A Good Omen

Whenever I make a major decision, such as accepting a Fulbright grant, I look for signs that it was a good decision.  In the year since I applied for this grant, I have encountered several situations that appeared to be signs that this was a good decision.  The following are a few of these good signs or omens.

First, Montgomery County Community College offered a course on introductory Greek during the spring semester of this year.  Even though I had not been officially selected for the Fulbright grant to Greece, this seemed a sign to me so I took the class.

Second, once I was selected for the Fulbright, then began a lengthy process of completing a variety of tasks and forms before being allowed to leave for Greece.  The most nerve wracking was getting fingerprints and sending these to the FBI office in West Virginia.  I had been forewarned that the turn around time on this could be from 8 to 12 weeks.  I was planning to leave on September 21, but without the FBI clearance I was not going anywhere, because I could not apply for my Greek visa.  The middle of August came and went and I started getting nervous.  Finally, the third week of August I got my FBI clearance.  I exhaled and breathed a sigh of relief.  Another good omen.

Third, I caught a Trans-Bridge bus the following Friday to the Port Authority in New York City.  From there I caught a taxi to the Greek Embassy, which was near East 79th and Park Avenue.  Up to that moment, everything about this process seemed unreal.  However, once I walked through the doors of the Greek Embassy, it suddenly became real.  I filled out a variety of forms and then waited to be interviewed.  I thought that I had all the forms that I needed, but the person interviewing me asked for my airline itinerary.  I wasn't expecting that.  I began thinking that this would stop the whole process and that I would have to return the following week with my airline itinerary.  That would mean one less week for the paperwork to be processed for my visa, and my timelines were already tight.  However, my penchant for checking my voice mail from wherever I am in the country saved me.  In my file folder that has my teachers' voice mail numbers, I quite by chance had placed a copy of my airline itinerary.  I quickly found it and produced it.  Again, a good omen.

Fourth, I had to give up my passport while my visa paperwork was being processed.  I was informed that it might take one week, possibly two weeks for it to be processed.  I had to walk over to a post office on Lexington Avenue to get a prepaid envelope in which to mail my passport to me.  For the next several nights I would lie awake wondering whether the passport with my Greek visa would show up in time or if it would get lost in the mail.  A week later I came home from work to discover my passport with my Greek visa in my mailbox.  Another good omen.

Fifth, when I got to Ioannina, Dr. Eleni Morfidi, the professor that I will be working closely with for the next four months, showed me around the University of Ioannina.  Finally, she took me to the International Dorm where I would be staying.  When I got out of her car, I noticed a rosebush next to the entrance of the dorm.  While a rosebush may seem inconsequential, it was the first and only rosebush that I have encountered in Greece.  More significantly, my mother loved roses and devoted hours tending to her rosebushes.  My mother has been gone for two years, but suddenly I was keenly aware of her presence.  She was here with me.  That was, indeed, a good omen.