16 November 2006: A Moment of Anguish

Oh my gosh. I was just informed that I had not been selected for the 2007 George Washington University Dialogue on HIV/AIDS. This dialogue will take the form of two electronic conferences, one in January and the other in March. The magical part of these all is the highly-sponsored trip of selected delegates to Washington in February, and we USP students will in turn host a group of students from their Dean's Scholars Program in June.

Jianhao and I had applied for the Dialogue, and just last week USP sent us both an email asking for our return dates from SEP. Later, Jianhao told me on MSN that the fact that they had bothered asking for them meant that our chances ran high. By default, I believed so. However, USP had just informed me today that I can't join the GWU 2007 because I will be returning too late in January. I am slightly disappointed now, but all along I had known to keep my fingers crossed for the simple reason that the exact dates on which the electronic conferences will take place have yet to be confirmed, and I may not be able to return on time for the first one. My worst fears have finally come true. If Jianhao is chosen to go (I will ask him soon), it would have proven precisely my point.

Simply put, the NTU academic calender has been my bane. I will miss the first two weeks of lessons in NUS. I have also lost the opportunity to go to the States on heavy subsidy. Finally, I will not be able to contribute to the discussions on global health issues, a matter that I have more interest in than studying the classics.