The joy that I felt on receiving the email with the above notification that I was awarded a scholarship to complete my doctorate degree FOR FREE cannot easily be put into words.
I was quite nervous as while I’d spoken with people at the Medellin office and convinced them to accept my academic credentials sans apostille, it was the Bogota office that was making the final decision. Sure enough, I was able to save the $400 it would have cost me to put my official academic documents through that process and still get the scholarship!
The next two years of study is something that I greatly look forward to, as well as paying it forward in my academic and professional work in the future. I consider this the first step on my journey to becoming an honorary Colombian!