Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech

Developing Global Policy Makers for 21st Century Challenges

[iamliberalartsgt]

Hello everyone! My name is Janel Gale

 I am a third-year student majoring in International Affairs and minoring in Economics. I spent the Fall 2017 semester interning with the Department of State at the U.S. Embassy in Muscat, Oman.

In 2015, I participated in a State Department exchange program, during which I spent seven weeks studying Arabic in Oman. This was one of my first exposures to diplomacy and the Foreign Service as a career option. On one of my first days in the country, my group went to the U.S. Embassy to receive a security briefing. After the briefing, one of the current interns spoke to us about the State Department’s internship program, which allows students to intern at one of the U.S. Embassies around the world or at one of the bureau offices in Washington D.C. After the program, I began my freshman year at Georgia Tech where I have focused my studies on the Middle East. A little more than two years later, I walked into the same Embassy, this time as an intern myself.

As an intern in the Public Diplomacy Office, I got the opportunity to work on a wide variety of assignments. Some of these included reviewing local news stories, drafting public remarks, assisting with community outreach and speaker programs, and managing the Embassy’s website and social media. Thankfully, I was treated not as just an intern, but as a contributing member of the Public Diplomacy and Embassy teams. I was also able to learn about the other cones of the Foreign Service—the five cones being Consular, Economic, Management, Political, and Public Diplomacy—through joint projects with other offices, shadowing, Embassy-wide meetings, and talking with different diplomats around and outside the office. The internship gave me valuable behind-the-scenes insight into how U.S. foreign policy is both created and implemented.

Partly due to its relatively small size, Embassy Muscat has a very close-knit community and acts, in some ways, like a large extended family. There were group hiking trips, book clubs, trick-or-treating for the diplomats’ kids on Halloween, and so on. One of my favorite non-work memories from my internship was Thanksgiving. During that week, I had three separate Thanksgiving meals (and could’ve had four, but I decided two dinners in one day was too much). The Embassy held a Thanksgiving potluck lunch on Monday, and it was fun to see a lot of our local staff trying dishes they had never eaten before like green bean casserole and stuffing. On Wednesday evening, one of my bosses held a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone in our office at her house. On Thanksgiving day, after a morning Embassy flag football game on the beach, a pair of Foreign Service Officers hosted a dinner at their house for many of the “singletons” and couples without kids. It was nice to see that, on a holiday so focused on family, the Embassy community looked out for one another.

During the three months of my internship, I learned a lot about the work and life of Foreign Service Officers, how U.S. Embassies operate, the U.S.-Oman relationship, and diplomacy, among countless other things. I met a wide variety of interesting people, from the local staff to expats who had married Omanis to diplomats and servicemen from across the United States, all of whom welcomed me into the expat and Embassy communities without hesitation. Without a doubt, this internship has been one of the greatest experiences and learning opportunities so far during my time at Georgia Tech, and I know I’ll use much of what I’ve learned wherever I go in the future. 

If you are interested in diplomacy or international affairs, I highly recommend learning more about the State Department’s internship program at: careers.state.gov/intern/ 

[iamliberalartsgt]

Frontex Study Visit

Hello all! I am back with yet another reason to consider spending a semester at the Warsaw School of Economics (or talk about my experience, either or).

If you will recall, a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a conference related to my Immigration Situation and Immigration Policy in the EU Member States class. The professor has continued to wow us with her connections throughout Warsaw. This week we were able to visit Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, an EU institution located here in Warsaw!

It was a really amazing experience to be able to ask an EU official questions related to the European Union, Poland, and the refugee crisis. He gave a general presentation on the purpose and workings of Frontex, because many of us in attendance were not EU citizens. After the introduction, he began speaking about how Frontex was involved in the refugee crisis, specifically with search and rescue missions of those crossing the Mediterranean on plastic boats and arresting those involved in the human trafficking operations. Of course, all of us have seen the photos of refugees walking onto the Greek beaches carrying their loved ones from the unforgiving sea or seen news clips of asylum seekers speaking about their experiences, but being able to watch videos that have not been widely released and hear from someone that was on those rescue boats and working in the processing centers was completely different.

