My future

Well, I promised some time ago in a comment that I would soon talk about how my future looked like. Actually, things appear to be becoming clearer and clearer. Let me explain a bit the background...

First of all, I decided at the beginning of the year that I would apply for a PhD program somewhere in the world: US, Japan or Europe. For the US, I applied for the Fulbright Scholarship in Spain; for Japan, I contacted a professor through my former supervisor in JAXA; and for Europe, I talked to people in ESTEC. After that, the Spanish Fulbright commision contacted me and asked me if I was interested in applying for an international award given by the US Department of State. Of course I agreed and prepared the required GRE exam. Months passed by and the first bad news arrived... I could not go to the Fulbright scholarship interview in Madrid, coz it was coincident in time with my trip to New York, Chicago and Washington...

After that, I was really sure I would end up in Japan. However, on 23rd September, yes, on my birthday, I received an email saying I had been awarded the prestigious International Fulbright Science and Technology Award 2008!! That means the US Department of State will pay for all my PhD and I will go to one of the best universities in the country! For this award, the national commisions of 109 countries proposed their candidates and only 40 people were selected. And I was amongst them!! I had had the honour of representing Spain in such a prestigious prize and I had got through!! Therefore, they will apply on my behalf to 5 universities I chose this week: CalTech (JPL), MIT, Stanford, UCLA and Ohio State University.

In parallel, I still continue with the application for Japan, for Tokyo Institute of Technology, just in case I don't get accepted in Caltech... in that case, I would possibly have to reconsider US or Japan... but it is hard to turn down a fully funded PhD in the US.

So that is how things are at the moment! So don't be surprised if I move to California next September (Caltech, Stanford or UCLA)!!