reflections on the world
…that one other positive thing about the regime change in Libya is that there will now be new Fulbright FLTAs from that country from now on. The year 2009/10 was the first time that anyone from Afghanistan was admitted into the FLTA program in a long time. A new day will hopefully lead to more understanding and better relation with these parts of the world.
Every time I start believing that I am sufficiently removed from my Fulbright experience to return to my anonymous student life, I get requests like this from readers like Darsh who want to know more about the FLTA experience in the United States. I’ve once written about what to expect in a one-year trip away from home, but here are a few more. As soon as you have passed the initial stages of being selected at your local country consulate, you are almost on your way to the United States.
1. How much is the monthly stipend? A: In 2009/2010, it was a little over $1000 per month. I hear that it also depends on where in the US you’re posted to. If you are on the coast, you get a lot more (but then spend a lot more as well for food, and rent).
2. Is the stipend ever sufficient? A: Yes. With very prudent use, you would usually spend about half of the whole stipend monthly on food, housing and books. At the very worst case scenario, you would still be able to save about $300 every month.
3. Can relatives visit me from home? A: Technically, they can, but that is not what the program is about, so it is not encouraged. Believe me, the last thing you want is carrying the home baggage with you. But then, it’s up to you.
4. Can I date my students? A: No. Bad idea.
5. Can I date other students on campus? A: Yes.
6. If any of the people I date at #5 ever become my student in another semester, what should I do? A: I have no idea. But the fact that you know that such scenario is possible should make you re-think #5. You’ll find very many opportunities to meet other new people.
7. Will I need a mobile phone? A: Yes, but you don’t have to bring it along from your country.
8. Will I need a car? A: Not usually. You’d be able to get by without one on most campuses. Many FLTAs however often apply for, and obtain, a driver’s licence before they leave the US. It could be a worthwhile endeavour.
9. How cold is a cold weather? A: Very cold. If you have never seen snow before, chances are you will start needing to buy winter clothes and boots as soon as late October. Right now, it is 6 degrees Celsius.
10. Can I stay in the US after the program? A: No. There is a mandatory “return policy” which you’d sign on your way in. As soon as you’re done, you are required to head home first, before you do anything else.
to be continued…
I received a spirited email yesterday from someone who had found this blog through search for resources and tips about the Fulbright programme. Here’s an excerpt:
Five students of three countries from various disciplines sat down in a Chinese restaurant downtown Edwardsville today for dinner. It was the first time the five of them would be sitting together in one place, and it soon dawned on them that they were all beneficiaries of the Fulbright program. “Wow,” one of them said. “This is really interesting – three generations of scholars in one place at the same time.”
“By this time next year, if the current two return here, we’d be almost ten,” another person said, “and it would be interesting to gather around again for a discussion like this.”
“We could actually do something right now, you know.” The Egyptian said.
“Yes,” said the Moroccan. “I’ve been thinking of a public project involving us all and this environment, either on campus, or the public school system in the state. Some volunteer project in town, you know.”
“Why didn’t we think of this earlier? This actually sounds great. What do you have in mind?” I said.
“We can go to elementary schools to talk to them about where we’re from and what we do?”
“Or tell them stories, teach them songs, or share some cultural ideas. Or show a movie on campus?”
“It will enlighten them, I believe. I’m sure students will benefit from this. A cultural exchange. Something.”
“Totally.”
By the time the evening ended, they had discovered a new level of usefulness for the bond that they all shared. They had also figured out a more detailed plan of action and the path to putting the many ideas into practice. After all, it was right before their very eyes, and within their collective reach. They just hadn’t noticed it before because of individual commitments. Now everything had become clear. The day had served its usefulness. They cheered and partook of it with all relish.
Someone had searched for the following phrase “fulbright grant stipend how to survive” and have been referred to my blog. Since I’ve never written anything on the subject, I doubt they’d have learnt anything so far. Leaving one’s country and base to go abroad is already a trying experience. Add to that, having to survive on a stipend not figured to encourage extravagance as to guarantee qualitative subsistence could be harrowing at worst, or unsatisfactory at best. So here would be my response – from experience – if I were asked. Most of them are actually commonsense guides to surviving college.
Dear Fulbrighter in the US,
1. Get a Bicycle. Transportation is a bada$$ in any little town. If you are at SIUE, you’ll most likely have the bus shuttle,but then it comes at intervals. If you want to get to where you want to go at your own time without paying for gas or being frustrated by transport, a bicycle it is. I bet this works in every little town. If it is a big town/city. A bicycle might still work, but you’ll need a map and it might take a while getting used to it. Ask friends or faculty members for a ride. They will gladly help get you around. You’re an international exchange student. You’re VIP. Take advantage of it and enjoy every moment. If you ever get lost, you can also ask the police for a ride. They will eagerly help you (although they might have to search you for weapons first).
