Thursday, July 16, 2009

Scholarships!!!

Two months and counting until we take off for Bath! Lots is underway - looking for a place to live in almost-earnest, getting the animals ready, saying goodbye to folks we won't see again until we return, setting up Skype accounts, jumping through hoop after hoop getting ready to apply for visas...AND...
getting the results of the scholarships that Chad applied for! You can probably guess from the tone of this that there is good news approaching. It didn't always seem that way.
Chad applied for several scholarships in the US, including one from the Rockefellers and one decided by folks we know on Vinalhaven. We were hoping to fund at least his tuition (about $18000) with scholarships as we're not sure whether we'll be able to find work and we're saving as much as we can to live (and travel!) on.
Grand total of scholarships from the US: $1,750.00.
OK, that's a start.
So last week, Chad hears back from the University of Bath on the status of a US student scholarship offered by the school. "Congratulations" was all we had to read to send us into fits of excitement. - $5,500!!!!
Now, he'd applied for two scholarships through the university, so I certainly wasn't expecting him to get both after the mediocre turnout from the US - one was enough for me! In an unexpected show of optimism, Chad really thought he had a shot at the second one - a scholarship for international students, not just Americans. Turns out,
He was right!!!!! - $5,500!!!!
Grand total of scholarships from the UK: $11,000
Granted, we didn't meet our goal of taking care of Chad's tuition, but really, not too shabby. It takes a huge weight off us knowing that in addition to paying $1,800 to get the animals over, plus our plane tickets, general living expenses, etc., we don't have to worry about a bunch of Chad's tuition as well.
So all in all, looks like we're on the right track. I'll try to keep the blog updated more now that it's getting close. Thanks for all your love and support!!!
Sarah