You’re probably wondering why such an important EU institution related to external border control is located in Warsaw, Poland. Well, so was I, so I asked our host that same question. Frontex was founded in 2006, and, if you will recall, Poland, along with many Central and Eastern European countries, joined the European Union in 2004. So, it was not taken from another country and moved to Warsaw. Poland is the largest country to have joined in that group, and many officials, and citizens to be honest, from Western Europe were worried about an influx of immigrants from Ukraine and Belarus into Poland who would then moving westward. There was no way the EU could have foreseen a refugee crisis due to hundreds of thousands of people crossing the Mediterranean into Greece, Italy, and Spain in 2006. So, considering the information they had at the time, Frontex was placed in Warsaw. 

I highly recommend that any of you reading this who are interested in the Syrian refugee crisis visit the Frontex website to better understand what Europe is doing to help asylum seekers and how they are combatting those illegally entering the Union.

On another study-in-Warsaw note: the high here today is 72 (in Atlanta it is only 59), and there is no pollen blanket. Sure you have to trudge through 6 degrees in February, but spring is lovely!

Elizabeth Osman | Warsaw School of Economics

[iamliberalartsgt]

Paste Papers!

This week we had an ENGL 1102 class come in on Wednesday and Friday. The main project for their class is that they’re making children’s books that will actually be given to a kindergarten classroom.

To help with their projects, on Wednesday we showed them how to make paste paper. Essentially it is adult finger-painting. You take a wet piece of paper and smear a thickened paint mixture over it. While it’s still wet, you can create a bunch of fun designs by hand or with tools that we had at the museum. The results are pretty incredible! The four at the top are ones I made, but the students had some interesting ones as well.

It was probably the best thing I’ve been able to do at the museum this semester. I even got to demo the process for two of the classes:

(That’s me in an apron because I wasn’t warned not to wear my favorite shirt). I can’t wait to see how their books look next Friday when we’ll have the (almost) finished products and the kindergartners there to hear the stories.

[iamliberalartsgt]

EUMIGRO Conference

Here at the Warsaw School of Economics I am taking a class entitled “Immigration Situation and Immigration Policy in the EU Member States.” It is really eye-opening to be able to take this class in an international environment, because I am not just getting the viewpoint of the refugee crisis from an American perspective. There are students in my class from Poland, Myanmar, and France, to name a few. So, we not only get to understand the perspective of Poland within the greater Syrian refugee crisis, but also its problems with migrants coming from Ukraine and Chechnya. We also have a number of guest speakers and a visit to an EU level institution.

My professor, Marta Pachocka, is the head of the Jean Monnet Module, EUMIGRO, which hosted a conference today. So, instead of holding a regular class, we all got to attend the conference! I was only able to be present for one of the panels due to my class schedule, but it was a really awesome experience. The panel included researchers from Poland, Greece, and Germany. All of which agreed that new policy and pathways need to be created at the EU and national levels to better allow refugees to seek asylum and integrate into society, but they all approached the problem from a different perspective due to their research backgrounds.

One of the panelists giving her presentation

I came to Poland to be able to learn about issues related to all of Europe but specifically Central and Eastern Europe in Central Europe, and this was a great example of that. If I would have stayed at Georgia Tech, I probably never would have gotten to hear these people speak or gain a deeper understanding of the topics besides what I could find online.

Today was a great reminder of the vast array of benefits of studying abroad. Of course, you can learn about culture by visiting museums and cultural sites, traveling to new places, meeting people from around the world, and trying foreign cuisines, but there is also the study aspect. A great deal of learning during exchange does happen outside of the classroom, but the concrete academic aspects are present as well. I am really glad that I got to take advantage of this conference to deepen my understanding of the migration and refugee situation in Europe.