2. Cook rather than eat out. Papa John’s pizza costs about $20 bucks, and it lasts only for one sitting. A meal at a restaurant costs about $10. Home cooking will cost far less on the long run, and it will be more filling. Shop for groceries at weekends, and spend your time cooking at home. Attend campus events. Many of them come with free food and is open to all. Attend other social events too, and eat to your heart’s desire. In many cases, you are even allowed to take home fruits. Visit people. If you have host parents, visit them when you can. Tell them of memorable events in your life, like your birthday. They might throw a party for you and cook lots of food. Express interest in outdoor events and you’ll get plenty invitations.
3. When you buy books online, buy used books. They’re usually as good as new, and they’re much cheaper than new ones. Watch plenty TV rather than buy DVDs as they come out. You would have too much load to carry home at the end of your grant and may have to pay for excess luggage. All movies eventually come to the TV anyway, so spend your time watching the old ones you may have missed instead of amassing new ones that would chop off your stipend. If you must go to the movies, go in the mornings during weekdays. They usually cost $5 at those times. I wouldn’t say you should download movies or music illegally online, but there are many sites where you can watch movies for free or listen to music for free. Use them. Some will even stream movies going on at the theatres at the moment.
4. Do not get a mobile phone. You really don’t need it. Most campuses give you access to a house phone that you don’t pay for for calls to places on campus. You can also receive calls through them for free. But they’re fixed and not mobile. For mobile phone calls, use many of the cheaper VOIPs online. At the moment Google offers free phone calls on Gtalk to anywhere in America, for free. For international calls, use Skype to Skype conversation with your friends and family. You don’t need to pay for international calls. Mobile phones are a rip off, and you don’t need that. When you think about it, you don’t have that many friends in the US anyway. Those you know are mostly in your campus, and would be able to track you with your office hours. The rest can find you on Facebook. If you have to pay to call home, especially Nigeria, use Rebtel. The value you get from calling with Rebtel is twice that of every other online call services including Skype. Trust me on this. More than that, you can also use it with your mobile phone rather than scratch cards.
5. If you start a blog, don’t get a domain name (like KTravula.com). You get to pay for that. Use the free ones (like ktravula.wordpress.com or igwatala.blogspot.com. WordPress.com and Blogger.com can tell you how to get those. If any telemarketer calls you (you can tell their voice by how polite they sound and how fast they try to tell you all they’ve been paid to say in that little space of time that they have your attention), hang up immediately. They usually start with a question: Are you interested in free grant for your studies? etc. If you need to buy anything in the store, there are usually cheaper versions of that same product. Ask the shop people. Questions will get you out of any panic buying. If you buy any product, ask for warranties. Most places have them. If anything you buy gets bad, even after seven months, take it back. They might take it back from you and give you a replacement.
6. If you want to send money home (since a few cousins or friends or family might need it at some point – depending on how responsible you were before you travelled) – do not use bank wire transfer. It’s damned costly. Do not use Western Union either (Sorry Brian), except you can get them to offer you a discount. (Ask me more about this). So what should you use then? Well, how about take the money home when you’re actually going by yourself? I know it sounds lame, but when you get home, everyone would expect that you’ve become a millionaire, so you might not want to disappoint them. Besides, money is easier to carry in one’s own wallet. Else, you can use it to buy gift items and take them along, but remember that excess luggage charge is no peanut. Airline people are bada$$es.
7. Use Craigslist.com. There are very many things you can buy there for really dirt cheap prices: a good camera, an ipod, a DVD player, and even a bicycle. When you want to travel by road, or by air, book far ahead. By land, Megabus.com offers incredibly cheap rates. A five hour trip from St. Louis to Chicago could cost you just $1 if youbook about two months ahead. Look out for coupons. It’s America’s shopping culture/secret. Coupons will save you a lot of money. When you go to Washington in December, don’t stay back or go visiting friends in other states except those states are close by (Maryland, New York, Boston, Connecticut, Pennsylvania etc). If you have to fly to Texas on your own money, it’s not really worth it. Let your friend who’s inviting you pay half the flight, and then you may go. Else, visit states that you can get to by road, or train.
Here are the few I could come up with right now. You do not have to comply with everything, especially since I haven’t obeyed all of these rules myself faithfully. However, I felt that since you’ve been searching for information, I should be able to help from experience and observation. And now, I’ve run out of points. You may have to make up yours as you go along. Oh, and if this helps, do send me a mail or something. It’s cheaper than a gift card or a postcard. Cheers, and have fun in America.
