I didn't get the Downs Fellowship. I'm less heartbroken than I thought I would be. I certainly wish I'd gotten it, but maybe this is for the best? The logistics of the summer were starting to get kinda crazy. If I don't go to Vietnam, they might be calmer.
That doesn't mean that I'm giving up, per se. I have a meeting on Monday with the chair of the committee that decided funding to talk about why they decided not to fund me and to determine if the project is still worth pursuing. As I mentioned before, there are other funding sources. But if their reasons are related to significant design flaws, then it may be time to cut my losses and embrace it as a learning experience.
I'm thinking about looking for internship opportunities in Ghana, since I will be there for the first week of the summer with my family anyway. Or possibly other places in West Africa as well. That way instead of flying all over the world in my teeny 12 week window (10 of which I need to spend actually doing the internship), I can just go to one place. Several students went to Ghana last year, so I'm going to talk to them and see who they might be able to connect me with.
In happier news, spring break is almost here! One presentation and finishing up a take-home midterm and I'm done (aside from internship hunting). I can't wait to go home to sunny CA, where the lows are the highs that I get here, and given the change in my expectations, 65 is going to feel downright balmy.
Cheers.