Elizabeth Osman | Warsaw School of Economics

[iamliberalartsgt]

Chicago Model United Nations Conference

This weekend I experienced my first ever Model United Nations Conference away from home and my second ever Conference in general. Because this is only my second ever conference and I never experienced the world of MUN before this semester, it was a learning experience for sure. My partner and I represented Czechia in trying to rebuild the EU in 2023 in a General Assembly. As the weekend unfolded we encountered a staunch stance of neutrality from, surprise, Switzerland, blessings from the Holy See, and a rather dramatic withdrawal of approval from Sweden. It was definitely a weekend that I will never forget. It seems as though every MUN Conference teaches me more about myself. During ChoMUN I learned that I am not particularly fond of processes that are not efficient. I also have a deep desire to seek approval from others while simutaneously working towards achieving my goals. I can’t wait to see what other facets I uncover as I continue my MUN journey. 

[iamliberalartsgt]

Spring Break 2018

You didn’t think Georgia Tech students just sit around and study 24/7, right? Although I do have a paper and a presentation to be working on, this week I am in Washington, D.C. with two of my friends. I’m also using this as an opportunity to get a feel for the area, as I’d like to work here after graduation.

As we know, I am a huge museum nerd. Obviously we had to visit all of the Smithsonian museums that we could cram into our short stay here (I need to be back in Atlanta to volunteer for the Atlanta Science Festival on Saturday). So far we have visited the Air and Space museum (above), the museum of Natural History, the National Archives, the Holocaust museum, and my favorite place in the entire universe: the botanic garden.

We also did a tour of the Pentagon and visited all of the monuments! 

And said hello to Albert’s (much larger) twin!

Tomorrow we are going to the Library of Congress, not only to visit, but to study as well. Can’t really continue to procrastinate my assignments forever.

[iamliberalartsgt]

Congrats New Admits!

Welcome to Georgia Tech! I know its a bit late, but the week before spring break is always hectic, so belated congratulations anyways!

Pictured here is my reaction to getting into Tech in the very distant past January 2015. I know it’s an exciting time and, if you’re still deciding whether to come to Tech or not, you probably have a lot of questions. I thought I’d use this post to answer three of the most common questions I get from prospective students (and I encourage my fellow IAC bloggers to add their answers as well!)

If you are a prospective student reading this and want to know more, or have a question I didn’t address, track me down at Shadow Day or shoot me an email.

Just to preface, I am an HTS and INTA major, so some of my experiences are unique to that experience.

Keep reading

[iamliberalartsgt]

Warsaw Uprising Museum

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum, which documents the events leading up to, during, and after the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. A topic that is very close to the hearts of many Varsovians, and that you would surely not find a museum on anywhere else. Due to these factors, it is one of the largest and most popular museums to visit in Warsaw. You begin your experience by walking into a walled complex that houses a former tram power station, which is where the majority of the museum is. However, you have to buy tickets in a smaller building that also has the gift shop. 

To enter the museum, you have to open giant doors emblazoned with the PW symbol or Kotwica, Polish for anchor, which was used by those fighting during the Uprising. It became a symbol of Polish nationalism and was banned by the Soviets during the occupation due to the strong emotions tied to it.

The Kotwica stands for Polska Walcząca, Fighting Poland

After stepping through these doors, you find yourself in the cloak room. The doors to the museum have a large sheet of metal hanging over it with a quote in both Polish and English by Jan Stanislaw Jankowski, one of the resistance leaders, that reads “We wanted to be free and owe this freedom to nobody.” This quote completely embodies the sentiments of the young people of Warsaw that were hellbent on throwing off the Nazi chains before the Soviets arrived to claim victory. 

You open the second set of doors to a rhythmic, thumping sound being blasted over the speakers. The heartbeat of Warsaw. That’s how important the Uprising was to the city. This fight for freedom signified more than just a few years of Nazi occupation and the accompanying horrors. It was for the centuries of occupation by neighboring countries. As you move through the dark and often confusing museum, you are constantly met with interviews of those that were in Warsaw at the time. Most often they are of the young insurgents that survived the Uprising. 

