So, the topic of today is all about decisions. Decisions are hard...or at least if you're as indecisive as me. My current decision centers around the choice to pursue a Senior Honors Thesis. It's a distinguished program to complete through James Madison College, and it includes a year of research to write a major thesis and then publicly defending it. One of my professors suggested it to me, and while I've heard of the program, I'd never really given it much thought. But now it seems like a really valuable experience that I could enjoy. I get to pick the topic and find a professor or a couple professors to help advise me and work with me through the process. I've been talking to a couple specific profs to try and figure out ideas on topics and if writing the thesis is the correct choice for me. It really is a major time commitment. Initially I was dead-set on writing it, but now I am a little nervous to commit. Luckily I still have a little more time until I decide. The topic I have in mind at the moment is transatlantic relations, but that is likely to be merged with some other topics such as the European Union or international security. With my study abroad program, I'll have plenty of time to explore my options and figure out what really interests me.
So, anyway...that has been occupying a big portion of my thoughts. That and summer. I can't wait for summer to get here. The more I should focus on finals, the harder it becomes...
I found out I won a couple study abroad scholarships on Monday night! It was a huge relief because money is always tight, even after 3 jobs. But my program fee is officially covered by scholarship money. Now I just keep working to save up so that I can afford to eat...
My failure to decide seems to be affecting my ability to remain on a single subject during this blog post too. I apologize for the random tangents. But here's one last one before I sign off and get back to studying. I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by, or this semester for that matter. I feel like I was just moving back into the dorms or returning from winter break... It's surreal to realize that we have one week of classes left before finals week and goodbyes for the summer. I am so excited for next year. But then I am completely terrified that the year will fly by just as quickly. I have so many friends graduating this year...and while I still have 2 years left, I have this nagging feeling that they are going to speed by in the blink of an eye. It's scary stuff. But really exciting too. It just reminds me to enjoy every moment of it and make the most of it. That's my late night advice. Take advantage of every situation and enjoy the ride. I can speak from experience that not everything is easy and sometimes life is a confusing mess. But sort through the chaos and have fun with it. That's what I try to do on a daily basis and it makes for some truly incredible memories.
Okay, well before I get anymore nostalgic, I had better return to making economics flashcards. Econ has been the bane of my existence this semester but I'm in the home stretch! Time to study so I can ace the final! Wish me luck. I'll be back soon with more stories!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Reporting as Promised!
Hello lovely followers, I am back online and reporting as promised! The topic of this post is the study abroad I am participating in this summer. It's going to be absolutely insane. It may just be the best summer of my life! My actual program is focused on International Security and NATO and is based out of Brussels, Belgium. We will be there for the month of July. Classes run Monday-Thursday and are taught by our Madison faculty member who is running the program and by a couple other individuals in Brussels. One of those additional teachers is someone by the name of Jamie Shea. I had the opportunity to hear Jamie Shea speak at the JMC commencements last spring, and that is where I realized I had to participate in this study abroad program. He has a distinguished background working for NATO and was a wonderful speaker. I can't wait to meet him!
With 4 day school weeks we have plenty of time to travel. Currently our group is trying to figure out plans for traveling and different excursions we'd like to participate in. As for me, I'm doing some additional traveling outside of the program dates. I'm starting my traveling a few weeks early. I leave midway through June for Israel! I'm going to visit a friend who works for the foreign ministry in Jerusalem. I'll spend a week there exploring and visiting everything I can. Then, I'm flying to Rome to visit another friend who will be finishing up her study abroad in Italy. I should be there for about 5 days. Another one of our good friends will be flying in from Spain so we can spend the weekend together! From there my plans are a bit up in the air. I will probably be in either Spain or Germany until I leave to meet up with my program in Brussels. It's insane right!? I am so excited! The thing about traveling in Europe is that it's so easy to get from place to place, so I fully intend to go everywhere I possibly can.
Then after my program ends on the 28th of July, one of my friends and I are going to Paris for a few days. We figure it'll be a nice way to end the program. Then we'll fly back to the states together on August 1st. Once I get home it will be back to work and preparing to move into my new apartment and starting the new school year! The adventures to come are making it hard to focus on school, but only 2 more weeks of class and then finals...then summer! Excited doesn't begin to describe my emotions.
Another update with me is that the new Secretariat for MSUMUN XIII has been hired. This group serves as the organization's executive board and is responsible for planning and arranging the conference logistics and staffing. I was hired as the Chief of Staff this year and am looking for an exciting year working with our staff. Last year it was a staff of over 100 MSU students. This year I'm hoping to expand this even more! You're sure to hear more about this, but if you are interested feel free to email me and let me know! We'd be happy to have you on staff no matter what your previous experience with Model UN is!
