Anticipation

My major project last semester was applying for a whole host of grants and fellowships for funding my research in Rome next academic year, as mentioned here, and surely elsewhere.

Now, the anticipation is killing me. The waiting. I should learn some things soon, and I'm getting very eager. And nervous. And anxious. And excited.

You see, several of the notification dates are coming up. Well, really they're notifications of if you are a finalist. The Fulbright, for example. In my anticipation yesterday, I started googling about a precise date of notification, and I found a message board with lots of eager applicants like me. I knew that I'd find out if I was a finalist at some point in January. Now I know the exact date: January 24. *UPDATE* That message board has a posting with someone confirming that we'll be notified by the end of the day TOMORROW. How am I supposed to focus here?

Another fellowship I applied for is doing finalist interviews in two weeks. With my prodigious googling, I discovered that last year, they were notified by phone about a week and a half before the interview.

The rest of the fellowships, I don't have exact dates. Most of them notify in March, but others are April and one is in May.

The not knowing is driving me a bit batty. I already know that I'll be in Rome for the fall semester, even if none of the fellowships pan out. My department is generously offering me their Rome semester-long fellowship so that I can get some of my research done. Still, I'd like to know for certain.

There is so much planning to do, especially with my diabetes care. I know I can make this work, but I have so much to figure out in regards to getting me my meds, international support for my devices, if people wear medical bracelets in Italy and if I should get a special one with "insulin pump" in Italian on it (microinfusore, for those interested). I do have one website I've found (in my minimal searching) that should be helpful, diabete.it. It will help get me up to date on diabetes lingo in italiano.

So, the waiting is the worst part. Or is not getting a fellowship the worst part? I've got to work on my patience :)