Inside of the museum

However, there was one interview that was playing in a small, dark room in the basement that particularly moved me. It was a German man, who was then a part of the military that used explosives to break down doors or open walls. So, not an SS soldier or Capitan just a man who was ordered to blow up some walls in order to enable the oppression of a people. He spoke openly about what he had experienced while stationed in Warsaw during the Uprising. Surprisingly, I was alone in this room. So naturally, I wept. So ya, I cried alone in a museum. After having watched other interviews and videos about the Poles fighting in the Uprising earlier in the museum, I really just needed a place to process. And that’s what that little room was for me. I cried for the medical professionals that were hung for having aided Polish and German fighters, the Catholic priests and nuns that were killed to break the Polish spirit, and the children leaving their school that were beaten by the Germans so as to not waste bullets. 

Recreation of the sewer pipes used by insurgent forces during the fighting

Now let me say, this isn’t the first time I’ve cried in a museum or at a memorial. I cried at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin; I cried during my visit to Buchenwald in Weimar, Germany; I cried at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I’ve been to the Jewish Quarter in Prague that stands as a testament to the broken community there now and to the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest that has some horrors of its own to tell. But the experience I had at the Warsaw Uprising Museum was unique in that you got to hear the voices of those that fought to free their city and country and those that plainly recounted the horrors they had seen. Of course, most Holocaust museums have interviews with survivors playing, and they are heartbreaking. I am not trying to belittle the horrors that they experienced, but those museums were unable to show the perpetrators beyond the famous, evil men. You would think any museum in Germany would be able to track down someone that fought in the war to interview, but there is still a level of protection and shame present that prevents this, which is truly a shame, as it adds a completely new dimension to the understanding of events. Of course, I understand that most soldiers don’t wish to recount what happened to them during their service. I know a lot of Germans never speak about their service at all besides the fact that it happened due to the shame associated with Nazi Germany. My grandfather never really spoke about his time in the Army during World War II with my dad or his siblings, and he was on the victorious side. 

The Polish flag is always a welcome and beautiful sight

If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my short time in Poland is that the Polish spirit is unbreakable. These people have been through so much, but they still manage to always fight for their freedom and rebuild. I am so proud and honored to be able to spend time here and have the opportunity to learn and experience as much as I possibly can during these next few months.

[iamliberalartsgt]

Study Abroad Frustrations

Well, I have been in Poland for about two and a half weeks, and there has been no shortage of irritating things. Whether it’s the municipal office closing at 3pm on a Wednesday, odd registration rules at my new university, or my grocery store selling shampoo and not conditioner, you could probably say I’ve been annoyed quite a few times since I’ve arrived. Below I outline a few things that you can expect while studying abroad (at least in Poland).

Going to government offices is a hassle

Confusing online directions and little posted information at the actual office were the problems I encountered when trying to register my residency in Poland. Besides, of course, the office holding odd hours. Basically, I had to go to the office three times to eventually register.

Lengthy registration processes

While studying abroad, you have to make sure that any class you’re registering for is approved to transfer back to Georgia Tech. This isn’t necessarily the most difficult part, but SGH’s FOUR phases of registration were quite confusing coming from GT that only has two that are completely online. I also realized too late that during the last phase to be able to drop or add a class you have to get signatures from the professors and then have the Dean approve the changes. For someone that is generally anxious, not knowing for sure that I would be able to get into the classes I need has been quite stressful.

A whole new university environment

Why do Polish students stand outside of the classroom until the literal last minute and then walk in? I have no idea, but I know I like to just go in and sit down. Also, a lot of my classes either have only an exam or a presentation as the whole grade, instead of an exam and a paper and maybe some quizzes or something like at Georgia Tech.

Product availability

Why haven’t I been able to buy an eggplant? Why did it take me a week to finally find olive oil? Why did I have to go to three different stores to find an exfoliating face wash? Who knows! Maybe I’m just a goofy goober, but product availability at different stores has certainly been quite confusing considering I’m not familiar with most of the stores here except for Zara and H&M.

