Summer of Code projects

Hello everybody!
I'm new here, julien2412 on IRC redirected me here.
I'm a twentysomething CompSci freshman (yes, I started out late :) from 
Italy and a LO user.

I was thinking of applying for Summer Of Code this year and I'm having a 
look at a number of participating projects.

I noticed that LibreOffice is participating and I'm wondering if there's 
a way I could apply for such a big, influential and "important" project.

The big, fat disclaimer: I have real world programming experience with 
small and medium projects and I'm a reasonably good student (my grades 
are around 95/100 - or, roughly, I'm in the top 5%), but I have never 
hacked LO.

I read the proposed ideas, but I'm not sure if they are doable without 
previous experience with the codebase - especially, such a /huge/ codebase.

Should I give it a try anyway?

I'm attracted to the "about:config" functionality (mainly because I 
love, love, love the idea - easy options are easily accessed, the full 
power of l33t options can still be harnessed) and/or the "dialog widget 
conversion" project (mainly because I hate ugly dialogs) and/or "improve 
usability of Personas".

They sound like fun and doable hacks - I guess they might be combined 
with other stuff from EasyHacks, too, but I'd like to hear from someone 
who knows what kind of beast the codebase is before jumping in.


Thank you a lot and then some!

P.s.: My English may sound a bit shaky. Because it is. Sorry about that!

--
Tobia Tesan
<tobia.tesan@gmail.com>
"Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands.
 And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry..."
        -- John Lennon