The Crown Prince International Scholarship Program

Hello,

Okay, I know I haven't written a blog post in quite a few weeks (3, to be precise). In my defense, I was too busy getting me some good scores in my last midterm examination before graduating from high school (BIG STUFF AHEAD!).

I finished my midterms on Wednesday with Islamiyat, the "cheat-all-you-want" subject, as I'd like to call it. Pretty ironic how students cheat in the subject that actually teaches them how forbidden it is to cheat. Oh well, all in the name of getting a good score. 

Don't worry, I won't waste my second blog post complaining about how easy or difficult exams were (I have another word for "complaining," but let me keep it to myself for now. Hint: it starts with a "B").

I actually would like to talk about the thing that changed my entire life starting March 24 2012. A thing that has given me so much, and yet took so little. A thing, that has built a bridge between me and a world that is oceans away, a world that seems like Utopia.

This thing, nay, this blessing, is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa's International Scholarship Program.

If I could only talk about all the things I did during this year from March 24 2012 to March 3 2013. All the blogs in the world wouldn't have enough space.

Established by HRH in 1999, the CPISP aims at providing Bahrain's brightest and most innovative students with the opportunity to study in the world's finest educational institutions. With a total of 136 students since establishment, the program has created a new generation of able leaders originating from this tiny country called Bahrain. 

And they thought Bahrain was a tiny country with no potential.

I heard a lot about the scholarship before applying, of how it pays for everything you need, of how they're picky in choosing their scholars, and how they only take the "best of the best." I also heard some stuff, but for fear of accusations of lèse-majesté, I'll keep those hidden. (Look up lèse-majesté)

I applied, I did the exam, I got accepted into the top 60 candidates, I celebrated a bit. Nothing fancy. I took the thousands and thousands of tests they had to put us through. (IELTS, SAT, Critical Reading, Critical Thinking, Leadership Program). It was a lot.

I'll actually talk about the Leadership program in detail later on. Those 3 weeks deserve a special post. They changed my life (I know, you're bored of the phrase)

Me working it, business style. You know. (Leadership course, July 2012)

Flash forward to March 13 2013. I'm sitting in my class. Then a teacher calls me. I go, and they say my dad wants me urgently. My dad is in the school right next to us, so I just pop in there. (Yes, we public schools just happen to be designed that way). And he looks like at me: "You got the scholarship." I cry. He cries. People around us are crying because of how cute we look. A lot of crying. Something like this (Photo courtesy of Yousif Bucheeri):

Crying everywhere. Without the confetti of course. HOW COOL WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN?!

And then I went to my friends (Ahmed AlKuwaiti and Yousif Bucheeri), and it went like this:

Seriously, it went like this.

Note: I like Kelly Clarkson. Sue me.

2 days later, I met His Royal Highness himself, and it went like this (seriously):

Tight suit. Couldn't get that last finger. No one noticed.

The Crown Prince is really down-to-earth and amazing, period.

To conclude, the CPISP opened a door to me that was always locked. I now have my future set for me. Even though I actually don't need my high school certificate now (since I'll be repeating 2 years of it anyways), old habits die hard. I didn't want to talk about anything in detail, because I know it will eventually get boring. New posts to come soon!!!

Hope you liked my Kelly Clarkson .gif.
Special thanks to my trainer during the Leadership Program and my personal friend Steve Royston for his support of the blog. Much appreciated. His blogs "59steps" and "Going West" are amazing, and I highly recommend them. They can be visited through these links:

http://goingwestme.wordpress.com
http://59steps.wordpress.com

Have a good day/night!
- AAA

P.S. You can also follow me on twitter @AhmedAtef_Dream

https://twitter.com/AhmedAtef_Dream

This is me....

Hello,

Well, I honestly don't know how this works. But here goes nothing. 

My name is Ahmed Atef. I go by "Ahmed", "Atef", "AAA." Really, whatever floats your boat. I originally hail from the land of Egypt, but I'm a Bahraini, born and raised. I'm kind of your typical, overweight, lazy teenage student who lives a normal, boring, sleep-filled life. I'm 16 years old, a senior in high school ("16 and a senior?! MY GOD!" yes, we get it.) and I'm a "nerd" (or so I'm told. I don't actually think I am, but we'll get to that later). I don't even know what's interesting about myself! My life can be broken down to 4 parts: Movies, Music, Books and TV series.

 Oh, and I have a thing for Taylor Swift. Grade-A Swiftie. If Taylor says jump, I'd freakin' jump and sing her song "Jump then Fall" while I'm at it. (If someone actually reads this, all criticism is accepted).

One of the more unfortunate photos taken with one of my best friends, Yousif. (P.S. I'm the one on the right)

So why did I decide to start a blog? It's been my dream ever since the 7th grade: write. Or speak. Express my opinion, generally speaking. It first started out as an idea of a vlog (video blog). But let's be honest, a video blog? In Bahrain? Thing would've crashed and burned faster than the Titanic (pop culture references ahead). So here I am, at 1:00 am on the 30th of March 2013, and it pops: let's create a blog! Somewhere I can say what I want, when I want and how I want to. 

I know, it's all sort of sudden. But the real reason is related to my "nerd" situation. I'm.....academically excelled. 

Okay, my GPA is 99.1%, so I can't deny falling into the nerd category. To be fair, I did live the role for 10 years: I was the student who had 1 friend at school and would go home and study till he slept. Add that to my weight, and I was the perfect joke. The fat nerd. I was that. 

I used to go to a private school. My parents made sure I had a good foundation. But it came at a price. Coming from a simple family, I had nothing to show-off in an environment where every single person was stuck-up. This one had 3 cars, and that one knew the King, and that girl can move cars telekinetically while simultaneously skipping a rope. I had my fair share of bullying. Let's stop it at that.

Fast forward to grade 10, and my dad decided to take transfer me to public education. The Horror. 

I was sad. Confused. I hated every second of it. It wasn't a complete asylum, but it still wasn't the upper class "Tea with the Queen!" place I was used to. In the private system, I felt like I was the loser. But here, I was in a primitive environment. I got through, thanks to a person (who I will talk about in detail in the near future. Yes, I mean you, Ahmed AlKuwaiti).

Long story short, it was one of the best things that ever happened to my life. It got me sharing my life with you!

Anyhoos, enough for one post. Going down memory lane really gets the best of me. I really do have a lot to share about my past in future posts. I also hope that this blog will be a platform for me to express my opinions on everything related to, as mentioned earlier, movies and music and books and TV series.  I truly hope you enjoy it! 

Have a good day/night!

-AAA