Being forced to grow

Despite all of these frustrations, I am so thankful to be here and to be pushed out of my comfort zone. I’ve asked a lot of random students questions, which has turned into me finding people to get bubble tea with or do a presentation with. If you’re considering spending a semester abroad, DO IT. Sure, there will be a lot of frustrating and stressful situations, but getting the opportunity to immerse yourself in another culture and meet people from around the world is priceless.

[iamliberalartsgt]

Twitter in the 1930s?

Today I spent a decent chunk of time researching Harrison Elliott, one of the most influential American hand-papermakers and paper historians of the 20th century. While the museum has plenty of information regarding his professional work, I decided to dive into one of his hobbies: puns. 

That involved looking through roughly 20 enveloped filled with puns, anecdotes, quotes and more that Harrison Elliot had taken the time to type out and cut into little strips in the late-1930s, when he had spare time from his job in a paper company.

While some of them were clearly written by a white man in the 1930s (and therefore came across as more offensive than funny), there were quite a few that were amusing to even a modern, female reader.

My favorites were:

With the farmer it’s a question of sow what?

Maybe they call them comic strips because they are stripped of all comedy

Probably letting freedom ring too long is responsible for that crack in the Liberty Bell

After all, radio does give us a sound knowledge of things

Science threatens to crack down on the use of the test tube in advertising. Tu be or not tu be?

The length of each one, and the fact that they were cut into small rectangles, reminded me of Twitter today. It was almost uncanny. In fact, a lot of the things, especially the political jokes, would probably fit in well with many social media platforms today.

The best one though, which seems like something straight out of my own Twitter account, was this one:

Unfortunately the publishing company he submitted it to didn’t find it as funny as I did.

Maybe Harrison Elliott‘s sense of humor was just ahead of his time.

[iamliberalartsgt]

Introducing Amelia Rousseau

Hi guys, I’m Amelia, a third-year International Affairs and Chinese major! Thought I’d start off my post with a photo of me at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It was definitely a weird transition to go from freezing temperatures to well over 90 degrees once I landed here. 

Coming to Singapore has been a dream since I did a project on it in 7th grade and I hope to share that dream with you through my traveling and academic experiences! 

When I’m not abroad, you’ll find me hanging out with my Kappa Alpha Theta sisters and cheering on the Jackets at every home football game. Being a part of Ivan Allen throughout my college career has been an incredible journey and I’m excited to see how my degree will carry me through the rest of my life!

[iamliberalartsgt]

Introducing Emma Shumway

Hello all! I am Emma, a second year International Affairs and Modern Languages major. I figured because of what I study that I ought to post a picture of me doing something international, so here’s me and a lovely rainbow next to a (slightly) famous Canadian waterfall. If you see a frequent overuse of exclamation marks in my posts, blame it on the fact that I’ll be blogging about all the things that make Tech great: the small exciting moments, the fun parts about being on campus and in the city, and the little, yet abundant hidden joys that come with being a Liberal Arts major at Georgia Tech.

Typically you will find me exploring campus, going on adventures, and possibly shouting in one of my many various languages (Hey- what other good way is there to get some practice in?)

I look forward to sharing my upcoming adventures!

-Emma

[iamliberalartsgt]

Happy Valentines Day! Today I showed some TLC to these wood sample books from the 1950s-1960s, as all of the paper-thin wood samples have started to slide out and needed to be glued back into place.

You’re probably thinking, “but Kayleigh, how hard can it be to glue something?” Well, when you’re dealing with things that are old, fragile, rare, and made of a plant-based material (as most books are), things get very complicated. Nothing reminds you of how much overlap there is between Liberal Arts and STEM quite like book conservation.

