Today marks the
beginning of my trip to Braunschweig, where I will be working with the Georg
Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, representing the Conflict
Resolution through the summer internship program. I am writing this on the
plane ride, in an old composition notebook that my mother held on to from
perhaps as far back as middle school. I consider myself very fortunate to have
been selected for this incredible opportunity, and plan to make the most out of
both the internship itself, and living in Germany for two months. Currently, I
am experiencing a mix of excitement, anxiety, restlessness, and all of the
other emotions that come with embarking on a new and relatively unknown
adventure. While for years I have longed to visit Germany, and have known for
months about the internship placement, this trip in many ways seemed to creep
up suddenly. Through the chaos which is the final weeks of a semester, moving
out of my place in Arlington, moving everything back home to Massachusetts, and
trying to enjoy the little free time I had with the friends and family I would
be missing this summer, I found it difficult to transition into travel mode.
I had slowly been preparing myself for the
trip by reading up on both the city of Braunschweig, the organization I would
be interning with, and the greater German/Eastern European region, but it always
felt like an adventure far on the horizon. It was not until exactly three weeks
before departure when it really began to sink in that I would be entirely on my
own, in a country I had never visited before, half way across the world. As it
this distant adventure quickly turned into reality, I felt both excited, nervous,
and in some ways terrified. I have moved to new and unfamiliar places before,
but under much different circumstances. When I first left to begin my
undergraduate studies in New Hampshire, while it was a major adjustment, I did
know a few people from my home town, and I was surrounded by like-minded students
of the same age as myself. And perhaps most importantly, home was only two
hours away, so whenever I began to feel homesick I was able to return and spend
time with family and friends.
While I lost the luxury
of being close to home when I moved to begin grad school at Georgetown, I was
quickly immersed by both the excitement of the DC area, and was lucky to
quickly meet and become friends with my fellow CR classmates. Almost all of us
decided to pursue a career in CR field out of similar intentions, and from the
beginning it was refreshing to know that I would be going through this new
adventure with people with similar interests and career ambitions as myself. While
pursuing a career in CR or other socially-oriented careers does not
automatically imply a lower salary and substantial debt, it is nonetheless a
risky choice, and deciding to take this route means that you believe the
potential benefits far exceed the risks. It was wonderful to see right from the
start of grad school that nearly all of my classmates felt the same way about
their education, the potential to have a meaningful career, and perhaps most
importantly, everyone was quite grounded and easy going. This may be my own
biased view, but I believe it takes a special type of person to pursue a degree
in a field such as CR. They tend to be people who experienced success both in
and out of the classroom, and would rather have a career focused on social
progress and meaningful work than other fields with potentially more lucrative
salaries. They are actively choosing the difficult path of graduate school
curriculum, continuing the life of a student when others were eager to never
sit in a classroom again and start making money. And since this decision to
pursue higher education comes with the likelihood (or inevitability) of massive
debt, it is not a choice to take lightly. In essence, everyone I met in the
program was here because they wanted to be, and being in such an environment early
on made for an easy transition into grad school life in DC. It did not take
long for me to feel comfortable and fall in love with Georgetown, the city, and
all of the wonderful people I met over my first two semesters.
But
this comfort and enjoyment of being a graduate student in DC came with a
sadness and fear of having to leave for the summer after I had grown so accustomed
to the DC life. I had only been here for a year, and now I was off to live for
two months in a country by myself that I knew about only from a couple of books
and internet articles. While I was excited for the trip and beyond grateful to
had been selected for the fellowship, I nonetheless was feeling the nerves of
having to leave a place that had quickly become my new home, and say goodbye to
both my family and friends for the next two months.
I
think part of the reason this trip seemed to creep up quickly was due to being
so preoccupied. As mentioned before, I was so caught up in the craziness
otherwise known as the end of the semester, that the summer felt almost like
this far and distant future. It is difficult, and perhaps impractical, to only
be thinking about your future endeavors when there is so much that needs to be
done in the present. When final exams, papers, and presentations begin to
approach, one must try to block themselves out from any outside influences that
may distract their attention, and focus on the immediate tasks. Even if I
wanted to, I did not have the time to be constantly distracted by daydreaming
about Germany. But then finals quickly came and went, and it was suddenly time
to prepare for the big move to Braunschweig. While I was undeniably excited,
the nerves started to kick into high gear, and there were a few nights leading
up the trip where falling to sleep was an impossible task.
As
I reflected on my first year of grad school and what was to come in the summer,
I was reminded that one can only prepare so much when uprooting to a new place
and starting a new position. You never really know what to expect until you
actually arrive and begin to live by day in the experience that seemed like a
distant task not so long ago. As cliché as it is to say, expect the unexpected
is perfect advice for this experience. I have never understood the people that
have every minute of each day planned out when they travel or go on vacation.
While some preparation is practical, I believe it is also important to leave
some free time for the unanticipated. For example, three years ago around this
time I went on a field study to Sweden, Norway and Iceland. Most of our trip
was extensively planned out, with some plans mandatory and others being
optional. When we arrived to Stockholm late one night, a few of us decided to
grab some food, against our Professor’s advice to stay in and rest. While in
line for food, we started talking to two friendly Swedish policemen also in
line. They asked us if we were into hockey, and when we said yes, told us about
the European hockey cup that was beginning the next day with the Swedish
national team playing Alex Ovechkin and the Russians. It seemed like too cool
of an opportunity to pass up, so the next night we went and had a blast rooting
for Sweden alongside their passionate fan base. You never know what you might
find out about just by having a casual conversation with locals, who tend to
really know how to make the most out of spending time in their home region, and
provide a perspective beyond the pages in a travel guide.
Writing
all of this out has helped my nerves diminish quite a bit. Despite my
reservations, I know that I’ll soon be arriving in what appears to be a
beautiful city and wonderful place to live, while working with a highly
respected organization with a long history of producing excellent scholarly
work. I am fortunate to have been selected for the fellowship, and then
connected with the Georg Eckert institute, and I do not plan to take this for
granted. I want to experience all that I can during my two months here, while
doing a top notch job at my internship and networking with scholars and
professionals from around the world. I plan to take advantage of every
responsibility and opportunity that comes my way, making the most of every
experience, and taking countless pictures (and if I’m being honest with myself,
snapchats) along the way. My next posts will be about arriving and settling in
Braunschweig, and my initial impressions of my internship. So long for now!
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