Where is Bratislava?

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, part of the former Czechoslovakia. It is a city of about 500,000 people, located on the Danube, 40 miles east of Vienna. To the right is the Slovak flag.

Here is the official web site for the City of Bratislava, Slovakia:
http://www.bratislava.sk/en/

Here is one of my favorite web sites about Slovakia:
http://www.slovakia.org/bratislava.htm

I love this virtual tour of the historic Old Town in Bratislava:
http://www.europepanoramas.com/demo/bratislava/541/index.html

Good News

I first got the good news that I had been awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award for fall 2007 on March 30, 2007.

The application process was long and drawn-out. I started working on the proposal back in April 2006, writing the proposal, recruiting confidential references, and obtaining invitation letters from my university of choice, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. The proposal was due August 1, 2006. I found out I was a finalist, after review by the U.S. review panel, in November 2006. I then waited several more months for the final decision, which was made by the Slovak Fulbright Commission.

If you are interested in applying, visit the web site of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars:
http://www.cies.org/

My campus press office sent out a news release:
http://karl.papubs.csulb.edu/news-events/story.cfm?hackid=787

Some local papers picked up the story:
Daily 49er:
http://media.www.daily49er.com/media/storage/paper1042/news/2007/05/02/News/Professor.Receives.Award.Bound.For.Bratislava-2891192.shtml
Long Beach Gazette:
http://www.gazettes.com/fulbright05102007.html
Orange County Register: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/huntingtonbeach/article_1704516.php

Now I am very busy making arrangements for plane travel, shipping things I can't carry with me, housing, and a myriad of details for five months abroad. Most importantly, I am planning the courses I will be teaching this fall. (More on those later!)

This blog will talk about my experiences in preparing to leave for the Fulbright this fall and then about my experiences in Slovakia.