There are a number of factors to consider when dealing with adhesives and archival material, and a lot of it is based in chemical principles and bonding that I had to try to remember from CHEM 1212. First, you have to use materials that aren’t going to deteriorate, chemically interact with, or damage the object further. In this case, we had to hunt down some DI water (which was readily available in one of the labs upstairs), and we have to use this special pH-neutral adhesive called PVA (polyvinyl acetate). Second, the adhesive can’t be too strong or too weak, or the item will be damaged. It’s the Goldilocks Principle of Glue, and it involved mixing the DI water and PVA into a custard-like consistency until it was just right to hold the pieces together while still maintaining flexibility.

Finally, the actual gluing process is very precise. The glue cannot touch the wood in the area where it shows, and only one tiny droplet applied to a spatula via a paintbrush is used to carefully slide the adhesive under the green border. The border is propped up using an insert that is thick enough to allow the spatula to slide under, but not too thick that it stresses or rips the paper. Once you’ve applied the glue, you use a special book weight (or a not-so-special ordinary weight) to apply a slight pressure until the glue is dry, which takes only 5 minutes.

The tl;dr of this post? Books are held together by science.

[iamliberalartsgt]

Introducing Emili Sabanovic

I am a first year, technically a sophomore because of additional credits earned in high school (thank you dual enrollment), International Affairs major. My parents are both Bosnian and I was raised with Bosnian as my first language and primary culture. I was raised in Georgia and have grown quite fond of it despite initial blunders with assimilation that come with any first-generation student’s experience. I will be blogging about what led me to choose a liberal arts major and my experiences thus far as a first-generation student. 

(Here’s me post-skiing in North Carolina this winter break)

[iamliberalartsgt]

Learning By Doing

Today at the museum we had three ENGL 1102 classes come through for a workshop. Instead of making paper, today we were making books using a Japanese technique called stab-binding. We had actually prepared all the materials a few days before (my hand still hurts from stabbing about 500 holes), so it was really just a matter of assembly.

I’m not a very crafty person (okay, I embroidered my own dish towel, so that’s probably not true…), but I had to learn how to make the books before I could show others how to do it. One 10-minute crash-course later, and I could probably make these all day. It’s actually a really easy technique, as you can see by this 30-second time-lapse video of me making one at home:

In the end, you end up with something that looks like this, both cute and practical: 

[iamliberalartsgt]

(Re) Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Kayleigh Haskin, and I’m a third-year majoring in History, Technology, and Society (HTS) and International Affairs (INTA). You might remember me from this summer—and if not, go check out the posts tagged from me to eu.

This semester I am interning at the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum, which you may have seen featured as one of Tech’s “hidden treasures” in yesterday’s Daily Digest. The goal of this internship is to familiarize myself with all aspects of museum operation, focusing on collections, education, and curation. 

As a bit of a museum junkie (I couldn’t even tell you how many I’ve visited), this is a really exciting opportunity for me. I’m getting to see all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into a museum that you don’t think about as a visitor. Plus, you realize paper is actually pretty cool when you have to spend 3 days per week working with it. 

(Don’t tell anyone, but science/natural history museums are still my favorite.) 

While I’ll mainly be focusing on sharing my internship experience this semester, I’ll probably talk a little bit about other programs/clubs/classes I’m in as well. For example, I’m taking 14 additional hours this semester (bringing me to a total of 17, pretty standard for a double-major)–which includes completing my thesis for the Research Option this and taking my first graduate class of the INTA BS/MS program.

Well, I think that’s all for my introduction. I’m sure you’ll end up learning a lot more about me as the semester goes on! 

[iamliberalartsgt]

Elizabeth Osman - 26 hours in D.C.

Before I dive in let me say hi. If you haven’t been following this blog closely, I’m Elizabeth, and I will be studying in Warsaw, Poland this spring. However, my semester does not begin until late February, so I’m still in the process of pulling my life together before heading overseas.

To be able to stay in a country for an extended period of time, you need to get a visa. Which I knew going into this, but I guess I didn’t realize how involved it really is. Let me preface this with: it is VERY involved.