I have just returned from the US Consulate in Lagos for the pre-departure orientation of the new departing scholars of the several dozen Fulbright programmes in Nigeria. All of them have been chosen after keen scrutiny and fierce competition, and will now be spending varying number of weeks in the United States in the coming weeks. The shortest of the programmes end in two weeks while the longest lasts up to ten months. All fully funded, with health insurance, travel allowance, monthly stipend, transportation and a lifetime of networking opportunity. There were a total of 53 Nigerian grantees this year, and they were chosen from nineteen partner Universities in Nigeria. We’re told that there are also about 11 American Fulbrighters in Nigeria for this year. But they weren’t at the Nigerian pre-departure orientation, for obvious reasons.
It felt good to be back in that compound after one year. It was also of some pleasure to find that half of the departing FLTAs were those that were turned down last year when we all made the shortlist. Their persistence has paid off, and they are now heading out in a few weeks. A happy reunion. I had about forty-five minutes to talk with them about my experience and answer all their questions. The questions were some of the same I had last year: Do I need to take plenty Nigerian food along? Will I be able to use my Nigerian phone while abroad? Just how many Nigerian type clothes do I need to take along? Will I be able to survive on the stipend and still make some savings? Among several other questions. There were some other fun ones too: Should I date a white person? How do I go about it? How cold is a cold weather? How will I live without my Nigerian telephone for one year etc. It was a fun gathering. I have asked them to keep in touch while they’re abroad. I won’t tell them about this blog just yet.
I also made a very wonderful discovery: I have become the second president of the Union of Campus Journalists of my old University to become a Fulbrighter. I was surprised. I was happy. I was warmly intimated with an almost forgotten past when I found out that the other Fulbright Alumni brought to speak to the departing folks was none other than Sheriff Folarin, the president of UCJ from 1994-1996. I knew him while I was the president of the student club between 2002-2004. He was a lecturer in the department of History. Now he’s a PhD holder, lecturing at a University in Ota. A sign of progress, and the leadership building capabilities of that then-just-a-minor-University Journalism club. I also discovered today that another past president of the club (1993-1994) Laolu Akande is the New York bureau chief of the Nigerian Guardian. Now I have to find him when next I find myself in the Big Apple. The point here is that before the Fulbright, there was the UCJ – that now-not-so-little University club of young student journalists that provided an early intimation for me and for its many products now all over the country in different professional capabilities for a life of service and adventure.
The press was then eventually invited into the meeting, and they got to ask questions of the departing travellers, and us the returning ones. One question that the guy from Radio Lagos Mititi (who made me speak unadulterated Yoruba for the first time in months) and the woman from Radio Nigeria both asked me at different times, without seeing each other, was “Since you have been back, what have you done to positively impact the country?” Good question, right? Not really. I’ve only been back for two weeks. And I’m not the Messiah. But now I know that there is an unwritten expectation to become something positive, immediately.
And so it begins.
Cheers to the new guys.
The journey back home started with a short trip to St. Louis in company of a friend, and a Professor from my University who had graciously volunteered to give me a ride. Not having slept at all throughout the previous night, I succumbed to sleep many times before I found myself – quite in time – at the Lambert Airport, again. After removing my shoes and jacket, and after checking in the two big bags that I was permitted to check in, I hopped on the plane to discover that I had got a window-side seat once more.
I’ve never understood this, and right now I know that it’s more than just a mere coincidence that EVERY time I have travelled by plane throughout the last ten months, I got a window-side seat. The flight was booked for me by the Fulbright people so I believe that someone must have delighted in placing me at the best spot for action on flight. I thank him/her. By the time I got on the next plane from NY to France as well, I was on the window-side again, although on a different side of the plane. And needless to say, I slept off before take-off in those two instances. There goes the hope of the Fulbright flight arrangement officer for a detailed report of a plane take-off from St. Louis and New York City. Sorry pal 
. I however got a good shot of the landings. I’m thinking of making a Youtube video of them, but don’t bet on seeing them soon. My internet here doesn’t even do well with uploading pictures, so videos are out of it.
I was in New York long enough to have a decent meal of the day in good company of a friend and fellow Fulbright teacher in NY who had agreed to meet me, and then I headed out. No thanks again to the special arrangement of my flight officer, I didn’t have enough time to visit the supposed charming city of lights. Come on, was an eight-hour layover too much to ask for? 
In any case, now you have your wish, I’m now at home thinking of how much fun I could have had visiting Time’s Square, checking out Ground Zero, The Empire State Building and the United Nations’ Building. What about the Statue of Liberty, the Metropolitan Museums and Long Island? Well, you can have your New York City. I’ll keep my Chicago memories.
We at least have Oprah and Obama! Who do you have? And don’t tell me Letterman.
SOPA breaks our internet freedom!
Any site can be shut down whether or not we've done anything wrong.
