Lulu Johnson
Fulbright Postponed
The Department of State has decided to postpone all Fulbright research and ETA grant programs until at least January 1st, 2021. Honestly, I was disappointed with this news but also understood why is was postponed due to Covid. On the bright side, it means that Fulbright is not officially cancelled which gives me hope that it might still happen for me. Prior to Covid, I was originally supposed to leave around the beginning of July 2020 until July 2021 but because of the postponement dates, I will be waiting another ~six months for my grant to begin.
As of early July 2020, I have officially gotten word back from the South Korean commission and my dates are now January 10th, 2021 to December 18th, 2021. Fulbright South Korea had to change a lot of their own program to allow the 2020-2021 grantees a year long experience instead of just half a year. I lucked out that my Fulbright country is willing to make these changes even if they changed the entire program for the ongoing future and future grantees.
Between now and January 2021, honestly, there isn't much to do besides wait and see if the grant continues to happen. During this time, I'll tentatively and slowly prep for South Korea in case it does happen with submitting documents and other stuff. But with some reservations, I also do not want to put my sole focus on it in case it is cancelled.