U.S. Constitution Day

Today, Sept. 17, 2012, marks the 225th anniversary of the signing of our Constitution at the Philadelphia (Constitution) Convention in 1787. The best way to honor the day might be to read it.

One Step Closer

An email I received this morning brings me one step closer to my life-long dream of working for the U.S. Department of State.

Earlier this summer I applied for an internship in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs for Spring 2011.  I was feeling good about my application until I realized that the Statement of Interest I had spent so much time developing exceeded the word limit by more than 200%.  I had to cut it down from 3 pages to about 3/4 of a page.  I was extraordinarily disappointed; I felt that the full version of my interest statement perfectly expressed my goals, skills, and personality.  After hastily deleting over two-thirds of the document in an attempt to submit my painstakingly prepared application before the deadline, my confidence in my chances of being selected for the program was depleted considerably.

Fast forward two months: It's August and I'm thinking about the school year ahead.  Just two days ago, I was mulling over my options for Russia next spring and feeling stressed by my situation.  It's somewhat of a Catch-22.  I simply don't have the funds to pay the travel and tuition expenses for a semester of studying abroad; I have been unsuccessful at obtaining an internship that might cover those costs; I have relentlessly applied for scholarships but have not been awarded a single cent; and yet I must study abroad during Spring 2011 in order to complete my thesis so that I can return to Belmont and complete certain classes that are only offered in a certain sequence and during certain semesters.  If one little piece of this complex puzzle goes array, I will fail to graduate on time.  It would be an understatement to say that this has been a slightly stressful process.

I finally came to the conclusion that I cannot do this alone.  I told God that if he wants me to go to Russia, then he will have to provide me a means of getting there because as of right now all I have are dead ends.

This morning I sat down to check my email after a dentist appointment that went surprisingly well. (Apparently I have good tooth genes, who knew!?)  I had one new message.  The subject line read: Spring 2011 Russia Internship.  I've applied to hundreds of companies, agencies, and organizations, so emails like this are common and rarely fruitful.  I opened it without a second thought.  It wasn't until my eyes landed on "possible spring 2011 internship with the State Department Mission Russia" that I became riveted to the screen. My jaw dropped and I thought, IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?

Apparently it is. I have a phone interview tomorrow and I am thoroughly excited, to say the least.
Nervous? Perhaps a little. But I know that as soon as I have a chance to talk with the interviewer, the passion that I have for discovering new languages and cultures, for facilitating youth exchange programs, for fighting poverty through small business, for learning about foreign policy and foreign governments....my passion for these issues will come through in my voice and they'll know they picked the right person.

So here I am, one step closer to living the dream of a little 14-year-old girl that decided she would work as a Foreign Service Officer one day. Some dreams do come true, I hope.

Day 6 - Roswell - UFO Museum and more

While we were visiting the International UFO Museum this morning, I got talking to an elderly couple who lived in Florida but had been on the road traveling around the country since mid-May. I asked them what brought them to Roswell; they said they always wanted to visit the museum, so as they were passing through it made sense to stop.

“What does it mean to you to be an American?” I asked.

He responded, “Well, it’s the best place in the world. I never even wanted to visit any other place. You can do things here you can’t do in other countries….the living facilities are better…”

This vague, “it’s better here” answer is rather typical of what we’ve been getting in every city so far. But of course, we want specifics, so I probed.

“What are some of the things you do here—or you’d like to do—here in America that you wouldn’t be able to do in other countries?”

He paused for a few seconds, questioningly, then timidly replied, “Ummmm….I don’t really know. All I know is that I can go wherever I want and do whatever I want.”

I was really disappointed and frustrated during the week before our trip started when I was asked to write an essay about what it means to be a Patriotic American Citizen. I had a general idea, I could name a few characteristics of each, but I really couldn’t give a working definition of any of the three concepts. I attributed this to my ignorant youthfulness and recent absence from the country. But I’m beginning to think that that’s not it. In the past few days I’ve talked to many people from many states, young and old, and few have been able to give a response that had any real substance when asked, “What does it mean to be an American?”

There was one man, however, who won’t be easily forgotten. Yesterday in El Paso we visited Fort Bliss – the second largest military base in the continental U.S. We were shown around the base by some very friendly folk and ate lunch in the mess hall. The high-ranked soldier who ran the dining services came out and gave us a brief presentation on how he and his staff prepared soldiers to cook tasty dishes for the troops once they were deployed. At the end of his talk, we asked him the famous question, “What does it mean to be an American?” I can’t even remember exactly what he said because I was in such shock with how quickly he responded. He didn’t hesitate even one ½ second (and no one tipped him off that this was question was coming). I’m sure that what he said was brilliant, but all I could think about was how it made sense that it would be on the tip of his tongue: Why would you put your life on the line every day for something which you could only vaguely describe?

P.S. -- we stopped off for a photo-op at the "Alien Zone." Here I am in the UFO!

One week to go....

d40 States in 40 Days officially started today, although the bus won't actually be leaving until Saturday morning (at 4am....eek!) We are all extremely excited and just can't wait to get on the road. We've spent so much time researching and scheduling great activities in each state -- the time has just flown by and it's hard to believe that we're so close to lift-off.

I'm sorry I've been out of touch the past few weeks.....but here's what I've been up to:
My spring semester finals finished May 12th. I was completely moved out of my on-campus apartment (and moved in with some great friends for the summer) by the 14th, and on a plane to Oregon on the morning of the 16th. Talk about a crazy week! My mom had no idea I was coming; in fact she didn't think she'd get to see me until Christmas, so it was great fun just popping up at church on Sunday morning to scare her half to death. (Quick shout-out: today is her birthday ...Happy Birthday Mommy!)

I got to spend 10 wonderful days with all my little siblings (who aren't really that little anymore...Chase and Jared passed me up long ago, and on this visit I discovered that Cole followed suit and Tori is only a half inch away! At least little Raam is still little for the time being.)
Tori plays on the U-12 Premier Soccer Team (the really competitive traveling team) and happened to be playing in the local Rogue Valley Cup last weekend, so I had the pleasure of watching her win all five of her games and take the 1st place trophy. Way to go chica!

The last 6 months have been especially hard for me to be away from my brothers and sister; every visit home is a reminder of how fast they're growing up. I can't believe Chason and Jared are already out of high school and halfway through college. Of course, they followed in my footsteps and left high school in their Sophomore and Freshmen years, respectively. But still, time just goes by so fast! So it was great to just hang out with all of them for the week.

Now I'm back in Nashville and busy as ever! In fact, I've gotta run....I have an appointment in 15.

In case you're curious what our course material looks like for the trip, here's a glimpse of our highly confidential reading list:

• The Declaration of Independence
  
• Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville)
• Assassination Vacation (Sarah Vowell)
• Thirteen American Arguments (Howard Fineman)
• I'm a Stranger Here Myself (Bill Bryson)
• On the Road (Jack Kerouac)
• Selected Poems 1885-1892 (Walt Whitman)

....and various articles. So you can see we're going to be busy! In addition to all this reading, we'll write an essay on what it means to be a "Patriotic American Citizen," an essay telling a story from our trip that has the power to change America for the better, as well as a longer research essay on each of our host sites. As I mentioned before, I'm doing in-depth research on the Pacific Northwest, the Grand Canyon, and Boston....so if you have any tidbits of information (or even just childhood memories) of any of these places, please share!
The only stipulation: you must be American :)

Even if you're not American, I'd love to hear your stories anyways....I just can't use them as part of my research.

It's a balmy eve here in Nashville, I hope your neck of the woods is just as beautiful!