March was the month when everything finally seemed to fall into place.  When March began, I wasn’t quite sure about what was happening two months from now.  And now as it ends, I can say with near certainty what I’ll be up to between now and 2020.

March started with the continuation of my trip with my mom and our friend Jennifer across Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, including a wonderful week visiting my host family in Osh and shopping again at the Kara-Suu bazaar.

After they left, though, it was off to Bishkek to give a seminar on the US college admissions process, and then to Issyk-Kul for the Peace Corps COS Conference.

Dreaded may be a strong word, but as someone who has moved a lot and lived in 6 countries now, let’s just say that I’m used to moving between different places, faces, languages, and cultures.  So, a lot of the sessions didn’t stand to be the most relevant to my actual situation.  No doubt that many volunteers found them very useful to help guide them along in their next steps, but since I’ve got my life planned out pretty far in advance, a lot of it was repetitive for me.

Needless to say, I was thoroughly pleased to return to Osh, where I was finally able to get back into the swing of normal life, or so I thought.

Just before COS conference, I received a letter from Princeton University.  As luck would have it, I have been awarded a full scholarship to get an MPA at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the top policy program in the world right now!

Then, not long after, I received a letter from the US-UK Fulbright Commission naming me as a Fulbright Scholar, covering all my expenses to complete a one-year master’s degree in London.  I’ll be doing an MSc in Development Studies specializing in Central Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, which is the top development school in Europe and the only program in the world with such a specialized focus on Central Asia.

So, somehow, everything has fallen into place.  I’ll be spending the summer studying tango in Argentina (with just a little touch of star quality), the next year in London as a Fulbright Scholar, and the following two years at Princeton on a full scholarship.  Looks like there’ll be plenty of new adventures to put on here!