For those of you don't know what the YES program is, it is an amazing program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It sends 65 students from the United States on a fully paid scholarship (and no, they are not kidding when they say full scholarship, you're basically going for free) to study a year in countries with significant Muslim populations. The purpose of the program is to increase cross-cultural understanding between the US and these countries and provide students with a unique intercultural learning experience. The countries you could go to include:
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Ghana
- India
- Indonesia
- Macedonia
- Malaysia
- Morocco (2 years of French required)
- Oman
- Philippines
- South Africa
- Thailand
- Turkey
On that particular Saturday, all 120 of the semi-final applicants (including myself) were anxiously awaiting our finalist notifications. I, along with many others, had probably mentally reviewed our interviews a million times over, and now we were finally going to know if they were as awesome as we all believed they had been. To my surprise, when I had opened my Facebook I was flooded with notifications and messages. The notifications had begun coming out. With my heart pounding and my hands shaking, I opened my email to find a new message. My heart almost stopped when I read the headline: YES Abroad Program- India. India...India!! My top choice country!! I could barely contain my excitement as I proceeded to tell my friends and family of my acceptance and began to dream along with the other finalists as we learned of our new homes we would spend a year in.
If you are anything like I was when I was looking into applying for this program, my biggest piece of advice to you is: don't worry! What's supposed to happen, will. If you want this, if you really want this, you'll go far. Be honest in your essays, be yourself in the interview and the group evaluations, and whether you get in or not, you'll know you did your best. Always keep your dream to go abroad alive and it will happen, whether it is meant to be now or later, it'll happen. Just be patient and never give up :) Hopefully then you'll be the one making a blog and getting to know all the amazing people who have the same dream as you! Good luck my friend!
