News!

Got great news this week! The University Fellowships Committee has awarded me $2500 for the Advanced Study Grant to put towards the Paraguay trip, AMAZING! I was expecting $2000 at the most so this is wonderful news. Combined with the fundraising and the film studies grant ($1000) I have met my fundraising need! It feels wonderful, and I am so grateful.

The next big thing to tackle before I lock myself in the library for finals is going through the Boston College Institutional Review Board (IRB) process. If you do research (or in my case make a documentary) that is affiliated with Boston College you must go through an intense review process to ensure that your research is ethically sound and will not be endangering or exploiting its subjects. I hope to finish my application and send it in today or tomorrow. The review process can take up to a month and I will not be awarded my grant money until my project has been approved by the review board.

FINALS ARE LOOMING! I have two 12 page papers due, one Monday (for my Human Rights class) and one Tuesday (for my Honors class), and then two intense finals next Friday (in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Studies). I've got lots of work to do. This Saturday some friends and I are going white-water rafting to get our crazy energy out before we lock ourselves in the library, it should be amazing! And I'll be home in a weekand a half! I can't believe the year has gone by so fast...

60 DAYS TILL I LEAVE FOR PARAGUAY!

~Elizabeth