Where there's a will...

Senior year in college, I interviewed for a prestigious teaching in China program my college offered. I really wanted that fellowship because I wanted to live in China and felt called to come here. But either the timing wasn't right, or I didn't try hard enough to get here, but it took me three whole years to finally fulfill this dream. Lo and behold, the position I have here is much better-paying and much more suitable for me than the fellowship I so wanted to receive, although with less of the prestige attached. This just shows that there are many paths to get where one wants to be.

I thought that the fellowship program through my university was the most reliable and prestigious, so I relied on that one. When I was rejected, I became heartbroken and very sad. I gave up looking towards China, but that desire kept following me for three years. On my own, through Internet searches, I found a very good position here in Tianjin. So perhaps we don't always have to go through the brand name schools to get where we want to be, we just need to work hard and keep looking.