely different than Spain, as this is a six week program largely spent with other Americans, I feel almost as excited because everything about Oman is so completely unknown. I'll be living with a host family who speaks a language I know three words of, in a culture largely governed by Islam, and in a country that many people can't place on a map.
2.5 months until Oman.
Whoa.
