A first

Earlier this year I entered a literary contest to win a fellowship for a workshop in Montreal or Kenya. I always thought I would travel when I was a child. My parents had, after all, and I had family all over the world, particularly with my mom being from South Africa.
The family is still represented in many countries--Australia, Africa, Europe (and yes, I know it's a continent, not a country--the countries are France, Holland, and England), Canada, Israel to name a few. There are still some family members I don't know in Russia. So travel has been there at the back of my mind as something I'd like to do if I ever had the money and the time.
I didn't win the full fellowship. If I had, I would have gone to one of these workshops, probably Kenya in December. But I was offered a 20% tuition waiver. I don't know how much it would cost me to go to Montreal, a city I have loved in the past, but probably not enough to give up my summer class. Still, it's nice to be admired, particularly since the letter says they got thousands of entries. Mine was, according to the letter, in the top 6th.