Ok, I’m going to catch all of you up to right now, because I have so much exciting stuff going on that I want to brag about (and because it’s a productive way to procrastinate working on finals)!
For the summer of 2018, I had two goals: 1) practice relaxing and having free time and 2) get an idea of what I wanted to do when I graduated. These goals were more difficult than expected. As I detailed in my last post, I was constantly keeping myself busy as a way of justifying my existence through productivity. But as my therapists puts it, I’m a human being, not a human doing. It took concentrated effort on my part to actually schedule time for me to do nothing. This sounds counterproductive, but it was a needed baby step before I could spontaneously do nothing.
This isn’t to say I was doing nothing over the summer. To the contrary, I took two International Affairs class and did research for class credit. I worked under Dr. Jenna Jordan, my favorite professor, and helped her build a database of examples and info on ISIS leadership decapitation - not literal decapitation, but examples of leaders being killed or arrested - to overlay with data on the number of attacks and fatalities, to see if there would be an effect. To be honest, I thought I was going to hate doing research. Going in, I honestly didn’t have a real understanding of what research meant for liberal arts. I was pleasantly surprised with how excited I felt when I would find new data points to add to the database.
As for figuring out what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to help make the world better and also to experiences places and cultures vastly different from where I was from. After pouring over material and speaking with a recruiter, I began and submitted my application for a position as in English teacher in Comoros, an island nation just north of Madagascar.
The summer quickly came to an end. To figure out if this Peace Corps position was actually something I wanted to do, I began an internship at the International Rescue Committee to teach English to refugees resettling in the Atlanta area. The experience was eye-opening. I was now able to put faces and personal connections behind the international conflicts I read about and discussed in my classes. I also realized how much in my own life I took for granted as I taught three grown men the basics of using a computer mouse, something they had never used before.
I also took 5 courses this semester, nearly all of which I ended up having to write a research paper for! Turns out my summer experience would come in handy. For the first time, I actually felt like I was going to succeed in my projects, rather than doubting and questioning myself. This semester offered the largest set of opportunities to hone my research and writing skills, and I’m glad to say it’s been successful so far! (I still have a few papers to finish.... but I’m in a good place with them right now.)
This was also the first year that the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs structured their capstone course in a project-based way. Initially a little worried to be the guinea pig, my professor, Dr. Lin, and all my classmates supported one another in helping everyone create a large scale research project as the culmination of their time at Tech.
My partner Bryn (another research assistant of Dr. Jordan who I met in my Challenges of Terrorism class) and I looked at the effect of societal orientation on the decision of political extremist groups to use violence. It was amazing how after our initial analysis of sources the argument almost came together on its own, and all that was left was for us was to make it look pretty. It’s an amazing feeling to actually contribute to the field, to know that we are making an argument that has not been made before and that, hopefully, we are making a difference. Now, I just need to finish writing the paper for that class...
I got an interview for the Peace Corps and afterwards received an invitation to serve! Ultimately, I declined the invitation. Over the course of the semester, I took account of what skills I needed to hone and what values were important to me, and realized that I need to reach fluency with my German and that the only way to do so is by living in a German speaking country for a good chunk of time. I’ve now applied for several programs in Germany and look forward to hearing back. I’ll keep y’all updated, that’s all for now! Now I’ve got to get back to studying and writing.









