Tá sé seans iontach- It's a great opportunity!

The day that it happened has been stenciled to my mind.

It was cold. It was rainy. And I was on my way to calc. My mood wasn't exactly chipper. I had a death grip on my umbrella to assure that it wouldn't fly away in the strong wind when I felt my phone vibrate. This is weird for two reasons: the phone is always in my bag and, even if it's in my pocket, I don't feel it vibrate when I'm walking. Taking the phone out of it's nice little compartment, an unfamiliar number is displayed on the screen. Normally I don't answer if I don't recognize the area code, but this time I did.

"Hello, Amber?" I could barely hear the voice over the passing buses, the wind, and the rain that was pelting my umbrella.
"Yes..?" I answered, perplexed on how this stranger knew my name.
"Hi, this Samantha Smith from API."

The call was from Academic Programs International, or API for short. I knew this would be about my potential trip but I wouldn't be able to hear any sort of news she that was about to give me. I explained this to her and requested that she call back in 15 minutes- just enough time for me to get inside a nice, warm, QUIET, building.

Waiting for that call back was torture, but 22 minutes later...it came! "Hi again," Samantha said. "Can you hear me now?" I laugh at the Verizon quote and give her the go-ahead. "Well I just wanted to let you know that we have reviewed your application and we think you would make an excellent canidate for our program. Are you still interested?"

Was that a serious a question? "Yes," I tell her. Trying to contain every urge to squeal like a little kid on Christmas morning. "Excellent. I will send your materials to the University for final review but I don't think you will have anything to worry about." She continued to tell me all the things they will be sending me and what I needed to complete by when. I, however, must have sounded like a broken record for the only word in my vocabulary for those two minutes was "OK."

I walk back into Calc, a grin from ear to ear, and take my usual seat behind one of my friends. She turns around. "What happened?" she asked. Ok, now I can squeal.

I'm going to Ireland!!

Needless to say that I couldn't focus in Calc that night :)