For starters, I thought I could go to the Consulate in Atlanta to apply for a visa. But, to my surprise, I could not do that. I had to go to Washington, D.C. You also can’t apply for the visa more than 3 months before you leave the United States, but it takes about 2 weeks to process the visa, and, of course, they were closed over Christmas and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Also, let it be known, when you choose your appointment time, you only have an hour to fill in a long document or your appointment will be cancelled.

I originally made my appointment for the Thursday after MLK Day, but if you remember, that Wednesday night we received a crap ton of snow (ok fine, an inch or two), which effectively shut down Hartsfield-Jackson. So, I had to move my appointment to the following Monday. And when I say “move my appointment,” I mean cancel my original appointment and just go as a walk-in on Monday. Thankfully, I was able to change my flights without much fuss (thanks Delta) to arrive Sunday and leave Monday afternoon after I, hopefully, had applied for a visa.

My dad grew up in the D.C. area, and one of my uncles still lives there so I got to spend Sunday with them, which was honestly pretty great. Monday morning I rose early (because his family went to sleep at 9:30pm) and prepped for the long day ahead. I checked for the umpteenth time that I had all of the documents necessary, ate breakfast with the fam, and then took the Metro into town.

We parked across the water from the Jefferson Memorial so we could visit the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I departed from the dimly lit Metro at DuPont Circle and walked 20 minutes to the Polish Consulate (not Embassy, because D.C. has both). On my way to the Consulate I saw many other Embassies/Consulates, but surprisingly the Polish Consulate was the only one with a gate. I know - it’s pretty fancy. I was escorted into a small sunroom on the side of what was obviously once a home, which seemed to be the office for passports and visas. After handing all of my documents through the slot in the plexi-glass, the man behind it stated that my photos were not clear enough and would need to be redone. And it was at that moment that I began to panic. What does he mean? They look fine to me? Is he just going to send me away?? Will I have to go back to Atlanta without having applied for my visa?? Thankfully the man was prepared (I guess they reject people’s photos often) and handed me a sheet from a stack of print-outs from Google Maps. I wish I was joking. It stated at the top that it was a 15 minute walk to the photo place. He cheerfully said he would see me in 30 minutes. I already knew that I would not be back by then, because the photo place was next to the Metro station I had arrived at, and it had taken me 20 minutes to walk from there. With no other options, I run (ok, fast walk) to the photo place.

And this is where the real fun begins. For starters, the place was in a basement so it was quite difficult to locate, there was a tiny dog sitting in the woman’s lap, and she obviously did not know how to work the camera. After she changed the ink and loaded new paper, she printed out the photos in black and white. Then she printed them out using the wrong dimensions. And then she printed them out in color and with the correct dimensions. With ugly photos of a sweaty Elizabeth in hand, I frantically call an Uber. So yes, I ubered for a distance of around 1.5 miles, which, yes, is like ubering from East to West campus, but I was desperate.

I scurry up to the gate and try to buzz in. The guard is taking his time walking to the gate to unlock while talking on the phone in Polish. I don’t know a lot of Polish, but he was quite obviously making plans for the next Friday. I sprint (actually this time) to the sunroom, and the man ISN’T EVEN THERE. So at least I get some time to regain my composure. He saunters back in and looks at the photos. They pass! I slide him the money for the visa and viola! My visa is being processed. I step out of the sunroom and happily walk out of the stupid gate and down the road until I find the bagel shop I have already walked past twice. I duck in to rest my weary bones and fuel up. For the rest of the afternoon I poke around the sites I hadn’t gotten to see with my family the day before.

Taken while trying to find D.C.’s Einstein statue

Found him :)

To summarize: make plans to apply for your visa as early as possible and make sure your photos are SUPER SHARP. I would not have been able to figure out any of this without the help of the student who did it before me and who is currently enjoying the end of his semester in Poland. Remember that the Office of International Education is busy and can’t always give you detailed instructions about every step on the way to an amazing semester abroad, so reach out to those that have done it before you!

Note: All of the details given were specific to the Polish government and my experience. This is not meant to say that I had a bad experience applying for my visa; it was just quite overwhelming for this anxious girl.