I'll update again on Wednesday. I still have to share with you the new academic choice that'd I'm considering within JMC. Hope you are enjoying your Monday. I don't know what the weather is like by you, but if it's as windy as it is here, in East Lansing, don't blow away!
With 4 day school weeks we have plenty of time to travel. Currently our group is trying to figure out plans for traveling and different excursions we'd like to participate in. As for me, I'm doing some additional traveling outside of the program dates. I'm starting my traveling a few weeks early. I leave midway through June for Israel! I'm going to visit a friend who works for the foreign ministry in Jerusalem. I'll spend a week there exploring and visiting everything I can. Then, I'm flying to Rome to visit another friend who will be finishing up her study abroad in Italy. I should be there for about 5 days. Another one of our good friends will be flying in from Spain so we can spend the weekend together! From there my plans are a bit up in the air. I will probably be in either Spain or Germany until I leave to meet up with my program in Brussels. It's insane right!? I am so excited! The thing about traveling in Europe is that it's so easy to get from place to place, so I fully intend to go everywhere I possibly can.
Then after my program ends on the 28th of July, one of my friends and I are going to Paris for a few days. We figure it'll be a nice way to end the program. Then we'll fly back to the states together on August 1st. Once I get home it will be back to work and preparing to move into my new apartment and starting the new school year! The adventures to come are making it hard to focus on school, but only 2 more weeks of class and then finals...then summer! Excited doesn't begin to describe my emotions.
Another update with me is that the new Secretariat for MSUMUN XIII has been hired. This group serves as the organization's executive board and is responsible for planning and arranging the conference logistics and staffing. I was hired as the Chief of Staff this year and am looking for an exciting year working with our staff. Last year it was a staff of over 100 MSU students. This year I'm hoping to expand this even more! You're sure to hear more about this, but if you are interested feel free to email me and let me know! We'd be happy to have you on staff no matter what your previous experience with Model UN is!
I'll update again on Wednesday. I still have to share with you the new academic choice that'd I'm considering within JMC. Hope you are enjoying your Monday. I don't know what the weather is like by you, but if it's as windy as it is here, in East Lansing, don't blow away!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
My Sincerest Apologies...
Hello cyber world....So, I know my last post was "No I haven't disappeared...Yet" but after this absence I am sure most of you think I actually have disappeared. I am been a terrible blogger and for that and my loyal readers I am so very sorry. To be honest I didn't know if I had loyal readers but someone left me a comment about my absence, and I guess there must be some of you out there and that is awesome! From this point on I promise that I will update more frequently. As for my excuse for not blogging, it's a bad one but the general craziness that is life and being involved in anything I can filled up my plate and distracted me. But I have enough down time to fill you in on the happenings at JMC & MSU, and I will keep it at the top of my numerous checklists from now on!
So what has happened since December...? Well, brace yourselves. This is going to be quite a timeline.
So with December came the end of the fall semester and the oh so lovely finals week that we all dread. It wasn't too bad, mostly because with it's end came the beginning of break. I spent break home in Clarkston, MI with my family and friends. It was great to be around everyone and help my mom finish up the baking of Christmas cookies and wrapping of gifts. Then for Christmas my family traveled up to Traverse City as part of our yearly tradition to see my grandparents and family living there. I love that city. And the views from the Bluffs is breathtaking. It was a wonderful holiday season, and I even got to visit friends from MSU.
After returning from break (which was much too short) I dove back into a new semester. I have been taking 14 credits, which includes 2 JMC courses. I have my Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy sophomore sequence class, called "Constitutionalism and Democracy" and then my International Relations sophomore sequence, called "The Politics of International Economic Relations." Then I have an "Oral Expression" French course focusing on speaking and an online International Economics course. It's a decent course load but leaves plenty of time for my extra activities and work as well. The most eventful part of January was MSUIRO's (MSU International Relations Organization) trip to Montreal for McMUN one of our competitive Model UN conferences. We took a delegation of about 50 people and rode a huge bus there and back. It was an amazing trip and we did well at the conference, earning 9 awards!
After the conference it was back to the academic grind for the month of February, but my 20th birthday was a nice excuse to take a break and have some fun. MSUMUN (MSU Model United Nations), the other MUN organization I work with, hosted its first middle school conference. While that was going on the rest of our MSUMUN staff and committees had their first run through and practice, in eager anticipation of the high school conference at the end of March. February flew by, even with that extra day from the leap year, and with March came spring break. Unfortunately my stories from spring break are less than exciting, considering I had to get my wisdom teeth removed. I despise dental work and to say I was nervous is a gross understatement. But I survived! And I didn't even get chipmunk cheeks! Although to my dismay I wasn't even goofy from the anesthesia. All I did was cry when I woke up. Yeah feel free to laugh at that...
