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!