part 006 : the embassy trip

A few days ago AFS called me and asked if I was interested to stay overnight at the home of one of the American Embassy staff. It was a bit last minute but I agreed and so I spent yesterday over at the beautiful home of Shirley Jane Crowley.

A.F.S. and the American embassy planned this ... 'thing'/(trip?) ... for a few students who are planning to go to america so they could have a slight taste of what it's like to live with an american, and will be able to ask questions about the american way of life.
Other than myself, 5 other AFS students also were on the short programme and each were assigned an embassy staff to spend the day with. Shirley's house was very near to the embassy so we half-walked, half drove there. Another friend/coworker(?) of shirley's (whose full name I can't remember) joined us for dinner.

Shirley's home was beautiful. It was a roomy apartment with good view of the petronas twin towers and it was also very nicely decorated. She has two cats, one female one male and both looked very well fed. They were black, with shiny coats. Reminded me of the cat on the cover of Kafka on the shore, except perhaps this pair was a little larger. I slept with the lights switched on because Shirley told me about her friend who slept over and had Sebastian (the cat) lick his (the man's) eyebrow at night. I didn't want to be surprised in the middle of the night by a black, camaflauged cat.

Anyway, I learned quite a lot from my stay and I am thankful to Shirley for taking me in =)
oh well, gotta go. I have to go for an afs orientation in a few hours.

p/s : i'll probably be staying in or somewhere near illinois during my stay in america.

read the introduction ?

part 001 : the introduction

My name is Dina and I'm a 17 year old girl who lives in Selangor, Malaysia. Formerly from the island of Penang, where I studied in Methodist Girls' School. Right now, I'm a student in SMK Damansara Utama, but not for long. SPM will end in a few days and so will my schooling life.

This blog is where I shall formally write about the experiences that I would have had throughout my trip to the USA. Since this blog is probably going to be dedicated fully to my exchange student experiences, other random news would go to my livejournal.

So at the beginning :

AFS (American Field Service) is better known in Malaysia as ABM (or antarabudaya malaysia). Before you can pack your bags to go overseas, there are a few obstacles you would have to go through beforehand. The first one is the filling of application forms, which is easy enough. Most, if not all students who fill in their application forms are then called for an interview (which is most commonly held at state level). Exchange students from Malaysia are usually between the ages of 15-17 and most of the programs offered cost a bomb to go on and would not only burn a hole in your pocket but would probably set fire to your trousers as well and leave you butt naked with only a cardboard cutout bearing the legend ' Have hope, will travel' to cover your unmentionables with.

Willing as I was to experience cultural diversity and to be thrown in and completely immerse myself in another culture, I was quite aware that my family would have a tough time supporting me financially should I decide to apply for the program.

Imagine my immense relief when I found out that there were scholarships aplenty to be given out.

Imagine my immense horror when I realised that there were also students aplenty who were applying for all of the scholarships.

I applied for the YES scholarship which is a 6 month full scholarship programe to the USA given by the US Department of State. There is also another scholarship to Germany but I didn't apply for that because it is only partial. The scholarships to Japan sounded tempting but they are given out to very few students and I wasn't too sure that I would be able to score a spot for myself (I wasn't too sure about scoring a spot for the YES scholarship either, but there are more scholarships given out through YES than to the ones to Japan)

I knew this was going to be tough.

So in the middle of the year I sent in my applications and after that was called in for an interview with the JPN. It's quite easy to get past the interview if you're applying for a paying program (which means you're under an MD scholarship - Mummy and Daddy sponsored) but if you're applying for a scholarship under AFS then it would be a bit tougher.

I'm really thankful that I got through the first round of interviews. You wouldn't believe how hard it was. All I can remember is that I was seated opposite two tables with two interviewers, one male one female. I was on a solitary chair facing them, like a convict with handcuffs and chains dangling off the armrests. The lights were dimmed and a bright stand lamp was faced towards me and the questions began. I couldn't see the faces of the interviewers but I'm pretty sure that the female interviewer was dressed up dominatrix-esque with leather whip in hand. The male was lurking behind the shadows, but his eyes glowed like fireflies in the Sungai Selangor river. And then they continued on with their persistent questions, and should I fail to answer any of them, a remarkable array of utensils for the purpose of torture were brought forth........

Ok, I exaggerated. It wasn't like that. But anyway, after the first interview I received an email telling me that I was short listed to receive a scholarship and I was to attend a second interview in the AFS office in Damansara Jaya.

That interview wasn't as scary but I didn't do it as well as the first one. I was a nervous babbler. Probably because this time it wasn't the JPN interviewing me, but AFS volunteers.

I was again surprised to be told, a few weeks after the second interview, that I was shortlisted yet again to receive the YES scholarship and I that I had to fill international forms which included a letter from me to my potential host parents, a letter from my parents to potential host parents, necessary particulars, my likes and dislikes, and pretty much nearly everything about myself I could put on paper.

Then a few more weeks of agonizing wait and the results were out. I was one of the recipients of the YES scholarship. But that didn't guarantee me a place in the USA yet.

My forms were sent to the USA and I would only be allowed to go after a through scrutinizing of forms by top secret American CIA agents for the fear that they might be accidentally bringing in Malaysian terrorists into the USA under the pretext of being an exchange student hoping to spread understanding and tolerance among their children but who, in fact have ulterior motives.
Aiyyy, don't worry I'm no terrorist. I'm only joking. Don't stop me in the airport and ship me back to Malaysia.

Anyway, right now I'm waiting for a host family. I should be given an answer in a few days time. Let's hope for the best :)