{"id":2586,"date":"2019-05-15T10:53:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T10:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/into-the-chasm-broadening-my-research-horizons\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:35:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:35:18","slug":"into-the-chasm-broadening-my-research-horizons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/into-the-chasm-broadening-my-research-horizons","title":{"rendered":"Into the chasm: Broadening my research horizons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">I find myself staring into space, my mind is racing and my heart\u2019s pumping fast. That may sound like a heart attack or a panic attack, but not today.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">Over a year ago I implemented my own advice, which included broadening my horizons and investing in my growth, both personally and professionally. I decided to apply for a particular scholarship. So I signed up online and began the application process\u2026 A few weeks later I received a call, letting me know that I had been shortlisted for an interview. I was overjoyed, but I certainly felt my heart cringe at the thought of being bombarded with questions that I didn\u2019t know or couldn\u2019t possibly answer. Luckily, I could do some online research, scout out the historical significance of the scholarship and even get in touch with a previous recipient of this scholarship. This detective work made a huge difference!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">The interview came, a day after my birthday, and I felt Einstein\u00a0enveloping me in\u00a0relativity! That was probably the longest 30 minutes I have ever experienced! Then came the dreaded \u2018DON\u2019T CALL US, WE WILL CALL YOU\u2019 line! And then I just had to wait.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">I made it to the next rung on the ladder! And to my horror, I had to write a set of exams that would determine which university I would best fit into. Imagine how I must have felt (lol), not having written an exam in eons \u2013 and suddenly I had to prepare for one at short notice. I had less than 30 days to revise a mixture of high school and university syllabi! The nerves had me!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">Well\u2026 to cut a long story short, a year later, I am packing up my life and embarking on a new journey along with eleven young women and men. We are all recipients of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/za.usembassy.gov\/education-culture\/fulbright-postgraduate\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">Fulbright Scholarship<\/a>\u00a0(2017), and we are heading to the United States of America. With that, the next time I write a blog, it will be 13,020 km from home. It is my hope that I can share this experience with you, so you can also see the world through my eyes. Although change can sometimes be difficult, it often becomes a necessity in order to metamorphose.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i><a href=\"https:\/\/sayasblog.com\/past-student-bloggers\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">Mathapelo Seopela<\/a> (<u><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mathapeloPS\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@mathapeloPS<\/a><\/u><\/i><i>) is a chemistry doctoral student at the\u00a0Tshwane University of Technology. This story was published on August 1, 2017, on <a href=\"https:\/\/sayasblog.com\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">SAYAS Blog<\/a> (available <a href=\"https:\/\/sayasblog.com\/2017\/08\/01\/into-the-chasm\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">here<\/a>), and has been republished here with permission<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I find myself staring into space, my mind is racing and my heart\u2019s pumping fast. That may sound like a heart attack or a panic attack, but not today. Over a year ago I implemented my own advice, which included broadening my horizons and investing in my growth, both personally and professionally. I decided to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":955,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2414],"tags":[2454,2671],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-researcher-stories","tag-researcher-stories","tag-stories-of-success"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Into the chasm: Broadening my research horizons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mathapelo Seopela is a chemistry doctoral student at the\u00a0Tshwane University of Technology. 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