After I returned from spring break MSUMUN was all my brain wanted to think about. But don't worry, I made sure to do my homework too, even if less than enthusiastically. This year's MSUMUN conference was our largest yet and hosted almost 600 high school students from across the country. We even had students fly in from places as far as Greece. It was a crazy weekend! I was a chair for a historical committee that had students reliving the difficult decisions of the British Parliament in the midst of the American Revolution. It's honestly one of my favorite weekends, and I look forward to it throughout the entire year. I am already eagerly anticipating next March for MSUMUN XIII.
And now, after all the glory and excitement that is MSUMUN, I am busy buckling back down and working hard to keep up with school assignments while working and planning for this summer. I know I've mentioned it before, but I am going to be studying abroad in Brussels, Belgium on a JMC program. My summer adventures have had some exciting developments since the last time I've posted, but I'll share them sometime soon. I'll also share the epiphany I had last night as far as my academic goals go!I hope you've enjoyed the update and I didn't bore you too much! I can promise you it hasn't been boring living through it all! I'll update in the next couple days with more stories and new plans. I promise by the end of Monday there will be a new post! Feel free to comment if you ever have questions or thoughts! Also, I've added the links to the Model UN organizations I belong to. I know I talk a lot about them. Feel free to check them out if you are confused or curious!
MSUIRO: http://www.msuiro.org/
MSUMUN: http://msumun.org/
So what has happened since December...? Well, brace yourselves. This is going to be quite a timeline.
So with December came the end of the fall semester and the oh so lovely finals week that we all dread. It wasn't too bad, mostly because with it's end came the beginning of break. I spent break home in Clarkston, MI with my family and friends. It was great to be around everyone and help my mom finish up the baking of Christmas cookies and wrapping of gifts. Then for Christmas my family traveled up to Traverse City as part of our yearly tradition to see my grandparents and family living there. I love that city. And the views from the Bluffs is breathtaking. It was a wonderful holiday season, and I even got to visit friends from MSU.
After returning from break (which was much too short) I dove back into a new semester. I have been taking 14 credits, which includes 2 JMC courses. I have my Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy sophomore sequence class, called "Constitutionalism and Democracy" and then my International Relations sophomore sequence, called "The Politics of International Economic Relations." Then I have an "Oral Expression" French course focusing on speaking and an online International Economics course. It's a decent course load but leaves plenty of time for my extra activities and work as well. The most eventful part of January was MSUIRO's (MSU International Relations Organization) trip to Montreal for McMUN one of our competitive Model UN conferences. We took a delegation of about 50 people and rode a huge bus there and back. It was an amazing trip and we did well at the conference, earning 9 awards!
After the conference it was back to the academic grind for the month of February, but my 20th birthday was a nice excuse to take a break and have some fun. MSUMUN (MSU Model United Nations), the other MUN organization I work with, hosted its first middle school conference. While that was going on the rest of our MSUMUN staff and committees had their first run through and practice, in eager anticipation of the high school conference at the end of March. February flew by, even with that extra day from the leap year, and with March came spring break. Unfortunately my stories from spring break are less than exciting, considering I had to get my wisdom teeth removed. I despise dental work and to say I was nervous is a gross understatement. But I survived! And I didn't even get chipmunk cheeks! Although to my dismay I wasn't even goofy from the anesthesia. All I did was cry when I woke up. Yeah feel free to laugh at that...
After I returned from spring break MSUMUN was all my brain wanted to think about. But don't worry, I made sure to do my homework too, even if less than enthusiastically. This year's MSUMUN conference was our largest yet and hosted almost 600 high school students from across the country. We even had students fly in from places as far as Greece. It was a crazy weekend! I was a chair for a historical committee that had students reliving the difficult decisions of the British Parliament in the midst of the American Revolution. It's honestly one of my favorite weekends, and I look forward to it throughout the entire year. I am already eagerly anticipating next March for MSUMUN XIII.
And now, after all the glory and excitement that is MSUMUN, I am busy buckling back down and working hard to keep up with school assignments while working and planning for this summer. I know I've mentioned it before, but I am going to be studying abroad in Brussels, Belgium on a JMC program. My summer adventures have had some exciting developments since the last time I've posted, but I'll share them sometime soon. I'll also share the epiphany I had last night as far as my academic goals go!I hope you've enjoyed the update and I didn't bore you too much! I can promise you it hasn't been boring living through it all! I'll update in the next couple days with more stories and new plans. I promise by the end of Monday there will be a new post! Feel free to comment if you ever have questions or thoughts! Also, I've added the links to the Model UN organizations I belong to. I know I talk a lot about them. Feel free to check them out if you are confused or curious!
MSUIRO: http://www.msuiro.org/
MSUMUN: http://msumun.org/
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