The Best Day Ever!!!

Well, I think that it is safe to say that yesterday was definitely the best day that I have had yet here in India, and probably ranks about in the top five of my best days ever. Before coming to India I had applied for two different fellowships in the US to support my work in India. There are two reasons why I did this. First, I knew that my salary in India would be pretty terrible, just around $450 USD a month. This was a little demoralizing because even though I would have my PhD, I would be earning a fraction of my graduate student salary. If I were awarded the fellowship, however, my salary would be on par with an American salary, which would be very nice to have in a country with low costs like India. The second reason is that being awarded a fellowship is very prestigious, and a great thing to put on a CV. So, while I was writing my dissertation, in my spare time, I also wrote a couple of fellowship proposals (har har har). One was submitted to a private foundation that is interested in finding a cure for Huntington's Disease (which is what I study) while the other was sent to the National Science Foundation (NSF), one of the two major federally funded research funding agencies. The fellowship that I applied for with the NSF is called the International Research Fellowship Program (IRFP) and is meant for American scientists who would like to do their research abroad, and as an NSF fellowship, is very competitive. I learned in February that while my proposal to the private foundation had made the cut to the top 10 proposals, it was not funded. Huge Bummer... Anyway, I have patiently been waiting since early October to hear back from the NSF, and yesterday morning I got the news that my proposal was chosen to be funded!!! I was ecstatic. I had hoped to get it, but I never expected to so it was a wonderful surprise when I received the e-mail. The downside: now I have to deal with the bureaucracy of a huge American funding agency, but the upside is that I know that my (and your) tax dollars are hard at work!



I thought that my day couldn't possibly get any better, but I was wrong. Eric and I were sitting at home later that afternoon when a guy from the post office knocked and said that we had a package and we could come and pick it up in a few minutes. When it comes to packages, I never know what to expect, who sent us goodies this time? Last month some friends of mine from Northwestern (Barbara, Janice, and Lisa) had surprised me with a package of food so I had no idea what to expect this time. My parents had put a package in the mail in early JANUARY that hadn't arrived, but we all had pretty much given up hope of that box ever arriving. Well, it was my lucky day because the package was from my parents, and stuffed full of so much yummy goodness that we just don't know what to do with ourselves. Oreo cookies, M&Ms, candy hearts (remember, the box was sent in JANUARY), granola bars, and the list goes on and on and on... I think I'll go have a snack to celebrate MY BEST DAY EVER!!!