***
Fulbright Hungary is pretty small, and we don't often (or ever) get the chance to meet grantees in other countries -- except once, in the spring, at the annual Berlin Seminar. The seminar is put on by the behemoth that is Fulbright Germany, and brings together Fulbright grantees from all over Europe to network, collaborate, and share experiences. Altogether, there were over 500 participants.
In the sea of grantees from Germany (seriously, there were hundreds of them), Jasmine and I bravely represented Fulbright Hungary by ourselves -- I think we were the smallest delegation. During the three day seminar, we made friends with Fulbright grantees from other countries (shout-out to Bulgaria and Poland!), attended project presentations where other grantees shared the incredible things they are doing, and did lots and lots of networking. It was really fun, and I especially liked hearing about how everyone's experiences are so different from mine. Fulbrighters are a really cool group of people, and I sometimes wonder how I ended up amongst them. Meeting new people and being social all day was challenging for two mega-introverts like Jasmine and me -- so we were pooped by the end of each day, but it was such a great experience nonetheless.
I still can't believe how many Fulbright grantees there are in Germany -- so many that they don't all know each other. Coming from Hungary, where we have less than 20 grantees and we all meet up on a regular basis (we just spent Easter together), this blew my mind. It makes me grateful for my little community of friends and colleagues here -- we all like each other, we get along, and we stay in touch. Hooray for Hungary!
 |
| Fulbright Hungary |
No comments:
Post a Comment